Monthly Archives: March 2010

So How Do I Live Peacefully With My Two-Year-Old?

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Two and a half is an interesting age; there are ages of “disequilibrium” that occur before this, yet in our society we often hear about “the terrible two’s” as if this is the only stage of disequilibrium on the path to the teenaged years.    I have had many parents tell me they felt two- and- a -half was more challenging, but I have also heard many attached parents say they felt like two was not that bad and that three –and- a- half or four was much more challenging!  (That’s not much comfort if you are feeling out of sorts with your precious two-year-old, though, is it?)

So, how does one live peacefully with a two-year-old? 

I think the first thing one must do is to become very clear with one’s view of the small child and of what gentle discipline means to you and to your family. I have many, many posts about that on this blog.  Here is an oldie but goodie to start you off:https://theparentingpassageway.com/2010/02/12/where-do-i-start-with-gentle-discipline/ 

As always, it really does begin with you.  You must get as absolutely  centered as possible yourself because if you feel like you are going to lose it every  time your two-year-old does, it is going to be a long year indeed, unfortunately.  A two-year-old has a complete excess of emotion and impulses; they can’t regulate it at all.  Think of yourself as a sponge that sponges up all that excess emotion; yes, it is exhausting and draining but it is part of  parenting.  So some kind of inner work for yourself where you build up your own life forces, for lack of a better term (in Waldorf we would call this building up the etheric) is a priority; artistic work is especially good.  Can you make it a priority to paint, draw, sculpt, craft for several times a week for half an hour?  It really does help!

Also, get your support in a row.  Do you have other like-minded parents around you?  Not ones that will say, “Oh my, that two-year-old is manipulating you!” but ones that understand what a two-year-old is really about; ones that can help you brainstorm ideas from a loving and warm perspective!

As far as guidance, two-year-olds cannot read non-verbal gestures well in terms of “I am frowning at you and crossing my arms  because I am getting angry with your behavior!”  In fact, a two year old is imitative at best and may just frown back at you or do whatever it is that you are doing at the moment because they are imitating you and really have no idea that you are angry.  Some mothers have told me their two-year-old laughs when they are angry.  This is NOT a defiant, I-am-so-glad-to-see-you-angry- laugh, this is because they understand something about your emotions are different, but again, they don’t really know what to do or how to fix it. Think of this as their way of showing insecurity in the situation if that helps you re-frame it!

So, looking at how you view anger is very important.  What will you do in the heat of the moment? What is your plan?  And what tools are you going to use to help guide your small child instead of yelling or scowling or what have you?

Here is another old favorite to help you get going with that: https://theparentingpassageway.com/2010/01/12/more-about-time-in-for-tinies/    There are also many posts under anger; check them out under the Gentle Discipline page here:  https://theparentingpassageway.com/gentle-discipline/

So, in brief,  here are your allies and your  tools for peaceful living outside of your own work on gentle discipline and anger:

  • CONNECTION – enjoying being together; nursing, co-sleeping,  holding on your lap, still carrying in a sling, playing games, sharing warm meals.  If four is a good age for sitting on laps, it is important to recognize how really tiny two is!  Connect first!
  • Rhythm, rhythm, rhythm – meal times and rest times are most important (and part of being able to go to bed and rest is having a consistent time for waking up every day)
  • Singing and verses more than direct commands; do not ask questions that will be answered NO!  Hum, sing, promote silence, but please stop with the endless barrage of questions.  You can show warmth and love through smiles, pats on the back, hugs, laughter – not just words!
  • Talking pictorially and working through a child’s body in an imaginative way: https://theparentingpassageway.com/2009/10/14/working-through-the-body-day-number-17-of-20-days-toward-being-a-more-mindful-mother/
  • You taking a few breaths and getting some SPACE before you react!
  • Distraction and re-direction
  • You cannot be afraid to pick up a screaming, tantruming child.  The two-year-old may very well need your gentle hands to come back into himself – see the “Time-in For Tinies” post I mentioned above as to more tips for handling temper tantrums.
  • Lots of outside time – get that energy out; pushing, pulling, squatting,
  • Sensory play – water, sand, mud
  • No choices, or very few.  It is really hard for a two-year-old to make a choice, even a small one and then inevitably the choice is made and then they want the other thing….meltdown.  Please don’t put them in that position!
  • Please try to run errands by yourself if you can.  This in itself alleviates so many problems.
  • Avoid expecting that it will be “a good day” if your two-year-old does not melt down; re-frame your expectations for your day in how well you de-escalated things!  And please do forgive yourself!  We are on a path and a journey and striving!  I spoke a lot about this in my talk regarding the first seven years on The Waldorf Channel.  www.thewaldorfchannel.org
  • Do not expect a two-year-old to share well or to patiently wait or to be quiet whilst a younger sibling sleeps for two hours!
  • Guide your child as to what your family needs as a whole;
  • Do not feel hurt if you are not preferred parent of the week!   It is not personal!
  • Try to enjoy this age!  It really is tiny and precious!

