Author Archives: Carrie

Waldorf Third Grade Student Reading List

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Most students in Waldorf Third Grade are 8 and a half or nine years old.  They should be this age!  The third grade curriculum is designed specifically to speak to the developmental issues surrounding the nine-year change.  There are quite a few articles on this blog regarding the nine-year old if you need to look those up!  If your second grader is doing “third grade academics”, so be it, but please let the fables, folktales, Native American tales be the conduit to carry these pieces until they are eight and a half or nine and then ready for those Old Testament Stories!

Here are some suggestions for Third Grade Reading; most of these are geared toward a child who is close to nine or at that nine-year-old change.  The themes may be too much for children under nine, so please pre-read if your children are not yet nine!  Also,  please feel free to add your suggestions via the comment box below!

  • Mr. Popper’s Penguins – Atwater – always a fun story to re-visit even if you have done it before!  Children like repetition!
  • The Wizard of Oz series – Baum (and this may be early for the whole series, my 13 year old daughter is reading the entire series now and really enjoying them; there is violence and such so pre-read!)
  • Burgess – Nature Stories
  • Carpenter- Tales of a Korean Grandfather
  • Dahl, Roald – Matilda, etc. (This recommendation came from the “Waldorf Student Reading List” book- I personally don’t really like Roald Dahl’s work).
  • Holling C Holling – The Book of Indians
  • Juster – The Phantom Tollbooth (which I also like in Fourth Grade and Fifth Grade math blocks, so you might consider saving)
  • Kipling – Just So Stories, The Jungle Book
  • Ursula Le Guin – Catwings series
  • Osborne – American Tall Tales
  • Patterson – Angels, People, Rabbis and Kings from the Stories of the Jewish People
  • Chief Seattle’s Brother Eagle, Sister Sky (may want to preread, I have heard this is a tear-jerker!)
  • EB White – Stuart Little, Charlotte’s Web, The Trumpet of the Swan
  • Isabel Wyatt-  King Beetle-Tamer and Other Light-Hearted Wonder Tales, The Book of Fairy Princes
  • Ella Young- Celtic Wonder Tales, The Tangle-Coated Horse
  • Tove Jansson’s Moomintroll Series – either you love ‘em or hate ‘em; we love ‘em!
  • Rafe Martin’s The Boy Who Lived With Seals, The Brave Little Parrot
  • Meindert De Jong – The Wheel On the School (which you might consider saving for fourth grade for your Man and Animal block)
  • Brian Jacques – Redwall series
  • Susan Kantor’s One Hundred and One African-American Read-Alouds
  • Adele Geras – My Grandmother’s Stories:  A Collection of Jewish Folktales
  • Elizabeth Shub – The White Stallion
  • Phil Strong – Honk the Moose
  • Margaret Stranger – That Quail, Robert
  • Ethel Cook Eliot – The Wind Boy and others
  • E. Nesbit – Five Children and It and others
  • Farley Mowat – Owls in the Family – funny!
  • Donald Hall – Ox Cart Man – should be part of reading in your Farming Block along with “Farmer Boy” by Laura Ingalls Wilder
  • Noel Streatfield – Ballet Shoes and others
  • Dorothy Canfield Fisher – Understood Betsy
  • Carol Ryrie Brink – Caddie Woodlawn
  • Arthur Ransome’s Swallows and Amazons series
  • Astrid Lindgren – The Adventures of Pippi Longstocking – the reason we put these books around the nine-year-change is the lack of parents and Pippi as a strong individual character.
  • Selma Lagerlof’s The Wonderful Adventures of Nils
  • Elisa Bartone- Peppe the Lamplighter
  • Elizabeth Orton Jones – Twig – If you read it before, you can go back and re-read it!
  • Valerie Flournoy – Patchwork Quilt
  • Lois Lenski – Strawberry Girl, Texas Tomboy, etc.  I personally would hold off on these until at least fourth or fifth grade and perhaps tie them in with North American Geography for fifth grade, but up to you!
  • Robert Lawson – Rabbit Hill (pre-read)
  • Astrid Lindgren – Ronia the Robber’s Daughter  – I also like in fourth grade to tie in with map making but could be okay for third grade reading.  Pre-read and see what you think
  • Alice Dalglish’s The Bears in Hemlock Mountain
  • Johanna Speyri- Heidi
  • Anything by George MacDonald
  • Chronicles of Narnia Donna Simmons recommends for those 10 and up, but The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe might be okay for a nine-year-old.  I suggest waiting on JRR Tolkien.  Some children devour “The Hobbit” between the ages of 9 or 11, but my very avid 13 year old readers has started this book four times and has never gotten through it and finds the language hard to read.  So, do what you think is best!
  • Marguerite Henry’s horse books
  • Geraldine McCaughrean’s The Crystal Pool, The Golden Hoard, The Silver Treasure
  • Robert McClosky – I still love these, One Morning in Maine and the like and Homer Price and others are good for a nine-year-old.
  • Jospeph Bruchac – preread!   Donna Simmons recommends “Children of the Longhouse”
  • Enid Blyton –
  • George Seldon’s “Cricket in Times Square”

