Lisa and Ginny on fri 3 oct 97
Greetings y'all. I have just today heard of this new thing (around here,
anyway) called Waldorf schools. It seems that they actually EMPHASIZE
the arts! Montessori is supposedly similar.
Do any of you have experience with this sort of school?
--
Lisa Skeen
Living Tree Pottery & Soaps
http://www.uncg.edu/~lpskeen
YesIAmRU?
June Perry on sat 4 oct 97
Dear Lisa:
We sent our son to a Waldorf school late. But better late than never. He
loved it and we loved it.
I remember the first week he went and he came home and said "We're not
learning anything!." But we noticed that he dominated the dinner table
conversation with all that they were doing. That year they studied the
Renaissance and they made banners, learned of the foods and culture of the
Renaissance, studied the artists etc. In other words, for the whole semester
they were immersed in the Renaissance.
Now our son had gone to some good public schools in the U.S. and mostly
Canada until he was 13 and he had never been gabby about school. In fact, he
had been pretty closed mouth! And here he was going on every night about
school! The grew vegetables, did a form of exercise called eurythmia (not
sure of spelling.). We found it to be a loving and expansive and nurturing
environment. He went through high school in his Waldorf education and it
served him very very well.
In Waldorf schooling you get the same teacher all the way through so it could
be a problem if there is a conflict with a teacher and that can happen. But
our experience was wonderful!
Our son is now 32 and is Senior vice-president of King World Productions the
company that syndicates the Oprah Winfrey show, Wheel of Fortune, the new
Roseanne talk show, etc. So he's doing pretty well. I guess he'll support us
in our old age!.:-)
Warm regards,
June
Patsy Catsos on sat 4 oct 97
I recently did a commission for a local Waldorf school--children's mugs, a
pitcher, and a fruit bowl. Here they do not allow any plastic or man-made
materials whatsoever into the classroom!
Patsy Catsos
Trial by Fire Pottery
445 Mitchell Road
Cape Elizabeth, ME 04107
patsycats@aol.com
http://members.aol.com/patsycats/
trialbyfire/trialbyfire.html
Vince Pitelka on sat 4 oct 97
>Greetings y'all. I have just today heard of this new thing (around here,
>anyway) called Waldorf schools. It seems that they actually EMPHASIZE
>the arts! Montessori is supposedly similar.
>Do any of you have experience with this sort of school?
>Lisa Skeen
Lisa -
My only experience with Waldorf schools is with my neice - my sister's
daughter, Eva. They live in Pasadena, and for the first five years of Eva's
life she watched a lot of TV, and attended public kindergarten. She seemed
typical of American children of that age - short attention span, strong
interest in all the TV characters. Before the first grade, my sister
transfered Eva to a Waldorf school, and got rid of the TV, as you are
required to do when your child is enrolled in Waldorf. Several years later,
the change is remarkable. Eva is a very spirited child, but she has a much
longer attention span now, and listens carefully to conversations among
children or adults. On my most recent visit, it really struck me how
carefully she listened, and how intelligently she responded during
conversations. It is so rare that we see that among children her age.
On the down side, I am not sure how I feel about the "classist" aspects of
the Waldorf school. There is no doubt that they do an excellent job, but I
worry about the implications of children educated in a "privileged"
environment. I am not sure that is a good way to deal with the ills of
society. In Blue Lake, California, the public schools were dismal, and we
sent my young son to the local Catholic school, where he received very good
nuts and bolts education, and certainly without any sense of being
"priviledged." We took care of the arts at home. I am not saying this is
for everybody, but it sure worked for Morgan. He is taking his generals at
Princeton right now, and next week he will be ABD, starting his dissertation
(Medieval Japanese Ceramics).
- Vince
Vince Pitelka - vpitelka@DeKalb.net
Home 615/597-5376, work 615/597-6801, fax 615/597-6803
Appalachian Center for Crafts
Tennessee Technological University
1560 Craft Center Drive, Smithville TN 37166
AMONCO on sun 5 oct 97
Lisa,
Yes, art is a very important component of the Waldorf philosophy. There "are"
significant differences between the Waldorf and Montessori philosophies.
Art is used in the Montessori environment; children are encouraged to explore
the environment using a "hands on" approach. Art, as well as other subjects
are integrated into a lesson plan. To see how this is accomplished, you might
want to read one of our free e-mail newsletters.
If you would like to learn more about the Montessori method of teaching you can
visit our web site or e-mail us and we will send one of our current or back
issues. Also, our site links with the many other Montessori sites on the
Internet.
The Spring/Summer 1995 issues includes an overview of the Montessori method and
how it may be used to educate young children. There is a lot of information
about free downloadable educational demos here on AOL, software reviews,
homeschooling info, free educational travel spots in Southern California and
other resource info.
The Fall/Winter 1995 issues includes a question and answer section about how
children adjust from changing from a Montessori school to public school, web
sites which have lesson planning for K12, additional software educational
demos on AOL and Compuserve, French educational software, Montessori software
review, Spanish materials for young children, plus some outstanding web sites
your children will enjoy. We have gotten rave reviews from both parents and
teachers for this particular issue.
