I listed my new-to-me top ten favorite resources I am using for fall planning and today I want to share with you some of my favorite Waldorf Pinterest Boards and You Tube videos/channels.  We all learn in different ways, and Waldorf Education is such an experiential form of education, so if you cannot attend an IN-PERSON, LIVE training or workshop (which I recommend most highly!), then sometimes visuals and demonstrations via videos can be helpful.

Of course, any one can put up anything on the Internet. One wants to be discerning as to the myriad of things out there that are being labeled “Waldorf” or “Waldorf -Inspired” simply because this label can encompass products and viewpoints that are right on, and products and viewpoints that have nothing to do with Waldorf Education.    In one sense, Rudolf Steiner was not nearly as dogmatic as people make him out to be in regards to educational practices and what comes when; but on the other hand there are solid developmental reasons to place things in general categories:  early years till the six/seven year change; up until the nine year change; from the nine to twelve year old change, and lastly up to the fifteen/sixteen year old change.  We must view anything labeled as “Waldorf” through this development lens and  really pay attention to what these seven year cycles and transitional points  mean for educating a whole, beautiful child. I think if we are homeschooling with the goal of it being a “Waldorf” experience, then we must know about these developmental stages of the human being, and know why we do (or don’t!) do what we do and what is created dogma and what is not. If you are searching for more information on this subject, I refer you to this May 2017 post at Waldorfish and to this post by Jean Miller over at Waldorf-Inspired Learning regarding the the three stages of the Waldorf curriculum.  And, of course, there are many back posts on this blog detailing some of the things that Steiner said and wrote about. I will be writing another post shortly where I will tell you WHERE in Steiner’s lectures to find (or not) some of the major themes for each grade (or if it is standard because the Waldorf Schools have made these themes traditional?)

So, all that to say, is that there is inspiration every where when one teachers with Waldorf,  and if we know and understand development and broad themes, I have found gems to work into our homeschooling experience with the following:

Pinterest Boards:

• Queen’s Lace is one of my favorites, with very extensive boards!
• Waldorf Hannah   is also very extensive with many sub-categories by blocks or skills for each grade.
• I think Waldorfish has found some of the most beautiful pins.
• I would like to tell you about my own board as well.  I cover Early Years through Grade 12.

You Tube Videos:

• If you are new to Waldorf homeschooling, try Jean Miller’s Waldorf 101 for homeschoolers and Thinking, Feeling, Willing from the Nairobi Waldorf School
• Green Meadow Waldorf School  has a good variety of topics dealing with child development and the curriculum
• Pepper and Pine has about 336 videos as of this writing, and is specific to Waldorf homeschooling using Live Education! as a spine.
• Master Waldorf Teacher Sarah Baldwin has a  You Tube Channel with “Sundays With Sarah”
• Melisa Nielsen has an extensive amount of videos regarding all aspects of Waldorf homeschooling.

Hope that is helpful.

Blessings,
Carrie

I am so happy to be gathering resources for fall, and want to share some of the new things I have discovered.  Some of these are Waldorf Education resources, and some are mainstream resources that I am using for upper level subjects or resources .  Enjoy some of these titles that might (or might not) be new to you! ( I have absolutely no affiliation with anything listed here; just simply sharing some of my finds).

1.  “Exploring Nature With Children” ebook – this is a fantastic nature curriculum you can use across ages and grades. Lynn is completely familiar with Waldorf Education and is a reader of this blog, in fact! (Hi Lynn!)  It covers an ENTIRE year (summer months too!) and is only 15 dollars with a viewpoint that is easily used with Waldorf or Charlotte Mason homeschoolers (or anyone interested in nature studies!)  It has suggestions for books, artwork, writing, observation, and more.  Highly recommend.  There is a code for a 20 percent discount until Saturday, June 3rd: NATURE20.
2. “Learning To Breathe: A Mindfulness Curriculum For Adolescents to Cultivate Emotion Regulation, Attention, and Performance” by Patricia C. Broderick, PhD.  This is a book regarding emotional regulation, stress-reduction skills, and mindfulness techniques with a 6 or 18 week program for adolescents. There are separate student workbooks.  I am planning on using this with both my tenth grader as part of our year long health course and our seventh grader, whose physiology block will dovetail with high school health.  I think talking plainly about emotions and tools to deal with stress and emotional regulation are very important for this generation of children.   I am grateful mine are old enough to have plain discussion about this subject, although I will be delving into more depth with my high schooler than my seventh grader.
3. “Embryology Experienced Through Modeling In Clay” by Christian Breme (sold through Waldorf Publications).   This book comes with a DVD, and will be a part of our Embryology block in tenth grade, along with the next product:
4. “Embryo In Motion: Understanding Ourselves As Embryo”  by Jaap van der Wal. This is a complete DVD lecture set to help me understand the anthroposophic viewpoint of embryology.
5. ““The Poetry Handbook”” by Mary Oliver.  A block of epic poetry is a traditional mainstay of tenth grade, and usually one hears about Gilgamesh, The Odyessey and the like, but I want to extend the art of looking at poetry and writing poetry into the twice a week writing I am doing with combining our seventh and tenth grader.
6. ““The Dyscalculia Toolkit” by Ronit Bird, for ages 6-14 with 200 activities and 50 games to help solidify. Some of the games I will be using with our second grader just as fun things to do, and some of the things I will be using with our seventh grader to review basics in a new and different way.
7. “Math In The Garden”  – I love this book. I originally couldn’t find this book for under  50 to 100 dollars and requested it through inter-library loan. I really enjoyed it and thought it had some wonderful ideas, and  now have found where to order it for 30 dollars.  I am very excited to work through the projects in this book!
8. “A Waldorf Journey Podcast” – I have enjoyed many of these episodes and it is always nice for me, as a homeschooler, to hear how things are done in a particular classroom, and to stimulate my own thought of how this relates to our homeschooling journey. (Hello to Meredith!).
9. “Spelling By Hand” by Jeremy Hermann (sold through Waldorf Publications).  I am looking forward to receiving this resource and promise a full review on this when it arrives here!  It is booklet-sized at only 36 pages, but I have heard good reviews on this product.
10. Jamie York’s Middle School Math Conference.  The middle school grades are online, and very accessible. I will be taking the seventh grade math conference and am looking forward to it.

