A few days ago while having a tea with a group of moms from Sunflower School, one of the moms commented that she had chosen this school for her daughter because she didn't want to He was robbed of his childhood .
They were words that gave me to think, especially in how much we should strive to change the public education of our country, because it is still light of real needs and of the aut The only rhythm of the children .
It is very sad, but it is real. Public education, in a nefarious attempt to promote an education based on excellence and quality (supposedly), requires children cognitive skills and knowledge, more and more at an early age, without respecting its rhythm or its development, thus causing children to lose themselves and therefore lose something that they will never be able to recover again, their childhood.
This is something I can see every day at the secondary school where I work, students arrive demotivated, devitalized, not wanting to learn, ... and I am convinced that if their rhythms had been respected, the situation would be very different.
I already told you here why we chose a free mode school for Sunflower, the Waldorf school of Mallorca, but I have realized that I have not finished explaining very well what Waldorf pedagogy is.
Surely you have already heard her name sometime, and you have a vague idea of what it is, but anyway today I will try to explain what it is and why I like it.
Defining a whole pedagogical movement of more than a hundred years of travel in a few words is not easy, yet I will try.
What is Waldorf Pedagogy?
Waldorf education comes from the teachings and research of Rudolf Steiner, who in the early 20th century developed a pioneering pedagogy in the area of learning based on age-appropriate development .
It is a balanced education for the whole child, which starts from the understanding of its evolutionary development.
That is, it is a pedagogy that seeks to educate the globality of the child, balancing all his abilities, his potentialities and his will, and respecting his evolutionary stages.
It is currently the largest private school movement in the world, and there are Waldorf schools across all continents, including areas such as South Africa, Palestine, Eastern Europe or Russia.
How do they teach?
In the first septenium of life (from 0 to 7 years old), children are great experimenters and have a very good imitation ability. It is when they develop their will, so they must be free to move, to play, to imitate.
This is respected in the Waldorf kindergarten, so that they especially affect movement, rhythm, fairy tales and oral language. Therefore they include free play activities, movement, running, stories, artistic activities, nature walks, ...
From the age of 7, the child learns how the world works, and learns it best when the information is presented in an artistic and imaginative way.
Therefore, at Waldorf Elementary School, all subjects are taught in a vivid and pictorial way.
(I don't want to get too long to not make this very theoretical, so for more information I recommend you read this article from the Waldorf La Marina school in Benidorm)
And after this brief presentation, let me also tell you 6 things I love about Waldorf pedagogy:
(1) That does not hurry children
In Waldorf schools they let children be children, respect their rhythm, without overwhelming them with knowledge or demanding cognitive skills (literacy or math) ahead of time. They are allowed to be children .
This they know very well in Finland, which can boast of having the best education system in the world, where they begin reading at age seven.
If this were the case in all schools, many learning difficulties (of the family dis : dyslexia, dyscalculia, ...) would be avoided, no doubt.
(2) Your natural toys
In Waldorf schools, toys are natural, non-toxic, and simple, which greatly promotes and stimulates children's imaginative work.
Here I already presented you with a selection of natural toys, where I told you about some Waldorf. And I also published a tutorial to make a sticky horse or a wool rattle ball, typically Waldorf toys.
(3) That promotes imitation learning in early childhood
From toys, to the work of teachers in a Waldorf Kindergarten, they allow children to imitate and learn to appreciate the value of real-life skills.
Playing with a computer or with an Ipad does not nourish this imitation in children, I can assure you.
(4) Beauty, simplicity, order, harmony, rhythm, peace, ...
If you ever have the opportunity to visit a Waldorf school, even on an open day, do it, and you'll understand what I mean.
(5) That gives great value and enhances art, handicrafts, music, theater
In Waldorf schools (from primary school) children learn to play various instruments, also to knit or knit, joinery or all artistic techniques, and even learn two foreign languages.
(6) Do not have exams, or textbooks
One of the best gifts we can offer to children.
I could continue to list, but I think you've already got an idea, right?
Maybe it's too late or you don't have this educational option for your children, so very soon I will post an entry about some of the Waldorf pedagogy things we can apply at home and Therefore benefit from it. Because at the end of the day, and I do not say it but many experts, the most important is the family.
Source : http://www.demicasaalmundo.com/
What is Waldorf Pedagogy?
