Where is your Waldorf homeschooling sweet spot? Can you find it, or have you lost it somehow along the way? So often, we limit our understanding of Waldorf methods to what we see in classroom practice. And as homeschoolers, that can be very dangerous! Because we are left feeling less than. But the truth is,…
My youngest just got her driver’s license! Here’s a description of a recent Monday at our house, a homeschool day with a 16-year-old. A Homeschool Day in the Life (with a 16-year-old who just got her driver’s license) A teenage driver changes everything in a homeschool family. Really, when any child gets a license, it’s a…
In reflecting back on the year 2015, I am so very grateful to YOU, my readers, for being here. For reading, commenting, asking questions and walking alongside me on this adventure of Waldorf homeschooling. To each and every one of you, thank you! I am truly grateful. And now for the reflection. I love looking…
Welcome to the amazing journey of homeschooling! I want to help you navigate getting started with Waldorf homeschooling. Or getting started with homeschooling no matter what your situation is. Here’s my concise description of the Waldorf approach: Waldorf education is a developmental approach to learning that incorporates rhythm and the arts into all lessons. Not…
I’ve always thought of our homeschooling year as Labor Day to Memorial Day. For over twenty years, that’s been our main rhythm. As my children have become teens, we’ve often had wrapping up to do into June, but I honestly love the rhythm of homeschooling between these two holidays. Here in northeastern Ohio, homeschooling activities…
This is a guest post by Jodie Mesler, music teacher and author of The Magic Flute, a music curriculum from Living Music designed to help homeschooling parents teach their children recorder or penny whistle. Jodie’s passion is sharing her music compositions and teachings of the natural and artistic approach to music education. As a mother…
In the 6 Steps to Planning an Awesome Waldorf Homeschooling Year, the final step is setting up your environment, the “E” in our acronym, BRIDLE. Step Six: Setting Up Your Waldorf Homeschool Environment This can be such a fun step! You have already sketched out a block plan for the year in Step One, looked…
So often, when we are new to Waldorf education, we think something like…”I need to learn to teach math with gnome stories. And I need to learn form drawing. And oh, there is painting and main lesson books and special songs and crayons and….” And the list goes on and on. But really, the place…
There is a phrase in twelve step programs called “the geographic cure.” It refers to one’s attempt to move somewhere new to cure whatever pain one is in. It doesn’t work! Because “wherever you go, there you are!” We take ourselves with us wherever we go. So how do we live with ourselves, right here,…
Step two in the “6 Steps to Planning an Awesome Waldorf Homeschooling Year” is Rhythm & Resources in Waldorf homeschooling, the “R” in BRIDLE. Time to begin considering what resources to use for which blocks and what your weekly rhythm might look like. Did you read the first step yet on Blocks? If not, start…
