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The school that offers 2 streams is in East Bentleigh... if you google steiner schools there is an alphabetical listing of all the schools available in Aust... lots of normal primary schools offer it too.
My sisters DP was a scout leader for many many years and he has always wanted to send their kids (when they get round to having them :rolleyes:) to Steiner as all the kids that he met through scouts that went to steiner schools have such a great perspective on life, are intellegent in a different way and are basically well rounded kids...
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There is one in Mitcham too.
Although I don't agree with not reading till alot later - I spent most of my childhood with my nose stuck in a book.
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Santoosha
have a look at some "steiner toy" type sites, to get ideas of toys for your child
winterwood, dragonflytoys, ecotoys.
some steiner sites also sell craft books, to make toys out of felt. i am getting the drift that in STeiner schools, in primary school, the kids are taught knitting, handsewing etc, to make basic projects. anyhoo, i reckon an adult (maybe you) could make those early primary projects too.
i'm trying it, i buy squares of felt at spotlight (some are synthetic, some are wool blends, some are wool, read the little stickers), and am having a go at making some myself. i got some patterns for felt fruit and veg off ETSY, but if you are crafty enough, i'm sure you could draft your own. All you need to be able to do (skill wise) is cut up felt and do blanket stitch. I've got no embroidery skills but blanket stitch is something i can manage.
Buy a few metres of muslin at spotlight, dye one metre green - you have a green playcloth for your child. that can be a pretend lawn for their toys, it can be a pretend forest.
Next time you have a big box, help your child turn it into a toy. add wheels, cut out holes to peer thru.
Make a cubby house by putting a blanket over a table.
dye one metre blue, you have a blue playcloth for your child, that can be a pretend river (scrunched up), it can be a pretend sea.
So these are some cheap steiner toy ideas.
and cheap BOUGHT toys, Like wooden handmade cars at the bonsai palace site.
here are some more sites with lots of natural toys (even if you just use the ideas, it's worth it).
row of ducks
artiwood toys
tree frog toys
bonsai palace
ecotoys
bumblebee
dragonfly
gofairtrading
sendatoy
winterwood
sarah's silks
anklebiters
the toy bug
growing up green
join their newsletters, then you get sent an email when they have a sale on.
some are mainstream toy sites, with a good range of natural toys
some are pure natural toy focussed
What i'm doing with my child, who is now 3, and on the list to start at a dual stream STeiner school in 2012 (it's only $100 more per year, than the normal primary school fees):
- limiting her exposure to tv (we still have tv)
- not giving her access to remotes
- not having battery operated toys in our home
- have donated most of her plastic toys to charity
- make a conscious effort to buy wooden, cloth, tin toys at birthday/xmas (quality not quantity)
- i've just started MAKING felt toys for her, she loves them to my surprise, she's very impressed that mummy made them
- i'm really failing in the natural environment part, we have no backyard for her to play in, so i'm sending her to a childcare cnetre that has real grass, chickens, wooden play equipment, lots of opportunities for messy play.
- dressing her as much as i can, in natural fibres.
- avoiding franchised stuff, so her clothing/bedding etc is plain (to foster her imagination)
- dressing her in clothes that are easy to move in, easy to play in,
- we put on cd's and play along on basic percussion instruments
- any free musical events i find out about, i try to take her along to expose her to live music
- avoiding giving her fast food and fizzy drinks, trying to avoid additives and food colorings. i meet steiner parents who make all their families food "from scratch", bake the bread and all that. i am nowhere near that stage, but would love to be.
- lots of reading. Steiner schools teach actual reading later, but they have alot of storybooks, especially ones about fairies it seems, encouraging that sense of magic and wonder in a child (i'm just a beginner at finding out all about STeiner)
- bought a bag of old macrame beads in an opshop, kept some old shoe laces from her dad's boots - great threading game for her
- like any parent, love them, delight in them, play with them as much as possible, your child will flourish with your love. i have to keep reminding myself about this one!
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i have found natural toys that i don't think are exxy, you just have to keep looking.
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Wow Gigi, thanks for lots of awesome suggestions. DD is only 7 months so we're yet to get into any imaginative play, but I can always start collecting stuff now. I'm thinking I can also buy/make good toys that are not yet age appropriate as I find them or the time to get crafty!
Will check out some of those sites. Thanks again.
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Those felt toys rock my socks off!
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I have started making felt foods. i have made strawberry, carrot, kiwi fruit halves, apple in quarters, ice cream in a cone, donut, sausage, eggs, tea bags, wonky eggplant, watermelon slices.
i have drawn plans to make slices of bread and things to make a sandwich, and trying to make a banana (not as easy as you think).
it's fun, and great when the kids actually name them all correctly!
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I just wanted to say thanks for this great thread.... I've been thinking about all this recently too.
We have a Montessori school just around the corner, and Montmorency South primary (I think... it is one of the Montmorency ones anyway) has the Steiner stream..... but I am just not sure of the difference between the styles. Was going to hijack this thread but changed my mind and have started my own if anyone can help me with the differences between these different styles of education
My thread is here
I love the look of the Village school too.... just a touch too far from Diamond Creek I fear!! But it looks so awesome I want to go there!!! :lol:
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i think 7 months old is perfect time to be thinking about all this.
i didn't know ANYTHING about Steiner when my child was 7 months old.
then i met STeiner mums who used Steiner colours for swaddling, bedding, clothing etc for their bubs from newborn age.
and the toys for bubs.
you can get organic cotton teething toys (perfect for 7 month old bubs) like those made by Under the Nile (brand)
taggy blankets
natural fabric rugs for her to have tummy time on (we used a sheepskin rug)
wooden teething toys on the steiner toy sites
playsilks (or playmuslins) - babies love the feel of fabric. that grabbing reflex.
the felt fruit toys - i had a one year old gumming them the other day - getting so much fun out of them.
so 7 months old is a great time to start getting into steiner toys IMO, i wish i had.
when babies are more mobile, it's harder to get the time and space to sew, so in retrospect, i wish i had gotten into these felt toys EARLIER and done the cutting and sewing while my child was asleep and non-mobile when she was awake.
i've only started doing the felt toys now she's just turned three, and i worry i've left it too late.
i did get her a steiner rainbow silk mobile (when i was pregnant) and i dyed some cloths in rainbow stripes, but sewing back then, was beyond me.
So many things i could have made for her, whilst pregnant, if only i had known about steiner stuff then.
7 months old, perfect time to start all this.
you can spend the same amount of money, buying lots of cheap plastic stuff, or have a bit less, and make it non-plastic stuff. took me a while to get my head around that one, but it's true.
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like I previously posted if you really want to understand the steiner approach its important to understand the premise behind it.... the rest will come when you understand where it comes from.
