Okay, so I cheated and decided to put several resources into one favorites slot because I think movement within your homeschool is that important.  I am certain (hopefully) that you have heard about using movement for teaching math actively in the grades for Waldorf, but I wanted to point out some perhaps lesser-known links for movement in the grades.

The first link is for The Association For A Healing Education’s links and articles section:  http://www.healingeducation.org/resources.htm.  There are many great articles regarding development of the twelve senses, including my very favorite article regarding the lower four senses by Nettie Fabrie.

The second resource is this Waldorf-inspired website:  http://www.movementforchildhood.com/index.htm.   There are articles there as diverse as movement standards for Third Grade, what to do about team sports, how to use copper rods, and, my favorite, blocks for the Early Grades for movement:  http://www.movementforchildhood.com/classroom.pdf.  An overall excellent resource.  My only fear is that those without a movement background and without a grounding in Waldorf Education would find this material hard to integrate into their homeschools.  Please let me know if the movement blocks would be usable for those of  you who do not have a movement background and for those of you who do not have the books “Take Time” or “The Extra Lesson.”

The third resource in this category is the book “Movement Journeys and Circle Adventures” by Nancy Blanning and Laurie Clark.  I included this book here simply because many children in Kindergarten have siblings in the grades, and your Kindergartner can be the back door for your Grades child to experience movement if you can teach them to lead these movement circles.  You have to love the wonderful advantage of homeschooling in this sense; that your older child can experience what the younger child does on a different level!

At any rate, the introduction of this book discusses the difficulties today’s child faces in regard to movement, the twelve senses, the role of pentatonic music in these circle adventures, how to set up the environment and use the book, a listing and description of developmental movement exercises and the equipment list.

There are four movement journeys for Autumn, four for Winter, six for Spring/Summer and two for any season.

This book could provide you with some challenges as the teacher though; the circles are typically four to six pages long; there is music involved so for those of you who cannot read music that would be a challenge; you must work to find the authentic gesture within the characters of these circles.  However, I think these circles and movement themes provide a great chance for you to improve your own skills!  Please see this link to order this resource:  http://www.waldorfbooks.com/edu/curriculum/eurythmy_games_gymnastics.htm

I have already mentioned “Joyful Movement” in this series of blog posts, one can refer to that post here:  https://theparentingpassageway.com/2009/12/17/favorite-waldorf-resource-1-joyful-movement/

Peace,

Carrie

Marsha Johnson is a veteran  Waldorf teacher who has put together file after file after file of FREE lesson plans outlining the whole year for each grade, outlining specific day-by-day lessons for certain blocks, and she has whole files devoted to festival preparation and celebration and handwork ideas.

She has a deep anthroposophic understanding and offers so much wisdom and advice for free on her Yahoo!Group.

This is an especially wonderful place to start your Waldorf homeschooling journey as Mrs. Johnson has files specifically devoted to how to start with Waldorf if you are new.  There are also many topics of interest just for parenting in general and discipline from a Waldorf perspective.

I encourage you to utilize this free resource!  To join, please see this link:  http://groups.yahoo.com/group/waldorfhomeeducators/

Many blessings,

Carrie