Our Waldorf Homeschool Journey

Hi Everyone,

Jules has flu, again, and has been doing school in bed, bit by bit. So Grade 4 is plodding slowly at present. Frustrating but it can’t be helped.

But now, StJohn’s Grade 1,well…He’s rocking at the moment. He’s excited and is just tackling every bit of work he possibly can. He’s doing the waldorf curriculum, so at the moment as far as numbers go, he’s learning all about polly plus. He’s adding so easily.

It’s amazing how simple it can be when there is a love of learning. I’ve been lucky with him, as he only went to a playgroup for a few months (a couple of years back), so I don’t have to overcome mental blocks. The way I did with Juliette. She had a fear of just about everything, which took a while to get around. StJohn’s just ready and excited and constantly wants more info.

It’s so amazing to watch him adding on his still chubby baby fingers. Ooooh he’d go beserk if he heard me say that! But they are! His fingers still have that baby look, not a young mans hands yet. (Hey, you know what I mean)

Anyway, we were busy with his letters today and yesterday. Yesterday we went out into the garden to make letters out of stones. (The whole idea with waldorf teaching, in respect of letters is that they become a part of the child, they’re 3 dimensional, so the next step of stringing them together just smoothly happens. Pretty cool to watch the absorbing of knowledge)

Anyway, I digress, again! I asked him yesterday to go and put on his winter hat and coat, and to join me outside for lettering writing with stones. He ran upstairs got ready and was excited. I sat on a bag of organic mulch (just happened to be next to a pile of small stones, hey, I can pick the writing spot I’m the Mama!) Needless to say he had the greatest fun as we decided which letters to write and he did them all without any help from me. Then we came inside, took of our jackets and had hot chocolate. He was glowing and seemed happy. We chat really easily together, always have.

Then last night, as I’m clearing the dinner table I hear him telling his Dad about the stone writing, and he says,”Yes, she made write in stones, in this wind. Can you believe it?” His Dad packs up laughing. I turn around, shocked, and say,”But I thought you were having a good time. You must tell me if you’re not happy.”

Wait for it..StJohn looks straight at me and says,”Got you!” and then he’s rolling around laughing.

He’s 6 years old, has no front teeth and he’s teasing me. Okay, he got me. Yes he did! Hmmph!

Anyway, he did a worksheet, this morning as he wanted to practice polly plus. He enjoys sitting with his chickpeas (we use them as counters) and working out his sums.

Oh and we baked some biscuits today. It’s so important for kids to bake. There are so many reasons why! We made letters out of the dough. If you’re wanting to bake with your kids and not wanting it to e a huge hassle, do yourself a favour and get Conquering Bakers Day . Its a book we wrote that includes stunning recipes, but more importantly a step by step stress free way of baking. Tonight, I checked the cookie jar…3 left! So the cookies are obviously yummy.

Some were eaten by Juliette’s friends who came to keep here company while she’s feeling under the weather. So we’re not complete pigs! They tend to run into our house and head for the kitchen. Apparently they dig my baking, or so they tell me.

Anyway more tomorrow. I’m desperately trying to keep my blog up to date. Time is a bit stretched at the moment. Or am I stretched? Too tired to comprehend. I’ll leave it at that for tonight.

Off to have a bath and hopefully an uninterrupted sleep. Thats another story. I’ll tell you tomorrow.

Blessings to you all,

Susan

Filed under: Homeschool on May 13th, 2008