This year we are very fortunate to have on our staff the talented Mr. Matan who not only manages the farm animals and teaches Environmental Education and Games classes, but is also a gifted artist in the crafts curriculum.
This past fall and winter, Mr. Matan led a group of parents in a discovery of spoon making. But first, a wooden mallet had to be fashioned which would be a major tool for creating the spoon. This project familiarized us with the use of a hatchet to create the general lines of the mallet, and then the drawing blade to refine the shape. This took us through the fall session. When the class resumed at the end of January, another length of split wood (some cherry, some pecan) was offered to begin again with the ax to expose the general shape of a spoon. Surely here there is some outer force that guides the hand as a mostly straight chunk of wood takes shape. After the hatchet, the drawing blade to further outline the spoon shape, and finally the mallet and gouge to round the shape and well of the spoon and the handle.
Each evening began with a short description of one aspect Waldorf education that awakens one to the miracle of child development and how this awakening is nurtured through the curriculum. It was agreed that the whole experience was a new way of learning with heart and hands!
