Monthly Archives: July 2009

Part Two of A Waldorf-Inspired View of Sleep

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“In consideration of healthy physical development, one cannot stress enough the need for long periods of rest and sleep for young children.  In fact, due to the increasing pace of life, more sleep is needed now than ever before to offset the physiologic strain on the young body.”

-“Toward Human Development:  The Physiological Basis of Sleep” by Lisa Gromicko, available through the Waldorf Early Childhood office.

Sleep deprivation affects everything, but some main salient points include the role of sleep deprivation in such disorders as ADHD, lowered immune function, the difficulty of the development of the lower senses of the 12 senses.

Naps are extremely beneficial, according to Gromicko’s article.  Morning naps have more REM (rapid eye movement) sleep and help with brain maturation.  This is the nap that tends to be dropped first.  The afternoon nap has more non-REM sleep, which is more important for physical restoration.  Again, according to this article naps should last at least 30 minutes, with an afternoon nap ending by 2:30 or 3 p.m. at the latest.  In Waldorf circles, children of ages 3-6 are still seen as needing a nap of 1-3 hours.  If a child is not napping, their bedtime should definitely be by 7 p.m.! 

The role of regulating sleep is seen as a the responsibility of the parent to help the child develop a rhythm gently and over time.  “The young child’s rhythmic (cardiovascular) system is  not yet developed, but the health and building up of the entire physiology depends upon rhythm.  Rhythm must be imprinted in the early years from without.  The child learns to sleep by having adults that understand the importance of sleep.  Sacrifices are usually necessary today to create a rhythmic lifestyle that allows for an unhurried pace.  This includes regulating when the child sleeps and awakens, mealtimes, when and how much to play, limiting stimulation, consistency, predictability – a slow, even tempo with rests at regular intervals.”  (Gromicko).

Okay, this is Carrie here.  I know what you are thinking – Carrie, I have this child that wakes up every 45 minutes when they come out of a sleep cycle; Carrie- I have this child that nurses every hour and a half at night, Carrie, I have this child that is teething and miserable.

I know, and I have been there.  I think one thing of paramount importance is to consider and rule out such things as gastroesophageal reflux, and other physical ailments that could be affecting sleep and deal with those first. If you read the article I linked to in the first part of this post, the Susan Johnson article, it is an anthroposophic view that perhaps the liver needs help in children with sleep issues.  Some of this can be addressed through a different rhythm, and some families I know have put great stock into working with a homeopath to address sleep problems with their children and have had great success.

After ruling out physical problems, then perhaps look at possible causes of over-stimulation. Is there a consistent rhythm where you are firmly entrenched in your home?  Or is it a barrage of running errands?  How much media exposure is there?  What are the general sensory impressions the child is receiving all day long – are they warm, positive, joyful impressions or ones of stress, negativity?  Are you trying to “hurry up your child to go to sleep?”

Someone asked me once what I do with older toddlers and younger preschoolers who “won’t go to bed”…..Always to consider is the amount of physical activity the child is getting during the day, and the rhythm of the outbreath and inbreath during the day.  If you put your whole house to bed, and really slow down at night, even if your child can’t fall asleep sometimes they will lie there and rest for a bit.  Sometimes I will give mine a basket of small wooden animals to line up while I do something repetitive and physical with my hands in a dimly-lit room (knitting, folding laundry, etc) until the child is sleepy.   It is always a consideration that the child is actually overtired and needs that time to unwind…

Sleep is such an important issue, especially in children under the age of 9, that I encourage you to look at this with your spouse or partner and devise the things that will work best for you all so everyone gets enough rest!

Blessings to you,

Carrie

A Waldorf-Inspired View of Sleep

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(Part Two of this article can be found here: https://theparentingpassageway.com/2009/07/14/part-two-of-a-waldorf-inspired-view-of-sleep/

Also, if you run “sleep”  in the Search Engine box, many posts will come up – happy reading!) 

Whew!  Volumes and volumes have been written about sleep, co-sleeping, sleep and breastfeeding, trying to get an infant, toddler or preschooler to sleep, and the like. It can be so overwhelming!!  It can be especially overwhelming when you are sleep-deprived and trying to sift through all this “sleep help”, LOL!

