Waldorf HS'ers, tell me about your Main Lesson books

[tankgirl73]

As I've been posting lately, we're planning to add some Waldorfy planning and scheduling to our days. Get some rhythm... turn things into unit studies/blocks rather than piecemeal... and add lots of art, music, movement, etc.

DS is 11. DD is almost 3 so she'll mostly just be watching, or participating in her own way.

I've ordered some materials from Christopherus, but mostly it will be stuff we put together ourselves, not strict Waldorf.

I was wondering a few things about the Main Lesson books, if you might indulge me? I saw some of these questions on a Christopherus forum, but nobody answered.

I already have a nice spiral-bound artist book which I plan to use. It's nice and big, I think it's 9"x12". Maybe smaller than that, but it's not like a 6"x8" thing. I've also ordered the Stockmar stick crayons and block crayons.

Is everything done in crayon? Is some in colored pencil, or even pen, as they get older? Are regular lead pencils ever used? From what I understand, black is a big no-no in pure Waldorf, so no regular pencils are used, but we're not going to be strict about that.

If using crayons, what do you do if the child makes a mistake or is very unhappy with a page? Tear it out and do it again?

Are paintings done in the main lesson book? I doubt that the wet-on-wet watercolor etc is done in there. What about form drawing? Is that done in a separate book, or separate paper, or in the main lesson book?

I guess, in other words... what exactly goes into the main lesson book? Do you use the same one all year (until it gets full anyway) or do you start a new one with each block? If you're doing stuff not directly related to the current unit (say, math) does it also go in the main lesson book?

Enlighten me!

[mamaMAMAma]

Originally Posted by tankgirl73

As I've been posting lately, we're planning to add some Waldorfy planning and scheduling to our days. Get some rhythm... turn things into unit studies/blocks rather than piecemeal... and add lots of art, music, movement, etc.

DS is 11. DD is almost 3 so she'll mostly just be watching, or participating in her own way.

I've ordered some materials from Christopherus, but mostly it will be stuff we put together ourselves, not strict Waldorf.

I was wondering a few things about the Main Lesson books, if you might indulge me? I saw some of these questions on a Christopherus forum, but nobody answered.

I already have a nice spiral-bound artist book which I plan to use. It's nice and big, I think it's 9"x12". Maybe smaller than that, but it's not like a 6"x8" thing. I've also ordered the Stockmar stick crayons and block crayons.

Is everything done in crayon? Is some in colored pencil, or even pen, as they get older? Are regular lead pencils ever used? From what I understand, black is a big no-no in pure Waldorf, so no regular pencils are used, but we're not going to be strict about that.

We use Enki, so not waldorf. We've been using Strathmore spiral sketchbooks 14"x17" for K, Grade 1-2. Grade 3+, we switched to 9"x12".

With Grade 3 and lower, we used the block and stick crayons. We switched to fountain pen writing when DD#1 started 3rd grade. I believe they start that in 4th in waldorf? DD#1 tried ballpoint pen, but the movement is too fast. She really likes the fountain pen.

We'll be experimenting more with color pencils when DD#1 starts 4th grade in January.

If using crayons, what do you do if the child makes a mistake or is very unhappy with a page? Tear it out and do it again?

I think the idea is this is the child's good book and they "should" be very
careful what they put in it. I'm not sure about waldorf, but with Enki, there is quite a bit of free drawing. So if DD#1 is really unhappy with it, I'll try and help her fix it or blend things in.

Are paintings done in the main lesson book? I doubt that the wet-on-wet watercolor etc is done in there. What about form drawing? Is that done in a separate book, or separate paper, or in the main lesson book?

The paintings are separate. We have a separate form drawing book. With Enki, we bind the different books together the end of the year (why the spiral bound). DD#1 watercolors the front and back of end of year book, and then we take the different books apart, rearrange it and bind it together.

I guess, in other words... what exactly goes into the main lesson book? Do you use the same one all year (until it gets full anyway) or do you start a new one with each block? If you're doing stuff not directly related to the current unit (say, math) does it also go in the main lesson book?

[QUOTE]
So, yes new book per block. But one bound book the end of the year. The math gets put into the end of year book as well.

HTH!

Enlighten me!

[tankgirl73]

Thanks! That's enlightening.

That end-of-year book must be MASSIVE? What about pages being different sizes? What size paper do you use for form drawing and painting?

