waldorf steiner

[heninthemidden]

hi,

anyone had good experience of waldorf steiner education system?

The typeface is round to invoke the spirit world as Steiner believed the astral body was a perfect circle, hence the rounded corners off everything including the architecture, furniture, toys, gardens, even the paper the children paint on.

Sagittar

I find the posts boasting about their early reading age an insult to any dislexic child.
selfish and discriminatory in a subttle way.

eh? How is that an insult to a dyslexic child? I was using my own experiences to respond to this ...

"Many worldwide studies have shown that the later a child learns to read (around 6-7) the better reader they will be as an adult. If a child starts too early they will learn to read but they will never be a fluent reader as an adult. This again can be difficult for parents as society expects children to be more and more academic at an early age."

... which all about reading age!

my experience for what it's worth:

My son attended playschool at the london steiner house (regent's park).
I loved the whole cocoon athmosphere, back to nature, nurturing the child's soul with simple soothing repetitive routines,etc....

But I was well aware of what anthroposophy is and could 'decode' the language.
They ARE looneys. As long as you know and don't let yourself and your kids be manipulated in the long run, kindergarten is fine.

I used their set up in a purely opportunistic way because the athmosphere in their preschool was way better that any of the crap westminster/camden had to offer at a reasonable premium.

I would also consider Steiner's for kindergarten but not for higher education for various reasons which have a lot to do with their views of the world and out of bounds teenagers and crazy hippies who seek to convert you.

One more thing to consider: the general German baccalaureat is not the same as the exams they take in the Steiner school and going to uni, etc. or working abroad is more difficult for their graduates.

FWIW, I was also a very early reader and am now a fluent reader in 6 languages and just because I'm talking about myself doesn't mean an offense to anyone else. It's a fact and has nothing to do with anyone else. So maybe that dyslexic child you speak about can paint or sing much better than any of its peers. No insult to me. Each to their own. One CAN overdose on political correctness, you know.

People have boasted about how early they can read... well done!!! so what is the point of this boasting? did you learn how to drive down the moterway at 80 miles an hour at the age of two aswell?

It's got nothing to do with boasting, woman. We made our statements because ecokiwi brought up some bollocks about children who learn to read early are unable to be fluent readers later in life. You going off on one is laughable and has nothing to do with this thread. If you have nothing to contribute but misunderstood pc-ness, just leave it be.

[hides thread and shakes head]

thecaty - No-one has claimed that their ability to read at an early age makes them in any way a better or more valuable person, or is a sign of higher intelligence, or relevant to anything other than a discussion about learning to read. They are only "boasting" about it to show that the assertion that learning to read early damages fluency is complete nonsense.

thecaty - You are a moron.

Now, that would be an "insult". Do you see the difference?

I said I read at age 3 and went on to be a very fluent reader of three languages. It was not "boasting" but an answer to ecokiwi's silly claim that "If a child starts too early they will learn to read but they will never be a fluent reader as an adult"

Since nobody else misunderstood the responses to this statement as "boasting", I dare say you seem to have a problem with English comprehension.

When did you start to read? Maybe we can prove to ecokiwi that not only early readers can be very fluent readers but also that late readers might not develop into fluent readers as adults.

Clearly Ecowiki is deluded. The 'study' will have most probably come out of an anthroposophical paper peer reviewed by other Steiner fruitcakes to keep new woolly thinkers in the fold.

This all sounds very strange. Hardly know anything about Steiner schools but a couple of people earlier mentioned biodynamics. That's pretty accepted isn't it? I can buy biodynamic wine at my local supermarket.

Talking of woolly thinking, to embrace this type of ethereal, mystical, clairvoyant flapdoodle will make fools of your children. It will make fools of them because it stops them asking questions and isolates them from engaging with the scientific method.

By all means have fairytales but let your children know they are just that.

I wouldn't mind it if Steiner schools were upfront about their spiritual/mystical/reincarnation approach to education.

Why makes me is that they don't even tell you (the parent) any of this. Probably because you don't matter much since the body you gave birth to is only a shell the soul reincarnates into

I went to three open days, listened to various speeches by teachers on their 'system', and had one-on-one chats with them. Nobody at any point mentioned any of the words God, spirit, reincarnation, etc. If they had, I would have been out of there in a heartbeat.

CoteDAzure, yes full disclosure would be a good start. But if they did that they wouldn't survive.

They would still get some business from the hippier mums among us, but obviously not anything like today's demand.

Good grief! and
'Gnomes that live beneath the earth and push plants upwards...'

We're easily taken in, aren't we? I'll stick to organic wine. Possibly need some now.

'Science hasn't proven our efficacy yet' eh? Damn that evidence, it just won't do what I want.

Certainly round us I don't think you need full disclosure.

Reading the newsletter and seeing someone sign off with 'fairy blessings' was enough to have my fey hippy loon detector ratcheting off the scale...

Biodynamics is interesting - like Steiner, 20% interesting theory, and 80% utter cobblers which is treated like holy writ.

But I seem to remember that the moonphases planting does give stronger plants etc than normal planting.

The cowhorns, howver, rank with the gnomes,

Forgive me if I sound a little horticultural about this, but the link undeceivingourselves explains why it works, it's just that the reasoning is faulty.

Fairy Blessings!

In other words, some thoughtful choices may work but have nothing to do with spiritual insight. Or moonphases.

Garden gnomes have always worried me. Now I know why.

CoteDAzur
When was Tv invented? 1940's? and when did Steiner die? 1923?
If your statement is correct then Steiner must have been good at predicting the future.
If this is how accurate your arguments are then it is easy to see where you are comming from.
I tell my CDs a story every night ( made up) and some times gnomes feature in them and my children love my stories even my ten year old. But then most of the hundreds of thousands of Steiner school children are good listeners... some thing very rare these days!

"But then most of the hundreds of thousands of Steiner school children are good listeners... some thing very rare these days! "

Whose boasting now!

Having one dyslexic dc and one early reading dc they are now both excellent readers now. Your comments about the early readers being boasting and insulting are nonsense.

I actually find your insinuation that steiner children are superior is far more insulting. My children have thrived at perfectly ordinary state schools and so do many other thousands of children.

Christywhisty,
I said they are good listeners and noth ing else! How is that boasting?

TheCaty, may I ask what is your relationship to the Steiner Waldorf Schools Fellowship and anthroposophy?