Category Archives: Homeschooling

Math Phobia In The Waldorf Homeschool

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Mathematics is one of those incredible subjects that has so much to offer and yet people discount it in our society.  We wouldn’t joke or find it humorous to not be able to read, so why do we hear people who ruefully laugh and just say, “Wow, I am not good at math.  Here, you divide up this bill.”   Or my favorite, the cashier who cannot make change when the computer on the cash register at the check-out line goes down.  Yuck!  My family ran a business and back then, there was no computer to tell you what cash to give back (okay, do I sound old and cranky here or what? LOL).  But, my point is, I think too often we underestimate the importance of numeral literacy.  It is every bit as important as reading!

Here are some fun links regarding math anxiety and numeral literacy:

http://www.mathacademy.com/pr/minitext/anxiety/index.asp#myths

http://math.about.com/cs/mathreform/a/myths.htm

You actually don’t “have” to have an aptitude for math; math skills can totally be developed!   I was not “good” at math, although I enjoyed it in the younger grades, then went through a period where I cried a lot and didn’t “get it” and then lo and behold, when I took college mathematics courses like calculus and such and physics one, the math part made complete sense!  Who knew?  I think the challenge is, though, that some children need many problems to master a concept and some need only a few problems.

Also, children have to be willing to try (and sometimes fail) and work at something!  You may notice this tendency to work at something (or not) in areas other than mathematics with your child.  I think try to give them a taste of success in something outside of math is helpful, as well as giving them problems you know they can do along with harder things in math.  Also, I think it is good to work in small chunks in the early grades – sometimes I think we are expecting far too much of our first and second graders.  Do make sure your expectations are realistic!  Check out the math standards for education by grade for your state and see if you are on track!

Jamie York and his co-authors discuss in “Making Math Meaningful” book for grades 1-5 (and I do think this book is worthy as a supplement to whatever math curriculum you are using!)  (here is the link: http://web.me.com/meaningfulmathbooks1/Site/Welcome.html)     that “math phobia” can begin somewhere between second and fourth grade and that this can be “undone” in the sixth and seventh grades, but it is much harder to undo this in the  high school years.

What can you do if you are math phobic or you notice your child being math phobic?  How can you progress in math in your Waldorf homeschool?  This could be a series of posts really, but let’s look at some simple ideas here.

  • First of all, check your own attitude and what you say about math in front of your child!  Are you math phobic?  Then homeschooling  math is going to be wonderful for your own development as well!
  • Please place the same importance on that as you do reading!  I hear many parents say, “Well, I didn’t want to do First Grade Waldorf because my child already knew his letters and how to read!’”  As if all First Grade is is a bunch of letters!  What about math, the qualities of numbers and the four processes?
  • In first grade, do bring in math daily after you do your qualities of numbers block if you are doing a non-math block.    Every day there should be time to work with math manipulatives  and later on with mental math.  There should be simple oral sentences you give to work out with manipulatives (or just mentally).  Most families do this right after gathering. Perhaps you have some songs and verses for the month, some movement, and then you do your ten minutes of math.
  • From about second grade up, you may consider having a time one day a week during non-math blocks to devote a half hour or so to math, practical math, however you want to bring it.  Many families do this on their last day of school for the week.
  • All this being said, do let math sleep at some points during the year.  Let it rest and germinate inside your child.  You may find when you return to it that your child understands it so much better.
  • Homeschooling math can be so very intense because of that one to one relationship. It is easy to hover and offer too much help.  Some mothers keep laundry to fold nearby or knitting nearby.  I have often transformed into a “substitute math teacher” with a crazy accent (mom has gone out to the store!) who is kind but strict.  She doesn’t help, she wants to see what you can do and she doesn’t hover. 
  • If your child is crying every time math is presented, take a break!  Or, alternately, instead of taking a break, you may really have to go back to the part of math your child understands and works from there to figure out what is tripping them up.  Subtraction usually is part of it and not really having those addition and subtraction facts down cold.  I think Jamie York’s math book is great for diagnosing where the problem is. 
  • Movement, movement, movement.  Bouncing a ball, tossing a ball, standing on the end of a balance beam and tossing bean bags into a bucket, bouncing on a trampoline for addition/subtraction facts and multiplication tables. 
  • Work whole to parts and all four processes together.  Most children don’t seem to understand at first that subtraction will “undo” addition and division will “undo” multiplication. I think that is the advantage of teaching math the Waldorf way with all four processes together.    It is also hard for them to see 4 X 7 is the same as 7X4, so work with that in mind for these Early Grades.
  • Stories are great, but I think at the end of second grade and certainly at the beginning of third grade, there needs to just be math.  However, always save the last ten minutes to tell stories – in first grade, do tell a fairy tale at the end of the lesson, in second tell a folktale or fable and in third tell some Native American tales or more fairy tales.  It is always that holistic working of all subjects together. 
  • Do play games that involve math and find opportunities to use math in gardening, cooking, handwork.  It can be done!  🙂
  • People ask all the time about worksheets. I know most Waldorf consultants will tell you later, after the nine year change, most seem to say Fifth Grade. I  believe on the Jamie York website given above, there are some math worksheets available for Third Grade and up.

