Waldorf and Montessori

Yes both philosophies are quiet different. To understand the differences one would need to go back to the roots and read about Dr.Maria Montessori and Rudolph Steiner or their works. I think some of the similarities stem from all three, Dr. Montessori, Mr. Steiner and Ms. Mason, living in the same time period and were subjected to the same social and political environment. Rudolf Steiner stands out from the other two especially because he founded a spiritual movement call Anthroposophy, an esoteric philosophy.

My oldest went for her first 5 years to a Waldorfschool and at that time I was very happy with the teaching. But then I got saved and saw the esoteric influences in the teaching, like the glorifying of fairies, elves etc… I still use some of the Waldorf handicafts and arts without putting the spiritual characters in the center of the lesson. Hope this helped a little bit.

Blessings, Christine

Interesting articles, Bookworm, thanks for posting them.

I haven’t read about Montessori methods extensively, but from what I have read, I would say one big difference I have noticed between Montessori early-childhood methods and CM early-childhood methods is that Montessori seems to be very much based on a “prepared environment”, wheras CM stresses a young child learning in his natural environment, both at home and outdoors.

That said, I have used some Montessori inspired activities with my preschoolers at home. I like the way that each activity has a fairly clearly defined purpose and I think they are less ‘twaddly’ than other preschool type activities. However, what I know of CM early-childhood methods allows me to resist the temptation feel inadequate because I haven’t replicated a Montessori-style prepared environment in my home or that I am ruining my child because I’ve picked and chosen among the activities that suited our purposes even if they didn’t necessarily fall into the sequence as defined by Montessori.

FWIW,

Jen