Comments on: The Fabulous Five –Year -Old! http://theparentingpassageway.com/2009/02/10/the-fabulous-five-year-old/ Peaceful Parenting for a Hectic World Mon, 13 Feb 2012 03:43:21 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Carrie http://theparentingpassageway.com/2009/02/10/the-fabulous-five-year-old/#comment-9849 Fri, 29 Jul 2011 01:40:27 +0000 http://dendtler.wordpress.com/2009/02/10/the-fabulous-five-year-old/#comment-9849 Becky,
Thank you. I appreciate your understanding of my perspective. Rockin Granola is another blog you may want to check out from a Christian, Waldorf-eclectic mama, and there are many Roman Catholic mothers also using Waldorf – Eva at Untrodden Paths comes to mind. I am drawn to Waldorf for many of the reasons I mentioned, I love art and movement and it makes sense to me to teach to these young ages and even early grades through story and biography.
It is hard not to panic at this age of four and five when everyone is going off to school. :( You are doing a great job in letting development unfold and supporting what a small child needs, which is often hard to discern in today’s society…

Many blessings, glad to have you here.
Carrie

]]> By: Becky Suon http://theparentingpassageway.com/2009/02/10/the-fabulous-five-year-old/#comment-9848 Fri, 29 Jul 2011 01:29:02 +0000 http://dendtler.wordpress.com/2009/02/10/the-fabulous-five-year-old/#comment-9848 Yes, I kinda had the feeling that not everything was going to fit with our beliefs as a family. It is good to know that this blog is written from a Christian perspective. Your blog makes me feel comfortable and thats why I decided to post and follow you. I am drawn to the art and nature and simplicity of it all, along with the limited media exposure. I will check out the links you sent. I feel some serious pressure about schooling my son. He will be 5 at the end of August. All of his little friends from church have gone to preschool for 2 years and now they are on their way to kindergarten so I am kind of panicking because he doesnt understand why he cant go. (Not only is he different because of the fact that we are planning to homeschool, but also because he is too young and he couldnt go to a brick and mortar kindergarten because of the cut off date anyways). Your post about 5 year olds being super conscious of their ages rings so true for us. He is constantly being taunted because he is only 4 and also because he isnt going into kindergarten. It breaks my heart, you know how kids are. It seems rediculous how overly concerned I am but I just dont want to screw things up for him! In the end I know I am parenting how the Lord directs and my goal is holiness over his instant happiness, but outside influences act like I am some kind of delinquent mother who is not providing a “proper education”. Anyways, I draw inspiration from what you are doing and I will continue to tune in. Many blessings to you, my new friend! :)

]]> By: Carrie http://theparentingpassageway.com/2009/02/10/the-fabulous-five-year-old/#comment-9846 Fri, 29 Jul 2011 00:57:26 +0000 http://dendtler.wordpress.com/2009/02/10/the-fabulous-five-year-old/#comment-9846 Becky,
Waldorf Education does not do academics until first grade, when the child is six and a half or seven. But there are still certainly things to be done in the meantime! You can try this back post here: http://theparentingpassageway.com/2011/01/14/new-to-this-blog-and-considering-waldorf-homeschooling-for-kindergarten/ and here: http://theparentingpassageway.com/2010/08/22/waldorf-in-the-home-with-the-five-year-old/.

I also ask, as a Christian, that you understand Rudolf Steiner, the creator of waldorf education, had a particular worldview of the child and Christ that may absolutely not resonate with you. I and many other Christians feel comfortable working with the curriculum of Waldorf and not delving into Steiner’s other works, and sort of looking at him the way you would study any other philosopher in school and bringing those elements we deem beautiful and worthy into our Christian homeschools. However, some Christians will not be comfortable with it in any shape or form. I have seen terrible and strident debates between Christians on forums over this, so I think you need to sort out how you feel.

I hope that helps you get started. I think Waldorf Education is very healing and corresponds well to Piaget and Gesell in our times, and makes sense developmentally from those perspectives. Many of the elements are European, like form drawing and handwork in the curriculum, etc. and whilst Americans think these things originated in Waldorf Schools, they actually are done in many European schools.

Many blessings,
Carrie

]]> By: Becky Suon http://theparentingpassageway.com/2009/02/10/the-fabulous-five-year-old/#comment-9841 Thu, 28 Jul 2011 21:34:39 +0000 http://dendtler.wordpress.com/2009/02/10/the-fabulous-five-year-old/#comment-9841 Thank you, Carrie. I really have enjoyed some of your posts. I am a Christian stay at home mom, and I would like to find out more about the waldorf way. I discovered this site because we have decided to homeschool my 5 year old. What is your opinion on that, with him being so young? I feel like we need to do SOMETHING but I also dont want to jump into a heavy duty curriculum that makes him want to hate school. I also have a 3 year old and a 1 year old, so I would like to include my 3 year old in some of our activities. Besides your wonderful blog, is the book you mentioned the best way to learn more? I’m having a hard time sifting through things on the internet. Thank you!

