Waldorf and Different Gradees

[Nursingnaturalmom]

Those who homeschool with a waldorf curriculum, if you have different grades does everyone have their own thing?? This is the only downside to doing waldorf curriculum. My kids have all been in a waldorf school, but we have moved. I have a 6th, 2nd and K'er this year.

[Madame Pomfrey]

If you mean does each child do different things, well yes & no. When they were smaller we did a circle time together, then separate lesson or play times. We also had lunch and afternoon movement or craft activities together. Now they're a lot older and most everything is separate - we do share one nature block a year. My teenager is really in a different stage of life now.

You can share a surprusing amount of it if you're willing to flex their lessons and alter stories to appeal to both.

Have a great day!

Lucie

[SandyBeachBums]

We are moving towards Waldorf. We had been trying to do Classical where everyone did the same Science and History. But, I found this year, that I've had to set time aside for each child anyway. So, they end up on different subjects, interests etc. This summer we are going to transition to just their Grades and let it be. It's happening naturally for us.

[annettemarie]

I'm juggling 4-- toddler, kindy, third, and fifth-- and our day goes like this:
Devotions-- together
Story of the World or Art or Seasonal Project-- together (SotW isn't Waldorf, but we like it)
Circle-- whoever wants to come
The third grader has workboxes and the fifth grader has an assignment sheet that they work through independently. It will include stuff like reading lit, handwriting or math practice, copywork for a main lesson book page, practicing piano/strings, problems of the week from Making Math Meaningful, stuff like that. They do this while I have time with my kindy kid.

Then we all have snack.

Then my kindy kid works through workboxes and the other kids continue with their independent work while I do a main lesson time (about 1/2 hour) with each of the older kids. Usually I have some time to spend with my toddler as well.

We're pretty much finished by noon. After lunch we have read aloud and they finish any work they have left, but it's pretty rare.

I have quite a few "day in the life" posts on my blog that show more detail how our days work.

[Nursingnaturalmom]

Annette, THANK YOU for you blog!!
I will have a 7th grader, 3rd grader and first grader. I plan on doing a waldorf curriculum with both the 7th and 3rd graders and More of a CM things with the first grader. I don't think waldorf will work for her.

CUrrently we do a lot together, but I see this not working for everything next year. THe kids are too different in their likes and learning styles.

NOw, what curriculum do you use??

[annettemarie]

I really piece together my own stuff, which is actually kind of an insane juggling act. I like it because I feel like it helps me be more in tune with what their learning. But it takes freaking forever. I do use a pretty standard math curriculum to go along with Making Math Meaningful-- Progress in Mathematics. And we use Catholic Heritage Curriculum's spelling because on top of everything else, I can't come up with spelling lists.

Next year I am pretty sure I am going to invest in Christopherus for my first grader.

[Nursingnaturalmom]

I have Christopherus second grade math and my second grader finally loves it. Long story. 3 months ago she hated it and everything else that was school (still does NOT LIKE WORK) I put it away and pulled it back out last week and all of a sudden she LOVES IT

I want Christopherus 3rd grade. I have hte form drawing book and love that. If you like piecing together your stuff have you looked at a little garden flower?

[annettemarie]

I have, and I have a few of her grades as well.

[BusyBee]

For the arts and crafts and handwork and music even, it is a part of life, not a part of school--that is the cool part of homeschooling. If I want to initiate something, I just do it and a flock of children surround me and want to do it too. We do private music lessons (and we are going to add foreign language to that soon too) outside of the home. That really only leaves about 2 hrs of lessons to do each day. I alternate main lesson days for my 3rd grader to my 1st grader, while the toddler gets into mischief. In a way we are a bit on the unschooling side in that I have a plan in my head and a direction I want to go. I research my stories and activities to go with them, but everything is organic and strongly follows the moods and interest of my children. We are strong readers in my family and whenever possible I find a living book to spark my kids imagination. This works best for my son in math. He hates "lessons" and "practice" but will do complex math in his head if he is inspired. I did teach my son long division using a waldorf type story and he "got it" in five minutes and was exited about doing a few problems to solidify his knowledge. No need to be-labor a point and go through hours breaking it down when he wasn't ready and countless more hours practicing when he has already got it. I have a researched plan in my head (a curriculum helps here) for how I will present a subject, and when I see my child is ready I teach them. This way I don't spend hours a day on school and they are actually above grade level in their skills.

[Nursingnaturalmom]

Thats a great reminder BusyBee!!

Annette, do youi have first or 3rd grade of LIttle Garden Flower? I have her 6th grade and it looks great!! Wondering if 3rd and first are just as good?
Chandi