Daily Archives: October 22, 2009

Requests For Stories

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Hi All,

I am happy to share resources with everyone as to where to find certain Kindergarten stories!  However, some of these stories are copyrighted and therefore cannot be shared; you would have to buy the book that the story is from.   I am a writer, so I do feel strongly about protecting other people’s works and ideas.

I know many of you have tight resources, and I try to point out any public domain stories that are suitable but some of the Waldorf favorites are still copyrighted. 

Two Kindergarten resources one might like to consider for Autumn, that you would use year after year, includes Suzanne Down’s Autumn Tales (wonderful stories, including Witchamaroo and Little Boy Knight and many others) and Let Us Form A Ring, which has circle times for all seasons in the front and such tales as A Halloween Story (aka, The Naughty Little Hobgoblin!) and The Pancake Mill and Spindlewood in the back.  You could also consider going to Suzanne Down’s website, http://www.junipertreepuppets.com/ and signing up for her newsletter – a free story and puppetry idea will come right to your email inbox!

Please ask where to find your stories and I will help the best I can.  With limited resources, another thing to consider is checking out book reviews.  Lovey over at the Lovey-land blog  http://www.lovey-land.blogspot.com/  often has book reviews, and I just wrote some book reviews for the Christopherus website:  http://www.christopherushomeschool.org/early-years-nurturing-young-children-at-home.html  If you scroll down on the right hand side you will see a section entitled, “Book Reviews”.

Cheers,

Carrie

No Replacement For Good Parenting

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There is so much talk these days regarding the great lessons that team sports and other classes can teach a child.  My oldest child is eight now, and the question of outside activities is starting to come up; activities for learning how to get along in a group, work as a team within a group, and for the social end of things because  having friends and even a best friend is important at this age.

My husband and I were talking about this issue the other night, and he commented something very interesting to me.  He said, “Well, it seems as if many parents want to use these team sports and classes as a way to parent their children but in reality there is no substitute for good parenting.”

Wow!

Scouting, team sports, karate, and all the many other activities a child could be doing  is a supplement, not the main course.  To many of you out there, you may be thinking, well, of course!  However, once a child is in school much of the day away from the home, and then in other classes or sports for part of the day, and then perhaps home with homework, there may be less time for parenting than one imagines.  The parent may possibly be shoved into the role of “time facilitator” or “manager of events”  for their child rather than “parent to help guide child through life in these teachable moments.” 

Good parenting takes quantity time.  If you and your child have a decreased amount of time together, chances are that there will be less teachable moments that come up.  You may  have to work harder at connection within the blur that is each day that rushes by. 

If your child is school-aged but still under the fifth or sixth grade level, I would advise you to seriously look at what commitments you and your child have outside of school and to think about limiting those engagements.

I think it is very important for school-aged children who are not homeschooling to have ample opportunity to actually be at home.  The younger school-aged child still needs to be firmly entrenched in the family.    It is also important that the school-aged child has plenty of time to work on practical life skills that tend to get squished out by homework and extracurricular activities.  Every child should be learning how to clean house, cook meals, grocery shop, sew, knit, fix things around the house and on the car as they get older, and garden.  Boys and girls alike!

Team sports, classes and other activities have their place for children, but let’s not confuse the lessons these activities teach with the necessity of good parenting.

Peace,

Carrie