I need to share my experience in case it can save another family some of the pain and exclusion mine experienced. This school is precariously held together by yarn, passive-aggressive "conversations," and unpaid labor. Even if you are parenting on easy mode with a picture-perfect neurotypical child, you should know that this school pays their teachers very little, loses them frequently, and then often scrambles to fill that teaching position at the last minute. They do not magically find someone with a teaching credential to fill that job, they just find someone from their in-crowd who says yes. Your child could start their school year with a teacher who has no real background in education and standards outside of Waldorf's extremely insular world.
However, if you happen to have a neurodivergent child, I would urge you to stay away from this school. My son was attending the early childhood program but I was frequently being called to pick him up early for behavior issues. I was in constant communication with his teacher and others at the school begging for help and direction. We were trying everything we could at home, but my kid was clearly struggling, and no one quite understood why. Despite supposedly being early childhood experts, Waldorf teachers and staff NEVER ONCE mentioned that maybe we should get an evaluation for autism/ADHD/etc. Instead they recommended diet changes and reiki. I wish I were joking. This cost us years of figuring out what was really going on. Eventually, they "asked us" to leave the school (but not until after I had finished a really big project for their Halloween production!!!). We were strongly socially ostracized afterwards, in an already small town.
They have absolutely no support services available and seem to have no interest in providing them. A parent to a Waldorf student who works locally as a special education teacher in public schools even volunteered to help provide some support for students with special needs at Sierra Waldorf. The school turned her down! Waldorf schools are based on the works of Rudolf Steiner, who held some pretty problematic beliefs, including eugenics. I guess Sierra Waldorf is staying true to their roots.
Before we joined the school, Waldorf looked a bit like a cult to me based on the behavior of the people I knew who were already in it. Now that I've seen it on the inside, that conviction stands stronger than ever. read more
