Steiner education

[alloveragain]

Can anyone suggest an appropriate forum in which I could talk to someone about Steiner education? We have our concerns about it, but our children are still at a Steiner school.
Thanks

Move on, move on, nothing to see here... oh dear I smell non-violent communication, or as it has now become, a sort of insincere, passive-aggressive cunning. Come on, storymama: instead of repeating jargon, try listening to what these posters are saying. There ARE support groups for Steiner Waldorf parents and ex-pupils but if anyone posted a link to one here, off this thread would go like a gnome on a rocket.

The problem is not 'hurt' that needs to be 'cleaned up' but a profound, intrinsic flaw in Steiner education. The flaw is called 'anthroposophy'.

lolapoppins I contacted you through mumsnet, do contact me if you'd like to I understand it's hard to trust anyone re this issue! Hope you're OK and the home-ed is going well.

Hmmm, I have never heard of the gnome on a rocket-is it like the proverbial bat out of hell?

Nursery World www.nurseryworld.co.uk/

Steiner schools win opt outs from EYFS goals

Two Steiner schools are the first in the country to be granted exemptions from some of the early learning and development goals in the Early Years Foundation Stage.

Quote:
Janni Nicol, early childhood representative for the Steiner Waldorf Schools Fellowship, said, 'I'm very pleased to see the Secretary of State has recognised the different educational approach that Steiner Waldorf schools take on the later introduction of formal literacy and numeracy, and that ICT and electronic gadgetry are not provided in Steiner.'

I'm keen on parental choice but there should be limits and IMO, actively not teaching children to read and write until the age of 7 because of some loopy 'spiritual, teeth coming through, mumbo-jumbo' is a step too far.

maverick Montessori schools and other early years' settings don't seem to have as many problems with the EYFS goals as we might have feared, according to this article from 'Children and Young People Now'

'Literacy and learning goals were also a potential headache for Montessori and Steiner Waldorf settings. But the Montessori movement has found the transition relatively seamless, claiming EYFS actually matches the Montessori method. Steiner's journey has been less smooth, with all early years settings going through a "complicated" exemptions process.'

Best to take a look at exactly what it is the Steiner kindergartens are rejecting. I suspect they don't welcome the sort of supervision that might reveal more worrying underlying differences in early years' goals than the desire to exclude electronic gadgetry, which in my experience doesn't feature too heavily for the under 7s in any school.

I wish Steiner children learnt to read at 7, it can be so much later. As well as this flaw it's the teaching of science in Steiner schools that worries me; as a non-scientist who had a useless science education from a comprehensive school it's the one thing I really want to see taught well, not delayed or 'improved' by the addition of 'clairvoyantly' researched anthroposophical nonsense.

Back on the initial question of this thread, I heard on the radio this morning: if you want to find anything these days, search on twitter.

Pity they are so defensive. There are children involved here, after all.

restlessnative Hello! I will check my email linked to my MN sign on, I rarely do, hence why I have not seen your message!

I have taken enough crap off of pro Steiner people who refuse to see what damage it can do to use up any head space worrying about things someone posts on a forum! And anyway, I find it soooooo hard to take them seroiusly because if they were true Steiner followers, they wouldn't even be on the internet incase their children caught a glipse of Ara-whats-his-face devil bloke talking to them through the screen

Unless they are the kind of Steiner parents who cover up their telly screens with biege coloured silks! They always made me laugh the most. Even more so than the ones who used to hide their microwaves.

If you lived in the little hippy haven that I do, you would hear the pro Stiener bollocks being shouted from the rooftops, so I have far too much to of it to listen to in real life

"actively not teaching children to read and write until the age of 7 because of some loopy 'spiritual, teeth coming through, mumbo-jumbo' is a step too far"

What do you reckon they said was the reason they wanted to opt out of the EYFS goals? I'd love to know what BS reasoning they came out with, they can't possibly have told the loopy truth.

They activly discourage 'learning' anyway in my experience (and many I have spoken to) even if a child shows and interrest in reading or writing before 7 it is quashed. I was told my son had a black heart and would never reach his potential because he had a massive bookshelf full of books in his room. You would have thought that the Mr Men were demons from the depths of hell. As some of the pro Steiner people on here will know, a proper Stiener child will not have been exposed to print before 7 anyway, so they will not know what reading is (or strip lighting. Or god forbid, a supermarket ).

"having relationships based on clarity and respect"

Sorry, I wasn't going to respond to you but my DH almost passed out wheh he read that, so I felt I had to before he did with a string of expletives.

There cannot be clarity and respect. How can there be when the 'teachers' see themseleves as being the childrens spiritual guardians, or 'real parents' as some put it. The childrens parents are not seen to be improtant. But, you should know all that if you have looked into Steiner 'education' properly. You cannot respect someone, when you hide your agenda from them for your own gains.

Oh, and it wasnt hearsay from my child. He actually shut down and didn't speak for most of the time he was there. But I had nurmerous letters from the school, stating 'worrying' things my son had done, such as asking why they had wooden spades when plastic would be better as it would not rot (his soul damaged is by the modern world apparently ), and I was even called to pick him up as he dared to paint a fire engine instead of a wishy washy painting, I was told that was a sign he was spiritually stunted - I had to take him home as he had ruined the 'feeling' for the day. The last day he was there I took to hiding behind the kindergarten and listening in, as well. I heard it all with my own ears - I have never cried so much in my life.

