(This guest post is written by a friend of mine who lives in my region of the U.S. She writes in):

As I write this I am enjoying a homemade sourdough English muffin, topped with homemade cheese and homemade strawberry jam. This, my friends, is the real reward of doing a Waldorf-inspired third grade year! We have just finished Grade 3, and what a fun year it has been. Although I have always homeschooled my boys, this has been our first year using Waldorf-inspired methods. I began our year by meditating on my son, Vincent, who turned 9 this past December. My number one goal for him was to get him out of his head a bit (well, a lot), which meant less reading and more physical activity. I also wanted to try to calm his mind and focus him to finish a task. Lower on my list of things to accomplish was to teach him all 4 processes in math, as we had only done addition and subtraction previously. And of course, there is my constant quest as a parent to encourage reverence, empathy and connection in both my boys.

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