Author Archives: Carrie

Waldorf: Educating for Excellence

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Waldorf education does provide an academically rigorous education that can take a graduate wherever they want to go, whether that be Harvard or Princeton, to art school, to medical school, or to law school.

People who do not look beyond the Kindergarten Years of Waldorf education typically do not understand the scope and sequence of the curriculum and how invigorating and challenging it is.  The fact that subjects within the grades are taught within active movement, art, rhythm. music, hands-on work, where the active always proceeds the passive writing part, where the curriculum is tailored toward the fact that logical thought doesn’t come into play until the teenaged years (and this is based on a number of psychological studies, not just a bizarre Waldorf notion) is baffling to people who think learning can only take place within workbooks and a group of children the same age sitting together in a classroom.

Donna Simmons wrote several really good posts about the academic rigorousness of Waldorf here:

http://christopherushomeschool.typepad.com/blog/2007/09/educating-for-e.html

And here:

http://christopherushomeschool.typepad.com/blog/2009/05/from-norse-myths-to-beowulf.html

Some folks wonder with the delayed start to academics how children ever “catch up”.  In this regard, Waldorf education has something in common with our friends the unschoolers.  A friend of mine was telling me a story about her friend who has grown children who now have Master’s degrees in technically demanding fields – engineering, etc.  The foundation the mother had provided was lots of creative play, going to the museum (and NOT dissecting everything there, just LOOKING!  What a novelty!)  The children learned to read around the age of 11, and essentially “caught up” in reading and mathematics to their grade level and beyond in SIX MONTHS.

I liken the fact that the Waldorf curriculum is so precisely orchestrated, everything does build on each other, starting in the Kindergarten (and yes, those sensorial experiences are the hands-on basis of science and other subjects as the child moves on).  Look at the curriculum and see the in-depth choices that make up the curriculum.

Donna Simmons pointed out to me the other day that the Classical movement is based upon being academically rigorous and I would add somewhat more “serious” schooling, modeling off a Greek style of education…….The Greeks did not start formal education until the change of teeth and relied on movement, rhythm, and other elements to bring the learning in.  Sounds an awful lot like Waldorf to me!  Investigate, and do not blindly believe!

Waldorf works because it is a support of the unfolding that is there within the child.  My mother-in-law remarks that almost every four, five, six year old she has taught in her million years of teaching is “bright”.  However, the truly gifted children come out later, around the ages of 9-11, the children who truly can take the concepts learned, manipulate those concepts and come up with something new.  In my opinion, Waldorf builds the very best foundation for that.  Einstein thought fairy tales was the basis of being a better scientist.  There is a reason for that.

I fully expect my children to go and do whatever it is they want to do when they are grown, and if they want to go to a top-rated University, they will have the skills to do it.  However, Waldorf will allow things to unfold in its own time without burning them out academically  by the time they are 8 or 9.

Be careful with the educational choices you make in your homeschool; your homeschool can be anything you want it to be, but please keep in mind the developmental stages of childhood and how children learn best – they don’t learn the same way a 40 or 50 year old would learn because they are not 40 and 50 years old.  Just food for thought today.

Peace,

Carrie

Let’s Finish Up “Tapestries”: Ages 56-63

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No, life does not end at age 63, but for the purposes of our study we will be stopping here.  Betty Staley entitles this chapter, “Getting Older, Getting Better?  The Active Years: 56-63.”

She mentions some of the more salient points regarding this life phase:

We have a new-found peace, calm and simplicity in this stage.

We are living out the depth of our inner experience and emotional maturity.

We develop enthusiasm in this stage through conscious effort.  “The challenge now is to develop a new kind of idealism, what Steiner calls “achieved or mature idealism.””

Another challenge is to respond with empathy to things instead of with ego.

This is a time to prepare for the later years, but it may not be the time to retire.  Betty Staley recites the studies that correlate death and retirement; for example, the peak in the male death rate is two years after retirement.  Therefore, it is important during this phase to think about one will do after retirement and develop new interests, relationships, social outlets.

