Waldorf and Reading

There was a very good post over at The Magic Onion about learning to read in the Steiner school model.  I had a wonderful conversation about it with a new friend this afternoon. I found myself admitting that although I love the process and understand why Waldorf schools don't teach their kids to read until a few years later than mainstream schools, I am going to be hard pressed to keep my daughter from reading.  If she could own one thing in the world it would be a book.  Actually, that might be a lie.  It would be her trolly and then a book.  Perhaps this photo of our living room is why.

 

Regardless, I know we have too much stuff to be as simple as some of the other Waldorf parents in the blogosphere, and that is ok.  We are as simple as we can be and are learning as we go.  The point is I found the article to be amazing at describing the process of learning for children and, as with everything I have read about Steiner education, it is just is just as intentional.  I won't repeat the article here but think it is really worth a read.