I was thinking the other day about two of my favorite resources, The Waldorf Online Library  and The Rudolf Steiner Archives  - I love the audio place too and use them a lot, but there is something about printing out a lecture if I need to and then going after it with a pen and highlighting all the tidbits I need - that makes me a nerd and a waster of paper.  LOL. In all seriousness though, I think these resources are fabulous. I will often pull a lecture from the archive to read and then see if Rudolf Steiner audio has it as well.  I may read, then listen, then go back and read some more.  This is my favorite way to use these two resources.  The Waldorf Library is a bit different, while they have some things written by Steiner, what I really appreciate are the articles written by teachers of all grades, with topics ranging from grammar to circle time to astronomy for middle school!  These things help me be a better curriculum writer...

This can be such a touchy subject - we never want to sound ungrateful or get our children thinking that it is ok to be that way, but as parents, we are allowed to draw the lines on what comes into our homes. There are a few things that I find helpful and that I have worked with over the years.

**Start a few months ahead of big holidays like Christmas and birthdays so you can catch them before they shop. Just gently let them know that you are really working to decrease the toys in your home to help your children not be overwhelmed. Focus on how much this will help the children - try not to focus on how it will help you! Let them know that your focus has become more natural because it is better for them. You can even mention the dangers of plastics if you think this grandparent will listen. Talk about wanting to get back to natural things - appeal to the toys that made this generation happy, simple dolls, wooden blocks, etc. this is very appealing to some grandparents as they remember...

I have always had rules about activities.

I have five kids and have been in many different phases at different times.

The little ones NEED to be home.  
This isn't a want, it is a NEED.  
In fact the children that fight it probably need it more than others!

Balancing activities can be hard for families. I taught a class at a Waldorf school several years back on spiritual parenting and bringing the center back to our lives. One of the participants was a dad that had a child in the school. His complaint was that he was in the car all day, after school there were activities and it was making him crazy - he only had one child! I told him to put his foot down and stop trying to give his son everything. His son really needed DAD. The Dad didn't last long in my class, I wasn't giving him the answer he wanted. Sometimes that happens in life, the answer that is appropriate may not be the one we want to hear.

To maintain a healthy rhythm, keep control of outside activities.

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...

Don't assume that because someone has a pretty blog picture of some beautiful brand new Waldorfy wooden bowl or awesome accessory that their whole house is that way. More likely than not, you are seeing this person's favorite spaces in their home. We all have these. We all have things that we have worked really hard for and while they don't mean much to most people, they mean the world to us. Find nooks and crannies like this in your home. Even if your home isn't exactly what you want, find things about it to love. Waldorf can be done anywhere that there are children, from tiny apartments to farms to modest city dwelling. You don't have to have a big set up with a lot of space.  Chalk boards are nice but you can do without.

You have to learn to really love your home. I know that is a tall order, I have rented a good portion of my adult life and I can’t say there were many that I *loved* - but I did decide early on that if I didn’t find  way to love my house,...

I know, I know - you are rolling your eyes right now thinking "sure she'll talk about that because she only wants us to buy hers!" NOT SO! I want you to buy what is right for your child, your style and your family and that could mean mine or others on the market. My purpose for this blog post isn't to promote us - it is simply to save you headache, heartache and frustration.

It is to save you from standing back and knowing that you have it all and don't know where to start!  Of course there are the moms that come to me and say "but I want to have a lot of options to pull from!" I can understand that, I really can, but take it from some who has experience - too much is TOO MUCH!  It doesn't help you plan better or learn more efficiently, it usually only serves to make you lay awake at night trying to figure out how to piece it all together.

Now I should note that I am not talking to folks who pull together their own mix from scratch, that is a different post all together....

Question: If my child doesn't have their times tables memorized, should I hold him/her back until they do?

Answer: No. In Waldorf, there really is no concept of holding children back like there would be in public school. Of course we always talk about the history & language arts material fitting the child's age, but what about math? I have found that some children pick up math quickly and others are a little poky about it. I firmly stand behind Waldorf math and the way it is laid out and the concepts are introduced. We wrote our math book based on those concepts - all Steiner.

The thought behind it is mastery, but not in the same way that we would in a public school setting.  There are no timed tests. We allow the children to make a times table sheet and we give them the space they need to learn them. Some children are in 4th grade, others in 7th! They will get tired of looking them up and commit them to memory. I have watched it happen with my children at different times....

What is essential? It is a question that Rudolf Steiner tells us to ask of ourselves.  I have been at this a long time and the word essential always stops me… cold.  Of course, like many moms, I love the beauty of a Waldorf home.  Simple, clean lines, beautiful wooden toys, beeswax crayons, soft tones.  The stage is set for such a warming atmosphere – one where we would all love to curl up and stay.   This isn’t Waldorf though – this is materialism. Often when moms can’t have that perfect home they get down, feel depressed or spend every extra dollar on that next wooden toy.  Is this essential?  I say no.  I’ve been at this for many years and yes, we have beautiful play things that we have acquired, we have many of the material desires of the Waldorf heart, but it took me years to obtain them.  Looking back, while I was pining for the look of the...