Sleep and rest are cornerstones of Waldorf-inspired parenting and education.  Waldorf Education is the ONLY educational method that utilizes a rhythm of  teaching in conjunction with sleep in order to aid learning!

Today, we are going to peek at some of the physiologic and anthroposophic views of the foundation of sleep.  Hang in there with me and I will try to make what I have read and digested as plain as possible.  Donna Simmons of Christopherus also has an audio download in her bookshop on “Sleep”; I do not have it yet but have it on my list for upcoming purchase because I am just garnering lots of information regarding sleep and Waldorf education.  The link to the audio CD is here:  http://www.christopherushomeschool.org/bookstore-for-waldorf-homeschooling/audio-downloads.html

Here is an article entitled, “The Importance of Sleep” by Susan Johnson, a MD with an anthroposophic perspective:  http://www.waldorflibrary.org/Journal_Articles/GW4003.pdf.  There are also several other articles available regarding sleep through www.waldorflibrary.org if you just use “sleep” in the Search Engine Box.

There are several reasons why sleep and rest especially  in a child under the age of 7, (and  also in children  and adults of all ages!) are considered vitally important from an anthroposophic standpoint. 

1.  The years of birth through age 7 are seen as the foundation for the humanity of the child, for the unfolding of the soul, and especially for the basis of the ages of 35-42 in later life.

2.  The ability of the child to perform intellectual work in the grades is dependent upon the development of the well-developed lower senses of the 12 senses and also of the systems that Steiner termed the nerve-sense organs/brain/nervous system.  The only time the body has physical growth is during SLEEP.

3.  A young child is unified in body, soul and spirit and all sense impressions go right into the child without any ability on the part of the child to censor these impressions.  These impression form the physical body, and sleep is the way these impressions build up the physical body.

In anthroposophic thought, sleep is not only the place where the etheric body takes in these sense impressions and uses them within the physical body, it is the place where the etheric body itself is built up and renewed.  The primary organ to do this is the LIVER (see the link to the Susan Johnson article I listed above). 

The LIVER follows a very rhythmic pattern.  From the article, “Toward Human Development:  The Physiological Basis of Sleep,” author Lisa Gromicko writes:

“Carbohydrates are synthesized into sugars (glycogen), which are then  stored in the liver during its “night” assimilatory phase beginning at 3 p.m. and peaking at 3 a.m.  These stored sugars are converted to blood glucose during the daytime for the activities of consciousness beginning at 3 a.m., though the catabolic (breaking down) influence of the gall bladder in the liver until about 3 p.m.  Here, we can see the importance of going to sleep early:  6:30 to 8:00 p.m. for children and 9-10:00 p.m. for adults.  Staying up late causes the liver to reverse its storing-up activity intended for the next day and to instead begin converting glycogen to glucose for energy, thus we get a “second wind” (especially children).  This explains the worn-out feeling the next morning and the daylong physiologic struggle to keep up (Johnson).”

Rhythm is what supports the foundation of sleep, and a lack of sleep not only places a great stress upon the liver as noted, but also an anthroposophic viewpoint is that lack of rhythm also places stress on the heart and adrenal glands.  Gromicko writes, “The more sleep-deprived a child is, the more excitable he will be, and some children in this condition are constantly in various states of arousal.  The stress hormones produced in response to arousal tax the liver greatly.  Blood pressure, breath, and heart rate accelerate, as well as many other processes, which the heart as central to the rhythmic system must mediate.”

More to come in  a future post regarding naps, sleep, and rhythm!

Carrie

Video Samples of Waldorf-Inspired Music Curriculum

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See here:

http://homemusicmaking.blogspot.com/2009/06/video-tutorial-music-curriculum.html

Enjoy!

