Tag Archives: Homeschooling

Beauty of April

Posted on by
Reply

I am looking forward to Easter and a lovely Eastertide. It seems to me as if the land is awakening from slumber and the signs of life are so encouraging – the apple tree blossoms, the greening of the pastures, the spring frolicking of the horses. It’s a beautiful place to be.

This month has things worth celebrating! This feeling, along with gratitude, is something to really hold on to in these tight economic times. I think our grown children feel pretty uncertain about the future with the way the economy is. It’s hard to make ends meet, even as one young adult has a good job, and our other child working in a niche industry. Our fifteen year old isn’t quite there yet with having to think about all of that, and I am happy for him to be in high school land for a little longer. The advantages we have as present parents to be able to talk about finances and how to make life flow with our children cannot be overstated. I am so happy all of you are helping to guide your children so well. It’s really invaluable!

Our main festival dates in our family this month include:

13- Palm Sunday

Holy Week

20- Easter Sunday and the start of Eastertide

23- St. George

25- St. Mark

29- St. Catherine of Siena

and I am looking ahead to Ascension Day (Thursday, May 29th) and the Rogation Days that precede Ascension Day ( the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday prior to Ascension Day).  There is also a Novena of 9 days that begins on Ascension Day and ends on the Eve of Pentecost.  Pentecost is June 8th! Seems like far away, doesn’t it? Do you have summer plans already?

The other thing to look forward to is Screen Free Week the first week of May! Do you celebrate this? https://screenfree.org/how-to-celebrate/

These are a few of my favorite things this month for my family:

  • Since we will be in Easter and Eastertide here,the  dyeing of eggs, thinking of the Paschal candle and light in our home, indoor dish Easter gardens, Easter carols (yes, they are real!) and attending church are in my heart, This is growing my own garden in my heart.
  • Gardens outside as well – especially leading up to Rogation Days which is a wonderful time to have seeds, gardening tools and homesteads blessed.
  • Spring cleaning, decluttering, and moving ahead with some simple decorating I have wanted to do in our home. We recently built an additional bathroom upstairs, but the amount of projects left at the farm is a bit mind-boggling.

These are a few of my favorite things for small children:

These are a few of my favorite things for grades-age children:

  • Spring handwork – wet felting, making beautiful spring crafts
  • Movement outside and exploring nature
  • Adjusting our rhythm to the seasons, but sticking to strong awake, rest and bedtimes, along with regular nourishing whole foods mealtimes.

These are a few of my favorite things for teens:

**Exploring new interests and possibilities for summer. There are many wonderful camps for the summer. Sometimes by age thirteen or fourteen, the appeal of going to camp dissipates and sometimes it doesn’t, so you can carefully observe your child. It can be hard to know how hard to push.

** Sleep! A lot of teens really need sleep over the summer as they tend to grow over the summer a lot!

These are a few of my favorite things for my own inner work:

In our family:

  • I love to get the vast bulk of my planning done over the summer. Our youngest is in a classical hybrid high school and will be a sophomore in the fall. The singular focus is to get him ready for university and for possible military service, which is his goal right now. So legally we are homeschooling, but I feel as if my planning is done as the off days are following the plans laid out by the hybrid school. Bittersweet!
  • We do have a little work to do in writing over the summer as our high schooler needs to be a bit better in that area.
  • Our oldest two children are adults and we are glad to see them frequently.

Happiest of Spring to you and your family,

Carrie

Forward February

Posted on by
Reply

If January is a month of reflection, then I think of February as the time to act and to start putting into action the things we discovered in January that could be helpful to ourselves and our families this year. This might be things about our health, our relationships, our families, our homeschooling, our jobs and finances.

If you can envision a wheel divided into categories such as health, friends and family, your significant other, spiritual/personal growth, fun and joy, your home, your career, money – are all these things divided equally? There are some seasons that one category may outweigh the other. However, I have found over the course of parenting that if one sector is neglected too long, it makes for an unbalanced household and an unhappy parent. We can create our own attitude and our own reality through those attitudes. Hold the positive. It’s not the negative doesn’t exist; it always will in some form as that is just the yin and yang of life so to speak, but to able to flow with those opposites and find the balance in the middle is so important.

If you can picture it, think of the most beautiful bubble of light that could surround you and your family. Think of everyone in your family as being happy, healthy, and smiling. This, to me, is the essence of February. It’s a month that is often in the Northern Hemisphere is dark and cold, but if we can imagine a brillance and radiance into it, it can become a beautiful glimmering light. After all, we begin the month with Candlemas, a celebration of light. We think of the first beginnings of light, and a beautiful candle festival helps mark this occasion.  There are so many ways to make candles, including rolling beeswax sheets, dipping candles, pouring beeswax into half of a walnut shell (and you can push in a little candle in order to have little floating lights, which are always fun for children), and you can make earth candles where you pour a candle and place a wick directly into a hole into the earth.

