Waldorf inspired homeschoolers

[mommariffic]

Are you out there?

What are you working on : ) 

And baby is up, type more later!

[LuxPerpetua]

We're here.

I'm about to clean up from Painting Day so I can't type long right now.  We've been pretending we're on a vacation in Hawaii today (we live in frigid PA).  I'm currently planning for kindy in the fall and I just started blogging to get practice cataloguing our experiences (just for us and family to remember) and for future reporting purposes.  My blog is here: http://canticlesbycandlelight.wordpress.com/  . 

Will type more later when I'm not dripping paint ...

[konamama]

subbing

[onyxravnos]

i thought i had replied but i guess not :) 

we are working on OM K this year and the secular sonlight books (finishing up p3/p4 just starting p4/p5)  also working on some badges for Spiral Scouts although that's kinda fallen by the wayside... just not that inspired...the sun is starting to come back slowly but surely but I'm getting a little cabin fevered which makes me lazy lol.

and of course plenty of stuff taken from other places.... we've also found some great itouch apps (totally not waldorf ) 

[konamama]

more time to post - we are transitioning back into homeschooling after dd tried school this year - it seems that homeschooling is a better fit for her and she is in the process of letting it all go and embracing homeschooling again... interesting process to watch.  anyhow, we do use OM as a base, just re-reading some of OM2 and will be ordering OM3 soon since she is doing work from both grades at this point.  i can see supplementing in areas at some point but i have found that to be less needed as we go up in the OM program - with K & 1 i found we/she needed/wanted more.  i love the idea of a painting day, she loves water color, and i have all the supplies.  would also like to keep up with recorder with her and i would like to take it back up, i am a K-8 Waldorf grad and love the recorder.  she also loves handwork and is knitting a scarf and crocheting a potholder.  we do a playgroup once a week with additional events planned in here and there... and live on a farm so nature/science is covered for some time.  

glad to have found this group - interested to see what everyone is doing.  how old is everyone's children?

[LuxPerpetua]

More time to post now.  My dd is 5 and will be 5.75 when we start hs-ing Waldorf kindy this year.  I know that Waldorf doesn't really do "kindy" but I wanted to add more to our lives, not academic but just enrichment stuff.  I just placed an enormous order for kindy and I'm so excited.  We'll be doing what we already do seasonally plus adding Little Acorn Learning, lots of good read-alouds (we also do some Ambleside recommendations):  Mr. Popper's Penguins, Raggedy Ann and Andy, Just So Stories, and the Little Bear stories, making our own modeling beeswax, dyeing playsilks for each season, and some fun logic games.  I'm so excited I could just squeal.  We're going to have lots of fun.  One of the awesome things I love about Waldorf (and unschooling too, since at this age it's all very unschooly) is how we have such a rich life with no overt academics and yet dd is above the average academically for her age inspite of never drawing letters in a workbook or me drilling her with math facts.  I love our lives.

Anyone doing anything special for Valentine's Day?

I need to do a Valentine puppet show--does anyone know a good story I could use or any ideas?

[mommariffic]

Lux - for Valentines day we are going to make seed paper in the shape of hearts and take a walk to deliver some to our neighbor friends.  I also give little "love" bags in the morning with chocolates, and this year some outdoor stuff. DD has been dying for a ball and hoop she can use inside, and I found one from  Target (plastic yes, glow in the dark yes, but she will squeal...) 

We have had a very cozy winter, but I'll admit our rhythm has completely fallen apart so I'm trying to build on that. DD is only 3.5 so a lot of our "school" is obviously house work! Cleaning, cooking, baking, preparing for our garden, telling stories and so on. DD is also really interested in learning how to read and learning letters, so I'm slowly starting to do that with a letter of the week and a letter activity each day. 

Trying to work on rhythm but need to keep it loose, here's my rough plan

Daily:

Feed our bodies

(we are not the type to get up/get dressed. Honestly we stay home more often than not so we stay in our comfy clothes until we see fit! Breakfast is always eaten at the table though together) 

Ready our home

(when I do my breakfast clean up, and do some chores. I'm in the middle of delcluttering so it's nuts here, I wanna use my after breakfast time to clean up) 

Brain time

(something I've pre-planned which rotates weekly)

Morning rest

(We HAVE to have quiet time because DS takes a nap downstairs with us)

Lunch prep 

(something easy and light) 

...I know but that's as far as I've gotten! I'd like to do one activity with DD in the morning that I've already planned (like the seed craft paper, or matching animals, or something from our science file folder..) and I do want to get chores in and do quiet play while DS naps but after that I have to see, not feeling very inspired at this very moment either. If you do have a rhythm feel free to share it  

[annettemarie]

I'm here. I have fallen way off the wagon and am trying to find my way back. I will admit that I am a bit lost and not sure where to begin.

[chrissy]

I'm here. 

Noah's in 3rd grade and we're using a combination of Waldorf and Classical resources.  We are doing all the usual 3rd grade main lesson blocks and filling in with Spelling Workout, HWOT cursive, some Singapore math and daily math worksheets from the Waldorf Making Math Meaningful site. 

Lilah's in Kindergarten and we started the year using Little Acorn Learning monthly guides.  I really really liked them but Lilah wanted more.  So, we just started OM Kindergarten several weeks ago.  We're not doing it all, mainly just the letter stories, number stories, and some nature stories.  I'm liking it a lot, though I'm pretty much over the Beatrix Potter bit!

I am really enjoying our homeschooling these days.  We certainly don't always have perfect days, but overall things are going so well!  I feel like we have finally hit our stride.

