Hi all!
I have just started coming to this site, it is great and very informative! I have 2 children my son is almost 4 and my daughter is 1.5. Anyway I have been interested in Waldorf education since about 1996 when I was working as a preschool helper for a little boy with ADHD in a classroom with a teacher working on her Waldorf certification. It was a non Waldorf school, but she was using much Waldorf and would talk to me about it all the time. So that is when I decided this is what I wanted for my future children. I have worked as an art teacher in private schools and as a sub in public, also as an early interventionist in head starts.
SO last year I applied to the local Waldorf school here. It was actually an hour and a half from where we were living at the time, and as the situation came up, we sold our house and moved closer to the school. We did not move here just for the school, my husband works from home and we can live anywhere, but we did choose this location for it's beauty AND the fact that we thought he would be attending the school. We have taken parent-child classes, our house is about as Waldorf looking as a typical nursery class. Our kids have never watched TV, they dress in the "Waldorf style" as in wool and natural fibers. I try to do as much as I can to follow along with stuff at home. We have a nature table, all natural toys, many made by me or friends, pink silks hanging on the walls, sticks with fall leaves and fairies in the windows, etc I am sure you can get the picture.
SO we sent in our app, went to the tea party, got our acceptance for nursery, and then I went in to talk to the teacher about some stuff I thought my son was dealing with that I *thought* we could all work on together. This child has sensory issues, so he is very sensitive to sound, touch, food smells the like, but as we follow a very quiet structured home life it is pretty much in check. BUT he will not do some things such as put on a rubber rain coat or eat mush of any kind. The teacher seemed to think this stuff was not to be accommodated in the class. She did not like that he talked while painting and so they called and said maybe we should try again next year. He was just 3 at the time. I was pretty angry, but got over it, he is in OT and is doing better, plus another year at home is always good. 3 is very early, and nursery is not really recommended in many of the books I have read.
I have sent in my application again for nursery this year, he will be for in Jan so when school starts he will be 4.5. Now I really want him to go, but I am nervous now. IS he already labeled a problem child? He will have the same teacher this year as he would have had last year. Is this stuff just too much to think a Waldorf School can handle? They do not have an aid at the school, not that I really think he needs one, he is pretty much an average kid IMHO, last year I think I was being over judgmental, what with a new baby and a move and things like that. I thought they took temperament into account, he is meloncolic all the way. I don't know what I am looking for here, just some advice, what should I ask when I go for my interview with the teacher again? Are Waldorf kids not your typical kid? One mother told me Waldorf is great, if your kid fits the bill. What does that mean? Are the kids expected to just do as they are told and if anything different happens are they just asked to leave school, like for example not wearing a rain coat, or having trouble pulling up pants after pottying, that sort of stuff.
What are your experiences?
I have just started coming to this site, it is great and very informative! I have 2 children my son is almost 4 and my daughter is 1.5. Anyway I have been interested in Waldorf education since about 1996 when I was working as a preschool helper for a little boy with ADHD in a classroom with a teacher working on her Waldorf certification. It was a non Waldorf school, but she was using much Waldorf and would talk to me about it all the time. So that is when I decided this is what I wanted for my future children. I have worked as an art teacher in private schools and as a sub in public, also as an early interventionist in head starts.
SO last year I applied to the local Waldorf school here. It was actually an hour and a half from where we were living at the time, and as the situation came up, we sold our house and moved closer to the school. We did not move here just for the school, my husband works from home and we can live anywhere, but we did choose this location for it's beauty AND the fact that we thought he would be attending the school. We have taken parent-child classes, our house is about as Waldorf looking as a typical nursery class. Our kids have never watched TV, they dress in the "Waldorf style" as in wool and natural fibers. I try to do as much as I can to follow along with stuff at home. We have a nature table, all natural toys, many made by me or friends, pink silks hanging on the walls, sticks with fall leaves and fairies in the windows, etc I am sure you can get the picture.
SO we sent in our app, went to the tea party, got our acceptance for nursery, and then I went in to talk to the teacher about some stuff I thought my son was dealing with that I *thought* we could all work on together. This child has sensory issues, so he is very sensitive to sound, touch, food smells the like, but as we follow a very quiet structured home life it is pretty much in check. BUT he will not do some things such as put on a rubber rain coat or eat mush of any kind. The teacher seemed to think this stuff was not to be accommodated in the class. She did not like that he talked while painting and so they called and said maybe we should try again next year. He was just 3 at the time. I was pretty angry, but got over it, he is in OT and is doing better, plus another year at home is always good. 3 is very early, and nursery is not really recommended in many of the books I have read.
I have sent in my application again for nursery this year, he will be for in Jan so when school starts he will be 4.5. Now I really want him to go, but I am nervous now. IS he already labeled a problem child? He will have the same teacher this year as he would have had last year. Is this stuff just too much to think a Waldorf School can handle? They do not have an aid at the school, not that I really think he needs one, he is pretty much an average kid IMHO, last year I think I was being over judgmental, what with a new baby and a move and things like that. I thought they took temperament into account, he is meloncolic all the way. I don't know what I am looking for here, just some advice, what should I ask when I go for my interview with the teacher again? Are Waldorf kids not your typical kid? One mother told me Waldorf is great, if your kid fits the bill. What does that mean? Are the kids expected to just do as they are told and if anything different happens are they just asked to leave school, like for example not wearing a rain coat, or having trouble pulling up pants after pottying, that sort of stuff.
What are your experiences?
