[MattBronsil]

I was looking through an old Montessori Life magazine and I noticed an article by Dee Joy Coulter about Montessori and Waldorf. I found it fascinating to see how connected we are, despite our obvious differences. Was refreshing to see an article that tries to show a common bond rather than split us apart. Here's a link to the article (It wasn't originally a Montessori Life article, but taken from somewhere else):

http://www.kindlingtouch.com/pdf/montandsteinerart.pdf

I also like how it shows WHY some of the differences came about from a historical perspective.

 

[BCFD]

That's a great article, Matt!! Thanks! You should post on the Waldorf board if you already haven't.

 

[MattBronsil]

Thanks

I really enjoyed that article. I have been wondering about a lot of Waldorf and it has confused me, to be honest. I did not understand what seemed to me to be an over emphasis on fantasy. (I am pretty flexible on fantasy...I have a talking dog and monkey that are part of my classroom sometimes). But when I read about the historical idea that Waldorf came out of an environment where children needed a strong imagination kick in the butt, it became clear.

 

[spottiew]

I'd heard (and probably on MDC) that Montessori came from an environment of kids who had imaginant play and not enough reality. Vs. Waldolf came from the atmosphere of lots of reality and not imagination.

I can say for us, we picked Montessori somewhat because our child seems to thrive in reality- though he also has imagination- but Waldorf would be too imaginary, not enough reality for him (he wants to know how things work).

I do also feel though that Montessori comes very much from the 'modern world'- follows an adult workweek, etc. and I tend to think Waldorf is much more leisurely.

 

[MattBronsil]

Quote:

Originally Posted by spottiew I'd heard (and probably on MDC) that Montessori came from an environment of kids who had imaginant play and not enough reality. Vs. Waldolf came from the atmosphere of lots of reality and not imagination. I can say for us, we picked Montessori somewhat because our child seems to thrive in reality- though he also has imagination- but Waldorf would be too imaginary, not enough reality for him (he wants to know how things work). I do also feel though that Montessori comes very much from the 'modern world'- follows an adult workweek, etc. and I tend to think Waldorf is much more leisurely.

It's interesting because I have seen kids that need a kick in the imagination bootay (figuratively speaking, of course). They just might need to have some more fantasy to kick start their imagination. I've seen other children where fantasy has taken over their life and they can't really relate well to other children well.

Montessori fosters imagination in a different way, through providing the child the opportunity to develop their own ideas and ways of doing things.

Matt

 

[MattBronsil]

Cross posted from another board.
___________________________________

This is from the reading thread. It is off topic about reading, so wanted to post it here so that doesn't go too far off topic.

Quote:

Quote: Originally Posted by orangewallflower View Post I think the main difference (and I believe that they are SO different) is that M is a model that is centered around individual choice, and W is centered around whole-group activity. My reading of Matt's posting is that letting the child decide when and how quickly to learn eliminates the problem of holding kids back or pushing them forward with reading. I do see a lot of differences between Waldorf and Montessori. I see them as fundamentally opposite in their methods and details about their philosophy, but not overall philosophy and ideals. Our ideals are the same - develop a love of learning, allow the child to grow based on an idea of developmental psychology, education for life (not for tests), caring about the whole child, and a huge list of other things. I think both forms of education work well to achieve those goals if done properly. (I'm sure there are as many poorly run Waldorf schools as there are poorly run Montessori schools).

There are some differences. I have studied a lot of religion in college (I was a Theology major) and I always looked at differences more with an Eastern concept of Yin and Yang kind of way than a Ninja Turtles/Shredder kind of way. (Sorry for the cartoon-filled context. I just didn't want to type anything political and get anyone angry).

Some key differences I see:
1) The delayed academics. Which I don't really see as being "delayed." Both Montessori and Waldorf focus on building up skills that have to be there before something else is taught. Schools today are under pressure to "teach writing" before they even allow a child to work on fine motor skills to hold a pencil. They're told to write creative stories without being taught what creativity is. Waldorf and Montessori recognize this and build those skills before introducing something else that is considered "more academic." They simply do it with different paces and timelines.

2) Role of fantasy. In a truly strict Montessori classroom, there is no fantasy at all until the 6-9 (1-3 grade) classrooms. Now, I'm a ventriloquist and use a talking dog and monkey sometimes outside of the working time. So you can see I hold a different view than many Montessori teachers. The extent of how strict to be about this varies a lot between Montessori teachers, but we definitely have a much different approach to fantasy than Waldorf does. For Montessori, we're trying to help a child recognize the difference between fantasy and reality and helping them to understand what is real and what is fantasy. Waldorf has a strong basis in fantasy in the educational system for early years. I think the reason for this difference might be historically based. As I understand it (please help me if I'm wrong...I just vaguely remember reading this somehow), Steiner saw a need for children to have fantasy based on often seeing children growing up and not having much imagination. (I seem to remember reading that in Dr. Coulter's article). What Montessori saw was that children preferred real activity to pretend activity and that fantasy often took over a child's mind and became a problem at an early age. Fantasy also became a tool to manipulate children. (How many times have you heard someone say, "Be good. Santa is watching!") Fantasy also disrupts creativity if done improperly. (example you'll agree with: Television. Children don't watch TV and come up with their own ideas, they tend to copy what they do see on TV). I think Waldorf avoids many of these problems because it uses fantasy to spark imagination and wonder in what is real - not to manipulate children or avoid what is real. But the levels of fantasy in the classroom is a fundamental difference.

3) Group instruction vs. individual work. I don't know if this is as true in Kindergarten/Preschool levels (I don't know the methods used in that age range for Waldorf). But definitely see it as a big difference in elementary levels.

Thoughts? I'm going to cross post this in the comparison's thread and Montessori thread, too. So you might want to watch for it there.

 

[anamama]

This thread made me smile!
I have a lot of love for Waldorf, and we did early childhood in Waldorf programs for our ds. I seriously considered studying to be a W teacher. For all kinds of reasons, now I am in grad school getting my MEd and Montessori certification, dd is in a M preschool, and ds will be in M 6-9 this fall.
My home is very "Waldorfy" in a lot of ways- we follow a daily rhythm, sing blessings while lighting beeswax candles, no TV, natural playthings, do a lot of imaginative play with playsilks and mama made cloth dolls, we fingerknit and sing "Waldorf" songs together. I really respect anthroposophy and embrace much of it, and it has become part of our daily lives. However, Montessori is our schooling method of choice. Not really for any reasons related to the curricula of either model, but because it's closer to us, more affordable, and I know dd and ds will love all the cool stuff they get to learn and do at school and then can come home and pretend to be vets doing an emergency surgery on a stuffed animal, play with homemade playdough or be pirates lost at sea in the back yard. It's the best of both worlds!

 

[MattBronsil]

anamama,

Sounds like your kids have a fun life.

 

[anamama]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MattBronsil anamama, Sounds like your kids have a fun life.

Aaw, thanks! I think they do. I know I do!

:

 

[MattBronsil]

Quote:

Originally Posted by anamama Aaw, thanks! I think they do. I know I do! :

"I'm just here to entertain myself. If you're entertained in the process, that's fantastic, too." (What my "dog" told the audience once during a show after a joke that bombed. I know...it was really me saying it, but it developed from his character).

Edit: There was a little more to it than that, but it involved a little potty language, so I left it out.