One often reads in literature pertaining to Waldorf Education about a threefold structure occurring in  something in nature or in life. As a Christian, I often think of seeing this threefoldedness in life, the Trinity as a reflection of the Divine in what I see. What you might not have thought of is a threefold approach to how we teach within our homeschools.

Jorgen Smit elucidates this beautifully in his book, “Lighting Fires:  Deepening Education Through Meditation.”  He writes about the polarity in education today.  Some believe a teacher must have complete mastery of his subject and constantly developing these skills and be able to impart what he knows best to his students.   Other people believe that the attitude, the world outlook of the teacher is what is most important and that this religious or ethical belief is what really gives a backbone to education.  He goes through many examples of how these theories may or may not be true, but notes that one essential piece is what a person is doing right here and right now in their life.  He asks us as readers, “For in an actual situation there always arises the question as to how I can take the substance of my life into my own hands, so as to develop to a new stage beyond myself.” 

In teaching, it is not enough to master the material.  It is not even enough to know the material and be able to impart that to the children.  We must have the material permeate our souls, our lives, our thinking so it can be new and creative.  And we must have a feel for childhood development and when it is the right time to bring in this knowledge, and how to bring this knowledge into practical life for the children.  Steiner felt idealism would arise from experience and engagement in the world.

Anyway, the book I mentioned is wonderful book if you have not had the opportunity to read it.  My homeschooling group will be discussing this book over the weekend and I am so looking forward to it.  I hope to post some notes from our discussion.

Many blessings,

Carrie

This is the time of year when my homeschooling mothers get stars in their eyes looking at the different Waldorf curriculum choices, blogs, and they start to feel more than inadequate.

“We don’t have a good rhythm because my four year old cried over everything during the day and the baby needs to be changed about twenty times a day!”

“My house doesn’t look like those beautiful blogs!”

“I don’t feel calm in my house like a Waldorf teacher; I yell at the kids a lot.”

So, I am here, in my perfectly plant-dyed silk cape, to help you realize that “Waldorf Perfect” is a myth.  I wrote a post awhile back about “Hopeless With Waldorf” addressing these same sorts of issues.

I find the sweet “Waldorf-inspired”  mothers who have children under the age of 7 are often the mothers who are so interested in Steiner’s educational ideas but also seem to be the most impressionable.  Blogs, books, consultations, curriculum – you all have seen it or are looking at it all.  I worry a bit about this, because not one of these people who put out these products are perfect.  Some of the things you all are reading are not true to Waldorf Education or Steiner’s thoughts about education, but you don’t know these things are not really true or typical of Waldorf Education or Waldorf Parenting.  Somewhere along the line,  nature and beautiful surroundings of natural materials have become substituted for an actual curriculum.  It is not so much that Waldorf Education is as dogmatic as you might think, but there are essential truths to work with.  However, you have to know what some of these essential truths are in order to have discernment.

There are others of you who are really interested in Waldorf Education and Waldorf Parenting, but are really put off by the idea of limited to no media, or by not bringing in academics directly until first grade, or by being home more than you might think you want to be.  It is a journey, and I think if you can keep an open mind, then things go along.  I have seen some mothers who are attracted to Waldorf Education and Waldorf Parenting go every direction but for the reasons I just mentioned; they go off into Classical homeschooling or Unschooling or whathave you but eventually they circle right back around to where they started because the attraction is so strong for them.  They need the healing impulse of Waldorf Education right along with their children.

They still have to do the work to figure things out though. Sometimes it is just if you are ready to do the work now or ready to do it later.

But have you noticed that the common denominator in all of this is you?

So, I really encourage you to take the time to work on YOU.  YOU are the essential piece of the parenting and homeschooling puzzle, whether you are “Waldorf-inspired” or not.

I wrote a series of posts on Inner Work, I have written quite a bit about faith and religion and spirituality in parenting, and we are now talking about topics surrounding parental anger.  These are all good places to start.

You do not need a curriculum for the Kindergarten years.  I encourage homeschooling families to actually do only one or two years of “kindergarten” at home.  It may be your child’s five year old year or it may be your child’s six year old year depending upon when that child’s birthday falls.

