Enchanted Winter Village Faire

By Robert Bernstein

The Waldorf School of Santa Barbara (in Goleta!) hosted an Enchanted Winter Village Faire fundraiser event this past Saturday.

Here are all my photos!

This lovely angel welcomed me with her birds when I arrived

And there was this young angel as well

I had bicycled over to the event to be a part of our Early Music Ensemble concert performance. Here was our group, all dressed in red for Valentine’s Day! Huge thanks to Katie Saxon (far left) who has been directing us with expertise, patience and humor!

Of course there was food! Baked goods:

And tamales, rice and beans

Prepared by staff on site:

Plenty of crafts for sale. This woman was spinning at the end of one of the crafts tables

The classrooms were open, showing off the art work the students had created

And there were some rather unique games. Like “Ice Skating”!

And a game involving “snowballs”!

And there was “Sledding”!

Here is a very brief video clip of a very brief sledding experience!

In addition to our Early Music Ensemble, there were other musical performances non-stop

There was even a Tea Garden, though the Tea Party had not started while I was there

I sat and talked at some length with a sixth grade student named Ben. He was very bright and was happy to answer my many questions about what the Waldorf School is all about.

The two words he used a lot were “Spiritual” and “Connected”. They do not teach any particular religion. Instead, they teach the students to experience what is “spiritual” wherever they go and whatever they do. They go out in nature to experience “spirituality” there.

They take all of the usual subjects of math, science, English and the arts. But they are taught the “connectedness” of everything with everything they learn.

I asked if this included learning about diverse cultures and he said yes. In eighth grade the students are expected to do fund raising for a big trip to explore another place. In recent years the travel has taken them to Hawaii. But when it is time for his class to travel there is a chance they will go to Argentina.

In my limited experience at the school that day, I witnessed a lot of happy, bright students and many parents who were engaged in making the school a success.