a - What is the Parent workload with Enki
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Enki provides a huge amount of material, so what time investment is the parent still left with? Is more or less time to prepare needed than with Live Education?
Simply put, whatever holistic curriculum you use, time is required, such is the nature of meaningful education - particularly if you are working to nourish the whole child. In the case of both Enki and Waldorf considerable reading and discussion is needed to understand the underlying pedagogies, and to bring these enriched and integrated approaches into your home. Live Ed provides some of it but there are so many Waldorf books on pedagogy and philosophy on the market that it is unnecessary for them to provide very much. The Enki Guides provide all of the philosophical and pedagogical material; the Resource Books and Instruction Manuals apply the principles to the nuts and bolts of the curricular undertakings.
On a practical level, in Enki we believe the teacher’s time (whether at home or in the classroom) is best spent with the child, and not researching and writing developmentally appropriate material. Therefore, we provide more stories and activities than one could use in a year. We also provide song CD’s and demonstration DVD’s for ALL subject areas, in hopes of easing the parents’ learning curve. The parent has to choose what will serve the child(ren), but all the resources are in one place.
We also provide guidance on where to get art materials and how to make manipulatives, so that you can CHOOSE what works for your family. One family will use many hands on math manipulatives, another many language arts manipulatives, another almost none. Only the parent, in the moment, can know what will best nourish the child AND the family. We encourage parents to make only those materials that will support their child’s learning, NOT all of those described.
Live Ed, on the other hand, starts you on the material for each topic, and then you are on your own to complete the research and writing for each block. This is typical of Waldorf education as they feel that the creativity sparked by the parents/teachers research and writing is an important gift to the child.
We agree with that outlook and hope people will choose to research and write a few things of particular interest to them. However, just choosing from our plentiful materials will help parents connect with the children’s needs and rouse their creative energies. As curriculum researchers and writers, and more importantly, as parents and teachers, we feel it is unrealistic to both teach and do the bulk of your own research and writing. Wearing the parent down serves no one.
For us, joining the blueprint (in this case, modeling creativity) with the practicalities (parental energy and nourishment) is the goal. As a result, with Enki you receive more than five times as much material as you do from Live Education. Although our package prices are slightly higher; in fact, you are paying significantly less for the amount you get (under half as much).
Certainly deciding how much time you want to put into preparation and where you want to put those energies is important. I hope the above description will help with that choice. But in determining which curriculum to use, the really important matter is finding the philosophy that is most in alignment with your own. Both Waldorf and Enki approaches integrate the arts in all we teach. We share a basic view of child development and its importance in teaching to the whole child. But Enki is NOT Waldorf; Live Ed is the purest Waldorf on the market. If you are in alignment with Anthroposophy and thus want Waldorf, Live Education is the way to go. If you share the Enki outlook on the importance of exposing the children to a non-hierarchical experience of global cultures, Enki is the way to go. This is described in some detail in response to the question on underlying philosophical differences. This, far more than amounts of material or specific guidance, is the most important factor in determining which way to go. We encourage all interested to read that article.
That said, in areas where our underlying philosophies coincide, individual Enki books may be of use. For example, as a Waldorf teacher I would have been mightily supported by the Enki Movement and Music books, crafts books, math books, and possibly nature stories. I would encourage those committed to Anthroposophy to look at the samples of those books and see if they can support your work load.