More than the visible signs of light, where is the light in your heart and home? Where are your connections with the people you love?

This is a wonderful time to change over your nature table if you have one to mark the seasons.  Flower fairies, branches in water that are budding,  a single candle, perhaps leading up to the markings of St. Valentine’s Day and then a little Lenten dish Garden to begin the beginning of March, as Lent begins on March 5 this year,  are all appropriate. All winter greenery is taken down.

This month in 2022 we are celebrating:

Black History Month – Of course Black History IS World history and American history and should be in every subject we teach EVERY month, but it’s also wonderful to take a renewed look at wonderful books and biographies this month.  

February 1 – Lunar New Year for those celebrating and also the Festival of St. Brigid

February – Mardi Gras! (until Lent, of course) Fat Tuesday is on March 4 this year with Lent beginning on March 5.

February 2 – Candlemas and also Groundhog Day.

February 14 – St. Valentine’s Day (you can see this post about Celebrating Valentine’s Day in the Waldorf Home

February 21- Presidents Day

Lovely things to do with children this month:

Make Valentine’s Day cards ; plan little treats and crafts for Valentine’s Day; make window transparencies; dip candles; roll candles; play board games or card games with your children;  draw, paint, model; whittle wood; make popcorn together; bake together; play in the snow – build snow forts; have snowball fights; snowshoe; downhill or cross country ski;  ice skate on a pond; read and tell stories; build forts inside; take a walk outside in the cold – look for animal tracks or berries or birds or all of the above; knit, crochet, cross stitch, finger knit, spin, sew; sing and make music together – learn some new songs; clean, scrub, dust, work around the house – rearrange furniture; go bowling or find an indoor swimming pool to swim in; write letters to family and friends; write stories together; snuggle on the coach with hot chocolate and marshmellows; cook for a neighbor; find a place of worship to attend and get involved; throw a party; clicker train your dog, cat, or other animal; take care of plants; start seeds indoors when it it is time, grow sprouts in the kitchen or a little microgarden.

Homeschooling – Do you need a little check in? Try this back post!

The February Homeschool Rhythm Re-Check

f you are looking for a little re-boot to your rhythm, please do try the above back post! There are so many wonderful posts about rhythm to look at. So, whilst February is a month in which many homeschoolers can feel in a rut and ready to just give up, try instead to think what would be the perfect reset and recharge for you and your family? Maybe it is a great month for a book study, a project that the whole family can be involved in or something else!

Our homeschooling this month: Our older children are out living their own lives and long since graduated, but our 15 year old is still home and a freshman in high school due to where his birthday falls for our state. He is at a two day a week school, which still legally counts as homeschooling in our state, but our curriculum and work is largely dictated by the hybrid school. It’s a classical school, so definitely different than Waldorf Education, but still having good discussions and debating and learning to think.

Farm Life- We have been doing a bathroom upstairs in an attic space, which is coming along, and we completed the addition to the barn right before the cold weather set in. We have six horses now, and cats and dogs and bees. Still hoping for a garden space this spring!

Work Life- Work is always busy, although summer is the busiest time in general. I am still doing a mix of pediatric physical therapy patients, pelvic health patients, and lactation patients, so some days it feels like I am all over our metro area. I am working towards a certificate in Peri/Menopause Coaching and next up is delving into fertility to help patients working with fertility issues have a more holistic approach and to fill in the gaps of Western medicine.

#Commit2025 – my word of the year! Mainly I am committing to myself and to showing up for myself. That means exercising, nourishing food, bookstore and library dates, painting and writing, and being out in nature. It may not sound like much, but when every day is busy taking care of other people and farm animals, it can be a challenge. The whole day can go by without really any thought of myself at all! I made a vision board and I have a prayer list and prayer meditations to go with my word, so I am working on this daily. Commit and show up!

I would love to hear from you! Drop me a line at admin@theparentingpassageway.com!

Cheers,

Carrie

A Happy New Year of New Beginnings

Posted on by
Reply

I so love the start of a new year, all fresh and sparkly in my mind. I have been so enjoying not only the holidays and Christmastide, but a feeling of energy and new beginnings in the quiet coziness of the holidays. I was running with work hours close to the last minute of the holidays, and in fact, we only got our Christmas tree up on December 22nd! But since then, I have had some time off of work and have had time to think and dream and plan. It’s been so refreshing and nourishing.

