A day of Waldorf homeschooling

[godusjourney]

I'm in serious need of inspiration. I get the general idea of how Waldorf flows through the day, but I just need some realtime, living examples of exactly how your day goes everyday. Waldorf school would be sooo wonderful (and a beneficial influence), but we don't live near one for hundreds of miles, and I'm not sure we could afford it, if we did. I can't go observe a classroom, since I'm not near one. It seems like homeschooling Waldorf-style is more about time management and parental presence with the child than most other homeschooling methods I've researched. What things do you include in your schedule every single day? How do you handle disagreements among siblings, messes, and tasks? Are your children given chores to do? Do you go on outings, and if so, what kind? What do you have your children do to fill up empty spaces of time (to deter them from the "I'm bored" syndrome and the sneaky, make messes syndrome, another form of boredom)? Are there any links you could refer me to that give you a lot of inspiration? I have You Are Your Child's First Teacher, and found it wonderful, but it's not specific about school-age children and homeschooling, of course.

TIA!

[h4ppyphant0m]

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Looking forward to responses.

[stellimamo]

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[onlyAngil]

This is about were we are too, s:

I was hoping to find some information here... hehe.

If/ when I find something I will pass it your way!

[kaireece]

I hope someone with a child around kindergarten or grade one respons cause I would LOVE to know too

[AngelBee]

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[KnittingKara]

Well, we're not 100% Waldorf, but it is one of the main influences on us ... so I'll give you a picture of what yesterday looked like

Some background:

I have a 7 year old dd (first grade) and also a 2.5 year who goes through the day w/ us as well as a 7 month old, so be advised our days "flow" w/ many nursing breaks, etc

DD7 and ds2 both help w/ things like setting the table, sweeping up, putting away toys during the day. dd7 also does things like making her own bed, helps w/ cooking & baking, and helps me fold laundry and can put her own things away.

We're using A Little Garden Flower's ( http://www.alittlegardenflower.com )first grade book and also the monthly childcare themes from Little Acorn Learning (http://www.littleacornlearning.com ) - (LAL is not an education program, but a holistic Waldorf-based curricula for childcare givers and parents). I also rely pretty heavily on the book The Waldorf Student Reading List.

We follow Steiner's colors of the day .... because of Steiners ideas on the colors but also because it makes getting the children dressed and caring for their wardrobes easier on me and because it is kinda fun

(I'd like to incorporate the Grains of the Day and the Scents of the Day as well, but we're not quite there yet ... )

Monday is Purple & Cooking/Baking day
Tuesday is Red & Painting (we are doing watercolors this year)
Wednesday is Yellow & Coloring (we use block & stick crayons)
Thursday is Orange & Crafting/Games (we'll be working on knitting all week long this week, tho' as the theme is wool/warmth)
Friday is Green & Modeling (beeswax or clay) & Practical Life (homekeeping, care of self, etc)

DD7 is keeping a Main Lesson book for the Alphabet this year (eventually a Math/Numbers one as well) and a Nature Notebook. We are also doing Form Drawing. We chose to make our own main lesson books - I use extra watercolor pictures as the covers and we use those posts like you use to bind scrapbooks & a 3 hole punch to just add in new pages as we make them. This seems to take the pressure off of DD7 who can be a perfectionist and worries about her "best work" if she's using a pre-bound main lesson book ... but that could just be my kid LOL

We do things in blocks - right now we're in an Alphabet block with A Little Garden Flower first grade

The theme for LAL this week is wool & warmth. In ALGF we're introducing the letters G & K

Each day is different. Each day has a different focus and I try to build on the day's lessons before as the week goes on. But, here's a little peek into yesterday (Monday):
It was a PURPLE day and we all wore at least a little bit of purple and used our purple placemats at the table (I wish I had some fresh purple flowers, but alas, it is January) I don't make a big deal out of this or announce it or anything, I just include these things as subtle backgrounds to our day

While the older two were helping me get breakfast ready we noted the weather outside and said a little verse about the sun (from LAL) and talked about how it was chilly outside and keeping warm


On Sunday night I had done a chalk drawing of some sheep and I covered this with a playsilk. I uncovered the chalk drawing before breakfast. dd7 always likes this "unveiling" so she can see what each weeks' theme is. It is fun and an idea I got from Little Acorn Learning.

