Washington Waldorf School - Children's Garden and LS

[Anonymous]

We were offered a slot here and have to decide by next Friday. But it's been tough to find current or former parents/students to best understand how the school functions. We'd be grateful for hear from those who attended, please.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We were offered a slot here and have to decide by next Friday. But it's been tough to find current or former parents/students to best understand how the school functions. We'd be grateful for hear from those who attended, please.

Not a parent or past attendee, but I like the idea of Waldorf. Especially the outdoor time and electronics free atmosphere. Zero level of pretentious, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We were offered a slot here and have to decide by next Friday. But it's been tough to find current or former parents/students to best understand how the school functions. We'd be grateful for hear from those who attended, please.

Not a parent or past attendee, but I like the idea of Waldorf. Especially the outdoor time and electronics free atmosphere. Zero level of pretentious, too.

Same here. Seems like a nice way to go school. I suspect this board is too uptight to have any useful information.

[Anonymous]

I read the birthday cut off for first grade is you have to be 6 May 31st ? Are they instituting an automatic redshirtting for summer birthdays?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I read the birthday cut off for first grade is you have to be 6 May 31st ? Are they instituting an automatic redshirtting for summer birthdays?

Well, might as well just institutionalize the norm.

[Anonymous]

As a parent of a non redshirted August birthday kid who isn't at Waldorf, I love that they do this. I think all schools should make a hard line and stick to it, no matter what that date may be.

[Anonymous]

Waldorf schools are great for early childhood IMO. Lots of outdoor time, imaginative play, understanding nature and its cycles, art.

For the elementary school years, it’s quite a bit less academic than mainstream public or private schools. Kids don’t learn to read or write until the average age of 7. That’s where the cutoff of 6 years by May 31 comes from. So I think you need to be willing to stick the course at least until or possibly through middle school, since transitioning to mainstream schools in elementary could be challenging. An NYT article some years ago interviewed Waldorf educators and some said that it wasn’t great for kids with learning differences, often because they don’t get detected until quite late.
The other piece to consider is how much of Steiner’s original philosophy is a part of the curriculum. Some of his ideas are racist and others would definitely be considered controversial.

[Anonymous]

This appears to be the article referenced: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/19/parenting/waldorf-school.html

[Anonymous]

We loved it for our kids when they were 2 - 4 years old. Then, we had other priorities for their education. Waldorf is great for littles - so much outside time and time spent manipulating real things - baking bread, cutting apples (kid appropriate knife), etc. When we got to the pre-k/kinder stage, we decided the school was too small and we wanted more focus on something else. But it was wonderful for those few years. The teachers and parents are very nice, but be prepared to put away your cell phone, your plastics, and to be outdoorsy. You just need to be able to go with their flow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Waldorf schools are great for early childhood IMO. Lots of outdoor time, imaginative play, understanding nature and its cycles, art.

For the elementary school years, it’s quite a bit less academic than mainstream public or private schools. Kids don’t learn to read or write until the average age of 7. That’s where the cutoff of 6 years by May 31 comes from. So I think you need to be willing to stick the course at least until or possibly through middle school, since transitioning to mainstream schools in elementary could be challenging. An NYT article some years ago interviewed Waldorf educators and some said that it wasn’t great for kids with learning differences, often because they don’t get detected until quite late.
The other piece to consider is how much of Steiner’s original philosophy is a part of the curriculum. Some of his ideas are racist and others would definitely be considered controversial.

NP - this is a spot on analysis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Waldorf schools are great for early childhood IMO. Lots of outdoor time, imaginative play, understanding nature and its cycles, art.

For the elementary school years, it’s quite a bit less academic than mainstream public or private schools. Kids don’t learn to read or write until the average age of 7. That’s where the cutoff of 6 years by May 31 comes from. So I think you need to be willing to stick the course at least until or possibly through middle school, since transitioning to mainstream schools in elementary could be challenging. An NYT article some years ago interviewed Waldorf educators and some said that it wasn’t great for kids with learning differences, often because they don’t get detected until quite late.
The other piece to consider is how much of Steiner’s original philosophy is a part of the curriculum. Some of his ideas are racist and others would definitely be considered controversial.

~raising hand~ This is 100% true. We loved Acorn Hill Nursery and Kindergarten, but a Waldorf school is not equipped to identify (or address) e.g., gross and fine motor coordination issues, something that mainstream preschool teachers would identify and raise.

I'm still glad my DC went there, but equally glad that he didn't stay past preschool.

[Anonymous]

We loved Waldorf for our early elementary kid during the pandemic. So much better than virtual school! It’s got a great back-to-basics approach with tons of time outside in nature, movement incorporated throughout the day, art/music, fine motor skills with knitting and other activities, etc. And no technology in the classroom at that age is really beneficial. I was so grateful for our child’s time in Waldorf! And while they didn’t explicitly “teach” reading until age 7, he was already reading from exposure to books.l, so it’s not like he fell behind. Their teaching strategies for math are also really interesting and intuitive.

[Anonymous]

Do you like finger knitting and raw milk cheese for snack?