photo credit: http://www.princetonwaldorf.org/programs/Eurythmy/grade_school

A few weeks ago, my local homeschool group held a day-long workshop with Eurythmy teacher Cynthia Hoven.  Cynthia teaches Eurythmy at the Rudolf Steiner College and has written a book about Eurythmy.  She explains eurythmy as “a modern movement art developed by Rudolph Steiner in which the sounds of language and music are expressed through gesture and dance.”

The workshop was fantastic!  The first half of the day we worked on archetypal movement including body carriage, something Cynthia called Three-fold stepping, and eventually walking through a type of choreography that had us partnered off and walking a pattern on the floor while simultaneously moving to different corners of the room to begin the pattern in a new direction!  As a dancer in years gone by, it really filled my soul.  How I love to move!  As a group we worked on being spatially and bodily aware of others while we passed little balls, walked triangles, figure eights and stars.  Cynthia recited little poems with appropriate meters to keep us all moving cohesively.

Later in the day we were divided into two groups and Cynthia had us glide through a pattern that first seemed like a big circle, then a peanut shape, then a flowing “X” as the two groups crossed, and finally ended in two separate circles.  She indicated that we had just danced something that is studied in the Waldorf seventh grade. Immediately, I could see that we had just “performed” cell mitosis!  (I have been looking ahead.  Seventh grade isn’t too far in our future!)  We then followed her in a fairy tale using eurythmy gestures.

I reflected for days on how enlivening movement is and how I can bring it to my children in our home.  Some things I can bring easily; like the purposeful stepping, the reaching exercises to open your back space, and the walking of shapes on the floor.  Some things will require more children, and for that I’m glad we have a homeschool group!  I ended up buying Movement for the Young Child and Cynthia’s book Eurythmy.  Movement for the Young Child looks very promising with many verses and stories and their accompanying gestures. Cynthia’s book contains the descriptions of the eurythmic gestures.  Using these two resources, I may be able to put some movement activities together (but authentic it will not be, as eurythmy is a four year course of study that I don’t envision learning!) That is fine by me, just adding some enjoyable movement activities will be enriching.

Do you incorporate archetypal movement or eurythmy into your homeschool?

Toddler Circle Time: November

• Tall As a Tree

                    Tall as a tree. (Stretch up like a tree.)

                    Wide as a house. (Stretch arms and legs to the sides as much as possible.)

                     Thin as a pin. (Put arms to sides and keep very thin and straight.)

                    Small as a mouse. (Crouch into a tiny ball near the ground.)

• Over the River and Through the Woods
• Jing, Jang (Jing Jang is on page 6 of this PDF, but there are so many good songs and activities printed here!)
• I Thank Thee, Dear Father

Toddler Circle Time: December

• Jingle Bells
• Sweetly Sings the Donkey (Hold child on lap and gently sway for the first few lines.  When the donkey says, “Hee-haw” bounce child up and down on legs.)
• Picture a Christmas

Grade 2

Math

Resources

• Second Grade Mathematics

During this block we worked on the times tables.   We chanted them, clapped them, tossed bean-bags as we said them, bounced balls as we said them.  This is my second time teaching the multiplication tables and one of my favorite projects is drawing them on a huge number line outside and jumping from number to number as we say the tables.  It’s neat to see the relationships between the tables on a number line, too.

Two neighbor kindergartners came to check out our work.

Poem

• Oliver Twist from Second Grade Mathematics

Saints and Heroes

Resources

• Saints and Heroes
• A Journey Through Waldorf Homeschooling Grade 2
• Paper Models Online for Saint Basil’s Cathedral. I ordered the printed kit 10″X 13.”

The first time I taught this block I admit to being worried about teaching my daughter about Catholic or Orthodox saints.  They aren’t part of my culture, and I needed to find out where they fit in with my beliefs.  This time around, I had lost all the baggage, and really enjoyed telling stories about all of these good people who did good things.  We followed Donna Simmons’ suggestions in Saints and Heroes for the most part.  I absolutely love Donna’s version of Saint Martin.  It explains how the lanterns may have become part of the Martinmas tradition.  It’s a beautiful story. For Saint Nicholas, I really like the version in Melisa Nielsen’s Journey Through Waldorf Homeschooling.  During this Saints and Heroes block, we attended a Martinmas Lantern Walk and visited a little recreation of a German Christmas market with our local homeschool group.  (You can see a picture of the kids with the reindeer here.)  My second grader had a big project with this block.  After telling Saint Basil’s story he built a paper replica of Saint Basil’s Cathedral!  He worked long and hard on that project.  It was very challenging to build and we ended up changing our building strategy three times: from tape, to glue dots, to the hot glue gun!