We ate breakfast together and after the breakfast things were cleared away we gathered into our VERY informal circle time while I nursed the baby on my lap. We did some finger plays and singing as a family and we also did some bean bag tossing - my 2 year old just played for a bit and then wandered off to go play elsewhere and dd7 and I played some counting games w/ the bean bags

Still in our circle, I told dd7 a story about the Lamb and the Wolf (ds2 listened while playing nearby) and then we had a little talk together about the story. I had some white & brown wool roving that I used as a prop during my story (dd7 chose to play with some in her hand while listening) and that led into some talk about sheep and wool.

We ended by talking about the holidays that had passed and about tomorrow (today) being 3 Kings Day. By now the baby was asleep and dd2 totally engrossed in play close by. So dd7 and I took some time to work on handwork - we're making a knitted crown together from a very simple pattern (garter stitch, decreasing & increasing) that we will machine felt and then embellish with needle felting. We spent less than 20 minutes on the handwork - plenty of time for one day.

Snack time and some free play

DD7 and I gathered together again to tell the Story of the Golden Goose and the day's reading from A Little Garden Flower. She created a letter G page for her main lesson book using crayons and ds2 colored as well. I nursed the baby

We bundled up and took a short Nature Walk outdoors and talked about any creatures we saw (lots and lots of squirrels out and about and a few birds) and noted that is was very sunny yet still cold.

Once inside I had DD7 narrate for me what we saw on our walk (this is a more Charlotte Mason inspired idea) and I copied her narration word for word. Then I had her illustrate her narration and we added it to her Nature Notebook (and I made a drawing in my own Nature Notebook)

free play until lunchtime

After lunch we made a cake together for 3 Kings Day (hiding a dried bean inside) ... I told her the Short Epiphany Story (from A Little Garden Flower) and let her help me measure out the ingredients and we reviewed halves, wholes, parts, measuring, etc.

While the cake baked we listened to the Song of the letter G fairy on the Flower Fairy cd ... there was a little impromptu dancing w/ play silks session and some pretty entertaining ballet movement

baby and ds2 both went down for a nap at the same time. DD7 did some reading out loud to me from her Felicity An American Girl book (okay, totally not 100% Waldorf here but she's been reading since she was 4 and I'm not holding her back on it)

We did some form drawing (from ALGF) ... I do this with her in my own book.

dd7 went off to play quietly and I did some inner work and reflection on my own (this time each day is important to me as a mama and helps me regroup before the chaos of Daddy coming home and evening comes)

Then babies woke up, children played, I started dinner, Daddy came home, night fell, as I was tucking dd7 into bed we talked a bit more about the stories we told today, I reviewed the stories I need to tell for the day today, made sure I had my props and things gathered together for today, and then sweet sleep ... and the whole things started again today


Hope this helps give a little picture ... I'm sure there are others who are more Waldorf purists who do things diffrently but this is how it works for us in our home with the current ages & stages of children that I have right now for this season.

Best Wishes!

[bluebird68]

Thanks for taking the time to share all that, KnittingKara! Very inspiring, and very helpful to see how a day can flow. Your little ones are lucky, as it sounded like a great day to me! We just committed to hs our kiddos, and I am really excited, and not quite so scared as I was before we made the decision (ugh, to feel indecisive!). We will likely do much Waldorf inspired flow, and your post really helped. Good luck with your full house! (do you live in Indy, btw? That is my hometown! In fact, the Colts' first practice facility was my kgarten, converted, and was down the hill from my house-- sorry for the tangent

[kaireece]

thanks so much for taking the time to share that Kara. I am new to the idea of hs'ing and love the flow to your day

[treehugginhippie]

Great thread and info KnittingKara...anyone else?

[mama-aya]

That's lovely, Kara! Thank you for sharing.

We're not Waldorf purists either, but here's how our days are structured, with 9 yo, 3yo, and a new born, all boys:

