How to prepare child for school when it may be Waldorf or may not

[July09Mama]

My dd is only a year and a half, but we're already getting to the age where many of her friends are starting to be pressured to learn things like the alphabet and numbers (the kids who are closer to 2). I'm definitely not ready to start that with my dd, especially since a lot of that learning comes from tv, which we don't do, but it has made me start thinking.

We would really love for dd to get into our local Waldorf charter school, but it's a lottery to get in and you don't know until the spring or summer before the school year starts. Private is probably not going to happen, so if we don't get in, she'll either be in a regular public school or home-schooled. 

My concern is that if she ends up in a non-Waldorf public school that our approach to her early learning might hold her back some. I have no doubt that she is just as "smart" and intrinsically capable of learning as any of the other kids, but if they've been working on some of these things for 3 years before she starts, of course she'll have trouble catching up. On the other hand, if I do the "typical" American early childhood academic push with her and she ends up in the Waldorf school, not only will I have interfered with her right to come to those interests on her own, but she would also probably stand out some in the Waldorf setting. 

Oh how I wish that I could know now that she would get in, but as I can't, what would you do? A middle-of-the-road type preschool curriculum (in a few years, of course) so that she will be minimally disadvantaged either way?

TIA!

[MommyKelly]

You would be surprised how many kids start kindy not even knowing how to write their name. In doing foster care we have had 2 kids we had to enroll in our local ps kindy. I asked the teacher about it and she says she see's kids all over the place. Ones that cant spell their name, to the ones that are already reading. By the end of the year they are all about even she said.

I would let your child enjoy her childhood. Have rhythm filled, stress free, playful days and listen to your heart.

[NaturalCreative]

Heres what we did: dont worry about it now. When shes maybe 3 get her a letter puzzle and "play" letters. Sing the ABC song for fun. We dont do much TV but the letter factory DVD taught it to my kids in a stress-free way as well as starfall.com and they loved it. Count leaves, animals, objects etc. for fun. Point out letters and numbers on signs and while you're out. I never ever drilled my kids on numbers or letters but it was a natural part of out environment. My 5 year old feels so proud having these life skills. When he reads and writes and I dont force him. It came naturally and he still spends a ton of time outside and enjoying his childhood.

[LuxPerpetua]

This is my take on it:  I personally find both the overdoing of letters (the more mainstream route) as well as the unnatural avoidance of letters (the traditional Waldorf method) to be problematic.  Neither fit natural learning for us.  My dd is pretty gifted and between 15-18 months became obsessed with the letters on street signs whenever we went out for a walk.  Obsessed.  She couldn't even say more than one word yet.  By the time she was 18 months she pretty much knew all her uppercase letters just from us milling about outside.  We never had an alphabet puzzle, alphabet cards, alphabet books, etc.  Learning just happened by following her interests.  She's now nearly 5 and knows all of her letters, upper and lower case, can write them all, and knows how to spell and read many words.  We have never actively taught her ANY of this.  So, what I would do is just not do anything out of the ordinary.  Around age 3 or 4 if your child has no interest in letters, you may want to try singing the ABC song just for fun and look into some gentle curricula for preschool (there are tons of free online things for preschool!).  I would try to keep learning as natural and holistic as possible (no workbooks and such).  By the time your child is 5, I'd just make sure your dd can spell and recognize her name in case she goes to a public kindy.  Also by then you may want to homeschool--we started changing our minds from private Waldorf or Montessori to homeschooling when dd was around 2.  Your child is so very young, I wouldn't start worrying at this point.  Just sing together, tell/read stories, play together, and as she gets older throw in nature walks and chores and you're good to go!