An Introduction to Acacia Waldorf School
By Panjee Tapalez, AWS Parent, 2007
Acacia School opened its doors in 2003 amid trees, flowers, and herbs in the quiet countryside of Sta. Rosa, Laguna. It was a dream that began in the home of its founders–mothers who longed for a more balanced education for their children. After training in the Waldorf Steiner kindergarten approach, they knew they had found the kind of education that put the total development of their children first.
Our world today suffers from an educational system that puts too much emphasis on the intellect, competition, material success, and other modern measures of progress that often negate the other intelligence of the child: emotional, spiritual, musical, etc. Years down the road, children are burned out—too heavy in the head with one-sided intellectual knowledge and confused and imbalanced in their emotions from lack of appropriate attention and creative input that move the mind, heart, and hands into a healthy balance.
From nurturing only a small community of children, Acacia Waldorf School is now ready to be a second home to more children whose parents believe in our quest of healing the world, one child at a time. Our natural surroundings and clean fresh air serve as vital support for an educational approach that differs from other schools. The Waldorf/Steiner curriculum addresses the needs of the growing child according to his individual stage of development. It seeks to draw out the child’s capacities that enable him to adapt to a rapidly changing world. “It aims to develop free human beings who are able of themselves to impart purpose and direction in their lives” – Roberto Trostli
In the Parent-Toddler Program, the parents are the “main” students of the class. Little children learn through imitation and benefit from seeing adults do meaningful work with their hands like sewing, toy-making, cooking, baking, washing, and sweeping. In this class, parents and teachers work together to provide a healthy and worthy example for their children. These activities give the parents sound ideas on how to care for and discipline their children at home.
A typical day in kindergarten may include storytelling, puppetry, painting, drawing, beeswax modeling, baking, cooking, creative play, and outdoor activities like nature walks, sandbox fun, and boat rides. The children enjoy a rhythm of in and out, rest and activity, playing, and listening. This rhythm creates a sheath of security around them that enhances their healthy development.
In the younger grades, children learn their lessons through movement, games, storytelling, drawing, music, handwork, and other artistic activities that they enjoy tremendously and are more effective tools of learning than pure intellectual lecturing. Ready now for formal lessons, structure, and work, children are introduced to reading, writing, math, zoology, botany, and other subjects in the most creative ways. Whenever relevant, children take trips into nature to understand their lessons experientially. Our school recognizes the multiple intelligences of every child and lessons are designed to engage them all. Learning is always alive and interesting for the children and they come to school each day full of joyful anticipation. It is a sight that warms our hearts daily.
Acacia Waldorf School recognizes that how lessons are taught makes a big difference in a child’s learning experience. True learning is a life-long process of discovery that engages the whole human being. Here, that passion to seek and discover is awakened and enlivened in every child. Waldorf Steiner education sees the child not as an empty vessel to be filled by an adult and worldly concepts, but as a being of unfolding capacities who must be nurtured so that he may become his own person—balanced in head, heart, and hands, fully upright, and consciously engaged in society and the world.