Carrie

Bringing Rhythm to Your Baby

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There is a mother’s story here on the Christopherus website’s  “Waldorf Baby” section that may interest those of you thinking about how to bring rhythm to your baby  (and my personal caveat is that this is one mother’s story and does not necessarily reflect my own personal opinion!  But good ideas for thought!  And please note the number of times this mother says the establishment of rhythm must be done over time, and gently!)

http://www.christopherushomeschool.org/early-years-nurturing-young-children-at-home/the-waldorf-baby/bringing-rhythm-to-your-baby.html

As a lay breastfeeding counselor, I have to say here the idea is NOT scheduled feedings; scheduled feedings in breastfeeding mother/infant dyads can lead to failure to thrive!   Please remember this rule:  RHYTHM is TOTALLY DIFFERENT THAN A SET SCHEDULE!   That being said, however, it is about being able to see as your infant grows and gently OVER TIME what sort of rhythm to the day you are setting in order to protect the infant’s 12 senses (if you need help remembering which of the 12 senses is affected by rhythm, try this post here: https://theparentingpassageway.com/2009/06/22/the-twelve-senses/)

It is also interesting to me that many parents comment how their second, third and subsequent children fall more easily into a rhythmical pattern than their first…I feel this is probably because a more set flow to the day is already in place and you are not re-creating the rhythmical wheel.

It is also remembering that from a Waldorf point of view, you are not “squishing” your infant’s individual temperament or anything else by providing a flow to things.  In my personal experience, children who are “high-needs” are by definition VERY irrhythmic, irregular and need your gentle help to move them towards rhythmical patterns….This can be very difficult for parents to accept and work with!  Re-frame your thoughts in this way:  you are providing a rhythm that not only uplifts and enfolds your infant and their personal traits and their health but  also provides peace and harmony for  the whole family as well.  This is setting the tone in your own home, and your rhythm is just what your family does.    Again, rhythm  is just about life within your family; we rest and we play, we go outside and are active, we are inside and we listen and are quieter.  There should be an ease and a flow to it, not a “military” sense of punctuality!

Within Waldorf parenting and Waldorf parenting, sleep and rest are very important cornerstones, one that rhythm is very important in promoting and preserving and I am going to address this important topic in another post.  Get your cup of tea ready, because the way Steiner and Waldorf Education views sleep may be different than what you have ever heard of before!

Blessings on this day,

Carrie

Waldorf-Inspired Music Curriculum

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Here is a new Waldorf-inspired Music Curriculum!    Jodie Mesler writes:

“Hello Everyone!  My work of volume 1 is finally complete!  I am so excited to share this with you!

It is called Living Music From the Heart: Music Curriculum Volume 1 Book and 2 DVD tutorials. (Prices $20-$50, I am offering ebooks or booklet form, 2 DVD’s, and the option to buy penny whistles at the discounted price of $10 with the purchase of the music curriculum)

It is an easy and creative approach to teaching through a child’s world of play using the penny whistle, singing and movement.  (It is Waldorf-inspired)

There are 27 lessons on the DVD’s- The 7 teacher lessons have instruction on how to play the penny whistle, how to sing, and how to teach your child simply through imitation and play. 

The 20 lessons are set up for the 6-year-old revolving around the whole year and starting in September. Included in each lesson are imitative play, call and response, verses for hand claps, Mother Goose songs (written in the pentatonic scale), movement and games. 

“Children’s songs must make pretty and rhythmical impressions on the senses.  The beauty of sound is of greater value than the meaning,” states Rudolf Steiner in his “The Education of the Child” lecture. During the first years of music, the primary focus will be on pleasing sounds, rhythm and listening skills taught through imitation. 

Let go of any worries about reading music, for you will learn and teach your child music when he is older, in my approach it is best to wait until your child is 10, as they would do in a Waldorf school. 

I am currently a private music teacher in my home studio offering flute, piano, bass guitar, guitar, penny whistle, and general music lessons.  I have been teaching for 12 years.  I was introduced to Waldorf education in 2004, and I began home educating my three children with Waldorf-inspired methods.  I have self-produced and published “Waldorf-Inspired CD and Songbook” and finally, I am bringing a music curriculum to homeschooling teachers.

How to order: go to homemusicmaking.blogspot.com.

