For those of you who are homeschooling, NOW is the time to start planning. It is easy to plan if you do it in increments. I started a few weeks ago and am here to give those of you homeschooling a gentle nudge to think about next year (I know my Down Under readers are just starting a new school year now, so all of you can tuck this post away for September or so!)
If you are like me and have been through the curriculum, you probably have a good idea what you are teaching in blocks for each grade or general thematic ideas by month for kindergarten. If not, grab some resources and start figuring out the big picture and the big themes for the year you are teaching!
Get out your calendar! And know your homeschool laws! How many days do you have to teach? What do you have to document and turn in? When will you stop and start and take vacation? How many days a week will you teach? Do you need extra time around the holidays or at the end of the school year when the energy is expansive and everyone is just “done”?
Now plan out your blocks. Just what block will come first, what block will come second, etc. How many weeks will each block take?
Start making lists of needed books and supplies by block. Think about your budget and what you can order when.
I have started. You start too!
Many blessings,
Carrie
The Parenting Passageway 
I’ve got many questions but one question that I would love to get answered is what is the age of a kindergarten child? Here in Malta it is 3 years old but I think in Waldorf it is 5 – is that right? Although I have seen in places that the kinder age seems to be 3 even in Waldorf?! A bit confused so would appreciate clarification 🙂 And should I be doing a kind of “curriculum” with a 3 year old ie. more arts and crafts? At the moment my 27 month old doesn’t seem to be all that interested in arts and crafts (playdough, crayons – about 10 mins and then that’s it) but perhaps this will change when she is three…
Thank you so much Carrie for this amazing site – completely in awe of you and all the mothers (and fathers) who post on it!
Hi Francesca!
Here in the United States, the age to start school depends upon the state. In my state, the age to attend school is age six. However, many parents feel their children will be “behind” if their child doesn’t go to school for kindergarten or preschool. Waldorf Schools (a private, tuition funded) education used to begin more around age 4 and a half for kindergarten but now most Waldorf Schools in the US seem to run ages 3-6 with the three and four year olds running less days per week than the older children. In the home environment, I personally consider five and six year olds to be of kindergarten age and those below that nursery age. If you want to know what you should be doing with a three year old, you can try this back post – https://theparentingpassageway.com/2010/01/13/waldorf-in-the-home-with-the-three-and-four-year-old/….I agree sleep, rhythm, play with cleaning up, meaningful work and gross motor movement. If you are curious about the role of handwork in the curriculum, I recommend this back post: https://theparentingpassageway.com/2010/03/28/handwork/ There is work to be done with the hands in order to prepare for this https://theparentingpassageway.com/2013/01/13/neurologic-development-opportunity-experiences-and-encouragement/
Blessings,
Carrie
Thanks for the nudge 🙂 I’m thoroughly enjoying our Kindergarten year with my twin girls, but am very excited about 1st grade to come! The girls are 6 years old and I’m so, so glad we’ve taken this year the way we have– slowly! We have worked on projects, learned more songs, baked more than years’ past, celebrated festivals and played a lot! This year has been the first that they truly remember the celebration of festivals from the previous year and occasionally they conjure up a memory from years past. I just can’t help but think that if we did 1st grade (since they’re right on the cusp, age-wise) we wouldn’t have had the time to savor these experiences.
Mojaveinmyheart,
Lovely to hear from you and hear your experience! I am a BIG proponent for first grade being for those close to age 7.
So glad to hear how it worked in your family – thank you for sharing.
Blessings,
Carrie
Hi, I have twin girls who are going to be six in April. I am interested in the ‘thematic ideas’ you mention for kindergarten. What kind of things would you mean by that. I am in a funny place right now where i feel we have been doing kindergarten forever. I think I was slightly over enthusiastic in the early years and now my kids are slightly fed up with Kindy if you know what I mean. So the last few months I have kind of freed things up. I too if I am honest have felt a little kindy’d out. Our general core rhythm sleep and eating cycles are solid but all the bits In between have sort of merged into play play and more play. The girls are extremely happy and very content. I feel myself waiting for 1st grade to get going again. I realise this is not a great place to be. I was thinking of starting 1st grade in September, the girls will be 6.5 by then. I was thinking if I could get some thematic ideas going till then it would get us in track again!!
Thanks
Charlotte
Hi Charlotte –
Yes, I think this is why I really try to encourage parents not to go crazy with those under 5s or 5 and a half..you really can get kindy burnout, I think. (Although not always, I do know some homeschooling mothers that are just Early Years people and would gladly avoid the grades! LOL). At any rate, those “themes” always goes back to the cycle of the year and then looking at the festivals and the monthly anchor points for each month. I plan our songs, verses, fingerplays, crafts, baking, etc off of that. So I think you are back to basics with the day, so now look back on the great cycle of the year and plan from there. I would not let Kindy go out with a whimper. Do something rather memorable and it will really help set the stage for first grade in September!
Blessings and love,
Carrie
Hi Carrie,
I would love to hear more about planning for the six-year-old kindergarten year. That’s where we’ll be next year. (I’ll also have a two-year-old in the mix – ack!) For this year I did not plan circle times or projects for the whole year and now I am really wishing that I had. At the time (it was the first year I had ever “planned” for) it seemed excessive to plan the whole year. But here we are in February and I’m still doing our January circle, which we only started doing a couple of weeks ago. And I wish we had the materials to make candles yesterday, but I still haven’t ordered supplies. Things are pretty haphazard. I am not a big planner in life so this is challenging for me. But I can definitely see the benefit of being more prepared and having some foundation laid for the year ahead. Any advice or links would be much appreciated.
~Annie
Hi Annie!
I think planning really, really saves us – especially in the grades. Here are some links about the six-year-old kindergarten year:
https://theparentingpassageway.com/2011/07/07/deconstructing-the-six-year-old-kindergarten-year/
https://theparentingpassageway.com/2009/06/14/summer-planning-for-the-five-and-six-year-old-kindergarten-years/
https://theparentingpassageway.com/2011/07/26/what-stories-should-i-use-in-the-six-year-old-kindergarten-year/
https://theparentingpassageway.com/2009/02/23/the-six-year-old-waldorf-kindergarten-year-at-home/
Blessings,
Carrie
Thanks SO much, Carrie! Looking forward to digging in.