New Preschool Year!!

We are so excited!  This year will be magical!

Here are a few things we're especially excited about...

Today the children and I started working on our new and improved "Nature Hut".  This one is taller and has more room to roam than it's predecessor.  Come the cold and rainy season it will be a wonderful place to huddle and get warm together...and even get out of the rain.  One of the children today suggested that we should drink hot chocolate with marshmallows in the hut!  Yum!  Well...maybe for a REALLY special occasion...but more likely we'll just have some herbal tea!

We have some baby chicks on their way from Murray McMurray hatchery!!  (As seen above in all their cute glory!)  The children love to watch them grow...and of course name them.  And collecting their white...brown...and even greenish blue eggs never get's old!

We also have plans for some special new things to do throughout the year.  Special outings...new activities...some more fun seasonal baked goods...and just more imaginative fun!

Of course the year will be filled as always with all kinds of songs and rhymes...games...puppet plays...and fairy enchantment!  We can't wait!

Girls Entering Puberty Younger and Younger...

Recently I have seen a few articles that speak of how girls as young as 7 years old are entering puberty.  I'm sure that all conscientious parents would want to delay their child's entering puberty as long as possible so as to avoid their child having to deal with the emotional and physical challenges that accompany it.  But not only that...early puberty is being linked to increased chances of breast cancer.

I bring this to your attention...so you can keep your eyes out for those things that are speculated to trigger the early development...and to keep your child away from them!

So what is causing this?  Most of the articles have "experts" saying something similar to the following...

"He speculates that its primary driver may be overweight and obesity, because estrogen is sequestered in fat tissue.  But environmental exposures to chemicals - including pesticides and endocrine-disrupting chemicals like bisphenol A, commonly found in plastics, and phthalates, which are contained in many personal-care products - could also play a role."

Many in the Waldorf community already believe that those things are poor for your health...and have adjusted their lifestyles.  Using metals and glasses instead of plastics.  Avoiding growth hormones in foods and other pesticides and herbicides by eating organic.  Watching the things that come into our bodies by eating and even what we absorb through our skin.

Here is some good advice...

"Until we know what the cause is, the best way to slow puberty may be to “start living green,” says Biro. “It may help for families eat together and to consume well-balanced diets. Regular physical activity may help, too.”