One evening the other week, out of the blue, it seemed, Malcolm told us a story most earnestly. It began with: "Long ago when we lived in the desert, and our skin was brown," and he told the story as if he had been there. It featured a bush that was burning without flames (I asked, "You mean it didn't burn up?" "Yes," he replied), and a man named Moses, and people who made us work at building big houses shaped like triangles. Then God said that he would make those people let us go. Then there were a whole lot of frogs, and terrible storms, and the mean people didn't have a nice Christmas, only the good people did. We had to make bread really fast, before the rooster crowed to say the time was up, and it was flat, but yummy. (I was starting to figure it out. "You ate matzah?!" "Yes!") There was also a magic food that appeared when there was no other food to be had, which tasted like everybody's favourite thing. ("Was it called manna?" "Yes!")

"And then Moses brought us to Canada in his car."

"Was it Addie's mother who told you those stories?" I asked, having noticed Camelia at the school that day. "Yes!"

Passover was almost upon us, and Camelia had shared its rich tradition with the Kindergarten in a way that left a deep impression on my son. I sent her an e-mail, relating what Malcolm had told us. She wrote back, "He was rapt during the storytelling and enjoyed getting all full of flour and making the matzah... I set my little kitchen timer [in the shape of a rooster] and gave them the prescribed 18 minutes to make the matzah, from the time you add the water to the flour till you bake it and, in our case, eat it. He was quite concerned that we work within the time frame and, with his help, we managed to do it!"

That evening, we looked up the story of the first Passover and the flight of the Israelites from Egypt in the book of Exodus in the Bible, and found some pictures of the pyramids at Giza on the internet, all of which he found fascinating. That night he said he wanted to learn all about the history of the whole world.

Great storytelling and hands-on experience motivating children to learn - the Waldorf way.

Heather Holm