Celebrating significant moments in childhood Waldorf schools make an effort to observe significant moments in childhood and to celebrate these with rituals that have meaning for children. One of the most beautiful, symbolic and touching of these rituals is the rose ceremony held at the beginning of each year. Each school has its own way of celebrating the rose ceremony. On the first...

With our world changing exponentially before us, we must ask: What do children need to learn today in order to succeed in the future? According to the U.S. Department of Labor, 65% of today’s grade school kids will be in jobs that don’t yet exist. How does an education system best teach children to succeed in phantom careers? The agricultural world once needed healthy and strong...

Although less well known than the Montessori education philosophy, Waldorf is an alternative education system which focuses on the holistic development of a child. As their website states, Waldorf schools integrate artistic, practical and intellectual content in their curriculum and focus on social skills and spiritual values. Waldorf education first began in 1919 when the first...

By Dr. Regalena “Reggie” Melrose   Last year, I attended a lecture given by Dr Reggie Melrose. The lecture was on brain development and, specifically, how cutting-edge neuroscience supports Waldorf theories. She was utterly fascinating and her insight into the developing brain was truly enlightening. DONT miss this one … grab yourselves a cup of coffee and enjoy this...

by Steve Sagarin   Last year I was asked to speak at the morning assembly for a few minutes to students at the Waldorf School of Garden City. I was a student there in the late 1970s, and I taught there from the mid-80s to the late 90s.   I decided to let the students interview me. But I couldn’t have them interview me in advance, so I imagined what they might ask and...

An interview with Joseph Chilton Pearce and Casey Walker on May 20, 1998 with the production assitance of KVMR, a community-supported radio station in Nevada City. See: https://wildduckreviewarchives.wordpress.com/   Source: http://www.ratical.org/many_worlds/JCP98.html   Casey Walker: Will you begin by assessing education as we know it today? Joseph Chilton Pearce: Over...

by David Sloan – Reprinted from Renewal Magazine     During an eighth-grade parent meeting at the Waldorf School in Boulder, Colorado, parents extolled the virtues of Waldorf education: the freshness, openness and enthusiasm evident in their children; the unflagging devotion of the teachers; the artistic element weaving through every aspect of the curriculum; and the...

Author: Earl J. Ogletree Ed D, Professor Emeritus, University of Chicago, Illinois, Date published: September 1996 Contact details: Unknown Source: http://www.thebee.se/comments/studies/OgletreeStudy.html   Summary: Waldorf Education, founded by Rudolf Steiner in 1919, is based on the philosophy of critical idealism, in which teachers assist in the natural unfolding of children’s...

An article from the Waldorf School of Philadelphia http://lovinglearning.org/blog/strength-based-learning-in-waldorf-schools/   When your child struggles with math, but excels at playing the violin, do you interrupt the extra long violin practice to drill through a math worksheet? The question of whether to focus on gifts or work on deficits is not just a question for parents....

Author: Todd Oppenheimer Date published: Unknown   Waldorf schools, which began in the esoteric mind of the Austrian philosopher Rudolph Steiner, have forged a unique blend of progressive and traditional teaching methods that seem to achieve impressive results — intellectual, social, even moral DRIVING down out of the foothills of Yuba County, California, at dawn recently,...