Again, please add your favorites at the bottom!  And please do pre-read, you know  your child best!

There is a comment below about Percy Jackson. I would not recommend these for third graders as the main characters are teens, the books are heavy on references to Roman Mythology which comes in the sixth grade curriculum in Waldorf, and there is violence.  I would put that series as reading for middle schoolers.

 

Blessings,

Carrie

Renewal: Mission Statements

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This is the time of renewal, this sacred and new time between Easter and Ascension.  This is a great time to take stock and start planning; plan for your personal development; plan for homeschooling (Waldorf mothers who are homeschooling the grades – have you ordered your materials yet?  Have you started laying out a flow to your blocks for the fall?); plan for what you would like to see happen between now and fall.

You are the architect, you are the designer, you are the artist of your life and the lives of your children.  If things are overwhelming right now,it is okay to say no to things.  It is okay to set boundaries.  It is okay to be real and authentic and honest about what you can and cannot handle!

One thing that always helps me is  to go back to our Family Mission Statement.  Here is a back post about writing a family mission statement, you can see that here:  https://theparentingpassageway.com/2009/05/08/creating-a-family-mission-statement/  Once you have this piece of paper, please do make sure to review it, use it, keep it in your mind as you make decisions.  It should be like a guiding compass for your family and the things you choose to do as a family. 

The other thing that can keep you centered is to have your own Personal Mission Statement or what some people call a Personal Vision Statement.  The more you can develop yourself, learn about yourself, and calm and center yourself (which means actually figuring out what makes you feel calm and centered to begin with :)), your family will absolutely benefit.  Children want a mother that is calmly in control of things and can be a resource, a guide, a boundary, a wall to bounce off if need be – but a gentle, calm and nurturing presence.  What children don’t want is out- of- control, screaming and yelling parents where the whole atmosphere of the house feels stressed and falling apart.  You can get to the first thing, but you have to stop and think. 

  • Think about what would make the biggest difference in your life to make yourself more calm.
  • Think about what your priorities really are, and how your life could reflect that. 
  • How could your marriage be a priority?  What would that look like?
  • If your children are small, they must be a priority.  They are depending upon you to guide them and to love them and to teach them.
  • What do you want your homeschooling adventure to look like?  Have you assessed your child and know what they need to work on – not just “skill-wise” but also emotionally, physically, spiritually?  What do they need to develop into “whole” human beings?  What would your homeschooling look like to reflect that?  Now is the time to assess for next year’s planning.  You cannot figure out what you are going to do in homeschooling next year unless you have assessed where your child is right now, and some of the biggest homeschooling lessons have nothing to do with academic skills at all.

Just a few thoughts for today.

Many blessings to you,

Carrie

Thank You To My Referrers!

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Thank you to my top 5 referrers for the past 7 days:

Thank you also to my top referrers for the past 30 days:

And thank you to those of you who are my top referrers of ALL TIME, since this blog started in October of 2008:

 

In addition to checking out the above blogs, I  also would LOVE to take this chance to point out a few blogs I also love to follow, and hope you will like them as well!!

 

Thank you to all of you who link to me, or who think something I write is thought-provoking enough to write a comment on, or pass on to your friends.  It is humbling, and always makes me want to strive to write more.

Many thanks, much gratitude, and many blessings to you all!

Love,

Carrie

“Discipline Without Distress”: Ages 6-12

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The title of this chapter is “Discipline Tools for School-aged Children 6-12:  Talk and action”.  I know many of you have been clamoring for information and ideas regarding guidance of the “older” child, so let’s see if this chapter can be of any help.  I am hoping to finish this book up this month, so in June we can start our NEW book, “Hold On To Your Kids:  Why Parents Need to Matter More Than Peers” by Neufeld and Mate here:  http://www.amazon.com/Hold-Your-Kids-Parents-Matter/dp/0375760288/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1272674694&sr=1-1  This is a great book, and I think many of you will find it useful!

