Thinking of Steiner / Home Ed - how do you forget everything you think you know about how education SHOULD be?

[TheFairiesAreBack]

I have just had a great conversation with someone who has put their child into a Steiner school - all very positive.

Then talked to people about it during my lunch-break - all very negative.

I get that most people will look at any 'alternative' kind of schooling through very narrow eyes, as in we mostly all grow up thinking education is done in a certain way - the way were used to, with targets and framework and discipline...

So can anyone tell me how easy or difficult it has been to leave that behind when choosing to educate your child(ren) in an alternative way like Steiner or Home ed?

How do you make that commitment, how do you deal with comparisons to other children (friends/Family)?

Has it been a good or bad experience? would you recommend it?

Sorry if it comes over as me knocking teachers. I do know there are a lot of great teachers out there and that often they are battling stupid government targets etc.

I fully supported the recent strike.

My son basically has the option of going to one of the not so good local schools or Steiner if we can afford it. I won't do the whole going to church thing to get him into a better school.

Up until now I had been set on him going to the nearest school to our house which is small but beset with problems of one kind or another. I still think it's the best option out of the 4 choices I have but then had this really interesting conversation about Steiner which I had briefly considered last year but then chickened out of.

a lot of thinking to do...

"just send him to an inner city school when most kids are deprived and cant speak english. trust me your baby will be free-er than a forest sprite, when they virtually ignore him (due to no time) as they get the other kids to a certain basic level"

This is exactly the scenario we are facing. Our local (Inner City) school has a very high refugee population and children of all different nationalities. However it is a nice school (Compared to the others) and although the school population changes a lot (People move on) and there are lots of children needing assistance (many do not speak English) it still feels like the best out of the options we have, not least because he will be going to school near to the community he is growing up in which shouldn't be knocked as far as I am concerned.

fair enough but thats quite a different picture to your original post that said "FRAMEWORKS AND DISCIPLINE"

i think before embarking upon any change from the system you must research and be very clear on what you want. I have heard mainly good about steiner but its an...emotive topic to say the least!!!!

thank you onadifferentplanet

I think if I did go for Steiner schooling I might have a problem adjusting to the different way of doing things and the comparisons made to other children who are in mainstream schooling. I am not sure if I am able to fully commit myself without worrying.

For example - reading, they teach it a lot later, and although I know many other countries do too I am so used to the idea that my son would go to school at five and learn then (If not before).

lots of thinking to do.

I do think that comparatively state schools offer more framework and discipline? don't they? I mean compared to Home Ed/Steiner?

or am I wrong?

It's really important not to expose children to the written word before 7 though, in case their soul doesn't incarnate properly

in that case my son is fucked as he's been reading and writing since he was 18 months old

I was seriously considering sending dd to the sterner - they have a special parents charter you have to sign where you promise to protect your child from electronics (tv, cinema, radio, games) until they are 14, and protect them from the internet until they are 16.

No visual electronics. Ever. Not even at other people's houses or in shops... I couldn't do it, could you? Apparently the devil speaks to children through such devices which is where that comes from.

Wow. I did see something about that on the local school site but it wasn't mandatory.

There is no way we would be able to ban internet and TV in our house! Though I see the value in restricting it.

No charter at Ds school. he as at this moment playing on his xbox while chatting to mates on face book!

Steiner schools vary a great deal.

My friend teaches at a Steiner secondary school in Holland. The teachers there tend to be very idealistic; they believe strongly in their school and in the potential of every student. She has criticisms of some of the "woo", but feels that the dedication and lack of cynicism in the administration and the teaching staff helps the children be more focused, confident and supportive of each other.

You need to be aware that on MN, it is difficult for parents who have been unhappy with their experiences of Steiner schools to comment on threads on the topic.

This is because the Steiner Waldorf Foundation keep very close tabs on internet forums and threaten legal action against the organisers when they find negative comments about their organisation. MNHQ have therefore taken the decision to ban certain people from joining in on these threads, as a way of avoiding complex and expensive legal action.

You may like to consider just why they feel quite such a need to be defensive of criticism from ex-customers, but I will leave you to ponder that one.

Suffice to say, Steiner schools are based on a philosophy which many people would consider to be rather non-mainstream, and the effects of this philosophy on actual day-to-day life within the school are not widely advertised. Many parents have been significantly unhappy with what they percieved to be a lack of transparency about how things actually worked, and have previously been very vocal about it. But now they cannot, on MN at least, because of legal threats.

Mammuzza - how do you educate your children?

Just the one. He was at Italian local state, then we HEed, now he goes to a British online secondary.

