Author

Title

Comments

Rudolf Steiner

What is Waldorf Education

Three Lectures by Rudolf Steiner

This is a reader-friendly Waldorf “taster,” with three public lectures by Rudolf Steiner on Waldorf education and a thought-provoking, accessible introduction by a Waldorf teacher and longtime student of Steiner’s pedagogy.

These lectures by Steiner present what he sees as the “fundamentals” in a matter-of-fact, objective, non-dogmatic way. The introduction, wide-ranging and informative, treats of Waldorf education and methodology in general, explaining that, before all else, a Waldorf School is a good school. This is a must-read for anyone involved with, connected to or interested in Waldorf education.

Rudolf Steiner

The Kingdom of Childhood

These seven talks were given to a small group of teachers and prospective teachers who had resolved to open a school in England based on Steiner's work. 160 pages, paperback)

Rudolf Steiner

The Education of the Child

Steiner originally published the essay at the core of this book in 1907. It represents his earliest ideas on education, in which he lays out the soul spiritual processes of human development, describing the need to understand how the being of a child develops through successive "births," beginning with the physical body's entry into earthly life, and culminating in the emergence of the I-being with adulthood.

Rudolf Steiner

Balance in Teaching

Speaking to the teachers at the first Waldorf school in Stuttgart, Steiner asserts that the unfortunate presence of dishonesty and alienation in society today cannot be addressed without a completely renewed and holistic education. He states fact that successful teaching requires a living synthesis of the “spiritual gymnast,” the “ensouled rhetorician,” and the “intellectual professor.” Of these, the formative effect of the rhetorician’s cultivation of artistic speech is the most important.

“It’s impossible for true teaching to be boring,” declares Steiner, and he offers several examples of how teachers can observe a natural phenomenon so intimately that its creative life can flow into the children through a teacher’s own words in the classroom.

Martyn Rawson and Brien Masters

Towards Creative Teaching

This translation of the orignial German text and new English additions, offers guidance and support for teachers new to the Waldorf curriculum. It offers ideas on forming main lessons without offering ready-made plans that might stifle the teacher's own educational imagination. Sections include: What is a 'Curriculum' for Steiner Waldorf Schools; The Child's Second Seven-Year Period; How Do We See Ourselves and Our Role as Class Teacher

Jack Petrash

Understanding Waldorf Education

Written by a teacher with more than 25 years of experience, this book offers a jargon-free view of Waldorf schools with their philosophy of the importance of a three-dimensional education. Through learning experiences that involve all of the senses, children use a variety of intelligences to develop thought, feeling, and intentional, purposeful activity. Whether you’re a Waldorf parent or teacher, or you just want to learn more about these innovative educational concepts, this book contains important ideas on learning that you can apply today

A.C. Harwood

The Way of a Child

One of the most popular introductions to child development and Waldorf education.

A.C. Harwood

The Recovery of Man in Childhood

A Study of the Educational Work of Rudolf Steiner

A lucid presentation of the Waldorf approach from preschool through 12th grade. Highly Recommended for in-depth description of theoretical and practical aspects of this education.

Roy Wilkinson

Common Sense Schooling

A good overview of Steiner’s educational thought and approach in practical terms.

Marjorie Spock

Teaching as a Lively Art

Written by an experienced Waldorf teacher and eurythmist, this book describes in detail the curriculum of the eight elementary years, showing how the needs of the developing child are met with sensitivity, insight and appropriate timing.

Torin Finser

School as a Journey

An absorbing account of one Waldorf teacher’s journey with his class through the curriculum from first through eigth grade. It is an excellent introduction to what goes on inside the classroom of a Waldorf school. Written for anyone seeking to understand the practical implications of Rudolf Steiner’s insights into child development.

Gilbert Childs

Steiner Education in Theory and Practice

Steiner Education is a clear exposition of Steiner's view of the child as a developing personality based on body, soul, and spirit. It describes the stages of the child's development and gives a detailed account of the Steiner/Waldorf school curriculum and teaching methods. It will be useful both to those already involved with Steiner/Waldorf schools and also to anyone who wants to learn more about this well-established alternative to the state educational system.

Willi Aeppli

Rudolf Steiner Education and the Developing Child

Written out of practical experience as a Waldorf teacher, the author brings us into his classroom to remember what it was like as a child, thereby gaining insights to guide teachers and all adults.

Mary Caroline Richards

Toward Wholeness: Rudolf Steiner Education in America

Celebrated author, teacher and artist brings her unique style to a discussion of Steiner’s holistic approach to education – that life and learning can be experienced in the same way as art as a union of inner experience and outer sensory life.

