The Waldorf-Inspired Discussion Thread - Page 5

[accountclosed3]

cool. i shall look further into enki. any resources you prefer?

we're really leaning toward unschooling at this point. the purpose of curricula will really be to help me, not for DS to follow.

he's a great learner. he loves music and movement right now. he is only 16 months. LOL i want to start a terrace garden so that we can have some fun with that in the coming months.

part of the reason for our move was because waldorf is less expensive there (this reason is WAY down on the list though), and while i love waldorf schooling, i can't help but be frustrated by the idea of having to follow another's calendar and schedule of holidays and what for things like travel, etc. and, if the kid wants to play music all day, he can't really in a school setting.

but, we'll figure it out! LOL

[racheleuphoria]

To be honest, I don't "do" Waldorf holidays at all. Enki doesn't incoporate the traditional Waldorf holidays. They assume that you have your own holidays and that everyone's will differ (multicultural emphasis is playing in here). I experimented with doing traditional Waldorf holidays when we got started with Waldorf 1.5 years ago. It was not genuine. Instead of doing that, I've been adding more traditions, more homemade decorations and more thought to the holidays we already celebrate. It's been a relief and it comes from my heart, which is true to Waldorf, IMO.

If you're going to pick and choose Enki resources, here are my favorites:

The movement K binders are full of activities, fingerplays and songs that you'll love. It's a HUGE resource, more than you could ever need. We listen to the CD (which comes with the Movements resource) in the car (something like 55 tracks) to learn the seasonal songs and then sing them on the fly whenever it feels right. When I wanted to do a circle time, my Enki movements binder was so much more helpful than any other Waldorf resources I've tried for that purpose (Seasons of Joy, A Child's Seasonal Treasury, Christopherus K). Of all the Enki K resources, the movement binder is probably the best for younger children.

When you want to bring more developed stories to your child, then consider the Fairy Tales/Folk Tales book and/or the Nature Stories book. I like the Nature Stories best, but I think my DD likes the Fairy Tales/Folk Tales best. My daughter, who is verbally advanced, was ready for the stories right around turning 5. I experimented with them when she was 4.5 and she just wasn't ready for the length of the stories without pictures. For children under 5, Elsa Beskow stories and simple tales like the Gingerbread Boy and Goldilocks really are more nourishing.

Hope that helps!

[accountclosed3]

what i meant by holidays is--days off from school.

here, school starts end of august and there are no breakts until 2 weeks in dec/jan, and then spring break, and then out for summer in june.

because we want to be able to travel on our own schedule--which is usually october and april--and we want to be able to travel around our new home (New Zealand) over long weekends and such, i want to be able to do it on our schedule, rather than the school schedule.

but those notebooks sound great. i'll definitely check them out.

[razzberry414]

Originally Posted by racheleuphoria

To be honest, I don't "do" Waldorf holidays at all. Enki doesn't incoporate the traditional Waldorf holidays. They assume that you have your own holidays and that everyone's will differ (multicultural emphasis is playing in here). I experimented with doing traditional Waldorf holidays when we got started with Waldorf 1.5 years ago. It was not genuine. Instead of doing that, I've been adding more traditions, more homemade decorations and more thought to the holidays we already celebrate. It's been a relief and it comes from my heart, which is true to Waldorf, IMO.

If you're going to pick and choose Enki resources, here are my favorites:

The movement K binders are full of activities, fingerplays and songs that you'll love. It's a HUGE resource, more than you could ever need. We listen to the CD (which comes with the Movements resource) in the car (something like 55 tracks) to learn the seasonal songs and then sing them on the fly whenever it feels right. When I wanted to do a circle time, my Enki movements binder was so much more helpful than any other Waldorf resources I've tried for that purpose (Seasons of Joy, A Child's Seasonal Treasury, Christopherus K). Of all the Enki K resources, the movement binder is probably the best for younger children.

When you want to bring more developed stories to your child, then consider the Fairy Tales/Folk Tales book and/or the Nature Stories book. I like the Nature Stories best, but I think my DD likes the Fairy Tales/Folk Tales best. My daughter, who is verbally advanced, was ready for the stories right around turning 5. I experimented with them when she was 4.5 and she just wasn't ready for the length of the stories without pictures. For children under 5, Elsa Beskow stories and simple tales like the Gingerbread Boy and Goldilocks really are more nourishing.

Hope that helps!

Wow this was so very helpful as I'm going through the same, what curriculum to use right now dance, though, so true to my nature, my son is a ways away from really needing any of it, I just really love to absorb all I can and get far to excited.

Can I ask you something about the Enki material?
I have purchased the Early Years Guide secondhand.
I keep going back and forth on the Foundation Guide, do you have that???

