Education means "to bring out" or "bring up" which implies we're meant to help children realize what they know. Nature has a plan for our children the same way it has a plan for us, plants, animals, and the natural world. Have you ever seen a flower growing through two concrete blocks? It's a wonder that flower knows to sprout weeds downward into the earth and stretch it's leaves out to catch water. It stretches towards the sun for light and nutrients regardless whether its in a box of soil, the wild, or in a crack in the pavement- it has the will to survive and the knowledge to find what it needs to do so.
I marvel at the intricate designs found in fruits and vegetables when I cut them open. I love the geometric designs in a stalk of bok choy or a head of cabbage. The star inside of an apple or the paisley shape in a tomato. How is this there? Without fail, geometry can be found in our food that grows in the earth. In this discovery, we realize that if plants, animals, weather, seasons continue to thrive without intervention from us, perhaps we're meant to thrive without intervention from others.
How did math exist before there were schools? How was the wheel created without an instructional video on youtube? Is it possible to have stories about the stars before a printing press existed to share these tales? Without a clock, how is it possible humans knew what time to rise and rest?
These curiosities are what shaped Waldorf education- the belief that we have what we need to survive, and thrive, inside us before conception and the belief that both the spiritual world and natural world are all connected. The belief that humans have the ability to think and do without intervention and that formal education is meant to "bring out", not "put in". Today's schools are filled with teachers who think they have all the child needs to know and they give information for the child to memorize. But, in a Waldorf school, teachers are merely the guides and provide experiences and opportunities for the child to discover!
Waldorf education is more than a rubric or curriculum- it is a way of thinking, living, doing, and being with children and others. It is a way of seeing children as fully capable, wondrous beings, who are both spiritual and physical in their design. Join us at Epoch in helping children discover their purpose and their path.
