Five years ago, on a trip to Yellowstone Park, as I sat in the passenger seat of our van, our first book was born. At the time our children were 4 months, 5 yrs, 7 yrs and 9 years old. Erik worked full time as a reporter for our local newspaper in Idaho Falls, Idaho. At the time, I was doing a lot of peer to peer mentoring for moms homeschooling with Waldorf. Erik and I had been prayerfully searching for a change in our lives and when our first book was released, the path for us was confirmed. That first book is still our best seller. Within a year Erik left his job to work at home full time.
From the beginning our business name was A Little Garden Flower, in fact, you’ll often see our curriculum referred to as ALGF. Two years ago, we added the name Waldorf Essentials and have fully adopted it for our business identity.
We get a lot of questions about our business philosophy. The biggest one centers around price. Why are our prices so low? I decided in the beginning that I didn’t want families to have to sacrifice everyday needs in order to have top notch curriculum and support. I wanted to help MANY, not just the few that could afford the big price tag that often comes with Waldorf. While our prices have had to go up from time to time, I always keep Steiner in mind.
Steiner believed we all needed three basic things to live: 1)to know how to get along with our fellow man; 2)to have freedom in education and 3) to have our basic material needs met – I hate the idea of people sacrificing number three so they can have number two.
We work with several families each year that need scholarship options . We give a lot of things away free each year and we also trade/barter with families in need. My work time is very precious to me and I guard it well so that I can afford to give what we do. We govern our business like we do our family – when we seek to serve others, we are served.
Someone asked me a while back if we felt like the Kmart or Wal-mart of the homeschooling world and I laughed – NO – we are not those folks at all for their products often look good but don’t stand up to the test of time – we are like the great pair of expensive shoes that you find while shopping at TJ Max – the ones you rush home and tell your friends about because you can’t believe how much you saved!
Blessings to you!