Head, heart and hands a Waldorf Education
The Waldorf School of Mendocino County is celebrating its 48th year as a leader in independent Waldorf education. The Waldorf approach to education is a vital and dynamic process designed to develop free, confident human beings who have the creativity, discipline, and moral strength to meet the challenges of our changing world.
Enriching the heart and mind as well as the will, Waldorf teachers intentionally create lessons to cultivating the capacities of each student. Whether practicing multiplication tables while playing clapping games or reciting lines from an upcoming play while walking around on stilts, students integrate different parts of the brain and body.
All of WSMC’s programs, Preschool-8th Grade, present challenging academic subjects in an integrated, holistic manner. Imaginative play is at the heart of the Early Childhood Programs. The foundations of academics — imagination, focus, problem- solving — infuse each day. In 1st through 8th grade, students concentrate on an exploration of a particular subject. Immersed in the subject (such as botany, ancient civilizations, fractions, chemistry, local history) for several weeks, students explore the topic through lectures, stories, music, movement, and written and artistic projects. Waldorf students 1st through 8th grade create their own textbooks based on the information presented and research done on their own. These Main Lesson books are fashioned with care, handwritten in cursive and illustrated. Students also receive additional instruction in instrumental music, Spanish, sports, circus arts, woodwork, hand crafts, drama and gardening.
One of the hallmarks of Waldorf education is the relationship between student and teacher. Ideally, a teacher will move with their class 1st through 8th grade. This means that no ground is lost at the start of each year, while the teacher gets to know their students. Allowing teachers to learn their students strengths and weakness in areas far beyond academics. Social emotional learning is endemic in classrooms where students and teachers have years of history, enabling them to work through the real complexities of growing up. Students have the opportunity to develop strategies and skills to work with challenging classmates and teachers, the same issues they will continue to face with colleagues in the future.
The Waldorf School of Mendocino County is currently accepting applications for the 2020-21 school year. We are also offering our Roots and Shoots parent/ toddler program in January and again in March. Please contact us at 485- 8719, enroll@mendocinowaldorf.org, or visit us at www.mendocinowaldorf.org. Check our website for upcoming events, including our Annual Poker Tournament and 1920’s Auction Gala.