Back to “Discipline Without Distress.”  You can use the search engine to search for reviews of previous chapters.

First of all, the author starts this chapter with this quote, “There is a reason children don’t start their formal education until age six.  Their brains are not mature enough to handle formal learning. So why then do we expect children zero to five to instantly learn and behave from discipline, when we know they can’t remember four times five yet?”

The author remarks that the SCHOOL-AGED years are the right time to start to teach children right from wrong (which fits in with Steiner’s view that this could only begin to be awakened around age five).  These are the best years to teach and guide.

The author starts the chapter by reviewing typical school-aged behaviors and remarks that children this age “need to experiment with and explore social rules and roles.  They learn to argue, question and honor rules.  They also learn to test and negotiate rules.  What are they for?  How are they made?  What happens when rules are broken?  How different are other families’ rules?”  She has a long list of physical, psychosocial and cognitive milestones and then a list of unhelpful parenting behaviors and helpful parenting behaviors. 

Here are a few:

  • “Stay with your no’s, but your no’s should be getting further and farther in between as  your child makes choices and decisions on their own behalf.”   I would personally argue that this is for the child past the nine-year change and that six, seven and eight is still pretty little.
  • Ignore provocations.  She writes, “Refusing to participate in the power struggle doesn’t mean that you lose.  It means you are the adult and can think and remain calm enough to take a break from the emotional situation.”  Well-said, in my opinion!
  • She talks about asking reflective questions, and I really think this is a tool for those past the nine-year change, not before. In fact, this is probably even more appropriate for a child who is nearing the twelve-year change and has a stronger sense of logic and consequences, which even an eight year old doesn’t really have in full force yet.

The author gives a whole list of guidelines for family meetings.  I would love to hear from some of you who hold family meetings and whether or not you think this is a valuable tool for children who are above age 7 – please do leave a comment in the box!

Judy Arnall remarks that children need supervision at least until age 10. Please, please do keep that in mind!  It is important!  It is also very, very important to spend time with your child at this age and to connect with them!  She talks about using humor, walking away from “attitude” and teaching “calm-down” tools.    She also talks about the importance of  NOT over-scheduling this age group, and the importance of downtime.  She writes, “Children who are enrolled in nothing other than school have just as equal chance of success in life as an overscheduled child. Perhaps more, in that they have had much more downtime to reflect, dream, process information, and relax.”  I love this, and I think THIS is a true benefit of homeschooling, to be honest!

There are further sections on solving school problems, consequences, peer pressure and dealing with negative peer pressure, and handling bullies.

She also writes about the importance of modeling INTEGRITY for this age group.  This is right up my family’s alley, and is part of our Family Mission Statement (Kindness, Positive Attitude and Integrity!)..”Integrity is about doing the right thing when it’s not always convenient, cheap, or easy to do so, and even when no one is looking or there is no way to get caught.  It’s about whether one can face {oneself} in the mirror and feel good about {his or her} actions.  It’s about being honest and integral to the self-image of who they are.”   The author even throws in a simple quiz for you, the parent, to take regarding your “Integrity Quotient.”  See page 315!

Great food for thought in this chapter – two more chapters to go!

Many blessings,

Carrie

Yelling in Parenting

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Judging by statistics I read, spanking is still a problem.  Yet, this doesn’t seem to be something the mothers I know  personally do– none of them spank. (Yes, I live in a bubble, I guess!)

Time-out and the isolation of a child due to  challenging behavior, whilst a problem in the US (and confirmed by my international readers that this really doesn’t come up in other countries), is again,  not something the mothers I personally know seem to do.  (Yes, again, I live in a bubble).

But yelling seems to be almost a commonality.  And most of all, this seems to be something that occurs with even more frequency with children who are over the age of 7 rather  than small children.

It is almost as if the lie of anger wins – you know, the lie in one’s head that says, “My goodness!  They are seven years old!  They KNOW better than that!  They are just doing this to make me angry!  They are trying to push my buttons!”

Anger looks at ONLY the negative, anger makes us feel as if we must “fix” this problem right away or our child will grow up to be this horrible human being, anger makes us feel as if the normal things that children do being children need to be squashed and stomped on instead of being calmly guided.

And underneath that anger, is our own needs.  Our own very real fear.  Our own very real fatigue and loneliness.  Our own distraction with other things that really have nothing to do with our child. 

From an attachment standpoint, yelling makes very little sense because we want to treat our children with dignity and  we know children need our guidance.  But trying to guide a child with yelling is a little like trying to drive a car by solely using the horn.  Your guidance, your message will be lost in the delivery.

