Hi all! I am looking for first through fourth grade Waldorf Blogs. If you are having an adventure through one of those grades and posting activities of what you are working on, please leave your blog in the comment box below so others may find you!
Thank you!
Many blessings,
Carrie
Here is a new curriculum from the wonderful Orthodox Christian mothers whose blogs I often read:
http://evlogia.typepad.com/letters/
(Update 12/10 — a kind mother pointed out to me this link is not working…here is the most up to date website I have: http://evlogiaonline.com/. Update 8/2014 – these links are not working. I believe the author has a new blog no longer focused on this curriculum and the work of this curriculum has been picked up by a different Orthodox mother. I think if you run a search you should be able to track it down).
This is a Orthodox Christian curriculum with some elements we find in Waldorf Education. The authors have been working on this for awhile, and now it is officially “unveiled”. I like how they showed so much honor to teaching through art, and their opening story of turning seven and being ready for more formal learning. Very inspiring, and I hope helpful to some of you out there!
I am always on the look out for the names of any curriculums that are Christian with some alliance with the principles of Waldorf education, or any other religious affiliation with Waldorf elements, because mothers ask…It would be nice to have a resource here with a listing. I know Judaic and Islamic families who are also searching for a more tailored Waldorf curriculum.
A few other Christian with Waldorf element kinds of curriculum/special occasion ideas:
http://ebeth.typepad.com/serendipity/along-the-alphabet-path-1.html
And Annette at Seasons of Joy’s wonderful Advent ebook:
http://naturalfamily.50megs.com/custom2_1.html
Please leave a comment! I also know some of you have strong spiritual beliefs and have beautiful blogs, please feel free to leave those in the comment box as well. 🙂
Thank you for helping your fellow mothers and for everyone supporting each other,
Carrie
A small child under the age of seven needs to hear you paint a picture with your words instead of a direct command. This can really be a very difficult thing for us to do as adults, and as such we find ourselves barking commands (politely, of course :)) at our small children all day long. “Come to breakfast!” “Use the potty!” “Get your shoes on!” “Now please!” “Stop doing that!” Even if we frame things positively and say what we do want, the point is that a million times a day we are asking our child to do something. And when we only use a command, we are essentially giving the small child a chance to think, a chance to decide their behavior, and then we get angry when they don’t do what we want when we want it. How funny how that goes.
Small children are often in a fantasy, imaginative world much of the day as they play and create games. They are not adults, they do not view time as adults do, they do not have the sense of urgency that you do. And nor should they.
A small child lives in the physical realm and in their bodies. So, to most effectively parent, we must reach to that for the small child as often as possible instead of playing commander, or worse yet, trying to drive the car with our horn by yelling at the small child.
Here are some examples:
You do not have to do this to the point where it is tiring to you, but do try here and there, because I find most parents employ very little imagination with their children during the day and the children really do respond to it well and do just what needs to happen.
Your part though, is to plan enough time so things are NOT rushed. Rushing is the death of imagination and the beginning of stress. Please plan ahead!
Also, rhythm is your friend. It is in that space to help you and your child. If you do something different every night to get ready for a meal, to get ready for bed, what cues does your child have for when things are going to happen? Again, their sense of time and urgency is not that of an adult. Also, please seriously evaluate how many places you are dragging a small child. Are these places for them or errands and would your child just rather be home? I am just asking you to consider this piece of the puzzle; only you know the answer for you and your family.
The last piece is the physical end of it, DOING something with a child whilst using the imagination and movement goes much better! Yes, it is tiring that that is what small children need. But better to do that than to complain and moan and groan that your small child, who is perfectly normal, is “not listening”. 🙂
Try it out, I think you will find life to be much easier.
Many blessings,
Carrie
It is that time of year…the time when parents start to think about homeschooling! Contracts may be due back at private school, or you may be interested in not sending your child to school next year. You have thought about homeschooling, read some things on the Internet, but you are still deciding.
I am very pro-homeschooling. Specifically, I am very pro Waldorf homeschooling, bur this is directed toward anyone investigating homeschooling, no matter what method they intend to use (although you may see my leanings come out here and there, LOL!)
1. Find out the laws in your state! Many times parents are panicked about “homeschooling” their small children, only to find out the law in their state says that compulsory schooling starts at age six or something. You need to know the laws, how to file for homeschooling, what the requirements are and if you really need to be doing anything other than living together at all!