Peace, Love, and Joy,
Jodie Mesler
“Bringing living music back to the home.”
http://homemusicmaking.blogspot.com”

 

Hope that helps some of you planning for fall,

Carrie

Sharpen Your Skills in Homemaking 101: Baking Bread

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We are going to embark on a series of posts discussing some ideas for the typical skills a Waldorf homeschooling mother needs for the Kindergarten years and beyond.  Many Waldorf schools and Waldorf homeschooling families have a baking day for their families within their weekly rhythms. 

A mother who does work and practical homemaking as a model for her children is very valuable indeed within a Waldorf framework.  From the framework of Waldorf Education, when the child sees the true work that the mother does and can imitate it in play, this strengthens the will of the child.  Doing the same (ACTIVE!) thing at the same time each week is also what strengthens the will.  We work through the will during the Early Years (under 7) as this is what helps to form the physical body for future physical health and lays down the foundation for the rest of the four body….

This post is  not meant to be an exhaustive bread-making tutorial, but a few thoughts regarding this important skill.

First of all, if you can eat wheat, there is something to consider about this much-maligned grain.  Wheat, according to Bread Beckers, is first among the grains for nutritional value including critical B-vitamins when freshly milled and eaten in its entirety, and also of Vitamin E when freshly milled. (You can grind your wheat in a grain mill or in the dry container of a Vita-Mix).    Wheat does have gluten in it, and gluten is the protein of the wheat that you develop by kneading, which then traps and holds the yeast and causes your dough to rise.  Wheat is about the only grain that can make soft, light bread.  Hard wheat has a higher gluten content than soft wheat.  Wheat varieties include hard wheat, soft wheat (red and white), spelt and kamut.  Durum wheat is a pasta-making wheat that semonlina flour comes from.  Grains that have no gluten in them at all can be used in recipes that do not call for yeast. 

Yeast is an important ingredient in bread-making.  It is a living organism that likes a warm, moist environment.  Most of the time I use the yeast in with the water or liquids the recipe calls for and about half the amount of flour to “cool off” the water temperature. It seems to work well for me.   Another factor to consider is that salt is a controller of yeast. 

Sweeteners for bread include honey which you can substitute one to one for any sugar called for in a recipe.  Some folks use Sucanat as well.   Other ingredients sometimes called for in bread recipes include milk, oil or butter or eggs, lecithin (which is from soybeans, so you may  not be able to use if you have soybean allergies in your family), gluten and flax seed.

Bread baking usually takes a bit of time, but well worth the results.  After you grind your wheat, try putting your liquids in a bowl, adding the salt and yeast and part of the flour.  Add the rest of the flour as needed; the dough will be soft when you turn it out onto a floured board.  Kneading times for dough vary; usually about 2 to 5 minutes does the trick.  Then the rising of the dough takes place, which is typically done in a warm place until doubled in size, punched down and shaped as desired.  If time allows, you can do a second rising and then shape the dough.  If you need to slow the rising process, you can also put the dough into the refrigerator overnight.

I feel sometimes making bread dough and shaping it into rolls is an easier place to start for novice bread-bakers.  If your bread dough is not done on the inside, you may need a longer cooking time at a lower temperature.

Bread baking is an excellent way to start a weekly rhythm within your home,

Carrie

A New Rant: This Just Out Today….

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(This post is more about COMPUTERS than TV, but at the bottom you can read a lot of comments about TV and how different families deal with TV and other screens. This post is written from a Waldorf perspective and the Waldorf perspective actually is NOT that TV or screens are “evil” or “forbidden”, but that there is a proper time and place for these screens in development of the child according to the development of the three and four fold bodies.  That is all!)

Okay, you all can agree or disagree, but here is my rant of the day:

From Nielsen Online:

“Kids from two to 11 years of age are spending 63 percent more time online than they did five years ago, says a report released Monday from Nielsen Online. Children in that age range were online an average of 11 hours in May 2009 versus just 7 hours in May 2004.

Over the past five years, the total number of kids surfing the Net has shot up 18 percent to 16 million, says the report, while the overall Internet population has risen only 10 percent. The younger set now represents 9.5 percent of the online community.”