 

Love to hear things that have worked well for you with this age – leave a comment in the box!

Blessings,

Carrie

Which Waldorf Curriculum Should I Use?

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(Updated 2/4/2014)

Woo-hoo boy, crazy question!  This question pops up all the time on message boards, on forums (and I always feel bad when mothers get confused and ask on one yahoo group or message board about curriculum that is outside of the list they are on!  :))

I have hesitated to weigh in on this matter for quite some time.  For one thing, I am not certain there is a good answer because everyone is different and what appeals to one person is completely unappealing to another person.   In the end, you know what you like and you know your children, your family, your lifestyle best and will be able to pick what works for you!

The other reason I have hesitated to weigh in is that I create my own curriculum.  I write it over the summer and I cherry-pick from different sources..  I learn a lot!  This may not work for those of you who want to open and go, and most of you have probably heard by now that “open and go” isn’t really Waldorf (but sometimes you have to start somewhere!) but it works well for me.  So, as always, I urge you to go and read Steiner’s educational works for yourself, even if you buying a more open and go curriculum.  I recommend “Kingdom of Childhood” and “Soul Economy” for those with young children in the first seven year cycle.   For those with Grades children, I recommend “Practical Advice for Teachers”  and “Discussions With Teachers”

However, again, I understand this is hard for some folks to create their own, especially if they have never experienced anything of Waldorf Education in a school setting, and they don’t know where to start or life is just such they need something pre-planned to get them going.  So, I would ask you to read the following paragraphs and see if it resonates with you as criteria to evaluate a pre-written curriculum:

  • Does the author(s) have a strong understanding of  Steiner’s educational ideas?  For me to use someone else’s curriculum or curriculum guide, personally, I would need to know that the author(s) have studied Steiner, that they understand it on some level! and are true to the seven year cycles in their curriculum (even though the study of Steiner and anthroposophy is a long, long journey!)   and that they take into account the developmental arc of the human being from that holistic standpoint.   Does that make sense?   That may or may not be important to you! 
  • What is the authors’ background?  Have they homeschooled their own children at all?  Do they understand the dynamics of homeschooling, that things are more intense, that you and the dog and a four year old don’t make a Circle Time, that home has certain advantages that really should play into the curriculum that is different than Waldorf School?  Have they ever taught other children or been in situations where they have worked with other children?  After all, not every child and family is like your own!   Do they have an understanding of the academic and artistic pieces of each grade?  That is important in order to educate for academic success! 
  • Do they have knowledge of the twelve senses and the importance of the protection/development of the twelve senses throughout these seven year cycles?  How is movement incorporated into their curriculum?
  • The other area that is a bug –a- boo for me is to ask whether the authors  are advocating academics within the first seven year cycle?  Are they talking about Main Lesson Books for the Early Years and blocks and such?  Are they talking about being able to tell a child’s temperament within the first seven year cycle?  To me none of that fits, so even if you are looking at grades materials, go back and look at what they propose for the Early Years.  This will give you a good barometer as to how true to Steiner the curriculum is!
  • If you are an Early Years mother and you are contemplating buying curriculum,  please do go through this blog and look at the resources I recommend.  There are many posts and reviews on here.  Work on yourself, your rhythm for your family, the tone of your home.   Life is the curriculum, home is the place during the first seven years.   Look at what you might want to bring in when – see the posts I wrote about the one and two year old in the Waldorf Home and the other post about the three , four five and six year old in the Waldorf home.  Create some of these things, and then worry about “curriculum”!  🙂
  • Lastly, what are the practicalities of using this curriculum?  Is it truly open and go, or do you need to do work to put it together?  (And both answers are okay, it depends what you are looking for!!)  What additional resources do you need?  Do you know how you will open school – do you have verses or songs, a longer poem each month  for your grades children to memorize and recite?  Does the curriculum show how to incorporate the form drawing,  knitting, crafts, cooking, gardening, movement, music or what other resources do you need to get?  Or does all that overwhelm you, you are new to Waldorf, and you feel you just need the main lesson ideas?  Does the curriculum provide samples of what a third grader might write, examples of math problems, etc?  Does it give you ideas for the Main Lesson from an artistic standpoint beyond drawing and summarizing?  Remember, art is the vehicle through which the lesson is taught!  The art is NOT separate!  Otherwise the curriculum becomes dry!
  • Does this curriculum use a two or three day rhythm?  A three day rhythm is what is typically used in a Waldorf school, it is what I use in my own homeschool, but I do notice most of the homeschool Waldorf Curriculums use a two-day rhythm because home is more intense and goes faster than school!  Marsha Johnson’s files do use a three-day rhythm.  The three day rhythm looks like this:  First Day, tell story (and do lots of other things, poem recitation, memorizing, form drawing perhaps!) Second Day artistic piece or a beautiful hands-on project and things tied to parts of the main story, perhaps extra things like going over vocabulary, spelling, a deepening of a math concept, etc and Third Day the academic piece for the Main Lesson Book.  Not every lesson has to have a spot in the Main Lesson though –for some things we have made diaromas or modeled something or painted something – those things don’t fit in a Main Lesson Book!  And not every homeschooling mother uses a Main Lesson Book for every block.  The “academic” piece can be moved up or down or de-emphasized as well as needed.

