Category Archives: Homeschooling

Rhythm: Part Seven

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In Part Five of this series on rhythm, we looked at the number one challenge toward establishing rhythm:  going out too much and saying “yes” to too many things outside the home.  Today, I want to tell you THE SECRET about having a successful rhythm.

 

It is getting out of your own way.

 

Release your anxiety and your fears.  Parent after parent after parent that I talk to who have homeschooled children who have graduated from homeschool say their children were well-prepared for college and for life, no matter what method the parent chose to homeschool!  Amazing and true! I see so many mothers who are worried, anxious and joyless in their parenting and homeschooling, and this is what the children see!  Don’t be wishy -washy and uncertain; fearful and scared!

 

Take the bull by the horns! Be confident!  Get your ho-hum on, and jump in where you are!  If you “fall off the routine bandwagon” jump back on where you are that moment.  It takes time to get a rhythm that works.  Commit to it as a forty day project. 

 

Your parenting may not be perfect!  Your homeschooling may not be perfect!  Mine isn’t; I make so many mistakes and things could always be done differently – but you know what?  I have an overall sense that my children are going to be JUST FINE. 

 

And in my weak moments, where I feel like something is not going to turn out well, or I start coming from a place of fear, I get down on my knees and pray.  And after I do that, I call a friend when my children are not around to overhear, and get a well –deserved pep talk.  I talk to my supportive spouse and surround myself with positive thinkers.

 

But most of all, become a positive thinker yourself.   Your children need to see that mistakes do not define who you are; they are only gateways and doorways to improvement and understanding. 

 

There are no guarantees in parenting or homeschooling; you do what you can do. Have some fun and act confident.  Make decisions, stick to them, change what is not working, quit talking so much and DO.

 

Many blessings on your journey toward rhythm as a basis of joy in your home,

Carrie

Christian Links and Resources to Love

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Goodness, I think the last post I did about Christian Resources was this post from May of 2010:  https://theparentingpassageway.com/2010/05/13/more-christian-resources-for-your-waldorf-home/.  Time for an update!

Many of you who are long-time readers know that we are heavily involved in our Episcopalian church – through the Children’s Choirs (yes, multiple choirs! Our two oldest girls just sang in our annual Spring Church musical and I was very proud!), through instrumental music lessons at church and through Sunday School.  I am teaching the Kindergartners this year with a great teaching team.   Grandpa is an Episcopalian priest, so it is wonderful to have him as a resource in our family.  I am always on the lookout for great religious resources,and will continue to pass what I find on to you, my faithful reader.

Here are some of the Christian books, articles and resources I have been enjoying as of late.  Much of what I read is actually Orthodox Christian, so you will see a mix of different denominational resources in this list: Continue reading →

Rhythm: Part Five

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Today we are going to talk about two very important things:  the foundation of all rhythm in parenting and homeschooling, and then the biggest, fattest detractor and destroyer of rhythm. Continue reading →

Rhythm: Part Four

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I talk to so many mothers who have children of multiple ages and who are very concerned as to  how to fit in multiple main lessons, or what to do with their children when their ages are spread out between the Early Years and the grades.  It can be daunting, and many veteran Waldorf homeschoolers say that you cannot schedule that many main lessons without going insane….but then how to do it?

Let’s start at the beginning.  If you have a first or second grader, and the rest of your children are under the age of 7, then life should be relatively easy.  You can often think in terms of outside time together, a circle for all, a story geared to the kindergartener, perhaps the main lesson for the first or second grader, nap and quiet time (and perhaps do something else for fifteen to twenty minutes with the first or second grader during quiet time),  the work of the day geared toward the kindergartener but including all, and finish with playing outside.   My friend Sheila has a lovely post about her rhythm with her fourth grader and her Early Years child here:  http://sureastheworld.com/2012/03/18/brass-tacks-my-homeschooling-day/

With two children involved in  main lesson work, I think it is still possible to either put them “together” if they are close in age…ie, a first grader and a second grader could both hear folk tales, but work on slightly different academic levels.  If the two children needing main lessons are further apart in age, then you may want to have separate main lesson times.  Then for other lessons, such as foreign language or handwork, you could combine the children but have them work at their own levels.    I think all of that is possible with only two children needing main lessons, even with younger children in tow.  I think this is the sort of thing you must jump in and try and switch around as needed.  It is daunting when I go to the homes of my homeschooling friends who are not using Waldorf methods and their homeschooling is a lot of workbooks, worksheets, independent reading textbooks, and videos.  Waldorf homeschooling is different, and sometimes only by doing it can we wrap our heads around how it will work for our family and what that will look like!

