Author Archives: Carrie

A Month of Joy: April

Posted on by
1

Looking forward to spring in the Northern Hemisphere? So am I!  It seems to be very slowly moving into the Deep South – we had very low temperatures last week which is unusual,(although today it is supposed to be summer temperatures for some odd reason). We went on holiday to Florida a few weeks ago  to catch some sun and came back to cold.  We used to live in Florida, and I said I would never move back there, but now that I am older and hating the cold even more I am reconsidering! LOL.

This is normally a month of great beauty and joy – the springtime of creation.  The plants and flowers are bursting anew; the sun is out more often and the temperatures are (hopefully) rising.  The world seems fresh and full of possibilities.  In this sense, I too am excited to begin anew.

We will be celebrating:

April 4- Martin Luther King Jr’s Feast Day in the Episcopal Church

April 25- The Feast of St. Mark the Evangelist

and getting ready for Ascension Day, which is May 10th and the Rogation Days of the Episcopal Church, which are the Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday that precede Ascension.  If you are planning ahead as well, try this back post on Rogation Days and this back post on Ascension Day

What I thinking about in the home:

Spring Cleaning and Deep Cleaning.  I hurt my ankle/foot on holiday and have been hobbling about, but I still love to think of spring cleaning and have plans for deep decluttering and deep cleaning once I am able!  Here is a post on Housecleaning and Homeschooling and a favorite on  An Ordered Outer World for a Peaceful Family

Spring Crafting – I am looking forward to receiving our box from Happy Hedghog Post and also looking forward to some beautiful spring crafts.  I have some great projects on Spring Pinterest Board

Spring Self-care – We are still dealing with a lot of doctor’s appointments for our little guy who fell and hurt his teeth.  I fell on our vacation and had a doctor’s appointment for a very sprained ankle.  But beyond that, I have been in a little phase of establishing new morning, afternoon, and evening self-care routines.  I will be utilizing some of my favorite health care people to build a health care team to help me stabilize some of the health challenges I have faced this school year.  Yay for me winning!  We might also be doing a little moving challenge around our house for the big kids.

Spring Friend Care – I read the other day that the five people we spend the most time with clearly influence us.  I was thinking about the people I spend time with the most outside of my husband and family, and really want to focus on making spring and summer with those beautiful friends as lovely as possible.  In order to have friendships, which are so important, we have to put effort into them!

Spring attitude – Time for a fresh start in the expansiveness of spring!

Can’t wait to hear what you are up to!

Blessings,
carrie

The Original Waldorf Curriculum Is The Simplest

Posted on by
3

I think my ideal Waldorf curriculum for homeschoolers would stick closer to Steiner’s original indications from his educational lectures, especially the indications found in “Discussions With Teachers” and “Practical Advice to Teachers.”  What I love about these sources is that it breaks down the Waldorf curriculum so simply.  The Waldorf Schools have much more in the way of speciality staffing, and more children and more hours to fill than we do in homeschooling.  Therefore, I think we can stick to  the simplicity that Steiner laid out originally rather than trying to attempt all of the blocks that the schools bring in a year.

I personally feel we cannot do eurythmy at home but many instead substitute movement with verses and songs; I feel foreign languages are very difficult for most American homeschoolers unless they already happen to be bilingual; and music (flute in particular) can be hard even for the musically talented homeschoolers.  Many homeschoolers will sing with their children, but progression in music really comes with the community groups when children are old enough to be in a community orchestra, band, or choir.  I have come to the conclusion that these areas can be left aside until opportunities in the community present itself, and unless these areas come easy there are plenty of other things for homeschoolers who love Steiner’s indications to focus upon.

Ages 7-9 – Fairy Tales, Animal Stories, and Old Testament stories for drawing, writing from drawing, and then reading from writing.  Math.  Foreign languages (although this is terribly hard for the majority of homeschoolers unless they themselves are fluent in multiple languages); drawing; painting; modeling; music.  To these indications, I would add nature studies because homeschoolers do such a great job with that at home!