If you can ask yourself these questions of the curriculum and be satisfied, then you will have most likely found the right curriculum for you!

There are things mothers have told me they liked or didn’t like about any of the Waldorf curriculums on the market, because we are all different people.  You will find what works for you and your family!   You are the expert on your own family!

In the end, though, realize, it is what you create with these pieces of paper in your own homeschool that matters!  It is about family first, joy first, being together first!

You will find what works for you! You are the architect of your own  homeschool!

Create the joy of this journey for your family!

Many blessings,

Carrie

PS  Please know that I do not want to turn this post into a debate regarding specific curriculum, because we all are individuals with our likes and dislikes, so do know the comments to this post will be carefully moderated.  Thank you!

Peaceful Homeschooling: Needed Resources For Waldorf Grade One

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Here is my list for first grade:

  • If you are not a do-it-yourselfer, you will need a curriculum!  The one I most frequently recommend is Christopherus (Donna Simmons).    If you buy Donna’s curriculum, you will need a form drawing resource, and the other resources she recommends for that grade. 
  • I suggest you familiarize yourself  with the FILES section over at Waldorf Home Educators ( many FREE blocks are there!) created by Marsha Johnson for First Grade in the FILES section at www.waldorfhomeeducators@yahoogroups.com
  • See the website www.movementforchildhood.com  for movement blocks to bring into your homeschool
  • THe Christopherus curriculum includes the  stories  for Main Lessons, but you may want some extra tales to have on hand to tell during knitting, gardening, cooking or what have you.  I like the Pantheon Edition of The Grimm Fairy Tales, the book “Hear the Voice of The Griot!” for African tales, and you could also use Slovak tales, Norwegian tales, and any others that suit you!  Use your local library for collections.
  • “Learning About The World Through Modeling” by Arthur Auer  would be important to have to understand the juxtaposition of wet-on-wet watercolor painting and modeling in the curriculum.
  • A flute/recorder/pennywhistle and music to teach your child.  I know Jodie Mesler is hard at work on a curriculum for this year that one could use with a flute or pennywhisstle or recorder – check it out www.homemusicmaking.blogspot.com
  • Collections of poems and versese for the day, season, holiday –  I recommend Eric Fairman’s Path of Discovery Grade One if you can get it used, and again, use your library.  Some folks really like the seasonal Wynstones books, but I think to use those books fully, you really need to know how to read music.  Also, check out Candey Verney’s “The Singing Day” and “The Singing Year”
  • General craft supplies for festival crafting.  I also still think many of the projects in “Earthways” could still be used.
  • Bean bags/silks
  • Chalkboard and lap slates
  • Watercolor paper/ Watercolor paint / block  and stick crayons/paper/Beeswax  modeling material
  • Yarn and knitting materials, a needle for yarn to sew up projects 
  • Puppets/story telling props
  • Nature table and all of Mother Nature’s Goodies
  • Math manipulatives (sand tray, stones, acorns, jewels,…)  I also would recommend Jamie York’s “Making Math Meanoingful” for Grades One Through Five
  • Main lesson books unless you are planning to make your own!
  • A jump rope and jump rope rhymes; a basketball

I feel as if I am missing something!  Please add your suggestions in the comment box below!