2. If you don’t know what method you are going to use to homeschool, you must investigate. Go to your library, or on-line and look at ALL the options. Really understand what drives some of these methods if their is an underlying philosophy, and look BEYOND the Kindergarten years if you only have small children. Homeschool is NOT about re-creating a classroom in your house (although some people do!)…There are many, many advantages to homeschooling and using the home as a learning environment – things can be much more practical and hands-on than in a classroom. You can involve a lot of cooking, gardening, building, hands-on science. Please do, (and this is just my basis coming out, so fair warning), think about more than just worksheets or “school in a box” or “a math program.” Think about human development, think about a holistic approach.
3. Understand that if your child is coming home from school OR if you are switching homeschooling methods, it can take six months (or some estimates say two months for every month your child was in school even!) to really relax into homeschooling. So my advice is to start SIMPLE, and to plan to time around holidays, family trips, etc.
4. If you have very small children, consider the approach you want to take carefully and how you feel about when and how academics should be introduced. How do you feel about art, music, movement, nature? Are these things integral to you and to your child’s development? Is your approach regarding education more a “fill them up” or “it will unfold with support”?
5. Start with establishing a basic rhythm to your home with mealtimes, nap times, bedtimes, outside time, working together – part of schooling at home means helping with meals, cleaning up the house, etc. Those things are part of school and of life.
6. Please, please do understand that the “pre-K” through second grade phase can be pretty relaxed. Look at the standards for your state or neighboring states; skills are just being developed. I find many parents freak out a bit with their first child (or they have a little person in Kindergarten who thinks they need to keep up with big brothers and big sisters!) and are just not relaxed at all and are much too strict and moving too fast. Develop depth and flexibility in your teaching. Learning should be fun!
Please add your suggestions for parents, especially for those with very small children, in the comment box; I would love to hear from you!
Many blessings,
Carrie
Our Waldorf homeschool group has the great, great fortune of having a very experienced Waldorf Handwork teacher who teaches both children and adult handwork classes! Not every Waldorf homeschooling family is so lucky, and so I asked our teacher if she would be willing to write an article for you all regarding Handwork within the Waldorf curriculum.
So, without further ado, please do let me introduce you to our wonderful handwork teacher! Judy Forster grew up in a family where all kinds of Handwork were important and appreciated. While working as an adjunct instructor of English, she was happily recruited to her first position teaching Handwork at the Susquehanna Waldorf School where her son was a kindergarten student and her husband had taught German. She completed the first Applied Arts training offered in the United States at Sunbridge College. Over the years, Judy has taught Handwork to students of all ages in Waldorf schools and private schools, for homeschool Collectives, and at summer camps. She is currently working at home while enjoying time with her toddler daughter; her son is now in college. Judy teaches homeschool students, homeschool parents, and runs her on-line business for naturally plant dyed stuff at Mama Jude’s Plant Dyed Stuff
And here is a fabulous article she wrote; I hope you all find it useful!
Handwork—An Integral Part of the Waldorf Curriculum
by Judy Forster
Waldorf Education has many unique aspects that add to the richness of the overall curriculum. One of these aspects is the handwork curriculum, but what exactly is handwork, and why is it such an important part of the larger Waldorf curriculum? In most Waldorf schools, handwork includes, but is not limited to, knitting, crocheting, hand sewing, embroidery, cross stitch, wet felting, paper crafts and machine sewing. It is taught as a specific subject, but it often permeates other aspects of the curriculum.
Many handwork skills are integral to various cultures around the world. In our modern society, many of us often see handwork, but we don’t always realize what it is or how it happens. When you buy a crocheted purse at Target, you many not realize that somewhere in the world someone is busily crocheting those purses. Any item of clothing you buy was probably sewn by someone on a sewing machine. In the past, a sewing machine was a staple of many homes, like a stove or an iron. Nowadays, not every child can identify a sewing machine or realize its purpose.