This just saddens and sickens me.  Really, children age 2 have nothing else better to do than to sit in front of a screen??   Is it not enough that we are already fighting  the insane levels of television watching and corresponding obesity and lack of outside play time for our children?

Are our children truly happy and carefree these days?  Are they healthy?  I would say not.  I have talked with many, many pediatric health care professionals (because I am one!!)   ranging from pediatricians to naturopaths to chiropractors to mental health care professionals who are all saying the same things: kids today are stressed out, they are seeing mental and physical health problems in our children that were never seen before except in middle-aged or elderly people, that children today are anxious and by the teenaged years can be completely depressed, “jaded”, old ahead of their time.

Stop the madness now!

What do children need?  If you all have read any post on this blog you will know what I am about to say:

For Small Children Under the Age of 9:

Imitation and having parents doing something worthy to imitate!, warmth, protection of the 12 senses, outside time in nature, free play with open ended toys, less talking, singing and music and art, practical work around the house, parents who are warm and loving and kind but yet will set limits, a rhythm that does most of the limit setting for you for the under 7 crowd especially, repetition,  less choices, education that focuses on the whole body and all the senses and not just the head, education that focuses on lighting up the imagination and not just stuffing the head with facts, keeping children in their bodies, regular sleep and rest times each day, warming and healthy foods…

Whew!  Did I miss anything??

Television and computers are not needed at such an early age.  Children who start using computers at such an early age are not going to have any more of a technological advantage over a child starting a computer later…Why our educational system has gone to using computers in the classroom for the Early Grades and even Kindergarten and Preschool, I will never know!  Children need to be in their bodies, not with their eyes focused on a screen and their hands tied to a keyboard with rapidly moving images!

This boils down to Parents Feeling They Need Something To Do With Their Children.  And We Don’t Know What To Do, so Let’s Use A Screen.  Small children do not need a screen, they need your loving presence. Instead of popping in a video to get some cleaning done, involve your child in the cleaning.  It may take twice as long, but are you truly in a rush?  Why?  Slow down!  Children are not something you can take and stuff time for them in a day planner.  Children needs copious amounts of Quantity Time.  Unhurried, unrushed time.

Yes, they need your time, in your home, in a peaceful and warm and loving environment.  They need parents who can slow down, and make hard choices to slow down if this is possible.  If you are a single parents or struggling to make ends meet, you may not have a choice whether to stay home or work.  But you do have a choice how you structure the time with your child after work  it most likely should involve not more stimulation, but learning how to be home and be okay with being home…..

Enough ranting now,

Carrie

Planning Waldorf Second Grade

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There are several things to keep in mind whilst planning second grade for a seven and a half or eight-year old: one is what academic and practical skills one will be teaching, and the other is through what vehicle one will be teaching through.  The “vehicle” in second grade is the stories of Saints contrasted with the trickster tales of the animals, perhaps Celtic fairy tales or the wonderful King of Ireland’s Son, nature stories for Science, a few gnome or other types of stories for math.  The way you “drive” this vehicle is through art, movement, rhythm, in-breath and out-breath. 

There can be a wide disparity where second graders are academically.  I have a very fluent reader who can read anything she would like, (including things I have to hide because I feel the themes are just too mature at this time as they involve great sympathy with a main protagonist!).  Remember, we are still working within fairy tales to a certain extent, and moving into fables and folklore as our main thrust this year due to the spiritual and soul development of the eight year old.  For my second grader, we will continue to introduce some simple grammar and punctuation, writing longer summaries and paragraphs, higher level vocabulary.  Another child may still be working on reading what they have written and more simple phrases. 

For math, one is most likely working with a  deepening understanding of the times tables  as taught rhythmically and by heart, mental arithmetic,  place value, simple money sums, development of symmetric form drawing, translating large numbers into words and vice versa, moving from the horizontal kinds of math problems to the vertical.

For science, one is looking at more pointed nature tales with characteristics of the animals.  I personally am also looking at bringing a Spring block of the 4 elements with lots of play and building of projects (again, may not completely coincide with the Waldorf curriculum at a Waldorf school). 