Now I'm kicking myself for not buying the Movement Binder secondhand also..darn it.

[paniscus]

Wow! Racheleuphoria - I totally agree with everything you have said!! I think you are spot on about Enki being inspiring and practical. I am excited to have something that really clicks with me - from the science behind it to the end result. In fact, I have been wondering if I keep looking at curric. because I enjoy reaffirming I have made the right choice for our family.

We have the whole Kindy set. I bought it when DS1 was 3.5yo but we were right in the middle of a huge move (to Japan) so I didn't really start reading it until he was closer to 4. I don't know if I could even pick ONE resource I like. There are so many layers. I read everything then we started making little changes here and there in our routines to "enki-fy". I am slowly adding in different elements. I haven't even gotten to an indepth look at the movement stuff which is HUGE in Enki. I feel like I am ready to re-read all the materials again to get a second layer of understanding. I feel like there is just so much in them that I can read them - take what I need - read them again when I have that down and be nourished by something else.

I am glad I got everything when i did because it has given me the time to slowly work on things rather than doing it all at once. I haven't found Enki to be overwhelming which is the negative that I usually hear bounced around about Enki. But perhaps that is because I got it early on so can take it all in gradually. It is just like this huge roadmap of where we are headed that I can keep referring to.

I would say to anyone that if you got part of it and really like it and agree with it. If it speaks to you. Then you can't go wrong with getting the other materials. It will only take you to another level of understanding and give you more resources. That being said I did find the Teaching Guides to be the driest. I read them first so it has been a bit of time but they have more of the Why answers in them. I am definitely ready to re-read them and am looking forward to it now that I have some practical experience under my belt. But if you are looking for How instead of Why then don't beat yourself up on that one. It sounds like Racheleuphoria has been using Enki a lot longer than I have. I have found experience with the curriculum to be so very helpful so she may have a different opinion.

Thank you to everyone for your opinions on other curric. They have been very reaffirming also. They have matched my gut feelings but it is so hard when you don't actually have the curric in front of you to look at. I am def. going to check out the Overview book and School as a Journey book. I think I am really needing to see WHERE this is headed. What this will all look like when we start actual school. It is so different than my own education and I feel like I need a mental picture.....

[racheleuphoria]

Paniscus, I agree with you that the foundation guides aren't easy reading. I too plan to reread them at some point now that I've been using the materials for awhile and understand what I like to do with them. I say if you already have the Early Years Guide, Razzberry, you may as well start investing in the materials, like the Movements Binder or Nature Stories. It's not that I would suggest skipping the foundation guides, it's just that if you don't have more "why" questions, you'll probably enjoy and find the materials themsevles more useful at this point.

Reading something like Christopherus' Homeschooling Overview or School as a Journey helps you see the big picture of how Waldorf progresses, beyond the early years. I imagine I'll probably use Christopherus or Live Ed when we go beyond Enki grade 2 (Grade 3 is not ready and may not be ready for years), since I do love the big picture of Waldorf education. But, I don't worry too much about what to do later. Reality is that everything can change in 3 years!

[AnnR33]

I'm bumping this back up because it has some great info in it and I can see that I'm not alone
Did you all start a new thread? This one was going so well then stopped so just wondered what everyone was up to in their Waldorf journey?

[lindsayjean]

hey- just found this too. I'd love to get the discussion going again. I just enrolled my daughter in 2 mornings a week waldorf preschool. I love it. She's really into letters and reading and stuff (but found it on her own- we're more of an unschooling approach to learning right now), but I still think she'll really enjoy it because it's so imaginative and she just loves art and creative stuff. I'm looking for some ideas about how to incorporate a little more Waldorf into our home life. I'm not sure if I'm a hardcore Waldorfer or anything, but I really like a lot of the ideas and I think it's gentle approach goes well with our parenting

[seamama11]