Many of the examples of handwork around us are mass produced, and that mass production is often guided by need and provides a livelihood for many around the world. However, handwork can be a very individual task as well. What many of us often forget is that these practical tasks are often connected to the intellectual and creative aspects of a human being, and it is this impulse that was strongly felt by the founder of Waldorf schools, Rudolf Steiner. Handwork has been a part of general education of the human being for a long time. It arose out of necessity, such as the need for clothes or useful items, but often evolved with a more complex purpose. You might imagine the complicated patterns found on rugs in the Middle East or the American southwest—needed household items infused with symbolism and meaning. Even in our own country up until the 1980’s, aspects of handwork were still taught in many public schools under the name of home economics. When we move away from handwork as a part of education, something is lost. Steiner recognized this and formally integrated handwork into his curriculum for the Waldorf schools.
Knitting, which is taught in first grade, was an aspect of handwork that especially appealed to Steiner. He often referred to “thinking as cosmic knitting.” When you take ideas and put them together to form more complicated thoughts, it is similar to the process of knitting where one thread is pulled up again and again to create a fabric. But handwork for the Waldorf student starts much earlier than first grade knitting. Handwork begins in the Waldorf kindergarten. It may appear as the chopping of vegetables for soup, the kneading of bread dough, making a belt from a finger chain or a crown from flowers, folding your napkin, or even as basic as tying your shoes. These simple activities are the foundation for a sense of self reliance and also create an unconscious pool of knowledge which can be drawn from when later subjects such as physics, geometry, or other areas of math and science.
The handwork curriculum weaves through the grades. Very simple knitting, which often has a balanced sense of using both hands, is taught in first grade. Often the faeries might come and help out with a dropped stitch or if someone is a bit behind in his or her work. Basic knitting skills such as casting on, casting off, changing colors, simple increasing and decreasing, hiding ends, and sewing up a project are introduced, refined, and developed during the knitting journey of first and second grade.
Crochet, which focuses more on a child’s dominant hand—the one used for writing, may begin in second grade and is often one of the mainstays of third grade. Sometimes in third or fourth grade there is a return to knitting. Purling is often taught around this age or later. The backward gesture of purling, as opposed to the forward gesture of knitting, is taught at a time when children have left the dreamy world of first and second grade and can be more aware of the world around them—especially the “backward space” behind them. In third or fourth grade, students are often introduced to simple embroidery and the use of a sharp needle. This activity ties in with the awakening that accompanies the 9-10 change.
In fourth grade the emphasis is also on cross stitch as the students begin the journey of crossing from childhood into adolescence. Many of the mirror image patterns used in fourth grade tie in with the teaching of fractions and the concept of equal parts. Fifth grade is devoted to knitting in the round which almost always includes socks but can also include mittens or hats. (Keep in mind that the curriculum has flexibility for location—one might not knit socks when one lives in the tropics.) These complicated projects reinforce many mathematical concepts.
In grades six and seven, students will often undertake long term sewing projects such as dolls or stuffed animals often creating their own patterns. Sometimes wet felting is introduced in grade seven. This activity is physically all-encompassing and readily meets the middle school student as their bodies grow and change. Eighth grade often focuses on machine sewing which ties in with the study of the industrial revolution. In the high school, handwork is often transformed into the practical arts which are taught by master craftsmen. The subjects may include but are not limited to blacksmithing, hand spinning, quilting, copper bashing, advanced woodworking, cabinetry, advanced machine sewing, weaving, basket making, and book binding. As the curriculum progresses through the grades, students continue to build confidence and learn new skills every step of the way.
There are other hidden gifts found within the handwork curriculum. Current research shows a connection between fine motor skills and brain development. Activities such as knitting or crocheting also involve using both sides of the brain. Other skills reinforced by handwork are as basic as eye tracking and numeracy. The eye tracking which can be as simple as following a stitch from one knitting needle to the other or creating a mirror image pattern on a cross stitch bookmark is a big help for developing and strengthening reading skills. Number skills are essential to all types of handwork—knitting, crocheting, sewing, cross stitch. How many stitches did you cast on? Did you lose any? How far apart are your running stitches? How much do you add to this pattern for your seam allowance?
