I love this story of your experience. It sounds really beautiful. I'm drawn to Waldorf for the things you wrote about (trusting kids, helping preserve the innocence of childhood, free play outdoors, beautiful and natural surroundings), BUT I also agree with the article Heidi posted. There are some pretty weird parts of Waldorf.

Personally, all of the talk of gnomes and the lyrical dance they have every child participate in and the recorder playing and the May-day festivals with ribbon waving... all of that is just not my kind of thing. It would feel weird and forced to go along with that part of Waldorf culture. I also think there is some of the "Are you Waldorf enough?" comparison that goes on among families. I wouldn't want to have to prove my Waldorf-ness constantly.

I have a friend who grew up on a Waldorf commune out East. It was a community of families. None of the adults worked outside of the community. They earned a living by caring for developmentally disabled adults in their homes. So my friend lived in a house with his family and a few developmentally disabled adults, just like everyone else he knew in his village. 100% of everything in that village was Waldorf---no one had anything but handmade toys, there was one car that they shared, all natural medicine, all bartering and trading, they had their own Waldorf school... and so on.

My friend now has completely rejected his upbringing. He went to college for economics. He believes in a very corporate, free economy... very "suit and tie"... very "Wall Street." Interesting, I think!!

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