Waldorf Pentathlon (Part 1)

What is that? Why are you writing about the Waldorf Pentathlon? I totally have no idea what you are talking about. Sighs... Let me provide some insight about it. For the people who are really close to me, they are aware that my daughter, Kay is a fifth grader at the Alabama Waldorf School in Birmingham. I have to say, it is a great school especially good for her and I have please with the level of academic work that has been given to her. In the fifth grade, the children participate in the Pentathlon (somewhat like the Olympic Games). So why in the fifth grade.... The Pentathlon, done in conjunction with Alabama Waldorf School, Linden Waldorf School (Nashville, Tennessee), Suncoast Waldorf School (Palm Harbor, Florida), Sunrise School of Miami (Miami, Florida), The Waldorf School of Atlanta (Decatur, Georgia), and The Waldorf School of Louisville (Louisville, Kentucky), is an important event. The children experience firsthand the wonderful harmony of body and soul that led the Greeks to feel themselves at home in the physical world. In the Waldorf curriculum, children are at a threshold between the imaginative cooperative games of childhood and the competitive oppositional sports of adolescence. This year they stand all alone. Individually they must meet these five events and the challenges of technique, discipline, competition and consequences. The children a are arranged into teams representing 5 Greek City-States, and each City-State is a mixture of students from all the schools. They wear tunics they made representing the Greek city states of Sparta, Athens, Corinth and Thebes. Every child participates in every event The City-State leaders are usually class teachers, and the Event Leaders are usually movement teachers. The children will throw the javelin and discus, do the long jump, run relays and wrestle, just as the Greek athletes did it in the 8th to 6th centuries B.C. The modern Olympic pentathlon looks much different with pistol shooting, epee fencing, show jumping, swimming and 3-k cross country run. The games had the trappings of an Olympics with the lighting of the flame, Olympic music and march of the athletes from the six participating schools. Let me share some of the pictures from Day One of the Pentathlon, believe me it is a beautiful event. Next blog post will describe the significance of the each event and the history behind each one.

If you are wondering, Kaylen is on SPARTA and mommy is very proud of her. It is so hard to watch her grow up. This event really is a rite of passage for each child. As a mother, it is hard to let go. Feel free to comment or ask questions. Until Next Time...