SOME LINKS TO HELP:

The math curriculum as laid out in the Christopherus Curriculum Grades One through Eight:  http://www.christopherushomeschool.org/waldorf-homeschool-publishing-and-consulting/curriculum/subjects/mathematics.html?0=  This includes links to the math books that are available separately from buying the full curriculum.

Melisa Nielsen’s Math E-book, Grades One Through Five:   http://shop.beaconmama.com/Waldorf-Math-Geometry-Curriculum-and-Supplies_c12.htm  For $18, this is a steal!  Every lesson is laid out completely for each block. 

Math Books section at Bob and Nancy’s:  http://www.waldorfbooks.com/edu/curriculum/mathematics.htm

Free math blocks and movement for math at Marsha Johnson’s Yahoo!Group at waldorfhomeeducators@yahoogroups.com

Math goals Grade One:  https://theparentingpassageway.com/2009/03/29/ron-jarmans-math-goals-for-waldorf-grade-one/

Many blessings,

Carrie

Which Waldorf Curriculum Should I Use?

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(Updated 2/4/2014)

Woo-hoo boy, crazy question!  This question pops up all the time on message boards, on forums (and I always feel bad when mothers get confused and ask on one yahoo group or message board about curriculum that is outside of the list they are on!  :))

I have hesitated to weigh in on this matter for quite some time.  For one thing, I am not certain there is a good answer because everyone is different and what appeals to one person is completely unappealing to another person.   In the end, you know what you like and you know your children, your family, your lifestyle best and will be able to pick what works for you!

The other reason I have hesitated to weigh in is that I create my own curriculum.  I write it over the summer and I cherry-pick from different sources..  I learn a lot!  This may not work for those of you who want to open and go, and most of you have probably heard by now that “open and go” isn’t really Waldorf (but sometimes you have to start somewhere!) but it works well for me.  So, as always, I urge you to go and read Steiner’s educational works for yourself, even if you buying a more open and go curriculum.  I recommend “Kingdom of Childhood” and “Soul Economy” for those with young children in the first seven year cycle.   For those with Grades children, I recommend “Practical Advice for Teachers”  and “Discussions With Teachers”

However, again, I understand this is hard for some folks to create their own, especially if they have never experienced anything of Waldorf Education in a school setting, and they don’t know where to start or life is just such they need something pre-planned to get them going.  So, I would ask you to read the following paragraphs and see if it resonates with you as criteria to evaluate a pre-written curriculum:

  • Does the author(s) have a strong understanding of  Steiner’s educational ideas?  For me to use someone else’s curriculum or curriculum guide, personally, I would need to know that the author(s) have studied Steiner, that they understand it on some level! and are true to the seven year cycles in their curriculum (even though the study of Steiner and anthroposophy is a long, long journey!)   and that they take into account the developmental arc of the human being from that holistic standpoint.   Does that make sense?   That may or may not be important to you! 
  • What is the authors’ background?  Have they homeschooled their own children at all?  Do they understand the dynamics of homeschooling, that things are more intense, that you and the dog and a four year old don’t make a Circle Time, that home has certain advantages that really should play into the curriculum that is different than Waldorf School?  Have they ever taught other children or been in situations where they have worked with other children?  After all, not every child and family is like your own!   Do they have an understanding of the academic and artistic pieces of each grade?  That is important in order to educate for academic success! 
  • Do they have knowledge of the twelve senses and the importance of the protection/development of the twelve senses throughout these seven year cycles?  How is movement incorporated into their curriculum?
  • The other area that is a bug –a- boo for me is to ask whether the authors  are advocating academics within the first seven year cycle?  Are they talking about Main Lesson Books for the Early Years and blocks and such?  Are they talking about being able to tell a child’s temperament within the first seven year cycle?  To me none of that fits, so even if you are looking at grades materials, go back and look at what they propose for the Early Years.  This will give you a good barometer as to how true to Steiner the curriculum is!
  • If you are an Early Years mother and you are contemplating buying curriculum,  please do go through this blog and look at the resources I recommend.  There are many posts and reviews on here.  Work on yourself, your rhythm for your family, the tone of your home.   Life is the curriculum, home is the place during the first seven years.   Look at what you might want to bring in when – see the posts I wrote about the one and two year old in the Waldorf Home and the other post about the three , four five and six year old in the Waldorf home.  Create some of these things, and then worry about “curriculum”!  🙂
  • Lastly, what are the practicalities of using this curriculum?  Is it truly open and go, or do you need to do work to put it together?  (And both answers are okay, it depends what you are looking for!!)  What additional resources do you need?  Do you know how you will open school – do you have verses or songs, a longer poem each month  for your grades children to memorize and recite?  Does the curriculum show how to incorporate the form drawing,  knitting, crafts, cooking, gardening, movement, music or what other resources do you need to get?  Or does all that overwhelm you, you are new to Waldorf, and you feel you just need the main lesson ideas?  Does the curriculum provide samples of what a third grader might write, examples of math problems, etc?  Does it give you ideas for the Main Lesson from an artistic standpoint beyond drawing and summarizing?  Remember, art is the vehicle through which the lesson is taught!  The art is NOT separate!  Otherwise the curriculum becomes dry!
  • Does this curriculum use a two or three day rhythm?  A three day rhythm is what is typically used in a Waldorf school, it is what I use in my own homeschool, but I do notice most of the homeschool Waldorf Curriculums use a two-day rhythm because home is more intense and goes faster than school!  Marsha Johnson’s files do use a three-day rhythm.  The three day rhythm looks like this:  First Day, tell story (and do lots of other things, poem recitation, memorizing, form drawing perhaps!) Second Day artistic piece or a beautiful hands-on project and things tied to parts of the main story, perhaps extra things like going over vocabulary, spelling, a deepening of a math concept, etc and Third Day the academic piece for the Main Lesson Book.  Not every lesson has to have a spot in the Main Lesson though –for some things we have made diaromas or modeled something or painted something – those things don’t fit in a Main Lesson Book!  And not every homeschooling mother uses a Main Lesson Book for every block.  The “academic” piece can be moved up or down or de-emphasized as well as needed.

If you can ask yourself these questions of the curriculum and be satisfied, then you will have most likely found the right curriculum for you!

There are things mothers have told me they liked or didn’t like about any of the Waldorf curriculums on the market, because we are all different people.  You will find what works for you and your family!   You are the expert on your own family!

In the end, though, realize, it is what you create with these pieces of paper in your own homeschool that matters!  It is about family first, joy first, being together first!

You will find what works for you! You are the architect of your own  homeschool!

Create the joy of this journey for your family!

Many blessings,

Carrie

PS  Please know that I do not want to turn this post into a debate regarding specific curriculum, because we all are individuals with our likes and dislikes, so do know the comments to this post will be carefully moderated.  Thank you!

Peaceful Homeschooling: Needed Resources For Waldorf Grade One

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Here is my list for first grade:

  • If you are not a do-it-yourselfer, you will need a curriculum!  The one I most frequently recommend is Christopherus (Donna Simmons).    If you buy Donna’s curriculum, you will need a form drawing resource, and the other resources she recommends for that grade. 
  • I suggest you familiarize yourself  with the FILES section over at Waldorf Home Educators ( many FREE blocks are there!) created by Marsha Johnson for First Grade in the FILES section at www.waldorfhomeeducators@yahoogroups.com
  • See the website www.movementforchildhood.com  for movement blocks to bring into your homeschool
  • THe Christopherus curriculum includes the  stories  for Main Lessons, but you may want some extra tales to have on hand to tell during knitting, gardening, cooking or what have you.  I like the Pantheon Edition of The Grimm Fairy Tales, the book “Hear the Voice of The Griot!” for African tales, and you could also use Slovak tales, Norwegian tales, and any others that suit you!  Use your local library for collections.
  • “Learning About The World Through Modeling” by Arthur Auer  would be important to have to understand the juxtaposition of wet-on-wet watercolor painting and modeling in the curriculum.
  • A flute/recorder/pennywhistle and music to teach your child.  I know Jodie Mesler is hard at work on a curriculum for this year that one could use with a flute or pennywhisstle or recorder – check it out www.homemusicmaking.blogspot.com
  • Collections of poems and versese for the day, season, holiday –  I recommend Eric Fairman’s Path of Discovery Grade One if you can get it used, and again, use your library.  Some folks really like the seasonal Wynstones books, but I think to use those books fully, you really need to know how to read music.  Also, check out Candey Verney’s “The Singing Day” and “The Singing Year”
  • General craft supplies for festival crafting.  I also still think many of the projects in “Earthways” could still be used.
  • Bean bags/silks
  • Chalkboard and lap slates
  • Watercolor paper/ Watercolor paint / block  and stick crayons/paper/Beeswax  modeling material
  • Yarn and knitting materials, a needle for yarn to sew up projects 
  • Puppets/story telling props
  • Nature table and all of Mother Nature’s Goodies
  • Math manipulatives (sand tray, stones, acorns, jewels,…)  I also would recommend Jamie York’s “Making Math Meanoingful” for Grades One Through Five
  • Main lesson books unless you are planning to make your own!
  • A jump rope and jump rope rhymes; a basketball

I feel as if I am missing something!  Please add your suggestions in the comment box below!