For social studies, one is still looking at  local geography through actually being outside and using the 12 sense to observe local flora, fauna and weather,  and through the tales of local folklore, including local American Indian stories.  For example,  I live in an area where the Cherokee used to live, and we will be doing a block of Cherokee Trickster Tales.

Other activities that may round out your curriculum may include continuing with a pentatonic instrument or learning a pentatonic scale on a blowing instrument, kinderlyre instruction, knitting with knit stitch and purling, introducing three secondary colors with wet-on-wet painting, modeling with beeswax, games including jump rope, hop scotch, rhythmic games, seasonal festival preparation and arts and crafts and cooking and baking.

Once you decide what academic or practical skills one is teaching, then one must decide HOW to bring this.  Will you use Fables as a Nature Block, or a Language Arts block?  Will you use Trickster Tales as a way to pick forms out of the stories for Form Drawing or will you use Nature Stories?  These are the questions that make the curriculum come alive for you and your family.

Here is an outline of what I am planning as I write my own curriculum, and this is not set in stone as I have only written September and October so far!!  I do try to plan each day around Head, Heart and Hands and also to find the ACTIVE part in all the lessons.  Very important!

(Totals are around  8 weeks of Form Drawing plus weekly Form Drawing some blocks, 14 weeks of Math, 9-10 weeks of Nature, 13 weeks of Language Arts which may very well not be enough for some children if this is a weaker area.  Eugene Schwartz has his second grade divided between 16 weeks of Math and 16 weeks of Language Arts, 6 weeks of Form Drawing and doesn’t include Nature/Science in the tally.)

September:  2 weeks of Form Drawing from Cherokee Trickster Tales and 2 weeks of Math (review Roman Numerals, moving from horizontal to vertical, review of 2s, 5s, 10s multiplication tables).  Family play for Michaelmas

Other work:  Wet on wet painting of geometric forms, Introduction to Kinderlyre, German and Spanish, Seasonal Arts and Crafts, gardening, cooking and baking

October:  4 weeks of a Nature/Language Arts  Block with writing in Main Lesson Book  from the Fables, work on simple grammar and punctuation and a bit longer summaries, will also wet on wet watercolor paint and model with beeswax as part of this block, pentatonic flute and singing, Seasonal Arts and Crafts, more gardening, cooking and baking, knit stitch to make hat, German and Spanish

November:  4 weeks of a Math Block, more Kinderlyre and  knitting, German and Spanish, cooking and baking and gardening (terrarium making!), weekly Form Drawing

December: 2 –3 weeks of a  Nature Block/Language Arts Block   from Saint Francis of Assisi, Advent Crafts, cooking and baking and such, German and Spanish.  Family Play for Advent. 

January:   end of December – January 2 weeks of Form Drawing,  4 weeks of Math Block, Kinderlyre and Sewing,  cooking and baking, German and Spanish, preparation for Candlemas, weekly Form Drawing

February:  3 weeks of a Language Arts block from Saints, Pentatonic flute and singing and more hand sewing,  cooking and baking, German and Spanish

March:  3 weeks of a Nature Block from the 4 Elements, probably no Main Lesson Book, will include nature games,    German and Spanish, cooking and baking, gardening, Easter Crafts, weekly Form Drawing

April:  4  weeks of Form Drawing from Jataka Tales, wet on wet watercolor painting, Knitting , Woodworking  and Gardening, German and Spanish,  cooking and baking

May:  4 weeks of Math, Pentatonic flute and singing, Gardening, cooking and baking, seasonal crafts for May Day, Whitsun, Ascension, German and Spanish.

June:  3 weeks of Language Arts from Saint Stories where cursive may be introduced ?? (still deciding!), Wet on Wet Watercolor Painting and Gardening, German and Spanish, cooking and baking, weekly Form Drawing, festival preparations for St. John’s Day.

As I have said, I have not written all of it yet, so I don’t  know everything yet!  It is just a skeleton work in progress!