The Spring/Summer 1996 issues includes online lessons in math, Montessori
classified card exercies, using the web to prepare exciting geography studies,
language and literature web sites for children, science web sites for lesson
planning, stamp collecting, craft sites, AOL French lessons demos for very
young children, question and answer section about inclusion and the Montessori
method, Montessori organizations, music resources for children, plus other
Montessori resources.
In our Fall/Winter 1996 edition we show how music can be combined in lesson
planning, compare the Montessori philosophy with Bloom's taxonomy, review
science web sites, geography web sites, crafts and fine art web sites, plus we
show how some of these subject areas are used in presenting lessons to
children and pre-teens.
In our current 1997 Fall/Winter newsletter, we have included a rather large
booklist which includes traditional meals for almost any culture you can think
of. (This booklist appears at the end of our newsletter.) These books have
been recently published, so your local public library probably has purchased
them within the past year or so. We have included the ISBN, publisher and
author so you can give this information to the reference librarian and she can
see if your local library system owns a copy.
Whether your roots are from Thailand or New England, you can find some
wonderful recipes in these books which you may remember from your childhood.
Some of these books are to be used by parents and teachers who want to assist
their older children in learning recipes which have been passed down from
generation to generation and reflect the culture/country their ancestors came
from.
Half of this newsletter is devoted to gardening; the other is devoted to
cooking and some deals with holiday planning. We discovered a wonderful
Thanksgiving site which is filled with just about anything you need to know
about the origins of Thanksgiving to tips which will make this Thanksgiving
extra special for your family.
You can view the newsletter at our web site, or request an e-mail copy by
sending a request to amonco@aol.com
Frances Henderson, Manager
American Montessori Consulting
http://members.aol.com/amonco/amonco.html
Serving Homeschoolers and Teachers Since 1988
e-mail address amonco@aol.com
"Rafael Molina-Rodriguez (Rafael Molina-Rodriguez)" on sun 5 oct 97
Vince :
>He is taking his generals at Princeton right now, and next week he will
>be ABD, starting his dissertation (Medieval Japanese Ceramics).
I appluad your sons academic achievements (Phd. in Art History or
History I presume). Unfortunately, if he's interested in a full-time tenure
track position at a college or university the odds on him successfully
securing a teaching post are about as astronomical as someone with an
M.F.A. in ceramics.
Rafael
>>> Vince Pitelka 10/04/97 09:42am >>>
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>Greetings y'all. I have just today heard of this new thing (around here,
>anyway) called Waldorf schools. It seems that they actually
EMPHASIZE
>the arts! Montessori is supposedly similar.
>Do any of you have experience with this sort of school?
>Lisa Skeen
Lisa -
My only experience with Waldorf schools is with my neice - my sister's
daughter, Eva. They live in Pasadena, and for the first five years of
Eva's
life she watched a lot of TV, and attended public kindergarten. She
seemed
typical of American children of that age - short attention span, strong
interest in all the TV characters. Before the first grade, my sister
transfered Eva to a Waldorf school, and got rid of the TV, as you are
required to do when your child is enrolled in Waldorf. Several years
later,
the change is remarkable. Eva is a very spirited child, but she has a
much
longer attention span now, and listens carefully to conversations among
children or adults. On my most recent visit, it really struck me how
carefully she listened, and how intelligently she responded during
conversations. It is so rare that we see that among children her age.
On the down side, I am not sure how I feel about the "classist" aspects
of
the Waldorf school. There is no doubt that they do an excellent job, but I
worry about the implications of children educated in a "privileged"
environment. I am not sure that is a good way to deal with the ills of
society. In Blue Lake, California, the public schools were dismal, and we
sent my young son to the local Catholic school, where he received very
good
nuts and bolts education, and certainly without any sense of being
"priviledged." We took care of the arts at home. I am not saying this is
for everybody, but it sure worked for Morgan.
- Vince
Vince Pitelka - vpitelka@DeKalb.net
Home 615/597-5376, work 615/597-6801, fax 615/597-6803
Appalachian Center for Crafts
Tennessee Technological University
1560 Craft Center Drive, Smithville TN 37166
Vince Pitelka on mon 6 oct 97
>>He is taking his generals at Princeton right now, and next week he will
>>be ABD, starting his dissertation (Medieval Japanese Ceramics).
>
>I appluad your sons academic achievements (Phd. in Art History or
>History I presume). Unfortunately, if he's interested in a full-time tenure
>track position at a college or university the odds on him successfully
>securing a teaching post are about as astronomical as someone with an
>M.F.A. in ceramics.
>
>Rafael
Dear Raphael -
My son amazes me. I am not going to tell you the details of his research at
this point, but it will be very significant, in rethinking the way we
evaluate material culture. He will find a good tenure-track job after he
finishes his dissertation. That sounds cocky, but if you knew him and knew
all that he has accomplished so far, you would agree. I debated whether or
not to answer your post on Clayart or privately, but I decided that the
Clayart audience should see my reply. I am really surprised that you would
post this to the list. It is so pessimistic and insensitive, and I wonder
what could have been your motive in broadcasting such bitterness. It is
unfortunate that some people who do not deserve tenure track jobs get them,
but in my experience, most people who really do deserve them get them.
- Vince
Vince Pitelka - vpitelka@DeKalb.net
Home 615/597-5376, work 615/597-6801, fax 615/597-6803
Appalachian Center for Crafts
Tennessee Technological University
1560 Craft Center Drive, Smithville TN 37166
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