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I keep going back and forth on Waldorf for my kids. I love some aspects of it (the back to nature part, taking things a bit slower, not watching tv, which we don't anyway, etc) but the Anthroposophy gets in my way....
I honestly think it depend on the shool. I always thought the Waldorf concept was great. My bro nd SIL sent their kids to one...they were all very happy. But, then moved and had to put them in public school. Turns out the kids were WAY behind in math! And these are really smart kids. Maybe they would have eventually caught up as possibly the curriculum was not teaching the same things at the same time. I am not sure. I guess you have to look at where they will end up down the line with the curriculum. Oh, and the public school teachers quickly caught them up with some after school help. So, all turned out well in the end. I think it was a great experience for them....you just have to decide what you want their education/teachers to focus on. Do a lot of research!
What grade did they transfer to public school? I've heard that, b/c of the different timing of Waldorf subjects, the kids can have trouble going to public before 5th grade, but after that, they would actually be ahead. I don't know if that's really true though! Were you SIL's kids between K-5 or were they older?
My son is in a Waldorf preschool and I LOVE it. My older kids are in public elementary, and I am just not 100% sure what to do so I've done nothing to change it...(I remember the lyrics of a song "if you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice" and that's about where I am right now!)
My friend's child goes to one and I think she's incredibly well-adjusted. She was smart to begin with, but she is amazing...She knows how to think and analyze, even at a young age! It blows me away! I believe she's in 2nd grade.
I went to a Waldorf school (overseas) and it has its pros and cons. I think they do help you think creatively and not just study for the test, but there are also some things that are lacking.
I'm sure this may be different from one country to another, but the lack of textbooks is in my opinion a detriment. Not having textbooks does teach you to take good notes and give you good writing skills, but some of that formal learning is missing. That can make the transition to college a bit more difficult, even though I found that my high school prepared me adequately to do well in college.
There isn't a lot of testing going on either, but that may also be different in the US. It took some time for the curriculum to match the regular school so you wouldn't be at a disadvantage when applying for college.
I have to think some more what I felt was lacking, but feel free to PM me or post any other questions here.
Bumping up and old thread instead of starting a new one. I noticed that for many of the US Waldorf Schools, tuitions seem to be generally lower (though still not cheap) than other private independent schools in the same locality. The exception being the Manhattan NYC location. Could anyone advise if there is a catch? I did tours of Hawthorne Valley and Green Meadow and could not find anything wrong except maybe in athletics.
Bumping up and old thread instead of starting a new one. I noticed that for many of the US Waldorf Schools, tuitions seem to be generally lower (though still not cheap) than other private independent schools in the same locality. The exception being the Manhattan NYC location. Could anyone advise if there is a catch? I did tours of Hawthorne Valley and Green Meadow and could not find anything wrong except maybe in athletics.
The one in Garden City is not cheap.
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