Steiner Schools?

[McDreamy]

Just watched Melinda Messenger on This Morning talk about Steiner Schools. She talked with such a passion and the ethos behind them sounded fantastic.

What do you think of them? Are our schools too focused on results tables etc, have we forgot how to teach and nurture the individual child?

DD starts school in September so I currently have no experience of schools yet.

[McDreamy]

I was impressed too, I thought she came across really well. Not reading until is 7 very late isn't it? But is that because it's not the "norm" as she said.

My DD is 4 and is itching to learn and can write her name and her brothers name very well but she goes to Pre School so is it as a result of that?

[Sixer]

they sound great, have goggled our local Steiner school. Unfortunatly there is no way we could afford it. Definately more natural for children. Just keep thinking how well rounded the children from northern europe are. at least the ones I know. and they didn't start the learning process until 7.

[allgonebellyup]

my sis is always talking about Steiner schools, she really doesnt want any child of hers growing up with the national curriculum.
My sister's mate went to Steiner schools, didnt learn to read until 7, and went on to get the highest first for his degree in his year at oxford university..

[SSSandy2]

I think this whole business with learning to read at 7 may have something to do with the entrance age for German schools which used to be 6 1/2-7, now they start school in Sept of the year they turn 6. They don't read and write at kindergarten,just play. Many dp choose to delay entry for a year too so their dc will "have more from their childhood". Personally I find 4 way too early but I suppose it depends how you go about it.

I am considering a Waldorf school here but am unsure what to think of it. I am not too happy about the eurythmy. I find it contrived to use a particular body movement or gesture for each sound and then put them together to enact text, same with music. If I have understood the concept correctly, I don't much like it.

[portonovo]

Actually, German kindergarten are usually much more formal and structured than pre-school and even reception here. I think it's the same on a lot of the continent too, or it used to be when I lived abroad.

People seem to praise the European system a lot, but it's not as perfect as it's made out to be.

[SSSandy2]

The German kindergartens that my daughter attended had no formal instruction of any kind. The dc play indoors and outdoors and on quite rare occasions go on a trip but that's it.

School is entirely different. Frontal lessons, very structured and things like copying text from the blackboard into a book. After it's corrected, rewriting it up in another book. There was no half-way house or gradual adjustment from play to formal schooling

[SSSandy2]

I wasn't on the whole impressed with dd's experiences. If I have another dc here, I would choose not to send him/her to kindergarten at all and probably not place the dc in the German school system either (since I'm currently trying to get dd out!)

[ChipButty]

Try and visit your local state school before you make a decision. Just because there is a National Curriculum, it doesn't mean that the children aren't valued and nurtured as individuals.

[donewithnappies]

Hi Sssandy

Don't worry about the eurythmy! It's not something to understand. The children just get it - and us adults are always trying to intellectualise things . . .

I have been a Steiner / Waldorf parent for 8 years in New York city and here in UK. Recommend you try to get to an Open Morning or whatever your local school holds if you haven't already.

My 2 learned to officially read at age 6 - but could do writing and reading of whatever took their fancy prior to that. I read to them every night until they were 8 and 10. Now they spell and read with astonishing vigour. Their vocabulary is huge.

There are such opportunities to be had in an education that addresses the Whole being of the child, and is not just stuffing their heads with information and facts to be regurgitated for exams.