I had a health crisis in 2023 and have spent much of this year working a lot and feeling as if I was trying to catch up to something -maybe the someone I used to be – before I got sick. Slowly, we emerge from things in life differently than we were before but still ever joyful. I realize I could have died in 2023, and am so grateful I am here still. Thank you all so much for your support. I am ready to re-emerge with some new content for you this year and sending you all some love in this season of new beginnings. I love the more introverted vibe of this season – nesting with blankets and hot drinks and inside fun, but still being able to go outside for a walk in the rain or bright sunshine with colder temperatures!    I am always delighted with the possibility and prospect of snow as well.

January is one of my favorite months of the year. Suzanne Down had a beautiful little story in her most recent newsletter, and I found the public domain version of it here to share with you: https://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/165/buttercup-gold-and-other-stories/2902/the-little-new-year/. It would be a lovely one to tell with puppetry for your children but it is also worth a read if you have older children or are an empty nester to remember the spirit of Christmastide and new beginnings all around!

Here are some of the days we will be celebrating in January:

January 1 – New Year’s Day

January 6– The Feast of Epiphany and Epiphanytide that stretches until Lent begins on Wednesday, March 5 this year (and Easter is on Sunday, April 20 for those of you planning ahead!)

January 18 to January 25 Week of Prayer for Chrisian Unity https://www.oikoumene.org/resources/documents/resources-for-the-week-of-prayer-for-christian-unity-2025

January 20– Martin Luther King, Jr Day – also celebrated January 15 and April 4 in The Episcopal Church

Janaury 18– The Feast Day of St. Peter

January 25 – The Feast Day of St. Paul

Rhythm is strength, and I have things in place for the house with outside the home work, farm work, and homeschooling our ninth grader this year. I will be detailing this and how I run the house and farm this month in this space. I still work for two different companies providing physical therapy and lactation services plus have my own business so the days can vary, but I am finding it easier to balance everything than it used to be.

The farm is at six horses right now that require care multiple times a day, and two beehives plus our indoor dogs and cats (and an outdoor cat that has decided to live here part time). We put an addition on our barn this year, and I am looking forward to expanding the apiary in the spring, and planting a garden. We still have many renovation projects to go in the house (we are starting with adding a bathroom upstairs this month), and landscaping and pasture pieces to fulfill, but slowly we are getting there. This house and property has been an incredible project. We were lucky to find this during the pandemic, but it has been a ton of work with literally not one thing from insulation, plumbing, water lines, heating, etc needing to be redone up through the pastures, barn, etc. It can be overwhelming at times, but then I remember how much I wished and prayed for this place and get my gratitude on again!

Creating is high on my list this year, including writing more, seasonal crafting, and watercolor painting. It feels really nice to have enough energy to be back in that space! I even got some new paintbrushes for Christmas and have plans to paint monthly with a friend. ❤ I decided that after I take my beekeeping class this year, I am going to enroll in an art class. Our son has less extra curricular things than his sisters did at his age, so I think I can find the time to do these things!

I usually pick a word of the year instead of making resolutions, and this year I chose the word “COMMIT.” I am committing to myself and my health this year. The things that need to be done are going on the calendar and I am blocking time out as I need to. Do you have a word of the year to bring you focus and clarity? My past words have included words such as radiant, abundant, vibrant, bold (2023) and last year was replenishment.  This year, I have really sat with a planner, a vision board, and a prayer board and just thought about how to bring pieces of “COMMIT” to life this year and what types of support I will need to make that happen. I can’t do it by myself, but I have a team assembled to help me commit to my health, along with family and great friends that are family. I am very lucky and grateful.

These are a few of the things we are enjoying this month:

  • Daily outside time – when our children were small and we lived in neighborhoods, this was mainly in the form of a daily walk, and park time. Now it is mainly in the form of barn chores but I also am starting to walk again. I actually don’t generally mind the colder weather.
  • Puzzles and board games
  • Green smoothies and juicing
  • Making freezer meals
  • Exercising – this includes at home with Bodi (the former Beachbody), the gym, walking, and some events at our local yoga studio.
  • Creating
  • Going out as a couple
  • Playing with our horses, dogs, and cats
  • Learning more about beekeeping. I am excited about my beekeeping course. I found a great mentor last year who came and helped me, but I am looking forward to being more knowledgeable on my own!
  • Indoor and outdoor gardening
  • Indoor microgreens!
  • Decluttering from digital spaces (social media), and decluttering the garage and basement.
  • I am taking a beekeeping class this month through our county’s beekeeping club!
  • We found a sweet new parish closer to the farm – our old parish was just too far away and we always have to do things around the horse schedule. This new parish is a small country church, and it’s adorable. You can see a picture on my Instagram stories!