This thread is great, thank you to all who have contributed. My name is Sarah and I have a ds 4 and a dd 2.5.
I stumbled upon "waldorf living" a few years back and immediately it seemed to fit right in with what comes natural to me. I have always been very connected to the natural world and found out quickly that having a rhythm to our day worked best for everyone. I never liked the idea of plastic toys made from China and so very early on I started acquiring nicer wooden toys, mostly made in USA.
However, the more purist blogs I read and the more books I skim through, the more I feel guilty. Like I am not doing enough.
I constantly battle things like allowing a super hero plastic toy into the house and TV. We live with my parents and they have a tv in their space downstairs. We live upstairs and we don't have a TV. We would be completely TV free if we lived on our own, but that isn't going to happen for a few more years. So what we do is we have "TV" days, every Tues. and Thurs. the kids can watch up to an hour of carefully selected shows with my mom. My mom is disabled so this is a very special time since the kids crawl up into her lap to watch. I am mostly at peace with this because 5 days a week they are exposed to no media.
What has been hard for me lately is my son is no longer interested in things like silks, shells, blocks, his beautiful toy kitchen. He mainly wants to play bad guys-good guys, which I am sure is normal. He is also very into ironman, spiderman, and batman...even though he has never seen any of this on TV, but he didn't find the comic section at our library, and his friends are always talking to him about star wars, ect.....
So in essence this thread is great for me, because I am trying hard to get to a place where I accept what I can do instead of focus on what I am not doing.
I knit, have needle-felted, but when push comes to shove, I am mostly on walks, at the park, or in the forest with the kids. I would like to bake more, do art more, and start celebrating seasons and festivals more...but life keeps passing me by and I don't seem to get it all done.
That said, I cherish my time with my kids, we build castles with blocks, play dress up, bake together, read together, sing together and greatly enjoy each others company.
I know I am all over the place here.
One question: For those of you who have boys 4 and older, was there a time when they really wanted super hero toys, or where they outgrew some of the beautiful toys that worked so well when they were younger.
It has been hard for me to see my sweet, curious, little boy suddenly want to play guns, bad guys and heros all day long, but I am trying to loosen up and allow him to be who he wants to be.
Thanks for reading.

[kittywitty]

I am homeschooling 4th, 3rd, and Kindy/1st grade this year. I also have a LO due in November, so our schedule is a little off and we are starting next week.

I've been working on planning everything and it's soooo hard to plan the day for three seperate main lessons! I know some people combine them but the older two at least are really pulled to the "traditional" MLBs for this year-my oldest wants to do zoology and Norse Myths and my ds is into the NA and creation stories as well as farming. So that is complicating things a bit. Usually I just combine them. I am using bits of Christopherus and Live Ed as well as stuff on the web, but we are more Waldorf-inspired since we are doing art lessons and SOTW history once a week each, as well. I'm trying to cram in a bunch before baby gets here and we really slacked off last year.

[tallulahma]

I am loving that this thread got bumped up!

I would definitely classify us as waldorf inspired! I was full on waldorf, then we opened our lives to a consensual living/ unschooling path and i didn't know how to mesh the two lifestyles.

After going on a two month vacation in hotels and friends houses I realized that my waldorf days were actually very important.

Our lives have been star bucks, holiday inn express, ipad movies and plastic!

We were all wigging out!

Last two weeks we need serious healing, so we have been doing circle time, beeswax candles, enchanted tea hour, lots of singing and story time AND i broke back out some knitting supplies.

My dd1 is so sensitive to others anxieties and emotions, i really have to be so mindful of her surroundings and exposure to things. We spent a week in the redwoods and her faerie self was just singing!

We FINALLY found our place to settle and our things get delivered next week. I cannot wait to get out our art/watercolor supplies and our play stands and set a calm environment.

I'm also actually really inspired by steiner and anthroposophy.....i identify as pagan, but i still really love the theory behind it. I also love the tradition, the saints, the festivals and and and.

I'm all in to mixing lately... Learning to incorporate the old with the new.

[LuxPerpetua]

Originally Posted by kittywitty

I am homeschooling 4th, 3rd, and Kindy/1st grade this year. I also have a LO due in November, so our schedule is a little off and we are starting next week.

I've been working on planning everything and it's soooo hard to plan the day for three seperate main lessons! I know some people combine them but the older two at least are really pulled to the "traditional" MLBs for this year-my oldest wants to do zoology and Norse Myths and my ds is into the NA and creation stories as well as farming. So that is complicating things a bit. Usually I just combine them. I am using bits of Christopherus and Live Ed as well as stuff on the web, but we are more Waldorf-inspired since we are doing art lessons and SOTW history once a week each, as well. I'm trying to cram in a bunch before baby gets here and we really slacked off last year.

I'm glad this thread is going again. To Kittywitty--how have you liked Live Ed? I'm considering it for 3rd grade and up. I've seen samples of Christopherus and it didn't speak to me. How do they compare?

[annettemarie]

So happy to see this thread going again!

I'm in a bit of a bind with Nicholas, my third. He's very much in his own head. Anyone here who is on my Facebook has been entertained (I hope, LOL!) with stories of the Nicholites, his imaginary army of invisible ghost friends. He's loving and mercurial and immature and lovely, and he's not ready for first grade. He turns seven on September 29.

Everything about him is immature. He selectively forgets how to hold a pencil. He has small motor issues, but can manage a computer and a game boy quite well (sacrilege!). His writing is very scrawly and rudimentary and he can pretty much write his name and that's it. He definitely has attention issues. If you looked at him, you would probably think he was a middle to old 5 rather than an almost 7. His dentist was shocked that his baby teeth were no where close to being ready to fall out.