Ages 9-12 – Scenes from Ancient History, (4th),  Medieval History (5th), and Modern History (6th) (grades for the United States added by me; original indications by Steiner).  Grammar, the world of animals, the world of plants, geometry, physics, geography. Arthimetic, drawing, painting, music, foreign languages.

Ages 12+ – 15  Knowledge of the varying tribes and races of the world; knowledge of the people of the earth.  Grammmar, minerals, physics, chemistry, foreign language, history, geography, math, drawing, painting, music.

It sounds so simple laid out here like this, with long 6-8 week blocks to really sink into the material.

I think where homeschoolers get bogged down is in all the things the Waldorf Schools do, which we can never do at home, and in their own ideas of not being qualified to carry out an artistically-based curriculum.  It seems overwhelming, but really one must just try it.  The more you actually do it instead of think about it, the more things will come together. 🙂

I promise it is not that hard.  It can be simple.  I think we make it much harder than it is should be.  It shouldn’t be more difficult than other other methodology of homeschooling.  More insights from my re-reading of Steiner’s lectures to come.

Blessings,
Carrie

 

Managing Smartphones for Teens- Part Two

Posted on by
13

This is the second part in this series about how to manage a smartphone for teens.  The first part of this series talked about the most recent statistics of smartphone ownership for teens, and how teens with phones are still teens and they need your help in managing a tool that can and will impact them the rest of their lives.  Your teen’s  digital footprint is permanent, so that includes selfies, what they have posted on line or commented on, and more!  What teens post will be there permanently and can affect employment decisions by companies and college admissions.  Parents need to have boundaries around this device just like the boundaries in any other part of parenting.

The first part of this series also talked about delaying smartphone introduction, and some tools to look at utilization rates across devices and to set limits through things such as using your router to set Wi-Fi times, using a device like Circle, and having set hours for a cell phone to be in use. If you haven’t read this post, go read it now and come back to read this part!

Other considerations for parents:

This big question parents ask is:  HOW MUCH TIME ON A SMARTPHONE?  I find this is what parents really want to know, but yet there are very few guidelines out there that seem realistic for teenagers, especially older teenagers.  The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends no more than 2 HOURS across devices in a day for all teenagers. This post is about smartphone use, and I agree we must look at smartphone use against the usage of all devices in a day.  However,  I feel in an age where teens especially are having to access homework from a portal and use technology during class and for school assignments, this may not be a realistic estimate for many teens, at least in the  American school system.  For homeschooling families, this may be an easier goal for younger teens, but for high school many homeschooling families are  also utilizing classes on line and certainly older teens involved in dual enrollment are most likely using technology.

There is another  brief article about number of hours acceptable per day here on Common Sense Media but there is a large difference between 5 year olds and 16 year olds!  An article here from the UK  looked at 120,000 15 year olds and somehow came up with the numbers that two hours a day on smartphone was “just right” for benefits versus health; about an hour and forty minutes for video game playing; and 4 hours and 17 minutes for computer usage.  If you add all that up, that’s almost 8 hours a day on a device (!!) , so I personally think that still sounds more like an adult working an office job and not what a teenager, even an older teenager should have!

So, the bottom line is that you are going to have to come up with the guidelines that fit your family and what is going on with your children, and check yourself. Are you using tech to check out of your family?  Are your teens using tech to avoid you?  Do they have device use for school?  How does that tally into the number of hours they are allowed on screens in total?  Are they involved in other things other than devices?  Are they younger teenagers or older teenagers?  Where is their balance in life?

Personally, I think wait as long as you can  to have a cell phone or require computer work (so if you are Waldorf homeschooling, this would probably be in high school just like Waldorf schools, so age 14-15); strive for 1-2  hours a day across devices for up to age 14, 2-3 hours a day for ages 15 to 16 and then lessen the controls across all devices for those  16 and a half or so and up in preparation for being out on their own.   You cannot hold it for them forever; at some point they have to become their own authority and manage their own usage.  

Here are few other ideas and tips:

Have a plan: Cell phone contracts can be helpful in the beginning, especially with teens under 16.  Here is an example.   Here is another example.  Again, I  think these are great in the beginning, and for younger teens, but to me once a teen is past the 16 year developmental change, I think the controls should start dwindling.  They are going to be off and on their own and need to learn how to handle technology on their own.

