Lizabeth: Yes, the teacher is the crux, isn’t it?

Scribbler: I always appreciate hearing people’s impressions of Waldorf school, as I honestly feel a bit of a fake sometimes writing about them: since I haven’t been either a teacher or a school parent, but somewhere in between for so long. I like what you said about the teaching being absorbed on many levels, which reminds me of the spiral image that is one way to look at the progression of the curriculum over the years–coming back to a subject, but from a different perspective.

Alida: I think public schools really have no idea how to deal with oddballs, no less the time or energy. That’s one of the consequences of both the origins of US public schooling that I mentioned, and the current overemphasis on testing: it’s all focused on numbers and not human beings!

Nana: You were certainly a great role model of an involved parent. And your comments about fundraising remind me how sad it is that so much money is spent on schools and yet it never seems to be enough.

California spends a great deal of its education budget on children with special needs (and this category does not include the gifted). This is a very noble endeavor, however there is not enough left to properly educate the so called “normal” kids.

And now for the caveat.
Public schools in affluent neighborhoods enjoy the benefit of parents who are able to donate a tremendous amount of time and money in assisting their children’s schools. I was the PTA President at both the elementary and high school level. The major focus was, and still is, fundraising.
Anthromama’s high school had an entire football stadium and swimming pool built due to parents matching the school district dollar for dollar for the cost. Upgraded computers and other expensive equipment are routinely donated.

In affluent neighborhoods the expectation is that 90+% of each graduating class will go on to enroll in higher education; and I’m talking higher education at some of the most prestigious universities in the country.

Where does that leave those students from low to moderate income neighborhoods? Struggling, that’s where.

Whether a child goes to a public or private school is not as important as parental involvement and oversight. Parents must demand what is best for their children regardless of the choice of which school to send them.

I’m not familiar with Waldorf. I am familiar with my experience in a private school from 1st through 12th. Also in my older kids public education. (The best public schools in southern California) I can’t really say anything terrible about the experience except that they left me and my kids lacking of experiences.

My small kids are…how can I put this? They are creative, courteous and curious. (real oddballs)
My daughter dances her way down the grocery store aisles. I can’t imagine her sitting in a classroom. She doesn’t like following directions and likes to invent new ways to do things.

I don’t think a teacher with 19 or 23 other kids would have the patience to deal with her, nor should she. I, however have all day long.

My son read at 4 with very little, if any formal instruction. He is a rule follower. He likes to know beforehand, what’s going to happen. He is sensitive. He is slow to acclimate to changes. He doesn’t like messy projects.

I fear that he would be labeled, that his curious spirit would be crushed. I have time to nurture his strengths and strengthen his weaknesses.

I homeschool because I think it’s best for my kids. There are many good schools out there and many more great teachers. I think you really have to seek them out and be an advocate for your kids. In other words you have to be “that” parent that no one likes to see coming. So be it.

Good luck and remember, you decision doesn’t have to be life-long. Take it one year at a time.

I have to say that I have no experience of what Waldorf is like in America. Although the Hungarian Waldorf schools are slowly developing their own styles, they are still heavily influenced by the first teachers in the 90 who got their training in Germany and Austria.

Where my children go to school, they’re big on parents visiting the classroom, so I’ve seen quite a few hours of instruction time. Yes, the teachers are authority figures, but because the method involves lots of activity (singing, playing music, dancing, making things, learning games, drama) during the first few years, the teacher doesn’t have so much trouble keeping the children under control, because s/he isn’t trying to get small children to sit still and be quiet. The children’s abundant energy is shepherded into productive activity, and the children learn to trust that being guided by the teacher is pleasant and rewarding. With time, the children do more things quietly at their desk, as fits their level of maturity. Being quiet and concentrating IS a desirable skill and virtue in a human being, but is something to be grown into naturally, and not forced on one too early in life.

What, in my observations, sets a Waldorf “upbringing” (the best translation I can think of for the German word Erziehung) apart from public schooling is the way the material the teacher brings to the classroom is dealt with in a manner that allows it to soak through all levels consciousness, all the way into the deepest levels of the subconscious, so that it really becomes a part of the pupil, and isn’t just superficially handled as abstract intellectual concepts. What a Waldorf pupil knows, s/he really KNOWS! It is a part of them. Their schooling builds the history of human civilization into their personalities in such a way that it will be an internal resource available to them for the rest of their lives.

If a Waldorf child learns about sacred architecture, s/he sees it, touches it (visits an old church, for instance), draws it, calculates it, sings it (singing Latin church hymns meant to echo in the church vaults), personalizes it (hearing biography of a famous church architect) and builds it (making a model). And that’s still just scratching the surface of what goes on in a (good) Waldorf classroom.

As a Rosicrucian, I have noticed that the incorporation of so many “rituals” in the classroom serves to place the life of the class in a bigger, spiritual context, and in which the children learn to respect the sublime rhythms and mysteries of the world. And the way things are revealed to them through the various dramas they participate in (the first graders’ “test of courage” in the forest, for instance) makes their experience initiatory, through which they learn from internal experiences and are made aware that they are passing from one level of “consciousness” to another (i.e. that they are growing up physically, emotionally, intellectually and spiritually).

Indeed, there could be room for improvement, and there are surely elements of the system that are vestiges of older systems, but for my children, I cannot imagine better schooling, including teaching them myself.

Nice photos too.

Gypsy: It could be that things have changed. I still suspect that a lot of public teachers’ time is spent directly on socialization, of the “sit down and be quiet” variety. And certainly things in Waldorf could be different, but I think there’s still food for thought regarding authority and social class.

Bex: Aren’t these decisions difficult? I’m always waffling between wanting my kids to have the social aspect of being with a bunch of other kids, and then not!

URD: That is a fairly big issue in my experience in Waldorf and anthroposophical circles. The traditional family structure you describe is also traditional to some extent in the Waldorf world, especially in families with young children. For example, until recently there were very few Waldorf preschools (and those only a few hours a week) or infant daycares, because the belief is that it’s best for small children to be home.

I have no problem with the concept of one parent being home while the other works, but certainly it should not be compelled or assumed to be gender specific. I would want the decision to be made freely–why can’t it be the dad at home, for example? When my oldest was born, I had been earning more money than my husband, so theoretically I should have gone back to work!

And I have no clue as to how one would effectively work to change them from within (start with the PTA? Uh-oh)