Tag Archives: waldorf-homeschooling

Beauty of April

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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

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

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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

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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