(I'm so full of nosy questions lol)

I'm not sure if that will work for us, a big year-end book, because we're being a bit more eclectic and there will also be separate lapbooks... I suppose we COULD do something like paste the minibooks into the main lesson book instead of a lapbook, but I think we still prefer the separate books idea, makes it easy to flip through each one later.

But if we're doing something that has individual worksheets (like his Intellego unit studies... it's mostly at the computer, or building models, but there are some writing assignments too) they could be pasted into a main lesson book. I checked and our book is 9"x12", so - perfect!

I think I'll start DS off with the crayons despite his age. He's "delayed" in writing areas, and since we haven't done quite this sort of thing before, he would benefit from starting 'from the beginning' -- we're doing that with form drawing too. I know that the 'pure' waldorf belief is that children are best served by specific things at particular ages, whatever our perceptions of their delays or advances might be (ie, a child who already reads at age 6 is "out of balance" and needs to not focus on that)... Personally, that doesn't resonate with me. Especially if you're dealing with "remediating" an older child who has never done Waldorf, I would think they're better off starting at the beginning and building up, rather than jumping right in and assuming their development is at the same place it would have been if they'd been doing Waldrof all along, right?

Anyway. That's interesting about the fountain pens. So far, DS only uses fancy drawing pens, like the felt-tip type, when he's outlining his cartoons, etc. He's not into stick pens at all. But his handwriting is terrible, and sloppy and careless. One of the biggest issues we have is that he does NOT take care to do things neatly and carefully... almost no matter what it is we're doing. I'm hopeful that the idea of the 'good book' (to use the Enki terminology) will motivate him to try a little harder.

But I'm not counting my chickens before they hatch! His problems are not merely motivational (though that's certainly part of it), but physical... weak hand muscles, as well as the difficulty staying still, and thinking too quickly -- or perhaps, acting too quickly without thinking first. So most of his writing is slap-dash and rushed.

It's been getting much better since we've started using Penny Gardner's Italics program... at least when we're doing those worksheets, if not yet into his everyday writing. But the PLAN is, to do copywork in the main lesson book using the proper Italics letters, which he is much more careful with than otherwise.

But he does love drawing, and colour, so I think he'll like the crayons. Especially because I did decide to splurge and get the fancy beeswax ones, and even got the tin box for the stick crayons rather than the cardboard... I'll do the whole thing about keeping them 'special' and only pulling them out for main lesson time, not just doodle-pad drawing and colouring the rest of the day. And do some kind of fancy presentation the first time we use them.

And the block crayons are just so cool, I gather they're (sometimes?) used to make lines in the main lesson book for writing in, rather than ruled notepaper? He might actually get a kick out of that.

[mamaMAMAma]

Originally Posted by tankgirl73

Thanks! That's enlightening.

That end-of-year book must be MASSIVE? What about pages being different sizes? What size paper do you use for form drawing and painting?

It's fairly big, but not massive! Same size paper for form drawing. A couple of the story related painting were glued onto sketchbook paper and are included as well.

(I'm so full of nosy questions lol)


But if we're doing something that has individual worksheets (like his Intellego unit studies... it's mostly at the computer, or building models, but there are some writing assignments too) they could be pasted into a main lesson book. I checked and our book is 9"x12", so - perfect!

We didn't include math worksheets in the good book or handwriting practice.

I think I'll start DS off with the crayons despite his age. He's "delayed" in writing areas, and since we haven't done quite this sort of thing before, he would benefit from starting 'from the beginning' -- we're doing that with form drawing too. I know that the 'pure' waldorf belief is that children are best served by specific things at particular ages, whatever our perceptions of their delays or advances might be (ie, a child who already reads at age 6 is "out of balance" and needs to not focus on that)... Personally, that doesn't resonate with me. Especially if you're dealing with "remediating" an older child who has never done Waldorf, I would think they're better off starting at the beginning and building up, rather than jumping right in and assuming their development is at the same place it would have been if they'd been doing Waldrof all along, right?

Anyway. That's interesting about the fountain pens. So far, DS only uses fancy drawing pens, like the felt-tip type, when he's outlining his cartoons, etc. He's not into stick pens at all. But his handwriting is terrible, and sloppy and careless. One of the biggest issues we have is that he does NOT take care to do things neatly and carefully... almost no matter what it is we're doing. I'm hopeful that the idea of the 'good book' (to use the Enki terminology) will motivate him to try a little harder.

