O.k., so I don’t know about other Waldorf schools, but ours is definitely not “mainstream.” I’m not going to get into it here, but suffice it to say that it is about as not mainstream as you can get. One of the many things that has come to seem normal to us, but is — alas — actually quite bizarre at first glance is the fact that most of the children bring their lunch to school in baskets. From an outsider’s perspective it appears very odd– the sight of all these children, grades pre-K through 8, walking into school each morning carrying baskets. Very few backpacks, very few lunch boxes, very few school bags… but lots and lots and lots of baskets. Anyhoo… K & O have never brought baskets to school. From the start I thought it would be absolutely crazy to give them their lunches in baskets — because I know my boys and I knew they’d swing them around and lose all their lunch stuff. And they didn’t seem to notice (or if they did, they sure didn’t care) that most other children were carrying baskets while they weren’t. But that was when they were 3. Now they’re 4. And kindergarteners. And what a difference a year makes!! By the end of the first week of school Kyle was asking for a “lunch basket.” Then, of course, Owen jumped on the bandwagon and started nagging me for a “lunch basket” too. I asked why they wanted this. They said (of course!), “because everyone else has lunch baskets!” I said, “well don’t you want to be different from everyone else?” and they looked at me like I was crazy and said (of course!), “NO!!!” Well, coincidentally, my mom is a Shaker Basket Maker. I asked her to bring some basket stuff with her when she came for this visit. So, sure enough, yesterday afternoon, the boys made their very own “lunch baskets” with MorMor. And this morning they could not wait to go to school with their lunches in their baskets. In the car, before pulling out of the garage, they even asked me to “take a picture” of them with their baskets. It was a huge deal to them to have their lunch baskets today. You wouldn’t believe how excited these two boys can get over things like this. Kyle, literally, hasn’t stopped talking about his basket for the past 24 hours. So, now, K & O have had another wish come true: Waldorf Lunch Baskets. And MorMor can add this to her long list of crazy/interesting/bizarre/or, in her words–“unique”– things that have gone on around here during this visit. đŸ˜‰