Blessings,

Carrie

History and Literature: Waldorf Homeschooling Grades One Through Twelve

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You can adjust the academic level up or down, but the stories in the curriculum are designed specifically to speak to the age of the child starting with being six and a half or seven in first grade because we are based on seven year cycles…..This is sort of a merging of The Waldorf Curriculum chart, and all the Waldorf curriculum overviews out there merged witht my own thoughts….

Grade One  (Ages 6 and a half and up: I personally feel strongly about starting as close to seven as possible so as not to cheat the child out of the end of the first seven year cycle)

  • Fairy Tales:  Grimm, Asbjornsen and Moe, I would add African fairy tales from “Hear the Voice of The Griot!” (this book covers Kindergarten through Grade 12)  and Asian fairy tales. Some teachers use many of the Slovak tales.  I like those as well!
  • Nature Stories
  • Poems with strong rhythms
  • Vowels from feelings, drawings and paintings give birth to letters, capital letters, simple words, speech exercises, short plays, phonetics
  • I would add the most 100 common sight words here

Grade Two  (Usually close to age eight)

  • Fables: Aesop’s and Celtic
  • Legends of Saints
  • American Indian Stories
  • Jataka Tales (Buddhist)
  • The King of Ireland’s Son by Padraic Colum
  • Nature Stories
  • I would add Russian tales as well and continue with African fairy tales or fables; Asian fairy tales and folk legends. I like the Barefoot Books’ “Trickster Tales” “Animal Tales” and the one about tales from The Silk Road.  Excellent, and would be easy to do blocks from these!
  • Grammar, spelling usually starts here (Donna Simmons says Grade Three, I think it depends if you are learning a foreign language that is grammar heavy!  My German-speaking child needed to go into some English grammar because the grammar of the two languages is different) – structure of a sentence, doing/naming/color/ words punctuation, dictation, simple sentences and paragraphs, writing simple descriptions of what was seen or heard, plays and speech work
  • I would add sight words here – the 500 most common sight words

Grade Three  (usually close to age 9)

  • American Indian tales and fables
  • Biblical stories as part of Ancient History  (please make sure your child is close to 9 so these stories speak to your child they way they should)
  • I would add some of the  Grimm’s tales/fairy tales for older children
  • Poetry and reading from main lesson,
  • Grammar and spelling usually start here, some start in Second Grade

Grade Four  (usually close to age 10)

  • Local history through geography
  • Why the early settlers chose your area in which to live, how the natural resources were developed there
  • Norse myths/sagas – Could also do the Finnish National Epic “The Kalevala”
  • Some people do more of the Old Testament Stories at this point
  • Poetry
  • Alliteration
  • Some people also put local Native American tales here to go with local history
  • Verb tenses, prepositions,  personal pronouns, memorize grammatical rules, writing compositions with emphasis on story, letter writing, form and content, oral book reports, spelling rules and words, plurals, abbreviations, adverbs

Grade Five  (usually close to age 11)

  • First historical concepts:  Ancient India, Ancient Persia, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece up to Alexander the Great
  • The lives of Manu, Rama, Buddha, Zarathustra, Gilgamesh, Khufu, and Orpheus
  • Greek Mythology
  • Scenes from Ancient History
  • Biographies of Great Men and Women
  • Usually active and passive verbs, use of capitals, antonyms, parts of speech, punctuation, writing compositions with emphasis on descriptions, book reports – oral and written, letter writing,  subject and predicate, synonyms, homonyms, syntax
  • Spelling rules and words
  • Dictionary use

Grade Six

  • The fall of Troy to the founding of Rome thought the monarchy, republic, empire
  • The life of Christ and the Crusades
  • The life of Muhammad and the Islamic people
  • Medieval society:  the cloister, the castle, the city
  • Tales of chivalry:  Men of Iron by Pyle
  • Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain
  • Poetry, ballads, scenes from medieval history
  • Grammar: subjunctive mood, conditional sentences, transitive and intransitive verbs, possessive and objective nouns, adjectives, usage, phrases and clauses,  comparative adverbs, sentence diagramming, review of parts of speech, writing with emphasis on exposition, paragraphs, narration, outlining in science blocks, business letters, spelling