Poem

• Canticle to the Sun by Saint Francis of Assisi from The Waldorf Book of Poetry

Grade 5

Ancient Mythology: Egypt

(For the first part of this block, please see this post.)

Resources

• Ancient Mythology Bundle
• The Golden Goblet

We finished our Ancient Mythology block with ancient Egypt.  I really liked the resources that came in the Christopherus Ancient Mythology Bundle.  The poems and drawings in Voices of Ancient Egypt were great and we enjoyed the stories in Tales of Ancient Egypt that we read.  Tales of Ancient Egypt is quite long, so we didn’t finish it during our block, but I may have my fifth grader read it independently later in the year.  I intended to use The Golden Goblet as a literature discussion, but it ended up being an independent read for my daughter.  (I still intend to finish it and discuss it with her in the next little while.)  We didn’t buy a papyrus making kit, but we did use a regular paper making kit to make a few sheets of paper.  We also watched a papyrus making video on YouTube.  A few years ago (when I freaked out about my homeschool choices and tried the classical model) we studied Egypt and made paper-mache Pharaoh masks and cartouches, so I didn’t feel the need to repeat any of that.  It was nice just getting into the stories of that culture.

North American Geography

Resources

• North American Geography from Marsha Johnson’s Yahoo Group (waldorfhomeeducators)
• Fifty States That Rhyme – a cheesy song that really helps memorize the states.
• Let’s Drive – a board game that highlights cities in the USA. It was OK.  The information about the cities was mostly trite – stuff like where the biggest yarn ball is.
• Paddle-to-the-Sea – an independent read for my fifth grader. (author’s note: I originally thought the book was Minn of the Mississippi, but it was Paddle-to-the-Sea and my daughter enjoyed reading it!  I also have Minn of the Mississippi and Pagoo, but we haven’t read them, yet.)
• Swift Rivers – another independent reading book.  I think both of these books were mentioned on the Parenting Passageway.

We spent two weeks on this block.  It was quick and informational.  I am still planning to have Teal make a lap quilt out of the United States map fabric I won from Sheila.  We just bought the batting and backing yesterday.  The other big project is creating a hand drawn map of North America.  We chose an image and worked on making it larger scale.  Teal is still working on it… Note to self:  Must finish map…

Poem

• The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

Botany

• Botany Bundle

We spent one week on conifers.  Perfect timing with a Christmas tree in the house.

Thanks for reading today!  

Mrs. Mallard 

Shared as part of Waldorf Wednesday.

Hi!  This is a little glimpse into the “Main Lesson” content of our homeschool. The Main Lesson is the subject which occupies the bulk of time each day for a few weeks, usually two to six.  After learning and practicing new main lesson concepts, the children record their “best” work into their Main Lesson Book as a record of what we have covered.

This year, I decided to have my fifth grader keep all of her main lesson work in a three ring binder.  I’m not loving it.  It isn’t as beautiful as filling out pages in a traditional bound main lesson book.  We have ended up with a lot of white pages filled with writing.  At this point I’m not sure whether I’m going to have her continue in the binder or just start making books.  I thought I would save money by using a binder, but the sheet protectors and drawing paper that fits in them were quite expensive and I think traditional books would have been less expensive.  I was also hoping to do away with the pain of making mistakes in a book, but we are going through quite a lot of drawing paper before anything goes in the binder.  Maybe it would be better to learn to be more careful or fix mistakes in creative ways. 

Circle Songs and Verses for Toddler – (I found that if I gear my circle toward the toddler, the big kids love to join in!) 

• “Our Time Hello”
• “Roly Poly”
• “Walk Along, Rover”
• “The Dog Went to Dover”

Circle songs and verses this month are from the Kindermusik curriculum. I did this program with my older children.

2nd Grade

Form Drawing and Fables

    Resources

• A Journey Through Waldorf Homeschooling Grade 2
• Form Drawing for Beginners
• Form Drawing for the Homeschooling Parent

Math

Resources

• Second Grade Curriculum: Mathematics

Poems

• “The Lion and the Mouse” from The Waldorf Book of Poetry
• “One is the Sun” from The Waldorf Book of Poetry

5th Grade

Botany

Resources

• Botany by Simmons
• Botany by Kovacs

Math

    I don’t have any pictures!  We had a great time following the suggestions in the Key to… books, like making a trundle wheel out of a bike tire, and going on a drive to see how long some common distances were and how the odometer worked.  We  also worked a lot on converting inches to feet to yards and vice-versa.