I will have a fifth grader, a second grader, and a two year old turning three in the fall.  I am planning my essential rhythm to look like this:  Continue reading →

Rhythm: Part Three

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Once you have the basics of going to bed, waking up, naps and food happening around the same time each day, you can now look at planning perhaps the most important part of the day:  how you will spend time with your children if you are the parent of small children, or how you will set up your homeschooling day if you have children in the grades (or a combination of children in the grades and small children not yet in the grades! Smile)  This post is mainly about the Early Years, with food for thought for the grades. Continue reading →

Rhythm: Part Two

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I am in the midst of planning our tentative rhythm for fall; with two grades to teach and a toddler in tow I have gone through several renditions of “what might that look like” so far.  I think planning and writing the rhythm done is an important part of rhythm in the home.  If you have work outside the home or work from home and have children and homeschooling, making sure your moments count is even more important.

So, when I think about crafting and creating a peaceful rhythm for our days, the first place I start is prayer, meditation.  Honestly, this is the most important piece of things and the one that takes the most time.   DO NOT RUSH THIS STEP. Continue reading →

Rhythm: Part One

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When I see homeschooling mothers who feel burdened, depressed, as if there is not enough time, that they are buried under their homes and chores – well, I feel terrible.  It really is a difficult thing to see, and we have all been there I think.  Interruptions to life come,  and some times homeschooling and parenting flow more efficiently and joyfully than other times.

To me, the most major piece of assisting a mother to reclaim the joy in parenting and in homeschooling, outside of prayer to determine the essential and for strength :), is a rhythm to the day.  I think mothers who manage their homes and children well feel happy and satisfied because there is less stress in knowing what will happen when.   I think also mothers who have a rhythm feel BALANCED.  There is enough time in the day for your priorities as a mother or father, and rhythm enables the life of the whole family and all of its members to be considered.

A dear friend and I were chatting this morning about this very subject.  Balance is a tricky issue, isn’t it?  It often seems that there is much being done for the family as a whole (mealtimes, bedtimes, perhaps something such as the activities at a place of worship), things that revolve around perhaps the oldest child (homeschooling, outside activities)….leaving many mothers and fathers wondering, where is the time for me? for us? for the younger children who don’t have outside activities yet? Continue reading →

First Grade Handwork

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This is not a typical first grade project, but my first grader really wanted a stuffed gnome “big enough to sleep with”.  She worked on this gnome once a week from about the end of August or so until the end of March, with some small breaks for wet felting projects here and there.  She knit all the different multi-colored squares, and her handwork teacher in our homeschool co-op knit the face of the gnome and did the sewing and stuffing (my first grader also did the beard).  This is a sweet project for a child who has patience to make something this large.

 

Many blessings,

Carrie

Fourth Grade Zoology, Part One

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Part of this fourth grade year looks specifically at animals,usually in two separate blocks, for several reasons.  One reason is in part because children of this age just love animals, but also because once past the nine-year change children are fully ready to move into how they themselves relate as individuals to the natural world.  Steiner felt zoology and botany were also necessary precursors for children to really be able to delve in and understand history well from the age of twelve onwards (You can see the lecture “Teaching History and Geography” in The Renewal of Education if you are interested more in this connection). And, like all subjects in Waldorf Education, this one is really also about the upright human being and the moral education of the student.

Steiner’s idea was to help children of this age to develop a relationship with nature. Continue reading →

Planning Time!!

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It is the most wonderful time of the year! No, Virginia,  it is not Christmas, but it is planning time as all the boxes start to arrive in the mail.  There are lists to be made, supplies to be ordered,  rhythms to be tackled,  and prayers to be made regarding what to be involved in outside the home.

Sounds like a lot doesn’t it?  It can be for me too!

A few simple steps always help me… Continue reading →