coming to waldorf later on

[TulsiLeaf]

I just wanted to ask this.


so we have been dabbling for a while, and now we are homeschooling our daughter. M has been exposed to tv and media and this is not something we can just up and take completely away. She knows who characters are (much to my dismay) and she has friends and cousins that are tv and character addicts. M isn't, but she does love to watch little bear, franklin and a few other carefully reviewed shows.

she does love hand work and cooking and drawing, so that is pretty good. But I am wondering how do you keep a child at 5, with her exposure, in that dream state? I almost feel like it would be wrenching her back. Is she still in the dream state? Sometimes I look at her and think maybe she could be, and other times I don't think so.

anyone else bring an older child into waldorf?

Thanks!

Also, I am at a loss for things that kindy's should be doing right now. I know there is no focus on the academic, but she loves that stuff. Maybe my approach to it? We play counting games with shells, do addition and subtraction with them. We read lots and she is sounding out words. We have a chalk board and she writes her letters and numbers. She can spell her name my name, her nanny's name and write all her letters in both upper and lower case.

[zoebird]

i think i wouldn't worry about it, first thing. just let definitions and labels go for a moment. take a breath.

next, i would take a bit of time to do some research on what waldorf schooling looks like at this age. just get an idea of what that is, so that--if you so choose--you can incorporate more of that into the things that you already do with your daughter. these things can go into the rhythm, and what you'll discover is that the time spent doing waldorf things starts to push out those other things (like media, going over numbers, etc).

and it's not that those activities are inherently wrong or terrible. perhaps you discover that once a week with little bear is healthy for your family. perhaps you discover that in addition to the wet-on-wet painting (idk about kindy at this point myself), she likes to count shells and do basic math with them. it's not the end of the world, you're ultimately just providing opportunities.

but what i have noticed is that when the parents begin to transition toward a more anthroposophical way of life (or waldorf way of life at least), the children naturally follow without a lot of upset. they might be upset for three or four days, maybe a week or two if they are particularly strong willed, but otherwise, they transition as you do.

it goes back to doing things calmly and confidently. if you are confident in what you present with her, she'll take that as the new way of learning, the new thing to learn. just as she has taken to letters and numbers (as you have shown her, created a game with her that learns that), the new games will be just as engaging for her.

I wouldn't worry too much. Figure out what your family needs, and go from there. I would also recommend checking out a waldorf homeschooling curriculum for ideas about what goes on in kindy.

[honeybunmom]

My daughter has been in Waldorf kindy for 2.5 years and is turning 5 in October. I echo the suggestion to do a little more research. We are not tv free at home. I wish we were, but we're not and we're not going to be. Is my daughter still in the dream state? I believe so. I don't understand the teaching to be that media takes her out of it, but, rather that the state is a function of her age and physical development.

What is she doing in Waldorf kindy? Playing. Building the imagination is the main focus at this time. Formal education does not begin until the age of 7. Does she know how to write her name? Yes. Is it because we sit down to go over it? No. It's because she asked. Can she count? Yes. Is it because we or her school sit down and go over numbers? No. It's because we count for a variety of reasons around the house.

Her day at school is pretty much free play, circle time, rest, more free play. Interjected in there are painting and coloring and food preparation. One day a week the children have eurythmy. They make seasonal crafts, but not a craft a week or anything like that. They participate in creating decorations/crafts for festivals. They learn songs during circle time that incorporate use of the fingers or whole body. Teacher tells a story. The same one for several weeks. There may be a play enacting the story at the end of several weeks.

There really isn't anything *formal* you should be doing at this time. That's the beauty of this time in a Waldorf child's life. It's just about being a child. I'd focus on rhythm and rest and a sense of security and predictability for your child. I'm trying to get better with that for mine.

ETA: TulsiLeaf, I just stumbled across this link which should be helpful. Also, look at the side bar and you will see a link for a topic on Waldorf in the Home with a 5 year old.

[Tashakittie]

I'm in a similar situation. Waldorf fits us as a family unit, but as a whole in terms of our community, no one around us is of like-mind. As much as I want to disarm our lives of media, stimulation, etc- it just is not possible. We will be homeschooling, but for now everything is free-flowing and play based. My sons are 4.5 and 1. We spend a huge amount of our days outdoors, we focus on a rhythm, we do a great deal of creative things. TV is not a part of our everyday life, but I don't want my older son to feel disconnected from his friends and family who are into that stuff. He knows about it, but its not really important, kwim? I try not to stress about things a lot. I don't want him in a bubble, but I do want control of what he is exposed to. I see the correlation between play-imagination-intelligence. My older ds is very interested in science and math, and we talk about weather all the time. We live in a place with really amazing, constantly changing weather, so he inquires about it, watches it, plays in it. He recently had a visit to the emergency room for swallowing a penny- it was SOOOOOO interesting to him; seeing the xray of his insides, talking about his body parts, talking to the surgeon. We don't do lessons, but we talk about our surroundings. We have friends who speak Spanish, so we practice our Spanish a lot. We read and tell stories, yet he has no interest in reading or writing.
I love the concept of homeschooling because of all the opportunities for freedom and fun. Beauty is so important. I have found that whether or not he is exposed to media, his play is creative and imaginative regardless.
Rhythm, fun, creativity, and a lot of time in nature are our main focuses. And keeping the stress low. If I'm stressed, my boys are stressed. If I forbid something, it only makes that object (tv) more alluring.
In terms of family, we are the brazen hippies amidst a lot of mainstream. No one makes a big deal, and we don't get pushy about media- chances are, when all the cousins get together, even though their homes may be filled with characters and media, all the kids really want to do is run around outside.