http://surveys.verticalresponse.com/a/show/169523/bc48187947/0
Here is a questionnaire that Christopherus Homeschool Resources Inc is running in order to garner feedback. If you fill out this free survey, you have a chance to enter a drawing to win one of three twenty-five dollar gift certificates……
http://surveys.verticalresponse.com/a/show/169523/bc48187947/0
Many blessings,
Carrie
I know much of the Northeastern United States is currently buried under snow and even some power outages, so I feel almost bad for saying that fall is finally here in all its glory in the Southeastern US.
I love fall; I always have. Crunchy leaves of many splendored colors, smoke rising from chimneys, crisp air and sunshine, squirrels and chipmunks scurrying about, fall foods such as apple, squash, greens and pumpkins! Oh yes, my favorite time of year! I am gathering up Thanksgiving recipes and getting ready to start on some holiday crafting as well.
So, in that vein, I wish to bring some fun poetry, verses and movement about squirrels to our homeschooling this week, especially for my sweet little toddler who has finally figured out that not every four legged animal is a doggie like his giant Leonberger!
Here are some squirrel ideas for this week if you would like to play along with me: Continue reading
Some children are under-responsive to sensory stimuli. They essentially can end up functioning in one of two ways: either being a “sensory seeker” (you know, those children who are rather bouncing off the walls) or being sort of “bumps on the log”, (essentially because it takes such a high input of sensory input to get them to a normal state that they give up!) but share at their core challenges in processing sensory stimuli.
These children typically crave touch, sometimes repeatedly touching objects. They can be unaware of Continue reading
I wanted to thank all of you who participated and left comments in regards to the post Donna Simmons of Christopherus Homeschool Resources on Catherine’s blog. You can see the original post here (and do be sure to read the comments, because that is where the discussion really is, including an interesting side thread on forming the space between two siblings who are very close in age): Continue reading
All of us lie along the sensory spectrum in terms of our reactions, to sensory stimuli, but for some adults and children, being “over” responsive or “under” responsive predominates how they react to things, to the point where it interferes with their activities of life. So today I wanted to jump in and talk about children who are “over-responders” to sensory stimuli. These are the children you hear about who are “sensory defensive” and many times are “avoiders” as they show behaviors that are attempts to calm their nervous systems. Continue reading
Eva over at Untrodden Paths, one of my favorite blogs, has tagged The Parenting Passageway in the homeschooling game here: http://untroddenpaths.blogspot.com/2011/10/homeschool-questionnairehausunterrichts.html
So, without further ado, here are some of the answers for the homeschooling game from my perspective!
One homeschooling book you have enjoyed: Continue reading
Yay! I finally have gotten a chance to sit down with the notes I took at a sensory modulation course I recently attended. It was a lot of fun to have my thinking cap on for awhile, and I have some interesting things I want to share with you all.
A sensory diet just refers to the optimum sensory input a person needs to perform at his or her peak. So, as you can imagine, this is of vast importance to educators at school and home alike (or it should be!)
A person who is good at modulating sensory input can take what is going on, filter out what is not important and focus on the things that are relevant.
Sometimes this can be a challenge for children (and adults alike). If your child’s behavior is reflecting something in the environment and they are spending all their energy on figuring out and reacting to the environment, then there may not be a lot of attention left over for schoolwork! Continue reading
As promised, I am sharing what we are doing in our family to gather everyone up and start our homeschooling adventure for the day. I have a wide variety of ages – age 2, age 6 and a half, age 10 – just to make it all interesting! Continue reading
I still love Waldorf homeschooling; it is the method that speaks to me as a lover of stories and literature and history; it speaks to me as an artist; it speaks to me as a physical therapist; it speaks to me as a spiritual person (which is different than being religious, and I add a lot, a lot, a lot of theology in as well!); it speaks to my love of nature and how to approach science….
But, most of all, it speaks to me from a place of love and compassion for children and for what will help them. That, to me, is the bottom line.
I don’t have to agree with all of Steiner’s philosophies in life, but the nuts and the bolts and the practicalities of education I like and I have worked with to teach reading, writing, math, handwriting, handwork and other subjects. This method stresses observation, love and respect for the child, and developmental timing.
If you are getting bogged down, may I humbly suggest to just remember homeschooling is different than a Waldorf school. Do keep it simple. You don’t have to draw a chalkboard drawing the night before; draw with your child. Maybe your homeschool is stronger in gardening than playing the pentatonic flute. Maybe you go to the park instead of having a circle time.
It is okay to be different than a school, in fact, it is going to be different. That is the beauty of homeschooling over any school, including a Waldorf school. The most important part of this is to be together, to love each other, to give your children a sense of the beauty and awe and interconnectedness of this world the Creator gave us, to respect that time and space that children need to unfold, to be able to really “get” the development of your individual child and the development of your family, to show your children the beauty of community.
Years later, I am still grateful I found Waldorf Education. In an educational land gone crazy with fact shoving, testing, memorizing, teaching to the test, and dedicated and wonderful teachers who now cannot teach the way they truly want to, I am grateful I can home educate.
On the days when it is hard, on the days when I question why this insanity and chaos, on the days when I want to throw in the towel, I see my daughters “get” something, I see the children playing all together and laughing, we see the beauty of a bird or flower or chipmunk and breathe in the fresh air, and I remember.
This is why I am doing this. For love.
And love to you today, and many blessings,
Carrie
We started school on August 22, so we are finishing up our local geography block. It was a fun block, and one I expanded into covering our whole state. I did this for two reasons: my daughter really has a good knowledge of local things; a keen sense of direction and was already offering to draw maps of everything local before I even got there (Can I draw a map of my room? Look, I drew a map of my neighborhood!) and because I really want to start to cover U. S. Geography so we can do Canada and Mexico next year.
I think one thing to consider in this block is how heavily you will employ history. Donna Simmons talks about this at length in her Fourth Grade Syllabus, and it was something I pondered greatly. Geography, to me, doesn’t mean much unless we know how it impacted the people living there (or how the people impacted it). So, I tried not to go overboard, but did lay a foundation for a few future things in the process. This is how I did it: Continue reading
The Parenting Passageway 