r/Waldorf

My 21 month old daughter started at our local Waldorf school. I have been so excited because ever since we toured a year ago I fell in love with everything Waldorf. Finally the school year is off but there is something giving me a bit of a pause and worried I might have made the wrong decision. The after school program that runs from 12:30 - 5:30 was pitched as ran by one woman to whom I adore but there is apparently a helper that is a male. I’m pretty anxious about men in general. Other than her dad I don’t let any male watch her. The idea of a guy changing her diaper weirds me out and now I’m sitting here stressing about worst case scenarios. Is this an overreaction (and maybe should go on AIO) or is this my gut telling me that this is a bad idea? I don’t want to give up Waldorf but I would never intentionally put my daughter in danger either.

Hello beautiful Waldorf community. I’m about to cry writing this. I need your help, come to circle time with me please.

So, my 4 year old son started preschool recently. And we decided to move to Arizona for it, because we thought the school was great. The school is a Montessori, and it’s super cute and small.

However, my little one is not thriving. I’m giving it some time because we don’t have an abundance of evidence yet, but he doesn’t seem engaged, he doesn’t really know any classmates names ( he’s been 3 weeks). He comes back and clothes are perfectly clean.

I ask him what songs they sang? What did he do? And he doesn’t really say much. I’m so heartbroken.
Before moving here, he was attending a preschool that emphasized play, they read books, crafted, built, played with kitchen, etc. Now, it’s all about independent learning, and I’m not sure if that’s where my little one would thrive.

Does anybody here have experience with transitioning from Montessori to Waldorf? Or do you think Waldorf is more collaborative? My son loves to play and interact with other kids, I’m not sure if this independent learning is helping him, he seems so down.

I am considering a Waldorf school but I’d like to hear opinions before I make the switch. I thought Montessori would also include some collaboration in addition to independent learning but it doesn’t seem to be that way. We went to his birthday celebration and it was cute but oh so quiet and almost stiff for a group of 4 year olds.

My little one seems almost sad. And he loves hanging out with other kids, but he’s definitely not loving this environment.

Any guidance on your experience with Waldorf would be so helpful.

I’ve been slowly collecting our homeschooling supplies, as I have a 3 year old who’s definitely needing more rhythm, so I thought I’d ease into it this year. As a bit of background info: we love waldorf and I’ve always wanted to give our children this type of education since before becoming a mom, but our local school is still somewhat far and also the tuition cost is just not an option for us at this time. That being said I’ve been diving deep in studying more of the pedagogy by reading books, listening to podcasts, reading blogs, posts on here and just every resource I can find, it’s been really beautiful because it’s definitely been a personal journey for me too.

Now, as we are establishing our rhythm I’ve been gathering some supplies, but we’re on a budget, so I want to try to make the best of it as we go. So far I’ve been able to get:

The stokmar modeling beeswax

Watercolor paper pad, and

The small set of stokmar block crayons (we’ve been using these every week for a few weeks) but now I’ve been hearing that since they’re blocks it doesn’t promote a good pencil grasp, and that is best to alternate between these and the stick crayons?

I do have a bit of a budget now that I was thinking to save towards the watercoloring supplies for the wet on wet technique, but now I’m wondering if I should get the stick crayons first?

I’ve also noticed that he does like to make more detailed shapes, as he has started drawing “people” (big circle with sticks as legs and dots for eyes and a smile) with a magnetic drawing board. So I’m really thinking I might need to get him the stick crayons.

But I also know the importance of watercoloring and he’s also been asking for paints. It’s just taken some time to be able to get everything and the supplies for this definitely add up. The paints themselves (set of 3) are $33, the watercoloring boards ($25-50 each), paint brushes (don’t know the price but need two as well), the paint jars ($20) and I do already have one pad of the paper to start with.

So, What would you recommend in my situation and for a preschooler? Should I get him the crayons first and just slowly continue gathering the watercolor supplies? Or do the opposite? If I get the crayons are the crayon holders absolutely necessary?

I’ve been so excited about this specially as we’ve started getting into a weekly rhythm, but it’s been hard to very slowly gather everything and be patient. Again he’s only three years old so I’ve been trying to focus on some of the deeper things, like the rhythm itself and just our home life in general, songs etc.

Thanks for reading all of this and I appreciate any guidance, advice and encouragement so much!

Hello!

I'm going to be starting work at a Waldorf school later this month. I'm an experienced educator but I've never worked in the Waldorf setting so tbh I'm a little nervous.

I really want to fit in. I'm a very social person and it's important to me to make good first impressions. I've taken the summer between jobs to try and learn handwork skills so I don't show up a total beginner.

So far I've taken up beading (I'm indigenous so I was already half heartedly doing this one) and machine sewing. I'm trying to finger weave right now (which kind of seems like making large friendship bracelets) and I do know how to needle felt. I enjoy arts and crafts a lot.

Is there anything else I should add to my repertoire? Also does anyone have any resources on finger weaving because I feel like I'm doing it wrong treating it like a big bracelet.

Also any other tips on how I can fit in well to the Waldorf setting? I want to do really well in this new job

Thanks!

We have dolls and all the accessories, kitchen with food, doll house, wooden blocks, silks, dress up stuff.. what Waldorf inspired toys do your kids love?

I was wondering if anyone has recommendations for books or resources that are a good fit for grandparents.