Re: Waldorf Homeschooling conference
Sandra Brown
Hi Beth,
second. I missed last year's due to recovering from a really difficult
birth. This year's line up does look very interesting. I am very surprised
to see Pat Montgomery lined up as a key note speaker, because her philosophy
of relaxed, child-led learning is in direct contrast to the conservative
Waldorf approach of teacher as repository of knowledge and culture. Agaf
Dancy heatedly refuted student initiated learning in the elementary years at
the first WE conference, claiming the young child is not old enough or wise
enough to know what is available for him to learn so he needs a teacher to
expose him to the world.
Anyhow, I personally discovered Waldorf methods when my just a few years
ago when my oldest was five, and it was amazing to me that what I was doing
with my children resembled Waldorf immensely. I wanted to do a very
holistic approach to life with my children, to keep them immersed in the
natural rhythms of nature, and show them as many crafts and arts as
possible. This is one of the things Steiner had in mind, and when I read
his Kingdom of Childhood most of what he said reminded me of John Holt.
Steiner said he wanted the students to see shoemakers and every craft and
trade, and that the first Waldorf school was stunted by the teachers he had
at the time.
What we do in our home resembles "unschooling" more than Waldorf in that we
do not resemble a Waldorf school; I considered getting Waldorf teacher
certification and really immersed myself in the reading for about a year
before deciding that the whole school set-up by necessity is limiting and
not representative of life and culture. I felt that the curriculum of the
schools did not take into account the individuality of each student, and
also felt at odds over the cost of tuition in Waldorf schools. Education
that is not available to all is not of value to the entire society at large.
I strongly feel that all of the debate over homeschooling in the elementary
and secondary years is so misguided; we should all really be working for
universal higher education. The world would be a vastly different place if
everyone could go to college/grad school and study and do what they want to
do, and contribute their God-given gifts towards a better world.
Sandra Brown
Ann Arbor, MI
>Also, Sandra, I recently received a brochure for a Waldorf HomeschoolI attended the first Waldorf Homeschooling conference and presented at the
>Conference in Oct. Have you ever attended this, and if so what did you
>think? When I began homeschooling it was partly because I wanted to send
>the girls to a Waldorf school but couldn't afford it and there wasn't one
>close enough. Now that we've been doing it awhile I've moved away from
>Waldorf and toward unschooling. It did look like they had some interesting
>and informative speakers and topics scheduled.
second. I missed last year's due to recovering from a really difficult
birth. This year's line up does look very interesting. I am very surprised
to see Pat Montgomery lined up as a key note speaker, because her philosophy
of relaxed, child-led learning is in direct contrast to the conservative
Waldorf approach of teacher as repository of knowledge and culture. Agaf
Dancy heatedly refuted student initiated learning in the elementary years at
the first WE conference, claiming the young child is not old enough or wise
enough to know what is available for him to learn so he needs a teacher to
expose him to the world.
Anyhow, I personally discovered Waldorf methods when my just a few years
ago when my oldest was five, and it was amazing to me that what I was doing
with my children resembled Waldorf immensely. I wanted to do a very
holistic approach to life with my children, to keep them immersed in the
natural rhythms of nature, and show them as many crafts and arts as
possible. This is one of the things Steiner had in mind, and when I read
his Kingdom of Childhood most of what he said reminded me of John Holt.
Steiner said he wanted the students to see shoemakers and every craft and
trade, and that the first Waldorf school was stunted by the teachers he had
at the time.
What we do in our home resembles "unschooling" more than Waldorf in that we
do not resemble a Waldorf school; I considered getting Waldorf teacher
certification and really immersed myself in the reading for about a year
before deciding that the whole school set-up by necessity is limiting and
not representative of life and culture. I felt that the curriculum of the
schools did not take into account the individuality of each student, and
also felt at odds over the cost of tuition in Waldorf schools. Education
that is not available to all is not of value to the entire society at large.
I strongly feel that all of the debate over homeschooling in the elementary
and secondary years is so misguided; we should all really be working for
universal higher education. The world would be a vastly different place if
everyone could go to college/grad school and study and do what they want to
do, and contribute their God-given gifts towards a better world.
Sandra Brown
Ann Arbor, MI