The trend to teach reading in kindergarten is an unreasonable expectation for five year olds because they do not have the maturity of brain function needed for reading. Certain, specific visual-processing learning problems arise, as well as problems in attention and motivation. What happens when children are taught to read before all the neurological pathways for the tasks are adequately developed? The U.S. educational system has now  been given a mandate of teaching reading in kindergarten.  This is despite the fact that five year olds do not yet have the benefit of the left brain’s reading center crucial to the task. Left and right sides of the brain aren’t typically fully connected until as late as 9 years old.  They simply don’t have the capacity for fully rational thought, or reading comprehension.

Teachers are noticing difficulties in learning, behavior and socialization relating to reading. As kindergarten has taken on the task of reading, more kids are found who need to repeat kindergarten or a “transitional” first grade classroom. As kids progress through grade school, learning disabilities increase, particularly visual-processing types. The language center in the left hemisphere of the brain won’t form for most kids until they are between seven and nine, and later for boys than girls. When kids are taught to read before this, certain problems arise, particularly in spelling and reading comprehension.

Because the right brain’s language center encounters printed words in terms of the composite image the letters form on the page, a child with this understanding does not see the middle letters very distinctly.  A great deal of importance cannot be placed on deciphering letters that occur in the middle of words that begin and end the same. Because much of what we would consider a five year old’s act of reading is really a lot of guessing the middle anyway, “mean” and “moan” do not, to them, carry enough distinct difference that they can perceive. They share the same silhouette. To most five year olds, it’d be like seeing a drawing of a girl in a dress, and it makes no difference in the meaning of that picture if the girl’s dress is striped or plaid—she’s still a girl in a dress. When children are expected to spell correctly with the use of only the right side of the brain’s language center, they will experience great frustration, not understanding why anyone would care about something that, to their cognitive ability, is hardly discernable.

The Waldorf Approach: The Writing Way To Reading

Alternative Schools such as Waldorf approach reading so that learning synchronizes with child development.  Waldorf teachers actually focus on “slowing the children down”. Letters and writing starts in “Class One” where they have already been accessed developmentally to be ready for this more “directed” learning approach (vs Kindergarten which is more “imitative”).  Rudolf Steiner (founder of Waldorf Education) professed that “imagination is the key quality, and pictorial imagery is a vital factor in making learning a personal inner experience. Art and music play an important role in engaging the child’s feelings.”

Many people (familiar with mainstream/public school approaches) are horrified that children do not begin to read until they are seven. However, the pre-literacy skills which are so necessary to provide a grounding for the process of reading have begun very early on in the Steiner Waldorf Kindergarten.  In Kindergarten, the foundations of reading have already been laid in complex fairy tale story telling, imaginative play where they have time and space to play and develop visual thinking naturally.  Rudolf Steiner tells us that our writing form (the individual letters that make up words) is just a cultural convention and “the human being as such has no inner relationship whatever to the letters of modern script.  Today there is a “crisis in a lack of comprehension” where young children are expected to start decode meaningless letters and symbol that have no inner or imaginative connection to them.

An alphabet by definition consists of fewer than thirty meaningless symbols that do not represent the images of anything in particular; a feature that makes them abstract. Although some groupings of words can be grasped in an all-at-once manner, in the main, the comprehension of written words emerges in a one-at-a-time fashion. It is because of the very abstract nature of reading and writing that Steiner advocates teaching these skills in a particular way. At Waldorf, writing is always taught before reading. This is following civilization’s development of writing and reading. It is only logical to realize that pictorial symbols would have been created before reading was able to occur. In Class One, letters of the alphabet are introduced to the children as pictorial forms. In this way the whole of the child’s artistic, imaginative, pictorial and feeling senses are invoked. However, writing does not begin as soon as the children come into Class One. The physical skill of writing is prepared for by introducing the children to form drawing.

