Families sometimes wonder whether Waldorf education can truly fit alongside a deeply held religious faith. Perhaps you are a devout Christian or Catholic family. Perhaps you are Muslim, Jewish, or part of another faith tradition. You may follow specific teachings, prayers, scriptures, or observances that make you question whether every part of the Waldorf curriculum will align with your family.

I want to reassure you: there is nothing preventing you from having a beautiful and meaningful Waldorf-inspired school year while remaining firmly rooted in your faith.

Begin With Your Family’s Faith

Your religion is part of your family culture. It does not need to be separated from your homeschool or confined to one lesson each week.

Continue observing the practices that are important to your family. Pray together. Read your sacred texts. Celebrate your holy days. Tell the stories of your faith and follow the traditions that help your children understand who they are and where they come fro...

The school year has started, and maybe you are already wondering if you chose the right curriculum. Perhaps you are using a mainstream curriculum, another Waldorf curriculum, or something completely different, and it just isn’t landing. Your child is not connecting with the lessons, you are not enjoying teaching them, or your days simply do not feel the way you hoped they would.

Now you are wondering, “Should I switch? Is it too late? What do I do from here?”

It is not too late.

I think we sometimes feel that once we choose a curriculum, we are committed to it for the entire year. We purchased it, made our plans, and started using it, so we tell ourselves that we have to keep going—even when we know it is not working.

You don’t have to do that. One of the beautiful things about homeschooling is that you can observe what is happening with your child and make adjustments along the way. Changing direction does not mean that you failed or that you made a terrible choice. It means th...

I have often been asked if we participate in co-ops,

Yes and no. 

From time to time we have had Waldorf centered co-ops, some with many families and some with just one or two.  These are by far my favorites - I love getting together with other Waldorf centered families.  This can be a tall order though if you are in an area where there are no other Waldorf homeschoolers. It is usually easy to find other homeschoolers, but hard to decide if the co-ops they are offering fit within the Waldorf model. 

We are all eager to have our children socialize but will it be at the expense of the developmental appropriateness that we are striving for.  So often this becomes a secondary thought.  It shouldn't.  We should be thinking developmental appropriateness in all areas of our children's lives - sure there are times when try as we might we won't come close to the Steiner indications, but a co-op is a voluntary activity.  Before going into a co-op situation or agreeing to teach, look at the mod...

I often get emails from moms trying not to be frantic over a child that just isn't "getting it".  I think we've all been there  - whether it be with reading, spelling, long division, algebra... (insert your topic here) - the key really is to keep ourselves in a spot so we don't panic.  Two things come to mind with this -#1: keep reading Steiner (or start if you haven't) and #2: meditation and prayer over the situation and the child.

When I am faced with resistance, I do a few things.

First, I stand back and look at if it was a just a bad day - those happen!  Either I am not on my game or my child might just be off.
Did they get enough sleep? 
Do they need to eat?
Do I need to eat?
Is it time for a break? 
I really believe in preserving the relationship so I do my best not to loose my temper (I am NOT always good at this!) - I would rather have the door still open and have to move the lesson to another day than slam the door and cause trouble with the subject down the road.  Sometimes ...

I recently had a chat with a mom new to Waldorf.  She has older children and was worried about the placement of her daughter in grade six.  She was worried about the fact that she wasn't up to speed with her math or writing, and questioned if her daughter should go back to grade five or even four to get the entire curriculum.

This is a good question and one that I get often.  I assured her that Waldorf education is so different than anything else whether in the homeschool or public school arena.  With Waldorf, you can keep a child at grade level developmentally and work independently on their other skills.  The method of presenting subjects and the sequence of presenting them is directly in line with the development of the each child's being.  A child of 12 years could be studying Rome (grade six) and understanding the concepts and stories while working to strengthen their writing and math skills of previous years.  It is as much a journey for them as it is for us.  We must remember t...

Often moms will say that their child doesn't like the review or refuses to do it and so they will let it go.

Let me back up... just which review am I talking about?  In general, we tell a story or discuss theory (for older children) then we do something active or artistic and then allow it to sleep for a night, then reviewing this the next day and including some sort of writing element.  While the whole process doesn't need to be story/draw/sleep/write/move on, there does need to be an element of review. 

This review can come in many forms and the artistic portion can come in many forms.  The early grades, 1st and second especially can seem repetitive if you don't change things up so maybe one week you really focus on drawing skills for your artistic development, another painting, another modeling or another baking - keeping these alive.  Don't forget the review!  I hear moms often say "It is like pulling teeth" or "once I start the review the tears come"  - I am not sure how things ...

If you are like many homeschooling moms, you are looking at what you haven't finished yet for the year and starting to feel a bit frustrated... frustrated at yourself maybe for not staying disciplined enough or frustrated at the events that came up that took you off course or even just frustrated that you want to be done and don't feel like you can be... but that sun calls you to be outside... parks seem to be begging to your children... and popsicles sound much more fun than poetry! 

I totally understand!  Sometimes life gets in the way...one thing I have realized is that even when I plan (and you all know how much I preach about planning!) it can be hard to take all scenarios into consideration!  We had a couple of those this year and so it has me standing at what is the end of the year for many of my homeschooling friends and pouting!

After I decided pouting wouldn't get me very far, I decided to make a plan - something I am good at - a plan that would work for all of us and not h...

I often get questions about whether or not Waldorf can work with unschooling, Charlotte Mason homeschooling or Thomas Jefferson methods at home.  I hope this response is received in the light it was intended.  Blessings.

I have consulted with many families over the years - unschoolers, TJ Ed'ers, Charlotte Mason families and of course Waldorf ones.  I have some background in CM and TJ.  Erik also wrote a research paper for school on a comparative of Steiner, CM and TJ educational methods.  I strongly believe that while CM and TJ have great thoughts about education, no one comes close to Steiner.  People get the idea that following Steiner means you have to follow the Waldorf schools... that's Steiner Waldorf... Steiner's indications stand regardless of the method.  

Do I think you can work these other methods in conjunction with Steiner?  It depends.  On what?  How much more work you want to do!  There are beautiful things in the other methods... Steiner has it all together in one me...

"An Art of Education that is at the same time a cultural Therapy-this is what Rudolf Steiner has bequeathed to us. It is permeated with those Divine powers that are revealed, in Art, in their garb of Beauty. It leads to those sources of life whence health and healing flow to the growing human being. In this educational activity, as a member of the community of artists in life, the teacher may feel himself in all humility, to be priest and healer as well."

What a quote!  This comes from the article "Education as a Healing Agent" by Caroline von Heydebrand.

This is one of those gems. This article reminds me that this education was intended for all and that there are some wonderful WHYs behind the HOWs and WHENs.  This article confirms that the first schools worked with children that didn't fit the "perfect child" mold - this is something harder and harder to find among the younger schools in the movement.  I fear it is a sign of the times - the movement is growing and more and more tea...