Every Wednesday our members get to ask Waldorf teacher Diane Power questions about their homeschooling experience, Waldorf education and more. These Q & A sessions are posted on the member blog every week so you have access to all the past Q & A sessions. Become a member of Earthschooling to get your questions answered personally every week.
Question from Member: Hi Diane, I have a question about a rainbow ceremony. I know they hold it at Waldorf schools at the end of the last Kindergarten year to celebrate the transition to the first grade. Do you think it would be appropriate to make something similar for a child at home? Or perhaps there is some other way to make this milestone memorable? – N.L.
Reply from Diane: At my school, we held a rose ceremony for the children leaving Kindergarten. The 8th grade class welcomed them with a rose as each new first grader met their new teacher. Then in the spring, the first grade class would gift the 8th graders a rose for the 8th grade graduation.
We also had a birthday celebration in the early childhood classes where the child celebrating their birthday would walk over “the rainbow bridge” as they symbolically came to earth on the day of their birth.
I think it would be completely appropriate to celebrate this transition from EC to the grades at home. You could have a “graduation ceremony,” gift the child with a rose (or have an older sibling/family member/friend do it), make/buy a candle to use for first grade and light it for the first time on their last day of EC, or find another item that’s a symbol for the child to gift to them as a celebration of what they’ve achieved.
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