The Growing Community Of The Housatonic Valley Waldorf School

By Tanjua Damon

The students sat in a horseshoe in their small wooden chairs talking about a play they were getting ready to perform. It was much like a typical classroom, except for the slippers on their feet.

These third grade students attend the Housatonic Valley Waldorf School in Dodgingtown, where the philosophy is to recreate education in a holistic, organic way from the ground up. The curriculum at the school is geared toward the developmental stages of every year of childhood with the understanding that learning is maximized when the whole child is engaged.

The school has nearly doubled in size in a year. Last year 55 students attended the Waldorf School, while this year 95 students are in attendance from preschool to eighth grade.

“I think people are looking for alternatives for their children. It’s just a whole different philosophy,” Melissa Merkling, administrator, said. “It is truly developmentally appropriate. We meet the children developmentally and meet the needs of that age. It’s really an awareness of the child’s needs – emotionally, physically, and educationally.”

Teacher Ellen McRobert has been working as a Waldorf teacher for five years. She finds that the Waldorf philosophy works with the whole child and provides the means for the child to develop socially at an early age.

“I think in just the way it fosters the imagination of the young child. I really believe in the whole social aspect laying the foundation for when they are adults,” Ms McRobert said. “That’s the biggest gift of all. They are making the discoveries. I’m not telling them the information.”

Most rewarding to Ms McRoberts is being able to see the students figure things out themselves, but also be able to apply what they are learning; she feels this is helping her to become a more creative teacher.

“Here children have more of an opportunity to express themselves more independently,” Ms McRobert said. “There is just so much beauty seeing these children mature and develop in a natural environment. That’s what I like. I love so much that it allows me to be creative. I think we’re tapping into a different place in human beings.”

The environment at the Waldorf School is simple and natural. The classroom walls are painted brightly. The only coverings are the artworks of students. Art plays a vital role in the curriculum, allowing students to express themselves as they see it or have learned it.

“There are all sorts of things in the curriculum satisfying the inner needs of the child,” Ms Merkling said. “There is so much artistic content that it really makes for a healthy development for a child.”

Third grade teacher Annalee Riley sees her students independently apply the skills they are learning in everyday life, making them better people as a whole.

“I saw that we are educating the whole life – the will life, whole life and thinking life of the child,” Ms Riley said. “When a child takes that step beyond what I’ve taught them, that they have made it their own and have applied it [ it is most rewarding].”

Marleen De Grande taught in Belgium for three years and has been at the Waldorf school for five years and finds the creativity students can have allows them the time and opportunity to excel the way they need to.

“It’s very creative. While there is space for individuality for all the children they can develop at their own pace,” Ms De Grande said. “Putting the child in the middle of what you are doing, not all the material you have to cover, but really working with the children and bringing it to the class, I think that’s special.”

When a task or lesson is not finished, the students simply put it away and come back to it later or the next day. There is no real pressure to complete a task in a given time frame, which allows for more time to be spent on every area, according to Ms De Grande.

“You can go into more depth in the subjects because you have more time,” she said. “Art is a very big part of our day. We try to have an artistic activity to develop different aspects of the child.”

The Housatonic Valley Waldorf philosophy brings the simplicities of life to the forefront, providing students with qualities that engulf the whole child, using the  natural environment to accomplish this.

The school will be hosting a public event, a May Fair Festival, on Saturday, May 5, from 11 am to 3 pm. Families can enjoy May Pole dancing, sheep shearing, face painting, spring songs, and games. Ed Witkin of Bridgewater will also perform on banjo and guitar. For more information call 364-1113.