My children have had some involvement with waldorf and I appreciate much of it. I believe the holistic curriculum of ”“head, heart and hands” is commendable. I have integrated many waldorf practices into my own homeschooling curriculum. In the chicago area waldorf is weak at providing multi-cultural exposure and awareness.
I have friends who are waldorf teachers and it is very clear waldorf specific training is required if you want to be a lead teacher in that environment. (I have heard of rare exceptions.) I considered becoming a teacher myself, but realized my disagreements with much of anthroposophy would hinder me.
@Adagio yes waldorf is the same as Steiner. In whose thoughts I sometimes have trouble with, particularly his relationship with anthroposophy. Yet, unless you are a teacher, I believe it is entirely possible for person to experience Waldorf education and never become aware of the anthroposophical roots,.
Personally, I ran up against some opposition when I started to question how anthroposophy is integrated into the curriculum. For example, my son is left handed and I had a teacher tell me, through her waldorf training, that she came to realize that left-handedness was a sign of ‘poor incarnation’ and I should be committed to training him differently (This is a teacher of 20 years). I went on to see several teachers (not just from his school) ingnore his offer of a handshake until he would present his right hand instead of his left. In the early grades all materials are passed to the right hand and so on. There are several things about waldorf curriculum that worry some people. You can find out about those things here: Open Waldorf and here is an article that offers some defense against certain allegations. I think an aware person can navigate their children away from certain things and find Waldorf a good environment for their child. I say this because while I may not agree with many of the tenants, they don’t proselytize (except for maybe getting a little gun-ho over eurythmy), and it is Waldorf’s tenants that cause them to value children highly.