Resources

• Fifth Grade Mathematics: a guide
• Key to Fractions 2
• Key to Measurement 2

Poems

• “Kind Hearts are Gardens” by R. Steiner
• “One is the Sun” from The Waldorf Book of Poetry

Thank you for stopping by!  I would love to hear what you have been doing this school year to date.

Mrs. Mallard

I wrote about using transition songs and verses a bit ago in this post.  In an effort to increase my own repertoire, I went through the Children’s Songbook of the church to which I belong and pulled out songs I really want to memorize and use in our days.  I wanted to share the links to some sweet little songs with which you may not be familiar.  I hope there is one you like and want to learn!

(Just click on the link.  In the top left corner select the “Words and Music” option, then press the “Play” button.)

Thankfulness

Thank Thee for Everything

Kindness

Kindness Begins with Me

Chores

When We’re Helping

Go the Second Mile

Fun to Do

Being Outside/Taking a Walk

My Heavenly Father Loves Me

Because God Love Me

Gardening

Little Seeds Lie Fast Asleep

The Prophet Said to Plant A Garden (If you are uncomfortable saying “The Prophet said,” feel free to change the words to suit!)

Obedience

Quickly I’ll Obey

Family

Home 

Evening Prayer

Children All Over the World

Lullaby

O, Hush Thee, My Baby

Happy singing! 

Mrs. Mallard

It’s the main resource I’m using for my daughter’s fifth grade geometry block.  I’m reading about Pythagoras, and the story has taken me into his secret brotherhood, hoping to help me understand the enormity of the revelation of his famous theorem. (You know, the a squared + b squared = c squared thing.)

I read, “[Pythagoras] took pointer and string and straightedge, and began to lecture…’Here is the Egyptian triangle, the one used by the rope stretchers, where the sides of the right angle are 3 units and 4 units, and the hypotenuse is 5 units.’  He drew it on a sandy space, and then added a square on each side, and inner squares. (See illustration on page 101.)”

So, I look at the illustration on page 101 and hear the sound of the record scratching in my head.  Huh?!  I can NOT see what Diggins is talking about here.  I look more closely.  Nope! Still can’t see it.  I see SIX squares and TWENTY-FOUR triangles!  So I just read on, “There! You can see, by counting or by calculating the square units, that the total area of the squares on the two sides of the right angle is equal to the area of the square on the hypotenuse…”  *SIGH*  I don’t see it. And I thought I understood the Pythagorean Theorem!

I knew there would be a time when the things we had to study at home would be beyond my ken and require extra work and preparation on my part.  I just didn’t think it would happen during fifth grade geometry!  I have already decided to let this sleep in my brain for a few, and revisit it.  Here’s to hoping that the Waldorf philosophy of using sleep as a learning tool will help me out!

What have you encountered during homeschooling that has required extra time and effort for YOU to learn?

Thanks for visiting me today!

Mrs. Mallard

Inspired by Carrie’s planning posts at The Parenting Passageway, I decided to share how my planning is coming so far.  I have really appreciated Carrie’s thoughts on planning.  Especially good for me was the reminder to set goals for each block.  I find that I get carried away by academic goals, which I can clearly see, but forget to set artistic and spiritual development goals for the children.

I always begin my planning by printing out the public school schedule from the county website.  Why?  Because all of the dates, holidays, and vacations are marked in a tidy fashion that makes it very easy for me to see when things occur during the next school year.  And even though we don’t follow the public school schedule precisely, I like to know what days our neighbor-friends are going to be out distracting us – er, able to play.

Next, I fold a piece of paper into twelve squares and label them all with a month and a date for each Monday during the month.   Then, I pencil in all the holidays, birthdays, and vacations.  (I think I found this method from A Little Garden Flower.)  Then, I set about arranging the main lesson blocks into the weeks of my little calendar.  Sometimes it gets messy as I try to get things where I want them!

After I’m satisfied with the overall layout of main lessons, I dive straight into planning those main lesson blocks.  Last year, I tried to do it all on the computer, but I found it difficult to have enough “sit down at the computer time” to type everything.  I switched to the good ol’ pencil and paper method halfway through the year – just like they taught me in college. Ha! It’s much more my speed.  I’m just using a Lesson Plan Book I picked up at a school supply a few years ago.

So far I have planned the whole year of second grade math and two other second grade blocks.  I also just finished reading our fifth grade Botany materials and our Ancient Mythologies manual.