Some resources that may assist you:

Grade 2 Curriculum Package from Donna Simmons:  http://www.christopherushomeschool.org/bookstore-for-waldorf-homeschooling/curriculum/2nd-grade.html

Grade 2 from Melisa Nielsen:  http://alittlegardenflower.com/store/

Eugene Schwartz Grade 2:  http://knol.google.com/k/eugene-schwartz/the-waldorf-curriculum-grade-two/110mw7eus832b/18#

Saints and Heroes from Donna Simmons:  http://www.christopherushomeschool.org/bookstore-for-waldorf-homeschooling/curriculum/2nd-grade.html

Grade 2 Math from Donna Simmons:  http://www.christopherushomeschool.org/bookstore-for-waldorf-homeschooling/curriculum/2nd-grade.html

Animal Tales from Donna Simmons:  http://www.christopherushomeschool.org/bookstore-for-waldorf-homeschooling/curriculum/2nd-grade.html

Teaching Mathematics in Rudolf Steiner Schools for Classes I- VIII by Ron Jarman

Hear The Voice of the Griot!  A Guide to African Geography, History, and Culture by Betty K Staley (Trickster Tales, Saint Stories, longer fairy tales for Grade 2)

Stories of the Saints – Siegwart Knijpenga

Teaching with the Fables: A Holistic Approach by Sieglinde de Francesca

Read-aloud List here:  https://theparentingpassageway.com/2009/05/29/great-books-for-second-grade-in-your-waldorf-inspired-homeschool/

Various festival books and book regarding tongue twisters and riddles to “warm-up”

Books of Games, singing games are especially nice

Gardening and Baking Resources

Norwegian, Jewish, African  and Swedish folktales and such – I am telling a tale for about three days in a row before Quiet Time throughout the year.

Sources of Nature, fables, King of Ireland’s Son if you are bringing that book as a block.

After you know how your blocks are laid out, you  can start going through and picking what stories and activities resonate in your soul, what you feel your child needs to hear and you fit it into a three-day rhythm of telling the story on the first day, artistic activity, and the academic piece on the third day.  You are always searching for the active, and adding in the artistic, the senses, the different ways to approach this.

For example, should you choose to use the fable “The Lion and the Mouse,” you may start the first day with a story of mice that incorporates their general characteristics and the modeling of a mouse out of beeswax and tell the story (Do NOT tell the moral to the child – that is for them to draw the conclusion!).  Flesh out the short fable so it is a real story with detail.  The second day you may re-visit the story and make a beeswax lion to go with the mouse.  Perhaps you act out the story with your child (only two characters, lends itself nicely to drama in a homeschooling environment!)  Perhaps you found a short poem about a mouse or a lion to share.  Then, the third day you can  re-visit the story with movement (how would the lion move and sit?  how would the mouse move?  what do their voices sound like?), draw a picture and have your child re-visit the story with you writing down what the child says and then distill this into two or three sentences on the blackboard for your child to copy.  Perhaps you play some rhyming games with the words, point out punctuation, look for doing words if you decided to bring the different types of words to second grade (or not!  perhaps you wait on that until Third Grade).  Much of this depends on what speaks to you as a family and to your child.  You are the parent, and you are the expert on your child and what they need to hear!

I am just a homeschooling mother like you, and planning just like you.  I suggest if you are very confused you contact one of the national Waldorf consultants (Barbara Dewey, Donna Simmons, Melisa Nielsen, David Darcy, Eugene Schwartz) to help you.  The little bit of money for a half hour consultation may save you so much money in curriculum spending and in  time.

Happy Planning,

Carrie

A Waldorf Parenting Perspective: Won’t Choices Strengthen My Child’s Will?

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In our society today, we tend to think that offering choices to children is what prepares them best for later decision-making. 