Blessings,

Carrie

The Two-Year-Old: A Traditional Perspective

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Let’s hop into looking at the two-year-old from a traditional perspective.  Again, my favorite resource on this topic is the book, “Your Two-Year-Old” for a traditional look at the two-year-old.

So, what can you expect from a two-year-old?

  • Tends to be much easier to live with than the eighteen-month old; motor abilities are stronger and less a source of frustration
  • Emotionally calmer, happy more of the time than previously
  • Affectionate
  • Developing speech also makes life easier
  • Likes to run little errands around the house
  • Typically likes to watch all the household activities and take part in them
  • Often a typical time for potty training (closer to two and a half)
  • Likes repetition and rhythm to his day
  • Typically eats one good meal
  • Not a good deal of interaction in a “Playgroup” situation (and you all  know how I feel about social stuff for little people under four and a half, if you are new here and don’t know, you can search for the post about social experiences for the four-year-old!  :))
  • How they feel toward younger siblings really varies from kind and protective to jealous.  Never, ever leave a baby alone unattended with a two or two and a half year old.  🙂
  • They can run without falling now, walk up and stairs alone two feet to a step, but they tend to use their knee and foot together in walking, both arms out if you ask for one arm, all fingers out if you ask for one finger or one finger on both hands if you ask for one finger,
  • Vision is also dependent upon touch and manipulation of the object the child is looking at; can look at moving objects in space quite well
  • Lots of impulses, short attention span, touches and tastes everything

Two And A Half

  • Often stubborn and aggressive in that the two and a half year old wants what they want when they want it. 
  • Tense, explosive, rigid, bossy, demanding – Carrie’s note:  but this is because they feel UNSURE and INSECURE, not because they feel confident! 
  • Not a good age for making choices, likes to choose the opposite!  The authors write in “Your Two-Year-Old”;  “Thus, the simple choice between chocolate or vanilla cookies may ruin an excursion to the store.  Possibly, it is better that he stay at home so that this kind of problem, so difficult to solve, will not arise.”  
  • Demands “sameness” ; sometimes has rituals around things and then will have a temper tantrum if the ritual for dressing or eating or whatever doesn’t go how they plan
  • Time is seen by the two-and-a-half year old as a sequence of events…The “Your Two-Year-Old”  book mentions that if Daddy comes home from work early one day, your two and a half year old will still expect dinner after Daddy gets home, because that is what normally happens.
  • Lots of tensional outlets – thumb sucking, increased nursing, stuttering, screaming, temper tantrums
  • The age of “I Want!”  “Me do!” and “NO!”
  • The age of parental preferences; only Mommy can do something or only Daddy can do something. My husband and I used to call this PPW – short for Preferred Parent of the Week. 
  • Frequently fatigues, especially as headed toward age three; whining starts to come up
  • Things really do frustrate them, and to them the frustrations they are experiencing are very, very real! 
  • Carrie’s note – there are fun things about this age, everything is new, their vocabulary is exploding, they are interested in helping and being a part of everything. 
  • In a group social setting, possessions are part of himself or herself, so you hear “Mine!” a lot.  Things are more important than people, this is NORMAL.  Also, cannot really take turns yet. 
  • Improved motor skills – can walk on tiptoes, can jump with two feet, will try to stand on one foot, can speed up and slow down and go around things and arms and legs and fingers are more differentiated now.
  • Will start to imitate adult behaviors – caring for a baby, etc.
  • Sensory play – mud. water, sand – are well-liked and needed!
  • Boys overall, have more difficulties adjusting to a group setting, more tensional outlets, more quarrels about possessions, speech may not come in as much as the girls speech until around thirty months

 

Many blessings,

Carrie

History and Literature: Waldorf Homeschooling Grades One Through Twelve

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You can adjust the academic level up or down, but the stories in the curriculum are designed specifically to speak to the age of the child starting with being six and a half or seven in first grade because we are based on seven year cycles…..This is sort of a merging of The Waldorf Curriculum chart, and all the Waldorf curriculum overviews out there merged witht my own thoughts….