Have “no cell phone zones”  in the house (and this means adults too!) Many families choose the bathrooms and dinner table to be off-limits to phones, and to have all phones docked in a central place at night.  Less temptations.

Choose data plans wisely.  Here is an article about the best cell phone plans for kids and it points out that many times adding a child to your plan will enable you to have control over blocking calls or texts on behalf of that child; that you can cap the number of texts a child can send; you can have a  GPS or a location-tracker on that phone;  control access to mature content and more.  Decide what controls you want, and know that determined teens can get around many of the controls better than you might know, so there must be an element of trust.  This goes back to the age you start to allow these devices access to your teens!

No driving with smartphone in hand.  Not only is this illegal in many states in the United States, distracted driving is a major source of car accidents in the United States, and teens may already be distracted when they are new drivers.  This is a link discussing apps for safe driving with a smartphone that lets you mute incoming texts, etc during driving.  Many new smartphones have these sorts of features right on the phone itself.

Consider social media. The upside of social media is this is where kids are hanging out, whether you like it or not, especially for many girls.  If you think back to when you were on the kitchen phone for hours with your friends or walking the mall (very American in the 1980s and 1990s), this is what social media is today.  Things are so structured for kids, that this is a “unstructured” place to be. As much as many of us as parents don’t like this idea, it is what is going on.

The downside and horrible part of social media includes depression, rejection and exclusion (here is a great article on how to help girls dealing with social exclusion and social media), cyberbullying,  child predators, and more. A 2011 California study found that teens who were the heaviest users of social media where also the least content, the most depressed, and perhaps generally bored.

Talk to your teens about on-line safety with this article geared just to teens.  This includes not accepting friend requests from people teens don’t know, using privacy settings, not meeting people you meet on-line off-line, not posting things you will regret- remember, the digital image of your teen online is permanent.  For parents, if your child is on social media, you should be on social media and be friends with them. However, most teens are using far more than Facebook or Twitter. Here is a list of more to check out.   And another list, from Common Sense Media, one of my favorite resources. Also be aware that many teens have multiple accounts to keep track of under one platform.  You need to have all passwords and all accounts, and know what your consequences will be if this is broken by your teen.

Talk about the negatives:  Cyberbullying (girls are cyberbullied at higher rates than boys; this article also ties in what happens in real-life in a school setting); cyberaddiction; sexting, (know the sexting laws in your state if you are in the United States!  And make sure your teen understands sexting could be illegal in your state!), teens and Internet pornography (here’s a report on a Canadian study that 40 percent of boys grades 4-11 search out Internet porn).

If your teen is at risk for depression, obesity or addiction disorder, you may need stronger controls. Remember, it is the responsibility of ALL parents of ALL teenagers to  not only set limits, but to engage the child in family activities, activities outside the home, meaninful experiences and to provide that balance that there is real-life out there to be lived and relationships to be had in real life!  Having a smartphone means you have to be MORE involved in parenting, not less involved.  

If you are looking for more information regarding smartphones and teens, here is another link:  Microsoft’s Digital Skills page has great points – like pointing out that  all those selfies that teens post can also end up impacting job interviews and everything else.  The Internet is permanent!  Teach teens to protect their reputation on-line.

I would love to hear how this resonates with you, and what you do in your own family with children ages 12-14 and up regarding smartphones and device usage. How do you stay involved and provide balance?

Blessings,
Carrie

Managing Smartphones for Teens – Part One

Posted on by
4

According to 2015 statistics, tweens are spending about six hours a day on “entertainment media”, and teens are spending nine hours a day.  Much of this is probably on a smartphone, (according to this page,  88 percent of children ages 12-17 have mobile phones and 84 percent of that is smartphone usage ). Children with cell phones are still children, and for teens since the dopamine reward system of the brain is far outpacing the part of the brain that controls impulses, it is no surprise that a 2016 CNN report from a Common Sense Media poll found 50 percent of tweens and teens feel addicted to their cell phones.