The heart of the Waldorf Early Years at home include protection, warmth, giving the child something worthy to imitate, lots of practical work, singing, getting your child in their body through lots of physical activity outside and rhythm.  To this list, I would add a sense of community with other families starting at about age four and a half to five.  Four and a half was the traditional age Waldorf Kindergartens used to start children, and it is a good time to look for more social things that are short and have a little structure that the parents create,  not just “go off and play whilst I talk in the corner to all these other parents”.  If you need more social time, schedule it without your small children.

The heart of Waldorf is actually not play silks, wooden toys, having a perfectly plastic-toy free house.  These are all wonderful in and of themselves, but without the true heart of it, they can all become rather empty gestures.

Start with your inner work.  Start with rhythm.  Read some Steiner and see what you think. Let things digest.  Take the one thing that is most challenging for yourself right now, whether that be anger, having patience, setting boundaries and put those terms into the search engine box on this blog and read those posts and work on that one area for forty days.

Start and work in baby steps, and never, ever get intimidated that Waldorf Education and Waldorf Parenting is not for you because someone you don’t even know in real-life seems perfect.  I assure you they are not.  I am not perfect either!  We all have our strengths  and weaknesses and things we are striving for. 

Start somewhere, work with the essential truths of Waldorf Education and Waldorf Parenting, pare down your blog list and computer time and get out and just do it!

Many blessings,

Carrie

So, are you into planning for next year yet?  I wrote a simple post about getting ready for Waldorf homeschooling with eight steps here:  https://theparentingpassageway.com/2011/04/04/what-to-do-this-month-more-about-planning-your-waldorf-homeschooling-year/

I think the next thing to do after that, if you have children in the grades, is to outline what blocks you will be doing during the school year.  You can see where I did that, at least a tentative plan, here:  https://theparentingpassageway.com/2010/12/29/a-skeleton-plan-for-waldorf-homeschooling-first-and-fourth-grade/

I think the next step is to look at what a typical week might look like.  This is a difficult thing for me right now since sign-up for fall activities are not even taking place yet, but I am gathering ideas in my head as to what I would like the week to look like, what day I might grocery shop, what day I want to run errands on, how many days a week I think we can be out of the home and how many days we really need to be home to get things done.

In my area, there are so many activities for homeschoolers that it can actually be very hard to say “no” to things, so I have to cultivate my own will in doing just that!

Then I have been looking at a flow for the day.  I am thinking something along the lines of this right now, completely subject to change:

• Up, chores, music practice
• Bible study/prayer
• Opening verses/seasonal songs/toddler verses and songs or story
• Main Lesson for First Grader/variety of work for Fourth Grader
• Snack/Movement from Christopherus “Joyful Movement” or Movement for Childhood website
• Main Lesson for Fourth Grader with reading aloud last 10 minutes or so of Main Lesson time/ variety of projects or play for First Grader
• Break for practical work, gardening, play
• Prepare and eat lunch with noonday prayer, quiet time
• Read aloud to First Grader
• Half hour of subject of choosing
• Handwork, cooking, or gardening
• Tea, closing verses, special Bible or Feast Day activities

This may look long on paper, but one must remember a main lesson for a first grader need not take longer than an hour and most things will take a half hour or so.

Now I am up to daily planning where I start laying out each day in detail.  What will the seasonal song be?  What do we need to do in this block?  What will the handwork project be?  What will we be doing in the garden?

What I have done in past years is to create my own curriculum and then take the pages and have them bound at an office supply shop in order to have my own personalized syllabus.  This year  I planned everything on my computer, but I didn’t love that.   I certainly did not want to pull my laptop out during school and sometimes I just didn’t get the pages I needed printed out or my printer malfunctioned for some reason. 

So, for this year, I am using a paper planner and am very happy.  I am using the green planner from Carson Dellosa made for classrooms.  Here is a link so you can see it:  http://www.carsondellosa.com/cd2/Products/CarsonDellosa/PID-104300.aspx  I took some of the “classroom teacher” kinds of pages and changed them to reflect, for example, Feast Days for each month or what I would do with my toddler each month.

It is obviously not a homeschool planner, and there are those on the market and many other planners for teachers too! This one I just happened to pick up when I was out and I like it.   I am enjoying writing things down and really meditating on what this particular child needs, why would I do this and not that. It takes time, but in my experience, it saves so much time during the school year and really can save me when I don’t have time to plan during the school year.