]]> By: Carrie http://theparentingpassageway.com/2009/02/10/the-fabulous-five-year-old/#comment-9838 Thu, 28 Jul 2011 20:43:17 +0000 http://dendtler.wordpress.com/2009/02/10/the-fabulous-five-year-old/#comment-9838 Becky, if you search “rhythm” on this blog, a million posts will come up. :) . The book “Heaven On Earth: A Handbook for Parents of Young Children” by Oppenheimer may also be helpful to you. Remember to only take what resonates with you!

Many blessings,
Carrie

]]> By: Becky Suon http://theparentingpassageway.com/2009/02/10/the-fabulous-five-year-old/#comment-9822 Thu, 28 Jul 2011 13:37:52 +0000 http://dendtler.wordpress.com/2009/02/10/the-fabulous-five-year-old/#comment-9822 Hi Carrie,
Do you have any suggestions as far as how to accomplish the rhythm you spoke of above? I am new to waldorf concepts.
Thank you!

]]> By: This Will Keep You Busy: Links By Age « The Parenting Passageway http://theparentingpassageway.com/2009/02/10/the-fabulous-five-year-old/#comment-7580 Tue, 07 Jun 2011 16:20:32 +0000 http://dendtler.wordpress.com/2009/02/10/the-fabulous-five-year-old/#comment-7580 [...] The Fabulous Five-Year-Old! http://theparentingpassageway.com/2009/02/10/the-fabulous-five-year-old/ [...]

]]> By: Interesting Observations About The Five Year Old « The Parenting Passageway http://theparentingpassageway.com/2009/02/10/the-fabulous-five-year-old/#comment-6698 Wed, 23 Feb 2011 03:46:47 +0000 http://dendtler.wordpress.com/2009/02/10/the-fabulous-five-year-old/#comment-6698 [...] http://theparentingpassageway.com/2009/02/10/the-fabulous-five-year-old/ [...]

]]> By: Waldorf In The Home With The Five-Year-Old « The Parenting Passageway http://theparentingpassageway.com/2009/02/10/the-fabulous-five-year-old/#comment-4449 Sun, 22 Aug 2010 19:30:03 +0000 http://dendtler.wordpress.com/2009/02/10/the-fabulous-five-year-old/#comment-4449 [...] Five can be such  an odd age.  It is the age that is considered a “golden” age by traditional perspectives, but many mothers of five-year-olds tell me they are pulling their hair out over their child’s behavior.  I think this is mainly because some five-year-olds are still in the four-year-old “out of bounds” stage, and some five-year-olds are beginning that six and seven-year transformation.  Here are some back posts about the five-year-old in general if you need some developmental help: http://theparentingpassageway.com/2009/02/10/the-fabulous-five-year-old/  [...]

]]> By: “Discipline For Preschoolers 3-5 Years”: “Discipline Without Distress” « The Parenting Passageway http://theparentingpassageway.com/2009/02/10/the-fabulous-five-year-old/#comment-3033 Wed, 31 Mar 2010 16:40:55 +0000 http://dendtler.wordpress.com/2009/02/10/the-fabulous-five-year-old/#comment-3033 [...] For the four and five year old milestones, she notes such things as proficient with fork, spoon and cup (and again, I know many four and five year olds who would be  very content to eat with their fingers ); no naps but sleeps 12 hours at night; very active with skipping and hopping on one foot; can throw overhand, can ride a scooter or two wheeled bike with training wheels (and some can ride a bike without training wheels as well is my note); hates to lose games, beginning of sex identification; has beginning emotions tied to social interaction with others such as guilt, insecurity, envy, confidence, humility; begins to respect simple rules (Carrie’s note is that four is the height of many out of bounds behavior, see the defiance post!); tensional outlets can be high, very honest and blunt; don’t really understand cause and effect at all; asks many questions about everything; beginning to distinguish between edible and non-edible substances; sentences are three and four words long; memory is rote and must start from the beginning to remember items in their order such as numbers or song verses; often confuses sequences of events; attention span is about 20 minutes.  Judy Arnall writes, “Does not recognize limits.  Just beginning to learn them.”  “Learning self-control but takes much practice.”  For further information about the four year old, see here: http://theparentingpassageway.com/2009/12/08/discipline-for-the-four-year-old/  and for the five-year-old see here:http://theparentingpassageway.com/2009/02/10/the-fabulous-five-year-old/     [...]

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