Grade One  (Ages 6 and a half and up: I personally feel strongly about starting as close to seven as possible so as not to cheat the child out of the end of the first seven year cycle)

  • Fairy Tales:  Grimm, Asbjornsen and Moe, I would add African fairy tales from “Hear the Voice of The Griot!” (this book covers Kindergarten through Grade 12)  and Asian fairy tales. Some teachers use many of the Slovak tales.  I like those as well!
  • Nature Stories
  • Poems with strong rhythms
  • Vowels from feelings, drawings and paintings give birth to letters, capital letters, simple words, speech exercises, short plays, phonetics
  • I would add the most 100 common sight words here

Grade Two  (Usually close to age eight)

  • Fables: Aesop’s and Celtic
  • Legends of Saints
  • American Indian Stories
  • Jataka Tales (Buddhist)
  • The King of Ireland’s Son by Padraic Colum
  • Nature Stories
  • I would add Russian tales as well and continue with African fairy tales or fables; Asian fairy tales and folk legends. I like the Barefoot Books’ “Trickster Tales” “Animal Tales” and the one about tales from The Silk Road.  Excellent, and would be easy to do blocks from these!
  • Grammar, spelling usually starts here (Donna Simmons says Grade Three, I think it depends if you are learning a foreign language that is grammar heavy!  My German-speaking child needed to go into some English grammar because the grammar of the two languages is different) – structure of a sentence, doing/naming/color/ words punctuation, dictation, simple sentences and paragraphs, writing simple descriptions of what was seen or heard, plays and speech work
  • I would add sight words here – the 500 most common sight words

Grade Three  (usually close to age 9)

  • American Indian tales and fables
  • Biblical stories as part of Ancient History  (please make sure your child is close to 9 so these stories speak to your child they way they should)
  • I would add some of the  Grimm’s tales/fairy tales for older children
  • Poetry and reading from main lesson,
  • Grammar and spelling usually start here, some start in Second Grade

Grade Four  (usually close to age 10)

  • Local history through geography
  • Why the early settlers chose your area in which to live, how the natural resources were developed there
  • Norse myths/sagas – Could also do the Finnish National Epic “The Kalevala”
  • Some people do more of the Old Testament Stories at this point
  • Poetry
  • Alliteration
  • Some people also put local Native American tales here to go with local history
  • Verb tenses, prepositions,  personal pronouns, memorize grammatical rules, writing compositions with emphasis on story, letter writing, form and content, oral book reports, spelling rules and words, plurals, abbreviations, adverbs

Grade Five  (usually close to age 11)

  • First historical concepts:  Ancient India, Ancient Persia, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece up to Alexander the Great
  • The lives of Manu, Rama, Buddha, Zarathustra, Gilgamesh, Khufu, and Orpheus
  • Greek Mythology
  • Scenes from Ancient History
  • Biographies of Great Men and Women
  • Usually active and passive verbs, use of capitals, antonyms, parts of speech, punctuation, writing compositions with emphasis on descriptions, book reports – oral and written, letter writing,  subject and predicate, synonyms, homonyms, syntax
  • Spelling rules and words
  • Dictionary use

Grade Six

  • The fall of Troy to the founding of Rome thought the monarchy, republic, empire
  • The life of Christ and the Crusades
  • The life of Muhammad and the Islamic people
  • Medieval society:  the cloister, the castle, the city
  • Tales of chivalry:  Men of Iron by Pyle
  • Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
  • Poetry, ballads, scenes from medieval history
  • Grammar: subjunctive mood, conditional sentences, transitive and intransitive verbs, possessive and objective nouns, adjectives, usage, phrases and clauses,  comparative adverbs, sentence diagramming, review of parts of speech, writing with emphasis on exposition, paragraphs, narration, outlining in science blocks, business letters, spelling

Grade Seven

  • 1400-1700
  • The Age of Exploration,
  • The Age of Discovery
  • The Reformation
  • The Renaissance
  • Many biographies
  • Arthurian legends, historical novels, biography, humorous tales and stories, tales of adventure and discovery, ballads, poems, scenes from The Renaissance, stories about tribal life
  • Review all grammar, plasticity of language based upon Wish, Wonder, Surprise block, writing, research papers, write and produce a puppet show, poetry – learn forms of poetry, spelling

