Henry came home from his last day of camp on Friday and brought home the most beautiful watercolor paintings. This was Henry's first year of summer camp and he had a wonderful experience. He went to the Chicago Waldorf School which is a very established Waldorf school. Waldorf schools are very big on child-centered learning, having a clear rhythm to the day, and lots of time for art, music, sports, being outside and unstructured play. The school is up North and close to the Lake so every afternoon they spent a few hours at the beach.
The environment was extremely warm and nurturing and Henry just soaked it up. Always one with a big heart, his compliments and hugs were infectious and he really bonded with his teachers in just the two weeks. He also made several best friends and developed a real affinity for building sand castles, tunnels and collecting treasures.
Although the experience for Henry was wonderful we most likely won't be headed back there next summer. I knew that the 30 minute one-way commute was going to be difficult to mesh into our schedule (especially since Ms. Brenda is 15 minutes in the opposite direction). But it became patently obvious that 1.5 hours in the car each morning just doesn't fit our family. Besides not relishing the idea of expanding our carbon footprint by that much each morning, the experience confirmed my notion that time together is one of our key family values. It doesn't hurt of course that we live in a city bustling with summer camps-- so i've already bookmarked a few to explore for next summer-- both around the corner from Ms. Brenda.
1 comment:
Wow, sounds like he really took to the summer camp. Maybe even better than you and the horse riding summer camp. Thanks for giving him this opportunity, I know you will find something equally challenging for him next summer.
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