SGWS alumni, Hannah Schurr, has been awarded an all-expenses-paid trip to London, Salsburg, Vienna, Venice and Rome. Schurr,who is majoring in drawing with a minor in art history at Edinboro University in Pennsylvania, competed against students from 14 Penn State Universities for this honor.

Students had to provide a resume, recommendations, samples of work and complete interviews before two were chosen to attend the trip June 1-17th.  Congratulations Hannah!

If you Google, “Summer break with children,” you get two types of search results — a variety of activity lists or articles about the evils of summer’s off. Turns out they call it “summer fade,” which is a one month backslide in learning coupled with an increase in Body Mass Index (BMI) for kids.

Many parents counter these issues with a rigorous schedule of summer camps, sport practice and tutoring. While watching television all day with a box of pop tarts is obviously not good, there are some other options beyond a highly structured and scheduled summer.

When planning, or not planning your child’s summer, consider the scientifically proven benefits of  boredom, free play and time in nature. These research studies about children and learning support the idea of a summer slowdown.

In a recent BBC news article, Children should be allowed to get bored,  Dr Teresa Belton said, “Cultural expectations that children should be constantly active could hamper the development of their imagination.”

Now couple that reality with studies connecting time in nature with increased learning and emotional capabilities. The positive results of being outdoors for children are vast as seen in this PDF of a decade of Scientific Studies on this topic. Some highlights include:

• “When children engage in authentic play in nature-based outdoor spaces, they develop skills in a variety of domains simultaneously.” - Miller, D.L., Tichota, K,.White, J. (2009).
• “Sullivan has revealed that the symptoms of children with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) are relieved after contact with nature. The greener the setting, the more the relief.” – Taylor, A., Kuo, F. & Sullivan, W. (2001).
• “Children who regularly have positive personal experiences with the natural world show more advanced motor fitness, including coordination, balance and agility.” - Fjortoft, Ingunn (2001).

In addition to the learning benefits to boredom and time in nature, there is also the issue of free play. This article from Parenting Science explores over a decade of studies about the benefits of unstructured play time. The author is careful to note that free play does not mean physcial education classes or sports. Free play is just that. Unstructured play time, which is proven to help math skills, language development, and creative problem solving.

• “Play and exploration trigger the secretion of BDNF, a substance essential for the growth of brain cells.”
• “Psychologist Edward Fisher analyzed 46 published studies of the cognitive benefits of play (Fisher 1999). He found that “sociodramatic play”—what happens when kids pretend together—’results in improved performances in both cognitive-linguistic and social affective domains.’”

And finally, before you schedule a summer of busy stimulation, consider this article and advice from Simplicity Parenting writer Kim John Payne. He says:

“[When Google is hiring they say] ‘we’re less concerned about grades and transcripts and more interested in how you think.’”

If we rewind to a childhood that makes an adult like that, what do we see? Is it racing around from one prep course to another? From soccer to piano to Mandarin? A childhood on the clock and filling up the gaps with zoning on the iPad and obsessing about making more friends on Facebook?

I don’t think so.

When we really look at what happens for a kid when they slow down, tune in to themselves, take space and get busy in serious play, we can see that what they are learning is how to be create a kind of inner structure that will serve them (and us) well in the world ahead. … Play provides a deep and wide-reaching  domain for kids to experiment with the real work of the real world.”

 

The mind and the body are not separate; they function as one. Waldorf Educators believe that, for children, learning without movement can be difficult. Waldorf educators also deeply know and study the mind body connection in regards to learning. Nothing represents this Waldorf culmination of physical and intellectual togetherness quite like the Fifth grade Pentathlon.

Fifth grade students are transitioning in development. After having come to realize the isolated self in third grade, they have grown into this reality and are now ready to look at the world around them in an ordered sense (space and time) to better understand their place within that world.

When it comes to physical education, the students are ready to emerge gently from the world of cooperative-only games and into the world of individual competition – a necessary transition before the sixth grade introduction of team-based sports.

These mind and body elements of readiness combine with Main lesson teachings of history and culture. Class 5 studies ancient history stretching from 3000 BC to 300 BC beginning with ancient India, moving to Persian culture the Chaldeans, Hebrews, Assyrians, Babylonians, Egyptians and ending with Greeks.

So as the end of the Class five Main Lesson school year wraps up Greek History, the end of the Class 5 Physical Education school years ends with a five event Greek Pentathlon: discus, javelin, wrestling, long jump and running. In gym class throughout the year, students will have prepared for their individual events and then will compete in an all day Pentathlon festival with other regional Waldorf schools.

Here are all six of the Fifth Grade classes in the 2013, Ann Arbor Pentathlon, singing Glorious Apollo together for the first time.

Article Sources:

Waldorf Education: A family Guide

Millenial Child: The Waldorf Curriculum: Grade Five

Chicago Waldorf School: Why The Pentathlon

Students get to choose a choral piece to share with the community and this year Class 7 & 8 chose Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen.

To see more videos from our Spring Program, check out our SGWS YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/amyhecky

Once again, SGWS graduate, Isabella Sparhawk, makes the news. She has not only been granted a patent for her science project work this year; her project has also advanced to be judged at Intel ISEF, the world’s largest international pre-college science competition. The Intel fair is this week, May 12 to 17, and offers cash awards ranging from $1,000 to $100,000. Good luck Isabella!

Congratulations also go out to SGWS alumni, Timothy Fries, who has received the Second Year Distinguished Scholar award from Muskingum University, where he ranks in the top 5 percent in academics for his graduating class. Fries was also inducted into the Omicron Delta Kappa, the National Leadership Honor Society this year.