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Waldorf News

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Social Development in the Very Young Child

June 10, 2013

Few areas of children's development bring us more questions than their social and emotional development. Perhaps it is because we know that this is an extremely complex area of human development, fraught with sensitivity; perhaps we are also aware of its central place in life's journey. We carry our social selves into every situation of life, and as contemporary psychologist and researcher Daniel Goleman has confirmed, our social capacities far outweigh our cognitive ones in determining success and satisfaction in our lives. It is also the area in which we have so much to contribute to the future of humanity; in addressing the world's most complex problems. This is the realm in which our soul forces – thinking, feeling, and willing – intersect, and require balance and inner development to manifest their potential. But where do these capacities begin? It is a long journey from infancy to a maturity of our social capacities that enables us to wear a garment that aligns our social capacities with our spiritual hopes and intentions – that enables us to walk through daily life meeting the world out of our best selves. More »

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Mother Earth School: First All-Outdoor Kindergarten in the US

June 10, 2013

Mother Earth School started as an all-outdoor kindergarten class of Shining Star Waldorf School in fall 2007 held at Tryon Life Community Farm, an urban permaculture farm and sustainability education center in Portland, OR. In 2008, the Faery Garden Preschool was added and in 2009, both classes became Mother Earth School - a project of Tryon Life Community Farm and an evolving educational paradigm combining aspects of Waldorf education with permaculture practices and traditional living skills. The farm is surrounded by a 700 acre second growth forest (Tryon Creek State Park) and so the school has been a fusion of the European model of 'forest kindergarten' as well as homestead schooling. Our total school year enrollment has not yet exceeded 25. We keep our class sizes small enough to focus on specialized activities as well as to play freely in the forest while remaining visible to the class teachers. Each year our summer camps serve over 50 children ages 4-12, including rite of passage programs for pre-teenagers. Beginning this fall, we will be offering a 1st/2nd grade class at an urban farm in SE Portland. Jean's Farm is also surrounded by woodland and will house our new yurt classroom where an artistic, academic morning lesson inspires the outdoor immersion portion of the day. More »

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Educating Children for the Journey: Jack Petrash at TEDxRockCreekPark

May 14, 2013

In order to develop these three capacities, we must educate our children in a multidimensional way in school. The place to begin is through self-directed play with the young child. Play is the wonderfully creative work of early childhood. When young children play, they are focused, attentive, and completely involved in what they are doing. This is a characteristic of genius and innovative individuals often keep this playful nature intact throughout their lives. The second way to educate children for the future is through art. In the grade school it is possible to teach all of the academic subjects in a manner that integrates art. In doing so we create an educational program that addresses a child’s need to be engaged imaginatively and emotionally in each lesson. When we teach children through a foundation of active play and a solid framework of artistic experiences, we help them develop the third essential ability, a capacity for dynamic, curious, and original thinking, a thinking that enables our children to ask the questions that are still waiting to be asked. More »

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Inadequacy as a Doorway to Learning

May 13, 2013

Imagine a young child learning to stand for the first time. He has seen his older sister do it countless times, and he is determined that he, too, will stand and then walk towards the things that interest him. He crawls to the coffee table and pulls himself into an upright position, then his legs wobble and he promptly falls back onto his bottom. He pulls himself up again, and falls again. Again, and again. The wise parent watches without intervention, ensuring safety but not interrupting the learning that is going on. The child may become distracted at times, but he will keep trying until he is eventually standing solidly and walking confidently towards his interests. More »

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Children Should Be Touching in School: Peer massage - Calm, focused and friendly

May 7, 2013

Touch is a fundamental human need, like eye contact and movement. Touch is a proprioceptive sense meaning that it gives us a sense of our own body. Actually it is quite unique in that it gives us a sense of ourselves and a sense of another simultaneously. Seen in this light it is also a "social sense." The other proprioceptive senses are self-movement, balance, and "life." This last one requires a bit of explanation. It is the life processes you feel inside of yourself. One way to characterize this is feeling well or feeling ill. You could say that a sense of well-being is a sense of life: we sense the life inside our own body. It is closely related to the sense of touch, because nurturing touch increases our sense of well-being. You have probably felt this yourself when you have been upset and then someone held your hand or gave you a hug. More »