Marriage in the late 50s, sixties and beyond has the quality of devotion emerging.  “The love of partners and friends has a depth at this period that can rarely be experienced in earlier years when we are oriented much more towards the outer world.  Appreciation and tolerance also characterise this phase.” (page 236)

Betty Staley has several more chapters in this book, including “Looking Back, A Different Perspective:  Beyond 63” and “The Threshold of Death.”

This is a powerful book, and I hope you all have enjoyed going through the seven year cycles from age 21 onwards. 

Yours till next time,

Carrie

Where Do I Go Now?

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What do you do when you realize your method of homeschooling has been more detrimental  than the goodness you thought it was bringing to your child? Or that your child just has tremendous imbalances between their body, their head, their social and emotional skills?   I am talking about parents of very,very bright children who were reading at age three fluently, the very smart child who is so incredibly “gifted”, the children who are so ahead of themselves and so logical…..

Until the parent begins to notice that this very bright child can relate to no one of his own age at all.  That the child has poor gross motor skills.  That the child is only drawn to books and textbooks and such.  That this child has very little creative ability, is very serious, has difficulty playing.  That the child seems very in their head, worried about adult things, in fact seems more like an adult than not…..

In my experience many of these children do  feel isolated, depressed, anxious – and they are still children and whether they can verbalize it or not, they are looking to you to take the lead, to make it better.  They are still small, they still need your protection.

And the parent is thinking now this child is 7,8 or 9, what to do, what to do?  Can Waldorf education help this child?

My first recommendation is this:  Call one of the national Waldorf consultants for a consultation.  This is important, because  sometimes you are dealing with an out of the ordinary situation, not just where the child is coming in late to Waldorf, which also may have its own challenges, but there may be therapeutic issues to be dealt with.   Here is the link with all the names of consultants I know:  https://theparentingpassageway.com/2009/01/03/waldorf-consultants/

My second recommendation is to look at yourself!  This will take hard work, change, motivation, being matter of fact and peaceful with your child as things change and they complain about the change!  Can you:

1. Stop talking and putting adult decision making on them?   Do not ask them if they want to “do Waldorf homeschooling.”  It is not their choice at this point.  They should have completely limited choices at this point on life issues.  They already have had enough pressure and the decision making process has worked on their psyche to the point where they are no longer children.  Help them reclaim their childhood by being the Authentic Leader in your home. You set the tone right now.

2.  Can you read some of Steiner and really penetrate what teaching first, second or third grade is  about?  What level these children are normally at in these grades in Waldorf? And there is more than academics at stake here – where are they gross motor wise, emotionally, socially, artistically, fine motor wise?     It is probably going to be very different than what you are used to.    Can you be okay with that while you take a year to heal and to shift toward balance?

3.  Can you be okay with balancing the child without the use of textbooks in these early grades, with the use of outside time, hiking, gardening, being in nature without identifying trees and bushes to death?  Woodworking, knitting, dyeing things, having an aquarium without all the plant and fish identification, having an art farm or worm farm, looking at the stars with the naked eye with Native American legends and stories as the backdrop would all be healing.  Apple picking, berry picking, making jelly, going to the zoo and aquarium (without writing reports or taking one of the those damned nature journals around with them to draw and identify everything by the latin name? just looking and being and seeing how those animals move), swimming, singing and jumping rope would all be very healing.

4.  Can you show them how to play by setting up stations for playing in your home?  Most eight year old girls still like to play with dolls.  Maybe your child has forgotten how to play!  Copious outside time will help.  Can you set up a woodworking bench, a knitting area, a sewing area, an area for art?  Can you work on some handwork yourself for an hour in the afternoons and set up that model, that expectation for your son or daughter?

5.  Think about warmth – less words, stop explaining, can you show your delight in your child WITHOUT words at all?  Smiles, hugs, fun!  Can you as a family go and have fun?  Hiking, ice skating, roller skating, picnics, – is this child’s seriousness coming from you?  This child is small and needs to be joyous!