I'm starting to think about and plan for the fall.  I'm thinking of ALGF 4th grade for Noah along with some Classical resources.  And, I'm thinking  of using Enki 1st grade for Lilah.  I used a combination of Enki Kindy/1st with Noah when we first tried homeschooling, and there was so much I liked about it, but I found it really hard to implement.  After homeschooling using Waldof-y methods for a while now, I think it would definitely be do-able.  Still thinking.

[calynde]

Hi everyone

I am doing second grade using mainly christopherus. We are in the middle of our saints/heroes block...which i haven't been super inspired by, but DS seems to like. Last year we did OM and a little garden flower plus some other things...pieces of this and that. :-) for math, we just use Miquon right now.

Nice to see a few other waldorf inspired folks around here!

[skyblufig]

subbing, and nak

I know it must have been discussed before, but... any thoughts on Christopherus vs OM? Specifically looking for help with phonics/reading & math for preschool/kindy/1st.

Thanks!

[CCJWGM]

Originally Posted by skyblufig 

subbing, and nak

I know it must have been discussed before, but... any thoughts on Christopherus vs OM? Specifically looking for help with phonics/reading & math for preschool/kindy/1st.

Thanks!

I probably won't be a big help but do know that Christopherus doesn't introduce letters or numbers until 1st grade although basic math is included as well as numbers in first.  OM introduces numbers and letters in K but the reading/math isn't introduced until 1st.  They both have previews on line.  OM is especially good at telling you what is covered in each grade level with samples.  I believe OM does phonics in second trimester of 1st grade and reading in 3rd trimester. 
 

[briansmama]

We're waldorf-inspired, though we follow the classical ed 4 year history cycle and literature recommendations. My oldest ds is 7 and math so far has been mostly through math stories and journaling, with games, manipulatives and puzzles thrown in for fun, as well as cooking and lots and lots of conversations about numbers, speed, age, etc.

Ds1 has been part of a nature-based experiential program for the past 2 years with other homeschoolers and it's been great. We recently moved and don't have access to the program anymore but we do have a Roots and Shoots program here that is for homeschoolers, so we're looking forward to starting that soon.

Thanks to the pp who mentioned the Waldorf Making Math Meaningful site. I just ordered the book as it looks exactly like what we're currently doing, though a bit more laid out for me so I can make sure each block of study is covered. A while back I ordered a math story bundle (14 books, great quality literature)  from Lakeshore learning that came with a resource book showing examples of how the stories were used in a class setting to convey certain math concepts. I was worried the 1st grade pack would be too easy for him so we ordered the 2nd-3rd grade bundle and though he's grasping the concepts, I'm looking forward to having a resource that combines all grades through 5th so we can read about and cover concepts we may have missed (borrowing and carrying, roman numerals).

Anyone have their eye on the waldorf homeschool conference in Portland this summer? It looks really good and I've been hearing about this school for a long time.

 http://www.shiningstarschool.com/Calendar___Events.html

I really would love to incorporate more waldorf into our lives and education. I'm also looking for good ideas to try with my soon-to-be 4 yr old boy, who is very much in his imaginative stage right now and it is so fun to see. I don't remember ds1 being in this stage as fully as ds2 seems to be...

Anyone else have experience with this? I studied waldorf and tried to apply it in our homeschool when ds1 was young but he didn't particularly seem to enjoy the activities, handiwork, wet-on-wet watercoloring, and circle time, seasonal songs as much. It may have been my delivery since I am not waldorf trained, but I'm wonderinf if anyone else experienced this or has thoughts on this? Or ideas on how to incorporate more waldorf into our day at this later age, 7?

[CCJWGM]

Originally Posted by briansmama 

Anyone have their eye on the waldorf homeschool conference in Portland this summer? It looks really good and I've been hearing about this school for a long time.

 http://www.shiningstarschool.com/Calendar___Events.html

Eek.  I was really super excited until I saw the price.  P-town is 1-hour away although $300 is not in my budget.  Eek.  What to do?  What to do?   
 

[LuxPerpetua]

Originally Posted by skyblufig 

subbing, and nak

I know it must have been discussed before, but... any thoughts on Christopherus vs OM? Specifically looking for help with phonics/reading & math for preschool/kindy/1st.

Thanks!

I've recently been looking into OM kindy and 1st as well as christopherus.  Christopherus doesn't really "start" until grade1, which is the year your child will be 7 for most of the year.  They have a kindy book but I haven't found it helpful--it's really more about what rhythm is, doing meaningful work together, baking together, etc.  ALGF also has a kindy book that's similar.  I have it and haven't really found it helpful either.  OM moves a bit faster than other Waldorf resources--like introducing capital letters and numbers 1-10 in kindy--and their samples actually looked pretty good online.  However, when I checked out reviews, they tend to get middle-of-the-road to poor, so I decided against it.  I've heard they have a big spring sale so you could always buy it and then resell it on the Waldorf curriculum yahoo group or on MDC or something if it doesn't work for you.  I've just finished planning kindy and have what we'll be using here: http://canticlesbycandlelight.wordpress.com/  .  I wanted something more than what Christopherus and ALGF offer but something not as "structured" or planned out as OM.  I also have the book edited by Sharifa Oppenheimer called "What is a Waldorf Kindergarten?" which I have found moderately helpful and would recommend for anyone looking for deeper nuts and bolts of Waldorf kindy.

[skyblufig]

Thanks to the reply-ers!  Will check them out much more closely as soon as 3 littles aren't climbing on me like monkeys.