I would love to hear where you all are with your ordering and planning!

Many blessings,
Carrie

Our friends over at The On-Line Waldorf Library have put out an e-book version of Thomas Poplawski’s “Completing The Circle.”  This book is composed of twelve articles originally published in Renewal Magazine.  The articles include:  The Schooling of Angels; Button up Your Overcoat; Losing Our Senses; Taming the Media Monster; The Power of Play; You Are Not Us; Children and Sports; Etheric, Astral, Ego; Paradise Lost, The Nine Year Change; The Four Temperaments; Watching Your Temperament; A Modern Path of Meditation and Inner Development. 109 pages

http://www.waldorflibrary.org/Journal_Articles/CompletingCircle.pdf

I especially enjoyed the articles on the four-fold human being and the nine year change.  I hope you enjoy this resource as well.

Many blessings,

Carrie

It is that time of year where families are planning for their Waldorf homeschooling experiences and have questions.  So, here is a round up of back posts and links about some specific subjects that come up over and over and over:

• How do I bring Waldorf into my homeschooling?  Here is a guest post by Donna Simmons of Christopherus Homeschool Resources on that subject: https://theparentingpassageway.com/2010/08/25/bringing-waldorf-to-homeschooling-by-donna-simmons/
• What is a Main Lesson?  I like this series of posts about the Main Lesson from
  Waldorf Teacher Meredith who is currently teaching fifth grade starting here with this post: http://www.awaldorfjourney.com/2010/12/main-lesson/
• Do I have to believe in anthroposophy (the philosophy of Rudolf Steiner)  to use Waldorf Education?  Well, I know Eugene Schwarz and many others would argue with this,  especially for the school setting, but my answer for the home setting is no and/or not necessarily.  In the home environment we are free to dip a tiny toe into Rudolf Steiner’s teachings or to delve deeply.   I write about this thought here: https://theparentingpassageway.com/2009/12/27/waldorf-101-do-i-have-to-be-an-anthroposophist-to-homeschool-with-waldorf/    There are  many devoutly religious mothers who use surface elements of Waldorf Education in their homeschools, but make their religious life and the Church the focus of their family life and homeschooling experience. I think this is a matter for personal discernment and reason.  I have heard some priests refer to this as not a theological question, but a pastoral question. 

Waldorf Education coincides well with Piaget and Gesell in terms of what comes in when, so perhaps those mainstream underlying philosophies appeal to you more as a basis for what you are doing. 

Some mothers will feel because Steiner designed his curriculum for the proper incarnation of the soul of the child, according to his spiritual view and observation of the child, that they cannot use it.  The Roman Catholic Church has a position against Steiner’s philosophy, but as far as I know, Waldorf Education is not condemned.  Roman Catholic priests still go into the Waldorf Schools in Germany to provide religious lessons.  I am not Roman Catholic, so I hestitate to write even the above as I don’t understand it all. All I know is as in life, matters of the spirit are rarely cut and dried.  Do your own investigating!  Talk to your priest or spiritual advisor, see where you are in your walk, and if the basis of this is easy for you to separate or not.  If not, you may need a different homeschooling method.