6.  Think about early bedtimes, consistent meal and snack times with warm food.  Lots of fresh air and fresh unprocessed foods.

7.  Bring in stories to heal your child’s soul – fairy tales, legends, nature stories, stories from your childhood and from when your child was very, very small.  Lots of storytelling.  Remember, the academics in Waldorf can be adjusted to where your child is, but the stories for each grade is designed for the child’s soul development.  And while we would want to focus on what a child needs for that age, and not go backward, I see nothing wrong with lighting a candle and telling a fairy tale at night to a third grader!  Adults love fairy tales too!

8.  Can you bring in music?  The joy of having music as a family?  This is so important.

9. Can you make a big deal about preparing for festivals where school does not go on as usual?  Festival preparation is an integral part of life for the Early Grades child.

Your Waldorf consultant will have other suggestions based upon your child’s needs.  Waldorf is a healing method of education, but it takes commitment and a matter of fact peaceful kind of energy.

Peace and may goodness go with you,

Carrie

Does Your Child Know What Is Best?

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Okay, nationally syndicated family psychologist John Rosemond and I do not agree most of the time when I read his column and approach.  (Sorry, Mr. Rosemond, I am not sure if this is because of a gender gap or a generational gap or what).  But, as I read his column in my local newspaper  this past Saturday, I had to agree with him.

Here is something he wrote that I think is excellent food for thought for today’s parents:

“A child, lacking farsightnedness, does not know what is in his best interest.  He is apt to prefer that which is bad for him and reject that which is good for him.  His parents and teacher must provide the restraint and direction he cannot provide himself.

Proper restraint and direction are essential to turning the anti-social toddler into a disciple who will trust and look up to his parents, follow their lead and subscribe to their values.  And “proper” means with lots of love.  (My bolded added), (and yes, I wince I bit with the whole “proper restraint “ phrasing but do read on and here is the punchline……).

…..In this regard, all too many of today’s parents are trying to pull the horse with the cart.  They think discipline is all about shaping proper behavior by manipulating reward and punishment.  That’s not discipline; that’s behavior modification.  Discipline is the process by which a child is taught to think properly.  A child who thinks properly will behave properly, but the converse is not true.  A child who only learns what behaviors are appropriate to what situation may become nothing more than a clever manipulator.”

He goes on to say, that in effect, until the child’s values are formed, the child has to be guided and directed.

Okay, so I don’t always agree with Mr. Rosemond’s wording, but I agree in some sense with the spirit of what he wrote.

There are several  challenges  that I see with parents and their attempts at guiding their children  today. One is that parents frequently over-explain themselves and in essence try to guide their three, four, and five year old by speaking to them in  they way they should be speaking to a ten year old.  It is a real problem that I see.  The explanation is essentially, many times, not just a reason for doing or not doing something, in a short sentence,   but in essence a long debate trying to garner the child’s agreement with what the parent needs instead of just being kind, being gentle, but sticking to what the parent said in the first sentence.  The children  really don’t need the essay!  It does not mean you are not loving, kind and gentle – but you can do this without so many words!  Be warm, use humor, SMILE!    I know you can!

The other challenge that I see is that parents have no grasp on developmental stages.  “Why won’t they listen?”  “When do they understand no?”   comes up all the time on the gentle discipline boards I am on for children under the age of 7!    Waldorf understands this so well, and has so many gentle techniques to assist in non-wordy guidance for your small  child.

You must have the gentle, physical presence and follow through with a small child, and even for the very ephemeral, short-memory, easily distracted seven year old.  Steiner’s stages of development were right on, and if we think of seven and eight year olds at at the beginning of a new stage and  not so much as the “old school aged” children we will do much better.

The last challenge I see is the reluctance of parents to set any boundaries at all.  There has to be boundaries, as this is the only way we can all function in a household together, and boundaries help a child learn how to function in the society we live in where it will not be all about them.    And guess what, because you are the parent, because you have the most experience in life, because you bear more responsibility for the things that happen in your household, you get to set the boundaries.  Step up to the plate and set the boundaries in a loving way!

