Any parents familiar with the Waldorf School of the Peninsula and the Waldorf method in general?
My son is now 5 and will be starting Kindergarten in September. We're in the middle of the process of selecting the school.
Today I took a tour of the Los Altos based Waldorf School of the Peninsula (http://www.waldorfpeninsula.org/).
The Waldorf approach is quite different from public schools, with key differences being lack of testing, integration of a holistic approach that includes music, art, speech, movement, handwork, etc.
The campus itself is beautiful and the staff seems dedicated. But I'm not sure I can get on board with an approach that rules out media and electronics until much later in life, and puts off reading education until very late.
Has anyone here had children attend this school or studied/researched the Waldorf method?
5 Answers
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I just took a tour of Waldorf School of the Peninsula as well - fascinating! I didn't know very much about Waldorf, and I'm still learning, but here are some initial observations:
- I was struck by the aptness of having children start with the beginning of (european) human literature and recorded history (fables and fairytales in 1st and 2nd grade) and proceed outward, spiralling through ages and cultures to Norse mythology, Egypt, India, middle ages, landing in the midst of revolutions (French, Russian) in 8th grade. Each year building on the story of the previous year, and getting developmentally more advanced at the same time.
- It seems all the children there can draw at least as well as I can. Very impressive, but necessary?
- I was surprised in this day and age to see desks arranged in rows facing the blackboard. I thought we'd learned that learning that way was not as good as learning by doing, interactively, in small groups, teaching each other, etc.
- The campus and mood were both incredibly idyllic, calm, inviting, without appearing overtly pretentious or wealthy (as a private school might). If anything, it seemed humble, modest, pure.
- I really liked that prior classes had built the garden structures - a gazebo, a shed, a brick-fired oven - using math skills and problem solving and teamwork, and leaving a legacy to future classes to share. I agree that that might help students feel a connection to the campus, and each other, and wondered why that doesn't seem to happen intentionally in public schools as well.
- Team, competitive sports are not encouraged until the later grades, and then competition is only with other Waldorf schools. Maybe it's a good idea for children to hold off on competition, but would sending my child there mean that I'd decided they'd never be able to participate in sports competitively?
- Teachers and classes stay together from 1st to 8th grade - 1 general instruction teacher stays with the class all 8 years, subject-matter experts stay constant as well. That seems great if you have the best teacher you could ever hope for, and good social dynamics all around, and risky if at any point it's no longer true.
- In general, it struck me as if it was an incredibly bold-and-futuristic-for-the-1900s teaching approach locked in time. In one of the articles about Waldorf that we took home, a Waldorf teacher said that he was convinced that the best education was one that was "Back to the Future".
Personally, I'm not worried by the late reading instruction or starting homework in 3rd grade - I've never seen evidence to support that earlier is better (actually the opposite - Finland graduates students who are top-of-the-world in highschool despite not starting formal schooling until age 7), and I'm not worried that my particular children will have trouble with either (the only issue I'd foresee is if a child is going to have trouble with reading that greater maturity / later-in-development instruction doesn't solve, in that case, the child may need late diagnoses and remedial help to catch up).
The school was very clear that they think they're a great match only for certain children or certain families, but I'm not personally clear on who those children and families might be.
It seemed a more a radical departure from mainstream curricula and pedagogy than I'd expected. In some ways both more free (less testing, more creativity), and more rigid (seemed to hold closely to Steiner's teachings from a century ago).
I look forward to hearing from others on this! I'm curious - what did you decide for your son, Stephen, and why?
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I also visited the Waldorf School of the Peninsula, and was also struck by how calm and inviting the campus was.
But, all the while, it somehow gave me an odd feeling of "this isn't right". The kids in the classrooms were too docile. Almost too co-operative to demonstrate their skills (a flute concert and signing, as well as drawing). It felt very odd.
Upon further investigation, I started to read a bit more into the Waldorf philosophy. I found some extremely disturbing data, and at this point, would not send my children to a Waldorf school under almost any circumstance. I'll outline a couple of things that really stuck out:
- Waldorf schools teach that left-handedness is something that needs to be corrected, and left-handed children are taught to write with their right hand.
- The science curriculum isn't just lacking, it's factually incorrect. For example, chemistry is taught in terms of the elements of air, fire, water, earth. Evolution is not taught, etc. See this detailed paper: http://www.awsna.org/jelinekarticle.pdf
- The extremely odd connection with Anthroposophy and the questions about whether Waldorf is secular or not. (in other words: Is Anthrosophy a religion?) This is extremely troubling to me from an educational perspective, as Anthroposophy is rooted in extremely bizarre spiritual and psychic beliefs.
- There are no textbooks. At first, I thought this was a good thing, but then I realized that what it amounts to is teachers presenting facts, and students taking them at face value, and generally "making their own textbook" by copying the information down with accompanying drawings. This doesn't feel like exploration and learning to me.
- The expectation that the Waldorf philosophy would be taken into the home, in the form of zero-media, zero-technology. At some level I find this idea interesting, but I feel as though the expectation that I put my children in a media-free world through grade school is too isolationist.
- The transition from Waldorf to non-Waldorf was unclear to me. The school seemed to imply that students did equally well to their traditionally schooled counterparts, but from what I saw from the lack of depth & rigor in the curriculum, it was very unclear to me that it would be an easy transition after the first year or two of Waldorf grade school.