If you are looking for fun things to do with children, these are things we have enjoyed:  Cut out paper snowflakes, including really cool 3-D snowflakes; dip candles; roll candles; play board games or card games with your children;  draw, paint, model; whittle wood; make popcorn together; bake together; play in the snow – build snow forts; have snowball fights; snowshoe; downhill or cross country ski;  ice skate on a pond; read and tell stories; build forts inside; take a walk outside in the cold – look for animal tracks or berries or birds or all of the above; knit, crochet, cross stitch, finger knit, spin, sew; sing and make music together – learn some new songs; clean, scrub, dust, work around the house – rearrange furniture; go bowling or find an indoor swimming pool to swim in; write letters to family and friends; write stories together; snuggle on the coach with hot chocolate and marshmallows; cook for a neighbor; find a place of worship to attend and get involved; throw a party; clicker train your dog, cat, or other animal; take care of plants; start seeds indoors when it it is time

On the parenting and  homeschooling front, our oldest lives and works about an hour from us but comes to farm frequently because her horse is here. Our middle child is working towards her own business in the equine industry, and our youngest is a freshman in high school. He is enjoying being on a cybersecurity team and being in Sea Scouts. Homeschooling doesn’t look quite like it used to when I was homeschooling three children Monday through Friday, but we still have days of homeschooling in addition to several days of classes at a local hybrid high school.

THINGS TO LOVE THIS MONTH!

Things to love this month:

The January Book Box

Warming Meals

The most wonderful new resource from Raising Little Shoots is here! My Christian readers will love the gentle wisdom in this collection: https://raisinglittleshoots.com/word-for-the-way-a-new-year-devotional/ I just LOVE this! Definitely go check it out!

The other thing I am really enjoying is Hearth & Home for all things homemaking. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do: https://www.myhearthandhome.com/

I hope you are a member of The Child is the Curriculum for seasonal living, Waldorf homeschooling, Waldorf parenting, and support! I just renewed my membership, and I hope to see you over there: https://www.thechildisthecurriculum.com/subscriptions/?register=1

Lastly, if you love a good book club I am doing this one: https://everyday-reading.com/the-2025-everyday-reading-book-club-list/ You can follow along on Instagram, which makes this really appealing.

Looking forward to celebrating throughout the year with you and supporting you on your parenting and homeschooling journey!

Many blessings to you,

Carrie

Read Along With Me – “How the Future Can Save Us”

Posted on by
Reply

We are on page 20 of this wonderful book by Stephen Sagarin, who is a faculty chair, cofounder and teacher at the Berkshire Waldorf High School in western Massachusetts. It is so fun to read his musings on Waldorf Education, and I hope you are enjoying reading along!

We are in Section 7 of the “Method” section and the author talks about how so often we begin Waldorf Main Lesson with this idea of dancing, singing, eurythmy and bean bags. Rudolf Steiner himself said in Soul Economy (by the way, one of my most favorite set of educational lectures compiled and often overlooked by people) that “while a person is engaged in limb activities that simulate the metabolism, thoughts that were artificially planted in the head during the previous years are no longer there. When children jump and run around and are active in the limbs and the metabolism, all thoughts previously planted in the head simply fly away.”

Many homeschoolers have complained for years that they would take the family for a walk prior to school, and then by the time they come back, everyone uses the bathroom and has a snack, half of the morning is gone! Sometimes we have limited time and we really just need to get to work in the grades.

Section 8 discusses taking notes. Those in my generation often wrote down nearly word for word what our teachers were saying, especially in high school and college. We were fast writers! LOL. Sagarin says perhaps this isn’t the best tactic, and he often teaches without having the students take notes and then the next day he comes in and writes a very concise summary on the board that students can copy without having to listen. Think about how you want to approach this in your homeschooling, especially as you move up in the grades. Section 9 is about the value of doodling.

What do you think of this book so far? Here in the States, the school year is fast approaching, and I hope this book gives you some thoughts for your new homeschooling year.

Blessings,
Carrie

A July To Remember

Posted on by
Reply

The best summer memories usually are not the big things like a flashy vacation, but instead the slow and ordinary moments that make up the days of summer. Picking blueberries and eating them off the bush or eating tomatoes off the vine. Sunrises and sunsets. Watching the fireflies.

Farm life is busy and content this time of year. We split a beehive last week, got two horses in (one is a sale horse), and are busy with summer farm life. We don’t have a garden, mainly because where I want to put it still needs trees removed, but I am hopeful to have some raised beds built in time for fall.

I used to get July Doldrums – it was so hot and miserable at times with small children with endless days of park and pool (fun, but exhausting by the end of a hot month). Now our children are almost 23, 19, and 14 so summers look different. Jobs and adult responsibilities, and farm chores and activities for our 14 year old who is still at home.