Once main lessons are planned, I will go back and decide what our morning devotionals will consist of (i.e. hymns or children’s songs, scriptures to memorize), what books the kids will be reading during their independent reading time, what poems they will be memorizing, what handwork they will be working on, and what extra practices will accompany the Main Lesson Blocks.  I will use the blank lines to the left of our main lesson plans to jot this information down.

Here is our year so far at a glance:

Grade 2

Fables/Form Drawing – 2 wks

Math – 2 wks

Animal Legends/Language Arts – 4 wks

Math – 4 wks

Saints and Heroes/Language Arts – 4 wks

Christmas Break

The King of Ireland’s Son – 3 wks

Fables/Form Drawing – 2 wks

Math – 3 wks

American Tall Tales – 3 wks

Fables/Form Drawing – 2 wks

Math – 3 wks

Science – 3 wks

End of School Wrap-Up – 1 wk

**Perhaps you noticed I am adding my own American Tall Tales block for my second grader.  It’s not a traditional Waldorf block, but I think it will work really well in second grade and I’d like my second grader to be familiar with those stories.  I’m also planning to tie in some saint stories with their corresponding holidays – i.e. St. Patrick’s Day, Valentine’s Day.**

Grade 5

Botany – 1 wk

Math – 3 wks

Ancient Mythology/Language Arts – 6 wks

Geography – 4 wks

Botany – 2 wks

Christmas Break

Math – 3 wks

Greek Mythology and History/Language Arts – 6 wks

Botany – 2 wks

Geometry – 3 wks

Ancient China – 2 wks

Botany – 3 wks

End of School Wrap-Up – 1 wk

Do I plan everything myself?  No! and Yes!  This year, I purchased the second grade eBook from A Little Garden Flower along with several Christopherus second grade materials.  I also purchased the entire Fifth Grade Package from Christopherus and the Geometry DVD’s from A Little Garden Flower. This does save time, however, I still read through all the materials prior to the year, plan out each day individually, and determine how we will accomplish our “education.”

Phew, super long post!  How is your school year shaping up?!  Thanks for stopping by!

We wrapped up the block with a field trip hosted by our local Waldorf homeschooling group to see baby animals.  There were baby goats, piglets, a lamb, a calf, and some full-sized animals.  We met some new friends and had a terrific time.

That’s Teal’s hand stretching for a touch.  The baby goats were darling!

Have a nice day.

Right now, my fourth grader is in the last half of her “Man and Animal” block (aka zoology.)  We have been using Dennis Klocek’s book Drawing from the Book of Nature as a source for drawings to supplement our lessons.  I have been very pleased with the results of trying his techniques.  It has been very fun for me to learn right along with Teal.  Here are some examples of her work.

Jellyfish

Squid

Here is a picture we tried painting during our study of amphibians.  

Teal’s rendition.

Using art as part of our academics seems to be making Teal more observant.  After we finished painting our frogs, she looked at mine and told me it looked more like a toad. She was toad-ally right!

Happy Thursday!

We kicked off the week with Form Drawing….

Which I prefer to call the hippie yoga of homeschooling…you know “Breathe In Breathe out…relax and use the colors that you feel like”….don’t laugh it’s a pretty relaxing activity. I even joined in even though you will NOT see my pics on here. I’m a writer not an artist.

There was map drawing of imaginary lands made up

And copywork after learning about Saint Francis.

Some of us have done our own comic version of the African Fable “Why The Dead Are Buried.” Let me tell you a very interesting story…

So yes it has been a very busy week,but one that I have very much loved! I love it when homeschooling clicks together like this!

I told her no not yet I was only ten weeks but I had seen it at 5 weeks on an ultrasound.When I said 10 weeks Brandon piped up from the corner,”You’re 10 weeks already?!?!” Poor guy had worked all night and was exhausted.

Have I mentioned I love my nurse?Because she told me she could find the heartbeat and …well….she did. I have never been able to hear any of my kiddos heartbeat this early on in pregnancy.A nice solid 160 bpm. The nurse looked please.

So this week it’s my turn to say:”11 weeks I’m 11 weeks?” It almost seems impossible!My stomach has started to turn that nice round shape where it’s not so much of a “Whoa she’s gained weight!” To now a “Hmm she’s lookin a little pregnant.”I drug B to the “hippy baby store” on Monday and showed him the wrap I want and the cloth diapers.