Many parents have shared with me that one of the harder parts of parenting teens is managing smartphone usage.  This is important to talk about because all the selfies or commenting on controversial posts or even posting a lot about religious or political views on social media will follow your teen forever; it is a responsibility to have a smartphone as opposed to a simple phone that calls/texts.  Employers and colleges look for on-line footprints of individuals they are interested in, and yet many parents feel clueless as to what their child is doing online.   So parents have asked me about managing smartphones.   What should common parameters be?  Here are some ideas; take what works for your family. This post is geared toward those of you with children ages 12 and up.   Continue reading →

Begin With The Adult In Mind: The Principle-Centered Homeschool

Posted on by
Reply

Usually homeschooling begins with a basic question:  why do we want to homeschool?  Sometimes this is for academic reasons, for lifestyle reasons, for religious reasons, for reasons of attachment within the family being prioritized.  When a family decides to “try out homeschooling,” many times the next step is to “pick curriculum.”  Often, in order to pick curriculum one finds an attraction (or aversion) to a way of teaching. Sometimes families don’t know, and they have to spend a lot of time sorting through what is out there – classical, Thomas Jefferson, unschooling, Charlotte Mason, wildschooling, Montessori, on-line schooling, school at home (public school books), Waldorf, eclectic, secular or religious….  While I find most families generally end up in the eclectic camp over the years, or sometimes people have to pull across methodologies to find products that help them meet their children’s needs,  these attractions and aversions can be helpful into picking specific curriculum support in the beginning.

A thought I have had lately is that what may better serve the hunt for a  homeschooling methodology that fits is much like Stephen Covey says:  begin with the end in mind.  Begin with the biggest, broadest picture of the developing human being as an adult.  What kind of adult will your child be?  This is bigger than just supporting academics.  I started our homeschool journey with the general idea of supporting health in a way that coincided with developmental unfolding.   I choose Waldorf homeschooling as our means to this end in homeschooling, but there are different paths to health for different families.

Where this idea of “what will the adult be” impacts homeschooling to me is in  the day to day implementation of whatever homeschooling methodology one chooses.  So, in my  day to day implementation of Waldorf homeschooling, thinking of  “the end in mind” may make my Waldorf homeschool look differently than other Waldorf homeschools because I am specifically thinking about our family and the children in front of me.  What can I do today to support the health of my adult child tomorrow?  What do my spouse and I hope for that adult child?   My spouse has definite ideas, for sure!   So there begins the  principle-centered homeschool.  Here are my principles, and maybe it will stimulate you to make your own general list that is for your family and your children:

**I have a general picture in my head of an adult who has moved from the idea of belonging to God (our religious beliefs) and belonging to family, and then belonging to a community and then belonging to the world as a positive force.   And this is not just a feeling of belonging as a taking, but the idea that the adult will  act sensitively in their belonging in order to help others belong.  As an adult who knows themselves and their priorities and values , they can take care of themselves (physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually), and care for the environment  (local and world) and  other people, but can also receive and accept care.  Again, this is within a family, community, and world context.  We want them to  know that belonging is being part of something bigger than themselves and bigger than what they personally want, and about what is right and ethical and moral?  Self-control and self-denial is often part of it and not to be feared but to be embraced.

**An adult who can solve conflicts in a meaningful way, including using emotional intelligence  and empathy, listening skills, and boundaries for intimate relationships and in understanding other people.  An adult who respects the dignity of all human beings and who will work in a larger context for social change and supportive environmental change when injustices occur. We expect a high level of ethics, morality, and thinking about other people.   This is reinforced in our homeschooling, but also in our place of worship as the idea of supporting social justice is in our baptismal vows. Purpose and meaningful experiences are a huge part of building these skills.

**An adult who has a growth mindset and who can see the difference between stretching potential through hard work and perseverance but also the need to stop spinning wheels and try a different approach if something isn’t working well; the ability of discernment.

**An adult who understands play,  fun, spontaneity, movement, and joy for overall health and as part of being even-tempered.  This is an important balance to the first three areas I mentioned. 

So, in my homeschooling, I work hard to make our day-to day choices in  the curriculum reflect these ultimate principles through our shared family experiences on each child’s level.  These meaningful experiences is what it is all about, and cannot be contained in any curriculum book.

