This article is by Donna Simmons and can be found on Donna Simmons’ Christopherus Blog.  Please see Donna’s blog for more wonderful articles about topics near and dear to your heart as a parent here: http://www.christopherushomeschool.org/home.html  

Here is a link for this special article:   http://christopherushomeschool.typepad.com/blog/2010/06/musings-on-school-readiness-and-older-children.html  

This article addresses not only the six-year-old year but other transition years/grades for older children.  This article is really wonderful, and I encourage you to read it.

For the Early Years section of this article,  I especially and wholly agree with the idea that we are starting children much too early in Waldorf Kindergarten at school.   At home,  we have the opportunity to make the “Waldorf Kindergarten” years the “five-year-old year”  (ie, starting at  the ages of four and a half/five years old) and  the “six-year-old year” (ie, starting at five and a half/six years of age) with first grade starting at six and a half or seven years of age based upon your individual assessment of your child.  I have posts on this blog about the one and two –year- old in the Waldorf Home, the three and four- year -old in the Waldorf Home, and many articles about the six-year-old kindergarten year.  My perspective on the five and six-year old years will be forthcoming.

For those of you with older children, I encourage you to read this article as Donna shares candidly about her high school experiences from her perspective as a Waldorf Educator, now a high school teacher, and as a parent.

I hope you find this article as wonderful as I did…  Donna Simmons has many wise word regarding children and their needs.  Thank you Donna!

Many blessings,

Carrie