MONTESSORI VS WALDORF

hi guys my name is Ashley and I'm a mom of two little girls I have a two and a half year old toddler named Kylie and I also have an eleven month old baby named Mia when it comes to different educational approaches for young children Montessori while very popular is not the only one out there and one of the other very popular ones that is often considered by parents especially when it comes to choosing a preschool is the waldorf educational approach and while you certainly aren't the only two approaches out there a lot of folks tend to look at the both of them and see that they have a lot of things in common and wonder well what's the difference what exactly would make me want to choose a Montessori parenting philosophy at home or maybe perhaps even a Montessori preschool for my child versus something that is more Waldorf based and in actuality while the two of them are rooted in some of the same basic ideologies they are actually very different from each other so from one busy parent to another today we're going to take a look at some of the similarities and differences between Montessori and Waldorf so first let's take a look at what Montessori and Waldorf had in common with one another first both approaches are very holistic the aim is to educate the whole child including that all-important character development as well as the development of practical life skills both approaches also tend to focus on concrete learning with hands-on learning materials you will also notice in both approaches a use of high quality natural materials so there is this absence of plastic and battery-operated toys and items and along with that there is very limited and sometimes none at all use of technology both in the home and in the classroom both Montessori and Waldorf also emphasize a deep respect for the child with special attention always paid to their needs and their interests and finally both approaches seek to cultivate a lifelong love of learning now while these aren't the only similarities between Montessori and Waldorf these are some of the basic bigger ones that people do tend to notice most often now we're going to take a deeper dive into what the differences are between each of the approaches by examining each approach separately so let's go ahead and start with Montessori and we had to choose a motto for Montessori that you hear most commonly a common refrain you would probably most often hear follow the child and I feel like this is a good overall representation of what Montessori stands for and what the phrase follow the child refers to is that the adult is keenly observing the child to see what their interests and their needs are this way they can adjust the environment that the child is playing or learning in accordingly to make sure that they are always being met with the right level of developmental challenge so in essence the environment is created to meet the child's needs and the child uses the environment to develop himself so the Montessori approach is based on the philosophy of dr. Maria Montessori who was a medical doctor and an anthropologist and she began her very first Montessori School in Italy in 1907 this approach is child centered with the teacher as a guide as opposed to the one directing all of the learning and it is based on dr. monasteries own observations that children are naturally curious and they have an innate desire to learn about the world around them if they are only given the opportunities to do so in the Montessori approach there is a focus on independence self-sufficiency and this idea of children having freedom within limits children are able to independently choose activities that they want to complete and they learn at their own pace with hands-on self-corrective materials Montessori environments typically only include realistic images and books with no fantasy presented at all until the age of 6 if you're interested in learning a little bit more about why this is the case in Montessori I have an entire video dedicated to the why of it called Montessori at home for 10-play which i will link right up here for you guys in Montessori there is a focus on the introduction of core academic subjects to children beginning at age 3 in preschool and there's also another area of learning called practical life activities that involve things like cooking and cleaning and gardening and sewing and things that involve everyday life if you were to walk into a Montessori classroom here's what the atmosphere would look like you would find child sized furniture and tools with real high-quality wooden metal glass porcelain tools for the children to work with it is finally organized with most materials neatly presented in naturally woven baskets or wooden trays that are set out on low open shelves that are easily accessible to the children there are also clearly delineated areas in a classroom for the various different subjects that are offered to the children including language math sensorial development culture and Sciences practical life and arts and crafts area and typically an area for outdoor play as well most if not all of the materials that you will find on the shelves for the children to work with are actually materials that were designed by dr. Montessori herself she tested them out in some of her first classrooms and refined them and made them just how they needed to be for the children to be fully engaged examples of some of the traditional Montessori materials that you might encounter include something like the pink Tower or the brown stairs or the red rods as children are working they are free to move about the room as they choose various activities and their concentration and focus is both respected and protected until they are completely finished with a work this means that neither the teacher nor the other students are allowed to interrupt you will also notice that teachers typically give lessons one-on-one with a child or in small groups you will never see a teacher standing at the front of the room with children and desks and everybody learning at the same time and that is because of this idea of the children choosing their own work and learning at their own pace Montessori classrooms typically have mixed age groupings of three year spans so you'll find classes for children from birth to age 3 3 to 6 years old 6 to 9 years old 9 to 12 years old and so on there is typically no homework or testing of any kind with the exception of any pervading state requirements in a Montessori classroom there are no items for pretend play available so you will not find dolls and doll houses or pretend play kitchens or anything that could be used for imaginative play because as I mentioned a little bit earlier pretend play is not encouraged in a Montessori classroom and depending on the school and the age level that's being taught you will either find no technology in the classroom or very minimal technology it's typically a secondary level that you will find all the technology if there is any at all so with these ideas in my and if your goal is to instill in your child a sense of independence responsibility and confidence