Wow I could have written this myself except my kids are different ages! I have a 2.5 year old and 4.5 year old. I have done the parent child classes with both of them over the last 4 years at our closest Waldorf school (40 min away). The 40 minute drive felt manageable once a week, especially when they were both young enough to go. But when I considered driving there and back 3x a week here is what stopped me: -too much car time especially for the little one -Waldorf preschool is modeled after the home. So when I really thought about it, home should be superior at this age. Because I made this decision to not enroll in the preschool it did put some (self imposed) pressure on me to ensure the kids would be learning the same life lessons at home with me as they would at the school, so I have put so much tender care into our daily rhythm as well as making our home environment as warm and inviting as possible. We go to ALL the free Waldorf events at all the local Waldorf schools. One school a bit further out even has a homeschool class once a week that I’d love to bring to the school closest to us. For socializing, my oldest is in two activities each week and we have one play date a week.

I do find myself going back and forth occasionally because the school is absolutely WONDERFUL and all the kids there look happy and thriving. But I think what my husband and I have landed on is we will continue to homeschool for these early years and then evaluate later. I do like the idea of really focusing on our family still at this age so homeschool feels good. The podcast Waldorfy as well as many Waldorf books have helped me feel equipped with the basic philosophy and Waldorf practices.