The Waldorf Approach

Waldorf education brings age-appropriate content and methods to each stage of a child's development.

Stages of Growth

The Waldorf approach recognizes human beings as three-fold in nature — consisting of a mind, spirit, and body — and educates that entire being in preparation for a life of meaning and purpose.

At each stage in their educational journey, we meet the children where they are.

Early Childhood | Imitation

Up to age seven, children learn to stand, talk, and think without formal instruction, but through imitation. Young children mimic everything in their environment, from the sounds and gestures of people to the attitudes and values of parents and peers. Our early childhood program provides an environment worthy of imitation, with daily and seasonal activities delivered in a natural environment infused with beauty and kindness.

Lower and Middle School | Imagination

Around age seven, children develop a readiness for more formal learning. As they gain aptitude for sequential and logical thought, their most vital asset remains the ability to be fully at home in the pictorial world of imagination. Relationships are central too. Our students in grades one through eight experience — rather than being told about — confidence, conflicts and their resolution, and respect for the world and all its creatures within an enduring relationship with their classmates and teacher.

High School | Truth, Determination, and Judgment

Around age 14, the child’s intellect wakes up, as do abilities to think abstractly. These qualities manifest as a search for truth, a valuable idealism, and a vulnerable sensitivity. Adolescents thrive when they have worthy moral qualities to emulate and an expanded overview of the world where they will create their future. Through years of daily artistic expression and an academically challenging curriculum, Waldorf education culminates in the high school grades with a conscious awakening of all the human capacities.

Arts and Sciences

Waldorf education integrates the arts in all academic disciplines at all ages — involvement in the arts has been correlated to gains in math, reading, cognitive ability, critical thinking, and verbal skill. Music, dance and theater, writing, literature, legends and myths are not simply subjects to be read about and tested. They are experienced.

By meeting the students where they are in their journey, and by infusing art into every academic setting and incorporating music and movement into the broader curriculum, the Waldorf approach offers a holistic, compassionate education for the 21st century.

Why Waldorf?

Today, Waldorf Education is the fastest growing independent education movement in the world. The Waldorf model embraces the power of human connection in the classroom and inspires students to be life-long learners and develop their potential fully.

Being personally acquainted with a number of Waldorf students, I can say that they come closer to realizing their own potential than practically anyone I know.Joseph Weizenbaum, Professor Emeritus, MIT

In the News

Find out more about Waldorf education, and more broadly, about some of the approaches that form the basis of this education, from these media resources.

What Is a Waldorf School?

This article from U.S. News & World Report summarizes the key features of a Waldorf education.

Play in Early Childhood: The Role of Play in Any Setting

This video, provided by Harvard University's Center on the Developing Child, explains why play is so important in early childhood.

The Power of Awe and Inspiration

This article from AWSNA summarizes research from the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Berkeley.