None of this means we don’t listen to our child, that our child doesn’t have input, that our child is not loved and cherished.  But it does mean that we understand the process by which a child develops, that we understand the process by which a child develops values and develops morality is not all at once, and we cannot speed up this developmental process by talking a child’s ear off anymore or providing punishments and rewards any more than we can speed up when they are mature and capable enough to drive a car.

A few thoughts,

Carrie

“I Got My Son Back!”

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The decision to pull a teenager out of high school and to homeschool instead can be a difficult one.  I have a friend who did just that, and it has worked out splendidly.  Her son was depressed, sullen, angry and failing when he attended school.  Now he is now a boy who not only gets all his work done but works ahead.  He reports to his friends how much he likes being homeschooled, and how ”it’s like college, because it is all on me to get it done.”  His friends now would like to be homeschooled!

His mother reports he is now pretty cheerful, happy and is once again loving toward his family.  She wonders if he had been bullied at school, but he won’t talk about that yet.  She wonders if he fell in with the wrong crowd, or just trying to be part of the culture where being a “smart boy” was not cool.  It was much more cool to not care and to fail.  All she knows is she is happy that she did not listen to her fears about homeschooling and went ahead.  She says it is the best thing she ever has done and wishes they had done it long ago.

What is holding you back today?  What fears are you holding onto?  What do you need to let go of in order to be the best parent and homeschooling teacher you can be?

Food for thought,

Carrie

Housecleaning and Homeschooling

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Lovey over at Lovey-land (http://lovey-land.blogspot.com/) lent me a few fabulous books regarding decluttering and housecleaning.  I am no stranger to these areas, because having clean spaces is very important to me, and living simply without too much stuff is also important to me.  However, these books were very helpful to me because one book laid out decluttering projects with estimated amounts of time, and the other book really clarified what should be cleaned daily, weekly, monthly and yearly.

I do think that having a clean and orderly house is part of homeschooling.  First of all, it can be hard for some if not all children to function in a cluttered environment because they are just being constantly distracted.  Secondly, having a clean house is important from a health perspective.  Thirdly, I find most women who are feeling completely overwhelmed with their house also are feeling overwhelmed with homeschooling, with life in general, and are sometimes dealing with depression or other things going on. So I think your home is sometimes a barometer of where you are and how you are feeling.

Most importantly, housecleaning, laundry, getting meals on the table and such all still have to happen even with homeschooling!  You are still the leader for your home! So the question becomes how to figure out how to make this happen.

If you are in the beginning steps of decluttering and getting your house in order, bravo! You may want to check out www.flylady.net if you are not already acquainted with that website.  It is very helpful to those of us who have to work at being organized. 

Here is my own personal list for daily, weekly cleaning:

Daily-

Clean the bathrooms

Air out the beds after we get up and open windows to air everything out, make beds after 30 minutes or so

Keep kitchen clean, put out clean towels every day in kitchen (countertops I do every day, outside of cabinets once a week)

Vacuum/dust mop  daily (did I mention we have a large hairy dog?)

Empty trash cans if full

Weekly

Change bed linens, including putting pillows in dryer for 15 minutes to kill dust mites

Change bath towels 2-3 times a week

Dust

Wipe down doorknobs, light switches, etc ( I admit I may do this more than once a week)

Wipe down baseboards (again due to big hairy dog) and doors and door hinges

Clean oven and refrigerator (including taking shelves out every 1-2 weeks and washing the shelves off).

Wash and sanitize garbage cans

Vacuum upholstered furniture every 1-2 weeks.

Sweep outside patios and walks a couple times a week.

Clean out pantry if needed

Yearly

Painting as needed

At least two times a year pressure wash house, outside windows

Condition wood furniture

 

Every family has their own way of doing things based upon the climate in which they live, the size of their house, etc.  I am just sharing some of the things I do. 