I would love hearing how other families think about what is important to them while homeschooling.

Blessings,
Carrie

 

 

50 Ways to Celebrate Eastertide

Posted on by
1

Eastertide is such a joyous time – in the Northern Hemisphere, spring is beginning, and the season of Eastertide runs all the way from Easter Day until Pentecost on May 20.  I think of Eastertide as a time to remember that play and joy are such an important part of being human.  So, without further ado, here are 50 ways to make Eastertide memorable:

  1.  Dye eggs and try your hand at some spring crafts
  2. Visit a sheep farm where the sheep are being shorn and then wash, card, and dye some fleece.
  3. Make projects having to do with sheep – I have an entire Pinterest board devoted to to wool and knitting here
  4. Spring clean your house (deep clean)
  5. Get rid of things you no longer use; paring down in the spring feels so good!
  6. Re-vamp your diet to include even more fruits and vegetables and meatless meals.
  7. Take great care of your skin
  8. Cleanse your rhythm from things outside the home that are no longer serving you or your family
  9. Look at our bee and butterfly friends in the garden, in books, and in crafts.  There are some ideas on my spring Pinterest board
  10.  Clear your life from people who bring you negative energy
  11. Make time to spend with those you love and trust – family and friends
  12. Think carefully about new endeavors.  What are you growing for this season?
  13. Find a wonderful new book to read!
  14. Go hiking.
  15. Go camping. If your spouse doesn’t like to camp, gather a moms and childrens group to go.
  16. Spend time in nature every day.
  17. Add some puppetry to your life
  18. Try journaling 50 days of gratitude
  19. Change your priorities so you have time for self-care.
  20. Slow down and rest
  21. Learn some beautiful new songs for spring for circle time or to sing as a family
  22.  Carefully investigate your spiritual path and find a way to deepen your inner work
  23. Go easy on yourself and give yourself space
  24. Find an app to help you meditate or visualize
  25. Go swimming
  26. Get a massage or sit in a sauna.
  27. Spend time with animals.
  28. Get to know your local farmers and enjoy local foods.
  29. Create art
  30. Plan ahead…or not. Whichever brings you joy in your homeschooling!  Here is some inspiration for planning high school and here is some inspiration for planning the grades.  Also, here is  a whole Pinterest board devoted to the  Early Years
  31. Learn some new Waldorf verses
  32. Pick fruit
  33. Plant a garden
  34. Create something beautiful for your outdoor space
  35. Plan new adventures in travel –
  36. Have a May Day festival shared with friends
  37. Plan for Ascension Day
  38. Plan for Pentecost through these musings
  39. Make some rock art
  40. Create, cook, and sing for Pentecost
  41. If you celebrate Pentecost as a family, consider a gathering for Pentecost
  42. Encourage someone or become someone’s mentor.
  43. Drink more water
  44. Set up a new exercise plan
  45. Catch up on your doctor and dentist appointments
  46. Take naps
  47. Walk in nature
  48. Watch a sunrise
  49. Go slow and enjoy spending time with your children.  If you are homeschooling, less books and more play.
  50. Have a picnic

Blessings,

Carrie

Raising Siblings As Friends

Posted on by
1

In many sitcoms and movies, it is almost taken for granted that the siblings of any family hate each and throw snide words at each other. Like this is normal, and good. Like it is better to like friends more than your own flesh and blood.  Like it is better to not want your brother or sister around.

My children have gone through definite phases of needing more space from one another, partly due to age differences (16 down to age 8), and partly due to personality differences.  To me, those phases are kind of like a little dust storm or a big rainstorm.  I may not be able to see my destination clearly, through the sand or rain, but I know it is there.  And the big destination for me is to make sure my children adore each other and take care of each other.  I want to make sure they know that when my husband and I are gone, they will be there for each other. There will be things between them that my husband and I will never know, because siblings are the best bond ever.

As an only child, I often wondered if it was a big fabrication in my head that I built up that having siblings is truly wonderful (especially when they were fighting!). However, I  can say without hesitation in watching our own children, even through the phases of more distance, that yes, yes it is truly that wonderful.  Every time I see them all playing together, helping each other, doing fun things together, I feel that flush of happiness for them.