From a Waldorf perspective, yelling is not a tool to use for discipline.  A small child lives in the will, the doing, and in the lower senses – and guess what?  Hearing is not one of the lower four senses that make up the willing senses of the small child! 

What can you do instead of yelling?

1. PLAN your day – children need time to let off steam, and children also need time to calm down.  Limit how many places you are trying to get your children off to, because if Mommy is less stressed then everyone is happier!  Children truly need less activities, more time at home, less lessons and classes and more time with family.

2.  CALL IT QUITS – If it is close to bedtime and everyone is falling apart, sometimes all you can do is get through it and get everyone off to bed.  Recognize the times when the lesson will be lost due to hunger, needing sleep, etc.  Raising a child is not a “one-shot” deal – your child can still grow up to be a wonderful adult even if you don’t “hammer the point” over and over.

3.  For the older children, be careful too not equate the 7-9 year old with a teenager in terms of reasoning skills!  Here are some of my thoughts regarding talking to the seven and eight year old:https://theparentingpassageway.com/2010/02/26/how-to-talk-to-your-seven-and-eight-year-old/ 

Make sure what you expect is actually developmentally appropriate.

4.  WALK IT OFF – If you feel so angry that you are going to explode, go outside and calm down and then come back and guide.  If you get angry again, go back outside.  You can only effectively guide your child when you are calm. 

5.  STICK TO THE BOUNDARY – None of this is to say the boundary should not be kept.  The boundary needs to be kept!  The behavior must be guided, but CALMLY.

6. TRY LESS WORDS – If you talk, explain, re-hash, lecture, write the book down and leave it on their pillow, you are using too many words and the child is tuning you out!  Less words!  Control your verbal spillage!

7.  MORE WORK– Yes, you will have to do chores with them when they are under the age of seven.  Yes, when they ages seven through nine they will get distracted and will need verbal reminders.  Yes, the effort is worth it, and knowing that  training a child to do chores requires effort will hopefully help you not to yell so much about it!

8.  BOUNDARIES ON FRIENDS – There should be no guilt in having “family-only” time during the week and week-ends.  Simplifying makes life less stressful and less stressful means less yelling!

9. FILL YOUR OWN TANK – It is hard when you have babies and toddlers to get time to yourself, but involve Dad and family.  Also catch those small moments.  Catch a few minutes to read after your child goes to sleep.  Sing while you do the dishes.  Keep filling up your tank, so you can be calm and centered,

10.  JUST BECAUSE YOUR CHILD IS HAVING A BAD DAY DOESN’T MEAN YOU HAVE TO!  Your child will not remember ten years from now why you yelled at them; they will only remember how things felt generally and how you made them feel.  If you can model being calm and controlled, think of what a powerful life lesson that could be for your child to see and learn from!

11. CONNECTION – keep connecting with this child; love this child.  That is the most important key to discipline.

12.  SOLVE THE PROBLEM – If your older child is always being noisy during a younger child’s naptime, and you yell, what could you do to solve the problem instead?  Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting something different to happen!

Don’t let the big lie of anger get you!  You don’t have to yell.  Model this calmness during the “breaking points” and your whole family will benefit! During this period of renewal between Easter and Ascension, commit to not yelling.

Many blessings,

Carrie

The Adult Will And How To Develop It

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The development of will for personal issues, such as being able to go to bed, get up on time, stick to a flow of the day, to me, can be much further addressed in several areas:

1.  Use of forty days to establish a new habit.  Not just twenty-one days, but forty.  To work on one thing at a time!

2.   The will is an outward gesture of DOING.  I think it was Zig Ziglar who said, “Do it, and you will be motivated to do it.”  Sometimes we think too hard, plan too much, and we just need to do it. 

3.  I think handwork is a perfect place to develop your will.  Anytime you “eyeball” something and work with doing, you are developing those faculties of will.

4.  Try it, and if you fail, try again! The key is in the striving!  Pick a friend or have your spouse help you be accountable!

Many blessings to you on this new day, this new moment! 

Carrie

Renewal: Personal Development

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This is the plain and sad  but true fact:  many of us have invested many hours and dollars in vocational training or college degrees, but many of us never go on to spend much money or time to  develop ourselves personally after that. 

For example, in college, you probably spent hundreds and even thousands of dollars on textbooks and classes and hours of  time reading.  But after college, have you spent any money at all on your own personal development?  Have you spent any time reading to learn?  Have you taken any classes regarding parenting?  Sought out any mothers who parent the way you want to parent?

