Join us for Coffee, Tea, and Tour on Wednesdays! 8:30-9:30am
Join us for Coffee, Tea, and Tour on Wednesdays! 8:30-9:30am
As you get to know us, we hope these answers offer a deeper sense of who we are
Typically, Berkshire Waldorf students don’t receive homework until 4th grade, unless it is “read for 15 minutes” or “practice your instrument for 15 minutes.” We can get more done in class because the children are “held” in the form and rhythm of the day. There are rarely discipline issues, one benefit of being in a consistent group with a consistent teacher. A Second or Third Grade child may occasionally take their main lesson book home to finish a drawing or complete a task. They often want to continue working on projects at home which are inspired by their school work, but not required – lots of enthusiastic knitting, crocheting, singing, rope jumping, music making, reading, acting, story telling, tree climbing and adventurous play. Children are also expected to help with chores at home, and our students begin learning to play a stringed instrument in third grade, so may bring their instrument home to practice. All of this continues their brain and physical development in a fun and creative way.
Homework starts in third or fourth fourth grade with spelling words, math facts and other practice work that is reinforced by consistency. A new and consistent homework schedule begins to build stamina for independent work to come in later grades. Fourth grade is also the occasion of an independent study project that culminates in a presentation to the class.
In middle school – sixth, seventh and eighth grades – there is consistent homework, but it is never busy work or drills, rather something to carefully observe (how a tree changes day to day in fifth grade botany, the cycle of the stars in sixth grade astronomy), invent, create or complete.
By eighth grade, students have research papers, reports, final drafts and illustrations of their main lesson work, and projects.
For example, seventh and eighth grade participate in a science fair every other year, which is an independent study of their own chosen topic in physics, chemistry, biology, botany or psychology with a mentor who is a professional in the field, and results in a presentation and oral report. Eighth grade students frequently bring in a current event to report on and discuss with their class every week.
A. In Waldorf schools, teachers are working with children to develop all levels of human capacity, one of which is “spiritual” — the intangible part of who we are. In early childhood, this includes a cultivating feelings of gratitude, reverence and wonder. This may manifest in a word like “God” in a verse, but it could also be Mother Nature, Old King Winter or gnomes that visit the classroom. In “building a house for the soul,” teachers offer an appreciation of forces that might work beyond our immediate senses, and that align with children’s imaginative capacities.
As students move through the grades, they delve into the thought, culture, religion and philosophy of ancient cultures starting with Mesopotamia, India, China, and Egypt. They study the ancient Greeks when they are finding their own “golden mean,” balanced on the edge of adolescence in fifth grade, then move into ancient Rome and the Dark Ages in sixth grade. Their career through grade school and middle school is a survey of worldwide thought and culture that mirrors the development of humankind. In short, religion is taught through the lens of history, not in a sectarian or dogmatic way. By studying what many people have thought, believed and practiced through the ages, students learn the essential lesson, to know themselves.
Waldorf education, established by Rudolf Steiner and Emil Molt in 1919, has its foundations in Anthroposophy. At the heart of Anthroposophy is the belief that humanity has the wisdom to transform itself and the world, through one’s own spiritual development. To that end, Waldorf education holds as its primary intention the ideal of bringing forth—in every child—his or her unique potential in a way that serves the further development of humanity. The curriculum, pedagogy, and teaching methods are designed to nurture this potential.
A. At a young age, English is easily picked up in our school because so much of early childhood is working and playing; outside, in the woods and gardens, preparing and eating snack, and building fires, working in the garden together, with lots of stories, singing, puppet plays and finger games to help children understand the words. At BWS, your child will learn by doing rather than sitting at a desk being drilled or tested, so they will learn joyfully, without stress.
In the grades, we have had a number of students come to us with limited or no English. They have always been warmly welcomed by their classmates. In about six months, it’s hard to tell that English isn’t their native language!