Peace,

Carrie

Happy Mother’s Day

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Happy Mother’s Day to all of you out there; I appreciate the time all of you take in reading this blog.  This blog is currently getting somewhere between 300-500 hits a day!  Thank you for all you do for children, for all the thought and care you give to your family life.  You all are such an inspiration to me!

Happy Mother’s Day,

Carrie

Flow of the Day in A Waldorf Home

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Keep in mind this would be an ideal day in our house with a Kindergartner and an Early Grades kiddo, but maybe it will help give someone an idea of how to put it all together. Modify, change, take what resonates with you and your family and where you live.  There is no one right way to do this!!  We are at home and not at a Waldorf school!

Here is a day in the life:

  • Up, air out beds while taking shower, cleaning up bathroom and getting dressed
  • Make all beds with children’s help
  • Breakfast with blessing, religious devotional;  clean-up after breakfast including wiping table and sweeping under table
  • Help children with dressing, hair brushing and teeth brushing
  • Throw in laundry
  • Go for walk with children and dog or gardening tasks
  • Snack
  • Call to school with Song of Month on pennywhistle and any festival songs we are learning, light candle, say morning verses  (we may school outside or inside)
  • Circle time or seasonal finger plays for Kindergartner
  • Story for Kindergartner/Activity after story – every week we include modeling of some type and kind.  We also use drama, puppets, drawing, and other things to bring the story alive over a period of two weeks to a month for each Kindy story.
  • Active Math practice for older child if not in a Math Block or pennywhistle and more singing practice
  • Main Lesson for Grades Child – three day rhythm here……  An hour is a long time here for a First Grader!
  • Foreign language two days a week (German on Mondays with arts and crafts for the younger child, cooking on Tuesdays, Wednesdays Spanish with free play inside for the youngest child) (And yes, amazingly, this time period may involve more eating and snacking :))
  • Outside play while I do some more cleaning, lunch preparation
  • Blessing, lunch; clean-up
  • Quiet time
  • Handwork alternated with arts and crafts or wet on wet painting is ideal

The afternoons we spend outside playing or just creating.  I like to garden or read while the children play.  Time to “just  be”  is important to us.  We do grocery shop on Thursday afternoons in general.  Some weeks we have allergist or chiropractic appointments to work in as well.  I try very hard to keep us home a lot, which means saying NO to a lot of   things.  🙂

Fridays look a bit different in that our typical school day is usually either a fast finish up of the only the academic piece of the Main Lesson (without the Kindy stuff or math practice).  We usually then do  a short  Peace Circle (this idea was inspired by  the Winter Seasons of Joy booklet by Annette  – you can see her website here about ordering: http://natural-childhood.blogspot.com/ for Annette’s example)   I have made my own Peace Circles (and taught hymns or other spiritual songs and verses) and a religious study.   This year we have been discussing one Fruit of the Spirit a month through a bible story, coloring, games or whatever else I can think of (there are nine Fruit of the Spirit  so this happened to work out well for us).  And then generally we clean and play and get the house ready for the weekend!

Every Waldorf homeschool will look different; it will also look different at different stages as your children grow and mature.

I hear so many mothers who have three children or more under the age of 5 and they are so hard on themselves that they don’t have this wonderful rhythm with all these activities going on; please do be easy with yourselves out there!  Sometimes it is just getting through the day and small things at that point with building up to the bigger things as the children grow and mature!  Take it easy if you have multiple children under the age of 5; remember Steiner thought is was beneficial for a child to be able to see even 15 minutes of real work done by your warm hands.  Go through the back posts on this blog about rhythm and start small – awake times, bedtimes, mealtimes.

Be easy with yourself and others as we travel this homeschooling road together,

Carrie

Creating A Day of Rest In Your Week

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Many spiritual and religious traditions include having a day of rest.  Even for those of you  without a specific spiritual or religious path, wouldn’t a day of rest a week sound wonderful?  Perhaps you would like to have a day of rest once a week to go have a picnic by a lake with your family, or a day up in the mountains. 

