Waldorf School Offers Education In An Unconventional Style

By Susan Coney

Imagine a school without any technology, no principal, very few materials, no textbooks, and no tests. Think you may have stepped back in time to a school from the 19th Century? Located in Dodgingtown there is just such a school, The Housatonic Valley Waldorf School, which established itself in Newtown in April 2000.

The tiny school goes almost unnoticed in town. It has a student population of just 141 children ranging in age from 3 years old to those completing the eighth grade. The school is housed in two separate buildings; a small red schoolhouse structure that sits directly on Dodgingtown Road holds the nursery classes for children aged 3–7, and a building around the corner houses the main office and grades one through six. Currently the seventh and eighth students meet at a nearby church while a third facility on the school site is undergoing an expansion.

An independent, nonprofit organization, the Housatonic Valley Waldorf School accepts no state funds and is therefore exempt from complying with any state restrictions. The children who attend do not take standardized tests and the school’s educational curriculum does not follow state guidelines.

The school contains no technology for the students and parents are discouraged from allowing their children to watch television, movies, or to work or play on computers at home. Those who send their children to the school are asked to follow the recommendations set forth by the school. It is clear from the beginning that a Waldorf school offers a different type of educational exposure that emphasizes hands-on activities and the development of the whole child’s development.

Art and nature are crucial elements of the teachings at the school, and seasonal themes are intertwined into the curriculum. Subjects such as a math or science are often taught in three- to four-week blocks where the students concentrate completely on that area of study.

Classrooms at the school have few materials, but all are decorated in a warm, inviting environment. In each classroom a small table is set aside with candles, crystals, objects of nature, and a doll-like figurine resembling a king that represents a particular season of the year.

The children are given one pencil in the early grades and acquire a few more colored pencils, which they sharpen the old-fashioned way by whittling them to a point. Any toys in the classroom are from nature such as rocks, crystals, pinecones, coconuts, and sticks.

The children take care of the materials they have and are very self-sufficient. For example, on a recent tour of the school this reporter observed one group of nursery school children, ages 3 to 6, sharing a snack of brown rice at a candlelit table, holding hands and singing a song of thanks to nature before they ate. Afterward the children carried their own dishes to low built sinks in the kitchen, where they happily washed and dried their own dishes. They then went to the coat room donning snowsuits then heading out to the playground — all without adult assistance.

Two teachers are present in each nursery age classroom at all times.

The Waldorf Way

Often perceived to be shrouded in mystery, the school conforms only to the standards set by Waldorf schools throughout the world. Today there are more than 800 Waldorf schools in 35 countries. The Waldorf school in Dodgingtown offers virtually the same curriculum, presented in exactly the same way as a Waldorf school run in Germany. School staff members welcome anyone who wishes to observe their procedures.

The Waldorf education is based on the teachings of Austrian philosopher, mystic, and scientist Rudolf Steiner who founded the first Waldorf school in 1919 in Stuttgart, Germany. He developed “anthroposophy,” which he described as a spiritual science or “soul-observations using scientific methodology.”

Waldorf education is unconventional and has its critics, who claim that the schools are not the progressive, liberal, artistic institutions they claim to be. They assert the curriculum is based on alchemy, magic, astrology, and bizarre ideas of the occult as articulated in anthroposophy by its founder.

According to Therese Lederer, director of enrollment at the Housatonic Valley Waldorf School, the school offers students a slower paced learning environment. She stated, “The curriculum has a different flow, it is geared to when the child is ready.”

Ms Lederer provided a single sheet of paper that stipulates the curriculum for all Waldorf schools and outlines the areas of study for each grade level. She said that children must be turning 7 sometime during the first grade year to be eligible to enter that grade. Formal reading does not begin until the second grade. There are no textbooks in any grade level; the children generate their own, individual textbooks.

Ms Lederer stated that the children are exposed to both Spanish and German from nursery age on up through the eighth grade. Every grade level learns a new form of handwork such as knitting in the first grade, crocheting and nature projects in second grade, and advancing in the upper grades to more intricate handwork.

Every grade level practices eurythmy, a tradition of movement, gestures, and signs developed with music and dance that is part of the educational system at the school. In the nursery and lower grades children are told fairy tales, legends, and fables by the teacher. The teacher presents a lesson orally. The children experience it, observe it, and discuss it.

