Housatonic Valley Waldorf School: Nurturing the Wonder and Curiosity of the Whole Child

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Housatonic Valley Waldorf School

Waldorf education infuses its curriculum with exclusive practices designed to stimulate the creativity and growth of the whole child—mind, body and soul. Zoë Schlanger, an HVWS alumna and New York Times bestselling author of “The Light Eaters,” credits her Waldorf education with both finding her vocation as a science writer and her success as a journalist. Schlanger describes how her early learning about botany in elementary school cultivated deeper curiosity about plant science, saying that at HVWS, new subjects are “presented as complete worlds” students are invited to discover.

The sum of something is always greater than its parts,” Schlanger continues. “That imparted to me the sense that in order to really understand something, you had to get at the whole of it.”

Like a flower unfurling petal by petal, the Waldorf learning environment and its close-knit community encourage children to become fully themselves. Free from the distractions of screens and multimedia, Waldorf education emphasizes learning through experience.

HVWS teachers support and assess the intellectual and emotional growth of their students over time, introducing complex subjects progressively. This enables the child to fully grasp concepts as their cognitive development allows. Using this approach, HVWS cultivates the mind and nurtures the spirit of each student to blossom in their own unique way.

Rooting with Wonder in Early Childhood

In 1989, a small group of parents met in New Milford, CT to discuss opening a Waldorf-based kindergarten, which has now grown into the only Waldorf grade school in Connecticut. The founders of HVWS were drawn to Rudolph Steiner’s educational philosophy because of the ways it deepened their children’s intellectual, physical and social-emotional growth.

Through expansive imagination and nature-based play, Waldorf students are invited into experiential learning that fosters creativity and critical thinking.

In HVWS’s Early Childhood program, which spans preschool to kindergarten, these young students experience learning through outdoor exploration, creative play and purposeful work. Through the daily activities and chores, like baking bread and making soup together as a daily snack, the students hone their fine and gross motor skills. Play spaces are filled with toys made from natural materials that seek to spark the imagination.

Outdoor learning is central to Waldorf education at HVWS and informs the daily experience of students from pre-K through Eighth Grade. Science education begins with observation and inquiry in the Early Childhood classroom. Through direct encounters with nature, students begin to notice changes in the natural world and to understand the reasoning for why those changes occur. Students manifest these observations in a variety of artistic formats, including beeswax modeling, painting and drawings. At this age, students are encouraged to generate as many explanations as possible to exercise their creativity and imagination.

In Third Grade, students engage in gardening and study human shelters, culminating in a week on a working farm. In Fifth Grade, they study botany, observing plant anatomy and the life cycle. During her anatomy block, Schlanger remembered following a plant from fall through to spring, watching its transformation with the seasons, learning to appreciate every part of the plant’s systems.

I understood something about growth, about cycles, about the forms nature makes after that experience,” Schlanger adds. Such hands-on experiences invite children to closely observe the natural world, fostering a deep sense of wonder while also building foundational scientific knowledge.

Beyond the classroom, students also spend time playing outdoors daily, which not only enhances their physical coordination and cognitive function but strengthens their emotional well-being and resilience through a deep connection to nature.

Supporting an Environment for Growth in Grades School

To foster the creativity and growth of the whole child, Waldorf education is exceptionally intentional about the sequence of instruction for child development. In the First and Second Grades, students move slowly through early literacy and numeracy, taking time to learn letters and numbers through stories, rhymes and games. Introducing subjects in a developmentally appropriate way increases a child’s confidence and command of each subject, which helps students build a deep level of curiosity and wonder that will shape their attitude towards education.

A benefit of HVWS’s small classes is that teachers often move with their class from First through Eighth grade to support them, a practice known as Looping. The advantages of having known them since kindergarten helps teachers provide an individualized and stimulating experience for each student. Additionally, teachers gain a deep understanding of each student’s unique social and emotional needs and can help both students and their families to support their social-emotional well-being.

Students learn core subjects in multi-week blocks, which allows a class to focus on one primary subject at a time, ensuring enriched comprehension and deep connection with the topic. Rather than using textbooks, students design main lesson books that reflect their learning experience in each block, which are enhanced with illustrations and cursive handwriting. Main lesson books are one tool used by teachers to adapt instructions to each student’s individual needs as well as create opportunities for collaboration and group work. Waldorf teachers receive special training to support their classes through each component of the Waldorf curriculum.

Waldorf introduces complex scientific subjects gradually, allowing the child’s mind to grasp concepts slowly over time in conjunction with their cognitive development. For example, students begin learning Geometry through form drawings in the early years, which builds into free-hand drawings of knots and braids by Fourth Grade. By Sixth and Seventh Grade, when the mathematics of Geometry is formally introduced, students already have an applied understanding of how shapes are created.

Marleen De Grande, a Teacher of Waldorf education for 34 years, describes teaching a class from First through Eighth Grade as ‘an adventure.’ “Every summer,” De Grande explains, “You prepare for the new school year by learning about the topics you’ll be teaching.” Reviewing new subjects for the upcoming year allows teachers to tailor their curriculum to the unique needs of their class.

Because you move through the grades with the students, you get to know them really well,” De Grande states, “so you can choose to teach certain topics that will help those students develop their knowledge as well as the social skills they need to thrive.”

Screen-free classrooms and waiting to introduce grading until Seventh Grade keep students focused on learning rather than on the pressure to perform.

Enhancing Core Academics through Creative Hands-on Learning

Creative expression is a core aspect of a Waldorf student’s academic experience. Rather than learning music and art as separate disciplines, they are seamlessly woven into how students learn every core subject. By learning songs and poems related to a given topic and creating illustrations in their main lesson books, students experience art and creative expression in service of their academic learning.

Beyond core subjects, students participate in classes on a wide range of unique topics, learning two foreign languages (German and Spanish) beginning in First Grade, as well as fiber arts, woodwork and clay modeling. Fiber arts increase fine motor skills while also teaching children mathematics, drafting and creativity. Woodworking and clay modeling allow students to understand concepts in three dimensions. Children also learn to play the recorder and sing songs related to core subjects, and in Third Grade, choose a stringed instrument they learn to play in an ensemble through Eighth Grade.

In recent years, a great deal of evidence has emerged that fiber arts like knitting and sewing, as well as drawing and music, strengthen cognitive function and cultivate neural pathways in the brain to support the learning of science, math and foreign languages. In this way, experiential learning, art and music integration and specialty classes allow all kinds of learners to be engaged and challenged in their lessons.

Blooming with the Help of Community

School-wide festivals throughout the year mark the changing of the seasons with performances that are attended and supported by the entire school community. Individual classes also hold smaller celebrations related to seasonal changes, topics in the curriculum and exploration of world cultures.

Community volunteer experiences throughout the year invite parents and caregivers to deepen their personal connection to the Waldorf curriculum, to better support their children’s development and to build a community to support them in the important work of raising children.

Damian Ortelli, chair of the HVWS Board of Trustees, is the parent of a Seventh Grader, Waldorf education is the absolute best investment you can make in your child’s entire being,” Ortelli expresses. “In a world that can sometimes seem like it is upside down, it is more important than ever to prepare our children with the tools, self-confidence and ability to not just chart their way but to thrive in doing so.”

Graduates leave HVWS eager to learn, build strong relationships and excel in high school and beyond, carrying with them curiosity, resilience and creativity into their careers. “That philosophy of wholeness in thinking is something I use every day in my work,” Zoë Schlanger says. “It’s why I remain fascinated and curious about the world.”