In other news I’m still getting used to the new phone B got me for Valentine’s Day. I love my “smart phone” even though at times it makes me feel really really stupid.I have my text set to Teen Titans’ Raven saying “Evil Beware…We Have Waffles.” So even in the middle of any intense conversations going on its good for a laugh.

Everyone else in the house ended up getting the same phones so we’ve all been sharing our very awesome knowledge of what these phones can do.

I am very happy to announce that after some prodding from B I have switched up and ordered new curriculum for the kids.We are re-entering the world of Waldorf homeschooling. I did it a few years ago and fell in love with it. It has such a nice rhythm and flow to it.I’ve missed the creativity that comes from it as well. So I took the plunge and invested in the curriculum and am now waiting anxiously for it to show up. I’m very thankful B is so supportive of my homeschooling habit.

We’ve just been busy since I’ve gotten back from my trip,which I knew would be the case.We’re diligently looking for a house for just us. It’s tedious,since for the first time ever I have to worry about school districts for the girls. We also,you know,need space for all 9 of us!

In other news we have settled on names for this baby. It wasn’t hard in fact it was the easiest time I’ve ever had. Everyone else seems pretty pleased as well(not that I would care otherwise.) If it’s a girl we’ve decided on the name

Adrienne Danielle

If it’s a boy we’ve decided on

Bartlett Daniel

Daniel is B’s papa’s name and was important for him to use so I came up with the girl variation as well and Bartlett is my last name and as I’ve mentioned before such a very important name to me.I’ve only ever heard it used as a first name once before and that was another drummer I was in band with.He was a good kid so I’m hoping that comes along with the name!

Not too much else going on here at the frat house. Just trying to keep putting one foot in front of the other and living our life day by day.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again…I’m a very very blessed girl!

We visited the local zoo and I was amazed by their exhibit of the African Savanna.  It was a giant grassy plain filled with giraffe, ostriches, watusi cattle, gazelle and other animals.  I thought that if I were a zoo animal, that’s where I’d like to end up!  I didn’t get a picture of the savanna, but here is one of the kids and their sweet cousins.

While there, my sister competed in and won the woman’s championship in the Spartan race! Even though it was her first time competing in a Spartan,  I’m not surprised!  She qualified for Boston on her first marathon, too! 

Week two of Whole Food Kitchen began today.  It’s about pantry and kitchen set up, but I haven’t dived into the articles, yet.  Last week, I whipped up a batch of Festival Spice muffins from the Tassajara Bread Book.  I am indebted to that book for helping me learn how to make bread from scratch.  The process they use is long, but really yields nicely textured and tasting bread, and I love the muffins and cinnamon rolls!

Here is a link to one of my favorite lentil recipes.  It’s Lentil Tomato Soup.  For some reason, mine always turns out thicker and more stew like than the soup in their picture, but I love the light flavors of the nutmeg and clove.

I hope your weekend was fabulous!  Thank you for visiting!

I am speaking with you today because I’d like to Change Your Definition of Home Schooling For Ever…

You see, I believe that once you get into the heart and soul of teaching your children, and truly understand the importance of allowing them and yourself just to “be”, then you will see dramatic changes in what you now call your home school.  In fact, I believe that you will see incredible changes in all aspects of your lives….

Okay, a little history of who I am …  You may be returning to the site because you remember “Waldorf Homeschoolers” while it was still online – and if not, than I am the woman who began Waldorf Homeschoolers, nearly 10 years ago. I also had a Waldorf Toy catalog called Hedgehog Farms, and a published Journal called the Waldorf Community Exchange. I wrote a book called Reiki for Children, and then I created the Simple Sense Mission, which was a non-profit complete with big dreams of going out to save the world with my three beautiful home schooled children in tow…

You may be familiar with the quote by Lao Tzu which says  “a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” and my personal experience has taught me that it is a single step which has the power to forever change the course of your path, and where it ultimately leads.

If you know who I am, and you are a returning friend, then you know that in early 2003,  I left the United States and wanted to give the expatriate life a try. Simple Sense Mission first took me and my children to Belize, and then we moved to Costa Rica.  I went in as a straw bale building missionary, and I ended up in high end real estate development and senior management!  Everything I experienced there is a story within itself, and a story for another time… but I am back now.  And I am better and brighter than before.

I have been playing very hard making products for the new and re-born Waldorf Home schooling site. This will be a venue to provide information exactly the way it needs to be – not solely limited to a home school site but a complete resource program for all individuals choosing a more harmonic life path.  Wait a minute -  did I say “playing” – well when you achieve the life of your dreams that is the miracle which occurs, you see, you learn that work suddenly becomes your play.  So I have been having a great time rebirthing the materials to be much, much more than what you remember… and I am very excited because I know you will love it.