We all are busy, and some of us do carry harder burdens than others.  That is true.  However, we can really bless our families by choosing to educate ourselves.    I know it is hard, but you must have been drawn to parent differently than your parents for a reason.  You must have drawn to Waldorf homeschooling for a reason.  Honor that intuition; commit to it and own it.   Can you read for five minutes in the morning after you get breakfast done and cleaned up?  Five minutes while the kids play outside?  Five minutes before you go to bed?  Set a timer if need be, but can you try just for five minutes a day?

This is the thing:  I know you want to be a great parent.  I know that because otherwise you would not be here reading this blog!  You may be reading this because you  want to homeschool.  I am here to tell you no matter what method of homeschooling you choose, Waldorf or not, you will have to do some planning!  Yes, there are things that are “open and go” but you will still have to tailor things for your child, and if you take the time to really holistically evaluate your child and plan around that, the experience will be so much richer.   If you are a Waldorf homeschooling mother, take the time to read and decide for yourself such things as will the order of these blocks work for my child, will they work for where I live geographically? Take the time to figure out what the curriculum is saying to your child at their developmental level.

.So, please,  in this time of renewal between Easter and Ascension, please, consider making time to read a little bit.  Make a commitment to plan for your child’s education next year.  Your child and your homeschooling experience  is worth your time in planning.  If you start and do an hour a week now plus a little bit of reading each and every day, you will be all ready by the end of summer!

You might be wondering, well, what should I read?

Here are my suggestions, please do take what resonates with you or add your suggestions in the comment boxes below!

For parenting and gentle discipline, see here:  https://theparentingpassageway.com/2009/11/27/favorite-books-for-gentle-discipline/

For the six/seven year old change, try “You’re Not the Boss of Me!  Understanding the Six/Seven Year Transformation” edited by Ruth Ker, and available here at Bob and Nancy’s:  http://www.waldorfbooks.com/edu/child_development_health.htm  (scroll down)

For understanding Waldorf Education in light of child development, I recommend “Soul Economy” and “The Education of the Child”

For Waldorf grades one and two (and three! and beyond!), I recommend “Practical Advice to Teachers” and “Discussions with Teachers”

Many of the parenting books can be found at your local library or used on Amazon or other booksellers.  Many of Steiner’s works can be found for free on-line.

Read, learn, plan and enjoy!

Much love to you,

Carrie

Grammar In The Waldorf Curriculum

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This morning Mrs. Johnson posted a wise response on her list (waldorfhomeeducators@yahoogroups.com – please join if you are not on this list) to a mother.  This is a post regarding spelling/ grammar within the Waldorf Curriculum:

“Waldorf is just so different, often. This is one of those areas.
Here are a couple insights to get you thinking inside the Waldorf box.

1) the spelling words come from the curriculum. They are part of the block, part of the ‘story’, part of the telling you are doing in your story-sharing time. They are not ‘disconnected’ random words. They certainly can lead to word family lessons and discussions to cement and explore spelling and phonemes. So the grade three child is hearing the Old Testament and the Practical Arts block stories all year long and the spelling words come from these areas.

2) the grade three child learns about Naming words (nouns) and Doing words (verbs), most often in the telling of the story of Creation as Adam names each animal as they are created.
You are Rabbit! Rabbits jump!
You are Goat! Goats leap!
You are Snake! Snakes slither.
You are Fox! Foxes slink.
And so on. Simple Naming and Doing, great basis for movement exercises, too.
3) In the grade 4, we begin with the nine parts of speech. We bring this from the Nine Worlds of the Norse gods, the Nine Days that Odin hung on the tree to obtain the ability to write, and the inclusion as we can see for that post-nine year change child of being able to step back and divide things into their parts now….fractions, music, and so on. So we have the ability to divide a bit and that is when we bring the Nine Parts of Speech. But we do this with games and directly from the curriculum as well.
He is Odin.
He is the wise Odin.
He is the wise Odin who sees.
He is the wise Odin who sees so clearly.
He is the wise Odin who sees so clearly and speaks so calmly.
etc etc

Dissecting abstract language concepts into diagrams is meant for the middle school child. The younger ones need to stay in their imagination and in the story of the moment. We can see with each Norse god, unique characteristics that create a personality and a ‘type’. This is also true of our spoken language, each one has a personality and even a culture embedded in every single sound. Some languages do not have all the elements of English, others do. In some, the word order is quite different. In English we say I I I at the first, I am the most important. In others, the I is hidden or unspoken or ignored….

