To me, there are five main areas which come together to compose a Waldorf homeschool:
The Inner Work and Inner Life of the Teacher – this is of paramount importance, and the basis and foundation of Waldorf homeschooling. Who you are and where you are on your inner path and spiritual work is more important than the subject you teach. Your will, your rhythms, your outlook, your spiritual work, will determine far more for your child than anything else – especially in the world of homeschooling where you are both parent and teacher.
An Understanding of Childhood Developmental Phases – I write about childhood development extensively on this blog. Suffice it to say the view in Waldorf Education is that the human being is a spiritual being and that we continue to change, develop and grow throughout our lifetime.
Temperament of the grades-aged child (and in the teen years, emotion and personality) – We need to recognize not only the temperaments associated with the various developmental stages, but also the temperament of our own child and ourselves and how to bring balance to that within our homeschooling experiences.
An Understanding of the Curriculum and How to Adapt it to Your Child and Homeschool: We can start with such things as Steiner’s lectures and the secondary literature of the pedagogy. However, the time we live in, the local geography, customs, language, local festivals and cultural events are all points in which the learning experience starts within the child and the child’s world. So, therefore, we must be familiar with not only the curriculum, but also with our own child and our own observations and meditation as to what that child needs, and then how to have the curriculum fulfill the needs of the child. Dogmatic story-art-summary rhythms are often not helpful in the home environment and there are many ways to bring the rhythms of Waldorf Education to the home.
An Ability to “DO”, rather than just read. This includes not only the ability to hold a rhythm and be organized, but also the ability to learn new things for oneself both in the area of the arts and in academic subjects. For example, few of us were taught geometry the way the curriculum is outlined, and one most be willing to take a subject, even a familiar subject and see how to dig into it and look at it from a spiritual perspective and to view art as a spiritual activity.
Many blessings,
Carrie