The Light Within and With That We Share
It's the second Monday morning in December, which means the school will be gathering shortly in the Festival Hall for it's second Festival of Light Emerging assembly of the year. It is one of several holdings the students have a this time of year that allow them to live into the impusles that accompany the darkening days.
There is a busyness that’s easy to get enveloped in this time of year as parents and caregivers — a busyness driven by the desire to create joy for our loved ones and express our deepest gratitude. We can become swept up in the pressure to get it all 'right,' turning this busyness into overwhelm and making it difficult to find our own joy, which can feel elusive or lost altogether.
For our children, within these walls, things look quite different. This time of year is honored through a deepening practice of slowing down, quiet observation and reflection, and inward exploration. The darkening days provide the perfect canvas to journey inward, connect with the light that resides within, and bring it forward to illuminate the way for others. In this expression, we just might recognize the light in another as one we all share. This exploration of light begins with the Lantern Walk in the fall and continues through the Festival of Light Emerging, the Winter Spiral, and Santa Lucia.
Monday mornings in December begin with an all-school assembly honoring the Festival of Light Emerging. Our students join in a dimly lit Festival Hall where they are met with a familiar sequence of greetings, song, story, verse, and candle lighting — all wrapped in a dependable cloak of reverence. One student from each grade is tapped prior to the assembly to light a candle for their class. Starting with 12th and ending with 1st, they come to the stage one by one to light their candle from the same flame. This light then travels back to their classroom by way of their teacher, students following close behind.
This week, our students will walk the Winter Spiral. A pathway outlined in evergreens will form a spiral leading to a single candle lit at the center. Students will follow the spiral, unlit candle in hand, until they reach the light at the center, which they’ll use to light their own. On their path out — different from the one taken in — they will choose a place to set their now-lit candle, illuminating the way for those who follow. Although the spiral of carefully laid evergreens may appear unchanged, each individual’s journey within it will be distinctly different— inherently their own.
This Friday, each classroom will be visited by second graders, singing proudly and adorned in white tunics and handmade crowns. They'll bring Santa Lucia buns to share, a symbol of light and hope. They’ll carry a mood of reverence, extending a gesture of generosity, and be met with gratitude.
These are experiences aligned with the rhythm of the natural world, which call us to pause, to embrace the quiet moments, and to hold space for the light we carry within and the light we see in others. For our children, their education includes a foundation in the lifelong practice of journeying inward and an intrinsic desire to share their discoveries with others.
It makes me wonder for us as adults - in our busyness to share light with others, are we bypassing our journey inward? If so, what is it that we are truly sharing?
Unfolding these experiences, both within the school and within our homes, is not without effort. Maybe more so at this time of year, it can be difficult to decipher meaningful effort from the simple busyness that fills our days. A question to consider might be if our efforts are drawing us toward connection within ourselves and with one another or pulling us away. While everyone's journey is uniquely theirs to know, we can be respectful observers and provide one another grace for what cannot be seen. In the end, it's not doing it 'right' that brings us closer, but rather how we feel when we are together.
In this shared space of reflection and grace, we create a community that is deeply rooted in presence and understanding. May we continue to walk this path together, embracing the beauty of the season and the peace that comes when we allow ourselves to be led by its natural rhythm.
Shared with us by Alexandra Wheatlake, Community Liaison
Adult Winter Spiral
Walking the Winter Spiral is a Waldorf tradition that is celebrated as the days grow their darkest. Each person walks the Winter Spiral together, taking turns to quietly carry an unlit candle along a spiral evergreen pathway leading to a single lit candle at its center. As each candle is illuminated, it is brought outward and placed along the spiral- expanding the light and shining brightly together for those that follow. It is a reminder that within each of us is our own light and beauty- so that we may move forward in the darkest season ahead, radiating our gifts with one another, and contributing to make the light
How Waldorf Students Learn Without Textbooks
The absence of textbooks in Waldorf schools is often one of the first differences new families notice. To some, it feels unusual- even unsettling. But in truth, it reflects one of the deepest commitments of Waldorf education: that learning should be alive, creative, and rooted in the will of the student.