So, this July, here are the things we are celebrating:

4- Independence Day

22- Feast Day of St. Mary Magdalene

25- Feast Day of St. James the Apostle

26- Feast Day of St. Anne and St. Joachim, Parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Are you thinking about summer menu planning?  I have a back post on July Menu Planning to grab! You might also love this ebook of Waldorf School recipes! https://www.waldorflibrary.org/online-library/ebooks/ebooks/a-collection-of-recipes-from-shepherd-valley-waldorf-school-ebook

I am looking forward to sunflowers, catching fireflies, and watching our adult girls show their horses. I hope you are looking forward to something as well! Also, August is so close and that is my birthday month so I am definitely looking forward to that.

Things to Do With Children:

  • Fourth of July decorating; patriotic crafts
  • Find traditional patriotic American music to listen to!
  • Go to Independence Day parades!
  • Sunflower crafts
  • Drying herbs and making things from herbs
  • Picking produce; canning and preserving
  • Earth looms and weaving could be lovely; see my summer Pinterest board for even more craft ideas

Here are a few of my favorite things for small children:

Here are a few of my favorite things for older children/teens:

  • Swimming and sliding on rocks in creeks; maybe even venturing to a water park or splash pad
  • Catching fireflies
  • Gazing at stars
  • The Magic of Boredom

Things for the Home:

  • Going through the school room or school area and cleaning out
  • Ordering art supplies and new resources for the next school year
  • Making new seasonal things for the home
  • Changing out toys if you are on a toy rotation for smaller children
  • I am going to be working in our basement this month – so much to clean up down there and I want it neat and tidy
  • We are getting new towels, which might not seem that exciting, but who doesn’t love soft and fluffy towels?

Homeschooling Fun!:

Our children are mainly finished with school. Our oldest is a pediatric intensive care unit nurse, and our middle daughter just started a business buying, training, and selling horses. She moved back to our area this past week after working and living on her own for a year out of state, so it is nice to have everyone in one area. The first night she came back we had dinner at the farm with their boyfriends and it has just been fun to have them and their friends around this week!

My main goal for our ninth grader this year is to have a strong academic year, to keep him physically fit with kickboxing and boxing (and farm work), to keep him busy building and doing things on the farm, to have him enjoy volunteering as a helper/apprentice at his former middle school boys only program and to grow into leadership, and to branch out into Sea Scouts. He thought about doing naval JROTC but wasn’t quite ready for the commitment of weekend drills and overnight drills, so he decided Sea Scouts would address some of the skills in swimming, boating, sailing, boat mechanics that he is interested in. He is also still interested in computer programming as well, and is working through some things on his own with his dad’s help and then can use dual enrollment to pursue that further in eleventh grade.

Inner Work:

I feel like being on the farm has brought me back around to the inner work of the family life. Here is a back post that I am working off of: https://theparentingpassageway.com/2009/12/10/my-plan-for-personal-development-as-a-homemaker/

This is my current Waldorf book – have you read it? https://www.waldorflibrary.org/online-library/ebooks/ebooks/an-examination-of-children%E2%80%99s-senses,-the-damaging-effects-of-the-media-and-the-therapeutic-possibilities-of-puppetry-ebook

And this is worth a re-read every year before school starts: https://www.waldorflibrary.org/online-library/ebooks/ebooks/and-who-shall-teach-the-teachers-ebook

I hope you have a blessed July!

Warmly and with many blessings,

Carrie

Read Along With Me: “How The Future Can Save Us” – Method

Posted on by
Reply

Section Three of “Growth” is about “Back To Basics” or teaching according to Steiner’s methods. It begins with a view at a main lesson. The author suggests that the beginning of a two hour main lesson is devoted to “Memory”. We remember things from yesterday’s presentation or demonstration. We talk about it in conversation. We don’t ask them to recall or retell in a classroom setting per se but lead and facilitate a discussion. We present new concepts next and involve the child’s whole being. This can take five to ten minutes for small children and no more than thirty minutes for older children. Next, is a piece called imagination. This is where we think of a main lesson illustration, but it could be working with something concrete such as for math.We work with more questions about the subject and involve their imaginations, which extends the time we are discussing a new topic by another thirty to forty five minutes. This should be active; it could be movement. In the author’s view “Don’t begin with a movement lesson; end with it, if you must.” We then close the lesson with a question to think about or a statement about what is to come tomorrow. Then the main lesson ends with a story – a story we have memorized for younger students or a story we read to the older students. Then we sleep on all of this.

