My son has been attending Desert Marigold School for the last 3 years. I cannot be happier. My son loves going to school each day and being on the gorgeous campus with loving and kind teachers, gardening, campus animals, woodworking, knitting and much more. He has been thriving! The community here is like no where else with community events, festivals, handwork for parents and many areas to volunteer and be part of the school. We love it! read more

Waldorf Desert Marigold School - Campus animals! Some of them - Elementary Schools Near Me - Phoenix, Arizona

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We went to Desert Marigold school and was impressed by the school and the activities they had at the Spring Faire. It was such a fun time for all ages. The school had a wonderful setup and maps to help. Everyone was kind and respectful. read more

Waldorf Desert Marigold School - Creativity at its best. - Elementary Schools Near Me - Phoenix, Arizona

My daughter started here this past year and so far we are happy with the school and staff! She comes home with energy and vibrancy, which is the best change compared to how drained she was at public school. She has made friends and has the sweetest teacher, and we've enjoyed the Waldorf traditions. I will say that I believe your experience at this school will largely depend on the teacher, as they follow the kids up each grade. We've been super fortunate with our teacher being a perfect fit for us so it's been absolutely wonderful! read more

The books are used. They have bookshelves full of them. The difference is not having a set book for each subject each year. They learn from multiple modalities- I have seen my son do research projects that last for weeks and require looking up information and learning from multiple books, websites, encyclopedias and so on. I have leaned to appreciate that while the method of learning is different from what I see for other schools, I see my child learning to learn- not memorizing from rote alone. He follows the same curriculum the district requires and is learning how to think for himself and form ideas and thoughts. It's been different but I have learned to really appreciate that this type of education is perfect for my child and has not drummed a love of learning and discovering out of him. He has maintained his joy is learning new information and assimilating it. As for drugs, I have not been offered anything from anyone in the 7 years we have been here. I am not naive enough to think that there are no drugs, but I also know that they are very present everywhere, not just this school. My junior high and high school had drug busts over 30 years ago in a middle class neighborhood. My answer is to teach my child about drugs, resisting drugs and peer pressure and why people use. I have to agree that the vaccination rate is low but my response is to fully vaccinate my child. Until we have a law (like California), people will be able to refuse to vaccinate based on their personal beliefs. read more

We initially were drawn to the learning program which was supposed to be more intuitive, but after a while it became clear that intuitive learning and indeed the entire Steiner system is indoctrination into a kind of cult more than a pedagogy. The focus is on Eurythmy, painting, handwriting, gnomes, elves, faeries and imaginary new age holidays. Its all very charming, but nobody's learning much. Children leave the program academically far behind their peers in traditional schools. In addition DMS has a trying time retaining teachers in some classes for any length of time. In addition to the lack of learning rigor, many parents have not immunized their children, in fact they have the second worse vaccination rate in the state. Worst of all however is the terrible discipline and discipline problems; If a child misbehaves he has a heavy weight put on his lap, which is just cruel, not efficacious in any way. Finally, there is a lax attitude about drugs-many parents are open drug users. I brought a friend along to a children's performance one evening and she was offered marijuana by an employee even, not surreptitiously at all. On balance, this is a terrible place to leave your children for any period of time. read more

This school was at one time an oasis in the desert. The campus was magical, charming, and was welcoming everyday. The teachers and faculty were some of the best at teaching the great Waldorf system. It used to be an honor to have our child at this school. As of 2018, this began to fall apart. Changes at the school, starting with a new and quite ignorant / arrogant administrator, undermined the methodology that made this school the best school Phoenix. Her goal, from the start, was to dismantle what made the school great and turn it into a more conventional school, which Arizona already has too many of. Soon, most of the best and brightest teachers left the school, leaving almost no qualified Waldorf teachers. One or two have stayed, at least for now, but the rest are hardly worth speaking about. The majority of the teachers left speak enough Waldorf to be convincing to someone who is new to the school system, but in reality lack any deep experience or how to apply it. In the end, it has no business being associated to the Waldorf name. There are other Waldorf schools in Tucson and near Sedona and Prescott if you truly want knowledgeable, experienced Waldorf teachers. Waldorf is a great system and can make an enormous difference in your child's life and development. Arizona would be smart to encourage more Waldorf schools, especially charter or, even better yet, public. But Desert Marigold is ill equipped to do anything more than hundreds of conventional schools in the area. If the other Waldorf schools in Arizona are not an option, unfortunately the only other choice is to move to a state that has a better selection of Waldorf schools, such as California or Color. read more

