Home School?

Oh, and just look at this typical Waldorf themed playroom: http://www.threesisterstoys.com/t-gallery.aspx I love the feelings that I conjecture just by seeing it. I wish I was all wooden like that -- just way too expensive

We homeschool. Eclectic. We are primarily doing unit studies, using a lot of folk/fairy tales along with "living books" for history.

We are almost done our first year of homeschooling. Currently using Christian Light Publications. May change things up for next year. Want to do some browsing around first.

we use textbooks, but no one publisher.

ChristianDrew said:

Because I was myself home school for 8 years and wonder why many parents home school their children. Also doing research I am uh huh

Regards,
Drew

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Since you where home schooled for 8 years.Is there anything you liked or didn't like?How did you feel about going to school after 8 years of home schooling?Your inpute would be very helpful.

Laurie919 said:

Drew you and your notes....
I personally think that states should have more strict laws on homeschooling.

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The problem I see with is it might be more dangerous to send your kids to public schools or private school.And down here I don't think I don't think the school district or law is doing enough to protect our children.The gangs,prostitutes and druggies are starting to run around down here and having kids that go to public schools.And a lot of teenagers down here are having sex by 12 years old.I don't want that kind of influence around any kids.I for one don't think I could home school so I might have to move to another city or drive about 40 miles ever day to a better school district.

We live in Australia, so the system here is a bit different.

We are doing our fourth year of homeschooling this year and loving it. There are only a couple of homeschooling systems here for us to choose from and we chose to go with a christian school. For us it works fine.

I hope you don't mind if I respond, just for the sake of discussion

MsDahl said:

- I love the gnomes, fairies, connection with mother nature, etc.

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I don't mind gnomes and fairies, but I'm not loving them either.... I think this is why CM's take on nature and nature study hits more home to me. I haven't read any whole books about Waldorf though, just stuff online, and I've looked at the toys.

- The use of storytelling and puppets

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I think I am not very good at this which is why it doesn't attract me

- The way children are taught to read

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I am interested to know what way this is!

- Also, I don't mind the idea of a child writing a main lesson book as in this:

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What does this mean? I don't know what writing a lesson book means...

Leanna said:

I don't mind gnomes and fairies, but I'm not loving them either.... I think this is why CM's take on nature and nature study hits more home to me. I haven't read any whole books about Waldorf though, just stuff online, and I've looked at the toys.

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I have only began reading her material in depth, and I feel similarly to you. The gnomes and fairies themselves isn't what I am attracted to, it is what they represent --- fantasy and magical play. I think this is crucial in assisting a human being to "think outside the box" later in life and be willing to take intellectual leaps.

You are Your Child's First Teacher is written by a Waldorf early childhood teacher and is one of my favorite parenting books. You should see if your library has it. The last name of the author is Baldwin I think.

I think I am not very good at this which is why it doesn't attract me

I am interested to know what way this is!

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Reading instruction begins way before actual instruction begins as it starts with the use of oral storytelling. Engaging the child in a story via body language, facial gestures.....strengthening their listening skills, etc.

Reading is taught very late in Waldorf schools and I disagree with that angle but I do like the way they formally introduce it, I'd just do it at a younger age.

Basically, when the child gets to the age where formal instruction begins, the child first learns through writing. Children learn the origin of the alphabet and how it evolved out of a pictograph and so writing evolves from their art and reading naturally evolves from this as well.

"In teaching reading, indeed all subjects, Waldorf teachers are guided by an overarching principle—to integrate intellectual development with artistic creativity and practical skill. As a pedagogic method, this means that the royal road to awaken thinking and harness the will means engaging the feelings. This educational ideal of balance is supported by contemporary developmental psychology that maps the dynamic interconnections between cognitive development, emotional intelligence, and bodily-kinesthetic intelligence. Finding ways to balance and integrate thinking, feeling, and willing in education through daily practice has important implications for teaching reading in Waldorf schools. "

(excerpt taken from here)

Basically, the teacher reads about a story where the plot is all based on a specific letter. There is a picture of the character shaped in the letter. The children draw the picture in their main lesson book. They form their bodies into this letter. Then they learn that it is the letter K (as the character was King so and so).

