Hi Mamas!!!! We are looking into preschools for our three year ols son, so exciting but a tad confusing......So give us your help!! What are the Waldorf and Satori schools???? They both seem interesting, and of course they are both nice and want us to sign up, but we want to know your experiences with these or other learning programs for pre school kiddos!!! THANKS in advance you girls ROCK!! XoXo
I have a tenant who had her child in the Waldorf school. They require a LOT of parent participation, so if you are into that you will like it.
Both our kids have been in Montessori since they were 18 months old-they are 3 1/2 and 6 now. We could not be happier. Montessori teaches children respect...respect for each other, themselves, the enviornment (both around them and the earth). It's a totally different learnign stsyle, but it's awesome! They do things like sewing a button on burlap and push pin (taking a pin and pushing it all around an outlined photo until the picture pops out) to define their fine motor skills and this also helps them to hold a pencils properly...really? Who knew?
There is structure, structure, structure. And the kids are more advanced...about 6 months ahead of public school kids of the same age. My 3 yer old can write her numbers 1-10 without any assistance along with her name and other letters. She knows all of the names of the 7 continents and the months of the year.
Our oldest is in Kindergarten. She reads, has done, addition (up to 4 place), subtraction, mult and division. They are now introducing Fractions. The have introduced nouns and verbs. She writes sentences on her own.
I could go on and on. It's a great program!! Our kids are just regular kids on the outside, but the foundation for learning is there.
I would suggest touring a facility if you can. You will be amazed and impressed. The kids are mini-robots in class when it comes to following the rules. Of course at home, it's a free for all most days, but again, the potential and foundation are there.
Good luck! This is a critical time for learning!
Waldorf is very nature based, and anti-technology (for kids). The Waldorf school near me requires families to sign a contract saying they won't expose their children to television, computers, iPhones, etc. The teachers seemed fantastic and the curriculum was lovely, but the technology prohibition was too much for us. We went with Montessori instead and LOVE LOVE LOVE it. Focus on the individual, very calm classroom, mostly wooden toys in the class, multi-age classrooms. Just make sure you're looking at a true Montessori school that is accredited/certified, as any school can call themselves "Montessori".
I can't help on Satori - never heard of it.
