The Captain Planet Foundation presented the 2012 Green School Award to the Association of North American Waldorf Schools (AWSNA)in recognition of Waldorf Education’s philosophy of sustainability and stewardship.  Eco-visionaries President Jimmy Carter and Sir Richard Branson were honored at the same award ceremony. Waldorf Education focuses on student health, high performance and the natural systems that support all life. What an honor to receive recognition from such a prestigious foundation.

A major US study shows that children’s run away intellect actually benefits from being slowed down in the early years, allowing them to develop naturally. Dr Richard House, a senior lecturer at Roehampton University’s Research Center for Therapeutic Education said “conventional wisdom is that naturally intelligent children should have their intellect fed, yet these new empirical findings strongly suggest that exactly the opposite may well be the case”.

Professor Howard Friedman, a psychologist at the University of California, analyzed the progress of gifted children who started school in the US in the 1920′s, data captured across 80 years  found that “early school entry was associated with less educational attainment, worse midlife adjustment, and most importantly, increased mortality risk”. Professor Friedman states “most children under six needs lots of time to play, and to develop social skills, and to learn to control their impulses.”

Waldorf Education gets this. Though nearly one hundred years in the making, Waldorf Education remains the most refreshing independent school movement of our time. Come visit The Waldorf School of Philadelphia today.

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…… but He Probably Built Forts

Why one Harvard alum is part of a growing movement to bring play back into the lives of children

by Lory Hough

In some ways, this headline is almost funny, the idea of a young Einstein, wild hair flying, throwing his mother’s quilt over a couple of chairs and crawling underneath. But to Elizabeth Goodenough, M.A.T.’71, a headline like this is not a joke. We’re a busy-by-design society that’s become so concerned with turning kids into baby Einsteins that something critical to childhood, something that Goodenough holds sacred, is fast becoming extinct: free play. She says that all you have to do is drive around American cities and towns to see for yourself; there are very few kids outside.

It’s probably not a surprise to anyone that one of the biggest factors in the loss of free play has to do with parents being programmed by the ever-expanding “baby educating industry” into thinking that in order to survive in today’s global economy, kids need to be better, brighter, and busier than ever before.

“It’s a competitive foot race from the womb, this sense that you’ll miss out,” Goodenough says. “Adults have picked up the pace so quickly. What’s next? What’s next? What’s next?”

In an age where we clearly know more about how brains operate and how humans function, parents take parenting seriously. As a 2001 article in The Atlantic Monthly stated, “Your child is the most important extra-credit arts project you will ever undertake.” As a result, by the time these baby wonders reach college, they’ve become goal-oriented, resume-building “organization kids” who “work their laptops to the bone.” What adults need to understand, writes Michael Meyerhoff, Ed.M.’75, Ed.D.’84, in his booklet The Power of Play, is that free play isn’t a waste of time — it actually helps children learn.

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Tilda Swinton: My children go to a Waldorf Steiner School. I am very involved in trying to build a further program for the school so that they can stay in that project until they’re 18. That’s about as political as my life is these days … It’s a deeply political act to put one’s children into a Waldorf School. I’m very proud of our school and that particular movement. It works very well for my family and my children. It’s an alternative schooling which talks about soul values, a child developing at his own rate and developing a socially conscious attitude to the universe, and a feeling of social responsibility. No television, advertising, computers. They are great.

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Interesting interview on Marty Moss-Coane earlier today about “Modern Childhood and the Brain.” Toward the end, the author/psychologist has some nice things to say about Waldorf Education. Here’s a link to the podcast: http://whyy.org/cms/radiotimes/

In the effort to give kids a leg up in life, parents bombard them with educational toys, rush them to chess, fencing, and piano lessons, and place them in preschool programs that stress academics in the earliest years. But is any of this stuff really good for kids and what does it do to their growing brains?  Psychologist GABRIELLE PRINCIPE has written a new book on the subject. In it she writes, “If you wanted to design a way of life that was exactly counter to the needs of developing brains, you would invent something like modern childhood.” Principe is an associate professor and chair of the Department of Psychology at Ursinus College and the author of Your Brain on Childhood: The Unexpected Side Effects of Classrooms, Ballparks, Family Rooms, and the Minivan. She talks with Marty about the disappearance of good old fashioned play in kids’ lives.

Radio Times | WHYY

Reading this article made me laugh aloud! Hope you enjoy it too.

As parents we all have limited budgets and we sometimes need help narrowing down our wishlists. So to help you out, I’ve worked really hard to narrow down this list to five items that no kid should be without. All five should fit easily within any budget, and are appropriate for a wide age range so you get the most play out of each one. These are time-tested and kid-approved! And as a bonus, these five can be combined for extra-super-happy-fun-time.

To read the full article by Jonanthan Liu Click Here

From the very beginning of first grade, students at The Waldorf School of Philadelphia study a rich and balanced range of subjects grounded in the stages of child development. These include all the recognized subjects of the national curriculum as well as some specific to Waldorf Education. Core subjects are taught in thematic blocks (Main Lessons) with a balance of artistic, practical and intellectual content, with engaging, real world learning experiences. This inspiring and nourishing education aims to develop well-rounded, imaginative, capable young people with a strong sense of self-belief, motivation, responsibility and purpose.

The Gift of Learning Video

Intrigued by our schools approach to technology, news anchor Karen Hepp from Fox 29 visited yesterday. She interviewed teachers, students and parents and visited many of our classrooms. A representative at Fox News tells us to expect to see the story sometime in December or January. More details to follow.