This week, instead of my usual “Sunday With Sarah” video, I present to you Jack Petrash, a master Waldorf teacher with over 30 years of classroom experience. He is also an author, father, and one of the best spokespersons for Waldorf education that I know.

How do we educate children in a rapidly changing world and prepare them for a future that we can’t yet envision?

Jack attempts to answer this question in an inspiring TEDx Talk entitled “Educating Children for the Journey” which I am delighted to share with you here today.

So grab a cup of tea, carve out 10 minutes for yourself, and prepare to be inspired!

BOOKS BY JACK PETRASH:

Understanding Waldorf Education: Teaching from the Inside Out

Navigating the Terrain of Childhood: A Guidebook for Meaningful Parenting and Heartfelt Discipline

Covering Home: Lessons on the Art of Fathering from the Game of Baseball

What comments from Jack’s talk resonated most with you? Was there anything you disagreed with with? Were you left with any questions? Please share your thoughts here!

This week, for the first time, I’ve invited a guest to join me on Sunday With Sarah. 

Meet my son William!

William and I have just returned from visiting colleges out west, and I asked William, who received a Waldorf education from nursery through 8th grade, to share his thoughts on how his education has helped prepare him for high school and college.

Many parents are attracted to Waldorf education when their children are young, but as their children get older, they fear that the education is not rigorous enough to prepare them for high school or to help them get into a competitive college. We’re here to dispel some of those myths!

Click to view the Survey of Waldorf Graduates referenced in the video and compiled by the Research Institute of Waldorf Education.

Do you have questions specifically for William? Or about the topic in general? Leave your questions here, and we’ll do our best to address all of them.

This week on “Sunday With Sarah” I take time to answer some of the questions that viewers have posted here:

• How to Keep Toddlers and Preschoolers Busy
• How to Handle Unwanted Toys / Gifts
• On Becoming a Waldorf Teacher

For more information on becoming a Waldorf teacher and for a list of Waldorf teacher training programs in North America, please visit the Association of Waldorf Schools of North America (AWSNA).

Have any other tips to share? Please leave them here, and keep those questions coming! What topics would you like to hear me discuss in future weeks?

Rudolf Steiner, the founder of Waldorf education, recommended thepentatonic harp or lyre (also known as a kinderharp or kinder lyre) as an ideal instrument for use with young children.

Its dreamy, quiet, and heavenly quality is calming and soothing for babies, toddlers and young children, and it’s simple enough for children and adults with little or no musical background to play.

Tuned in the five-note pentatonic scale (D, E, G, A, B, d, e), anything played on the instrument will sound beautiful and harmonious. There are no wrong notes!

I get phone calls and emails every week asking about the differences between the various pentatonic harps and lyres that we sell at Bella Luna Toys, so in this week’s video I demonstrate the differences between them, talk about the benefits of these instruments for in early childhood, and let you actually hear them.

Instruments Demonstrated:

• Song of the Sea 7-String Pentatonic Harp
• Song of the Sea 10-String Pentatonic Harp
• Choroi Children’s Harp (Kinderharp)

I hope I’ve answered your questions, but if not, leave your comments and questions here and I’ll do my best to answer them!

On this week’s Sunday With Sarah I share further thoughts on Waldorf homeschooling, and the lessons I learned when I began to let go of sticking with a prescribed curriculum, and the idea of “Waldorf School at home.”

If you use a curriculum, how strictly do you follow it? Do you combine resources? Are you an unschooler? Please share what works for you!