Section Four is talking about “telling tales in Waldorf Schools.” Two passages from Steiner (one from the lectures in “Kingdom of Childhood” and one from the lectures in “Practical Advice to Teachers”) are compared both for and against the “recall” or “review” practice that is done in many Waldorf schools and homeschools. The author concludes from the passages the following really interesting observations:

  1. That the primary point of retelling and review is not the development of memory, but the development of speech. There is more to this idea in the book – it has to do with cultural differences and the time in which Waldorf education was founded.
  2. The author questions if Steiner really meant we should tell the same story over and over – look at your student.
  3. The first portion of a lesson, “the review” has many points of interest elucidated in “Education for Adolescents” and other places). There is no mention of circle time, a three day rhythm, or a three part lesson of “thinking, feeling, willing” mentioned.
  4. The progression Steiner outlines is on page 17 of this book.

Section Five of this talks about teaching to the top – that in a classroom setting, it is easy to “teach to the top” – the smart, motivated students who practically teach themselves. However, teachers are really needed for the students for whom the subject does not come together well. The author writes: “So please plan your classes and lessons for the “best” or “Smartest” students in your class. Keep the pace high, and introduce topics- and write quizzes and tests – in a way that makes it possible for the weaker or slower students to pass, but really challenges the smartest or fastest students. ” He also talks about giving a range of assignments from direct and easy to complex and challenging. This is really the art of teaching, isn’t it? This is what homeschool teachers develop as we go through the grades and through teaching multiple children or in a homeschooling co-op.

He also talks in Section Five about beginning the school year (again, for the grades) with a “bang”! Introduce a topic in a way that will fire your student’s interest and imagination. For this, he uses an example in precalculus at the high school level, but I think this can be true for grades 3 and up. Start with something that makes the student really feel as if they are learning something (I say grades 3 and up because students in grade 1 and 2 generally are not that self aware yet).

Section Six talks about how good teachers ask questions and WAIT for the students to answer. This is definitely trickier in the home environment as we work one on one with our student, and it can feel very aggressive. However, it is important to let students think and to make those connections. I think for older students a good way to do this is to have a new way to review information – I like giant butcher paper sized maps on the back of the school room door and math in practical life situations to think about as quick examples.

Love this section, and there is still more to go! Grab your copy of this book and follow along!

Blessings,
Carrie

Foundation of the Year: June

Posted on by
Reply

June is one of my favorite months of the year! It’s a time of berry picking, summer rhythms, summer decluttering, and new projects in my head and on paper.

In the midst of scurrying around, and work, there are memories to be made this June. Some of the things we are looking forward to:

Boating on the lake

Going to the beach on the lake

Kayaking and camping

Berry picking and making jam

Planting and harvesting veggies and flowers

Experimenting with new recipes

Spending time together as a family!

This month we will be celebrating:

The Slow Summer – think lakes and pools, tubing, horseback riding, camping, spending time with family and friends. All of my favorite things in one month!  Here is a wonderful guest post by Christine Natale, Master Waldorf Teacher and author about creating the magical summer

14- Flag Day

16 – Father’s Day AND – 

Wed June 21 is Summer Solstice

24 – The Nativity of St. John the Baptist/ St. John’s Tide (see this back post for festival help!)

29- The Feast of St. Peter and St. Paul

Summer Homeschooling and Development:

I am planning an entire (nearly) social-media free month in June and we are kicking off the month by going camping. Do not fear, I will still be posting here on the blog and we will be following along chapter by chapter with our new book to read, “How The Future Can Save Us- Fresh Perspective on Waldorf Education-Principles, Methods, Curriculum” by Stephen Keith Sagarin.

Also look for a few posts on self -care and how to use self- care as the bedrock foundation of your homeschooling and parenting journey.

I am running back to basics this summer – it’s been a crazy few years on the farm with a lot of changes! So I need the basics in my life back, beginning with Gratitude: Eight Facets Of A Healthy Family Culture | The Parenting Passageway and Finding Rhythm With Grades-Aged Children | The Parenting Passageway. If you have littles under the age of 7, you might like this back post: Finding Rhythm With Littles | The Parenting Passageway

Our oldest two children live on their own and have their own lives, but I am busy planning ninth grade for our youngest child. He will be attending a two day a week hybrid school, but we have some blocks and things to add in for his high school transcript. He will be volunteering one day a week at the homeschooled middle school boys outdoor/adventure program he went through and graduated from, and he has plans to start working on areas of interest throughout high school in order to be college ready, which is his goal.

Looking forward to hearing what all of you are up to!

Blessings and love,
Carrie

Read Along With Me: “How The Future Can Save Us” Introduction

Posted on by
4

Teacher and author Stephen Sagarin based the idea of this book around a quote from Rudolf Steiner’s last lecture compiled in “Education As A Force For Social Change” that states: “Nor should we allow them to teach before they have gained an idea of how the past and the future affect our culture….and how that undefined rebel of the future can save us.” (Lecture given on August 17, 1919). This was three days before Rudolf Steiner traveled to Stuttgart, Germany to train the first teachers for what would be a “Waldorf School.” However, at the time, he most likely was addressing teachers everywhere. Prior to the above quote, Steiner talked about how teachers needed to know about “forces that determine human fate…..the nature of archangels.”

