Explaining Hartsbrook

In preparation for what I hope will be a productive conversation about how to help our friends, family, neighbors, (and people we overhear talking about schools) understand what makes Hartsbrook different. That isn’t to say that Hartbsrook is always the best choice for every family, but we all want to be able to explain it simply and easily.

In the business world, we talk about an “elevator pitch” as a short 30 – 120 second conversation you would have with someone in an elevator that explains what you do, your business idea, etc. We’ve heard from many parents that they aren’t comfortable with exactly what to say about Hartsbrook in such a short conversation. We would like to work together to share such a statement with our community and then use that as a stepping-off point for other external communications.

To help get our brainstorming started and to get people on the same page, the following are recommended reading/viewing:

1. Waldorf 100 – A brand new (March 11) video that does an amazing job of talking about Waldorf school, today, globally.

When watching this video, here were some things that stuck with me:

• Don’t be scared; be Waldorf
• Waldorf is grass roots education
• Human Education / Human Literacy
• In understanding the ‘other’, we better understand ourselves
• Giving attention is really love.

2. Sprouts’ Overview of Waldorf

3. Hartsbrook’s own videos from 2010

Early Childhood video

Grade School Video

High School video

4. “Why Waldorf” video from Marin Waldorf in CA.

5. Videos from Green Meadow Waldorf School in NY

6. Fox29 Philly talking about a local Waldorf school

7. Waldorf School of Penisula’s Preparing for Life

– Talks about how movement is key to developing the child

– Talks about how strong Waldorf is for math/science, just in a different way

– Students illustrating their own textbooks

8. Lexington, MA’s website: http://thewaldorfschool.org/mission/

9. Pasadena Waldorf’s video

10. Practical Advantages of a Waldorf Education

11. A remarkable education

What other resources should I include here? Let me know by sharing them in the comments section or reaching out to me directly.