So the question in, what do I do with this child for what should be his first grade year? I honestly don't think he's ready to read or write. He loves math and numbers though. I've been thinking of doing as much first grade stuff as I can without a strong focus on reading and writing (letter recognition, sounds, fairy tales, qualities of numbers, 4 processes, etc) but I'm worried I'm just making it worse.

Thoughts?

[kittywitty]

Originally Posted by LuxPerpetua

I'm glad this thread is going again. To Kittywitty--how have you liked Live Ed? I'm considering it for 3rd grade and up. I've seen samples of Christopherus and it didn't speak to me. How do they compare?

I love it, so far. I read through it once and wish I could afford the 3rd grade this year for my ds, as well. I've heard people complain that it was too much to grasp when you read through it and less instruction, more anthrop. but I strongly disagree. So far it's far more readable and easier to "get" than Christ. and Enki. I really like the other two, but this is much easier.

AnnetteMarie-I would slowly and gently introduce things to him, but focus more on the stories and art. Have you looked into OT for his sensory issues? Sounds like my ds who finally the past few months has gotten "over it" at age 8 and is writing more and is more mature. Once he got over that hump, it's been smooth sailing to almost catch up to his 9 yo sister.

[accountclosed3]

annettemarie:

since this is the "inspired" thread, i'll toss any direct anthroposophy and go forward. ok, quick nod to anthro--if his teeth aren't changing, then don't work forward with reading/writing.

aside from that, there are a lot of theories out there about boys development in particular, that they do well keeping academics aside (or sort of in a submarine sense, or on a back burner) until age 9 or so. until then--particularly those who are active and have "attention issues" (that are not actual, diagnosable problems, and therefore aren't really issues. probably, he can put his attention to those things to which he wants to put his attention!)--there is just too much to be doing in the body, and learning by playing that needs to be done.

this is not to say that boys are "developmentally delayed" they are simply different, and much of classroom study is geared toward female development (oddly enough), and also toward certain social standards of behavior as indicators of "mature and proper development" as opposed to what the development is in study/"actuality".

so, for me, i would not worry about it at all, and take an unschooling approach. of course, you do have a lot of children, so they might all go "what? but he's in first year now! he should be doing this!" and perhaps that is the case. perhaps there is a way to "codify" what he already does? that is to say, outdoor time (which he probably needs most anyway) is codified into specific activities that look more school like?

anyway, pitch whatever doesn't work for you.

[LuxPerpetua]

[QUOTE=kittywitty;15700598]I love it, so far. I read through it once and wish I could afford the 3rd grade this year for my ds, as well. I've heard people complain that it was too much to grasp when you read through it and less instruction, more anthrop. but I strongly disagree. So far it's far more readable and easier to "get" than Christ. and Enki. I really like the other two, but this is much easier.[QUOTE]

I had been considering Enki for kind-2nd, but would you recommend Live Ed grade 1 over Enki grade 1, for example? (I'm silently thinking to myself that it's so frustrating that I always like the MOST expensive options out there. Grrr.)

[mamaUK]

Originally Posted by LuxPerpetua

And while I'm at it, I don't want to knit. I don't think knitted things are cute, and neither do I like most wet or needle felted objects. I love creativity and I wish there were more Waldorf-approved creative outlets than these. I kind of feel like a black-sheep even writing this out, as knitting and felting seem to be sort of sacred in Waldorf circles.

I guess I'm really reacting against the rigidity of Waldorf dogma tonight. I'm thankful to have a safe place to share that.

I just wanted to say I can't knit and don't want to knit either!

I would absolutely love to learn to crochet properly though, I used to do it as a teen and found it a very relaxing craft activity. Another craft activity that I enjoy and isn't very 'waldorfy' is linoprinting! There's something very relaxing and satisfying about cutting and scraping away the bits of lino you don't want. It's a great way for making homemade cards and something I hope to teach my children when they are older.

Oh, and while this isn't exactly a craft, I love to bake!!!! I bake daily, cakes, biscuits......

[chrissy]

Joining in!

[annettemarie]

Hey, thanks for all the great advice about Nicholas. It's a lot to think about. I'm still not 100% sure what to do, but I do feel a lot more relaxed about the whole thing.

[kittywitty]

Originally Posted by LuxPerpetua

I had been considering Enki for kind-2nd, but would you recommend Live Ed grade 1 over Enki grade 1, for example? (I'm silently thinking to myself that it's so frustrating that I always like the MOST expensive options out there. Grrr.)

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.