Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments Waldorf Schools?

Hello
I have a DD5 who will be starting kindergarden in fall. We just had her tested and she is HG+. She was extremely bright and accomplished during her first three and a half years of life, but then slowed down for the past year in pre-K and wants badly to fit in. She is artsy and also loves math. She is not interested in reading and fights efforst to teach her- she says she will teach HERSELF when she is ready- she self-teaches math so i do believe she will excel at reading when she is ready.

She now attends a montessori school but next year we are tryint to decide between
1) public school with no gifted proram until 3rd grade
2) Gifted School with acceleration up to three years in all areas (but light on the arts)
3) Waldorf School- which i believe is very artsy but light on the intellectual/acadmic.

I am most curious if anyone has had any experience with Waldorf.

thanks
irene

I have no experience personally with Waldorf schools, but my best friends are very much committed to Waldorf-- they have a 7-yr-old and a 5-yr-old who are absolutely thriving, and I'm sure the kids are gifted-- their father is a prominent playwright, and their mother is a professor.

They are great kids. The 7-yr-old is now doing drawings that amaze me-- truly amaze me. The mother has even found a few naked lady drawings in his notebook. And they're pretty good!

That said, they are not gifted in the way my son is gifted-- the way that demands attention and accommodation.

Or perhaps it's just my son's hypersensitivity that causes problems. I thought he needed structure and acceleration to keep from going off the rails.

So I chose your option #2, but it's not going that well.

My friends have always insisted that all my son's issues could be resolved by Waldorf schooling. They do seem a bit overzealous to me at times.

I do think Waldorf is a great gift to give your children, in this overstimulating age.

Let me preface this by saying that I don't know much about Waldorf in general, only our local school.

It's a beautiful place and in theory, a wonderful education for any child. However, I think you have to really know and understand your child and your family situation. I was told that my DS would NOT be allowed to read at school until 7. Period. The heavy focus on imagination kept books out of the classroom. We were also told that we would have to sign a family pledge to try to eliminate technology from our home, not allow DS to watch TV or be on the computer and to become a vegetarian or at a minimum, full organic household.

Our entire extended family is full of computer programmers. We have 5 in our house. DS learned to be self-sufficient on the computer at 2. He loves to play educational games. Yes, I screen his TV programs but certainly not NO TV in our house. It just doesn't fit our style.

Yes, CAMom, same here. When we were investigating moving DS at the end of first grade, we realized that we were too far gone in the realms of plastic toys and technology to backtrack. Not only that, but at the time, we were being advised that it would be best for DS to type rather than write, so we couldn't do without the computer.

I'm a bit leery of rigid agendas, and doubly so if the agenda extends to someone's home.

I'm not convinced that making everyone fit someone's idea of what's best (eg, no technology) is a good thing. In the case of children in school who have no say in making the rules, I'm extremely dubious.

I wonder if Waldorf schools have websites...?

Val

We also looked at Waldorf. I didn't see how it could possibly work for us given our use of technology (both my husband and I started our careers as software engineers and have technical degrees). And given my son's learning style as well. It just seemed too slow paced in general and there seemed to be very rigid rules about what a child would do when.

If the no tech approach is what you naturally do anyway, it could work depending on your child's personality. I could especially see it working during the early grades. My almost 5 year old daughter would probably love it right now (my son never would have). Although, we could definitely not make the no computer commitment. We'd be ok without TV, but the computer is pretty big at our house.

Our local Waldorf has an extensive website! Pretty funny.

There is a video on Waldorf schools that you can rent through netflix. It was 45 minutes long or so and it explains everything except the Rudolph Steiner philosophy. It makes a difference how into the Steiner stuff the school is because it is almost like a religion, so if they are serious, you'll want to be sure you're comfortable with that.

Does your daughter like touchy-feely stuff (massage, spirituality) in addition to liking art? (It sounds like a good fit so far, though.)

ps - My friends who have a DS at Waldorf absolutely love it. But they agree 100% with the philosophy and live it. I like the idea of the philosophy, but we were too far gone to turn back.

I agree. We are homeschooling now. That is another life style choice that not everyone can do. I consider Waldorf similar. I know several people very happy with Waldorf. Including one family that has a child that is at least MG. But it very naturally fits into their lives. I love the idea of lots of it, and actually homeschooling I am trying to get my kids into more hands on stuff - cooking, hand crafts, gardening, building, designing etc. But it doesn't feel right to change what was fine and working for us, to fit into a school.

I do know one family that sent their son to Waldorf and has not been happy with it. They are choosing not to send their 2nd child there and their first son was demanding additional curriculum after school. It clearly wasn't the right fit for them! I think it was a good fit for preschool and kindergarten for them though.

I agree..to become a well rounded adult you need diversity as well as boundries