I am not well versed on it, this is just what I have gathered in my makeshift research.

As for the main lesson books, well, I won't go into what about it I dislike. I will just mention their purpose. Waldorf students use no textbooks, they instead create main lesson books that become their text for a subject. I like the idea of a child incorporating a topic in an artistic and creative way so the ordinary notebook becomes a work of art. Not only are they more appealing, thus engaging the child more, but they become keepsakes as well. Books that they worked hard on and will naturally feel a certain connection with these books and take some pride in what the books contain.

Ok, here is an example of a 1st graders main lesson book on the alphabet:



Like I said, I disagree with how late reading is introduced but I do like the method applied. But do you see how the fish is in the shape of an F and the geese are in the shape of a G? I love that! I wish I was taught to read in this way...hehe

Here is an awesome Waldorf homeschooling site if you or anyone else found what I said interesting:

http://www.christopherushomeschool.org/

We use a literature rich approach.

bumping for JulySheMustFly....yea for another interested Waldorf parent

We are still up in the air on homeschooling or not. Lots of other things going on right now for us to consider.

MsDahl said:

bumping for JulySheMustFly....yea for another interested Waldorf parent

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After reading the whole thread. I find I agree with most of what you've said. I like the emphasis on arts, hand on, imaginative play, the connection with nature and rythm and seasons. At first I had trouble with the student created lesson books. Now, I get the idea but feel they need to be in conjunction with hard text based on the need of the child. I know that I can create something at one time then go back to review it and be totally confused so in that case a reference text would be helpful. I'm also not ken on how late formal reading begins but that may have something to do with how eager my own children are to learn to read.

I like that they acknowledge there is a spiritual aspect to life. They don't have a particular religious view but understand that people are spiritual and the world is connected to the spiritual aspect of our selves. I also love this concept,

the fact is that the world is shaped by people, not people by the world. However, that shaping of the world is possible in a healthy way only if the shapers are themselves in possession of their full nature as human beings.

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I feel strongly this is where many other organized school fall short especially public schools. I love the focus in the first 8 years of Waldorf to be about interaction with peers and learning through that not movies, computers and other forms of media. Another bonus imo is that typically a teacher is with the same class for the first 8 years of learning. No stress from year to year of what will my teacher be like or informing a new teacher of the same struggles your child has each year etc. But, then if I do things at home they will have the same teacher anyway. I also like how science is taught from an observation perspective not a theory perspective. I never "got" science until I understood how it played out in the world around me first. Moving from my surroundings to the details behind it was much better for me than the way science was taught when I was going through school.

We probably will. I wouldn't rule out the possibility of a good Christian school if there was an affordable one with decent teaching available in our area. Still, DH and I are such education snobs now, I don't think we could tolerate our kid learning stupid, useless or offensive things or otherwise being forced to waste a lot of his time. I'm guessing we would write our own curriculum though - something based off the Great Books. We'll probably use the Hillsdale Academy Reference Guide to get ideas.

We do!
We use a combination of Charlotte Mason, unit studies, lots and lots of books, and hands on (for my kinesthetic).
We're enjoying My Father's World, just now
Rachel

We also homeschool. I've taken a relaxed, eclectic approach. We use textbooks for math and grammar and lean toward unit studies for other subjects.

JulySheMustFly said:

At first I had trouble with the student created lesson books. Now, I get the idea but feel they need to be in conjunction with hard text based on the need of the child. I know that I can create something at one time then go back to review it and be totally confused so in that case a reference text would be helpful. I'm also not ken on how late formal reading begins but that may have something to do with how eager my own children are to learn to read.

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Same issues here. I like the main lesson books but I don't like the idea of no textbooks, however, I do prefer trade books over a giant textbook of random facts. Many of the reasons of what I dislike are why I am not gung ho on an actual Waldorf school.