The letters of the alphabet are introduced to the children as capitals and in a visual way. In this way the imaginative form becomes the symbol for the letter. Steiner tells us that in writing, the forces of the whole being are involved in writing, versus in reading it is only the head and intellect. Steiner explains how to make a pictorial symbol represent the abstract letter by alerting the child to the initial sound of a letter and relating it in an artistic way to a word beginning with that letter. The examples that Steiner gives in A Modern Art of Education are the letters of “M” linked to the word “mouth” with the shape of the lips replicating the “M”; “W” linked to the word “water” (shape of a wave); and, “F” for the “f-f-f” sound and linked to an image of a fish. In this way we can proceed to the abstract nature of writing from the entirely concrete elements of painting-drawing, drawing-painting. We then succeed in making the child start from feeling called up by a picture; he then becomes able to relate to the actual letters the quality of soul contained in the feeling.

It is important to understand that not all the alphabet is introduced to the children in this way. It would take a considerable amount of time to introduce each letter with an appropriate imaginative story and pictorial element. Once the children have experienced the symbolic, pictorial form of some of the letters then they can begin to assimilate the other ­­­­­­letters more easily. The teacher writes verses on the board – specifically simple consonant verses to illustrate the sound and shape of the letters they are learning, verses such as “wild waves swept the windswept walks” or “sliding slowly the slimy snake slipped down the sandy dunes”. The children are then encouraged to point out the letters that they know and speculate on the ones that they have yet to learn. Once the children have been introduced to all the letters the teacher will write short phrases (linked to the stories that the teacher is telling the children in the main lesson) on the board and the children copy these into their workbooks and draw appropriate pictures to accompany them. In this way the children begin to make their own written “readers“. Reading slowly begins as the children start to listen to the teacher read the writing on the board and then begin to read their own writing. This can be described as “the writing way to reading”. The children are not introduced to printed books at this stage in the writing and reading learning process. Often the teacher will make a book (with his/her own hand writing) for the children to read.

Unlike the US approach of memorizing the alphabet (letters and sounds) in a series of drills, Waldorf  spends much more time on each letter’s form and appearance.  Children will spend a full day on a single letter, and read stories about it, draw or paint it’s form as it integrates into a scene (M is part of a mountain scape) and even walk it’s path on the floor.  They develop a clear image and importance of the letters before they even try to pronounce them.  Children are presented vowels separately from consanants in stories (5 angels who single each vowel).  There is deep understand of the letters and their visual and imaginative form before full words or even sentences are introduced in the following years.  I don’t know about you, but I sure wish I learned this way.

Read more at the links below;
http://gomestic.com/family/problems-arise-when-children-are-pushed-to-read-too-early/#ixzz1jVM19HLu

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/schools/bethan-marshall-children-are-not-helped-by-reading-too-early-763182.html

http://www.whywaldorfworks.org/02_W_Education/current_topics.asp

I was very lucky to attend a local event where we had Kim John Payne (see http://www.simplicityparenting.com) come to give a talk on child discipline. Kim has a Masters degree in education and has been a school counselor, adult educator, consultant, researcher, educator and a private family counselor for twenty seven years. He regularly gives key note addresses at international conferences for educators, parents, and therapists and runs workshops and training’s around the world. Our event was sponsored by our local Waldorf School here in Nelson, B.C..

Kim started off with a clarification on the word “discipline”.  It really comes from the word “disciple” which means “to be followed”.  This underscores the importance of how parents must set an example for their kids, who are constant imitators of our actions. Kim then gave some historical perspective on discipline by pointing out that before the 1930s, there was no discipline.  Children back then simply worked, and so were judged by the quality of their work rather than their behaviour. In fact, homework, was literally that – baking, cleaning, taking care of animals, fixing/building and so on all done within the home.

In the past, according to Kim discipline has been all about “behaviour modification” and telling children about “natural consequences” of their actions to change behaviour.  The flaws with this approach are that changing child behaviour often leads to “sneaky” children, and also denial of their actions.  Children are motivated individuals, and will find a way around obstacles that their parents present.  Kim talks about thinking about children as being “disoriented” rather than “disobedient”.  He made a great metaphor about discipline being similar to how a sculptor takes away all the unwanted materials from a block to reveal what is left behind as the sculpture.  This allows us to concentrate on de-emphasizing unwanted behaviour, and focus more on the positive outcome of how we want our children’s values to be shaped.

