Been offered a place at a STEINER NURSERY, any experience?

[QuintessentialShadows]

My nearly 3 year old son has been offered a place at a Steiner Nursery. Does anybody have any experience of this kind of nursery?

[QuintessentialShadows]

Anyone?

[concerned123]

Go and ask on the education board - there are loads of post about Steiner there - good, bad and indifferent.

[collision]

I think there are billions of threads on Steiner schools and the consensus is not good.

There will be someone to come and do a link for you.

[stripeymama]

Oh heck...

You will get lots and lots of answers shortly I am sure.

In fact you will probably drown in them.

[BlinkingNoraWotzThat]

how have you missed all the discussions?

[slim22]

Are you serious QS?

Have you not seen those threads?

Brace yourself, there are a gazillion posts on the subject.

[bringmesunshine]

barking should be along soon to give you all the advice you need

[QuintessentialShadows]

I have never really been interested in Steiner, my son has gone to a Montessori nurery. He was due to start a "regular" nursery this august (we have moved to Norway) and but today the local Steiner Nursery rang and said they had heard from the other nursery that I had a small boy without a nursery plac.

I am pretty desparate as I have no childcare....

[QuintessentialShadows]

Their website seems impressive, they talk about preparing the child for mastering life by plenty of physical activity, sports, crafts, carpentry....

[slim22]

If it's a temporary thing until you get a place elsewhere then don't read any comment and go ahead.
If you look at it from a purely opportunistic point of view, why not, it's all "little house in the prairie". OK for very young toddlers.
But look actively for something else and educate yourself about steiner so as not to fall in the trap.

[bringmesunshine]

Something about a Bee being hugely significant, reincarnation and your left ear lobe....or something...where is Barking when you need her?

[BlinkingNoraWotzThat]

Quint do a quick search on MN and have a read.

[CoteDAzur]

Look up "Anthroposophy" and see if you are comfortable with that as the philosophy behind teaching your child will receive.

You might also like to know that Waldorf Steiner schools are considered a cult in France and in Belgium. Not sure about other European countries because my (Latin) language skills are limited to English and French.

France: June 1999 parliamentary report on cults in France. Anthroposophy is mentioned alongside Scientology.

(Head of this inquiry was sued by Steiner schools but was cleared in appeal. The report is still on government website.)

Belgium: 1997 parliamentary inquiry into cults operating in Belgium.

See page 228, table of cults in Belgium. No: 8 is Anthroposophy, linked on that table with 'Steiner pedagogy'.

[Maria33]

My kids are in a Steiner nursery. Everyone is very nice but (and this is the big but) they do have very strong beliefs about what children do and don't need. They don't like kids watching any tv, kids are not given access to cognitive learning till they are 7 (it's not just that they don't have to read, it's that there are no books, numbers, letters or even pencils in the nursery at all). Children need routine (they call it ryhthm), fresh air, imaginative play, reverence and wonder. I think that a key difference between Steiner and Montessorri, is that Montessorri sees meaningful play as play that leads to cognitive learning, whereas Steiner KG's value imaginative play for it's own sake above everything else...

[DianaW]

I worked in a Steiner nursery for parts of 3 different school years. I will be back and give you some links and a bit of my own experience (be forewarned I am one of the "Waldorf critics" anthroposophists will tell you I am sent directly by Satan as I've been speaking out about it for several years).

However, I am in a way different time zone from you (eastern US) and about to leave to go out to dinner. So you will probably be asleep before I can get back to post more, but please check back.

[Maria33]

Perhaps I should add, I ignore alot of their guidance and have carried on raising my kids pretty much as I always have. They can recommend that my three year old do this and that at home, but in the end, it's up to me what I do at home....

I'm not that into the philosphy, I just couldn't see my very active five year old son coping with hours of worksheets with Key Stage 1...

Good Luck !

[northernrefugee39]

Hi Cote! Nice to have you back!

Quint, my youngest was in kindy for two years. She liked it at first, but by the end I had to literally drag her. She hated it. She changed from a lively funny confident child to a silent hiding scared one.The teacher said she was fine when i wasn't there. (I don't believe that now I know how dishonest the whole Steiner set up is )(Now she's back to her old self thank god)

There was a litle girl, who was so traumatised by kindy and first yr school at Steiner there, that she became a selective mute. At 8 she didn't make any sound EVER at school, not a word or whimper.
Often the kids are left totally unsupervised, which gives free rein for the natural bullies to vent the full force of their powers.
My daughter(obviously left handed) was "encouraged" to use her right hand,i.e. she felt she was "wrong" if she used her left( by seven yrs old she was made to knit right handed!) I was seething when I found out. Anthroiposophical belief sees being left handed as a karmic weakness.
The thing which is hardest, and why the anthroposophists like to r"ecruit" at kindergarten, is that transfering to mainstream is hard, when the children are discouraged from even seeing the written word or looking at books. Catch them and the parents young.

It's easy to be seduced by the beauty, the apparent gentle child centred haven of prolonged innocence.
The real motives, anthroposophical , go very deep, are a pseudo religion about reincarnation, spirit worlds, white aryan races being the race which is the pinnicle of superior spirituality.



www.waldorfcritics.org

www.easeonline.org

[northernrefugee39]

www.chase.org.uk

www.waldorf-problems.com

[Janni]

Don't do it as a form of 'childcare'. Nothing in Steiner is run for the benefit of parents and you will be expected to incorporate some of their philosopophy into your daily life if your child is to fit in there. Your child will also be behind academically if and when you move them to another school.

[QuintessentialShadows]

Bloody hell.


No wonder they are not full when all other nurseries in the city is...

I have a meeting with the nursery at 2 pm today, to look around.

It is only till August, so will have to carefully consider the pros and cons.
It is seriously not working out with me looking after him 24/7 as I am here to help look after my elderly parents. And I have my own job (from home) that I am really behind with after just 3 weeks here.

What questions should I ask?

How do they structure the day?
How to they discipline the children?
What is considered naughtyness?
How do they deal with children hitting or kicking other children?

What else?

[CoteDAzur]

Questions for Steiner nursery:

What do you think about reincarnation?

What/who is 'Ahriman'?

Why are you convinced that it is wrong for children to learn to read before their adult teeth start coming in?

Are gnomes real?

What exactly is the 'morning verse' that is recited every morning in every class, even nursery? Why does it talk about "the soul who lives in me"?

Have fun

[QuintessentialShadows]

I cann see this meeting will be amusing on soooo many levels....