This school looks like a dream for gentle parenting and imagination. We were so attracted by the cherishing childhood approach and the farm atmosphere. In reality we got a school that refuses to do anything about bullies, farm animals being eaten or given away, teachers that are so understaffed they can't handle the disruptions that show up in class, and a school begging for $1,500 per kid per semester to help with vague issues and improvements. The types of things my kid has had to go through is worse than public school. He has seen kid's private parts, had his lunch and water messed with by a bully, and been physically harmed. we quickly learned there's a bully in every grade and the principle literally told us they are not going to do anything about it but they made sure the kid in our class doesn't have a gun. Every time an issue was brought up the teacher encouraged us to go to the principle which we did and every time the principal brushed us off and refused to do anything. We have heard from so many other parents there that they are going through the same things. Please send your kid anywhere else. read more

I homeschooled my child for her first 7 years. We found this school and decided to make a change. I am very impressed with the learning that takes place here. When they say they make there own books you need to understand what this means. The students are given lectures and need to take notes with these notes the form many drafts on the topic. They do a lot of very impresseve writing and study of the subject where it be science, history and language arts. You would never get in any other school. The children are very kind and welcoming to everyone. I love this school. read more

We came to DMS from the public school system, and I am so grateful We did. Small class sizes, great teachers and staff who really know and care about students, and a challenging curriculum that includes the arts! My son has come out of his shell and is flourishing here! Love DMHS read more

This is the perfect place for our daughters. If you know anything about Waldorf education, you probably already have a strong opinion about it one way or the other and nothing I write will probably change that. Regardless, we really like this school! read more

Commenting on Camille H.: This is a very strange comment, because partly it makes fun of the Waldorf approach (5 minutes on Google tells you what that means), and for the other part, it twists some facts of what Waldorf education means. Maybe the information at the tour was misleading, but don't judge a Waldorf school on Yelp if you don't like the Waldorf principles. I am also not going to give vegetarian restaurants a low rating because they don't serve meat. read more

Knowing that I couldn't evaluate a school based only on a tour, I investigated waldorf schools and enrolled my daughter in first grade. She is now graduating as a senior. I am so pleased with her education. She will now enter ASU with high marks and test scores and beyond that, she is happy, fulfilled and a true individual. I know that she benefited greatly from having the same teacher for seven years. Her teacher understood her strengths and weaknesses fully and gave her exactly what she needed to be successful. Never once was the teacher referred to as a spiritual guide or other such nonsense. If you think this may be a school for your child, check it out fully. read more

My daughter did kindergarten last year and we loved it. This is such a caring and nurturing school with a beautiful campus. The teachers are all so caring and gentle with the children. I am looking forward to my kids being with this school for their whole educaiton. read more

Potentially the worst middle and high school around! It is a beautiful campus with some really nice people and some seemingly well intentioned ideas, however, the implementation of those ideas becomes a nightmare educationally speaking. Teachers may have no experience what-so-ever in the subject they teach; the school has no outline of curriculum and no objectives. Kids do not even have to attend really and they pass. There is little to no work and what work is given is mostly just drawing. If your child is failing and can not make it anywhere else then maybe this is the place for you. Sadly though, I can't say that they would help your child in any other way than making them graduate, if anything, it might make your child worse instead of teaching them how to succeed. Look at the work the kids do, spend a day observing before you enroll your kid. We have to be responsible to our own kids! I feel this school really misrepresents itself to parents; they are very convincing in their tours and make themselves sound wonderful. The reality is disturbing. So disappointed and alarmed. read more