About the late start to reading, what I appreciate is the protection of the child's innocence and magical aspect to childhood. I appreciate that the goal is to not ground children in such higher level thinking before they are developmentally ready to handle it. So, while I would never push my child to start reading before the age of 6 or so, I would never dream of stopping him from reading before that if he showed an active interest and was developmentally able to handle the task of learning to read. Additionally, I expose him to books regularly and have since he was a newborn (this is also not aligned with Waldorf thinking). With all that said, I LOVE the way they formally teach reading and I am nearly certain that I will incorporate much of this method with my child (as I believed similarly before I even heard of Waldorf as I am a fan of Howard Gardener and his theory of Multiple Intelligences)

I like that they acknowledge there is a spiritual aspect to life. They don't have a particular religious view but understand that people are spiritual and the world is connected to the spiritual aspect of our selves.

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Yes, I can appreciate that they acknowledge the whole child in Waldorf pedagogy. I am a fan of holistic teaching (mind, body and soul). As for Waldorf teachers not having any particular religious views, I disagree. For a short while I considered going back to school to become a Waldorf trained teacher and there are several Steiner schools in my area. When I saw the course requirements of the teachers, I was turned off. The teachers are required to study in depth Anthroposophy, which is the type of "religion" Rudolf Steiner founded along with Waldorf schools. They will say they don't advocate religious beliefs but it is next to impossible to separate these beliefs as it is interwoven in their teacher preparation coursework. Although I find Anthroposophy interesting, I don't care to have my child taught by anyone who is clouded with these principles. For example, I have encountered teachers that don't believe in intervening when a child is being "bullied" on the playground as the teachers believed it as the child's way of working out past issues (karma like). There are many things that I find a bit eerie about Anthroposophy in general.

I love the focus in the first 8 years of Waldorf to be about interaction with peers and learning through that not movies, computers and other forms of media. Another bonus imo is that typically a teacher is with the same class for the first 8 years of learning. No stress from year to year of what will my teacher be like or informing a new teacher of the same struggles your child has each year etc.

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I agree about the media comment but I do think that they pit media to be this enormous "evil" aspect to childhood and I think pure Waldorf thinkers can get cult-like in their stance and in pushing this on others. About the same teacher for 8 years, I haven't really come to terms with that. I think 8 years is too long, I think it should be one teacher for the primary grades (1-3) and another for the elementary grades (4-6) would be more ideal to me. For one, I think it is healthy to have to adjust to a new authority figure in a child's life as I belief it encourages adaptation and flexibility socially. I also believe that it is understood that a teacher is not going to connect with all her students all the time. If my son happens to be one of the students she didn't connect with, he'd be "stuck" with her for 8 years (which does have pros as he'd have to learn how to interact with a person he may not have chemistry with but I don't think a child of 5, 6, 7 should have to deal with these social issues).

I also like how science is taught from an observation perspective not a theory perspective. I never "got" science until I understood how it played out in the world around me first. Moving from my surroundings to the details behind it was much better for me than the way science was taught when I was going through school.

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Yes! Another aspect to Waldorf that I like, the method of teaching Science. I am big on nature tables (I actually wrote my latest article for CF newspaper on this topic), we have a makeshift one for now. I plan on researching this further when I write my little "research" paper over the summer of my intentions for my son's education.

Yes, i homeschooled my oldest for 8 yrs. (he is turning 20 this year) and i plan on homeschooling my youngest two and am starting luke with some pre-school wkbks this summer.

With my oldest i started out with Christian Liberty academy the first two years and slowly became eclectic based on stuff i learned. We used Saxon Math for a few years and enjoyed it and i started incorporating alot of Charlotte mason like nature journals, copywork, narration, living books and other CM ideas.

i plan on using alot of CM with the younger two as well as some Montessori , some worksheets and probably some hands on Math like Math-U-See or Miquon math. I am still up in the air on a few things.