He is just as caperble of indepdendent thought as he ever was.

More so than some of the HEed children we know/knew/met, who all too often were trotting out the same old tired soundbites I have heard rather a lot of HE parents say/type over the last god knows how many years.

Honest to god I have come to the conclusion that the best way to produce a cookie cutter kid, that sticks to a pre approved script, is to get way too heavily involved and invested in something alternative with the kids (allegedly) at the centre.

The wholesale uniformity can be astounding.

Despite all the "I am a free thinker, and so is my kid" stuff.

"You need to be aware that on MN, it is difficult for parents who have been unhappy with their experiences of Steiner schools to comment on threads on the topic.

This is because the Steiner Waldorf Foundation keep very close tabs on internet forums and threaten legal action against the organisers when they find negative comments about their organisation. MNHQ have therefore taken the decision to ban certain people from joining in on these threads, as a way of avoiding complex and expensive legal action.

You may like to consider just why they feel quite such a need to be defensive of criticism from ex-customers, but I will leave you to ponder that one.

Suffice to say, Steiner schools are based on a philosophy which many people would consider to be rather non-mainstream, and the effects of this philosophy on actual day-to-day life within the school are not widely advertised. Many parents have been significantly unhappy with what they percieved to be a lack of transparency about how things actually worked, and have previously been very vocal about it. But now they cannot, on MN at least, because of legal threats."

how does that actually work when Mumsnetters can change name to post? Is there really a huge conspiracy of Steiner shutting down criticism? really? scary.

Also there's a very long thread on here with lots of criticism that is still standing? how does that work when Mumsnet are being threatened with legal action?

I would love to hear an official mumsnet line on this? Could those people be banned because what they have written is libelous?

Thefwiriesareback- it is Mumsnet which is in danger of legal action, as the publisher of the posts concerned.

If you think people are exaggerating, you might like to do some searching.

Just to make clear my original post

So can anyone tell me how easy or difficult it has been to leave that behind when choosing to educate your child(ren) in an alternative way like Steiner or Home ed?

How do you make that commitment, how do you deal with comparisons to other children (friends/Family)?

Has it been a good or bad experience? would you recommend it?

I am still really interested in hearing from people who have experienced putting their children through Steiner education/home ed and have had to battle with internal or external criticism/worries.

"If you think people are exaggerating, you might like to do some searching."

If I find something while searching doesn't that mean it's still libelous? Won't it be deleted?

Actually - scrap that.

really - rather than get into an argument about Steiner and censorship I would rather talk about people's experiences of Steiner education and changing the way they think about education.

Sorry.

I really wouldn't lump Home Education and Steiner education together.

Education at home can fit any ethos, as perhaps could a school such as Summerhill. Steiner, despite much of the rhetoric, is very prescriptive and as such would hold little attraction for many.

Is there really a huge conspiracy of Steiner shutting down criticism?

Yep! There sure is. Or at least was a few years ago when a number of parents were on here talking about it. Their comments detailed specific things which happened to them and their children in Steiner schools. The threads are still searchable, but posters who were personally involved were asked to keep off the topic because of threats of legal action. Since MN had previously had their fingers badly burnt, they felt it would not be appropriate to allow it to continue and take that risk over an issue they couldn't personally vouch for.

Feel free to decide it looks like something that would suit you - do look into both positive and negative comments about it quite thoroughly.

But I think there is a risk that if you dislike the idea of the usual state option, then anything else will look rosy in comparison. The fact that you are lumping Home Ed and Steiner together as if they were comparable is a sign of that. Steiner is a system, with a philosophy behind it, that will not be changed just to fit your idea that something 'alternative' would suit your child. Home Ed is completely tailored to your family - and that can have its good and its bad points.

" The fact that you are lumping Home Ed and Steiner together as if they were comparable is a sign of that."

just to note that I am not lumping them together in any way other than that they are both seen as alternatives which people can be sneery about because they are not mainstream.

I don't believe they are similar in other ways, it was just as part of my wider question about how a parent overcomes the inevitable comparison and criticism from within and from others.

Yes, there is a conspiracy to shut down discussion of Steiner schools. i remember the threads very well. It was shocking, to say the least.

So I wouldn't touch one of those schools with a barge pole, thou I was looking for something a bit different for dd at the time.

She is doing really well at state secondary and was fine at state primary too.

Most of the success of education, regardless of the actual school (state schools) depends enormously on parents. Not minimising the effects of teachers, btw, and there are amazing teachers out there - most schools have them - but don't think you have no influence, you do.