Kim is also much more fond of “time-ins” vs “time-outs”.  He sees many issues with time-outs (our most popular article by far on rootparenting.org).  The main issue he feels is that they are a means of sending away your problems rather than addressing them.  This approach will encourage our children to grow up and avoid/walk away from problems or stressful situations rather than talking about them and addressing them.  These times are opportunities for resolving tough issues and forming stronger bonds with our children.  Gordon Neufeld is also greatly opposed to the use of “time-outs” with children.

Kim continues to revisit the history of discipline by talking about how, during the 1990s, our parents were deeply entrenched in working in team focussed environments.  This time was where parents who were often managers in their companies would bring this corporate approach home to use to “manage” their children.  As Kim says, when children are managed, “they will unionize!”.   Our parents were also part of a generation who started to give children too many choices.  Children at a young age especially he says, feel unsafe when given choices because it makes it appear that their parents don’t know what is best for them.  Children need the security of a parent who will make the important choices for them to guide them.  Kim talks of a parent needing to progress from a caring “governer”, “dictator” or “authoritative role-model” during the younger years (under age 6 or 7) to then a “gardener” (age 7 to 12) to finally a “guide” when they reach their teen years.  This is a key concept since when a child is “rebelling” or “disoriented” in their behaviour, they must be brought back to a previous stage until they earn their parents trust again.

Kim is also not fond of any kind of reward or punishment model.  Parents who give their children under the age of 9 or 10 years consequences will not get results, since children simply don’t fully understand them at that point.  It’s not until age 5 or 6 that the left and right brain have actually started to connect, so that they can connect rational and creative thoughts.  Children at a young age may appear to understand that if they don’t treat their sibling well, they won’t get dessert, but more often than not, they are operating in the present rather than thinking much at all about the future.  Their brain simply isn’t wired yet for that complex forward thinking.

Then there are the “good jobber” parents.  Kim talks of many “praise junky” parents who can’t help themselves from saying how great their children’s paintings, block houses or somersaults are.  They reality Kim says, is that this is teaching children to rely on your input and approval, rather than their own sense of satisfaction and self worth.  When a child brings you a painting, he suggests that you ask questions about it and show interest (why did you choose all black for this part?) rather than blind praise.  Children are also smart enough to know that when parents offer nothing but positive comments on anything they do, they start to become naturally skeptical.  Kim feels that words are not always required to show your child your approval.

When children start to “push our buttons” as parents, what they really are doing is testing us for approval.  They need to become oriented towards what is right and wrong, and so constantly “ping” us for feedback.  Being honest (even if negative) is actually a more healthy approach rather than sugar-coating the truth.  Kim says parents, as much as 80% of the time, ask questions too politely to get their children to do things, rather than “telling them” what to do.  We need to be clear and authorative with our kids, so they know their boundaries and what is expected of them.  As Gordon Neufeld also says (and Kim quotes Gordon often), you must “connect, then direct”.

“Stand on 2 feet, be 2 feet away, look at your child squarely in the eyes, and tell them what to do. Say it only once. “

If you start having to repeat yourself, you are simply not connecting with your child and will lose their attention.  When a young (4 to 6 years)  child interrupts you, you must be clear and even use your hand as  sign language to indicate that you are not ready to talk to them.  Pause and stay close, but you need them to respect and listen to you.  You still need to foster a connection with them for them to listen, but stick to your guns even if they start to cry and meltdown.  When telling a child to do something, like get dressed to go to the car, Kim says you need to “pause, start small, insist and stay close”.  This is not easy, but as long as you stay focussed on your child (vs your phone or computer especially), they will listen and follow your lead.  It requires patience, but a consistent approach like this is typically effective within not more than 3 attempts according to Kim’s 27 years of experience.

When dealing with teenagers, who are now aware of consequences, your approach is a little different.  Kim says that you must “meet them in the middle” so that they feel heard.  Your role is still the guide, so you must help them draw boundaries with their decisions.  They are capable of being able to decide among choices, and this is empowering to them, so be respectful of what they want to do, and try to find a safe alternative to ideas that are not favourable to you.  They still need to feel a connection with you, and feel loved and listened to.