How do you get help them get that close bond?  Here are some of my top ways, in no particular order:

Don’t ever let them treat their friends better than they treat their siblings.  Call them out on that.  Every. Single. Time.  Part of being with friends includes being nice to a brother or sister if friends are at our house, and part of being with friends includes being nice to a brother or sister when you are home.  If you cannot do that and handle your relationships at home with kindness and love, then you are not ready for much in the way of friendships outside the home.

Make interdependence happen.  Help the children learn to work as a team in whatever way that happens in your home – cleaning up, having fun, taking a trip together, making food. Part of this is also making sure that activities outside the home don’t trump spending time with siblings and family.  It is all part of being a family, and part of learning what makes relationships tick is learning these first relationships at home.  All relationships, if you want them to last, require time well-spent, and kindness.

At the same time, allow for space.  Some developmental phases just simply require more space than others.  And like other relationships in life, sometimes one sibling feels rejected, the other just needs space, some siblings are closer at one point or another, etc. Space and individuality are important, and it makes interdependence work. I find when an older child is 10 or so and has younger siblings that sometimes they just simply need space away from the siblings.  Teenagers who are 14-17 sometimes have a hard time relating to younger siblings as well, especially those aged 8-12, and may need help to remember what it was like to be younger.

Encourage that equal doesn’t equate to fair.  I find this idea of things having to be “fair”  usually peaks for children between 7-10 years of age.  Usually the best thing you can do is empathize with whomever is upset, and have solid reasoning behind what boundaries you are setting and why. Sometimes having “this is just the age you can do X thing in our family” is helpful because it is a more generalized rule.  For younger children where things like taking turns or who gets to hold the special toy are problematic, I find using a timer or counting aloud for “fair turns”  is usually helpful.

In sibling fighting and drama, for younger children,  I usually start with helping the victim of the situation without much attention to the aggressor.  Sometimes just not giving attention for negative behavior helps.  Usually the aggressor has to help the victim by doing something nice for the victim :).  Kindness wins.

In sibling fighting and drama for older children, I try to listen to both sides with active listening techniques and empathy but then help guide them toward problem-solving the challenge themselves.  Stock phrases usually include, “What would you like to see happen?”  “How would that work out for your brother or sister?”  “How could we have an agreement that both of you would like?”

Take the hard knocks in stride.  Just because they don’t like each other at this moment, doesn’t mean they never will!  Keep working toward fun and positivity and help them see each other’s needs are valid.

I would love to hear your best suggestions for helping siblings get along!

Blessings and love,

carrie

 

Your Children Are Exactly Who They Should Be

Posted on by
2

We can spend a lot of time in parenting trying to change our children, or thinking about how we could change our children.

You know, like  when they are babies we hope and try to help them sleep longer or walk earlier or eat solid foods when they don’t care.  As they grow and become toddlers and preschoolers, we hope they aren’t too clingy or too fussy or have too many temper tantrums.  As they grow even older, we hope and try to help them with their tempers, their shyness, their this or their that.  Then we spend time shaping even more of their habits so we hope that they will do well in the adult world.  There isn’t probably anything inherently wrong in any of this; boundaries and guiding are part of parenting and so are hopes and dreams for our children.

However, sometimes it  is easy to forget that our children are exactly who they should be!  Sometimes children have traits that are just uniquely them, and make them so wonderful.  Some children have traits that really do make it harder to parent, but will serve them so well in the adult world and the adult world needs them so badly.

Boundaries and guiding are beautiful things.  Balancing things to help a child unfold is also a beautiful thing.  But let us also never doubt the sun we see shining in our children’s eyes, and let us never diminish that.

If you feel like all you notice or call attention to  are the bad things a child is doing, take a deep breath.  Get a break from someone you love and trust.  Or bundle everyone up and go take a walk together  out in the sunshine and just reset.  Do something fun and just love each other!

