Waldorf education is grounded in child development, aligning the stage of life with the stage of learning.

With that in mind, the journey toward reading and literacy is a deliberate path that unfolds first through storytelling and song, then by recognizing letters associated with familiar people and items. When a Waldorf student begins sight reading, he or she has already mastered comprehension, character development and language in age-appropriate, tangible ways, which makes it easy to put it all together on the page.

All children end up in the same place, able to read and engage with stories as a way of exploring meaning and their world. In a Waldorf school, however, children begin with story as recipients of the storytelling, holders of characters, and an intimate introduction to letters as they relate to the people they know and the places they go. Only after children feel confident in owning the language and the process of story do they begin the practice of sight reading, at an age when comprehension and literacy go hand-in-hand.

Many parents don’t realize that when a child begins reading in Kindergarten, he or she may not comprehend what they are sounding out on the page. Waldorf education offers a different journey to literacy for the reason that comprehension accompanies reading in a developmentally beautiful way.

As parents focus on choosing schools to enroll their children this fall, they should consider questions of how deeply a child learns versus when a particular subject is introduced.

The path of education is almost more important than the method, because most children where they need be in their own time.

The first seven years of a child’s life should be a time of activity and play. Inhabiting stories brings words closer to the child’s being as he or she becomes intimately connected with the art of language.

Once imprinted with this love of story, they become ready to take the next step toward literacy. Waldorf education views the developing child as a spiritual being gradually growing and building the capacities for an adulthood filled with self-determination, self-reliance and balance.

Waldorf education is held by the belief that each stage of childhood calls for a specific educating environment that harnesses the powers inherent in the child already.