Blue Oak Charter School is Chico's only charter school which offers first class public Waldorf education. The Blue Oak Charter School is committed to the education of the whole child through a comprehensive curriculum, active learning and integration of the Arts while acknowledging the uniqueness of each individual and supporting the full development of each child’s potential. Blue Oak Charter School’s curriculum and teaching method offer an inspirational and disciplined approach in which traditional teaching methods are bolstered by a teaching style emphasizing creative enthusiasm, and lessons that stress the significance of human achievements. This approach encourages critical thinking skills, intellectual curiosity, creative imagination, social responsibility, and initiative in the student. The school's ultimate goal is that young adults will emerge with both the self-confidence to impart direction and purpose to their lives and a lifelong love of learning.

Blue Oak Charter School is based on Waldorf and other methods that successfully fulfill the goal of educating the whole child. Intellectual development, social and emotional development, and fine/large motor skill development all contribute to a child’s healthy growth process. The effectiveness of the BOCS approach lies in the subject matter, which celebrates the diverse forms of human achievement across cultures, and by how this curriculum is presented to the students. A daily rhythm of kinesthetic exercises throughout the eight grades fosters the neurological development of the child. In addition, this educational approach nurtures the imagination in the early years, gradually building a firm creative and values-based foundation for the more abstract thinking required of the student in the middle grades. Blue Oak Charter School continues to provide a choice for parents in the Chico community who seek an education for their children that honors and nurtures the rhythms and capacities of natural child development.

"Those who have a higher concept of education will prize most the method of cultivating the tree so that it fulfills to perfection its own natural conditions of growth." -CARL JUNG

History of the Waldorf Education Methodology

For the Waldorf inspired student, music, art, dance, and theater, writing, literature, languages, and science are not simply subjects to be read about, ingested and tested. They are experienced. Through these experiences, Waldorf students cultivate a lifelong love of learning as well as the intellectual, emotional, physical and internal capacities to be individuals certain of their paths and to be of service to the world. The Waldorf approach has become increasingly recognized as a worthy approach in 21st century education as students move on to higher education and future employment situations that will rely not on skills alone but by a person’s capacity to self-learn, problem solve and adapt to situations.

Developed by Austrian-born scientist and philosopher, Dr. Rudolf Steiner (1861-1925) in 1919 (91 years ago), Waldorf Education is based on an understanding of human development that addresses the needs of the growing child. Waldorf teachers strive to transform education into an art that educates the whole child—the heart and the hands, as well as the head. When you enter a Waldorf inspired school, the first thing you may notice is the care given to the building. The walls are usually painted in lively colors and are adorned with student artwork. Evidence of student activity is everywhere to be found and every desk holds a uniquely created main lesson book.

Another first impression may be the enthusiasm and commitment of the teachers you meet. These teachers are interested in the students as individuals. They are interested in the questions:

• How do we establish within each child his or her own high level of academic excellence?

• How do we call forth enthusiasm for learning and work, a healthy self-awareness, interest and concern for fellow human beings, and a respect for the world?

• How can we help pupils find meaning in their lives?

Teachers in Waldorf schools are dedicated to generating an inner enthusiasm for learning within every child. They achieve this in a variety of ways. Even seemingly dry and academic subjects are presented in a pictorial and dynamic manner. This eliminates the need for competitive testing, academic placement, and behavioristic rewards to motivate learning. It allows motivation to arise from within and helps engender the capacity for joyful lifelong learning.

The Waldorf curriculum is broad and comprehensive, structured to respond to the three developmental phases of childhood: from birth to approximately 6 or 7 years, from 7 to 14 years and from 14 to 18 years. Dr. Steiner stressed to teachers that the best way to provide meaningful support for the child is to comprehend these phases fully and to bring "age appropriate" curriculum content to the children that nourishes healthy growth.

Five Spheres of Waldorf Education

• Self – developing character and presence in life • Relationships – strengthening quality of relationships between teachers, students and the parents • Balance – cognition (head), creative freedom (heart), and global citizenry (hands) • Rhythm - life, seasonal changes, child development cycle, math concepts, nature, and music • Course – path of discovery in areas of study: language, arts, music, crafts, math, social science, and natural science

"Reverence, enthusiasm, and a sense of guardianship, these three are actually the panacea, the magical remedy, in the soul of the educator and teacher." – Dr. Rudolf Steiner