Waldorf News
I Won’t Buy My Teenagers Smartphones: Denying a teen a smartphone in 2019 is a tough decision, and one that requires an organized and impenetrable defense.
September 24, 2019
My 14-year-old son just started high school, and he does not have his own smartphone. When I tell people this, I get the same face I imagine I would if I said that I hadn’t fed him for several days. My son is fine, though—really. I don’t think he’s ever been lost, stranded, or even inconvenienced by his lack of that quintessential 21st-century accessory. My son and his brother, one year his junior, are not living in the Dark Ages. They each have a tablet, loaded with a souped-up internet filter and time restrictions, that they use at home. My boys are not like the kid I met in college who had grown up without TV and didn’t appreciate the cultural relevancy of Bo and Luke Duke or George Jefferson. My kids readily quote Ron Swanson and Dwight Schrute. They text, they Snap—but only on weekends and a little bit this past summer. What sets them apart from most of their friends is that neither of them owns a portable device connected to the internet that can be hidden in the depths of their baggy Under Armour shorts. More »
Waldorf education in Egypt: "Everyone is amazed that such a thing is possible."
September 23, 2019
In Egypt there is compulsory schooling, but only about 1/3 of the children go to school. Seventy children sit in a class, the teacher stands in front with the stick in his hand, children in the chorus roar, and are hit if necessary. The educational level is one of the lowest in the world. At the age of 3 or 4 the children are sent to kindergarten. There they sit on small chairs for up to four hours with their arms crossed, say ABC’s or English vocabulary without ceasing, or watch TV. They have to know Arabic and English letters before they go to the 1st grade. Some of the frustrated teachers we talk to want to try something new, something where the relationship between teacher and student is assumed, where learning is fun, where the child is respected. More »
The Future of Waldorf Education: Beyond 100
September 17, 2019
One can wonder: Where will new growth occur in the future? When giving what I was told was the first-ever Waldorf talk in Amman, Jordan last winter, I had a sense that something is dawning in the Middle East. The question I am left with is, how we can best learn from each other across continents, cultures, and languages? With our present-day communication tools, are we adapting fast enough, and can we form more of an international Waldorf learning community? More »
FREE Workshop with Kim John Payne: “Emotional Self-Regulation for Parents”
September 7, 2019
Simplicity Parenting author, Kim John Payne, is holding a new free workshop next week in celebration of the release of his newest book, “Being at Your Best When Your Kids Are at Their Worst: Practical Compassion in Parenting.” Emotional self-regulation is such an important topic for parents, and what better time to talk about it than at the beginning of a new school year. The workshop begins Monday, September 9th, and it's an online, video/audio-based workshop, so there’s no set time for the sessions. You can watch/listen whenever it works for you. More »
Why Social Media is Ruining Your Relationships: Consider social media’s role in modern life, its ability to mold relationships, and how it impacts an individual’s self-image.
June 24, 2019
How would you define a friend? Is it someone you could turn to no matter what? Just call my name and I’ll be there? Or is it someone who you’re in near-constant contact with, speaking to all day, every day? Is it the person you’ve got the longest “Snapstreak” (chatted on Snapchat for over three days straight) with? How much one-on-one time do you have together? And what are your conversations like – deeply engaged and empathetic, or more interrupted and punctuated into bite-size snippets? The impact that social media is having on all of our relationships, spanning our families, friends and romantic couplings to our very relationships with ourselves, has been fundamentally altered by the way we use our devices to communicate with each other. What we now need from our networks is in flux, and the very nature of friendship and the foundations on which we believe they should be based have changed almost beyond recognition. The question is: is social media enhancing our social lives, or is it doing the exact opposite? More »
Recent Jobs
View more jobs »
Newsletter Archive
Join the Mailing List!
Stay Connected…
Each week receive the Waldorf News Weekly Update, full of news, events, and more. Keep abreast of what's happening with Waldorf education.
Add a Job Listing
RSS Feeds