Waldorf education supports a media free childhood « Back to Group Discussions

[Playing Parent]

It is hard to live an alternative lifestyle without the support of a strong community with similar values.  Keeping the influence of media at a minimum in our home is a priority for us and we have found great support in our school, the Cape Ann Waldorf School.  The Waldorf curriculum opens the doors to so much more opportunities to explore life and learning in a hands on experience.  Right now the middle school students are using a outdoor brick oven to bake bread!  Students receive training in handwork, languages, movement, orchestral instruments and song alongside of the traditional reading, writing and math skills.  My daughters are never bored.  School is their favorite place to be (with our backyard at a close second).  Does anyone else in this group know about Waldorf education?  What motivates you to eliminate TV?

[PacificMar]

I've had a number of patients whose children attended Waldorf schools, and I'd like to learn more about them. I've had some exposure to Rudolph Steiner's thought through anthroposophical medicine, one of the many areas this brilliant thinker explored.

From first through eighth grade, I attended a Montessori school. Maria Montessori was also an amazing educator, child-development specialist, and philosopher who supported children's abilities to learn at their own pace, using special materials she developed for each stage of learning. It was a terrific experience of self-guided learning. I don't recall there being a particular stance on TV, but because I was accustomed to being self-directed, imaginative, and taking initiative, I wasn't that interested in TV. If I had a choice between watching a children's program or going outside to play, I picked going outside every time. If the weather was too cold to stay outdoors long, I preferred to read, write, draw, or create my own plays, with my brother and our dolls to perform them.

[Catholic Mama]

I didn't know about Waldorf education, so thank you for informing me about it, Playing Parent. As for what motivates me to eliminate TV:

-so my children won't go around parroting stupid (and worse) programming

-so my children will get more exercise

-so there won't be constant noise in the house

-so our living room can be arranged for reading and playing, not with all the seats facing a black box

-so my children won't always be wanting us to buy them what they see advertised

-so my children will continue to be creative (more creative than me, even)

-so my children will have a more realistic understanding of themselves and the world

-IMO most importantly, to help us practice our religion

Thanks for asking! :-)

PacificMar, I'm delighted to hear that you learned at a Montessori school. Almost three years ago I heard a radio program about Maria Montessori and her principles of teaching children. (I would have to dig out an old journal to read about it) I really wouldn't mind hearing more about it, so please feel free to elaborate or start a discussion devoted to anything you'd like to share about your education. Of course, Playing Parent, you're welcome to tell us more about the Waldorf school, too.

[hgilbert]

We are also at a Waldorf school. I don't know what it would have been like being media-free when the children were in the early years of school if there hadn't been a supportive community of this kind around us.

This is coming to an end, however. Our school is located in the greater NYC area. For each of our children, by 4th or 5th grade an increasing number of classmates were having an increasing amount of media time, to the point that both my children in 7th grade complained/are complaining that "everyone else" (read some children in the class) gets to see R-rated movies (ratings primarily for violence, such as Django Unchained) and they don't.

With a high school and middle school child, we are now far from media-free, and I now feel that I am fighting a rear-guard action. Though I did feel that some exposure was appropriate from middle school on, I often regret just how far we've entered the media world as a family. (My DW now feels differently than me about this, so there's a limit to what I can say or do without causing marital stress!) In any case, I deeply appreciated those early years! Seeing how much of the children's conversation now centers on media, I am very, very glad they had at least their first 11 years without this influence.
 

[Catholic Mama]

I'm so sorry that you and your husband don't see eye-to-eye about this very important issue, hgilbert. I guess the only advice I can give (not that you asked for it, so I hope you don't mind) is to set a good example - one of the best ways of teaching - by using the computer only when necessary, and reading more than just in your private time. Of course, there's also countless activities to be involved in away from computers and television, such as cooking, gardening, hiking, sports, taking walks, volunteering, and even helping Habitat for Humanity build when your children are old enough. (I hope to do that someday.) By the way, thanks for joining the group!

[ckny]

Thank you for starting this group, Catholic Mama.  

My DH and I have been tv-free in the home for almost a decade, and decided to raise our 2-year old this way for as long as we can to promote his creative and critical thinking development, and also to encourage us to be more creative as parents and adults since we had both been quite attached to tv's in the past.  

I recently started researching Waldorf education and was thrilled to learn that they promote media-free learning for the first 2 stages, I believe up to around teen years???  We are in NYC, and close to a VERY exclusive-seeming Waldorf school where I don't believe the families adhere to this completely, though I am hoping to investigate the school in Brooklyn.  Nevertheless, I believe that we are fostering a Montessori-Waldorf type environment in our home with the toys, books, and natural lifestyle.  I'm actually thinking to home pre-school him, and wish that I could find like-minded families in our 'hood so that we could develop a small coop school.  Difficult in the UES...

I'm fortunate that my MIL in Germany is a former teacher and she somehow either fully supports my style of parenting and/or teaches me so much more with her choice of toys and items to present to our son which keep him engaged for hours. 

We were going to slowly introduce him to German DVDs on our laptops when he turned 2, but we are a bit hesitant to start this as we don't want him to get hooked.  

It's been a little difficult these last few months in the winter with the crap weather, but now that spring is here, we have Central Park, a gazillion museums, and zoos all around to keep him occupied outside the home.

He would LOVE Habitat for Humanity if they had a tot version!  For the moment the volunteers in the park have been great by lending him shovels to get the snow!

[Catholic Mama]

You're welcome, ckny. I appreciate the thanks. Thank you for joining this group :)

I am sort of home pre-schooling my toddlers, age 2 and 3. When we come home from dropping off their second grade sister and kindergarten brother at school, they eat breakfast. Then they play for a good long while. I sometimes read them at least one book. Before lunch we go on a long (at least 15 minute) walk around the block, which is a long curvy block. I'm trying to get in the habit of going through letter and color/shape flash cards with them daily. After lunch we take naps, and after that their brother and sister come home, we have a small snack, and they play more until dinner. I don't know what they do at a 'real' preschool, but it works for us...and of course we're slowly working on toilet training, too. I'm eager to hear your ideas for what you do with your preschool age child. Feel free to start another discussion/thread about it if you want.

I would like to teach my children Spanish but even though I took four years of Spanish in high school (graduated ten years ago), I'm not fluent; I blame it on not having any fluent Spanish speakers to talk to. We have one or two Dora children's books and some Spanish flash cards somewhere.

Shoveling snow in the park is a great start! :)  I've been weeding lately here in FL and sometimes my children toss a bit of the yard into the dumpster with me. Usually not weeds, but I trust that they'll figure it out.

Sorry to have not talked about Waldorf in this discussion. I don't know much about it.