Grade Eight

  • 1700 to the present
  • The Industrial Revolution to the Modern Day; Shakespeare, Napoleon, Edison, Ford, Jefferson, Lincoln
  • American History
  • Literature:  Shakespeare, Poetry: epic and dramatic,  Stories about different people of the world with their folklore and poetry
  • Review all grammar, writing all block books have original writing, newspaper reporting, businesslike and practical writing, write a skit or a short play, spelling up to 25 words a week

 

Grade Nine

  • Modern history with emphasis on Europe and dealing with the inner historic motives of the political, social and industrial revolutions from the late eighteenth century to the present
  • The great inventions 
  • Literature:  Comedy and Tragedy in the drama and the short story, Shakespeare through the Romantics, Longer essays on themes from eighth grade history can be given, shorthand, biography, poetic ballads, mythology, short story writing, stimulation of reading, writing summaries

Grade Ten

  • Ancient History, the earliest Indian, Persian and Egyptian history up to the time of decline of the freedoms  under Alexander the Great
  • Literature:  Dramatic literature:  Edda, Gilgamesh, Beowulf, Nibelungenlied, and Gudrun sagas
  • Creative writing
  • Research paper on a pre-Christian theme
  • History of Language
  • Poetry:  epic poetry
  • Speech exercises
  • Study of meter and poetic diction

Grade Eleven

  • Roman, medieval and Renaissance History
  • Contrast of the year:  Compare and contrast
  • Dante, Chaucer, Medieval Romance, Story Writing, Essay writing from reading, poetry:dramatic poetry
  • Parsifal and other Grail legends
  • Shakespeare
  • Research paper on medieval topic

Grade Twelve

  • Modern and world history
  • Look at history from present perspective
  • Look at communism, fascism, the threefold social order
  • Literature:  Emerson, Hawthorne, Thoreau, Whitman
  • Goethe’s Faust, Ibsen, Nietzche or Hesse
  • Great Figures in Literature
  • Creative Writing
  • Synthesizing thoughts, ideas , information in literature and writing

Many, many blessings,

Carrie

Out Of The Frying Pan

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….and into the fire I leap.  You can see my controversial opinion of the RIE movement that is making inroads into Waldorf Early Care here :  http://christopherushomeschool.typepad.com/blog/2010/03/review-a-warm-and-gentle-welcome-a-wecan-publication.html

For those of you who have not heard of this movement, here is the beginning part of the review I wrote that explains what is happening:

A Review: “A Warm and Gentle Welcome: Nurturing Children from Birth to Age Three”

“This is the Gateways Series Five book which consists of a series of articles compiled from the work of the Waldorf Early Childhood Association of North America RIE/Pikler Working Group. I bought this book because I am a Waldorf homeschooling mother with an extreme interest in the Early Years. Also, as a neonatal/pediatric physical therapist, I really wanted to understand more about the RIE/Pikler approach that is seems to be becoming part of the world of Waldorf for children from birth to age three.

Unfortunately, I found I had more questions than answers after reading this book than when I started.

The underlying assumption of this book is laid out in an article of Introduction by Trice Atchinson and Margaret Ris: that there is a growing conviction within the Waldorf movement to “respond to the needs of the times” (ie, child care for younger and younger children) and because Rudolf Steiner’s indications for working with children and adolescents in Waldorf schools had been put to practical use for many decades, little existed on how best to meet the needs of children at the very beginning of life – particularly in light of societal trends such as daycare, single parenting, dual working families and the isolation of at-home mothers.” Therefore, a working group associated with WECAN began to investigate Resources for Infant Educarers, or RIE, founded by Magda Gerber, as a resource for the child at the beginning of life.”

To read the whole review I wrote, please see the link above.  I have grave and serious concerns about this approach, which my review details.

For those of you looking at Waldorf early, early care (for birth to age three), please do a bit of research regarding this issue and see how you feel about it; really talk to the provider and see what approach they use within their care.  This way you can make the best decision for your family.

Blessings,

Carrie

Holy Week and Easter In The Waldorf Home

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I have some ideas about this to share as I have been reading “Festivals With Children” by Brigitte Barz.  Some people really hate this book!  The tone of it is rather authoritarian, but it was first published in German and I think part of it may be the way it was translated.  It is very true in keeping to what one would think of for the under-9 child versus the over-9 child.  I  found this book for $1.46 on Amazon used, so I think it was well worth that price!

