What do you know about Steiner schools?

[hunkermunker]

Anyone been to one? Sending their children to one? Know children who go?

Hi SSSandy
What a great local school you must have-That's brilliant!
I think the Wynstones steiner school can do something like that, and also half the cost for other siblings.Just too far to travel every day ( 30 miles)
My local one is an Acorn school, and I have visited, and they sadly dont lower the cost due to income
DS1 has ADHD, and struggling atm at mainstream, even the child psychologist was pro steiner, and said it would be brilliant for him.
I have considered home schooling, but just couldn't give enought attention, as I have 2 others under 3.
Ah well

Hang on, queenceleste, you were being wishy-washy in not identifying the people you were accusing of being 'self-appointed-posters-in-charge-of-tone', you now concede that you were talking about me so it would appear that i was right to be offended and to question it.

I think bullying takes many forms, queenceleste, and whispering about people but not saying anything to their face was not pleasant at school, nor is the equivalent now. not that i have any issues about school, by the way, overall mine was fine.

Since you brought it up, i think my response to the 'ugh' was completely valid. as i read it, typoppet had been appallingly rude. as it turned out, she hadn't been and it was sorted within about two posts... later i was happy to post in support of typoppet when i thought she was getting an unreasonably hard time.

you and i are just going to have to disagree on this one. i don't remember voting you in as a 'poster in charge of tone' (which would presumably make you self-appointed?) and yet you came onto a perfectly reasonable thread and pulled non-specific people up for their behaviour.

as i said, if you had posted a new thread no-one need have taken it personally and another discussion might have been had. Likewise if you had posted on any one of the infinitely more aggressive threads which abound on mumsnet.

but given that it was directed at me, as i gather from what you have just posted, i have every right to take it personally and to feel 'got at' by you.

As for the 'elves' i really think typoppet handled herself very well in the face of that fun-poking, and it had long since died by the time you came along to post. plus, not that i was part of that element of the conversation, 'it was a joke'. which i for one don't really have a problem with.

Got DS1 into Steiner kindergarten as alternative to local state primary where he was really miserable. He's now 10 and wild horses wouldn't drag him out of the Steiner school. DS2 had a good experience in Steiner kindergarten. I'm unhappy with quality of teaching now he's in the classes, but, again, he would have to be dragged kicking and screaming to another school. DH and I are both Oxford grads, we know, when the time comes we'll get them tutored if needs be, not worried about that. Had a gut reaction against too much TV/computer even before I knew anything about Steiner. The kids are perfectly computer literate from the time they get on it at home, they certainly don't need it at school, yet.
Lots of kids these days don't respect authority - that depends on how you raise them as much as what they learn at school.

I think that it depends a lot on the family whether the Steiner school is right for them. I send my son to a normal state school, but I have met Steiner children and they have all been fine.

A Steiner school would never have worked for our family. We like our computers and modern toys too much. Also being practicing christians we would have had problems with some of the Steiner beliefs. My son was desperate to read at the age of two and now loves reading at five.

Every family is different. I have met some lovely Steiner families through La Leche League.

Prehaps the answer is to go the mother and toddler group of the school that you are interested in and make your own decision.

I happened across this discussion by accident.

I have been a Steiner parent for 8 years in both New York city and now in England - son 12 and daughter 9.

I just cannot believe the myths and ignorance that I have read here FROM PEOPLE WHO HAVE NEVER SET FOOT in one of these schools!

• Some children DO go to Oxbridge, Havard & other "Ivy League" universities. Some don't.
• It is not a religious school, but Religious Instruction is one subject, discussed in the context of history and philosophy.
• Our basketball teams are unstoppable because of the "dance" [eurythmy] that the children do: it enhances their spatial awareness, balance, grace, etc. Basketball is a "competitive" sport.
• Homeopathic medicine is a choice I have made for my family. It has nothing to do with the school which has no policy on alternative medicine as far as I am aware.
• TV and computers are not recommended until they are older (9) because there are so many better ways to spend your time when you are a child. (a) There were very, very few overweight children in a gathering of 425 Steiner 10-12 year-olds that gathered for the Olympic event that happens every year. (b) Very few wear glasses. (c) I am not aware of any children with ADD/ADHD in the two schools we have been to. Many of us parents and educators feel these 3 facts are related to the restriction of TV in their early years.
• No self-knitted uniforms! Cute idea! No uniform at all, but rules state no logos, cartoons etc as they are distracting - one way and another.
• A teacher who is committed to an eight year stint with your child from age 6 to 14, is bound to work on the relationship with that child and its parents. It often feels like we have a third parent to help us raise our children; the teacher's love for your child and their investment in the outcome of each child is an advantage that can't be overlooked.
• Well-rounded young people emerge from this education: they can ALL add, read, knit, draw, sculpt, build, farm, do science, do metal work, philosophise, write, act, debate, present, sing, play at least one instrument, read music, etc etc.
• In general, these students develop a healthy respect for their elders and peers, and for nature and the planet (long before the Green Movement took off).

I hope this demystifies some of the nonsense, the gossip, and uninformed opinion - and maybe will encourage you to go to one of the frequent Open Mornings . . . .
. . . I wish I'd been to a school that gave me so many opportunities to develop skills as well as an academic education.