Lakeside School: From Seed to Blossom

Lakeside School at Black Kettle Farm offers birth –3rd grade education and Farm and Forest Summer Camp based on the Waldorf philosophy on a working farm in Essex, NY.

From Seed to Blossom

We planted seeds the other day in the garden and I was initially caught up in the spacing of the seeds as the children were helping to plant and how many holes I needed for each of the children, not thinking much about anything but the details of the task. When the children dispersed and I stepped away after the activity, I suddenly had an overwhelming feeling of AWE. I thought about the seed so small and protected and all of the potential held within. It is a complete mystery to me as to how that potential ultimately bursts forth and from that tiny unassuming object an eight foot sunflower will emerge. It takes enormous trust to believe that buried under the earth in a dark moist place the seed will sprout and push forth into the light.

Each school year I have this same feeling of this great mystery and need to trust in the potential of each child. I am not exactly sure what type of seed is growing within each of the children but I have an inkling, just by observing what they have an affinity for and where their strengths and challenges lie. With a sunflower what we observe is mostly a physical miracle, though some would argue plants have a social aspect as well. With the children, it is evident that there is growth in many dimensions, and these different aspects must ultimately be integrated together to develop in a health way.

From the beginning of the school year the children learn to navigate and grow through physical challenges, whether it is how to dress themselves, find quiet within during rest, gain impulse control, balance on a log, climb a tree, cut vegetables, walk on an icy trail, cross a stream, or sit to listen to a story. They simultaneously are seeking to find out how to forge through their social/emotional development. How do I play with others, make friends, collaborate and feel apart of a group as well as feeling comfortable by myself ? In the cognitive realm, they are taking in all the sensory impressions, and trying to make sense of the world, making connection and eventually concepts from what they experience. They are also experiencing moral growth. What is goodness and beauty? What is it to be upright, or not? All these different planes of growth are shaping each of the children in a unique and beautiful way. In each of their experiences at school, all of these different areas of development are not isolated but woven together into their experiences. They are learning about the social realm at the same time they are working on the physical mastery of their bodies and space. Everything is overlapped and connected in their experience so that they feel a wholeness and unity in the world around them.

Spring is the time of year when I see how that seed has softened and sprouted and begun to show it’s shape, size, color and strength in each of the children. I see how they are still working to integrate all of the elements of growth together to into a wholeness. It is still a mystery as to who they will become, as they are still gaining the ability to guide their own way. I see that the repetition of baking bread each week, collecting firewood for our fires, greeting friends each morning at Good Morning Circle, learning new songs and dances, and sharing stories as we share a meal all have helped to shape and form them. They each have opened some more petals of their full blossom. I am again struck with AWE in observing each child and I see a bit more of what is revealed within. I feel honored to have witnessed the early unfolding of the ongoing mystery of who they will ultimately blossom into.