Internationally, 9 to 10 years of compulsory education is required in most countries, starting from age 5 or 6.  One notable exception is Germany, however, where homeschooling is illegal (and has been since 1930).  This is somewhat ironic, since Germany is the homeland of Rudolph Steiner and Waldorf Education, a very grass roots age-appropriate approach to education which a strong emphasis on the arts.  There is also a movement in the US towards unschooling and natural learning, which is a curriculum-free philosophy, coined in 1977 by American educator and author John Holt in his magazine Growing Without Schooling.  These approaches are more of a “learn by doing” approach which integrates real life into child experiences rather than using textbooks as a basis for education.

Brian Ray of the National Home Education Research Institute explains why US homeschooling families now include more than 1.4 million children. Ray reports the typical homeschooled child is involved in 5.2 social activities outside the home each week. These activities include afternoon and weekend programs with conventionally (typically publicly) schooled kids, such as ballet classes, Little League teams, Scout troops, church groups and neighbourhood play.  And with respect to book learning, homeschoolers, on average, score 30 to 37 percentile points higher than conventionally schooled students on the most commonly administered K-8 standardized tests.

Homeschooled children are much less preoccuppied with peer dependence.  Emotionally, homeschooled children tend to draw their main social identity from their membership in their family rather than from their peers.  And as Gordon Neufeld reinforces in his book, “Hold Onto Your Kids.” his 35 years of child development experience (plus 5 kids of his own) point out  ”Why Parents Matter More than Peers”.  His book explores the pivotal importance of children’s relationships to those responsible for them.  Neufeld  highlights how devastating child’s lives can become when they get their teachings from peers rather than parents or adult role-models. His book also confronts such relationship devastating devices as time-outs and using what children care about against them. Neufeld essentially offers an attachment parenting perspective, offering strategies for preserving and restoring the child-to-parent relationship.  Home-schooling can really help foster strong parent to child bonds.

David Guterson talks about the issues around peer dependence in his book, “Family Matters: Why Homeschooling Makes Sense,” (Harcourt-Brace Jovanovich, 1992). Guterson reports that the kids in his conventional school often have difficulty navigating the turbulent social scene at school, with “its cliques, rumors and relentless gossip, its shifting alliances and expedient betrayals.” Guterson says that their preoccupation with peer acceptance often encourages young people to become “acutely attuned to a pre-adult commercial culture that usurps their attention (M-TV, Nintendo, fashion magazines, teen cinema)” and frequently fosters a sense of alienation from people of other ages.  Many parents of “distant” or “aloof” teens often wonder what they’ve done to deserve this treatment.  Children who receive home education don’t get a chance to sever this important bond with their parents.

I see elements of peer-influenced mass media when my kids interact with others in the playground. When another child talks about the latest Disney or shoot-em-up action hero movie, my kids are often caught off guard.  Being a no-screen family, my kids listen with mouths open as other children describe the various violent scenes that their adult action hero has making mince-meat of whatever villian they are facing.  I am happy to shelter my kids from this kind of school-yard discussion of passively absorbed media.  I have a friend who’s child’s play was changed forever after watching Star Wars. Some families take young (age 5 and under) children to movie theatres where they are blasted with wall sized ads, violent cartoon scenarios and general over-stimulation. Any child development specialist will tell you that child brains simply can’t handle this at a young age.  Simplicity Parenting founder Kim Payne highlights the emotional similarities between media ravaged kids and children raised in from war-torn third world countries.  He also points out a direct correlation between children diagnosed with ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) and their hours spent in front of “the box”.  It’s sad to hear school yard banter talking about gossiping characters in the latest reality TV series vs what they actually did themselves last weekend.

Educational researcher Susannah Sheffer of Cambridge, Mass., says facilitating peer-dependency is part of “how schools shortchange girls”. In a recent study of self-esteem among adolescent girls, Sheffer found that unlike their conventionally schooled counterparts, homeschooled girls did not typically lose confidence in themselves when their ideas and opinions weren’t embraced by their friends. And we know that it’s not just self-esteem, but an increasing importance on self-compassion which makes girls and boys more emotionally confident and mature.

