Our Director

Hello, I am the head director of Desert Willow Waldorf; Madison Mateer. I received my undergrad in elementary ed. and graduate degree in early childhood ed. from Grand Canyon University. I worked as a kindergarten teacher in the public school system here in Scottsdale before perusing my passion of the Waldorf Program. Children at the age I work with are inquisitive and ready to explore, I often felt that the traditional kindergarten classroom could not contain their spirit. I also learned in my undergrad that children are developmentally ready to begin to read at age 6 or 7. A New Zealand study found that although children who begin to read earlier get a head start, reading levels even out by age 10 (Associated press, 2019), making the added stress of these efforts counterproductive .These things lead to my exploration of alternative early childhood education programs. I feel that programs such as Waldorf are a better fit for a child's formative developmental years than a traditional school setting, where skills such as reading are being taught at a developmentally unfit time. I believe these years should be spent exploring nature and play, becoming confident in a classroom setting. Learning how to be things such as a listener, friend, creator, or explorer before a learner.