• Can I use a math program or a spelling program and still be a Waldorf home educator? Yes, but I will say veteran Waldorf homeschoolers may be less likely to use outside programs because they have seen how Waldorf Education really works.  It really does.  But there is no Waldorf Police, and no one is going to revoke your Waldorf Homeschooling card if you mix and match the things that meet your child’s needs.  Workbooks in the Waldorf home environment are typically brought in during Fourth Grade – many Waldorf homeschoolers use “The Key To…” math series beginning in this grade. 
• Does Waldorf mix with other methods? Here are some back posts on my views of Waldorf and Unschooling, Waldorf and The Well-Trained Mind.  Hopefully you can use these to discern the essential: https://theparentingpassageway.com/2010/01/17/unschooling-and-waldorf/  and here: https://theparentingpassageway.com/2010/01/17/unschooling-and-waldorf-the-student-teacher-relationship-birth-age-7/   and here:   https://theparentingpassageway.com/2009/06/25/differences-between-waldorf-and-the-well-trained-mind-grades-one-through-four/
• I am getting overwhelmed!  Any thoughts?  https://theparentingpassageway.com/2010/01/02/losing-the-forest-for-the-trees/  and this post with words written by Mrs. Marsha Johnson regarding Waldorf Education:  https://theparentingpassageway.com/2010/06/11/the-cardinal-rules-of-waldorf-education/
• My child is already reading, what do I do with First Grade?  Keep calm and carry on!  Grades penetrate what the child needs developmentally, beyond just the academic pieces.  Try this post for some encouragement:  https://theparentingpassageway.com/2010/03/21/regarding-waldorf-and-the-early-reader/            Here is my experience with my oldest who could read anything, and I mean anything, when she was in first grade:  https://theparentingpassageway.com/2008/11/29/waldorf-first-grade-with-a-fluent-reader/
• How do I homeschool multiple grades children with Waldorf?  https://theparentingpassageway.com/2011/04/14/homeschooling-children-in-multiple-grades/
• What do I do about wet on wet painting?  Try this post from Sarah Baldwin:  http://simplehomeschool.net/painting-wet-on-wet-waldorf-watercolors-for-children/  I also have posts on this subject on this blog if you use the search engine.
• I am not creative; what do I do? https://theparentingpassageway.com/2009/03/22/what-if-i-am-not-creative/

Hope those back posts and links assist you,

Carrie

There has been an explosion, it seems, of web-based businesses catering to providing supplies (these are not curriculum companies) for  Waldorf-inspired families and Waldorf homeschoolers.  It can be hard to sort through and I wanted to provide some suggestions for my readers.  The suggestions below are by no means complete, and I have tried to provide a selection for you all to pick from, but by all means please leave your favorites in the comment box below.   

First of all, as you sit down and plan for your fall homeschooling experience, I encourage you to make a list of all the things you need. I highly suggest you have a look-through the supply list Mrs. Marsha Johnson, Waldorf teacher, has put together for each grade over in the FILES section of her Yahoo!Group (waldorfhomeeducators@yahoogroups.com).   

Do you need a table and chairs if you are lucky enough to have a dedicated homeschool space?  My favorite place to get tables and chairs is here:  http://www.communityplaythings.com/products/tables/multitables/ 

Do you need a blackboard/chalkboard?  I know some people make their own.    I got mine through a big box retailer on-line simply because it was the cheapest price I could find and they were not cheap, but perhaps someone has a favorite supplier for this item?  Weigh in the comment box and tell me if you made one or bought one somewhere.   If you can’t afford either route for a chalkboard, you can always draw on paper as well.  I know many families who do that!

Do you need chalk if you have a chalkboard?  Meredith over at www.waldorfreviews.com recommends Prang chalk.  You can read her whole post regarding chalkboard accessories here: http://www.waldorfreviews.com/archives/19  Meredith has many other good reviews!

How about Main Lesson books, painting supplies, modeling supplies?  Some things I order on-line and some things I buy using an educators’ card through Blick Art Supplies.

Here are a few general supply-oriented companies different Waldorf-inspired families have used:

Paper, Scissors, Stone:  http://waldorfsupplies.com/

Meadowsweet Naturals:  http://www.meadowsweetnaturals.com/

Cedar Ring Circle:  http://stores.cedarringcircle.com/StoreFront.bok  Becca is one of my readers!

One of my local suppliers who I know in person:  http://www.asmallgreenfootprint.com/

A Child’s Dream Come True also has some unique supplies:  http://www.achildsdream.com/  and Art Makes Sense:  http://art-makes-sense.com/

For Main Lesson Books in addition to the companies above that carry Main Lesson Books:  http://raand.com/

There are also many Etsy shops that have plant-dyed handwork supplies.  Ms.  Judy Forster is the handwork teacher for our my Waldorf homeschooling group and has an Etsy shop:   http://www.etsy.com/shop/mamajudes 

I also like many of the  creations from Rick and Jennifer Tan at Syrendell:  http://syrendell.blogspot.com/ .  Also, if you join Michelle Morton’s Green Tara Mamas group over at Yahoo!Groups, she sometimes runs special databases for things Waldorf families like. 

I know there are many more, and I am sorry if I missed YOU!   It is not my intent to exclude anyone, and it was hard to make a list, but I wanted to give some direction to families who are new to Waldorf homeschooling.  Please leave a link to where you like to order things below.

Many blessings,

Carrie