Author Archives: Carrie

How To Grow A Homeschool Group

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Mothers tell me all the time that they wish they had a homeschooling group that met their needs.Sometimes what forms as a loose group in the beginning really doesn’t hold as the years progress because I often find around the age of five or six, families get really antsy if this child is their oldest.  They may to decide to put their children in school or they may change homeschooling methods, and then you have to start all over again!

It is worth it though to have this structure in place.  A homeschooling group of friends is so important to the grades child.  They may have other friends who go to public or private school, but to have a group of friends who are being schooled in the same way, and even in the same method can be invaluable.

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Linky Love for July!

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I am liking these links currently:

Erin’s post about mothering through breastfeeding:  http://mommyerin.blogspot.com/2009/08/our-lady-of-la-leche-patron-for.html

I don’t go too many days without checking Eva’s Untrodden Paths:  http://untroddenpaths.blogspot.com/

Meredith’s North American Geography Guide could be valuable to work in conjunction with whatever curriculum you have.  I would suggest for fourth or fifth graders, depending upon the progression of geography you are following in your homeschool:  http://www.awaldorfjourney.com/2011/07/north-american-geography-curriculum-guide-now-available/

For those of you planning, here is a planning post from the Seasons of Joy website:  http://ourseasonsofjoy.com/plans-and-projects/so-you-want-to-put-together-a-main-lesson-blockunit-study/  and here is a post from Rockin’ Granola about a file planning system:  http://www.rockingranola.com/2011/07/my-simplified-file-crate-system.html

Melisa Nielsen wrote a post here about dogma and tradition in Waldorf Education:  http://waldorfjourney.typepad.com/a_journey_through_waldorf/2011/07/dogma-or-tradition-or-steiner.html

Hope you enjoy those links.

Many blessings,

Carrie

What Stories Should I Use In The Six-Year Old Kindergarten Year?

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I would love to hear your favorite stories that you tell to six year olds during the six year old Kindergarten year; leave your picks in the comment boxes.

I love those  repetitive stories such as The Gingerbread Man, Chicken Licken, etc, but not to reach the heart and soul of  the six year old.  I truly think that for most six year olds, these tales are enjoyable (just as they are for we the adults!)  but I am not certain these will  meet the child’s needs if  for he or she really is  in the throes of real and distinct developmental change.  If he or she is changing, really what is needed are stories with a little more “meat”, a little more good versus evil where good wins.

I hear about children who cannot handle fairy tales well; this does happen.   I wrote about that here in 2009: https://theparentingpassageway.com/2009/08/16/what-do-i-do-my-child-cant-handle-fairy-tales/  You really CANNOT bring a tale to your child that does not resonate with you or that makes you uncomfortable, so do NOT pick that one.  However, you can read a tale for two or three days, and really sleep on it and see what comes to you before you just dismiss it as well.   I  personally love nearly all the Grimms Tales, and am very comfortable with them, and I think that completely comes out in my storytelling.

So, without further ado, here are some stories we have enjoyed in my family in the past, or I have known families whose children enjoyed these tales; this list has my detailed notes as to each story: Continue reading →

Mural-Sized Moving Pictures

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Moving pictures are a beautiful way to illustrate the action of a story or verse.  Some resources, such as this little book from Bob and Nancy’s, “Making Picture Books With Moving Figures”  (http://www.waldorfbooks.com/teaching-resources/kindergarten-nursury/early-childhood-resources/storytime)  talk about drawing these pictures, but I like to wet on wet paint them.  One afternoon last week, I made these two scenes out of 9 pieces of watercolor paper (seven for the scenery,  plus two small pieces to make puppets of the boat, one Peter puppet and two puppets of Jesus) for a program at our church.  Continue reading →

P Is For Patience

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Parenting calls on us to be patient even when we do not feel like it. 

I have been thinking a lot about patience.   I have written about patience before on this blog, but as I grow and change new thoughts come to me.

 

And  what I really want to tell you today, my friends, is that the only way to increase your patience is to take your IMPATIENCE and replace it with LOVE.

 

Love for your children.

Love in knowing that maturity comes slowly.

Love in having a soft and gentle answer to what a child does that is immature.

Love in knowing when a child does need to be pushed a bit in order to move forward.

Love in being able to freeze time, in a sense, whilst the children are all screaming at once, and to still see the tenderness in that scene.  To really see those needs that have to be met, but knowing there is time present to do that.

 

For one cannot be in a hurry in parenting.  It solves nothing to jump to snap decisions, snap judgments, snap action.    I have a dear friend who related to me one day that every time she was trying to get all her children out of the door, inevitably all of them would fall apart and all of them would all be talking, screaming or crying louder and louder to get her attention.  Who should she listen to?  Take turns, listen to “he said, she said”, pay attention to the youngest, the most urgent?  I suppose any of the courses could be reasonable as we step in and try to fight and wade through all of this…but perhaps there is another way to look at it all.