Check back soon for official launch dates….

To your continued growth and success!

Kytka “Kit” Hilmar-Jezek

Founder

Waldorf Homeschoolers

To Learn More and See More of My Work, Please Visit the Following:

Spiritual and Abundant Kids

Reiki For Children

The Age of Attraction Book Series 

Visit Me on Facebook

See My Absolute Favorite “Waldorf” Illustrators & Books

I would never categorize us as radical unschoolers. I have no overtly strong educational philosophy that I follow. I have worn many cloaks as an educational facilitator over the years and I plan to continue to evolve and change as my children’s needs grow and evolve. Keeping in mind as I go that what works for one may or just as easily may not work for the other. I view educational philosophy much as I do religion. I have one that I love and feel at home with, but as with spiritual needs and educational methodologies, we follow them as long as they suit us and then shed them and move onto what is relevant in the here and now. Now I know that statement may make some cringe, especially from a religious aspect. Take a moment and think about it, whatever religion you are, is it the same that it was ten years ago or twenty? It may be the same religion but it changes continuously as you the person change. It may not change dogmatically, but it takes new meaning as our life experiences broaden our perspective.

 Educating my children at home is like that. For the first year, we did nothing at all. I had no interest in different “educational” methods. I was mostly interested in watching Rhiannon. Quietly observing what she read, how she played, and the way that she questioned her surroundings. (Perhaps this was the beginning of unschooling. A small seed planted if you will.) After that, we were quite eclectic. Picking whatever worked for the moment. Sometimes we needed a rigorous schedule to accomplish a certain task and other times quiet contemplation to mull concepts over.

 I can distinctly remember two summers ago knowing that my children needed something different. I remember coming across the blog of a mom who unschooled her two young children and having an “aha” moment. This was for us. So, like any other parent teetering with uncertainty I jumped. Full-fledged catapulted our family into this world of pursuing interests avidly, even fervently at times. Fast-forward two years and here I sit with a daughter that wants to graduate early. These are not the off-handed comments of a child enamored with an idea, but the very real goals of a motivated young woman. I have sat night after night contemplating how to help her achieve this goal. How do we somehow merge the unschooling philosophy that I love and respect with something that provides concrete evidence for college entrance? Sometimes, I am overwhelmed with the complexity of motherhood coupled with head “educator”. These are not the decisions that I expected to be making right now. I always thought that I had more time. Silly me, I should have known better.

 I do know a few things. I know that I am not a boxed curriculum mom and I know that she is not a boxed curriculum child. Neither am I rigid enough, or willing to schedule our lives and test for understanding constantly. Right there Well Trained Mind goes out the window. I love Charlotte Mason but we disagree religiously as well as with creativity. I personally feel that creativity and imagination should be fostered, not exchanged for constant reality. That happens all too easily in adulthood. Montessori, I love her ideas but from what I have researched, they do not translate well into high school and beyond. Admittedly, I want it all. I want something that integrates music, movement, art, critical thinking and wonder. Just when I had given up hope, I stumbled upon Understanding Waldorf Education Teaching from the Inside Out by Jack Petrash at our local library.

 I have heard of Waldorf philosophy before, but never really looked into it. I thumbed through the book very interested in what I saw. I love the approach to creativity and movement. As well as the development of the “whole person” both spiritual, moral, and educational. This added to the “no workbook” idea almost sold me on the spot. A deep breath and a calm reminder from my brain made me actually read the book before I became too excited by a prospect. While I would not say that I plan to do everything as a Waldorf school would. I will say that I will integrate many of the approaches for Rhiannon. It provides a framework for what she needs to accomplish to meet her goals. It also provides flexibility as well to continue to pursue her interests, all the while giving concrete evidence of progress that a college desires.  

Is it a sure thing? Well no, but really what is? What I do know is that my child has a vision and she needs help to accomplish it. She has a desire that I respect and a need for help. Does this mean that we are real unschoolers? To be honest I’m not sure, probably not from a purist perspective. What I do know is that this is another point of progression in the path, one that requires a decision. Like most parents I’m picking what I feel is best for us. Not necessarily, what is purest in a certain philosophy. Whatever the case, I remind myself in moments of doubt that the reason why I homeschool is to help my children develop a love of learning not to seamlessly wear a label or stick to a creed that does not support changing needs. William Butler Yeats whispers to me softly in reassurance during moments of anxiety, “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.”