I get this question often. How do we keep a rhythm with the endless breaks we may be taking for family visiting, the baby that is coming or even just the weekend? How do I keep it going without school as the anchor? 

First things first... realize that rhythm is tied to YOU. As Mom, you have to be on top of your game. At this point, if you are new to this and you are still working on getting up before your children, you may not be totally sold on it being all about you, but my hope is that you are starting to see it. When you do your part (WILLING) then things fall into place and you can then be holding the space, being present and your family will do their part. Start with that impulse to get up and connect with the Divine first thing in the morning.  That means actively (vs. passively) connecting... that means addressing the Deity, opening the prayer, etc. That will look different to everyone, but it is consciously opening a dialog - yes, it will feel odd at first, but it gets easier...

This is a two part post.  Part 1 is HERE.

The first post focused on science through grade 5.  Now we'll tackle what comes next. I do think for homeschoolers, the most important thing to keep in mind is not to be intimidated. Science was never my strong point in school, but I found myself enjoying it so much while I have been preparing for our lessons.  Remember that it is about owning what you do know and blessing it so you can take it to your children - take the time to prepare, not cram, preparation can be as simple as working through the material and letting it sit or it can be actually working through experiments to see the outcome.  So much has to do with how you learn and how you can then transform that learning into a living experience for your child.

Grade 6/Class 6: This year children get a taste of physics with sound, heat, light, magnetism and static electricity. It also digs deeply into geology, minerals of the Earth and their qualities (in relation to geography) as well ...

The topic of “whole to parts” is pretty central to the Waldorf method of teaching – more than just on the math front, as children advance in age the whole to parts theme is evident in their study of zoology and botany as well as other places in the curriculum.  When we teach using whole to parts, it is easy for the children to pick up everything around them as a whole.  For instance the number 12 doesn't stand alone, many things come together to make up 12, and 12 is also a component of many other larger parts.  12 can be 6 X 2, it can be 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 2, it can be 4 X 3 - in our story we are looking at 12 as part of 48.  I hope you will enjoy how it comes together.

Today we are focusing on the introduction of math to a child in grade one.  I like to start the introduction with Roman numerals during the tail end of the letter introduction block via the container story I wrote for the grade, and then do a combination number qualities block before I start the introduction of th...

Ok... I am going to tackle this and try my best to not ruffle feathers, please know that as I write this, I have the purest of intentions and believe that we are all thinking, loving, working beings of Source/God/dess/ Universe. .. what ever you may call it.

As I have worked with Waldorf pedagogy over the years I have noticed a great many things - when I started working with families (first peer counseling and then as a business) I found that our left of the road friends had the same concerns as the right of the road friends when it came to Waldorf and religion.  Non- Christians felt it was too Christian in some areas and Christians often felt like it was too "world view" - but everyone loves the nature stories and the fairies and of course the toys.  Mamas... grade three is the beginning of the nitty gritty... get ready - your child needs YOU to be on top of how you feel about things and needs YOU to be open.  If you are not, as Jodie said, it will shine through... darkness seeps thr...

Common questions:

I came across this great Steiner quote today that I wanted to share.  Really, to me, it comes down to whether or not you have a strong testimony of this method of education - do you believe Steiner's work to be inspired... if your answer is yes then trust nature.  If however you do not have a testimony of his work, then you may need to stand back and evaluate things for yourself.  Now I don't believe that in this text he is addressing those who naturally read on their own, only the abstract nature of teaching a young child to read before giving them an artistic, living background through writing and pictures first.  Plus one other VERY important thing to remember when you begin comparing your child to Johnny down the street is that reading is a process.  Johnny's teacher might say that he can read... but at what level?  Children real...

As a seasoned Waldorf parent, I always appreciate it when I can get a little help in the story telling department! I absolutely love making up stories for my children, just as Steiner recommended, but I always remind myself that for all his brilliance, Rudolf Steiner was not a parent! Making up all the stories is a lofty goal but not exactly practical all the time. Through the years I’ve enjoyed the content in my favorite series by Wynstones press, these have a certain charm between the music and the stories - stories that you can tell time and again. Now I’ve been impressed with a couple new publications that I am excited to review.  I’ll start today with Louis’ Farm. It's a sweet little 45ish page … magazine. This isn’t your ordinary magazine though, there are no ads and no strange glossy images. Instead you have beautiful matte pages of watercolor, transparencies, painting instruction, board games (that are perforated so you can pull them out) and of course, STORIES! Beautiful stori...