Grade Seven

  • 1400-1700
  • The Age of Exploration,
  • The Age of Discovery
  • The Reformation
  • The Renaissance
  • Many biographies
  • Arthurian legends, historical novels, biography, humorous tales and stories, tales of adventure and discovery, ballads, poems, scenes from The Renaissance, stories about tribal life
  • Review all grammar, plasticity of language based upon Wish, Wonder, Surprise block, writing, research papers, write and produce a puppet show, poetry – learn forms of poetry, spelling

Grade Eight

  • 1700 to the present
  • The Industrial Revolution to the Modern Day; Shakespeare, Napoleon, Edison, Ford, Jefferson, Lincoln
  • American History
  • Literature:  Shakespeare, Poetry: epic and dramatic,  Stories about different people of the world with their folklore and poetry
  • Review all grammar, writing all block books have original writing, newspaper reporting, businesslike and practical writing, write a skit or a short play, spelling up to 25 words a week

 

Grade Nine

  • Modern history with emphasis on Europe and dealing with the inner historic motives of the political, social and industrial revolutions from the late eighteenth century to the present
  • The great inventions 
  • Literature:  Comedy and Tragedy in the drama and the short story, Shakespeare through the Romantics, Longer essays on themes from eighth grade history can be given, shorthand, biography, poetic ballads, mythology, short story writing, stimulation of reading, writing summaries

Grade Ten

  • Ancient History, the earliest Indian, Persian and Egyptian history up to the time of decline of the freedoms  under Alexander the Great
  • Literature:  Dramatic literature:  Edda, Gilgamesh, Beowulf, Nibelungenlied, and Gudrun sagas
  • Creative writing
  • Research paper on a pre-Christian theme
  • History of Language
  • Poetry:  epic poetry
  • Speech exercises
  • Study of meter and poetic diction

Grade Eleven

  • Roman, medieval and Renaissance History
  • Contrast of the year:  Compare and contrast
  • Dante, Chaucer, Medieval Romance, Story Writing, Essay writing from reading, poetry:dramatic poetry
  • Parsifal and other Grail legends
  • Shakespeare
  • Research paper on medieval topic

Grade Twelve

  • Modern and world history
  • Look at history from present perspective
  • Look at communism, fascism, the threefold social order
  • Literature:  Emerson, Hawthorne, Thoreau, Whitman
  • Goethe’s Faust, Ibsen, Nietzche or Hesse
  • Great Figures in Literature
  • Creative Writing
  • Synthesizing thoughts, ideas , information in literature and writing

Many, many blessings,

Carrie

A Little Garden Flower Curriculum Sampler

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Melisa Nielsen, founder of A Little Garden Flower Curriculum, was kind enough to put together a 60-paged PDF file of her curriculum, ranging from samples of her day planner for Waldorf homeschooling mothers to “Before the Journey” (that time before Kindergarten), and then Kindergarten to Grade Six, plus the math 1-5 grades book and the geometry book.

Many of her books come in e-book format and her prices are very reasonable.  She also runs a very active Yahoo!group that tackles all things Waldorf.

Here is the link for the PDF sampler: http://www.beaconmama.com/sampler.pdf

Many blessings,

Carrie

Peaceful Days: More About Homeschooling Waldorf Second Grade

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I wrote a pretty detailed post regarding second grade planning  here:   https://theparentingpassageway.com/2009/07/07/planning-waldorf-second-grade/   but wanted to recap half-way through this grade what I  have learned in the doing.  (I did this for first grade as well, please check under the first grade tag).

Here is a list regarding some things I have learned along the way in teaching second grade  that I think would be valuable for other parents:

1.  Regarding math, I think second grade is (and not to sound scary at all!)  a bit of a make or break point because your child starts to size up in their head whether or not they are “good” at math or not.  In other words, it seems like it could be the time for a child to generate a “math phobia”.   Much of this, I think has to do with temperament and personality.    Are they the type of child who will persevere and try and try again and be okay with trying to figure something out or does that just  make them fall apart?  I think this is something you can tuck in your hat and work with in math.

2.  Daily math practice is very, very important when you are not doing a Main Lesson Block on math.  The math  facts often seem rather floating around and up and away in the mind’s eye of a child….In third grade, these facts should be more well-solidified, but I think it is worth practicing in second grade.

3.  As far as language arts, I do not think you need to jump into spelling and grammar as of yet, but we had to because my daughter is learning German and in the German language,  grammar is the heart of it all (nouns are capitalized in the German language, for instance) and my daughter was starting to bring German grammar into English..so we had to go there a little bit.  I used some of the lessons from Dorothy Harrer’s “An English Manual”  book and those were helpful.

