[wish]

Hey mamas,
We are REALLY leaning to hs and I'm super excited about it. I am interested in using some cirriculum as dh and I both work. We are pretty "waldorf" right now, as dd attends a waldorf preschool. I am looking to buy used stuff, but when I check out the sites most of it seems to be religious based stuff (and not trying to put that down at all, just not what I am looking for). I know of Live ed, Christopherus and Oak meadow but not sure what other good programs are out there?? I like the waldorf stuff but am curious about other options. Right now we are basically looking at K, so its not a big deal, but I enjoy learning out the differences

. Thanks!

 

[numericmama]

Hello,

We are a secular family in our 2nd year of homeschooling using the Enki curriculum. We really like it. It is "spiritual" in that Waldorf and Waldorf type curriculums are inherently spiritual, but nothing overt and we are comfortable with it.

 

[Annikate]

Yep, just coming over to say that it sounds like you'd love Enki also. We do!

:

Check it out here:
http://www.enkieducation.org

I wrote a short blog post about it here: (and will be adding much more more.)
http://www.homeschoolinflorida.com/t...i-strive-for/+

 

[bendingbirch]

Hi there,
There are many Waldorf-influenced curriculums out there, some are "truer" to Waldorf than others....I have a list of Waldorf consultants on my blog (www.theparentingpassageway.com) which may help. Enki (which to me is not really Waldorf but Waldorf-inspired), Live Education!, Christopherus materials by Donna Simmons, A Little Garden Flower by Melisa Nielson, Eugene Schwartz has materials; all of these come to mind.
Many of us write our own Waldorf Curriculums, but I can understand wanting something planned for your first year of homeschooling.....You are starting first grade, I believe you said? And your child will be close to seven then?
There are many posts on my blog about homeschooling Waldorf first grade as well...

 

[bendingbirch]

Sorry, I just realized you said Kindy. In my opinion, you don't need too much curriculum-wise for Kindy, although many of the sources I mentioned do have a Kindergarten curriculum. I don't know if you are looking at the six-year old year or younger - the six year old Kindergarten year is a bit different than the other years. But overall, homeschooling Waldorf Kindergarten is more a time for you to establish rhythms in your home, time for you to investigate the festivals and how you would like to bring them home, time for you to develop your own skills, and time to be outside a lot. Once you get those things down, you can start looking at verses and songs and fairy tales. Cooking, gardening, baking, wet on wet painting, modeling, woodworking, singing and music, housekeeping, preparing for festivals, oral storytelling and puppetry are all parts of Kindergarten. Kindergarten is a lot of fun!

One other thing to consider is that Kindergarten is a good time to become familiar with the whole scope and sequence of the Waldorf curriculum so that you know what comes where and what areas of the curriculum actually do tie back into the kindergarten and build up from there.Hope that helps,

 

[Annikate]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bendingbirch Enki (which to me is not really Waldorf but Waldorf-inspired), Live Education!, Christopherus materials by Donna Simmons, A Little Garden Flower by Melisa Nielson, Eugene Schwartz has materials; all of these come to mind.

Yes. Enki is not Waldorf, but is inspired somewhat by Waldorf - particularly the integrated arts approach to Waldorf education. Enki is its own thing entirely.

Here's a quote from one of the Enki Teaching Guides:

Quote:

Enki Education is an independent program that draws on the wisdom of the many contemplative traditions; central among them are the Shambhala teachings. All these traditions seek to foster the openness and frearlessness that allow us to experience the inherent sacredness in our world.

There is more but that's a glimpse.

 

[Jackpackbaby]

We are going to try Sonlight as first time HSers. I know it is very religious but can be made secular by removing the biblical readings apparently (I am hopeful this is true because I am not religious at all). We are using Sonlight Core K with Readers K. The cool thing is we bought the books used and saved about 130.00 total from just the Core and Science portion. Overall buying used saxon math K and new handwriting without tears we saved about 180-200.00!! The only thing we had to buy new is the science since it is is updated for 2009 and the books were not any cheaper used than new and the core instructor guide, calendar, reading schedule and fun tales. Those we are getting directly from sonlight since they updated everything this year.