Waldorf Homeschool Planning with Your Own Temperament in Mind

There are so many factors for us in gathering our planning and making it stick. If you can get through the rhythm part then you have half the battle won! I think looking at our own temperament is an important element in the planning and more importantly the executing of our plans. 

In general, sanguines are great planners, but execution is their weakness. Cholerics have it all planned and are ready to execute but struggle with keeping it alive. Both have a wonderful abundance of will - if it can be tamed. Phlegmatics often struggle with getting the plan in place AND executing - putting off the planning and then looking at pretty blogs online can keep us from actually DOING the work. Melancholics tend to put off the planning and the execution because they are really worried that they will mess something up. Both of these temperaments have to work on balancing by building up the will where it lacks. The will is a funny thing - balance here is key, you don't want too much or too little.

I am a choleric-sanguine... good mix, most days - but it can have down sides too. My down sides can include not being conscious enough about a lively lesson and getting blinded by the "just get it all done" attitude.

To bring the best of ourselves to the table for a planning session, think ahead a bit.

What things keep you from doing it?
Are you putting it off because of fear or procrastination?
Or do you have too many materials that you need to whittle down?

If you have too many materials, then you have to ask yourself if you are a collector or a doer. A collector grabs curriculum from all the curriculum supply lists, pulls stuff from this blog here and that blog there, has a copy of our curriculum and just for good measure - to make sure she doesn't miss anything, she also asks her parents to buy that expensive one as a birthday gift for her. She has to have everything in front of her. If this is you, step back. Do you fully understand Waldorf? If you do then this is not needed, this can actually hinder you from putting lessons together. If you are struggling with the curriculum, then consider joining  Thinking Feeling Willing, attending planning for peace, office hours or scheduling a consult.

Keep in mind there is no perfect curriculum, all of them will require some degree of work on your part. Ours is more planned out than many and I give superior support, but in the end, no matter what curriculum you choose, you will have to put forth the effort to plan.

If you are choleric and your plans were hammered out months ago, then my challenge to you is to go back and make sure you have enough elements in your lessons to keep it all alive. If you haven't started, then get busy and be mindful as you are working to keep the artistic portions of the curriculum as something you are continually working on personally so you can freely bring them to your child. 

If you are sanguine and you are just getting to your planning, realize that one of your weaknesses will be to over plan and then get flustered and blow it off. So plan in depth and plan realistically. Ask yourself what your weaknesses are and go from there. You don't want to get in over your head and then not feel like you have the tools to complete the lessons. Slow down. Ask yourself, "What is essential?" Keep that in mind with each lesson you plan.  This will help you not get overwhelmed. 

If you are phlegmatic, then we just need to get you busy! It is really easy to put things off. Your job is to ask yourself what made you fall in love with Waldorf - that should be your focus. You have a tendency to get excited about a project and then stick to it, so work with that. Take your love of the curriculum and artfully craft a plan for your year.  Work hard to keep up your rhythm, this will be your safe place. Practice your skills and lovingly bring them to your child.

If you are melancholic, STOP WORRYING!  Stop researching!  Stop stressing that you can't do this.  Do not let fear, guilt and all that poo stop you. You have done the reading, you have practiced the art, now put it all together. You can do this. Be strong. Know that intention is a huge part of what you are doing with your child.  

Watch our YouTube playlist on Temperament here. 
You can also watch the Auriel's Light Gathering replays to dive deeper into Temperament here.