025: Is a Waldorf preschool right for my child?

This episode is the second in our mini-series on making decisions about preschools, which I know is on the minds of a lot of parents of young children at this time of year.  Today we speak with Beverly Amico, the Director of Advancement at the Association of Waldorf Schools of North America. Beverly helps us to understand the philosophy behind a Waldorf approach to early childhood education as well as answer those all-important questions like “Can I send my child to a Waldorf preschool even if s/he has plastic toys and watches TV?”. Here’s the link to the Essentials in Education blog that Beverly mentions in the episode, and here is the official website for her organization, the Association of Waldorf Schools of North America.   References Association of Waldorf Schools of North America (2015). Waldorf Education. Retrieved from: https://waldorfeducation.org/ Edmunds, F. (2004). An introduction to Steiner education. Forest Row, UK: Sophia Books Howard, S. (n.d.). Essentials of Waldorf early childhood education. Retrieved from: http://www.waldorfearlychildhood.org/uploads/Howard%20Article.pdf Petrash, J. (2002). Understanding Waldorf education: Teaching from the inside out. Beltsville, MD: Gryphon House Steiner, R. (1995). The spirit of the Waldorf school. Hudson, NY: Anthroposophic Press Steiner, R. (2001). The renewal of education. Great Barrington, MA: Anthroposophic Press Steiner, R. (2003). What is Waldorf education? Great Barrington, MA: SteinerBooks Waldorf Early Childhood Association of America (2017). WECAN. Retrieved from: http://www.waldorfearlychildhood.org/   Read Full Transcript Transcript Jen:   [00:30] Hello and welcome to today’s episode of the Your Parenting Mojo podcast, which is called Is a Waldorf Preschool Right for my Child? Regular listeners might recall that we are doing a little mini series at the moment, examining the different approaches to preschool to try and help parents make a decision about which type of school might be right for their child. We’ve already covered Montessori, so if you miss that one, you might take it once to go back and take a listen. And today we’ll talk with Beverly Amico, who is the Executive Director of Advancement at the Association of Waldorf Schools of North America. Prior to this role, she was the head of school for three K through 12 Waldorf schools in Bethesda, Maryland; Boulder, Colorado, and Santa Fe, New Mexico, and was a life sciences teacher as well. She also sits on the board of the Council for American private education, which advocates for sound educational policy. Beverly received her bachelor’s degree in K through 12 health education from Penn State University. Welcome, Beverly. Beverly: [01:22] Thank you. It’s a privilege to be here. Jen:  [01:24] Thank you. So I’ve read that it’s really difficult to define the distinguishing features of a Waldorf education. Every book that I picked up said, well, we can’t really put our arms around what it is. I wonder if you could start out instead by imagining a Waldorf preschool classroom in your mind and walking us through that. What does the room look like and what are the children doing and how do they move through their day? Beverly:  [01:46] Certainly, certainly. There were I think four words that often come to mind when you’re describing a Waldorf early childhood classroom and which will hopefully help your visitor, your listeners to be able to picture it. But first is simplicity. You’ll walk into a classroom and the surrounding environment has very few distractions. Children really don’t need much noise around them to explore and to hold their attention. Beverly:   [02:16] The second I’d like to use is the word goodness. Even the way the gestures of the teacher, the kind words, the soft speech, the calming rhythm, and children feel like they’re coming into a place and they feel nurtured. And then beauty, and you don’t necessarily expect this when you walk into an early childhood classroom, but the classrooms are really beautiful. There ae flowers and wooden toys and beautiful artwork on the walls and real elements of nature and that that just is, is good and healthy for all human beings to be surrounded by beauty. And then the last one, which is perhaps kind of the keystone of a welder for early childhood is this idea of wonder. It’s a place students can enter into and explorer and spark their imagination. I think even as an adult, if you’ve ever walked into an early childhood classroom, you immediately feel kind of nurtured and calm and cared for, for it’s really a very joyful place. Jen:    [03:16] That sounds really cool. So what are the children spend their day doing in a Waldorf Preschool? Beverly:  [03:22] Absolutely. Well, so every Waldorf school is different. They’re all independent. While we’re an association, each is different. So we do have some Waldorf early childhood classrooms that are even forest kindergartens or outdoor farm kindergartens. But traditionally our classes…There’s plenty of time for children to explore in what we’ll call child-initiated free play, exploring in nature, plenty of outdoor time, regardless of whether our location. My child was at a school in Minnesota and, and every day in that cold, in that snow, they were out to there exploring. Circle time, which is full of stories and songs and movement and a rich storytelling curriculum and puppet shows. And then there’s always some type of a project that the children are taking up for the day, whether it’s baking bread or watercolor painting or carving wood. And then the simple aspects of just being helpful in the classroom, whether it’s setting tables, folding napkins, making soup. So hopefully that gives you a little little picture of the day. Jen:   [04:33] Yeah, it almost sounds like it’s a bit like a home environment in a classroom, Beverly:  [04:38] That’s a very good way to, to define it. And the teachers are really, they’re kind of as a parent, as you would say, to be imitated and to look up to whether they’re cooking or folding or setting up the next group play environment there; it is really like a home. Jen:   [05:02] Okay. And so as parents are looking at Waldorf schools and the teachers, I wonder if you can help us understand the certification for teachers and the accreditation for schools. I think your organization is the only one that accredits schools. Is that right? Beverly:    [05:17] Yes. I can certainly speak to those questions. So Waldorf teachers, their path is typically after completing an undergraduate degree or a master’s degree, they’ll then come to one of our several institutes to complete either a master’s degree or a certain certificate program in Waldorf teacher training programs vary according to the institute, it’s typically a two year program, Jen: [05:44] So there’s a master’s degree in Waldorf education? Beverly:   [05:47] You can get a master’s degree in Waldorf Education and then some of our institutes just offer a certificate