In addition to the sense of self reliance and the intellectual aspects addressed in handwork, there are creative and heartfelt aspects as well. There are artistic and expressive opportunities for students within the work. Students often give the items they make as gifts to loved ones. Sometimes a class may make an entire project for another group. For example, a community service group made up of seventh and eighth graders might sew pillow cases for a daycare or knit hats for newborns. On a more widespread note of care, handwork can instill a sense of value and concern for the environment. If you can sew a hole in your jeans or replace a button on an article of clothing, those items can continue to have use. So often our society tends towards the disposable gesture. Instead of throwing something out, we can repair it and continue to use it. In addition, Waldorf schools often use natural materials. These materials, such as wool, cotton, linen, silk, or rayon, come from renewable resources unlike petroleum based fibers.
Currently handwork has seen a rise in popularity in America. Celebrities have helped to make handwork trendy by writing books of handwork patterns or creating their own lines of yarn. (And we are grateful for the joy and awareness this brings!) But in the Waldorf schools, handwork is here to stay. Like all of the aspects of Waldorf education, the handwork curriculum integrates the intellect, a sense of care, and practical skills to create strong human beings ready to meet the world.
Many thanks to Ms. Judy for this wonderful article! Please do go visit her Etsy shop at http://www.mamajudes.etsy.com
Many blessings,
Carrie
There is nothing more peaceful than being outside digging in the dirt, pulling weeds, planting things, surrounded by vegetables and flowers. Waldorf Education values environmental education and gardening, and I think deserves a closer look for ALL families and especially for homeschoolers. Steiner felt that “the garden work should be an obligatory addition to the lessons.” (from the little booklet “Gardening Classes At The Waldorf Schools, compiled and written by Rudolf Krause).
Part of a child developing into their bodies entails making a home for themselves on Earth. It also entails a child getting to know and understand the rhythms of the year, season, day and the rhythms prevalent in nature. Gardening is also a great way for children to learn how all things are interconnected and how we depend upon the Earth and land for food, and how we depend upon one another. We depend upon that farmer who grows wheat that we get to grind for flour to make our bread for the week, for example. Steiner said, “It is of special significance for social development to experience by one’s own hand that people always depend on the work of their fellow human beings.”
Gardening is a wonderful place to develop the twelve senses so eloquently laid out by Steiner. These senses are the prerequisites for academic success. It is also a sure antidote for peacefulness, for decreasing anxiety, worry and depression that seems to so plague this generation of children.
Gardening throughout the curriculum may include some of these components:
First Grade and Second Grade – fostering a reverence for the land using all twelve senses through nature crafts (not so much through garden chores yet!) Nature stories are also important and to leave some of the mystery of nature to unfold
Third Grade – This is the age where a nine-year-old is truly developing a sense of place, where their place is on Earth. Where do they belong, how do they create a home here on Earth. The nine-year-old year is a year of DOING, DOING, DOING, and gardening and farming is at the heart of the curriculum for this year. Measurement, building, seeing where things come from (grains on the stalk to bread, sheep to yarn, dyeing things, making compost and cycles of life within the garden). Gardening becomes a vehicle for teaching about the basis of human culture, how we stopped being nomadic and wandering for the most part and planted crops such as oats, barley, wheat, rye, corn, millet and rice.
Fourth Grade – This is a time when ten-year-olds begin to study geography, starting with their own local geography. What better way to do this than to look at the animals in their own garden, to look at how soil develops and the differences between types of soils, to really look at their own sense of place.
Fifth Grade – This typically is when a student has a bound gardening lesson book and there are herb studies, plant studies, drawings to be made and projects from herbs. Honeybees are also a great focal study point.
SIXTH GRADE – this is the traditional part where gardening classes started at the Waldorf school as indicated by Steiner, at age twelve is what Steiner recommended. I believe schools are starting earlier now because there is more need to combat our lifestyle where we are so cut off from nature.
Steiner felt it was important to teach about the farm as a living organism, the fertilization that provided nutritional components, the application of homeopathic principles to earth. You could look into all the resources for biodynamic gardening here! Steiner was amazing that he could create all of this!
Sixth and seventh grade could include work with the soil, growing vegetables and raising flowers. In eighth grade, some curriculums focus on perennials, annuals, home gardening. In ninth and tenth grade, the growing of fruit, grafting methods and the study of soil and fertilizing is studied. Some sources say that in ninth grade the student will learn about plant growth and ground covers and that relationship, weather, constellations and that in tenth grade students will focus on pruning trees and shrubs, repairing tools during the winter, building trails, looking at the relationship between agriculture and cattle.
As homeschoolers, we can use our yards and natural spaces as a wonderful and integral part of our homeschool.