Children can be taught many things. We know this, but it is HOW we bring it that makes it Waldorf or not. Creating images, living pictures, in our hearts before we bring it to the children is very important.

For example….why are some verbs regular and others not? What are irregular verbs like, then> I am, you are, he is, she is, we are, they are………why, they are a bit individualistic aren’t they? Yes, why they are quite independent and not very easy to rule over, they are like the sons and daughters of Moses who don’t really pay attention to what he says when he is not there! They go their own way…and over here, so many good little words….I fly, you fly, he and she fly, we fly and they fly. Good little fly, way too obedient! Good two shoes? Or a good student? Always minds his manners, that fly.

And so we can see, can we create a town or a land where these characters live, some decent and easy to understand, others quite persnickety and rebellious but cute as bedbugs! Little rascals. Well we must make friends with them all, shan’t we?

Yes, bring in the materials, but do bring it on a platter of the imagination and this will create in the child a mood of play and drama and pure fun.
Mrs M”

Hope this brings blessings to you,

Carrie

Readiness for Waldorf Homeschool First Grade

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Planning away yet? It is that time of year!   For those of you with six- year- olds who are considering starting Waldorf first grade in your  fall homeschool, this is an important decision.  The standard “rule” in Waldorf education is that your child should have been alive for seven springs/seven Easters  before starting first grade.  I highly recommend starting first grade when your child is as close to seven as possible, so that your child is seven for most of first grade.

There are several reasons I recommend this, and you can agree or disagree.:)  Homeschooling is much different than Waldorf school, as there is no group or older children in the class to “carry” the younger six-year-old at home.   The second  issue with starting first grade at an early age  six, then second grade at an early age seven and third grade at an early age eight  means that you are basically off a year in the Waldorf Curriculum.  The Third Grade’s Old Testament stories are really for a nine-year old, that whole third grade year is to speak to the nine year old change.  The Norse myths of Fourth Grade are pretty dark and are really  best for a child past the nine year change or pretty darn  close to it.  I think the children who are past the nine year change handle the Norse myths better than the ones who have not…just my limited experience.

The last reason for starting first grade at six and a half at the earliest and as close to seven as possible, is that, I hate to see the end of this cycle “cheated” out for lack of a better word.  The first seven years of really being in  the body will lead to greater academic success later on…If parents need help for more ideas for the six year old year, I am sure we can all contribute ideas!

Here are some articles regarding First Grade readiness:  http://www.waldorflibrary.org/Journal_Articles/firstready.pdf

And here:  http://www.waldorflibrary.org/Journal_Articles/Gateways56FINALDRAFT.pdf

And here:  http://www.christopherushomeschool.org/learning-more/articles-on-aspects-of-waldorf-education/articles-by-donna-simmons/first-grade-readiness.html

http://www.christopherushomeschool.org/learning-more/articles-on-aspects-of-waldorf-education/first-grade-readiness-help-your-child-by-getting-the-timing-right.html

Here is a whole book on the subject: http://www.steinercollege.edu/store/product.php?productid=18362&cat=845&page=1

Here is a list and I cannot figure out where I originally found it, so I can’t link you to it; I hope it is okay to reprint it here……

First Grade Readiness Guidelines

 

Bodily Proportions and Characteristics

  • Head to body ratio of 1:6
  • Loss of baby fat and the “pot belly”
  • First stretching growth of legs
  • Waist and neck incisions in the trunk
  • Visible joints (knuckles) and kneecaps instead of dimples
  • Arch in foot
  • Individualized facial features instead of baby features (a child who has not been able to undergo childhood diseases may be hindered in this development)
  • S curve in spine

Second Dentition

Usually a first grade child should have at least one loose tooth.  (If both parents, however, were very slow in reaching dentition, this factor should not be weighed as heavily for this particular child)

Physical Abilities

  • Walk a beam, log (or line) forward
  • Catch and throw a ball
  • Hop on either foot
  • Bunny hop (both feet together)
  • Habitually walk in cross pattern (i.e. swing opposite arm when stepping out with one foot)
  • Climb stairs with alternating feet on each stair
  • Tie knots and sometimes bows; button and zip own clothing
  • Use fingers dexterously (sew, finger knit, play finger games, etc.)
  • Have established dominance (eye/hand dominance most important) though this may not be firmly established until age 9
  • Not be unduly restless or lethargic
  • Shake hands with thumb separated from fingers rather than offering the whole hand