Ideally I get up at 6, exercise, shower, dress, and get breakfast started, DH's lunch packed, etc. before the boys get up at 7 ish. Sometimes I'm too tired, and slepe until they wake, but it starts the day off playing catch-up, which I don't like. They make their beds, put their pjs away, get washed and dressed and then we have breakfast, talk, and do the rest of the morning chores (DS#1 takes the hamper downstairs, sorts the dirty laundry into the laundry sorter, I get the dishwasher unloaded and put in the breakfast dishes, DS#2 washes the table) and we get ready for a walk while DH is getting ready for work. He takes his breakfast with him, as well as his lunch. We take a little walk to start the day. On Mondays lately we've been meeting another family at a park, a mile away, and running two miles with them, then walking home.
When we get home we have a little circle, the oldest boy starts in with his school work, a puzzler, handwriting, stuff like that, while I nurse the baby and read or tell a story to the 3 yo, then get him started with his school-time activities (play dough, threading, tracing, cutting and gluing, stickers, color-puzzle, stuff like that) he does this at the table while I'm working with the 9yo.
We have snack at 10.
After snack and a little outside play time, a little run around, back to school work. Monday is math lab (a math story and hands on work) and nature study, Tuesday-Thursday are main lesson days, Friday is form drawing and science, Tuesday is local history, Wednesday is Leonardo da Vinci, Thursday is art, plus we have some things we do every day, or nearly so- spanish, latin, handwriting, math practice, oral and silent reading and narration, music practice, and some things we do regularly but not every day (watercolor, modeling, gymnastics, swimming, soccer, music lessons).
Lunch is at 12.
In the afternoon we do our afternoon chores (vacuuming, sweeping, mopping, picking up, laundry folding and putting away, starting supper, a whole room clean-up, run the dishwasher and empty it, wedding, etc.) and our afternoon activities (classes, playdates, a long walk or hike).
Supper is usually at 7, when DH gets home.
After supper the boys have a bath and story, the evening chores (clothes in the hamper, any toys put away, things quickly picked up, dishes) are done, and the boys go to bed at 8. I nurse the baby and think about the day ending and the one coming, then, when the baby is down, prepare supplies for the next school day, work on the chalkboard drawing maybe, and do any meal prep for the next day that I might need to do (soak grains or beans, take out something to defrost, etc.).
The baby nurses again at 11:30 ish, then I go to bed. DH usually sits with the boys as they fall asleep, then goes back to the office or goes to the home office to work til 1 or 2 am.

The boys have chores to do- some they're responsible for every day, some that rotate around. I try to manage it so that we're all doing chores at once, though I'll prepare food sometimes while they're doing other stuff, to save time. If someone refuses to do their chores they just have to sit in the room where the rest of us are working, just sit, and it takes about a minute before they're ready to help instead of sitting on the side lines.

If someone is being mean or otherwise having a difficult time they are excused to their own space until they're ready to behave appropriately. Returning to the rest of us and NOT being ready to treat us respectfully results in something being lost (a play date, dessert, something like that).

If schoolwork and chores aren't finished in time we might miss out on an activity, though I'm not as strict about this as I think I should be. Usually if the kids are dawdling I figure it's because they've got too much action-energy pent up, and need to play, so missing out on gymnastics or a play date doesn't seem like the right answer. I don't know- this is the biggest struggle I have right now.

We have outings, but most field-trippy kinds are on weekends, which are filled with sports games, chores, visits with friends, trips, church, shopping.
We don't do many chores or any school work when DH is home, since his time at home is quite limited, but he does do big chores with them, for special- going to the recycling center, yard work, stuff like that.

And so each day and week go too quickly by!

[numericmama]

We're using Enki K which is heavily Waldorf for Kindergarten. I have a 5.5 year old by and an almost 2 year old boy. We tend to spend more time out of the house than we should. Of course rhythm is very important. Here is my "perfect" day, lets not pretend they are all like this!

Up in the morning, cuddle
I do my morning Flylady routine while the boys play. This seems to be their best time of the day lately, so I don't interrupt.
Breakfast (with blessing, flowers, etc.)
I clean up, they play. Older Brother brings his bowl over at least.
In 20 minutes I try to have a Morning Walk, followed by circle. But, if they are sunk into play, I listen for the right moment to sing our walk song and heard them out the door. If this is taking a long time, I preprep snack.
After circle, snack, then silk story for baby, and read Enki story for Brother.
More Free Play.
Lunch.

Sometimes I make granola during the day. The boys can float in and out of what I am doing. I have handwork and can sit in the room with them when the need it.

After lunch, rest time.
After rest, craft, or baking, or visit friends, depending on the day.
have a bath, or prepare dinner. Dinner with Daddy, wind down and then bed.

I tend to try and be in the background when they are happy. I want them to sink into play as much as possible and if they don't need me, I don't interrupt them.

I do try and get them to help clean up, somewhat. But I don't push. It seems like there are times of Great Resistance and other times they are happily willing.

HTH

[AngelBee]

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