You are all on the journey together and becoming together.  I hope to be sitting around years from now with my adult children and their beautiful families and I hope we are having a great time and laughing.  Because that’s what it is about.  The light that shines so brillantly in all of us that the world so desperately needs begins right at home.

So balance and guide, but never forget that your children are wonderful with all their unique strengths, abilities, talents, and love to share.  Perhaps they are meant to be in this time and place.  May we all grow and shine together!

Blessings,
carrie

Dyslexia + Waldorf

Posted on by
7

I wrote a post some time ago entitled,“Dyslexia, Dyscalculia, Dysgraphia and Waldorf Homeschooling”   regarding working with the dyslexic child within the Waldorf homeschooling curriculum.  This first post was much longer, and there is a lot of information about movement and visual therapy and other things on this blog.  This post, today, is sort of the quick and dirty in terms of how many parents homeschooling with Waldorf feel.  Remember that dyslexia covers a wide range, and that it can “bleed” over into handwriting or math, some people use different terms for that as I did in the post linked above, but some people just term it all under an umbrella called “dyslexia”

In the post above, I mentioned that most homeschooling parents end up using a more structured reading and/or spelling resource that is outside of Waldorf because these children NEED and HAVE to have explicit instruction.  And, I stand by the point that part of teaching IS to provide this explicit instruction to all children.  Yes, some children learn to write, read, and spell from making up summaries.  But I would venture to say that most children need more than that unless they are a good organic writer. Our oldest was a good organic writer and I have had to work much harder with our other two children.   Most of the Waldorf curriculums do talk about the whole language approach, summary writing, using a combination of phonics, word families, sight words, and spelling rules.  Not all curriculums go into much detail about how to do this, however.

So, the  parts of teaching a child with moderate to severe dyslexia, to me, means several things in these stages:

The “something isn’t quite right” stage.  This may mean going forward with the idea that you are teaching to dyslexia or learning challenges without having had formal testing, or this may be the stage where your child has been tested and you have an official diagnosis.  This may also be the stage where other therapies are involved, such as visual therapy for visual convergence insufficiency, or occupational therapy to help with handwriting.    Resources for Waldorf homeschoolers may also include Extra Lesson Work, Eurythmy, working with an anthroposophic doctor and more. This stage usually for Waldorf children  is anywhere between Grades 2-4.  Hopefully with more Waldorf homeschoolers aware, we can start catching dyslexia earlier and providing the most effective help.

Intervention for direct reading, writing, and spelling instruction.  Waldorf families often add mainstream products to their homeschooling day, which means they are doing separate programs on top of a Main Lesson.  This is hard, and because the timetable in which children with dyslexia unfold, this can be years of extra instruction on top of main lessons, which takes a lot of time. Sometimes dyslexia really affects things like drawing or modeling or painting if handwriting is also affected, in which case some Waldorf homeschoolers feel like their children are missing the “best parts” of Waldorf homeschooling. One thing I want to say here, is not that art instruction isn’t a goal of Waldorf Education, but the ultimate goal is art as a spiritual activity, so keep heart!    More on that in a later post!  Unlike many mainstream homeschooling methods, we probably aren’t reaching for assistive technologies right off the bat due to the younger age of our students and our strong belief in bringing in technology at a later time for overall development.  We may, however, as a family, use some audio resources, and we continue to read aloud a lot as a family.

Looking for accommodations.  There may be a point of some catch-up, but as the workload increases in sixth grade and up, many families are hunting for reasonable accommodations even as they continue to work on reading, writing, spelling, comprehension.  It typically takes a child with dyslexia a longer time to learn to type, even though typing is most people’s answer to slow handwriting in the dyslexic child.  This great post talks about some of the tools for dyslexia, some of the new technology out there, and how to adjust those typing programs to be more effective!

I am in the journey with you, and am currently hunting for technological accommodations to try out in preparation for eighth grade and high school!  Will let you all know what we love.