Pamela Johnson Fenner and Karen L. River

Waldorf Education – A Family Guide

A practical and comprehensive collection of articles written by leaders in the Waldorf movement for parents and educators about the history, philosophy, curriculum and traditions of Waldorf education.

René Querido

Creativity in Education: The Waldorf Approach

A concise look at Steiner education by the founder of Rudolf Steiner College.

Freya Jaffke

Work and Play in Early Childhood

Rhythm and repetition, together with example and imitation, are pillars on which early learning is based. Freya Jaffke applies these simple principles in practical and sensible ways. She describes children's play in a Steiner-Waldorf kindergarten setting, and provides tried and tested advice on this important stage of development. This book includes sections on Planning the day; Festivals; Rhythms; Materials; Educating the Will; Imagination; Spontaneous and Planned Play; Example and imitation of adults; Stages of development; From crawling to contrariness; Work and play; Craft and handicraft; Creating a protective environment; Hyperactive and inactive children.

Author

Title

Comments

Laura Pappano

Inside School Turnarounds, urgent hopes, unfolding stories

Veteran education journalist Laura Pappano gathers stories, ideas, emerging practices, and honest admissions about what has worked and what hasn’t for schools and districts caught in midstream as they navigate this uncertain journey.

Pasi Sahlberg

Finnish Lessons: What can the world learn from educational change in Finland?

Pasi Sahlberg's book is a must-read for all concerned parents, educators, administrators, government officials, union leaders, policy-makers, scholars, and philanthropists who are alarmed that our current market-driven/competitive/punitive model isn't working in the U.S. and that a radical change of course is required. It's amazing that Sahlberg shares the Finnish roadmap with the world in what can only be described as an act of altruism.

Author

Title

Comments

Rahima Baldwin

You Are Your Child’s First Teacher

The title says it all.

Pamela Johnson Fenner and Karen L. River

Waldorf Education – A Family Guide

A practical and comprehensive collection of articles written by leaders in the Waldorf movement for parents and educators about the history, philosophy, curriculum and traditions of Waldorf education.

Margaret Gorman

Confessions of a Waldorf Paretn

An engaging “first-person” account of what it’s like coming to a Steiner school with nothing more than the best intentions. Short and sweet.

Goodrun Davy and Bons Vors

Lifeways: Working with Family Questions

Lifeways is about children, family life and being a parent. But most of all, it is about freedom, and how the tension between family life and personal fulfillment can be resolved.

Joseph Chilton Pearce

The Magical Child

A classic work describing how from the instant of birth, the human child has only one concern: to learn all that there is to learn about the world. This planet is the child’s playground, and nothing should interfere with a child’s play. Raised this way, the Magical Child is a happy genius, equipped to fulfill his or her amazing potential. Pearce advances daring ideas about how Western society is damaging our children, and how we can better nurture them and ourselves.

Jane Healy

Endangered Minds: Why Children Don’t Think and What We Can Do About It

Not to be considered light reading, but diligence is rewarded many times over. A scientific treatment of the notion that the brain is a “plastic” organ which develops according to how it is stimulated.

David Elkind

The Hurried Child

A landmark book describing the effects of modern culture on the psyche of children. Elkind takes the reader through such topics as divorce, “hothousing” competition and the media. A cogent look at developmentally appropriate parenting practices and education.

David Elkind

Miseducation: Preschoolers at Risk

Elkind debunks the notion of producing “superkids”, referring to it simply as miseducation. The ideas of status, shame, autonomy, alienation and competence are covered, along with an excellent overview of computer pressure.

Marie Winn

The Plug-In Drug

Classic study of television’s impact on children now updated to include material on video games and computers. Based on interviews with hundreds of families, teachers and child specialists.

Martin Large

Who’s Bringing Them Up?

This book explores the relation between television and child development. Both gradual and drastic ways of cutting down on viewing are explored. Practical guidelines are given that will enable you to control TV –instead of being controlled by it.

Heidi Britz-Crecelius

Children at Play: Using Waldorf Principles to Foster Childhood Development

Imaginative play is more vital for a child's future than many parents and educators realize. The more they are allowed to be absorbed in their play, the more fully and effectively they will later take their place in the community of adults. Drawing on her experiences as a mother and as a proponent of Rudolf Steiner's Waldorf system of education, author Heidi Britz-Crecelius emphasizes the different qualities of play that may extend through more than one phase of childhood.