The Agriculture lectures by Steiner may be an excellent place to start, along with Steiner’s more basic works on education so one can understand how the gardening fits within the entire curriculum.
For those of you with small children, I would recommend Donna Simmons’ book, “From Nature Stories to Natural Science: A Holistic Approach to Science for Families “ ( http://www.christopherushomeschool.org/bookstore-for-waldorf-homeschooling/essential-christopherus-publications/from-nature-stories-to-natural-science.html) and also the books by author Sharon Lovejoy, such as “Roots, Shoots, Buckets and Boots: Gardening Together With Children available here: http://www.amazon.com/Roots-Shoots-Buckets-Boots-Gardening/dp/0761110569/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1269311505&sr=1-5
There is also a lovely audio CD available here that entails one Gardening Teacher’s experience at a Waldorf school through the grades: http://www.waldorfinthehome.org/2007/07/gardening_with_children.html – This CD is a lovely listen!
Many blessings,
Carrie
Please read on for some encouraging words for folks with both early readers and those who have later readers….
People get very, very wrapped up in our society about reading. Reading is very important, to be sure, (I have a journalism degree!) but I hear from mothers all the time who either believe that bringing in reading prematurely is the right thing to do, or from mothers who are following a Waldorf model and their children have taught themselves to read and now they are saying to me, “But Carrie, I can’t do Waldorf First Grade because my child can read really well!”
First of all, some children do read earlier than age six and a half or seven. Of course! This is not to be discouraged per se, but in these cases, we must be sure to look at the holistic development of the child first. For example, can your early reader ride a bike with training wheels? Without training wheels? Can your child swim independently with your supervision? Can your child do the monkey bars with just your supervision? Does your child know by heart many poems, verses and songs? Can your child sing and display a sense of rhythm in music? Can they gallop, skip, hop on one foot? How is their endurance for activities and how is their sleeping? Attention span? Can they bake, garden, order things, dance? How are they in social situations with other children? How are they with adults? I will write a post on First Grade Readiness in the future!
And I am not saying this to knock an early reader at all! I have an early reader myself, who could read anything she wanted to read, adult books and newspapers included, at an early age. This is typically the case with children who truly teach themselves to do it. They just can do it. We just want to ensure balance!
There is one issue that I see to be significant though. By MOST curriculums, not just Waldorf, the children in First and Second Grade are typically reading Frog and Toad and those sorts of books. Waldorf at home can certainly involve these types of books. There is in general a difficulty when your children truly are very fluent readers, that they are beyond those beginner reader kinds of books, there is not much for them to read. A true “I taught myself how to read” kind of five year old typically goes from reading something simple to being able to read whatever they want (newspaper, portions of grown-up books) quickly. They are so far beyond Frog and Toad and other books, they want thick books to read, and most of those books are for children much, much older so the themes are much older.
So, I think if you truly have an early reader, you can limit the books and the reading time in general in the under-7 years until their maturity and understanding can catch up with their ability to read and not feel badly about it. Some would say, well, you can explain it all to them! You can go over vocabulary with them! Why? First of all, they should be laying that foundation of experience in ALL areas of life for even greater academic success later on! If they can truly read, they are still reading, they are not going to forget how to read just because they are not reading novels! And, It is not all just about reading! What about math? I personally would rather see a child move ahead in math and numeral literacy, than reading, but in American society we put so much emphasis on reading, almost to the exclusion of other things. Second of all, if the themes are just too mature, there is no fix for that but TIME. Nearly EVERY OTHER COUNTRY starts reading when children are 7, again, there are NO studies that show starting early reading is better in the long run for academic or professional success. Third of all, from a physical perspective, the eye is NOT fully developed for lateral tracking until age EIGHT, so perhaps those countries that are working with starting reading at the right time are based more upon the physiology of the child than the American system is! So please stop talking about “delayed academics”! How about talking about bringing in academics at the right time?!
