BY JENNIFER TEPPER HEVERLY

BY JENNIFER TEPPER HEVERLY

special to the Rappahannock News

Hans-Joachim Mattke, a well-known Waldorf expert from Germany, recently visited Hearthstone School, where he spent a week working with teachers, reviewing classes and providing educational and operational guidance and advice to Hearthstone School.

During his week at Hearthstone, Mattke spent some time discussing the Waldorf Method of Education and its current rate of growth.

“Waldorf is the fastest growing educational method in the world, outside of North Korea and China,” stated Mattke. “There are currently more than 900 certified Waldorf Schools worldwide, with 1,000 member schools expected by the end of2007. In addition, there are hundreds of schools inspired by the Waldorf Method which are not yet certified members of the Association.”

What is Waldorf?

For many people, exactly what Waldorf education is remains unclear. “The goal of Waldorf education is to enable students to choose and realize their individual path through life as adults,” said Mattke. “The central focus of Waldorf education is the full development of every student, by instilling an understanding of and appreciation for one’s background and place in the world, not primarily as a member of any specific nation or race, but as a member of humanity and a world citizen.”

Waldorf views education as an art, and each subject, from literature to mathematics, science to history, is presented in a living way through active experience, and is usually augmented with art, poetry, music, drama and movement. Waldorf teachers involve students in studies through presentation, story telling, writing, reading, recitation, dramatic acting, painting, drawing, and movement. Students create their own main lesson book, writing and illustrating each lesson until the book, and the lesson block, have been completed. The involvement of the students in the Main Lesson promotes and develops active listening, imagination,