Our personal angels give us strength and help us on our journey and must never be mistaken for the greater spiritual influence (versus the angels that are here to help us personally). In other words, we have to learn to discern what is meant for us, from our angels, and what is meant for the world (or the children in front of us that we are teaching!). Angels, for Steiner, being mediators between us and the spiritual world. You might be wondering what that has to be with education, if you are new to Waldorf homeschooling. This is important because every time we work with a child, we are engaging and working with the archangels and the child as a spiritual being, helping the child unfold into their path.

Waldorf Education should never be seen as this static, Eurocentric educational method. I think this is often what homeschoolers view Waldorf Education as because of the few curricula available and quite frankly most of the curricula on the market does not have a basis in the teachings of Rudolf Steiner but instead has gone with the outer trappings of nature and math gnomes for first grade and the like. If you do not take the time to consider the child in front of you, to look at this time and place, and at the development of the child, you may be stuck further into practices that Steiner probably never wished on children and practices that he never would have dreamed to become so entrenched in this idea of “this is how we Waldorf educate.” In this respect, I feel you should read this book and take notes if you are a Waldorf parent or Waldorf homeschooling teacher. You should be working with living ideas and what students today need and I this book will help you sort that out based on the picture of the developing human being.

Sagarin points out that, “I don’t believe that Steiner was particularly interested in founding lots of schools. His interest was transforming education to make it practical and healthful for students in the industrialized world, particularly, in the aftermath of World War I, so that they could grow to make the world more peaceful and just.”

This idea of making parenthood and education more healthful has always been a particular interest of mine and this blog. I came to Waldorf Education by reading Rudolf Steiner’s educational lectures, and because I had a deep interest in child development and child health. This interest has never waned since I began working with children in 1998. I still work with families, new mothers, babies, children, teens and people in their 20s and 30s in the healthcare sector. This has given me an eye into the issues that people in their 20s and 30s are facing today, the types of stresses that they are under, how friendships and relationships are flourishing (or not) and perhaps a sense of what we can do about it by having a foundation for people younger than these ages. This is important, because I am seeing a lot of differences in even “micro-generations” – is, the difference between those in their early twenties versus those you are still teenagers.

Sagarin states that his hope for homeschooling parents with this book is to “find an open-minded, thoughtful approach to Steiner’s work that demonstrates the intensely creative but nonprescriptive mode in which he thought, wrote, and spoke.” This book does challenge such things as circle time, math gnomes, main lesson books, blackboard drawing, Norse myths. I think it is a very interesting read! The author writes “….that does not mean that there’s only one way to look at what we do in Waldorf schools, or that we cannot continuously , conscientiously examine and alter and improve our practice.”

So, I really hope you get a copy of this book and follow along with me!

Blessings

Carrie

Posted on by
13

One thing that the changing of the months and years brings us is this steadiness.  In an ever changing life and an ever changing world, the months, seasons, and festivals will always be turning round and round.  It can bring us and our families peace and stability if we choose to embrace it.

There are so many glorious things to celebrate about May:  flowers and greenery, bees buzzing, spring time alive, and the activity of children everywhere perking up.  The world is ready to be outside in May in the Northern Hemisphere, and we feel the liveliness and promise of Spring.

What we are celebrating this month:

May Day – May 1

50 Days of Eastertide

Ascension Day – May 9

Mother’s Day – May 12

Memorial Day – May 27 ( a great time to look at summer plans)

Other things on my mind:

  • De-cluttering and deep cleaning with natural cleansers
  • Skin care (yes, skin care).  Time for radiant, dewy skin in May!
  • Spring tales for children and puppetry for small children
  • Gardening
  • The lake and the pool. Our pool is opening for summer this week, and the lake is beckoning
  • Spring menu planning!
  • Exercising. I exercise 5 days a week and it helps keep me sane.

These are a few of my favorite things for small children:

  • Hiking on The Feast of Ascension, watching clouds
  • Making Pentecost crafts
  • Gathering for May Day and dancing around a May Pole!
  • Making crafts for Memorial Day, Memorial Day parades
  • Pedal toys – trikes and bikes! Have your own Memorial Day parade

These are a few of my favorite things for grades-aged children:

  • All of the above, plus
  • Swimming and miniature golf
  • Playing in the water and sand
  • Observing all the dragonflies, bees, and butterflies
  • Calming rituals for rest times and the end of the day.  