then a Montessori approach to education or even just Montessori parenting at home might be a good fit for your family now let's dive into the waldorf approach now if Waldorf had a motto or a popular refrain that was most common it would almost certainly have to be education of the head heart and hands and what this phrase refers to is an education that's focused on helping the child to develop their clear independent thinking that's the head part as well as to foster an emotional connection to their work and the world which is the heart part of it and cultivating their willingness to achieve their goals and contribute to the world that's the hands part of it the Waldorf approach is based on the philosophy of Rudolf Steiner who was an Austrian philosopher and a social reformer and he started the very first Waldorf School in Germany in 1919 and the name Waldorf comes from the Waldorf Astoria cigarette company which is where the very first school was established for the children of the factory workers who worked there the Waldorf approach is play based and teacher directed there is a great focus on the innocence and magic of childhood there is lots of creativity integrated using the Arts across the entire curriculum you will also find lots of hands-on learning materials in a Waldorf environment and children do learn science through hands-on discovery of phenomena but there is also an emphasis on elements such as storytelling and fantasy in the introduction of formal core academics like reading writing and math are actually put off until first grade because they are considered to be not as enjoyable if you were to enter a waldorf classroom the atmosphere would be like that of a home you would see lots of pastel colors play silks wooden toys things made of natural materials or actually items from nature knitted things essential oils candles you will not find things that are made of plastic or any references to pop culture in a waldorf class all of the children are the same age however the teacher stays with the same group of children for between five and eight years and the reason for that is because helps the teacher to better be able to individually assess each child at their level and based on their own unique learning styles and it also makes the child feel much more comfortable in their learning environment instead of using adult prepared materials or things that were invented by the teachers students in a waldorf classroom actually create their own toys and learning materials throughout the year as for the introduction of lessons waldorf is more teacher guided so you will find groups working with the teacher together to learn the same thing and up through about the third grade you will find that some of these activities also include practical life things like cooking and gardening and cleaning a waldorf education is all weather which typically means that regardless of what the weather is the children spend a lot of time outdoors and similar to what you might encounter in a launch a story classroom waldorf also advocates for no technology until the secondary level as well as the absence of any homework or traditional testing so in general if your goal is to build your child's sense of ethics their individualism and their creativity then waldorf would be a great fit for your family okay so I'm actually editing this video right now and as I was editing it got me thinking about some of the things that I kind of wish I had said in the video when I was planning out what I wanted to say for it and there is one thing that I just cannot let go I need to make sure that this is said if you are in the middle of searching for a school for your child to attend that's either a Montessori or Waldorf and that is why you're looking at some more information about it then there is a larger likelihood that you're going to have to choose between the two because you're typically not going to find any schools that adopt multiple different approaches however if you are homeschooling or if you are a parent at home and you're just looking for some type of approach to apply at home with your children there is no reason to say that you have to box yourself in into either Montessori or Waldorf 100% or any other approach for that matter there is nothing wrong with taking a bit of a blended approach in my opinion and personally that is what our family does I would say that we are roughly 98% Montessori if I had to put a number on it and perhaps two percent Waldorf just in sense that I do allow fiction and fantasy in our household and my children do very much at least my toddler engage in imaginative play and I don't ever put a stop to that but aside from those elements everything else that we do in every aspect of their life is a very much Montessori focused so for anyone that might have been wondering because all of my videos do focus on Montessori at home I take a blended approach I see nothing wrong with that but again it is to each his own if you are looking to be a lot more strict and rigid about the approach that you're taking then you will need to decide which approach fits with your family's ideals and philosophy is the best but it is my belief that in life not everything can be so rigid especially when it comes to our children and so if you find that there are certain elements that you want to adopt from one approach or adopt from another approach and piece it together to make it work for your family I say go for it so those are the primary differences between the Montessori and Waldorf approaches I will leave some links to some further information in the description box down below about each of the approaches if you're interested in diving a little bit deeper into one or the other or both if you know of any similarities or differences between Montessori and Waldorf that I did not mention in this video that you feel would be helpful for other people to know then please leave them in the comments down below if you liked today's video then please be sure to give it a big thumbs up and just in case you are new to my channel I did want to let you know that this video is part of a much larger series called Montessori at home which is aimed at providing practical tips and advice for busy parents like you and I for implementing Montessori philosophies at home with your children so if that sounds like something that you're interested in learning more about then you might consider subscribing to my channel this way you don't miss a new video because I do upload a new one just like this one every single week thank you so much for watching today and I'll see you next time bye [Music] you [Music]

Channel: Hapa Family

Views: 311,338

Rating: 4.9324551 out of 5

Keywords: montessori vs waldorf, montessori vs waldorf which is better, waldorf vs montessori, waldorf education, montessori education, montessori, waldorf, montessori at home, montessori parenting, montessori parenting method, montessori for parents, montessori preschool, montessori preschool classroom, waldorf preschool

Id: ljIN4XEtMD0

Length: 12min 55sec (775 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 04 2020