The author’s suggestions for Lent (yes, a bit more about Lent) include a nature table with an empty bowl on it, perhaps some branch that just has buds on it (but I gather to keep switching it out before it blooms :)) and the use of a Celtic cross or such if you would like that as a symbol (but none of Jesus hanging on the cross for the under-9 children).  The author feels it is not appropriate to include a representation of Christ the man on the cross  and writes,

“Great restraint is required when introducing children to Passiontide and Holy Week.  Younger children under the age of nine are not ready yet to take any conscious part in them.  …..The self-knowledge which belongs to Passiontide and which adults go through at this time of year as an inner experience of suffering is simply not appropriate for children.  Conscious immersion into the depths of Christ’s suffering unto death should not be initiated before the time of preparation for Confirmation (age 14).”

Instead, we can approach this time through fairy tales with their stories of transformation, redemption after suffering or death.  The author mentions The Wolf and the Seven Little Kids (I would say depends on your child and their temperament as well as the age of your child for this one, possibly age 6 or 7) , Little Red Riding Hood, Snow White, The Donkey, King Thrushbeard (I would say ages 7 and 8).  My  five-year-old and I are currently doing “Budulinek”.  There is a version of this tale available on www.mainlesson.com

For Holy Week, perhaps the best-known Waldorf tradition is to fill the empty dish on the Nature Table (or some families keep dirt or ashes in the dish) with dirt and sow seeds of grass or summer wheat on Palm Sunday.  We can also bake a shaped and braided Easter bread for Easter morning.

Here are some more traditions:

Palm Sunday – make a paper cockerel to hang above the table for Palm Sunday.  In some parts of Europe, there are processions where the children carry crosses or wooden circles, decorated with bread figures, especially the cockerel.

The cockerel is a natural symbol to herald this coming of Christ, the beginning of the new covenant.

Some families start lighting that unlit candle that has sat on their Nature Table today.  This is also the day to sow your grass seed as mentioned above!

Maundy Thursday – Traditions include the washing of each other’s feet and the eating of green foods.  Chervil soup is traditional fare, along with bread and water for a very simple meal on a white cloth.

Good Friday – this is the day to make Hot Cross Buns.  It is also a day to plant seeds such as marigolds, sunflowers, nasturiums into beds – the seeds are buried but rise to new life.  This really speaks to an under-9 aged child!

Holy Saturday – a day of quiet, a day of waiting.  One can line and decorate Easter baskets, mix the dough for Easter bread (one of those braided breads with pockets is nice!)  or make a nest for the Easter Hare (not the Easter Bunny!  Rabbits and hares have very different characteristics!)  In secret, make a few butterflies to hang over the dining room table for Easter morning!

For Easter traditions and the forty days of Easter, please see tomorrow’s post!

Blessings,

Carrie

A Little Garden Flower Curriculum Sampler

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Melisa Nielsen, founder of A Little Garden Flower Curriculum, was kind enough to put together a 60-paged PDF file of her curriculum, ranging from samples of her day planner for Waldorf homeschooling mothers to “Before the Journey” (that time before Kindergarten), and then Kindergarten to Grade Six, plus the math 1-5 grades book and the geometry book.

Many of her books come in e-book format and her prices are very reasonable.  She also runs a very active Yahoo!group that tackles all things Waldorf.

Here is the link for the PDF sampler: http://www.beaconmama.com/sampler.pdf

Many blessings,

Carrie

A Few Frequently Asked Questions About This Blog

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Q.  Who are you?

A. Uh, check out the “About” page.  That’s me in a nutshell!

Q:  What is your viewpoint?  Where are you coming from on this blog?

A:  I use a viewpoint of development across the human arc,  attachment parenting principles, and a  medical/traditional developmental background from being a neonatal/physical therapist and  IBCLC.

Q:  Do you have a religious orientation?

A:  I am Christian.  There are a few posts on this blog regarding religious education/resources, but I try to write most posts with everyone in mind.

Q:  Why are there no pictures on your blog? How come you don’t write more about your family or yourself?

A.  There are lots of beautiful blogs out there with gorgeous pictures!  I love, love those too!!  However, sometimes when mothers are feeling really down and they look at those blogs, it sometimes seems to cause mothers to feel worse about themselves or to  cause the “why- aren’t- I- doing –more”  kinds of feelings.   I want this space to be informative,  uplifting and inspiring for all families, but not really a place to compare…..This blog is about creating your own parenting, your own family culture, your own homeschool. 

