I think the single most important thing one can cultivate  in homeschooling (and in parenting) is a calm and quiet heart.  It is easy as a parent new to homeschooling to have a vision of rosy-cheeked children running to your side to love learning, but the reality is that some days will be fantastic and some days will be less than stellar.  Some days your children will love homeschooling, and some days all the children will be crying that they don’t want to do school, that they hate school (which is very easy to take personally when you are the teacher and have slaved away all summer in order to create lessons!) or  your child will be crying about the math, drawing, reading or knitting that is “just too hard.”

If you have a strong conviction that this is the right path and you can be calm and quiet, then you will feel peaceful even in the midst of the worst days.  Your calm and your peacefulness will carry your children during these days and will enable you to be the wall your child needs to bounce off of when something is hard and they need to persist in finishing a task.

You may asking how one maintains a calm and quiet heart; I have some suggestions.

• Do your own inner work as to why you think homeschooling is right for your family and surround yourself with positive people who will support you. 
• One of my best suggestions is to start your day with prayer, meditation and inner work.  Bless the beginning of your school day together.  Ask your Beloved Creator to bless you and guide you as you work to parent and educate your children. 
• Talk less.  If your child is melting down over reading or math, or your children are yelling about not wanting to do school, one of the worst things you can do is start a back and forth dialogue with your child or children whilst they are completely screaming and upset.  Be calm, be quiet, be the authority and wait a few minutes.
• By the same token, though, part of experience in homeschooling means you know when to take a break, when to take the day off and go hiking, and also know when to push through and buckle down. Children do have to rise up and cultivate their will and finish tasks, but the manner and timing in which we approach this is part of our own development as a teacher.
• Cultivate a strong rhythm.  Children in the grades may very well be resistant to doing school if your rhythm is changing every day.  Sometimes life necessitates this due to pregnancy, illness or other circumstances, but if you are in a stable place and all over just because you are lacking in will in developing rhythm, then this should be a priority for your coming school year.  And part of cultivating rhythm and getting things done is to be home.  Schedule things in the afternoon when school is done.  Put in time to have the family work together to do the things that will keep the house running smoothly. 
• Plan ahead; get organized. If your home runs relatively smoothly and your school year is planned out and you have the resources you need then you be in a place to bring things to your children out of a position of preparedness.

Many blessings,

Carrie

One thing I hear a lot from mothers is essentially what to do all day with this child?  What can I do to entertain this child – this child is bored.  Or,  I hear, how do I fit all this household work into the day on top of homeschooling, being a wife, being a mother.

The answer is that children need to see work, real work done with your real hands, from birth onward.  And then your children need to work to have a sense of purpose.  And then your children need to help you because you cannot do it all.

For homeschooling mothers, I highly suggest you look carefully at such things as house cleaning, laundry, meal planning/cooking/shopping.

House Cleaning – There actually have been quite a few back post on house cleaning on this blog, I am sure if you use the search engine they will come up.

• Step One to house cleaning is getting rid of things and de-cluttering things so every thing you own can have a place of its own. 
• Step Two is to not put every thing you own out and to feel okay with that.  You may have many children’s books for your child who is under the age of seven, but that child only needs four to six books out per season.  Your child only needs ten to  fourteen outfits out per season.  Pare down and then rotate.
• Step Three is to take tasks and break them down. For example, many of you know I have a little eighteen month old right now.  I wanted him to start partaking in work.  So, after meals, my middle child clears the plates off the table, my oldest daughter gathers the silverware and then supervises the littlest one dropping each piece of silverware into a bucket of soapy warm water to soak whilst the rest of the dishes are being rinsed or washed.  Break it down so your children can be involved and help contribute to the family. 

Laundry – Most homeschooling families tell me they do best if they do laundry almost every day: put a load in the morning after breakfast and switch it at a break and fold it before lunch. If days are skipped, families feel as if they are being buried under laundry. Again, involve the children.  You can have certain items collected (ie, napkins used at dinner, for example) and hand washed and hung on a line to dry and other items you wash in a more traditional manner.  It just depends upon how much time you have.

Also, perhaps think about where your laundry area is located; we have a small house and my school room is in what should be a dining room between the kitchen and laundry room.  Where should your school room space be in order for you to effectively be the captain of the ship in your home?

Meal Planning/Cooking/Grocery Shopping – Having a meal plan is exceedingly important; cooking should involve all children prior to meals.  Crock pots are exceptionally handy.  Many homeschool mothers like to grocery shop alone, but grocery shopping can also  be a time of comparison shopping, weighing and estimating and other mathematical treats if you plan it out.  So, think about what is right for you, and that may vary each week.