Social/Emotional Development

School ready child develops feelings for others’ needs – social awareness, doing things for others, goal oriented play – planning, thinking things out; does not need objects in play (can now visualize play rather than needing to collect many items as younger children did; this shows separation of concept – the inner world – from precept – the outer world); begins long term friendships; play of horses and dogs (shows readiness for authority of first grade, obeying a master”)

Other social/emotional abilities:

  • Ability to join in offered activities
  • Ability to look after own eating, drinking, washing and toileting needs
  • Ability to share a teacher’s or parent’s attention and wait for a turn
  • Ability to follow instructions and carry through a task or activity
  • Not unduly dependent on a security item (thumb sucking, blanket, etc.)
  • Not regularly the aggressor or victim; accepted by most other children

Drawing and Painting

Conscious goal in drawing pictures

In painting becomes goal conscious, attempts forms or special effects such as dots; paintings become stiffer, less beautiful for a time but may free up again a child consciously discovers how to mix and blend colors and develops designs or forms appropriate to the medium; symmetrical designs similar to crayon drawings may appear

Content of Picture (Primarily Drawings)

Two-fold symmetry, indicating that two-fold function of the brain has come about; symmetrical houses, often with a tree or flower on each side; symmetrical designs in which the paper is divided into halves; symmetrical color arrangements

Change of teeth pictures, containing horizontal repetitions such as birds flying, rows of mountains, etc. reminiscent of rows of teeth

Strip of sky and earth, showing child’s awareness of above and below, rather than the child’s feeling of wholeness

Use of the diagonal (related to perspective).  Frequently seen in triangle form of roof or in drawing of stairs

Square form in base of house

Windows with crosses

Chimney with smoke (birth of the etheric)

People and houses resting on grass at bottom of the page

Soul Life

Signs of First Grade readiness in the WILL

Conscious goals appear in play, drawing, handwork; consciousness of self as creator results in awareness of the distinction between inner (desire) and outer (result).  At “first puberty” this leads to characteristic feelings of loneliness and inability which may be expressed as “I’m bored.”  This is an important stage, as it leads to the basis for natural respect which is to be found in the grade school years – the realization by the child that there are some things he can’t yet do as well as an adult.

Use of limbs is vigorous, active; the child likes to move furniture and heavy stumps and use all available play cloths

The child likes to run errands (again, goal consciousness)

Signs of First Grade Readiness in the FEELING LIFE

  • Stormy period of first puberty proceeding to more calm; can handle feelings better, needs less adult intervention
  • Wrapping of objects as gifts (child “wraps himself around the object”)
  • Loves humor, limericks, rhymes, play on words, silly words
  • May say verse faster than the rest of the group, or hold note longer at end of song (is beginning to grow aware in the realm of rhythm)
  • Likes to whisper, have secrets (distinction between inner and outer)
  • May like to tell of dreams (souls has made a step inwardly), awareness of inner and outer life.  (Be careful this isn’t imitation of adults or just telling a story; don’t question children about dreams.)

Signs of First Grade Readiness in the THINKING/COGNITIVE REALM

  • Development of causal thinking (use of “if”, “because”, and “therefore”, for example).  “If I tie these strings together, they will reach the play stand.” Also shown in the wish to tie things together with yarn (signs of tying thoughts together shows causal thinking)
  • Correct use of verb tense (“I stood”, not “I standed”)
  • Enjoys cunning, planning and scheming
  • Enjoys humor and making up or repeating simple riddles (typical for this age mentality is “Why was the cook mean?”  “Because he beat the eggs and whipped the cream.”)  It is best that the teacher not introduce real riddles at this stage; they are appropriate for older children 
  • Memory becomes conscious; children can, at will or upon request, repeat songs and stories with accuracy
  • Speaks fluently and clearly and can express ideas easily and fully
  • Can concentrate on a chosen task for 10 to 15 minutes
  • Image formation is no longer dependent on objects in play, but can visualize (e.g. may build a house and then, instead of collecting dishes, food, etc., may simply talk through the play).  Conversations and discussions among the children become important to them.
  • Appearance of “real: questions (not the typical younger child’s constant asking of “why” or other questions for the sake of asking)

                                                                                                                                Detroit Waldorf School, 1999                                                                                                                               

My personal  rule is that a child should be seven for most of first grade, eight for most of second, etc and if one must start in January, then aren’t we glad to be homeschooling? LOL.

This is such a really important question, so please think about this carefully.  If you need help, I suggest you arrange a phone consultation with one of the national Waldorf homeschool  consultants  – I recommend Christopherus Homeschool Resources or A Little Garden Flower.

