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Originally Posted by kittywitty
 I don't have Live Ed 1st grade, but you can regularly find it inexpensive and used on the waldorfcurriculumandsupplies yahoo group. I do like Enki 1st grade, but have you checked out the Live Ed samples online for 1st? At the very least, I think Enki is a bit overwhelming and extremely expensive, so I would choose Live Ed, but Enki's stories are fantastic.
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It is a bit "much" and overwhelming, because it is truly a whole library of resources. So I would get it in enough time to really look it all over, & plan out your year way ahead of time. It's not a an "open up the book and go" kind of curriculum at all. I think I started reading and planning 6 months ahead of time. But I'll tell you what, it was the most beautiful, wise, fun, creative, enjoyable program to work with. I look forward to my DD using it next year.
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Originally Posted by chrissy
AnnetteMarie, I have specifically been wondering how things are going for you? I can't remember if this is the thread, oh no, it was one about Waldorf homeschooling with lots of kids, I think. Anyway, wondering how it was going for you and how your pregnancy is going. |
I actually just blogged about this this morning. It's been really really hard. Physically and emotionally, this has been my hardest pregnancy ever, and I'm never had easy pregnancies. The icing on the cake is that my husband, who is a pastor, has put in his mobility papers so we're looking at a new call/church sometime in the next year or so. We're hoping to end up closer to family (which in turn would land us closer to a great Waldorf school!).
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Originally Posted by LuxPerpetua
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~ Specific types of handwork and structured creativity. I'm not a knitter nor can I sew but I'm very crafty in other ways. I'm also the daughter of an artist so it really irritates me being told to box in creativity by only painting using a certain technique and certain colors. I also am not going to pay $20 for 3 Stockmar watercolor paints when watered down Crayola tempera paint has the same effect on wet paper. I've also found that oil pastels (and even bathtub crayons sold at Toys R Us and craft stores in the children's section) have the same rich colors and creamy texture as beeswax crayons and are so much more affordable. We have an artwall at our home, which is just a large portion of our wall covered with white easel paper, and below it markers, paints, crayons, and chalk. It's wonderful to just have a place for spontaneous creativity. And I have no problem with dd drawing forms at age 2. ~ Boxing in Learning. I really dislike that in Waldorf ideology there is a particular progression laid out unilaterally for every child of what must be learned and at what point it should be learned. Life isn't that simplistic nor is the human will. I think some children may not be interested in letters until age 7 and they should not be rushed in their journey, but nor should a precocious learner be held back. My own dd became obsessed with letter at 15 months old, and knew them all by 18 months. This was completely child-led, as she noticed letters everywhere in her world (ingredients containers, sign posts, doormats, etc.). She is currently 3.75 and can read quite a few words by sight. She's also discovered the basic principles of mathmatics simply from playing with nuts, shells, rocks, and blocks. She understands that if she has 5 nuts, she can put two in one hand and 3 in the other, and yet she still has 5. Again, totally child-led, and done within a Waldorf environment. And she is incarnating beautifully.  She has quite a bit of "head" knowledge but runs, jumps, plays with vigor. Her imaginative world is rich in fantasy but she enjoys understanding the world around her. If she asks me why leaves turn color I will give her a true explanation that is on her level, not tell her that fairies painted them overnight. I get tired of Waldorf books being so black and white on this issue--they seem to present factual knowledge as being presented to children in esoteric scientific jargon or in the world of fantasy, the latter being the "approved" way. I'm also not going to present fairies, gnomes, elves as fact. I'll tell stories about them, I'll paint pictures of them, and I'll pretend with them, but I do not believe they exist and so I'm not going to present them to her as if they do. I think children enjoy fantasy but that they also appreciate non-fantasy and they both want and need to know the difference. |
(not something I am very excited about), has now spent the week-end, of his own volition, needle felting a pokemon : instead of wanting to buy toys, he knows that we make our own.
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