In Waldorf parenting, we tend to think that children under 7 can handle small choices, such as do you want your water in the red cup or the blue one but we don’t always offer an alternative to water if water is what we feel the child should be drinking.  We don’t always offer a whole heap of explanation either; it may just be built into the rhythm of the day that we have juice with breakfast and with all the other meals we have water.  The choice may be to wear a green sweater or a blue one, but not whether to wear the sweater at all as we work with the concept of warmth in the family.  The same thing goes toward such things as setting awake times and bed times, rest times after lunch and times of in-breath or out-breath.  The Waldorf parent feels the healthiest way to teach a child is not through an adversarial relationship regarding these things, not by having a battle of wills, but by having the rhythm of our day do the talking so to speak.  One does not argue with the seasons changing, the sun going down and the moon coming up, and one becomes a rhythmical being by practicing rhythm as set.  Negotiation regarding things sets in more somewhere after age 10, and certainly as the child heads into the third seven year cycle, more and more choice heads into it all.  There seem to be many Waldorf homeschoolers of age 14-16 and older who are very independent, well-adjusted individuals capable of mature decision-making.  I believe this is due to the foundation laid in these early years.

The physiology behind the small choices offered to a small child have to do with Steiner’s view of the seven year cycles.  A small child functions in the will, in the body, in the limbs and not in the head.  Decision-making comes in during third seven year cycle around the age of 14.  If you need further assistance with this notion as seen through the lens of the three-and four fold human being, please do see this post regarding some of Eugene Schwartz’s wise words:  https://theparentingpassageway.com/2009/06/24/waldorf-education-adhd-and-what-the-parent-of-the-normal-child-can-learn/

These words that Eugene Schwartz wrote might in particular speak to you if you have familiarity of the three-and four-fold human being:

“On what basis will a seven year-old make a choice? Invariably, on the basis of sympathy and antipathy. And whence does he get this sympathy and antipathy? From his astral body, that is, from a member of his being that should not be “activated” until adolescence. An analogy might prove helpful here:

We can think of the child’s astral body as “soul principal” which is being held in a “cosmic trust fund” until such time as the youngster’s lower members are developed enough to receive it, i.e., ages 13-15. As is the case with a monetary trust fund in an earthly bank, it is the trustee’s responsibility to see that the principal is not disturbed for the apportioned period, knowing that the interest that it generates provides sufficient funds for the beneficiary’s needs. If, however, the trustee proves to be irresponsible, and the youngster for whom the principal is intended gets hold of it long before he is mature enough to make wise financial decisions, the principal will be drawn upon prematurely. In the worst case, the entire trust will be depleted, leaving neither interest nor principal at a time in the young person’s life that they are most needed.

In the course of healthy development, the young child has just enough astrality apportioned to her to sustain those organic processes requiring movement and catabolism, and to support such soul phenomena as the unfolding of interest in the world. And where do ADHD children have their greatest difficulties? In developing and sustaining any interest in anything for very long! The environments that we create for our youngest children, the way we speak to our grade schoolers, and our inability to differentiate between what is appropriate for an adult and not appropriate for a child – all of these phenomena eat away at astral “interest” early in life and devour astral “principal” long before it has ripened. By the time many “normal” young people are twelve or thirteen they seem to have lost interest in learning, or even in life; they have “been there, done that,” and take on a jaded, middle-aged attitude toward their own future. The ADHD child is only an extreme reflection of soul attitudes that will be endemic to many American children at the century’s end.”

Powerful and sobering words for us to think about as parents.

A way to help your child’s will be strengthened is to model having a will of your own – not a dictatorship, but not being completely wishy-washy about how things are done in your home.  Being compassionate, being a good listener, but also being able to hold the space in a loving way.

I would love to hear your thoughts,

Carrie

The Waldorf Baby: The First Year

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Here is a link to a great article by Donna Simmons of Christopherus Homeschool regarding the Waldorf baby and the first year:

http://www.christopherushomeschool.org/early-years-nurturing-young-children-at-home/the-waldorf-baby.html

There is also a link on there to an article I wrote regarding the impact anthroposophy has had on my work as a neonatal physical therapist:  http://www.christopherushomeschool.org/early-years-nurturing-young-children-at-home/the-waldorf-baby/not-too-hot-not-too-cold.html

And, of course, as a lay breastfeeding counselor and as an AP parent, I agree with the position Christopherus has taken regarding breastfeeding and co-sleeping!

Lots of food for thought in this article!

Happy Reading,

Carrie