You may be noticing a theme of planning here.  I think there is also one other theme so obvious here that it is easy to overlook: one must be home in order for the laundry to be done, the meals cooked, things cleaned.  Be careful the number of days you plan out of your house each week!  Does your child need to take every lesson, every class, participate in every homeschool sport or event when they are seven, eight, or even nine?  If you do everything, what will be left for the teen years? Think ahead and plan!

Next post – homeschooling and parenting with a calm and quiet heart.

Many blessings,

Carrie

Now is the time of year to go over some quick tips for Waldorf homeschooling success.  I do this every year, and it always revitalizes my commitment to homeschooling using Waldorf pedagogy. 

Success lies in  reminding ourselves why we do what we do, and how we can plan and organize to make homeschooling life successful.  I believe homeschooling, especially homeschooling multiple children in multiple grades, can require and demand a large degree of organization to go smoothly

One suggestion I have is to re-visit the benefits of a Waldorf Education AND homeschooling.  Waldorf Education is an education that addresses the development of the child right where that child is.  It is an education that really provides for an almost Renaissance experience of well-roundedness, that respects the unfolding of development and abilities.  It is academically rigorous and progressive.  It makes art the vehicle for teaching and enlivens every subject.  If you need a further pep talk regarding this subject, I highly recommend you try reading Rudolf Steiner’s “A Modern Art of Education” for parents with children in the grades.  If your children are under seven, how about reading “Kingdom of Childhood”?

Why are you committed to homeschooling?  Homeschooling is first and foremost about family.  What is helping you keep your commitment to homeschool and what is hindering it all?  Head back and read the posts on this blog from the book “Hold On To Your Kids;  Why Parents Need To Matter More Than Peers” to inspire you again!

I think one thing to really focus on with homeschooling is to realize that we may SAY we are homeschooling because we want to put family first, but then if we treat every day in an angry, complaining, whining, “this is so difficult” kind of way, we are defeating the primary goal of homeschooling.   Just defeating the beauty of the whole thing. There will always be bad days when we homeschool, just like when you worked every day was not the perfect day, but we have to keep striving and moving forward.

What we need to fix this is an active life of personal development and prayer and meditation. 

What are you doing for your personal development as a parent?  What are you doing to work on your weaker or more challenging areas of being a parent?  May I humbly suggest this ever popular series on this blog: https://theparentingpassageway.com/2009/09/17/20-days-to-being-a-more-mindful-mother/

I recently started to keep a little journal.  I am writing down every single thing that I find irritating or upsetting during the day.  I had three things today that upset me.  (I know some of you are laughing right now because you may feel as if your list would have a hundred things on it!  You could still do this though – it may help whittle down what is major and what is really only minor).    I plan to do this for forty days, and pray and meditate during this time so I can meet the things that personally bother me (that probably wouldn’t bother other people at all) with a gentle spirit, a positive attitude, a closed mouth and an open heart. If you approach things with a hardness of heart sometimes, perhaps something like this would work for you as well. 

The other thing I think is very important is to understand where your child is developmentally.  Every age from birth through the nine year change is on this blog; “Soul Economy” by Rudolf Steiner goes through each age, and “Education for Adolescents” by Rudolf Steiner is excellent for those of you with the upper grades aged children/children in the high school years.

The third thing that will bring you success is to  get organized inside and out.  Are you organized in your house?  How many toys and clothes do your children have and can you de-clutter?  Do you need so many dishes and glasses and towels and sheets?  Can you open all the closets and drawers in your house without things falling out?  Could you make it a priority this summer to hire a mother’s helper from the neighborhood or arrange with family members to play with your children for a few hours each week so you can get your house under control in time for the new school year?

Things such as knowing what day you will shop for groceries, what day you will run other errands, when you will clean what and having a meal plan will go a long way toward keeping your homeschool from being buried under a mountain of laundry with no snacks.  

More about cleaning and children and homeschooling in my next post.

Love to all,

Carrie

So, in my last post I urged you to get your resources ordered by the end of this month so you will have plenty of time to sit down and read it all.

With this in mind, you might be thinking you have  nothing else to do until your resources arrive!  Well,  I have a few suggestions for things to do to prepare this month:

1.  Contact the Waldorf homeschoolers in your area if you can find any; see if you can get together to look at resources in person to decide if you want to buy these resources or not.

2.  Sit down and look at the calendar. How many days do you  have to homeschool by law in your state?  What are the other requirements of your state?