Learning at home never stops.  Not only can it be tailored to the individual child (vs a classroom of 30+ kids), but it can mostly happen outside the classroom.  There is also more time to study subjects in depth, without the worry of a bell ringing (Pavlov’s Dog anyone?) or lunch arbitrarily stopping a lesson exactly at noon.  Homeschooling strengthens the most important bond of all, the family bond.  Interestingly, 30% of homeschoolers in the US do so because of religious reasons.  I found this shocking, maybe just being Canadian, but it does make the point that many parents want to share their own personal, spiritual or religious beliefs with their children, and not have them be force fed someone else’s ideals.

Homeschooling means also that children are not just exposed to others their exact same age, but are also integrated with younger and older children and elders constantly.  From a health perspective, being in a low stress environment with home-cooked meals is much more desirable to many families.  And most importantly I think, is the ability for children to engage creatively in their own play.  Free and active play has always been heralded to being key in any healthy child.  They need time to digest their own learnings, experiment, pretend and be creative on their own time.  Many feel that this play is when the true learning occurs, and what better setting for that to be than in their own home.

The red flags for parents considering Waldorf are often things like, no reading before age 8 or 9.  There’s no media in the classroom (e.g. logos/ads on shirts etc) or TV allowed, competitive sports only at older ages and only as an extra-curricular activity. Standardized testing is replaced with individual creative learning. Emphasis is on storytelling, art, music, dance,  fairy tales and medieval stories.  I’ve often  heard parents dismiss this approach as “flakey” or “too soft for my children” or “too coddling” or “over-protective”.  In fact, that is exactly the point.  We are exposing our children to too many adult ideas and concepts of which young brains simply cannot process. And although Waldorf is a paid private system, most if not all offer heavily subsidized tution plans to ensure that they are not an elitist option.

So, why Waldorf then?  Here’s why;

1) Age Appropriate Learning

Waldorf divides childhood development into thirds.  There is the birth to age 7 portion where children are driven by imitation of their teachers and parents.  School is considered an extension of their family, where the same teacher follows children through each stage (grade) of education, as do parents.  Spoken stories and fairytales are the focus for language development, as well as imaginative play, seasonal festivals and natural outdoor toys and influences. Hands-on crafts using wood, wool, needle-felting and knitting emphasize young children’s focus on motor skills vs desk work.

Learning to read or write, math and media are not included in this stage of development, as they are thought not to be age appropriate. Brain development experts in early childhood education would agree, especially since the left and right brain hemisphere remain largely unattached until the end of this development stage.  In fact, writing is introduced before reading as more of an artform rather than an exercise in decoding words.  This is diametrically opposed to the public system of pushing reading and writing heavily in early grades.  Music and dance is required and every student learns to play the recorder early on and then a string instrument at a slightly later age.  Children learn science from nature and hands-on experiments rather than from textbooks.  In Waldorf, spoken word storytelling is central to their academic work, taking the place of glossy picture books and even videos in the public system.  Creativity expert Ken Robinson maintains that the typical public school system “kills creativity” by focussing too much on outdated curriculum and desk-based learning.

2) Zero Tolerance for Mass Media

Kim John Payne M.ED, author of Simplicity Parenting who is a consultant and trainer to over 110 U.S. schools and a private family counselor for twenty seven years, believes that our kids are frazzled with too much media.   He has even done detailed studies comparing children from war-torn 3rd world countries who live day to day with so called 1st world countries like the US and Canada.  His conclusion was that emotionally and pyschologically, exposing our children to television, mass media advertising and electronics at a young age has the exact same effect as an early childhood spent in places like war-ravaged Bosnia or famine-ridden Somalia.  Kim Payne goes on to explain how the diagnosis of ADHD (Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder) is growing, and prevelant in as high as 11% in our young children.  Interestingly also is that the diagnosis of ADHD is far higher on the eastern seaboard vs the west.  Factors influencing this could possibly include more emphasis on alternative school systems, and increased play in the outdoors in western areas.

