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Waldorf News

Why we need to separate kids from tech — now

June 1, 2015

It doesn't seem that long ago that many parents felt guilty for using even the highly acclaimed "Sesame Street" to baby-sit their kids while they cooked dinner. But a not-so-funny thing happened on our way to our high-tech-enamored world of 2015: Children's recreational use of screens, phones and entertainment media has exploded. "It's up considerably from years past," says Richard Freed, a Walnut Creek child and adolescent psychologist, in his new book, "Wired Child: Debunking Popular Technology Myths." Digital entertainment is now the "dominant activity in their lives," says Freed, who is also the father of two daughters, 11 and 7. And that's not a recipe for a balanced, well-adjusted life, he and other media and educational experts say. Emerging research shows that kids' overuse of TV, computers, video games, tablets and smartphones hinders their physical, intellectual, social and emotional development. More »

The Mission of Live Education! — Spreading Waldorf Far and Wide

May 25, 2015

I remember having a distinct feeling that afternoon, one that truly confused me. I was the first grade class teacher at Shining Mountain Waldorf School, and I was bringing the children out to meet their parents at the end of the day. They usually waited in a cluster, anticipating the children's arrival, and me telling them stories of the day. That particular day was special, filled with "aha moments" that I couldn't wait to share. My confusion arose as I watched their faces respond to the stories I told of their children. They were at once overjoyed and sad! They loved hearing of the learning inspiration, but also felt that they missed something vital in their child's day. I somehow felt that I was given access alone to something the parents deserved to experience too. Years later I was asked by a small group of parents in rural northern CA to begin a homeschooling co-op. Their families lived too far away from a Waldorf school, yet they knew they wanted the inspiration that Waldorf brought for their children.....and they wanted to be involved too. I reflected upon that experience at Shining Mountain and decided to forge ahead into uncharted territory. We formed our little co-op, referred to it as "village schooling", involved the parents to the degree they wanted, experimented with schedules and subjects, and spent an enchanted few years working and playing together. More »

How to Parent Like a German: An American mom finds some surprising habits

May 14, 2015

The first time I went to a playground in Berlin, I freaked. All the German parents were huddled together, drinking coffee, not paying attention to their children who were hanging off a wooden dragon 20 feet above a sand pit. Where were the piles of soft padded foam? The liability notices? The personal injury lawyers? “Achtung! Nein!” I cried in my bad German. Both kids and parents ignored me. Contrary to stereotypes, most German parents I’ve met are the opposite of strict. They place a high value on independence and responsibility. Those parents at the park weren’t ignoring their children; they were trusting them. Berlin doesn’t need a “free range parenting” movement because free range is the norm. More »

Finland schools: Subjects scrapped and replaced with 'topics' as country reforms its education system

May 6, 2015

For years, Finland has been the by-word for a successful education system, perched at the top of international league tables for literacy and numeracy. Only far eastern countries such as Singapore and China outperform the Nordic nation in the influential Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) rankings. Politicians and education experts from around the world – including the UK – have made pilgrimages to Helsinki in the hope of identifying and replicating the secret of its success. Which makes it all the more remarkable that Finland is about to embark on one of the most radical education reform programmes ever undertaken by a nation state – scrapping traditional “teaching by subject” in favour of “teaching by topic”. “This is going to be a big change in education in Finland that we’re just beginning,” said Liisa Pohjolainen, who is in charge of youth and adult education in Helsinki – the capital city at the forefront of the reform programme. More »

Nepal Waldorf Schools - Earthquake Report

April 27, 2015

This is Meyrav Mor, the founder of the Tashi Waldorf school. As it was Saturday the school was not in session. It is difficult to get people on the phone as the networks are very busy and collapse but I managed to speak on the phone to Rajen and Chandra who are teachers at the school and they said that all the teachers have not been hurt in the earthquake. It is not possible to know at this moment in time whether any of the children are hurt as the phone list is at school and not all the children anyway have a phone. It's not easy to travel to the school but those who live near the school said that only the brick wall the surrounds the school's property collapsed. The building is ok. As there is a state of emergency in the country all schools are closed for another week. There is no electricity and as a result people cannot pump water which means no water either. Everyone is sleeping outside by the side of the road as they are too scared to sleep inside. Rajen said that he and his family are sleeping in a tent in another school ground (he lives about an hour drive away from the Tashi school) and that they have not managed to sleep as there have been many aftershocks during the night) he said that they were unable to cook any food and are managing to eat dry food. He said that the situation outside of Kathmandu is worse and the number of dead people is very high and in one case one village has been completely destroyed. It is not very easy to get news as to what is happening outside Kathmandu due to communication. They do not have internet or TV at the moment as everything is down. This big earthquake was something that we all knew was coming for a long time and it is watching our worst nightmare coming true. It is all very chaotic and it is hard to know at the moment whether all the children and their families are ok. My fear is that as most of the children come from very poor families they live in houses that are very poorly constructed. Now more than ever we need the international Waldorf community to help the Tashi school as we have not began to realise the devastation the children are experiencing and the trauma that will stay with them for the rest of their lives. It is a very sad, worrying and terrifying time for the people in Nepal and they will need all the help and support to be able to recover from this terrible disaster. More »

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