My family was fortunate enough to learn about the Waldorf School at Moraine Farm when our daughter, Madeleine (now 6), was a baby. At that time, a friend enthusiastically recommended that we sign up for a Parent & Child session. Although the commute from our Marblehead home to the school’s location in Beverly was slightly daunting, experiencing the magic of that first class quickly turned our attention to learning as much as we could about the Waldorf philosophy and the rest is history. After two years in the delightful Parent & Child program and two years in a warm and nurturing Nursery program, our daughter is now a curious and thriving second year Kindergartener in a class full of imaginative and often hilarious children.

When we moved to the North Shore from Cambridge, we were initially without a community. For us, the Waldorf School at Moraine Farm became our community. We found empathetic parents and teachers who cared for our child as they would their own. We watched our daughter become engaged and fascinated with nature as she explored how far she could dig, how high she could climb, and how much of one enormous puddle she could come home with on her person. We watched her compassion and empathy blossom, which has been priceless. We witnessed her commence her first true friendship with fearless confidence and were equally impressed as she navigated playground conflict resolution. We basked in the glow of a child who went to school and felt safe, encouraged, and loved. We watched her simply be. No desks, no rote memorization, no pressure to perform childhood.

This past year, we began the journey again with our son, Henry, who will turn 2 in just a couple of months. Our wish for him is that he is able to create his own adventure, just like his big sister. We truly believe Madeleine’s experience at the Waldorf School at Moraine Farm is distinct and unique and could not have been realized anywhere else.

All of this is why we give.

The Beaudoin Family

We were blessed to find the Waldorf school 11 years ago. We initially sought out to find a gentle and natured based nursery school experience for our then 2 year old son. He was very shy and quiet so we wanted a small class size. He was also not ready for 5 full days away from mom so we specifically narrowed our search down to schools with 3 day options.

We had heard about Montessori and Waldorf educations online and quickly dug into exploring the different approaches. We visited the 3 local options and felt an immediate sense of peace and a warm familiarity at the Waldorf School. We observed many things that were important to our family. Good wholesome food, a loving environment and calm adults who were soft spoken instead of yelling at rowdy kids. Then we learned about the wooden toys, silks and sheepskins for tactile support and cozy corners instead of time outs. It all made sense. We enrolled our quiet boy in nursery and Heidi started parent and child with our second son who was an infant. We met wonderful friends on that very first day of school. Again, a comfortable feeling and supportive like-minded community. It was an easy transition with no tears. We came for nursery never intending to stay until 8th grade. But here we are!

What we discovered was that a Waldorf education focuses on stimulating the body and the brain together so more neurons are connecting. Simply put, nerves that are wired together fire together. You are more likely to remember something when you have engaged many parts of your brain together. This is so much better than memorization! Both Heidi and Lee are chiropractors so we know movement is critical to learning. We also saw how the age appropriate sensory play here stimulated the brain and nervous system. It aligned perfectly.

But the time our first son was thriving in 1st grade we asked ourselves, how could we NOT offer this to our other children? We brought our 3rd child, a girl, to parent and child right from the start and soaked in every moment. We have fond memories of huck-a-buck bread and honey butter, singing songs and snuggling with sheepskins reading books.

Fast forward 11 years later that sweet innocent boy is now in 7th grade at WSMF and he STILL has those same friends we met that very first day. We still have the strong and supportive loving community that we are proud to call family. It truly takes a village and we are so proud to have this group help shape our children into strong and confident, kind people who love to learn.

This is why we give.

The Zohn Family

When Paul and I returned with Alexander (then five) and Aylin (three) from our nine-year sailing circumnavigation of the globe, we looked for a school that would mirror the experiences to which they had been exposed during our life away. We sought an environment that would continue to nurture their innate curiosity, let them take risks, and allow them to learn through experiencing the world around them. We wanted a place where they would feel understood, heard, loved, respected, and supported. Finding and then joining this Waldorf community was a perfect fit.