 

And that is this:  replace the frustration you are feeling with love; and keep your eye on the original intent. If it is time to go, then we get in the car and hash this out later. If it is time to eat, then we are eating and we can talk about all this in a bit.  Guide your children  toward the immediate need or goal, whether this is that it is time to go, time to eat, etc.  Deal with the causes of falling apart as a separate issue once everyone calms down, and solve the problems.  Maybe the cause  of everyone falling apart was no one could find their shoes; therefore the shoes need to be in a central place so everyone can find them.  Maybe there is a need for a bathroom break  for everyone fifteen minutes before dinner.  But these solutions will come after the immediate goal is met.  Craft your life.

 

Slow, steady, warm and loving, These are the mantras of parenting.  It can be  hard to do this alone as we are just human; this is when your developed spiritual path will envelop your weaknesses,  your frailness, your challenges and human-ness.  Prayer avails much.

 

P is for Patience, but L is for Love.

 

Many blessings,

Carrie

Parenting Just For Today

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One of my dear local friends  just sent me the most beautiful prayer from the book “Making God Real In The Orthodox Home” by Fr. Anthony Coniaris  (here is the Amazon link:  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0937032077/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&m=A6MHEJ10672MS) .  Here is the beautiful prayer she shared with me:

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First Grade Fairy Tales For Teaching

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I am gathering my list of fairy tales for first grade – you can see the tales I choose the first time through first grade here: https://theparentingpassageway.com/2008/11/25/great-fairy-tales-for-waldorf-first-grade/   (and here were a few more thoughts for those of you who are wondering what Dr. Steiner himself said about introducing the alphabet:  https://theparentingpassageway.com/2010/05/20/infusing-waldorf-elements-into-your-christian-homeschool/)

 

This year, I am planning the following: (# in the Pantheon Edition Grimm’s Fairy Tales) Continue reading →

July Homeschool Planning

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 How is everything going for everyone?  I know a lot of mothers who have gotten their curriculum and are reading through everything now.

 

So, my challenge to all of you who are homeschool planning for fall is to make time this month and into August to work on your plans daily if you are not already doing so.  You can get quite a bit done even in fifteen minutes!   I know many homeschooling families who will start mid to late August or right after Labor Day, and the time will be here before you know it.  I am knee- deep in planning for fourth and first grade with a toddler in tow; I think it is going to be a great year!

 

I would love to hear from you all what you are working on and what plans you have. If you have a blog and are posting plans, I would also  love for you to include the link to your blog.

 

Can’t wait to connect with everyone,

Carrie

Sunday Inspiration From “Beginning to Pray”

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“Beginning to Pray” by His Eminence Metropolitan Anthony Bloom is a classic that I think really  should be read by anyone on a journey to draw closer to Our Creator.  Here is a link to read a brief description about the really interesting life of Metropolitan Anthony:  http://orthodoxwiki.org/Anthony_%28Bloom%29_of_Sourozh

 

Here is an inspiring quote from this book:

 

“What we must do is to collect all knowledge of God which we possess in order to come into His presence, but then remember that all we know about God is our past, as it were, behind our back, and  we are standing face to face with God in all His complexity, all His simplicity, so close and yet so unknown.  Only if we can stand completely open before the unknown, can the unknown reveal itself, Himself, as He chooses to reveal Himself to us as we are today.  So, with this open-heartedness and open-mindedness, we must stand before God without trying to give Him a shape or imprison Him in concepts and images, and we must knock at the door.

Where?  The Gospel tells us that the kingdom of God is within us first of all.  If we cannot find the kingdom of God within us, if we cannot meet God within, in the very depth of ourselves, our chances of meeting Him outside ourselves is very remote.”

 

Metropolitan Anthony has many wonderful things to say about prayer, living up to prayer, taking up one’s crosses, going inward and how to do this, and so much more.  Here is the link to this book on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Beginning-Pray-Anthony-Bloom/dp/0809115093/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1310776866&sr=8-1

 

A lovely beginning to a day of rest —

Many blessings,

Carrie

Serene Summer: One Small Step #4

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Our small steps for a happy homelife continues today with menu planning.  Menu planning is important for those of us on a budget, and it is also  important in terms of saving time, energy and for providing healthy foods in as close to their natural state as possible.

So,  after our other small steps of  decreasing commitments so you can actually be at home, spending time with your spouse or rejuvenating yourself, and having a well-ordered home, menu planning is right up there.

After all, nothing goes well if everyone is hungry and there is no food in the house or no food prepared, right?  Small children and hunger leads to whiny, not peaceful,  times!

We have talked about meal planning before on this blog, but I have a few things that have been working well for me lately that I want to share: Continue reading →