Frans Carlgren

Education Towards Freedom: Rudolf Steiner Education: A Survey of the Work of Waldorf Schools Throughout the World

Education towards Freedom was first published in 1976 and, since then, has sold more than ten thousand copies in English. The book covers all aspects of Waldorf education, dividing it into the preschool years, the first eight years (starting about age seven), and the last four years (from ages fourteen to eighteen). Also included are sections on the rhythm of the day, specific subjects, the use of textbooks, and school in the modern world.

Lois Cusick

Waldorf Parenting Handbook

Written to meet the needs of parents interested in Waldorf Education this book has a practical and philosophical basis. This handbook traces in great detail the physical, psychological and intellectual growth of the child from conception through adolescence. Also explains how Waldorf education supports and nurtures the thought, feeling and will forces of the developing individuality. It is easy to read and full of information particularly for families new to Waldorf Education. It covers the full spectrum of development including pre-birth, the 1st three years, temperaments, fantasy play and then gives a description of the grades. The book answers a lot of the "why do they do it that way" questions that people often ask about Waldorf Education.

Doug Sheffer, parent and publisher

Raising Waldorf

The Building of the Waldorf School on the Roaring Fork

A lavishly produced, heartfelt book that recounts the birth and building of a Waldorf school. Fifteen years ago it began as a small initiative through a small group of parents in a small town in western Colorado, located on the upper reaches of the Roaring Fork River watershed in the Rocky Mountains. The story of the Waldorf School on the Roaring Fork is the sum of many stories that have become one. It is a tale told in many voices not only about the building of buildings, but also the building of community and commitment. It poignantly details the risk-taking ideas, the heartfelt feelings, and the enormous will forces needed to start such an enterprise, as well as to realize an ideal.

Ingeborg Haller

How Children Play

Imaginative Play is a vital element in the growth of the pre-school child. A child's freedom to play lies at the root of a happy well-balanced attitude to work and responsibilities later in life. The author expresses the dangers of unsupervised freedom and makes a plea for children everywhere—especially in urban areas—to have the right and the space to play. Contents include: first discoveries; a new world of play; "this is my house"; words, sounds and rhymes; the magic spell of imagination; discovering weight; learning through imitation; hide–and–seek; experiencing water and rain; water and earth; stream and stones; play with sand; plant, animals and the wind; and relating to wind.

Barbara J. Patterson

Beyond the Rainbow Bridge : Nurturing our children from birth to seven

The aim of this book is for parents raising children from 0-7 years. The voice of the book really brings the reader down into the world of a small child so that they can begin to think from THAT perspective. Not from an adult perspective, but from that of a small child who need us to see things with new eyes.

The book goes on to discuss all the important topics: rhythm and play, homelife, creative discipline, the senses, what early Waldorf-classes look like, and a few examples of songs, and THE magical birthday story that you can share with your kids. There are also patterns for simple dolls and table puppets, instructions on finger knitting, an extensive resource section, and a list of fairytales with appropriate ages and sources. There is also a parent question and answer session.

Author

Title

Comments

Elaine N. Aron

The Highly Sensitive Child

A highly sensitive child is one of the fifteen to twenty percent of children born with a nervous system that is highly aware and quick to react to everything. This makes them quick to grasp subtle changes, prefer to reflect deeply before acting, and generally behave conscientiously. They are also easily overwhelmed by high levels of stimulation, sudden changes, and the emotional distress of others. Because children are a blend of a number of temperament traits, some HSCs are fairly difficult--active, emotionally intense, demanding, and persistent--while others are calm, turned inward, and almost too easy to raise except when they are expected to join a group of children they do not know. But outspoken and fussy or reserved and obedient, all HSCs are sensitive to their emotional and physical environment.

Carol Stock Kranowitz

The Out-of-Sync Child: Recognizing and Coping with Sensory Processing Disorder

The Out-of-Sync Child broke new ground by identifying Sensory Processing Disorder, a common but frequently misdiagnosed problem in which the central nervous system misinterprets messages from the senses. This newly revised edition features additional information from recent research on vision and hearing deficits, motor skill problems, nutrition and picky eaters, ADHA, autism, and other related disorders.

Josefa Ben-Arieh

The Educator's Guide to Teaching Students With Autism Spectrum Disorders

Use this guide to identify students with ASD, organize the classroom; manage time; promote independence, communication, and appropriate behaviors; and select visual strategies, tools, and curriculum resources.

Richard Simpson

Autism Spectrum Disorders: Interventions and Treatments for Children and Youth

In a clear, concise format, this resource provides the information families and school professionals need when selecting and applying effective treatment for individuals with autism spectrum disorders.