Other things to think about include writing utensil (we have been using stick crayons, but I do know Second Grade parents who are using other utensils).  Also, when will you be bringing in cursive?

4. Keep carving out time for baking, gardening, cleaning and allow more consecutive days for project completion.  How about music, painting and modeling?

5. I strongly believe that there are anthroposophic indications for saving purling in handwork until the third grade.  Just a thought.  Go read through Steiner and see what you think. 

6.  Form drawing and movement are important.  For movement suggestions in block form see here:  http://www.movementforchildhood.com/classroom.pdf

7.  After dealing with Saints and Heroes this year, I am not totally convinced that they should be part of the curriculum for the homeschooling family unless the parent is really comfortable with them and those stories.  On the one hand, the saints were not part of the original Waldorf school curriculum, and whilst I think it is worthy and important to look into them and see why you don’t connect with them (because there are plenty of Hindu, Islamic, African saints in many places, also heroes of people who were otherworldly, figure who had a connection to the spiritual world that an eight-year-old with one foot on the bridge and one foot on earth could really relate to!), I also don’t think people should bring these stories if they are not comfortable.

Before you give up Saints, though,  you might want to check out the Saints and Heroes book by Donna Simmons here: http://www.christopherushomeschool.org/bookstore-for-waldorf-homeschooling/publications-for-grades-1-through-5/saints-heroes-a-2nd-grade-language-arts-block.html

There are saints and heroes from many different cultures in this resource.

We personally did enjoy saints and heroes along with fables, Native American tales, more fairy tales (Russian ones this year, and I know some families who did a block of Celtic tales).  I think second grade could be just  those animal trickster tales, fables (no telling the moral please, please let the child figure it out!), more fairy tales, folktales.  (King of Ireland’s Son is also traditional in many Waldorf schools).   However, I think we still need to show the eight-year-old the duality of man, which is why I think so many schools do use the saints and heroes (otherworldly wonderful qualities close to the spiritual worlds) and the fables or trickster tales (the baser parts of being human).  Food for thought anyway. 

7.  If you are feeling overwhelmed and ready to give up Waldorf, please don’t.  You really can do the very essential – opening things (an opening song, a seasonal verse, a longer poem to memorize), do your mental math if not a math block and jump into Main Lesson work and be done.  It is better than giving up this great healing education! And, you eventually go through a cycle and time when you can add more back in!

8.  Plan for summers OFF.  Your child will make so much progress if you just let this material rest, rest, rest.

Hope that helps your planning!

Carrie

Planning 101: Planning for Fall

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In the United States, the school year typically runs from fall (August/September) through (May/June).  This means that many mothers start to order homeschooling materials for fall in March or April.

There are many questions out on the lists and forums regarding curriculum for Waldorf homeschooling.  Here is a back post in which I listed the Waldorf consultants who have been around for a time and whom I feel at least have read Steiner and stick truly to Steiner’s indications for the grades…there may be others now since this list was written, but at least it gives you a starting point:  https://theparentingpassageway.com/2009/01/03/waldorf-consultants/

I typically take pieces of this and that and write my own curriculum    Many veteran mothers write their own curriculum over the summer, so that by fall they have their own custom and individualized curriculum for that child! 

Here are some suggestions for planning:

There is actually more on planning, but that’s a good start!

Blessings,

Carrie

Multiculturism in Waldorf Early Grades

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Annette wrote a lovely post about using stories beyond just The Brothers Grimm here:  http://natural-childhood.blogspot.com/  Please do take the time to go and read it; Annette has some great thoughts about how to bring all this to your children!

Please do keep in mind that modern Waldorf schools in the United States and Europe now pull from a variety of cultural traditions for fairy tales, folk tales and legends besides just the Brothers Grimm.   I know our local Waldorf school here in Kindergarten and First Grade uses a large number  of African and Asian fairy tales.  Besides that, different cultures, religions and places in world geography are addressed each year in the journey through the grades.

Luckily, in homeschooling, we can pick and choose the best for our family!

Here are some resources to assist you:

