Waldorf, In Review

I will just speak for myself here...
I couldn't agree more with the philosophy of Waldorf!
It is an extremely nurturing, safe school. They really look at the child as a whole, every part counts. I love this.  At the end of the day, I would rather have our kids have all B's and be involved in sports, volunteer, do family things, have a social life, etc.
Ryan and I went to a reading class that was geared towards 2nd graders.  The teacher was so engaging, he could rattle off rhyming stories and songs that were very intricate.  I was so impressed and truly excited for the next part of the lesson- I could have listened to him all day.  He talked about the method they use to teach the children how to write a story. First, they come up with the picture of their story then write the words.  DUH!  It was really an "ah ha" moment for me. 
When I was the student, as soon as the teacher said, "today we are going to write a story about an elephant" (or whatever for that matter) I was immediately drowning in anxiety.  My mind would be racing a million miles an hour... What would the elephant do? What should the first line be? How should it end? Should he be nice? Mean? Funny? Ahh, BARF!  I felt so relaxed at Waldorf, they teach by having the child see the whole picture, and then put it on paper.  Completely the opposite of a traditional school.

My BIG hesitation was that they are years behind a traditional school.  They actually don't teach the children to read until they are in second grade!  EEK.  I get a pit in my stomach thinking about that.  Having worked in a traditional preschool, I was teaching preschoolers what the 1st graders at Waldorf were learning.

Ryan and I are going to go visit a couple other schools. I do think Waldorf may be the perfect fit for our family for Preschool and Kindergarten.  We are not sold on the grade school part....yet.  
The search continues.