Waldorf in the News

List of 11 news stories.

• NPR | On the importance of learning "soft skills" early

  4/4/2017

  Learning Soft Skills In Childhood Can Prevent Harder Problems Later

  Academic learning is usually in the spotlight at school, but teaching elementary-age students "soft" skills like self-control and social skills might help in keeping at-risk kids out of criminal trouble in the future, a study finds.

• NYT | Hooked on Our Smartphones

  1/12/2017

  Hooked on Our Smartphones

  People walking down the street with eyes on their phones, bumping into others, tripping over or crashing into obstacles. Observations like these have prompted a New York psychotherapist to ask, "What really matters?" in life.

• Scientific American | Knitting is Math

  9/28/2016

  The Stunning Symbiosis between Math and Knitting [Slide Show]

  When knitters want to make tubes without seams, they sometimes use circular knitting needles, in which two points are connected by a flexible wire. A few years ago sarah-marie belcastro tied her circular knitting needles in a knot to see what would happen.

• The Guardian | Why Free Play is So Important

  9/28/2016

  No grammar schools, lots of play: the secrets of Europe's top education system

  It's a warm September afternoon in the Kallio district of Helsinki. Out in the Franzenia daycare centre playground, groups of four- and five-year-olds roam contentedly. "Would you like an ice-cream?" asks one, having set up her elaborate "stall" on the edge of the sandpit. Kindergarten staff move among the children, chatting, observing and making written notes.

• FOX 29 Philadelphia | Unplugged on Purpose

  9/8/2016

• LA Times | The Importance of Outdoor Play

  9/8/2016

  To do better in school, kids should exercise their bodies as well as their brains, experts say

  Attention parents: If you'd like to see your kids do better in school, have them close their books, set down their pencils and go outside to play. That's the latest advice from an international group of experts who studied the value of exercise in school-age kids.

• Michael D'Aleo at High Mowing | Intuition and Living Thinking

  9/8/2016

  Michael D'Aleo | On Intuition and Living Thinking

  Michael D'Aleo spoke on Waldorf Education and how it supports the Development of Intuition and Living Thinking. This recording is of the event which was live-streamed. On January 20, Michael D'Aleo, Waldorf teacher and scientist, spoke at High Mowing School about developing intuition in high school students.

• Parent Tool Kit | Earlier Is Not Better

  9/8/2016

  Debunking the Belief That Earlier Is Better

  A mother told me that her son was seven months old when she first felt the pressure to enroll him in enrichment programs. She said, "Here I was with an infant who had just learned to sit upright by himself, and someone was asking me what classes he was going to be taking, as if he were ten!"

• Psychology Today | Free Play Makes Children Smart

  9/8/2016

  Play Makes Children Smart, Happy and Prepared for the Future

  The other day I ran into my friend, Lynn Lutomski, Director of the Irvington Children's Center. I shared that I was writing an article for a knitting magazine about how purposeful hand use boosts mood, mind, creativity and confidence. Lynn lit up. She told me about a knitting club for the kids at the center.

• Waldorf School of the Peninsula | Preparing for Life

  9/8/2016

• WBUR | The Effect of Homework on Youngsters

  9/8/2016

  A Closer Look At One Texas Teacher's No-Homework Policy

  What if there was no homework for the entire school year? A Texas teacher wrote a letter to parents of her second grade class telling them just that. Brandy Young of Godley Elementary School, in Godley, Texas, wrote, "Research has been unable to prove that homework improves student performance.