When you walk into the yard at Stargarden, you first cross through an arbor, a very clear threshold which says to you and your child, welcome–you are here now.  And then, when you walk back out at the end of class, you feel a closure.  Thresholds are important, for children and adults!

In addition to the lovely play spaces, covered in the shade of a beautiful canopy of trees, there are the chickens, gardens and other animals living in a happy, natural sort of way. Nothing at Stargarden feels overly manicured, which is a big piece of the magic you feel when you are there.  A long-haired goat wanders up to the fence, and so you give him an apple that has fallen from a tree nearby, and he munches contentedly.  Then, from inside the animals’ yard, you watch as a chicken walks over to the goat and begins scratching at the ground for treats. Meanwhile, in the children’s play yard, a myriad collection of trikes, little scooters, carts and wagons is bustling with activity as the children move with purpose, and the parents move with them.  Small conversations spring up here and there between parents, and some children eat a little snack.  It’s a very natural feeling place.

At Stargarden, songs are used at every transition, to mark coming together as a group, to signal the children to participate in a certain activity (ex: washing hands, sitting at the table), and just for fun too.  We sang a lot of songs about friends, the natural world, animals, and children.  One song asked the question, what kind of world would we live in, if all the children lived in peace with each other?  (And the grown-up children too!)

Miss Vicki is a wonderful storyteller and her little puppets and small felt creatures made for very satisfying props.  All the children were enchanted, even the ones who had been here last year, and probably heard the same story, and sang all the same songs before.  One child who had attended last year, waited with such eager anticipation, it was clear that the repetition only heightened the interest and magic of the experience.

In a brief conversation with Miss Vicki at the end of the morning, she mentioned that next week at that time, we would be doing a craft together.  She said that children prefer when the adults around them are engaged in industrious activity, and that chattering adults make children feel anxious, which is why they are always trying to interrupt us when there is too much “chatter”.  She said children feel much more at peace when the adults’ hands are busy. This made me feel better about the many moments I am with my daughter and also needing to do housework of some kind.  I sometimes feel like I should just be paying attention to her, playing with her, etc…  Miss Vicki said, no, on the contrary, children are trying to learn how to be human, how to eventually behave like an adult, and tasks like mundane housework are important for children to see us doing.  This reminds me of a book I’m reading, called _The Soul of Discipline_ by Kim John Payne (author of _Simplicity Parenting_), which says that there is no such thing as a disobedient child, only a disoriented one.  Children seek to be oriented, and my sense is that witnessing parents and other adults in their environment as stable, industrious and present, creates a very orienting effect.

I look forward to continued mornings at Stargarden, learning alongside my daughter.