- It was unclear to me what the students actually did all day. "Main Lesson" was 90 minutes of something, but it was unclear what. The faculty did not give a clear description of how the day progressed, which set off some alarms for me.
- Eurythmy. Why would you teach "Movement" and "Eurythmy" as 2 separate disciplines? Something very fishy is going on here, and reading up on Eurythmy has shown that it's also rooted in Anthroposophy
In the end, I've come to the conclusion that there are lots of interesting and great parts of the Waldorf philosophies, but that the entire system is heavily laced and underpinned by extremely disturbing pseudo-spiritual, pseudo-religious beliefs. I would not send my children to a Waldorf school.
More interesting reading:
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Hi! I saw this question on Twitter and am happy to chime in with a few notes from our website. We don't have any parent surveys from this particular school, but please take a look around our website. You may find notes from parents on other great preschools in your area.
We also have an article that covers the different kinds of preschools: Waldorf, Reggio Emilia, Montessori, play based, and so on. You may find it helpful in your preschool search.
We have tons of other information about preschools and early childhood education. We welcome you to come and take a look around!
Ashley O'Neill - Editor in Chief, The Savvy Source
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I have a lifelong friend who put both her girls in a Waldorf School in Eugene Oregon. It is affiliated with the school here in Los Altos. She told me that due to the late introduction of reading and other "abstract" skills that they couldn't transition them to a non-waldorf school until college! So since they put them in this private school, they had to be prepared to keep them in this private school all the way through because the things they were learning weren't in the same order as other schools. But I also saw what you observed Steve, that they weren't learning the same content as other school children learn especially in the sciences. Math is not as rigorous and the main emphasis is on hand skills, like knitting and drawing. I loved the dedication to the arts, but just as in public schools, an imbalance is not good.
Just as large an issue as the ones I list above, the pressure by the school to isolate your family from media and other families who don't conform to the same ways of living as they do stink of a cult. Yes, I said it. A CULT. After three years of my friends membersip to this school, she cut all ties to me and her family members who weren't willing to comform to the same media free lifestyle as they had. I knew something was seriously amiss when I went to visit and my friend confiscated all my things that contained a screen or a computer. that's right, she took my phone and my camera as soon as I walked in the door! She said she couldn't allow her chldren to be exposed to these items. She wouldn't even allow me to talk about a movie or TV show I had seen.
I hope anyo/ne who goes to visit a Waldorf school will keep their eyes WIDE open and not just see the warm fuzzy welcoming nature of it.
I am a student at the Waldorf School of the Peninsula and I think that it is an amazing school. I think that having a teacher from 1st-8th grade, creates a strong bond. When we have problems, we can go to her/him. If you have a different teacher every year, you always have to find new trust. Our cassmates, really family, help to boost our confidence, and support us. Waldorf doesn't neccsearily have anything against technology. For example, I have my own laptop, phone and ipod, but thats not my life. They inforce, no technology at school in elementrey and some in middle school, it helps you think outside the box. We can be our own calculators. Our teacher, for the past five years has taken us to tahoe, skiing, snowboarding, snow shoe, surfing, hiking, swimming, biking, kayaking, paddle boarding, roller blading, ice skating, tide pooling, backpacking, camping, and much much more. We are one big family. They are totally fine with competitive sports through any age. That is really the parents descision. Though they advise that you wait some time before to much competition, they inforce healthy compitition, and not arguement. While, we learn, we can be creative and have fun. We almost always have a choice. Whether to do an essay on nutrition on "Why Organic" or "Why a balanced diet". We want to be healthy. Everyday we have morning math, plus an extra period almost everyday of the week. Waldorf really has a good balance of creativeness and academics. Some of our most respected graduates from walsorf were Sandra Bullock, playing in the proposal, the blind side, all about steve, and many more. As well as Jennifer Aniston, playing in the brake up, buttercup, miley and me, etc. I had a strange expierience. Since first to fith grade i was at waldorf. in fith i switched schools. it was an all girls school. There i would walk out, and everyone was like a robot eyes glued on their laptop. I was ready to move! Have some fun, make new friends. I couldn't stand it! I needed make use of my time, really learn things. Not games. I also noticed, kids can't focus on laptopps, all kids really do now are games. So why not wait a little longer so that they can enjoy childhood and have fun, enjoying life at it's fullest. Kids on laptobs twenty-four seven...Is that really what we want our future todo? Or do we want our future to live their life thoroughly. Each person is unique, and no one is boring. I don't understand how docile kids are bad. We respect each other, our teacher, and any adult. But we know how to stand up for ourselves. I think that this is an important factor to have in life. Some children have a different learning style. Before letting a child join, they interview them. Wanting this school to be the right choice for the kids. So it really depends on the child, and for some people, this learing technique way not fit them. They want to be there for the kids, so that the school fits them. If you are doubting waldorf from your tour, do you really know waldorf? I have been here for six years. Take some advice from me, a waldorf student.
- Sally, Nov 22, 2011
I share your impressions, you did a good job writing it up.
The other concerns I have are regarding the complete media blackout rules and the dress code (solid colors, no images) -- but especially I'm concerned with the very high immunization exemption rate.
We haven't yet decided for Sammy. We've applied to three schools so far. My first choice is Stevenson PACT, but Kimi's first choice is Waldorf.
- Stephen M., Mar 3, 2011