These are a few of my favorite things for teens:

  • All of the above, including screen free week
  • Spring cleaning and spring decorating of the home, gardening tasks
  • Spring cooking, making special treats for The Feast of Ascension and Memorial Day
  • Planning surprise May Day baskets for neighbors, and doing things to serve others.
  • Picnics at the lake
  • Later night walks in the warm air – great time to talk after the smaller children have gone to bed

These are a few of my favorite things for myself:

  • Celebrating our family with family meetings and family game night.
  • Celebrating our marriage (32!) with a night out.
  • Drinking lots of water and herbal teas.
  • Acupuncture

I would love to know what is on your mind for this month of May.

homeschooling/education:

Our older two children (22 and 19) have graduated from homeschooling have jobs and live on their own. Our rising high school freshman will have classes two days a week, and will be volunteering one day a week at his former middle school homeschool program to assist the teachers and mentor younger students.

We will have some blocks of learning at home as well, so will be happy to post those plans as we go.

where is the blog these days?

Well, unfortunately no one really reads blogs anymore.  Compared to its heyday, readership here and in blogs in general,  is super low.  I write mainly for myself at this point, I think, and still hope to compile all these posts into ebooks at some point in the future.

For the most part, you can find me on IG (I am on Facebook as well, but I don’t always like the negativity and divisiveness of FB and therefore think about getting off Facebook daily, so IG may be your best bet to follow me).  I will continue to write here as well, but I do wonder if it will drop off to be just IG in the next few years.

The other place you can find me is on the  wonderful forum that The Child Is The Curriculum.  It is an amazing place, and has all your curriculum shopping needs, discussion groups, book studies, and everything all in one place!  I love it, and hope you do as well.

Lastly, you can always email me admin@theparentingpassageway.com to set up a consult by phone – I have half hour and full hour paid slots. 

Can’t wait to hear what you are up to in May!

Blessings,

Carrie

Posted on by
Reply

What Curriculum Should I Use?

This question comes up this time of year as folks are looking towards getting things settled for the next school, which here in the States begins in either August or September, depending upon what state you live in.

When I began homeschooling forever ago, it was the time of Yahoo Groups and there really weren’t many options as far as Waldorf homeschooling curriculum. This was also an era where we were warned by Waldorf teachers that we could not bring a true Waldorf education into the home as the class is a social organism.

So is the family. So is the community in which we live. It is not the same as a classroom in a school, but it can be a successful way to educate human beings. With care, children can thrive in and outside of a classroom.

We only had a two paper curricula to choose from, and if we ordered books from Rudolf Steiner College Bookstore, it was usually sight unseen.

Typically, the way I planned was to figure out what Rudolf Steiner said about that age/grade (remember his general indications were much broader than a single grade), look at the blocks for that grade, learn about that subject myself from books from the library (actually read the fairy tales, the fables, read about that period in history, learn about math skills or chemistry or whatever!), think about the three day rhythm for grades aged children – present/practice other academic skills, sleep, review and deepen academic skills, sleep, create something new and a synthesis out of what had been presented. Practice! Put this into a school calendar surrounding the seasons and festival of the year and viola! Another homeschool year is born!

In this day and age, where people are busier than ever and families are often having to work two and three jobs just to stay afloat financially, there is this push for curricula that is open and go, that someone else other than the parent could possibly implement, for a curricula that distills things down. I really do understand that times are different than what they were, that is it hard starting out, and you feel like you don’t know enough about Waldorf education to really authentically bring it. I have been there, and it’s what prompted me to gather people into a homeschooling group and to earn a certificate in The Arts and Anthroposophy.

I think it is STILL always better to create something for your own child that reflects your family, where you live, what speaks to your child than any prepackaged curricula. Most true Waldorf curricula are not open and go, but they do give you a space and a place to jump off the pages and create something. I think the best curricula would probably just be a presentation of options. If it’s a really tough year, maybe a really solid choice would be something like Oak Meadow or another gentle but closer to mainstream curriculum. It is different than Waldorf Education and that is okay as some years in our families are just plain difficult and require different choices. These curriculums are not second choice, they are just different.

Waldorf Education is spiritual; it is the gift of allowing the spiritual journey of the human being open onto earth. It requires us to be touch with the slower, more intuitive and artistic parts of ourselves, which takes and requires time. It might require us tapping into our artistic selves – you don’t have to be an award winning artist or musician or handworking talent, but you have to be willing to try. It might require us hunting and searching and creating what to bring. At its heart, it is also about your development as a person, as a caretaker and parent, and as a teacher.

Putting together a Waldorf curriculum for your child takes time. Most good things in parenting, and in life, do.

If you are looking for more on this topic, try these back posts. Many blessings – Carrie

Which Waldorf Curriculum Do I Buy?
Making A Waldorf Curriculum Work For You!
‘Tis the Season for Choosing Waldorf Homeschooling Curriculum