I hope some of these resources are inspiring to you as you homeschool plan! Please share with me any resources that you are finding wonderful right now.

Blessings,
Carrie

I think this is the time of year where I get a spate of emails either from excited parents who are ready to embark upon their homeschool journeys or I get just the opposite – emails about burnout, dashed expectations, and exhaustion.  Parents with homeschooling burnout wonder what to do if they don’t want their children to go to a brick and mortar school, but yet they cannot see any resolution to the challenges before them.

I experienced true burnout this year, and I am not afraid to share what worked for me in hopes it will help other homeschooling parents.

Part of the challenge:  Part of  burnout, for me,  had to do with homeschooling for ten years with most summers taken up at least partially or fully with homeschool planning (vacation, anyone?). I notice in some Waldorf Schools the teachers seem to take sabbatical after taking a class through eight years.  We do not have that option at home, as we often have younger children to continue homeschooling or we are homeschooling into high school.

Part of the solution:  Stack some vacations in the worst part of the year to get me through; plan less weeks and less days per week in order to work in planning time during the school year.

Part of the challenge:  Homeschooling for many years children of wildly different ages who have wildly different developmental needs.

Part of the solution:    No child is going to get their day 100 percent tailored to them in a homeschooling situation where the family has children of massively different ages.   As a homeschooler, it is easy to look at what a Waldorf School might offer and think that this would be better for the child.  However, comparing a Waldorf School and Waldorf homeschooling is often like comparing oranges and grapefruit – same family, but perhaps distant cousins.  Home is not school and school is not home.  Reaching a balance not just over the course of a week or a month or a year is important, and to take a really long-term view that the child will get what they need by the time they graduate.  Remembering why we homeschool for each developmental period is important and helpful.

The other part of this solution is to impart more responsibility to the older children where one can, and to know sometimes it isn’t in the academic arena or the artistic arena, but it may be the older student can be helpful with smaller children or responsibility around the house.

The third idea is to look carefully at outside activities.  It is harder to say no to worthy outside activities that  a high schooler wants to do if they only have a few years left full time at home, but it is simple to tell younger children they simply must wait – or to choose activities the whole family can enjoy together!

Part of the challenge:  High school was not only a curveball for our oldest, but it was a curveball for ME.  Most of the parents in my area homeschool high schoolers using traditional textbooks, online classes, or the use of a hybrid school where their child is in classes two to three days a week with homework to do on the other “off” days.  What I kept hearing over and over was how homeschooling high school was so wonderful, how all it was was facilitating work and the student did everything on their own.

This could be the case for many Waldorf homeschoolers, but I don’t think this is always the case.  Many of us are still directly teaching high school subjects and very involved. We also may be trying to figure out that whole balance of blocks versus year long courses , workload,  and how to grade things.

Part of the solution:  Let it go.  Courses can extend throughout the high school years in homeschooling.  Preserve the relationship.  See if you can find in-person support from someone who has homeschooled similarily to how you have homeschooled, but also understand that every teenager has a different rate of neurologic development, and therefore that person’s experience may not be your experience at all!   In the middle teen years, I see  very pronounced differences in the development of the brain and the profound effect this has upon high school.  No one talks about that at all on homeschooling blogs, so I am saying it!

Part of the challenge:  The parent is still developing and going through seven year cycles; older parents can have challenges and we all seem to age a little differently.The decade of the 40s can also  be where many mothers are squished between taking care of elderly parents or parents with health problems, homeschooling, running a household, and getting children to activities.  It can be overwhelming.

Part of the solution:  Rest, exercise,  and healthy eating is a key.  Making time for your own health does nothing but stabilize the school situation.  If you have shorter days due to your own health needs and you decide to homeschool with shorter breaks throughout the year in order to accommodate this, well, we  have that flexibility!  The other piece of this is to go back to your spiritual practices – what strengthens your inner resolve and strength?

These are just a few of the things I did this year to help myself.  I would love to hear from you if you have suggestions to help mothers suffering from burnout! What would you say to be encouraging and helpful?

Blessings,
Carrie

It is a very exciting time to be a Waldorf homeschooler!  There are many resources available for planning this summer.

First of all, Jamie York has middle school math workshops on-line this summer, along with in-person workshops in Boulder, Colorardo for Grades 1-3, Grades 4 and 5, and Grade 9, and Grade 10.

There is a conference in Orlando, FL on May 13, 2017 with Kristie Burns of Earthschooling, Jean Miller of Waldorf -Inspired Learning, Donna Ashton of The Waldorf Connection, Jodie Mesler of Home Music Making and myself.  Details are here.

Taproot Teacher Training is coming up in August with Barbara Dewey, Jean Miller, and many other experienced presenters.  You can find details here

Live Education! has a summer conference coming up in July  in Santa Cruz, CA.  Details are available on the Live Education! page

I believe there are other conferences and workshops coming up as well- please do chime in!

Blessings,
Carrie