Discover Waldorf Education

  • Imagine a school where storytelling leads students into exploration of history and geography, where geometric patterns become a basis for physical movement and handwork, where artistic impulse permeates every lesson.

    This is the Eugene Waldorf School. Here we strive to meet children appropriately at each developmental stage, helping them to gain the strength to flower into free-thinking individuals. Here we recognize that children have physical, emotional and spiritual needs and capacities, as well as intellectual ones. Here we combine artistic, cognitive and practical lessons to nurture the strengths, potential and uniqueness of each child.

    Founded in Europe in 1919, Waldorf education now includes schools on every continent and has grown to become the world’s largest independent, nonsectarian school system that goes through all the grades with over 1,000 schools worldwide.

    Like the Eugene Waldorf School, every Waldorf school is independent, but each follows a core of curriculum, methods and beliefs. At the heart of this core is the belief that a fulfilled and creative life requires more than mental development or the ability to earn a living.

    Every child also needs the balance provided by strong and healthy development in the life of will (the ability to get things done) and in the life of feeling (emotions, aesthetics, social sensitivity).

    Waldorf education has for seventy years been putting into effect what major brain researchers and educators are discovering about the human brain/mind.

    — Gabriele Rico, Professor, San Jose State University

    Waldorf pedagogy addresses the whole child: head, heart and hands.

    Waldorf education is alternative — not because of the subjects that are taught, but because of how and when subjects are taught. By fostering the appropriate growth of children at the appropriate times, in ways that work for them, we encourage healthy development.

    According to the Waldorf model, learning begins with an encounter, which leads to experience and then a conceptual understanding. These three steps (perception, feeling and thinking) prepare the intellect of the child for abstract and conceptual learning in the adolescent.

  • Eugene Waldorf School is part of the worldwide Waldorf education movement, founded by Rudolf Steiner in 1919. Much of Steiner’s detailed psychology of child development has been supported by modern research in education and neuropsychology. Through Waldorf education, Steiner hoped that young people would develop the capacities of soul and intellect, and the strength of will that would prepare them to meet the challenges of their own time and the future.

    Rudolf Steiner’s writings and lectures are today available in some 325 volumes on a wide range of subjects. His universal genius gave and continues to give rejuvenating impulses in all fields of knowledge and endeavors of life. Besides education, we can look to the practical work done in the medical realm, in biodynamic farming, in architecture, in banking, in social issues and in the arts and sciences. All these endeavors stem from Rudolf Steiner’s anthroposophical Spiritual Science.

  • The Eugene Waldorf School is a non-profit, non-sectarian, tax-exempt organization incorporated in the State of Oregon. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, ethnicity, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, disability or marital status in the administration of our educational policies, admissions or board membership policies, financial programs, or athletic and other school-administered programs.

FAQs

  • Overall, Waldorf graduates find themselves ahead of their peers by eighth grade. The Harvard Education Letter discussed the results of a study showing that “Waldorf students tend to score…equal to, or considerably above, district peers by eighth grade.” Some students experience a short period of adjustment as they adapt to textbooks and standardized tests in ninth grade. However, Waldorf graduates are known for their resilience, curiosity, passion for learning, and respect for other points of view.

  • Waldorf early childhood teachers carefully lay foundations for literacy through storytelling, singing, playacting, and movement activities. More than just fun and games, these exercises cultivate listening skills, mental imagery, and language acuity in a fun, age-appropriate environment. Writing is introduced in the first grade after children have fully developed eye-tracking, and reading follows naturally with regular practice. This is because the children are motivated to decode words on a page and now have the ability to understand contexts, draw inferences and create corresponding mental imagery. By fourth grade, students’ reading skills are on par with their mainstream peers. Before eighth grade, our students often surpass their mainstream peers in comprehension.

  • The Eugene Waldorf School reflects its local community. Our families represent many different professional, cultural, ethnic, religious and economic backgrounds. Though diverse, we all share in the mission to inspire and educate our children, celebrate and protect childhood, and support each other.

  • Yes, but we are not religious or sectarian. We view humans as spiritual, intellectual, physical and emotional beings. Values such as respect for self, others, nature and a higher purpose are upheld in the classrooms. The Eugene Waldorf School actively respects, welcomes and supports all faiths and creeds.

  • Waldorf education fosters excellence in teaching because our schools actively support the growth of our teachers’ abilities while respecting their independence. Within the curriculum, teachers decide how they present each subject. This creative autonomy helps bring out the truth, beauty, and wonder inherent in the curriculum to best inspire lifelong learning.

  • The one-teacher model promotes a deep connection between student and teacher and leads to more personalized education for each student. It also helps form a cohesive classroom environment that keeps the focus on learning. Waldorf teachers are trained both to work on their inner selves and to learn to balance their relationships with each student. Just as with a parent and child, if a teacher and a student are struggling to work together, it is the teacher who takes on the responsibility of working with the student to help develop a strong and positive relationship. Building and maintaining relationships for eight years—between teacher and student, and student to student within a class—cultivates strong interpersonal skills.

  • Waldorf education is based on anthroposophy—the philosophical and pedagogical perspective founded by Rudolf Steiner. Anthroposophy informs Waldorf education, giving energy, enthusiasm, and courage to the work of our teachers, and encompasses a perspective on childhood development that is unique and eminently practical.