Q:  How come I get sucked into your blog for hours on end?

A:  I write a lot. 🙂

Q:  How do you decide what to write about?

A: Usually two or three people will ask/talk about/email me the same topic within a day or two.  I figure that is a sign!  🙂

Many blessings,

Carrie

Peaceful Days: More About Homeschooling Waldorf Second Grade

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I wrote a pretty detailed post regarding second grade planning  here:   https://theparentingpassageway.com/2009/07/07/planning-waldorf-second-grade/   but wanted to recap half-way through this grade what I  have learned in the doing.  (I did this for first grade as well, please check under the first grade tag).

Here is a list regarding some things I have learned along the way in teaching second grade  that I think would be valuable for other parents:

1.  Regarding math, I think second grade is (and not to sound scary at all!)  a bit of a make or break point because your child starts to size up in their head whether or not they are “good” at math or not.  In other words, it seems like it could be the time for a child to generate a “math phobia”.   Much of this, I think has to do with temperament and personality.    Are they the type of child who will persevere and try and try again and be okay with trying to figure something out or does that just  make them fall apart?  I think this is something you can tuck in your hat and work with in math.

2.  Daily math practice is very, very important when you are not doing a Main Lesson Block on math.  The math  facts often seem rather floating around and up and away in the mind’s eye of a child….In third grade, these facts should be more well-solidified, but I think it is worth practicing in second grade.

3.  As far as language arts, I do not think you need to jump into spelling and grammar as of yet, but we had to because my daughter is learning German and in the German language,  grammar is the heart of it all (nouns are capitalized in the German language, for instance) and my daughter was starting to bring German grammar into English..so we had to go there a little bit.  I used some of the lessons from Dorothy Harrer’s “An English Manual”  book and those were helpful.

Other things to think about include writing utensil (we have been using stick crayons, but I do know Second Grade parents who are using other utensils).  Also, when will you be bringing in cursive?

4. Keep carving out time for baking, gardening, cleaning and allow more consecutive days for project completion.  How about music, painting and modeling?

5. I strongly believe that there are anthroposophic indications for saving purling in handwork until the third grade.  Just a thought.  Go read through Steiner and see what you think. 

6.  Form drawing and movement are important.  For movement suggestions in block form see here:  http://www.movementforchildhood.com/classroom.pdf

7.  After dealing with Saints and Heroes this year, I am not totally convinced that they should be part of the curriculum for the homeschooling family unless the parent is really comfortable with them and those stories.  On the one hand, the saints were not part of the original Waldorf school curriculum, and whilst I think it is worthy and important to look into them and see why you don’t connect with them (because there are plenty of Hindu, Islamic, African saints in many places, also heroes of people who were otherworldly, figure who had a connection to the spiritual world that an eight-year-old with one foot on the bridge and one foot on earth could really relate to!), I also don’t think people should bring these stories if they are not comfortable.

Before you give up Saints, though,  you might want to check out the Saints and Heroes book by Donna Simmons here: http://www.christopherushomeschool.org/bookstore-for-waldorf-homeschooling/publications-for-grades-1-through-5/saints-heroes-a-2nd-grade-language-arts-block.html

There are saints and heroes from many different cultures in this resource.

We personally did enjoy saints and heroes along with fables, Native American tales, more fairy tales (Russian ones this year, and I know some families who did a block of Celtic tales).  I think second grade could be just  those animal trickster tales, fables (no telling the moral please, please let the child figure it out!), more fairy tales, folktales.  (King of Ireland’s Son is also traditional in many Waldorf schools).   However, I think we still need to show the eight-year-old the duality of man, which is why I think so many schools do use the saints and heroes (otherworldly wonderful qualities close to the spiritual worlds) and the fables or trickster tales (the baser parts of being human).  Food for thought anyway. 

7.  If you are feeling overwhelmed and ready to give up Waldorf, please don’t.  You really can do the very essential – opening things (an opening song, a seasonal verse, a longer poem to memorize), do your mental math if not a math block and jump into Main Lesson work and be done.  It is better than giving up this great healing education! And, you eventually go through a cycle and time when you can add more back in!

8.  Plan for summers OFF.  Your child will make so much progress if you just let this material rest, rest, rest.

Hope that helps your planning!

Carrie