Steiner waldorf schools are based on Rudolf Steiner’s cult/pseudo religion called anthroposophy, which dictates every decision made in the clas oom- not just the currulum- which is there to help the children incarnate. It is at the core of their choices about not intervening in bullying, which is a past life issue and to do with karma, to force children to use their right hand- left handedness is a karmic weakness, and to introduce the children, by stealth, to the occult spiritual world.
The teachers direct the kids attention to the supernatural and away from the real world.
Television and computers are seen as evil- Arhimn speaks through them.
It is a shame melinda messenger hasn’t read steiner’s work on the Rudolph Steiner Archive.
The schools are taught toeceive parents about the true nature of the education… because..they’ scare people away! They only tell the parents about the creative side. but it is very very rigid, and not creative atall- copying, rote learning, keeping children in a dream like state is what they want, so they awaken gradually from their spiritu world.
They are bonkers.

I am not a parent, so I’m not going to comment on Melinda’s parenting skills. All I do wish to say, is that a large percentage of my enjoyment and fun during childhood came from reading books. If I hadn’t been able to read by (and beyond) the age of 7, I would have missed out on a lot in that respect. I learnt quite happily to read and write by the age of 6 and I was reading independently by the age of 7/8. I went to a regular primary school with a regular curriculum and I wasn’t any kind of child prodigy, but I never felt forced beyond my brain’s development when it came to learning language. I enjoyed learning to read. I certainly wouldn’t have appreciated some random group of doctors and/or teachers who’d never even met me, advising my parents not to attempt/let my school attempt to teach me to read and write. Infact I would’ve found it suffocating and frustrating beyond belief.
I do hope that Melinda and her husband took some kind of steps to test their childrens’ enjoyment of/aptitude for reading and writing before making the decision to remove them from being educated in such a way.

I just wanted to mention that in many countries children start school at ages 6 or 7 and while many do learn to read before they start school it’s not necessary.

My brother and I were watched by our grandmother as children and we didn’t learn to read till we started school (me at 6, my brother at 7). It has never bothered us in life as we were both A students and graduated from the best universities in our country. And not only that but we are both avid readers (one of my majors is English literature) and love to read:-)

For Sadie, I never said that getting a higher-paying job was the end-all be-all goal. But look at it this way…in general, most people’s simple want is to live some sort of fairly comfortable life. Perhaps own a home, drive a good car, etc. How else do you obtain these things but with money? How else do you get money but work (for most people anyways). It’s true that money isn’t everything and certainly can’t buy happiness, but I think if given a choice most of us would rather be somewhat financially stable than not. This all goes back to education and how it is designed to prepare children to cope with the real world. If a child grows up not having received the basic fundamental tools necessary to be a functioning member of society and then becomes society’s problem, then who is to blame? So you see, the importance of education and all of its end results should be a priority. Education was always stressed in my home from an early age. It wasn’t detrimental in the least. How can learning be harmful? I don’t understand that reasoning. Learning can be fun for young children if it’s presented in a positive way.

I do agree that the testing in some cases is out of hand and academic expectations far exceed what maybe they should be. But I also believe that learning to read is very important, my children learned at their own pace although each were reading some by six. They were ready and excited. It’s like a lightbulb went on. Reading opens up a whole new world. Reading one page and having the child read the next has been a great way for my children to practice. My children have never lacked the time or energy to explore their world, but why can’t reading be a part of it.

I want to say that I don’t believe one method is for every child. Heck, I think if one parent is able to stay home with the child, s/he will do a better job with development and social interaction than some stranger with a handful of other kids. Pre-school was never intended to be a race, it was initially intended to provide lower income families where parents had to look for daycare with an opportunity to make sure their child received the natural educational stimulant a stay at home parent would provide.

I am all for regular public school for most children and strongly believe in the importance of academia. However, I think that people need to actually sit down and look at the studies. Later readers often do better than their counterparts. Children today are expected to do more than children of other generations, but instead of this knowledge expanding their horizons it often limits them. I really suggest parents do some research about this and look at the case studies, its amazing how much pressure is placed on young minds. Unschooling methods in children under 7-8 has been shown to have better long term effects than any schooling method (the case is still out on elementary and secondary education done in the unschooling method)as it isn’t until the age of 8-9 that the brain is capable of understanding and assessing information to the degree required to retain and further develop concepts.

Too much too soon has clearly been shown to have no positive impact on long-term learning. Children succeed in a casual learning environment, learning within context everyday (unschooling). It’s more important that you read with your child, discuss, and play games than it is for your child to be able to read by 4.

I love Waldorf education for so many reasons. It really does produce a well rounded individual. There are so many beautiful aspects to the education. However, I agree with the poster that said it is not suited for everyone. Some children who want to read earlier and are told they can’t until the “falling out of the baby teeth” is unfair and could cause some emotional angst.

Personally, I would prefer a Waldorf enrichment to a good ol’ free public school education.

There are plenty of “fishy” things about Waldorf (the teachers are indoctrinated in Anthroposophy, which Steiner created) and I dislike the use of traditional seating and no textbooks at all, just the student’s main lesson book. But, the gems in this form of education are not to be ignored!

To all the haters: read up on it before you knock it and don’t get all your information from biased websites with a personal objective.

“…a degree is needed to get most types of high-paying jobs.”

Well for some parents, having a child who ends up in a high paying job isn’t the be-all end-all goal. I personally don’t care if my children end up in high paying jobs. I have other priorities.

I’m not familiar with all the principles of the Steiner method, but I have read a great deal of studies lately on education and I really strongly disagree with children being pushed to learn things at really early ages. It’s sad to see how stressed out some kids are now. I absolutely am opposed to preschools that push reading at 3 and 4 and really pushing the academics. There is no evidence to suggest that pushing academics at that early of an age is helpful in the long run and there is a lot of evidence beginning to mount that it’s harmful.