  • If you are Waldorf homeschooling, you really should have Betty Staley’s book, “Hear The Voice of the Griot!” which is a Waldorf  resource for teaching about  Africa for Kindergarten all the way through high school.    I wrote a review here:  https://theparentingpassageway.com/2009/01/10/hear-the-voice-of-the-griot/
  • Here is a wonderful article “Diversity and Story in the Kindergarten” from Gateways:  http://www.waldorflibrary.org/Journal_Articles/GW3303.pdf
  • Here is an article by Donna Simmons tracing geography through the grades:  http://www.christopherushomeschool.org/waldorf-homeschool-publishing-and-consulting/curriculum/subjects/geography.html
  • There is a wonderful little booklet called, (can you guess?LOL) Multiculturism in Waldorf Education…In it are fairy tales from around the world appropriate for the Kindergarten Years – the tales are from Africa, Zulu, East Africa, Japan, Tlingit, and Micmac traditions.  THere is also a list of multi-cultural picture books.
  • Teach your children foreign languages, there are several posts on this blog about that.  It is a great way to absorb information about new cultures.  We are learning Spanish and German in our homeschool and interact with native speakers from Spanish and German speaking countries. 
  • Cooking is a great place to add in different types of foods from different lands in connection with festivals from those places. 
  • Music is another wonderful place to add in languages and ideas about how people from other cultures do things.
  • Do work consciously to provide tales from many different traditions,and to really study cultures and geography in the grades.  There are many wonderful archetypal tales out there for the younger crowd; you see similar themes appearing again and again.

Many blessings,

Carrie

Children, Media and More Wise Words From Marsha Johnson

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(SORRY!  I originally had the WRONG link in this post!  It is corrected now!)

This is about media for the child under age 12!  Great thoughts you can take and tailor to your own family!  Mrs. Johnson is a veteran Waldorf teacher and has a wonderful Yahoo!Group for issues solely related to Waldorf homeschooling.  Please see this link to join:  www.waldorfhomeeducators @yahoogroups.com

Mrs. Johnson writes:

“I myself am nearly 100 % convinced that the most dangerous item in the home for children age 12 and younger is the television (including video games and computers). I believe we can trace use of this device to hyperactivity disorders, certain types of autism, and as well, a general reduction of the intelligence level of modern humans. Poor vocabulary (televisions are geared for a very low level of academic level), poor reading, poor spelling, a training for a short-bite experience in every single part of life, unrealistic life expectations built on fantasy pre-scripted television or dramatic episodes which are choreographed and pre-dictated, loss of interest in social or community interaction, loss of confidence building in experiencing ‘real-life’ interactions with physical substances or encountering mother nature (let’s go camping on the WII!), loss of physical development that is associated with moving all four limbs and using your brain to ride bikes, ice skate, row a boat, actually go fishing or driving or whatever.
The worst of all is the ads that show ridiculous situations such as the road -trip family with a beautiful southwest vista, i.e., Grand Canyon, and the kids are happy because there is a VIDEO player in the ceiling of the dang car.
I would if I could, take away all access to children 12 and younger. Yes go to the movies. Yes, go as a family, say three to four times per year and pick carefully and make it a big deal and go and sit together and enjoy it as a family. Go out for a meal afterwards and talk about it. Use it as an infrequent family outing, balanced with other family outings. You do not have to miss Avatar or Star Trek or the Dinosaur Walk thingy. Go as a family and make it a family activity, participating in a ritualistic group event that is rationale and rare.
Children are born with a natural capacity to imagine so many beautiful worlds and spirits. To see spirit beings and talk with them, to connect for a few breath taking years directly with the spiritual world…..it passes away so fast! Each moment your child under the age of 7, in my opinion, sits in front of a tv or a video land, you are literally draining that capacity like a hose will drain a swimming pool. Yes, just stealing it away.
It is impossible for our children to ignore this beast, in the vast majority of cases. Why don’t we keep a bowl of white sugar on the counter with a spoon, nearby? Or cans of plain soda pop, full of chemicals and caffeine and colorings? Most of you would not dream of allowing your children to eat Twinkies and Sugar Daddies for supper, but would and do accept the drug of the screen, those flashing icy blue brain-wave changing ‘eyes’ to totally overtake your children on a regular basis.
After 12, it is quite different I think, and certainly after 14. But it is not only age, it is also type of being: the highly awake nerve sense child (quick, brilliant, but like a literal sponge) will be sucked much more easily than the will-dominant child (have to MOVE) or the heart-feeling child (who will have to act it out, color at the same time, rush off to dress up, talk about the event at the same time, etc etc). The nerve-sense child has only to hear a ditty ONE TIME and they can sing if flawlessly, forever! :L
Yes, there is plenty of research out there. Check it out yourself. We forget how to think (or never learn), forget how to just be (never without stimulation) and forget how to dream (it has all been sucked out of us….the soil is dried and hardened…).
The solution? If your family is tv-addicted or screen-addicted, don’t just toss it out, replace it with fun and interesting activities at first, go join a folk dance team, go to church, have a family board game night, go camping, and ‘forget’ batteries. Slowly reduce and remove screen time and be sure your spouse is completely on board (haha this will fail is papa still needs to watch football add day Sat and Sun).
Keep a tv if you must have one, and lock it up like you would guns or alcohol. Use it as an adult choice. Figure out how to secure your computer with a password and do not tell the kids what it is. Refuse to buy games or systems and if your children visit other people’s homes, call first and ask the mama or daddy, please avoid the use of xyz when Sally visits, we are allergic to nintendo, playstation, blah blah blah and I would like to ask that they not use that while in your home having a nice play date.
Refuse to buy cable or machines that bring in more channels, etc. If you do keep a tv, set it with a parent-control to boring programs like news on the public radio channel. Use your computer at night after the kids are in bed (7 pm) and you can spend a little time catching up. Avoid texting or using your cell phone when you are with your children. Spend TIME with your children, set aside a time for cell phone use and tell your friends and family, call me at xyz time, please. Otherwise I will be with my kids.
Set examples and form neighborhood bike rallies, bake holiday treats as a group, set up a tree house or back yard fort, build a bbq pit and make bonfires, be the neighborhood active parent whose home is filled with kids and laughter..put on a spring play for the neighborhood and invite others to a bowling party or whatever.
Make it a priority and you may be able to positively affect your child, in this day and age when we are voluntarily allowing ourselves to be literally devoured by the giant materialistic machine of commericalism. Worse than the gingerbread house witch by far, the dependence and consumption of the screens on our waking hours is by far the greatest danger to the human race at this point in time.
Mrs M”