I could publish the 60 or so letters we got from the school about 'black hearts' and 'stunting spiritual growth' becasue he liked Miley Cyrus - it would be the best selling comedy book ever.

Agh, good God, am wasting my Sunday afternoon arguing over this crap!

lolapoppins Say if you can't contact me.

There really isn't anything I can say here, except if you can find any comedy at all in this horror I salute you

Speak soon x

Lolapoppins, I'm absolutely appalled, but sadly understand every word.

Here and here are the reasons they granted the exemptions.

Have just escaped 'Hippy Haven', cat me if you like and please tell your wonderful little boy to keep painting those fire engines!

Barking x

Thanks for the link Barking, no mention in there of the devil speaking to children out of a computer screen or not being ready to read because they have not incarnated fully into thier bodies. Just as I thought.

It is two years this week since ds started at the Steiner school, and it will be two years next week that I first stated having doubts.

I am not as angry as I used to be, not now that finally, my little boy has got over what he went through in the six months he was there. He will still mention it from time to time (if only to take the piss ) but the nightmares and bed wetting have stopped at last.

I do read posts from pro Stiener people with a mixture of disgust and sorrow though, as I do wonder if some of them are by parents who have been so hoodwinked by the schools, or just so sucked into the community that they can't see anything other than what they have been told. I have no fear of saying what I think about Steiner 'education' anymore either, I can argue back to whatever anyone throws at me, I know what my family experienced, and I know that it sadly isn't unique. It almost cost me my marrige, my son and my sanity.

I am still being hounded where I live by these people, especially as the school near to me has now closed and most of the families have chosen to home educate (as I guess you would have to for a bit if you have a 9 year old that cannot read, as did 5 or so families at the school) and have spread nasty gossip about myself and ds at the home ed groups we used to attend. We live in a place where the whole bake your own bread and only play with wooden toys thing appeals to all the parents moving up from London with dreams of the good life, so we can't win. Apparently, I am the loopy one!

If you had spoken to me two years ago, I would have defended my sons Steiner school to the death. I had a whole summer previous to him joining of being 'welcomed' by the Steiner community, made to feel part of something wonderful. Looking back, it was like being pulled into a cult.

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Lolapoppins I too can totally empathise with your last paragraph, it is kind of scary when you are on 'the other side looking back'.
Also about the other parents at home ed groups, it is infuriating to have seen the damage that it can cause and some parents still carrying on living in a Steiner-inspired void of pastel colours.

gnomesrus - cat me if you like.

What I have come to realise is that I didn't put my family through anything, they did. I beat myself up about it for so long, I looked at my ds being so unhappy and thought that I caused it. My mental health was affected badly. Please don't blame yourself. I did for so long. When you choose a school for your kids, you think you are doing the best you can for them.

I saw a great quote from am ex Steiner parent once, who was getting ripped into on a forum for not having researched Steiner education better before enroling her children. She came back with something like 'you would research a solicitor, a car dealer, a dog breeder - you don't research the background of a school. You go on the information in the prospectus, and from the information other parents at the school give you. You don't expect a school to lie'.

How long did your dcs go to a Steiner school? Have they been out for long?

Manatee I saw a documentary on cults when I was in the US recently. It was about how the slowly draw people in, by creating a sense of community, with things such as communal cleaning, cooking, raising money, slowly turning new members away from people 'outside' the cult. Killing people with kindness and making them feel special. It reminded me of the summer before ds started school.

We were roped in to helping with the cleaning, the gardening, helping at he summer fete and it was all so lovely, they were so nice to us and we felt like we belonged somewhere.

I always remember asking one of the longstanding parents about the TV watching issue, I asked how they coped with it when they socialised with friends who did let their kids watch TV, what did they do then? She replied 'you will soon find you have all the friends you need within the school, so you probably won't mix with outside influences anyway'. Why didn't I run there and then?!

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Hi Manatee the problem just won't go away will it...

Lolapoppins, at the risk of sounding like a complete loon, there may be others watching this thread that may not be kind to you, and after getting silent phone calls and strange things happen to my email I worry about you putting out your personal details on here.

Some of the more fervent followers may even pretend to be one of us and make contact.

Please be careful, best to use cat system, then at least it goes through mumsnet.

Barking x

Barking - that email is a special one I only use for mumsnet, I have often have to delete them and set up new ones if I start getting dodgy mails!

Lolapoppins, you sound well prepared! Since our little journey of woo, I have had to change my email rather a lot.

Hi Gnomesrus, love the name

Sad to hear you too have had problems, but really glad to know the threads helped and that your dc's are happy.

There are support groups, the most well known is here

You can CAT (contact another talker) by clicking on the little envelope to the right of the name.

Oh and please don't be put off by the very odd looking website, there is a wealth of information on there.
I believe they are working on a redesign.

Hi lola - I think we know each other under my more usual MN name
I am appalled by your sons experience at his former 'school'
Of course children should be allowed to paint proper pictures

I also find it utterly awful how you have been treated since

If you lived near me I would be more than happy to meet and let our kids play

And learn in an entirely structured or non structured way

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