Of course, the question is how to make this happen!

This is something I am working toward and can only share my progress and plans.  To me, there needed to be several things in place before I could have a day of rest.  These things included 1-all the housework and laundry done beforehand, the refrigerator full, errands done 2- a plan for meals and advance meal  preparation for our day of rest to also include a special dinner the night before our day of rest  3- a plan for that day for my family, including  perhaps a special box of things that only come out on that day for the children to play with in the morning  and also notions on  how we would spend our day.

My plans so far include doing things each day of the week to get ready for the day of rest, and using the two days before the day of rest as more serious preparation days.  This past weekend we experimented with easy meals/meals made in advance and found that satisfactory.  Having a plan to get housework, laundry, errands, grocery shopping all done and in place has also been a huge help.

Just something to think about and see if this appeals to you,

Carrie

Creating A Family Mission Statement

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My husband and I are in the process of writing a mission statement, has anyone out there ever done that?  It is a truly interesting process, and for those of you who are interested, I thought I would outline some steps regarding creating a family mission statement of your own.

First of all, sit down with your spouse or significant other and talk to them about this.  Discuss with each other the fundamentals of life, such as:  What are the attitudes in our family regarding money?  What do we feel the place or importance of education is in our family?  How does our family regard religion or spirituality, and how does this play into our everyday lives?  What is the role of activities outside of our family?  Is the environment extremely important to us and how do we reflect that?  Is helping other people or participating in our neighborhood, church or synagogue, or community essential?  For those of you who are parents, do you have a view of childhood development or loving guidance that really plays center stage in your daily life?

It is an eye-opening experience to have these conversations with your significant other!  It can also take a long time, and this is not a step to be rushed.  Really talk about these things, and think about them and ponder them. What is most important to you both as you shape your family? 

Then talk to the other adults in your house if you have extended family living with you.  Some sources say to then sit down with your children  with the value statements you and your partner came up with and see what they have to say.  Some mothers I have spoken with talk about how you can ask your children for adjectives that they would use to describe the family, what the children think  is most important to mother and father, what they think about their family. 

I think this step could be quite head-oriented and somewhat difficult to grasp for the under –nine crowd.  Perhaps something better for you and your partner may be  to set your mission statement as you together create your family environment (and then change the mission statement to include your children’s ideas as they grow and mature, of course!)  So I guess the inclusion of children, for me personally , would really  have to depend on the ages and maturity  of the children involved.  Some older children may have valuable input, or at least a specific idea or example of something where you could tie this to a bigger value for your mission statement, whereas a three or four year old probably will just parrot whatever  their big brother or sister has to say!  I know this is not a popular view nowadays, in the age of democratic and consensual family living, but I thought I would throw it out there that you really are in charge of setting the tone for your own home first and foremost!  As always, take what resonates from my writings and ideas and adapt it to your own family.

However you decide to do this process, you would then write down the value statements or ideas that family members come up with in sentences, as many sentences as you need.  You could then see if any similarities exist among the value statements where you could group them under one heading so to speak.  For example, “health” to you may include physical health, spirituality practices, alternative health care, eating styles and communication styles, breastfeeding and attachment parenting.  

For older children some families provide follow-up sentences to each value sentence that explains how this value would be implemented – for example, if living simply is a strong value, perhaps examples of follow-up statements would include buying used whenever possible, considering the reduction of packaging in purchasing decisions, treating the earth kindly, involvement in environmental justice kinds of activities, etc.

Once you have your family’s mission statement you can put it somewhere and frame it for easy reference – do not just tuck it away in a drawer!  This should be the touchstone of discerning what is essential for you and your family.  It should help you determine what you will participate in and what you won’t, and how you will live. 

Mission statements are living documents that need to updated as your family members grow and mature; set regular dates to review, revise, re-frame your thoughts.

Perhaps all or part of this process may appeal to you and your family; please leave a comment in the comment section below !

Peaceful family living to you and yours,

Carrie