In 1997 over five million people, mostly children, in the United States were prescribed Ritalin, and this is a rise of 700% since 1990. Moreover, at the 1998 Consensus Conference on ADHD of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) one of the stated conclusions was that “there is no evidence that treatment [Ritalin and behavioral therapy] improves academic achievement or long-term outcomes.”

Thoughts like “I was raised with television, and I turned out fine” are common.  But as parents, we’ve also grown up in a world of smoking on airplanes, no-seat belts and children with scattered or limited attention spans.  Our family has seen first hand how videos can directly cause night terrors.  Once we tossed our TV and eliminated (not just reduced) child oriented videos, our kids creative play has flourished.  In fact, this is why Waldorf takes such a hard stance on media – your children watching TV will directly impact the style and nature of play of other children they play with.  How many times have you heard a parent say “I just don’t know where she got that language from?”.  It’s often from the media your child’s friends consume. And as Dr. Gordon Neufeld says, you must not let your child’s peers raise your children (author of “Hold onto Your Kids”).  Dr. Gabor Mate who has studied and treated many kinds of addiction on Vancouver’s drug addicted lower East side sees the affects of parents letting peers raise their kids first hand.

3) Non-competitive Environment

Like many parents of our generation, life without media or competitive sports is a hard pill to swallow.  But for young kids especially, they simply prefer to co-operate and not have their skills constantly evaluated or tested.  Similarly, the Waldorf curriculum does not place importance on seat work and memorization for the purposes of testing.  The children actually write and illustrate their own handmade “text books” which are really more like organic journals that integrate their own creative works.  Learning is specific to the individual, and so there are no cookie-cutter approaches to the evaluation of student learning.  And learning is really simplified so that the same concept is approached using various learning methods vs just solely lecture.  The only real time for sit-down learning is not more than 2 hours in the morning.  Then the rest of the day, activities are created to reinforce a single core lesson, but in different forms such as art/painting and crafts that use finger or handwork, as well as acting out lessons in plays and seasonal festivals.  Children also learn by doing real “work”, such as cooking for groups, needle work, building, measuing and creating wood projects.  There is a sense of steady and predictable routine, which is important for maintaining comfort and safety, especially for young children.

4) Family Focused

In Waldorf schools, the teacher will follow the children up from Grade 1 through to Grade 8.  Other specialized or guest teachers will rotate through each class, but for the most part, a given student will have a consistent role-model, almost a surrogate parent,  follow them through their education.  The teacher is seen as the authoritative leader of the classroom, just like a parent.  Lessons that involve home-like work such as cooking, making bread and cleaning up, sweeping the floor are rehearsed and demonstrated by the teacher and students.  Even the surroundings of a typical Waldorf school classroom is focussed on calming colours for children, with typically soft pink or peach on the walls.  Cloths, silks and rugs soften the look and feel of each room, with faceless dolls to inspire creativity, and natural earth tone colours in all furnishings.  Most items, toys and furniture are wood where possible, or handmade.  This again reinforces a home-like atmosphere which is familiar, safe and conducive to learning.

5) Integrates The Natural World

Outdoor play is central to Waldorf learning.  This supports the integration of seasonal lessons and stories into the curriculum. The four seasonal festivals are Michaelmas (fall), Christmas (winter), Easter (spring), and St. John (summer). Children have daily sessions of outdoor play, not confined to short recesses, but longer periods of active time.  Crafts are always with natural fibres such as wet-felting, finger-knitting and needle-felting using wool dyed with natural inks.  Woodworking is common and even the outdoor playground more resembles something you would erect out of ropes and timbers if you were shipwrecked on an island.  Branches, leaves, plants, vines and soil are played with on a regular basis.  Waldorf schools can be considered “spiritual” in their ideas of “Mother Earth”, but they are not specifically religious, and are very open to all beliefs.  Natural beauty is echoed in all things Waldorf, from paintings to flower pressings to the festivals in each season.

“Creativity is as important as literacy” in our education system, he says.  ”We are educating people out of their creativity”.  He has advised the British government on Education issues, and was even knighted for his efforts.  I’ve also read his book entitled “The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything”.