Reflections from Two Waldorf Grandparents

Reflections from Two Waldorf Grandparents

WRITTEN BY PAUL WIESE AND MARIA ANDERSON

Holding my young children’s hands as we walked up enchanting luminaria and jack-o’ lantern lined paths at dusk one crisp fall evening, I was transported to a land of wonder, beauty and imagination. Our angelic guide sang as we were led from one magical story scene to another. The elves were cobbling their shoes, gnomes were mining their gems, and the stars were falling into the hands of wide-eyed children. I was mesmerized, but even more delighted to see how my children responded to the enchantment. Our journey into Waldorf education had just begun.

With a background in early childhood and elementary education, I have always felt that there was more possibility for our current system, and I love that the Waldorf pedagogy engages the head, the hands and the heart. Through this educational paradigm I have been able to experience children learning in myriad ways. From handwork projects and beautiful May pole dances to storytelling, artwork and pioneer study trips… deep engagement and experiential learning are essential and meaningful. The Waldorf community celebrations throughout the year encourage imagination and a sense of wonder, and they have become a way of life for our family.

Thirty years later I am as committed as ever to bringing Waldorf-inspired education to families. I am hopeful that my grandchildren can experience more of what the Waldorf philosophy has to offer. I believe that now, more than ever, Waldorf pedagogy is what is so desperately needed for our young children, as well as for society itself. Children need the support of loving, caring and striving adults who understand the necessity of letting children have a pure childhood that allows them to be who they are, not who we think they should be.

The World Family School here in Bozeman has been a magical place for young children for years, based on the Waldorf pedagogy. We hope to continue and build upon this foundation, and we have a vision of a thriving Waldorf School for our community here. We are offering parent/child education and experiences, vibrant festivals and workshops throughout the year, and ongoing information about Waldorf education. Recently I was so inspired by master educator and Waldorf grandparent Paul Wiese’s wise words about the importance of Waldorf education. I asked him why Waldorf-inspired early education is so needed right now, and what sets it apart from other educational initiatives?

Here is his response:

“Rather than emphasize what sets Waldorf education apart, I will talk about how this unique educational impulse and understanding of the child can inform and enhance whatever system of education the child is already experiencing.

Most western educational models are based on an idea concerning the innate nature of the child, that every child is a tabula rasa (empty slate) that must be taught how to behave, how to think and reason to understand the world and develop ideas concerning it. In this model, the more information and concepts written in the better. If we begin with a fragmented reality… this is math, this is science, this is chemistry… and then intellectually attempt to put it all back together again, it is like ‘all the king’s men trying to put Humpty Dumpty back together again.’

In Waldorf education we begin with the idea, feeling and sense that the world is not fragmented but rather complete or whole. The universe and nature is a whole. The processes of its development are not finished or complete, but are integral and in constant concerted motion with every particle related to every other particle as the universe unfolds, grows and fades. The human child is an expression of this wholeness. We ARE geometry and chemistry, physics and mathematics in our own bodies and unfolding lives. Waldorf education and its initiatives, if understood and taught correctly, not only leads to knowledge of the world but knowledge of one’s self.

This sense for wholeness is actualized in the preschool or classroom setting by relying on three humble and simple principles. The World is Good, the World is Beautiful and the World is Truthful. Each principle precedes out of each other and stands as a keynote for the child’s first three developmental stages. From infancy to about the age of 7, the child needs to know with every fiber of their being that the World is Good, which means it is life enhancing: with motion, breathing deeply, sleeping soundly and sufficiently, playing, willing, laboring in the soil. The keynote for ages 7 to 14 is Beauty, and for ages 14 to 21 it is Truth… though any idea of both Truth and Beauty without Goodness is incomprehensible.

Out of this premise of ‘wholeness’ arises all of the other pedagogical disciplines. This premise of knowledge encourages one inwardly to see the whole picture, a larger and perhaps more astute perception of the world, and through empathy the child enthusiastically and creatively responds to meet the challenges of that larger world picture.”

We believe that Waldorf inspiration can help support the current challenges of our changing world and beyond. The time is now, and we look forward to this inspiration in our community.”

Parent/infant and parent/toddler classes start September 14 at the World Family School. Please contact Elisa Fruh at teacherelid@ gmail.com for more information.

Michaelmas celebration, Lantern walk and Advent Spiral for the community will be held in late September, November and December 2021… dates, times and locations are still to be determined.

For more information about Waldorf education, upcoming celebrations and the World Family School, please contact info@worldfamilyschool. org.

Paul Wiese is a 1990 graduate of the Waldorf Institute in New York, and was a class teacher at Shining Mountain Waldorf School in Boulder Colorado, and Green Meadow Waldorf School in Chestnut Ridge, New York. He has worked with local homeschool groups and parents incorporating a Waldorf curriculum into their children’s education in his home studio and online in Bozeman for the last 20 years.

Maria Anderson Fahrner has a Master’s Degree in Educational Leadership, background in Early Childhood, Elementary and Waldorf Education, and over 30 years of classroom and consulting experience. She founded the Mountain Independent Study program in Soquel, CA in 1993, an innovative alternative education model for local families, which is still active today. She co-hosts the conscious parenting podcast “The Moms I Know” with her colleague Sheila Walsh Dunton. She now lives in Bozeman with her husband, creating inter-generational experiences with her children and grandchildren.