Educational Programs

“With both Vada and John off in the big world, I see how their full Toddler to 8th grade education has given them the ability to be free human beings - who are able out of their own initiative to impart purpose and direction to their lives.”

Jay Thomas, WIWS Alum Parent

When you enter a Waldorf school, the first thing you may notice is the care given to the building. The walls are usually painted in lively colors and are adorned with student artwork. Evidence of student activity is everywhere to be found and every desk holds a uniquely created main lesson book.

Another first impression may be the enthusiasm and commitment of the teachers you meet. Our teachers are interested in the students as individuals. They are trained to focus on the individual needs of each student, emphasizing collaboration and community building. Our teachers bring a deep commitment to the holistic education of their students.

They also bring a full commitment to their own growth as human beings. Upon entering their classrooms each day, our teachers ask themselves, “am I worthy of imitation?” Knowing that children learn through imitation, our teachers strive to bring their best, most authentic selves to their students each day; in right thought, speech and action.

Our teachers are interested in the questions:

• How do we establish within each child their own high level of academic excellence?

• How do we call forth enthusiasm for learning and work, a healthy self-awareness, interest and concern for fellow human beings, and a respect for the world?

• How can we help pupils find meaning in their lives?

Teachers in Waldorf schools are dedicated to generating an inner enthusiasm for learning within every child. They achieve this in a variety of ways. Even seemingly dry and academic subjects are presented in a pictorial and dynamic manner. This eliminates the need for competitive testing, academic placement, and behaviouristic rewards to motivate learning. It allows motivation to arise from within and helps engender the capacity for joyful lifelong learning.

The Waldorf curriculum is broad and comprehensive, structured to respond to the three developmental phases of childhood: from birth to approximately 6 or 7 years, from 7 to 14 years and from 14 to 18 years. Waldorf teachers understand that the best way to provide meaningful support for the child is to comprehend these phases fully and to bring age appropriate content to the children that nourishes healthy growth.

Waldorf Education

For the Waldorf student, music, dance, and theater, writing, literature, legends and myths are not simply subjects to be read about, ingested and tested. They are experienced. Through these experiences, Waldorf students cultivate the intellectual, emotional, physical and spiritual capacities to be individuals certain of their paths and to be of service to the world. Developed by Rudolf Steiner in 1919, Waldorf Education is based on a profound understanding of human development that addresses the needs of the growing child. Waldorf teachers strive to transform education into an art that educates the whole child--the heart and the hands, as well as the head.

Waldorf Education at Whidbey Island Waldorf School

Since 1985, our “Waldorf school in the big woods” has been providing Waldorf education on Whidbey Island. The school has survived and thrived because of the vision and generosity of its founders and the flexibility, creativity and determination of those who have carried the school forward.

The design and construction of our beautiful school building were gifted to this community. Our classrooms house anywhere from 10-22 students, keeping our classes small to medium in size.

How Reading, Writing, Literature and Language are Taught in a Waldorf Education

By Dianne McGaunn and Kat Marsh

The Waldorf approach to literacy is unique in two very important ways.

First, Waldorf education builds a foundation for literacy learning through attention to the physical body and its importance in learning and the significance of social and emotional health in education.

Second, literacy education in Waldorf schools is an elaborate, thoughtful sequence starting with speech development, listening, and only then more formal academic learning.

A common misconception about Waldorf literacy education is that Waldorf schools do not teach children how to read until second or even third grade. While it is true that decoding (learning how to read through a phonics approach) is not specifically taught until later in first grade, early childhood educators and first grade teachers concentrate on building a strong foundation for literacy learning through drama, artistic endeavors, writing what students know by heart, healthy play and movement experiences, beautiful recitation of poetry and many other forms of learning that are multi-sensory experiences. Therefore, when students are taught a traditional phonics approach in second grade, they have a deep foundation to aid in the reading process.

Read the full article here

Waldorf schools, including WIWS, are not no-tech - rather, we are slow-tech.

We encourage placing great value on the intention behind technology use and the ways in which it works as a critical tool in our modern world. Starting in the 6th grade, our students participate in a unique Cyber Civics curriculum that prepares students to be ethical, digital citizens and teaches them to leverage the power of technology. Our alumni speak often to the value of an education that places human connection first, and technology as a tool. So while computers may be used at home to support research in Middle School, we encourage direct inquiry, observation and experience of all subject matters. Our students are experiencing their curriculum immediately through action, observation, contemplation and embodied response.

Enrollment and Class Sizes

Our individual grade school class sizes range from 9 to 25 students. When combined, our current 5/6 and 7/8 classes total 15 students. Our Toddler program, Preschool and 4 mixed-age Kindergarten classes range in size from 10-19 children with one or two assistants as needed.

Early Release Day

WIWS holds an early release day (Wednesday) each week. Children are released at 1pm, rather than 3pm.

However, all Early Childhood children enrolled for the full day (until 3pm) will continue to receive care until 3pm on that day, all school year.

Special Subjects

Whidbey Island Waldorf School is pleased to offer the following special subjects with their own teachers: Spanish (including a Spanish immersion afternoon program for 1st Grade), Music, Orchestra, Movement & Games, Handwork, Theatre, Gardening, and Eurythmy (in blocks.)

Waldorf schools, including Whidbey Island Waldorf School, still teach cursive writing. Here is current research on the benefits:

The Joys and Benefits of Handwriting — and Why We Should Keep It Alive in Schools

“We found an advantage for cursive. The children spelled better when they could use cursive. They wrote more, they wrote faster.”

Virginia Berninger, professor emeritus, University of Washington College of Education