I am so excited to announce that I am returning to something that I love: book studies! Book studies are such a wonderful way to come together and not only learn from the page but from the insight and experiences of others. And what better book to dive into than The Kingdom of Childhood. It … Continue reading New Book Study – The Kingdom of Childhood
I've been doing a lot of writing lately. With writing comes writer's block. In those gaps of time where the words don't flow, I've noticed I've started doodling forms absentmindedly. Form drawing was one of those topics I was late to integrate into my children's education mostly because I didn't have the knowledge or experience. … Continue reading Form Drawing with Imagery
52 Weeks of Steiner – Week 47 We can notice that boys especially feel a strong need at this age [of fourteen and fifteen]—we only have to discover this and understand it correctly—for: “Everybody must choose his own hero, whom he has to follow on his way to Mt. Olympus.” And it is especially important for … Continue reading Differentiated Needs
52 Weeks of Steiner – Week 46 You see, one of the most essential things in the training of the Waldorf School teachers themselves is receptivity to the changes in human nature. And this the teachers have acquired relatively quickly for reasons which I shall explain. A Waldorf teacher—if I may express myself paradoxically—a Waldorf teacher … Continue reading Nothing Stays the Same
Guten morgen, meine Freunde! Sprechen sie Deutsch? My daughter has always enjoyed learning languages. This year, she is working on German. Previously she's worked on learning Spanish and Japanese, and I'm super happy about adding German to the list because it is part of our heritage and makes it much easier to help her. These … Continue reading Language Learning Tips
Math throughout a Steiner inspired education is incredibly hands on. When my children were in the younger grades, I had a math box full of supplies to help us make math fun, meaningful and hands on. Some of what was in the box was: skipping ropes bean bags deck of playing cards, lego pieces number … Continue reading Hands On Math
52 Weeks of Steiner – Week 13 (This is part of a weekly serial started on Michaelmas 2023. To see the other entries, please see the post linked HERE and scroll down to the bottom for individual links) We must take care in education not to drag everything learned by the children into sentimentality, especially in their … Continue reading On Practicality
Even though we take December off regular schooling, we do use this time to assess our goals and make plans for the next few months. Today we baked some cookies and chatted about the last few months and what we wanted to see going into the new year. Here are some of the things we … Continue reading More of This. Less of That.
A work in progress Art, just like science, is not my strong suit. But we manage with a lot of support from outside sources. My favouirte support is Painting at School by Dick Bruin and Attie Lichthart. Grade nine art lessons are punctuated with lots of work with black and white, light and dark, and … Continue reading Waldorf Grade Nine Art
One thing I love about Steiner education is the gentle unfolding of the curriculum. We are in the midst of a science block, focusing on the head. Starting in grade one, stories are brought to children to paint a picture of the archetypal human being. These stories continue through the elementary years, but deeper looks … Continue reading The Gentle Unfolding
