One might hear this word banded about in Waldorf education but what does it actually mean and why is it so important? Children need rhythm just as much as they need food for their physical and emotional health. They cannot set it for themselves and need the adults in their lives to establish a rhythm for them. As we enter the first weeks of Autumn you will start to hear a shift in the songs and stories told as it is the teacher’s responsibility to provide the ordering of the day, the week, the year; for the rhythms of inbreathing and outbreathing, this gesture of contractions and expansion over the course of the year. Parents and caregivers can provide this stability also by setting routines in their daily lives, a rhythm that suits their own individual family. Over the next few weeks the school will be preparing for and celebrating our Harvest Festival, and what a wonderful way to celebrate the rhythm of the year, the season of Autumn and the bountiful produce that we all can enjoy.