Blessings and love,
Carrie

The American Waldorf Homeschooling Curriculum

Posted on by
1

Those of you who have followed this blog for years know that when I could come up for air from the busy times of being in the trenches with my own three children I have been dreaming of what an American Waldorf homeschooling curriculum would look like.  There is a chart compiled by the esteemed David Mitchell that many schools and homeschoolers use entitled, “The Waldorf Curriculum:  An Overview for American Waldorf Teachers” with the sub-statement in large letters:  “These course descriptions present possibilities for the American teacher to expand upon.”  This is the place where many American Waldorf homeschoolers look, and it can be a good overview for those looking to familiarize themselves with some of the things Steiner said, and some of the traditions of the Waldorf School.

I have written before in these posts about some of the American impulses I can see or visualize in the Waldorf curriculum:

Extending Inigenous Cultures Throughout the Waldorf Curriculum (Specifically for the Americas!)

Extending Africa Through the Curriculum (one of my favorite posts, suggestions for extending African history and culture all the way through tenth grade!)

Designing Eighth Grade American History Blocks

High School American History

Third Grade Native American Block

The American Impulse in Waldorf Homeschooling  (from 2013, that is quite some time ago!  I have been thinking about this subject for a long time!)

I appreaciate those of you who ask questions, who ask about the curriculum.  Because, in case you haven’t noticed, Waldorf homeschooling isn’t really popular. Yes, wooden toys and handmaking and nature is popular.  The idea of being “Waldorf-inspired” is often popular for kindergarten through second grade, but drops dramatically after that. I know of very few middle school and high school Waldorf homeschoolers – they are spread out around the entire United States.  Waldorf homeschooling itself is fairly unpopular.  You never see a Waldorf curriculum provider at a state homeschooling conference!  It is often mentioned in homeschooling how-to books as one of the methodologies of homeschooling, but not much beyond that.

Homeschoolers are a fiercely independent lot, and they want to tease out what Rudolf Steiner really indicated and in what lecture (was it in the educational lectures, the general anthroposophy lectures?  where?) and how this actually fits the child in front of them in this day and age.   It is teacher-intenstive for parents who are stretched for time, and it is specialist-intensive from the school model with separate teachers for so many of the subjects that make up what homeschoolers see as the beauty of Waldorf education – foreign languages, games and eurythmy, handwork, orchestra and voice and band, drama.  All of these things are hard to come by at home and are negatives for most homeschooling parents trying to distinguish between methodologies of homeschooling.  Perhaps the traditions of the Waldorf School, in the large sense are a wonderful fit for every child, but in a small sense some of it is very difficult for the average homeschooler. Some Waldorf teachers have gone on to argue how Waldorf homeschooling shouldn’t really exist, because Steiner was laying out indications for a school setting and how this model is not possible for home for one child, let alone multiple children of different grades being taught at the same time.  But then, we also hear that the Waldorf Curriculum is living and breathing as well and is adaptable to different geographic locations around the world – so why would it not be adaptable to homeschooling?   It can all be quite confusing, especially to those unversed in the traditions of the school or who haven’t read Steiner.

I started homeschooling my children for HEALTH.  Nothing was more important to me than their spiritual, physical, mental, and emotional health.  I have always felt Waldorf was the best educational vehicle to meet this goal.  It has very specific indications for the developing child, who is seen as a holistic being and it  is taught through the model of head, hearts and feeling life, and hands and practical work.  The stories for each grade meet that child, and we tailor our stories and curriculum to our particular locality , our particular place in the world!  This is such a hard thing to put in any Waldorf curriculum!  A Waldorf curriculum writer is not going to know about my tiny location in the Southeast, our particular ethinic and cultural background as a family, our particular interests, our health challenges,  and what is around me regarding places of geographic, cultural, and historical interst!   There will not be enough resources in any homeschooling curriculum to bend to all of that, so I write my own  year after year.

However,  I would like to see Steiner’s original indications for a breathing curriculum outline for American homeschoolers to love and be attracted to.  Otherwise, the healing impulse of Waldorf Education is going to miss most of a generation of homeschoolers in a time when our children’s health is more threatened than ever before.  This seems a complete shame to me at a point when what I care most about is the health of my children’s generation. I have been asked by several readers to write some blocks for specific content areas for specific grades in order to meet some of the American needs of the curriculum and I am contemplating that. 

Stay tuned for more.

Many blessings,
carrie