My other issue in general with these books for even a six or seven year old who is reading is that there are rarely beautiful long, thick books with no pictures for these children to read. In Waldorf, we try to pick books for the under-9 year old that focuses less on an individual protagonist because at this point the child does not feel they are an individual. That doesn’t happen until the nine-year change and to point that out, that separation of yourself as an individual, is rather premature for the six and seven year old. That being said, I think an eight- year- old can certainly read “B is for Betsy” and that sort of series, some of the older series of books published in this country in the forties and such. A six and a half or seven year old can certainly enjoy chapter books if you can find good ones! But please don’t rush your children into it all, and do not neglect reading to them and the oral storytelling, oral verses, singing end just because they can read.
In Waldorf, what you are building up in the Kindergarten is that treasure trove of oral tradition. Then in first grade, it is typically NOT going through the whole alphabet in order, it is “seeing” the letter arise (certain consonants and certain letter combinations that usually travel together) from a picture, just how man probably invented writing (and then reading) in the beginning. It is going over the vowels, those “heart sounds” and what feelings these arise for us within our language. It is faster than one thinks, and children who can read LOVE to make the letter pictures just like those who are not reading yet. The children are writing simple sentences to more complex summaries by the end of the first year. And the oral traditions carry throughout the Waldorf Grades – there are songs and poems to memorize and recite, drama, lines and lines (sometimes up to 400 or more lines of poetry a year!), there are riddles and tongue twisters and such in opening school. The oral tradition of speech is very important, then the writing down, then the reading. Reading for each grade may often include the subject that was the focus of the previous grade, and more importantly, respects the child’s maturity and soul development and holistic development.
If you need to understand how reading and writing and language arts develops within the Waldorf Curriculum: https://theparentingpassageway.com/2010/03/10/history-and-literature-waldorf-homeschooling-grades-one-through-twelve/
If you would like to see recommended reading for first grade, please see here: https://theparentingpassageway.com/2009/04/10/more-great-read-alouds-for-waldorf-first-grade/ and here: https://theparentingpassageway.com/2008/11/11/great-read-alouds-for-waldorf-at-home-first-grade/
For second grade see here: https://theparentingpassageway.com/2009/05/29/great-books-for-second-grade-in-your-waldorf-inspired-homeschool/
Many blessings! Be confident in what you do!
Carrie
Some wonderful mamas have asked about storytelling with the little ones- how many stories, what kinds of stories to bring in when, how often, so I thought I would quickly address this and then I have a writing deadline for something else to get to!
We look at building an oral basis of language first and primarily (this later extends into the grades because we first write what we know orally, and then we learn to read off of what we write. The lectures in “Practical Advice to Teachers” by Rudolf Steiner elucidate this very well).
For one to three year olds, I would suggest mainly nursery rhymes, singing, singing, singing, little rhymes or short verses,blessing before meals, verses regarding animals and plants you might see on your nature walks. For a three year old, some folks would start to add fairy tales, but I feel a little bit differently about those tales for the three-year-old. I often feel the “list” of fairy tales was designed for a mixed age Waldorf Kindergarten, and if your oldest is three, they are not going to have those older ages to really carry those tales. So, you have to know your child well. Sometimes introducing children to these fairy tales goes better in a song format, called a story circle, by many Waldorf Kindergarten teachers. I tend to say for three year olds at home with no older siblings, how about using Juniper Tree’s “Around the World With Finger Puppet Animals” by Suzanne Down? Also, simple stories you make up… Then, at four, you could move into Suzanne Down’s nature stories, other nature tales, and other fairy tales and more complex stories you make up.
The fairy tales, whilst the hallmark of the Early Years and first grade, don’t have to go away completely! We can always circle back around. There is a book called “The Pancake” made up of repetitive fairy tales and such that could be an effective reader for first or second grade. Mrs. Marsha Johnson has a free “Russian Fairy Tales” block on her Yahoo!Group that involves creating readers and such for second grade – this expands vocabulary quickly! It also takes something the children know through the oral tradition, we write it, then we make readers and read it! In Third Grade, that whole series collected by Andrew Lang (The Pink Fairy Tale Book, The Blue Fairy Book) could be readers or read-alouds. There are collections of fairy tales and folk tales from all over the world. This then later moves into mythology and finally into other great works of literature.
The other place I differ is that all the stories have to be memorized. This makes no sense for those of us who have small children, as the memory is part of the etheric body and that is being depleted when we have small children as we share our life forces with them as they are still connected to us. Donna Simmons always talks about using two beautiful watercolor paintings and making a beautiful, special book that the tales are written down in. I have seen that work. You can also try a bag of props to help you remember the story.
