Reply to Information on Park School or Friends School in Baltimore?

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[quote=Anonymous]The simple answer to "Why Waldorf over Friends or Park": admissions. My child wasn't accepted at Friends or at Park, but was at Waldorf. (Things are easier at both Friends and Park now than they were then, but there are still no guarantees either place; I know of a very gifted child this year who was admitted to Friends but not to Park).

But I think it worked out better than I could possibly have anticipated. My DC is quite gifted academically (not socially!) and wouldn't have been challenged in terms of reading, math, etc. at either Park or Friends. That didn't matter; he wasn't bored to tears (the way he had been at a more conventional school) because the curriculum was so engaging, it retained his interest even when the precise material was familiar or easily mastered. Moreover, he encountered challenges at Waldorf. Maybe not academically, but in other ways: in being expected to draw. To pursue a musical instrument. To act in plays. To learn both German and Spanish. Music and arts were not things he'd ever enjoyed before, he was the kid who never drew or sang, and he didn't enjoy playing an instrument in preschool. Hated being the center of attention, so I was sure he'd hate acting. Didn't matter, EVERY one participated in these things. Much to everyone's surprise, he discovered a talent in these things. (He's now very active in the performing arts in high school). It never would have happened in an environment where kids self-select for different pursuits depending on what they perceive as their talents.

I found Waldorf an incredibly nurturing environment. I loved the sense of wonder they help instill in the children. I also value how they're protected from a lot of the toxic aspects of our society - very few kids watch much if any TV, and it's just not part of the culture. So you won't see any 9-year-old girls fretting that they need to go on a diet, or 9-year-old boys acting out roles from action movies. Instead you'll see kids digging in the sand box imagining that the rock they've found covers the tunnel to a magical kingdom beneath the earth...

Were I to do things over again, I'd have sent both my children there from preschool on.[/quote]

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