The school has also been criticized for not teaching reading until the second grade. In the first grade the students work on form drawing of straight and curved lines, and forms. The teacher presents a letter of the alphabet and integrates it into a story, fable or fairy tale. Later in the lesson the teacher draws a scene from the story with the shape of the letter depicted in the picture. The children copy the teacher’s drawing so that all of the students’ drawings are virtually identical to that of the teacher’s.

The children add each alphabet drawing to an individual book they continue to compile. The children’s books and drawings displayed in the classroom not only were almost identical but the people portrayed in the drawings were faceless. Critics of the Waldorf method often point out that the pictures drawn by children in the early grades reveal faceless people to help the children conform to the group.

However, fourth grade teacher Melissa Merkling explained, “We don’t draw outlines [in any picture] because the outline is an abstraction. We don’t want to get lost in the detail, it is really the broad strokes that we are after. The drawings are very big and are not detailed. I’ve certainly never been told what one is suppose to teach, it’s where the child’s own energy is.”

Ms Merkling continued, “When a child draws a sad person it is with the whole body gesture not just the facial expression. Facial expression is beyond the capabilities of the young child. It really ties in to the way we regard childhood. In general we teach to the whole child, letting the children experience with their whole body and that is why we have so much movement in our teaching.”

Teachers Progress With Their Students

From first grade up there is one class per grade level with a range of 10 to 18 children per classroom. The teachers move up with their students, so that the children remain with the same teacher for eight years, from the first through the eighth grades.

Teachers must go to an accredited Waldorf institution for two years before they may teach in a Waldorf school. Second grade teacher Colleen Romano began as a traditional educator. Ms Romano stated that she had a frightening experience coming out of college and teaching first and fourth grades in a public school setting. She experienced problems with discipline and felt disenchanted with the public venue saying that the children lacked heart.

Ms Romano said when she learned about the Waldorf program she was attracted by the materials, the naturalness, and the philosophy of the program. She has been studying and working in a Waldorf setting for the past ten years.

Leslie Lew teaches third grade at the school. She previously taught in a Waldorf school in Israel for five years and said that the curriculums of the two schools are virtually identical. Ms Lew stated that the children at the school treat all of the materials with reverence. “The children learn how precious the materials are. They really learn to take care of the materials they have. Eventually you want them to take responsibility for the brushes and materials they use.”

She added, “I think that more and more people today are disappointed with the fast pace world of technology. There is time for that. Parents who send their children here are looking for a slower, deeper pace. Yes, it is a very slow pace but we are working on things, foundations that are much deeper.”

She added that parent meetings are held three to four times per year where parents are free to discuss any concerns or issues regarding curriculum or the development of their child. These sessions are in addition to parent conferences that are held on a regular basis.

Carol Alpert does remedial work at the school. She follows the practices outlined by Rudolf Steiner with the children at the school. “We look at the whole child; mind, heart, and will. My experience here tells me we need to look at the whole child. How does he develop, what peaks his interest and enthusiasm, and brings a sparkle to his eye? When I work with a child I do that by observation, I am not here to change or mold him but to understand him,” she said.

Waldorf schools do not have principals; they do, however, have administrators who serve in a somewhat similar capacity. Kathy Grose has been the administrator for Housatonic Valley Waldorf School for the past five years. She has been affiliated with the school as a parent for ten years, having had twins who graduated last year from the eighth grade program.

Her son and daughter are currently freshmen at Newtown High School, and Ms Grose and her husband, Jody, are very pleased with the transition their children have made. Mr Grose is a traditional special education teacher and works with seventh and eighth graders in a public school in Westport.

Ms Grose admitted that she and her husband were somewhat panicked when neither of their children were reading in the second grade. “We would approach their teacher and she would assure us to have faith. Sure enough in the summer between second and third grade both children began reading chapter books. You have to have faith. Then they are like sponges. By the eighth grade they were both reading Shakespeare,” she said.

Ms Grose said the Waldorf experience provided both of her children with a high level of confidence that will help them when they enter the real world environment so they are not intimidated. She said they have both made a smooth transition to the large high school and are both involved in extracurricular activities. She also stated that she and her husband could not be more pleased with the staff at the high school and believe their children are receiving an excellent education.

Samples of handwork and other projects done by the students at Housatonic Valley Waldorf School are currently on display in the Danbury Public Library.