• Figure out what your start date will be, and figure out your holidays and festivals.  There are typical “Waldorf” festivals, and you may also have religious holidays to consider as well.
• When will you stop for the Winter Holidays?  Will you take two full weeks off around Easter – Holy Week and the week after Easter?  Will you schedule in any fall, winter or spring cleaning days?
• When will you stop for summer?
• Are there going to be field trips or other things that you do seasonally every year, such as apple picking or berry picking or visiting a farm to see the sheep shearing?
• You can start to plan this even without resources in your hand.

3.  Now is an excellent time to plan for any toddlers/early “preschoolers” in the house.  They need a language-rich environment, so think ahead for each school month.

• What verses or fingerplays will you use with your really tiny children?
• What songs will you sing each month?
• What simple nursery rhyme or very simple “everday”  story will you tell each month?  Do you need to make puppets?
• Does this story have a worker character?  If it does, what practical work will you be doing this month that may tie in with that worker character?  Small children need to see, and be a part of practical work…(Big children as well!)

4.  Is there anything for festivals you could get a jump start on?  Anything you saw that you would like to have this year to help you celebrate? Maybe it is that wall hanging you wanted to sew or something you wanted to needle felt?

5.  Are there any supplies you need for fall?  How is your schoolroom doing?  Do you need to go through and cull old books or papers? 

Do you need a schoolroom table, blackboard, main lesson books, chalk, block or stick crayons, a blowing instrument?

6.  Is there anything you need to work on so you can bring it to your child in the fall?  Kniting, music, drawing? 

7.  Do you have a general idea what this grade is about?  One resource I suggest is the Christopherus Homeschool Resource Waldorf Curriculum Overview.  I reviewed this resource here on my blog. 

8.  What in your home needs to be pared down or organized?  In the fall, will you be ready  to find everyone’s shoes and coats?  Your bread making supplies?  Are your children’s clothes organized?

Many blessings,

Carrie

Are you getting ready yet to start thinking about your next homeschooling year? 

I know some of you out there may be getting ready to end the school year for your children in a public or private school setting and are thinking about starting to homeschool in the fall.  This probably seems both exciting and overwhelming!

Some of you may be veteran homeschoolers with at least several years under your belt and are starting to plan for the fall by looking at curriculum or other resources you will need to plan over the summer.

Some of you may be transitioning from a “kindergarten” experience of lots of healthy rhythm and rich language development and mathematical foundations to the wonders of two and three day rhythms, main lesson books and formal academic work.  You might be wondering where you will fit all your practical work, and what is going to happen to your toddler now that you will be having more sit down time in main lessons.

Some of you may be thinking about bringing “more” in for that six year old who is kindergarten for the last year.

Wherever you are, let’s jump in together.

My challenge to you is to get your resources ordered by the end of this month so you can start planning. 

Mothers ask all the time about this or that curriculum, what curriculum is out there  that is true to Waldorf but at the same time understands the homeschooling family.  It is of course preferable that you create your own curriculum but I have certainly spoken with so many mothers who are new to homeschooling, new to Waldorf Education, perhaps in a challenging time in their family life, and really need a curriculum to help them lay it all out.  So, here is my list of questions to help you evaluate what you are looking at in terms of products:

I 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 the seven  year cycles, of the three and four fold human being?  For me to use someone else’s curriculum, 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 and that they take into account the developmental arc of the human being from that holistic standpoint. 
• 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.  Look at what you might want to bring in when .  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?  Starting with “just” a main lesson might be all you feel you can handle, and some families do ease into Waldorf Education this way in the homeschool environment.  Again, you must know what you are looking for.
• 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?Not every lesson has to have a spot in the Main Lesson Book –for some things our family has made diaromas or modeled something or painted something or any number of other artistic endeavors– those things don’t fit in a Main Lesson Book!   Remember, art is the vehicle through which the lesson is taught!  The art is NOT separate!  Otherwise the curriculum becomes dry!

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 many products on the market, and we must be careful to know what we are buying.  Nature-based doesn’t mean true to Steiner, and if nature-based is what you are looking for, that is fine, but don’t confuse that with Waldorf Education!

Spend your money wisely; if there are Waldorf homeschoolers in your area please see if any of them have the resources you are considering purchasing so you can look at it and get  a feel for it before you buy it for yourself. If you are looking for Waldorf homeschoolers in your country or state,  please try this link:  http://www.christopherushomeschool.org/resources-for-waldorf-homeschooling-and-conscious-parenting/networking-for-groups-and-individuals.html

Once you decide, trust your intuition and just do it! Stop agonizing!  You must get what you are using, and sit down with it, and READ it from cover to cover so you know what you need to do, what you might need to add, how you need to plan. 

I would love to hear how your planning is coming along and what grades you and your family will be working on in the fall.

Many blessings,

Carrie