DD#1 was a reluctant writer when she started 2nd grade as well. So she would only write one or two sentences for the summary. I would write the rest for her. So she feels good about our main lesson. Then she does about 5 minutes of handwriting practice every "school" day. Her handwriting has improved tremendously.

But I'm not counting my chickens before they hatch! His problems are not merely motivational (though that's certainly part of it), but physical... weak hand muscles, as well as the difficulty staying still, and thinking too quickly -- or perhaps, acting too quickly without thinking first. So most of his writing is slap-dash and rushed.

You might want to check out some of the Enki movement work, if you think there is a physical component to it.

It's been getting much better since we've started using Penny Gardner's Italics program... at least when we're doing those worksheets, if not yet into his everyday writing. But the PLAN is, to do copywork in the main lesson book using the proper Italics letters, which he is much more careful with than otherwise.

But he does love drawing, and colour, so I think he'll like the crayons. Especially because I did decide to splurge and get the fancy beeswax ones, and even got the tin box for the stick crayons rather than the cardboard... I'll do the whole thing about keeping them 'special' and only pulling them out for main lesson time, not just doodle-pad drawing and colouring the rest of the day. And do some kind of fancy presentation the first time we use them.

You can make him one of the crayon pouches (holds both block and stick crayons). My girls love them.

And the block crayons are just so cool, I gather they're (sometimes?) used to make lines in the main lesson book for writing in, rather than ruled notepaper? He might actually get a kick out of that.

I forgot the exact terminology waldorf uses. We did those for 1st & 2nd grade. They're inch long "lines" in the 14x17 books. So I don't know how well that would work for the smaller book. Check out the waldorf penmanship paper. DD#1 prefers those.

BTW, it just dawned on me that I've been reading your blog for a while. Thanks for keeping the blog, I'm sure I'm not the only one, its very inspirational.

[tankgirl73]

Originally Posted by mamaMAMAma

DD#1 was a reluctant writer when she started 2nd grade as well. So she would only write one or two sentences for the summary. I would write the rest for her. So she feels good about our main lesson. Then she does about 5 minutes of handwriting practice every "school" day. Her handwriting has improved tremendously.

Yes, I let him do short summaries too. We'll do a combination of short summaries with drawing for the rest -- that's what he does for science (NOEO) and it was what led us down the path of narration/summaries/drawing/etc instead of fill-in-the-blank worksheets in the first place!

He's just finished the print section of the Italics workbook, so now it's practice practice practice, using copywork, until it's secure, then we go on to cursive. So for the near future, we'll do copywork right into the main lesson books I think, pulling it from whatever study we're doing at the time. Then when we start cursive, we'll keep the 'practice sheets' separate.

Thanks, I've got this element clear in my head now.

You might want to check out some of the Enki movement work, if you think there is a physical component to it.

I did, and that's one of the reasons that I've gone in this direction. I love that Enki movement is specifically geared for sensory integration (he does have SI issues!) -- but the movement books are SO expensive! $125 just for grade 2, and I don't even know which level would be right for him to start with.

I've decided to go with Christopherus' Joyful Movement. It has a lot of exercises for things like crossing the midline, which, now that I've tried a couple sample things, he seems to have trouble with. It's not marketed using the language of SI, but I think it covers much of the same bases. I think it's also more general -- I could be mistaken, but I think the Enki movement books are fairly well coordinated with the rest of the curriculum for that grade. Great, if you're doing the whole curriculum. But the more general approach of the Christopherus book will (hopefully) be more suited to my cut-and-paste approach lol...

You can make him one of the crayon pouches (holds both block and stick crayons). My girls love them.

Ooh, great idea. I thought about waiting until Christmas to give them the crayons, but decided to start as soon as I have all my materials and plans ready. But crayon pouches would be a great Christmas present. He does love it when I make him homemade stuff... Do you know of any online instructions?

I forgot the exact terminology waldorf uses. We did those for 1st & 2nd grade. They're inch long "lines" in the 14x17 books. So I don't know how well that would work for the smaller book. Check out the waldorf penmanship paper. DD#1 prefers those.

Something like "golden lines"? Anyway, we'll see how it goes and go from there.

BTW, it just dawned on me that I've been reading your blog for a while. Thanks for keeping the blog, I'm sure I'm not the only one, its very inspirational.

Wow, thanks. I guess I need to go do some updates then LOL....

[tankgirl73]

Oh, I think it's a "golden path". I like the term.