Instead of relying on pre-packaged content, Waldorf students create “main lesson books”- handmade records of their learning that combine writing, art, and reflection of the material brought to them throughout each 4 week block. These books are not mere assignments; they are acts of will. Each page requires the student to digest information, internalize it deeply, and then transform it into something meaningful. In this way, students aren’t just studying historical dates, authors names, or scientific formulas- they are carefully curating knowledge through their own effort.
The role of the teacher is equally transformative. Without a textbook to pull information from, Waldorf teachers fully immerse themselves in their subject. Lessons are not recited from a script, but woven together from diverse and creative sources- books, nature, field trips – their own lived experience and accounts of those that came before. This keeps content flexible and responsive to the times, allowing teachers to remain deeply relevant in a fast-changing world. To this effect, an artistic rendering of history may often be closer to truth than a standardized account in a textbook. Parents are often surprised at how rich these books become, not just in content but in the artistry and thoughtfulness behind them.
The implications for subjects like science and math are profound. Physics lessons, for example, begin with phenomena- a flame in a darkened room, a lever lifting a car- before moving toward concepts and theories. In math, students work through problems as living puzzles rather than rote drills, building confidence as well as understanding. This experiential, phenomena-first approach ensures that knowledge arises from observation and thought, not mere memorization.
Of course, the absence of textbooks does not mean the absence of rigor or thorough understanding. Waldorf teachers map their work carefully to state standards, ensuring that students are up to appropriate standards fully prepared for college admittance. In many cases, the curriculum goes beyond what is required, offering a richer and more integrated experience than traditional models.
To rely on a textbook is to accept a single lens on the world- one that is often shaped by politics or cultural bias. To teach without one is to embrace freedom, responsibility, and creativity. In doing so, Waldorf educators cultivate not only knowledgeable students but also independent thinkers who can meet the future with clarity and will.
'Tis the Season of Michaelmas
This week we celebrated Michaelmas — and with it, we welcome a new season.
In Waldorf education, we honor the turning of the seasons through festivals. These are more than celebrations — they turn our regard toward the rhythms of the Earth and offer an invitation to recalibrate, to harmonize with it.
At this time of year, within the walls of the school, glances of dismay are often exchanged at the entanglement and unfolding of circumstances. Inevitably, someone speaks “Michaelmas” into the space, and expressions soften — followed by a knowing, collective nod.
Michaelmas marks the beginning of the inward exploration that will continue through the winter months. This journey begins with uncovering the courage that lies within, so that we may face what lies ahead.
Michaelmas often appears as a series of calamities — false starts, a mirage of finish lines, unusual and unpredictable errors, and a gradual collapse of the confidences we claimed over the summer.
This is the work of ‘dragons’ — in full force — challenging us with great precision.
There is wisdom in their timing — rising as daylight shrinks, as darkness gains its foothold, and as the cool air draws us indoors. It is in the darkness — in our separation from one another and from the Earth — that they grow.
While no one can fight our dragons for us, or even often alongside us, others can help lift the shadows they cast. It is light that loosens their grip. When we allow others the honor of witnessing our battles, of witnessing our courage, we illuminate what was once murky, overwhelming, and isolating — not just within ourselves, but within those who witness us.
Are all dragons of this world external forces that we are called upon to vanquish? Or do some dragons serve as mirrors — revealing what lies within — asking not to be slain, but understood, worked with, tamed, even harnessed?
Though the days grow shorter, we are not without light. Though we travel inward, we are not retreating. This season primes us to find new sources of light and of strength — in ourselves, in each other, in our shared stories, and in the quiet resilience that rises when we walk together.
For our grades students, Michaelmas is songs, stories, verses, and poems of Michael and a Field Day filled with games that ignite their forces of will. For our High Schoolers, it is making ‘Fire Cider’ in cooking class, holding the Field Day games for our grades students, and for one lucky senior – playing the role of Michael cloaked in red and gold and wielding a sword of meteoric iron (cardboard)!
To support you in your journey and give you a window into your students’ lives at the school:
- Morning Singing - Michaelmas
- A guide to making Fire Cider
- The Reel composed by Sarah Box of Field Day
"Brave and true I will be.
Each good deed sets me free.
Each kind word makes me strong.
I will fight for the right, I will conquer the wrong"
Grateful to have this community to be brave with.