Children Who Slap Faces And Other Fun Behaviors

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(This is the tabloid edition of The Parenting Passageway today, you know, kind of like, Men Who Do Terrible Things And The Women Who Love Them or something like that…)

Let’s see…the fun behavior of the toddler…I am sure you all can help me out here with the behaviors and challenges!   Some of these  behaviors keep coming up over and over here when I asked for feedback regarding discipline challenges and also in My Real Life from mothers in my local area, so I thought I would address them here with a few suggestions and you can take what resonates with you.  Pick and choose, add your own creative ideas!  There is No One Answer, the Right Answer is the One That Works For Your Family!  Seriously!  As long as it is gentle and keeps to the boundary, then there you go!  Check out the toddler discipline posts under the Baby/Toddler header, several of those posts literally have every discipline situation that could come up with a toddler.

Here is a re-cap of some of the ones mothers have been asking about recently (but please do go look at the back posts!):

Face-slapping:

  • Set child down if you are holding them.
  • Turn it into a “high-five”
  • Tell the child that hurts and show them how you would like to be touched instead.
  • Watch out for signs child is getting frustrated in order to prevent  and use your tools of movement and channeling into work and help to move on
  • Know this phase is limited usually once the toddler  has more speech
  • Know this may take 500 times!
  • What would work best for your family?  Your ideas here:

Running away at the park or other public places:

  • Limit outings for right now. Sorry about that!
  • Bring a second adult who can help you corral your children
  • Many parents have a natural consequence in place, such as if you run away, we immediately leave the park.  However, a child younger than four and a half or five  may really not understand that very well.
  • Do errands at night or another time without the toddler.
  • Practice holding hands and looking for cars at all times.  Have a verse or rhyme that goes with the holding hands/looking.
  • What would work best for your family??  Your ideas here:

Child is stuck on a  “bad word”:

Sitting Still:

  • Figure about three to five minutes for every year of the child’s age, and really look  at your child.  Are they a “mature” acting three or four year old, or rather immature?  That will give you a clue as to what might be a realistic expectation.
  • Bring something with you to do for the small child.  Make up a special little “Sunday bag” for church, let them bring a stuffed animal or doll with them.
  • Practice times of sitting quietly at home for a story, thirty seconds before you light the candle for dinner, thirty second in silence after you say the blessing over the meal..
  • What would work best for your family?  Your ideas here:

Hitting, Kicking:

Ah, no one’s favorite.

  • You cannot let the child hurt you (or anyone else!).  If it is toward you, step away or hold the child if you can do it and be calm!  If the child is hitting someone else, they must come and be with you in a time-in.
  • Connect with this child during other times in a warm way.  Are they feeling poorly physically or emotionally?  This does not excuse the behavior, but provides a clue as to what they need!
  • If this is occurring during play dates and such, please think strongly about whether or not your small child needs this social experience at this point.  You can see my take on social experiences for the four year old in back posts, so you can guess what I think about toddlers from that….
  • Go back to your basics – rhythm, outside time, warm and nourishing meals.
  • If you need help dealing with hitting and kicking as part of a temper tantrum, please see here:  https://theparentingpassageway.com/2010/01/12/more-about-time-in-for-tinies/
  • Here is a back post on boys and hitting:  https://theparentingpassageway.com/2009/03/28/boys-under-age-7-and-hitting/
  • What would work best for your family?  Your ideas here:

Biting

Also no one’s favorite.

  • If it is biting at the breast, pull the baby close to you – this will block their nose and make them loosen the biting.  However, GIVE them something they CAN bite on.  A wet washcloth that you threw in the freezer works fine.  Biting is a normal behavior, it is just the object that the child is biting that makes it good or not good, so you don’t want to tell them never to bite!  If they are biting at the breast and it is usually toward the end of a feeding, try to catch them before the end and gently  remove  them from  the breast.
  • If the biting is generally part of just being aggressive, try this outside resource regarding the types of biters and such:   http://www.naturalchild.org/guest/linda_passmark.html
  • Never bite a child for biting!  That does not help.
  • Remain as calm as possible.  It is no fun when your toddler or preschooler bites another child over a toy, and it is not fun when your child is the one who was bit, but these things do happen and one must be calm.
  • If your child is in a biting phase, think carefully about your child’s level of frustration with social outings.  🙂  If you frequently read this blog, you know where I stand on that!  The whole “playdate” thing really should not apply to children under the age of four and a half, but that is just my opinion.  🙂 Take what works for you and your family.

Hope these ideas help your family think of what would work best for you in these situations.

Many blessings,

Carrie