(Carrie here:  I spoke about this in my talk the other night on “The Waldorf Connection”; that there really isn’t any “no” in Waldorf, just the question of  “when”  and how there are some ages to bring things in more than others.  One must always ask oneself when supplying information and activities, is this necessary NOW?  What age would this be good or necessary?  If we do this NOW or my child knows all this NOW, what will my child be doing when they are 10 or 14 or 20?  Things should be different at different ages, not everything should be handed to one’s child on a platter when they are four years of age!  Protect your child’s innocence and childhood, it is more important than ever as they are going to grow up into a world that moves even faster and has more technology  than we do at this moment!)

Many blessings for today,

Carrie

A Review: “Kindergarten With Your Three To Six Year Old” by Donna Simmons

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This is a spiral bound book of 100 pages  by Donna Simmons of Christopherus Homeschool Resources,  and it really is a book that you can turn to time and time again.  I have even  had parents who are not Waldorf homeschooling  tell me how valuable they thought this book was for the Early Years and homemaking with small children!    So, I think this book would be worth the addition to your library.

I love Donna’s Introduction.  One thing she wryly notes, “Let’s not forget that Waldorf Kindergartens are based on what a healthy home environment should be like!  So it seems an odd reversal that parents now seek to make little Waldorf kindergartens at home!  You do not need hundreds of verses, scores of songs, stacks of fairy tales to “do kindergarten”:  you need strong and nurturing family rhythms; opportunities for open-ended play; the will to include your children in household tasks; and the courage to tell stories to your children.” 

This book, as Donna remarks herself in the Introduction, is not a set curriculum to tell you what to do everyday.  She goes on in this book,  however, to provide tools for you to establish a healthy homelife, which is really what the Kindergarten Years should be about.  She talks extensively about the major “points” of Kindergarten:  physical activity, developing the senses, the idea that the small child is one with his or her surroundings, imitation, creative play.  She even  has a chapter as to what to do about people outside your family – what do you do about neighbors, people wanting your children to watch TV or play video games in these Early Years, how do you do play dates?

One of the most valuable sections in the book is the section on “Family Life.” In it are many examples of rhythms, how to create a strong family rhythm, how to work with multiple children because homeschooling is first and foremost about family, how to choose toys, what to do about electronic media, ideas about discipline and about children with special needs. 

One chapter is entitled “A Typical Day” and runs through several different rhythms and then goes on to discuss how to do different components of the rhythm – household chores, morning walks, story times, creative play, bed and rest times.

She has recipes for making salt dough, how to wet on wet watercolor paint, how to make a nature table, cooking with small children,  ideas for crafts and handwork, coloring and drawing, and how to choose fairy tales and tell them. 

I think a very valuable section of this book is “The Six Year Old” chapter.  As many of you know, I think that the six-year-old Kindergarten year is very, very important and that the child  should be seven for most of first grade.  This chapter provides some very excellent ideas regarding how to structure that six-year-old year, projects to include, what to do with academic interest in the six-year-old year and answers to other challenges that are unique to the six-year-old year. 

There is also a Questions and Answers section, and a section that includes a scattering of fairy tales, traditional rhymes and seasonal verses, music,  and a section on what to read next to educate yourself as to Waldorf education and Waldorf parenting. 

Here is link to look at this book yourself:  http://www.christopherushomeschool.org/bookstore-for-waldorf-homeschooling/early-years/kindie.html

Happy reading,

Carrie