We are now in our third year at the school, and continue to be amazed at the wonder of Waldorf at work. Our children ask questions, challenge what they hear, and explore to learn. Our kindergartener is working with her classmates to build ever-more-complicated forts and learning about cooperation, collaboration, balance, physics, and architecture without realizing she is doing so. “You could use the big rocks too,” she exclaims, “but they are harder to balance!”

Our second grader is encouraged to discover patterns in the multiplication table that help him understand the “why” and “how” of it, while also retaining the “what.” “Three by two is six,” he explains. “And thirty by two is sixty, but three by twenty is also sixty!”

To ensure our school’s continued development and success, my husband Paul and I give to the Waldorf School at Moraine Farm Fund every year. I encourage you to join me in supporting this wonderful educational community!

The Robertson Baran Family

Our son, Gavin, graduated from the Waldorf School at Moraine Farm in 2016. He is proficient in two foreign languages, plays violin in the school orchestra, plays two varsity sports, and maintains a grade point that lands him on “high honors” each semester. We credit his success to the process of learning that was his foundation here at the Waldorf School. It is not “what” he learned, but rather, how he learned it. It is not “academic rigor” that got him where he is, but rather the experiential environment and collaboration with his teachers and peers that won the day. Since then, natural curiosity and a steadfast work ethic have continued his success.

We continue to give and be contributors to the school in the wider hope that we can bring about meaningful change to our world. It can happen through the thoughtful, meaningful, and purposeful education of our youth. It is their creative and imaginative minds who will address the challenges of the next century. We are the springboard that vaults them to those endeavors.

Whatever goes on in our lives, it is inherent in our nature to be contributing to the communities we inhabit. Being contributors changes the way we think of ourselves and how we view our world. We live lives of gratitude and live as though we always have abundance from which to give: abundance of time, energy, talent. It is a value we hope to pass on to our son.

It has been a privilege to be a part of this school and the community. It has added much to all our lives and is, the single greatest gift we have given to Gavin. He continues to be the closest of friends with former classmates and now says, “Thanks for making me go to Waldorf!”. We look forward to many more years of involvement in whatever form it takes and encourage all community members to join us in our passion for this unique and rich experience for the next generation of entrepreneurs.

Chris Dowley & Laura Freysinger

From the moment we first arrived at the Moraine Farm campus seven years ago with our then-three-year-old daughter, we knew we had found something completely different than anything we had seen before. Waldorf had been recommended to us by a friend who knew our style of parenting and who also knew we were struggling to find a place that would complement it.

Walking into the nursery classroom on that very first day, we felt the warmth, the peace, and the quiet comfort of that space and immediately connected with it. We quickly realized that—from the wooden toys, the soft pastel colors, the natural materials, and delicious wafts of wholesome soup and bread, this was a place where everything was thoughtfully considered. After only one visit, we knew we had found
a place where we could trust that our daughter’s childhood would be honored, where her innate intelligence as a human being would be respected, and where her spirit would be nourished.

We are happy to say, we were right on all accounts.

Seven years later, we now have a thriving fourth grader and first grader, who consider this school to be a second home. At an uncertain time and in an uncertain world where our sense of community is being eroded through tendencies toward social and cultural isolation, our school community presents our family with an oasis.

Every day, our children walk through the front doors of the Waldorf School at Moraine Farm and come into a place where they are not only deeply known as individuals, but loved—truly loved—by a caring group of teachers and adults who have come to have a consistent and meaningful presence in their lives. In addition to the beautiful and challenging education they are engaged in, the nurturing they are
experiencing of their social and emotional health, the reverence they are developing for the natural world and for all beings, there is one gift that stands out above all others and it is encompassed in this simple statement: the teachers, staff, and so many of our fellow parents in this vibrant community at the Waldorf School at Moraine Farm know and love our children—and we, theirs. Thanks to this school,
our “village” is strong.

That is why we give.
Megan and Jack Hogan