Yes, the stories in a Waldorf Kindergarten are usually brought for anywhere from two weeks to a whole month, the same story. If you see the story coming out in their play, or they can chime in on the story and the story’s repetitive phrases, then you know it is sinking into them and doing good work! Puppets, drama, music, props, all enliven the experience.
As far as books, we know the first seven years are truly for the development and protection of the lower four of the twelve senses. This is for interaction with people, and yes, reading to a child is interaction, but we would like to see even more in the way of singing and storytelling than books.
For example, for children from birth to three, they don’t necessarily need books at this point. A bedtime routine could be singing or storytelling and oral traditions. I think many of us with multiple children admit to reading far more books to our first child as a baby than our subsequent children; we didn’t always know or have at our disposal the wonderful songs, nursery rhymes, etc that we build up over time. There are some lovely books for babies, but is this an indispensible part of building literacy? I don’t think it is; I actually think oral recitation, singing and rhymes are. Children who lack fluency in reading, children who have dysarthria (speech expression), etc actually often need to go back to recitation of oral material in a rhythmic manner.
What babies need is human contact, being carried, being in a sling, being talked to and sung to and rhymes and learning to enjoy and play in silence as well, and to listen and hear the sounds of nature! If you are going to read something, how about beautiful poems or things out of the Bible or the Koran or whatever fits your religious traditions?
For ages three to five, ideally, the books are kept up on a shelf and brought done with reverent care when it is reading time. Perhaps you have a set reading time before quiet time and then again at bedtime. Rhyming, repeating books are wonderful for this age, such as the story of Chicken Licken or Henny Penny or The Gingerbread Man. The other kind of book is ones of simple stories of every day life where not much happens. Books such as Ezra Jack Keats’ “The Snowy Day” and other by him. You want the same books to be around for one whole season if possible, and then change them out with some new ones. And yes, that means you read the same books over and over and over, but that is really what small children need to develop vocabulary and a sense of sequencing in the story line.
For ages five to seven, we can now add some weightier stories and books. More complex fairy tales, more formal story times where we sit and light a candle and listen to this story. This is where you look at that list of fairy tales by age and read them and see which story speaks to YOU and then you tell that. If it doesn’t speak to you, pick a different one! Here is the list: https://theparentingpassageway.com/2008/11/20/the-importance-of-fairy-tales/
Chapter books most likely are something that should wait, I think, until at least age six and more ideally, probably grade one and being seven years old. Don’t rush this, there really is time. Here are some back posts with books for the under-7 crowd: https://theparentingpassageway.com/2008/11/20/more-books-for-children-under-7/
One thing that always baffles people about Waldorf is starting things a bit later. ( I actually don’t consider it later, I consider starting it at the normal, appropriate time) This is what EVERY country almost around the world does except us and England at this point. Yes, the children go to school early, around age 3 or 4, but no academics are taught until the first grade. There is no rush, and those children beat our children on every kind of standardized test and our educational system is particularly failing boys who often have trouble sitting still during those first seven years. There are NO studies that back up introducing “academics” at an early age, and in fact, children are play-based programs for the first six years excel ahead of children introduced to academics early! But I digress here, back to the main subject at hand….
Someone asked what I personally do with my under-7s. My oldest, as I have repeatedly written about on this blog, pretty much taught herself to read around age five and a half. I have some posts on here about doing Waldorf First Grade with an early reader. The thing no one tells you about early readers, is that there are few things for them to read that are worthy! The things they can read have themes that are way too mature, and the rest are series that are short and not beautiful – sorry, Captain Underpants does not count to me. 🙂 So, her books were limited and that was a source of complaint, but I am glad we stuck to it. Before the nine-year change, you really want more of the archetypal, life is beautiful and good and safe and orderly kind of books. My second five-year-old is not yet reading, but likes to be read to and loves stories and can sing, sing, sing. She is picking out letters and letter sounds, and that is okay (and it would be okay if she were not). My third little guy is just a wee baby, so he is enjoying songs and hearing passages of the Bible hear and there..:)
As far as storytelling within the Waldorf homeschool, I did stick to the same story for usually a month, unless there was a special story I really wanted to bring around for a festival. I know many of the Waldorf schools stick to one story every two to four weeks, but bring in a separate story for baking and/or gardening or nature walk day. That may very well be way too much for a mother tending to multiple small children at home, so I think you must do what resonates with you.
