The Parenting Passageway

Do I think you have to be an anthroposophist in order  to work with Waldorf Education at home?  No.  Do I think you should read Steiner’s lectures regarding Waldorf Education?  Yes.  Do I think you must have a truly deeper understanding of Steiner’s ideas as far as anthroposophy  in order to be a really, really good Waldorf Home Educator?

Possibly.  And I say possibly because I think in the home environment one can choose how much or how little one wants to work with the tool that is anthroposophy alongside our own faith for our own spiritual journey.  And just like in a Waldorf School, we would never directly “teach” anthroposophy to our children.  And the basis, the simple outline of one of  the major things used in Waldorf Education is the three-and four fold view of human beings and development (see the link to Eugene Schwartz’s article below).  The other piece, to me, where anthroposophy really impacts Waldorf Education is the development of our own intuition and senses for the astute observation of children and the children’s needs.

Here is more regarding the nature of anthroposophy as related to Waldorf Education  from “The Philosophy of Freedom” website:  http://www.philosophyoffreedom.com/node/1668 

Here is an old post regarding “What is Anthroposophy” that Donna Simmons of Christopherus Homeschool assisted me in writing:  http://theparentingpassageway.com/2009/09/04/what-is-anthroposophy/

The relationship between anthroposophy, religion, and Waldorf comes up as people are drawn to exploring the spiritual nature of Waldorf Education.  One of the major questions is this dual- sided coin of:  1.  Is Waldorf Education Christian?  or 2.  Is Waldorf Education Pagan? (or the corollary questions of  is Waldorf Education compatible with Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism?)

And because others say it far better than I ever could, here is a great post by Donna Simmons regarding “Anthroposophy, Religion and Waldorf” here :   http://christopherushomeschool.typepad.com/blog/2005/12/anthroposophy_r.html

She has a small section regarding Judaism and anthroposophy that is interesting, and talks about how Christians and Pagans will find things here that resonate with them, and perhaps things that don’t!  

Here is an article by Eugene Schwartz relating anthroposophy and The Kindergarten Years:  http://knol.google.com/k/anthroposophy-and-waldorf-education-the-kindergarten-years#

and Mr. Schwartz had this to say regarding anthroposophy in Waldorf Education and whether all Waldorf teachers needed to be anthroposophists as well:  http://www.southerncrossreview.org/41/schwartz.htm

Waldorf Education is one thing born out of anthroposophy, along with biodynamic gardening, curative education, eurythmy, and many other things.  Waldorf Education can be seen as a practical application of anthroposophy toward education.  If one concentrates solely on the lectures by Rudolf Steiner as related to education, and there is a page of them here at Bob and Nancy’s bookshop:  http://www.waldorfbooks.com/edu/steiner_waldorf.htm (beginning works) and here (more in-depth works):  http://www.waldorfbooks.com/edu/waldorf_depth.htm, that is probably the best place to start.  From there you can decide if you interested in learning more about the use of anthroposophy.  You can then decide how this relates  to your use of Waldorf Education within your own home.  I would encourage you to explore before making an abrupt decision.  It takes a long time to explore! People study these things that Steiner said for a lifetime!

Again, I personally  think the major things Steiner really wanted teachers to understand is observation and the use of anthroposophy as this tool for intuition to assist with observation, the three and four- fold development of the human being and development and to be able to  synthesize all that to meet children’s needs for a holistic education. Waldorf teachers create “new” for each of their classes and each specific child.

This is a complex subject that deserves pondering.  Where are you in your journey with this?

Many blessings,

Carrie