Hope some of that helps; take what resonates with you.
Many blessings,
Carrie
Here are my suggestions for essential resources for Grade Two. Investigate for yourself and take what resonates with you!
IMPORTANT NOTE: If you have a second grader who is “advanced” you can keep moving ahead on academic skills, but please, please, please do NOT bring the Third Grade Curriculum until your child is NINE or pretty darn close to nine. The Third Grade Curriculum is really a year of DOING, a year that speaks directly and eloquently to the nine-year-old change. If you bring it in too early two things will happen: 1. The stories and activities of the Third Grade just will not speak to your child’s soul, they become a rather empty gesture because they are being offered prematurely and 2. You will be causing an avalanche effect for the coming years because the Grade Four Norse Myths are VERY dark! (ie, everyone dies!) I think a child really should be close to ten to deal directly with the content in the Norse myths; the themes are mature. When we do academic work, we have to be sure to enliven it with lots of DOING, lots of music, art, painting, sculpting, modeling, gardening, doing, doing, doing. Otherwise the academic work just sits there, dead and useless. The teaching through art is the vehicle, the stories and the art and the movement and the doing are the way for the development of the soul. If you need further clarification on this, I so highly suggest Steiner’s “Practical Advice to Teachers”. Even just reading the forward will explain this so well!
Just a few thoughts for second grade!
Many blessings,
Carrie
Like the Fall Tales List for Waldorf Kindergarten, this is NOT an all-inclusive list, these are just some tales I have enjoyed or I know other mothers have used at these ages…..Happy finding the tales that speak to you and to your family!
January (Okay, still Winter!)
Four Year Olds: Shingebiss (Winter Wynstones)
Five Year Olds: The Snow Maiden (Plays for Puppets)
Six Year Olds: The Twelve Months (www.mainlesson.com);
February
Four Year Olds: “Pussy Willow Spring” from Suzanne Down’s “Spring Tales” or a story about how the snowdrop got its color
Five Year Olds: “The Rabbit and the Carrot” a Chinese Tale found in the Spring Wynstones and also in “An Overview of the Waldorf Kindergarten”
Six Year Olds: “The Three Brothers” by the Brothers Grimm
There are also a few Saint Valentine’s Day stories on mainlesson.com
March
For ages three and a half or so and up for Saint Patrick’s Day: “Lucky Patrick” from “Spring Tales” by Suzanne Down
There is also a great “leprechuan” circle adventure/movement journey in the book, “Movement Journeys and Circle Adventures” based upon “Tippery Tim” the leprechaun in “Spring Tales” by Suzanne Down
Four Year Olds: The Billy Goats Gruff
Five Year Olds: “Little Brown Bulb” from “Spring Tales” from Suzanne Down or “Little Red Cap” from Brothers Grimm
Six Year Olds: “ Bremen Town Musicians” from the Brothers Grimm; or “An Easter Story” from “All Year Round” or “The Donkey” by The Brothers Grimm
April:
Four Year Olds: Goldilocks and The Three Bears
Five Year Olds: “Mama Bird’s Song” from “Spring Tales” by Suzanne Down or”Rumpelstiltskin” by the Brothers Grimm
Six Year Olds: “Frog Prince” from the Brothers Grimm
May
Four Year Olds: “Chicken Licken” or “The Pancake” with Spring details
Five Year Olds: For Ascensiontide, the story “Forgetful Sammy” from “All Year Round” or “Twiggy” from “Plays for Puppets”
Six Year Olds: “The Magic Lake at the End of the World” (from Ecuador, found in “Your’re Not The Boss of Me! Understanding the Six/Seven Year Transformation) or “Queen Bee” from the Brothers Grimm or “Forgetful Sammy” or “Twiggy” as listed for the five-year-old.
June
Four Year Olds: “The Pancake” with spring/summer details
Five Year Olds: “Goldener” (Plays for Puppets)
Six Year Olds: “Snow White and Rose Red” or “A Midsummer Tale” from the book “An Overview of the Waldorf Kindergarten”, also in “Plays for Puppets”
What are your favorite stories? Please add them below!
Many blessings,
Carrie
The Parenting Passageway 