This post is for the masses... for mamas that are contemplating divorce and for those who have to report to the government each year.

First... those contemplating divorce... look at your state laws.  What do you currently have to do for homeschooling?  If you live in a state that requires you to report then you are probably well covered in a divorce situation, the law already requires that you inform the state of your actions, this will likely help you in court, just know the law and be prepared for a judge that doesn't so that you can quote it to him or her should you need to.  This becomes an issue when soon-to-be ex's are getting cranky about homeschooling.  If the state requires you to report, I suggest you just give your ex a copy of everything you are handing in for the state. Make your life easier.

Now if you live in a state where there are no laws, you also need to be ready to let your judge know. Many just assume that homeschooled children take the same tests that their scho...

I get this question a lot.  My answer is yes and no.  You don't HAVE to read Steiner in order to have a Waldorf inspired homeschooling experience. BUT, to begin to really understand the work of Waldorf from a spiritual aspect and even from a practical aspect after the first few years, you will need to begin to delve into some of his actual writings. They aren't scary - I promise! 

One of the things I get very troubled about is those who tend to take Steiner out of context or even take things a bit too far.  I know Waldorf appeals to many faith bases, from a very loose base of those who do not walk a structured religious path, to those who have a pretty rigid path.  Interestingly, both extreme ends have trouble with a lot of Steiner's work.  As we learn to walk with an open heart though, we can begin to see his truths within our own lives and children.  In order to do this we must be open to hearing and seeking to understand a message that we may not agree with - you don't have to agre...

Penmanship

My oldest, now an adult was my first experience with teaching handwriting. Those were some frustrating days.  He has ASD (autism spectrum disorder) and while you wouldn't know it now to look at him, talk to him or have him teach you something, if you look at his handwriting you might wonder. Mainstream society would feed us a line of "oh boys typically have poor handwriting."  While this is the case, in general, is that an excuse?  They are male so they should write sloppy? My dad has beautiful handwriting - in fact so much so that my mom makes him address the holiday cards! 

Handwriting is a will based activity.  Having good handwriting takes time and practice.  What happens though if you have a child with poor muscle tone and writing seems almost painful?  This is often the case with many autism spectrum children. I was really trying to think about how we did things in those early days with my son.  I stumbled upon one of my planning journals from his grade 1 year - he w...

Steiner's suggestions:

Grade 6-8: Practical gardening. cultivating the soil, tending and harvesting plants.  Repeating this through these three years helps them understand rotation.

Grade 9: Focus on vegetable gardening, tending to flowers, fruit-bearing shrubs and trees.

Grade 10: Thinning out of trees and shrubs.  It is also suggested that manuring be discussed during this time as well as sustainable agriculture.  At this age they can really begin to make some strong opinions based in facts - show them all kinds of agriculture.

Now of course there is the discussion that children should have a knowledge of farming in grade 3 - this is so true!  This easily goes with the studies of the year.  Adam and Eve had a garden and then when they were cast out, they had to learn to farm and garden without the help of it being started for them.  A child of this age should be gardening alongside Mom, harvesting, cooking, etc. This is very cooperative. As they grow, you can allow them to be a b...

Well Mrs. Bossy Pants... how are you doing today? I can poke fun at Mrs. Bossy Pants, because she is my base temperament.  As I have gotten older, I have mellowed a LOT. However... back me up against the wall and I will become Mrs. Bossy Pants to protect myself!

Mrs. Bossy Pants generally likes to be in control... prefers complete control, but will settle for partial control if she must.  She doesn't often work well with other Mrs. Bossies unless the other ones are completely competent and know what they are doing.  Then this mama can kick back a bit because she can trust another leader.  Mrs. Bossy Pants probably started planning for the new school year at least six months early and if she didn't, she will make it a priority to take a weekend and get it done.  She knows how to get things done.  She is a doer.  Being a doer is a GREAT thing!  She loves check lists and gets glee in marking things finished.

Sometimes my parenting backfires.
Does that ever happen to you?
Do you ever just start talking and somehow the wrong words are coming out and you are not sure how to stop them? 
I don't need to be perfect to be a good mom. Neither do you.

An example of my resident phlegmatic, Super Sam. Asks for his piece of comfort. He would like a full belly and a good television show. (GASP! Yes, TV!) For the phlegmatic child, no amount of TV is generally enough. It isn't that they are lazy, it is that they seek comfort. Older phlegmatic children and adults will often want to curl up with a book or even a book on tape. As a mom with children of all temperaments, I have to say that the phlegmatic is probably the most calm, most pleasant, most even tempered child to parent. UNLESS. Unless you need to go somewhere. Unless you need them to hurry up. Unless you need them to eat their breakfast so you can get out the door. Unless you have to be across town in ten minutes and they can't find their shoes or worse they know where their shoes are but they haven't even started putting them on and you asked them to do it ten minutes ago and can't they see you are in a hurry?! Then they look up at you with the sweetest eyes and tears are welling ...

In our series Crafting a Healthy Home Rhythm, I discussed mental health as an important aspect of  having a healthy rhythm and home life for your family.  Temperament is part of that mental health.  Temperament isn't something that Steiner invented, although today his work and the work that goes with Waldorf education is probably the most popular use of it.  When we read about temperament, we are usually reading about it for the children.  Most resources are written for the teacher to apply in the classroom and therefore have us as parents focusing our work completely on the child's temperament.  I believe this is very backward. My guess is that in Waldorf teacher training, they spend some time on this part of adult biography in their foundation studies, so the literature that is written, often assumes that the the adult has done this work for themselves or is at the very least working on it. Most parents are not in this position and generally only come to temperament as a means of und...

Hopefully you have had a little time to contemplate how you want your home to feel.  Now lets talk a bit more about how to get it that way. One big hot button for me is the decline of morality in our society. Things that would have never been ok twenty years ago seem to be ok now and it spills over into our parenting.  

As our children are tiny (0-5) some of the best things we can do is just remove them from the situation - even if we don't want to leave.  I have left the store... restaurants... friend's homes... so many times, but I sent one message "your behavior isn't appropriate, we are leaving."  There is nothing more irritating than leaving a cart of groceries, lol... well there is something more irritating... a child that is out of control!  Sam  learned this lesson well, lol, he reminded the big kids as we walked into the grocery store "Mommy said I can have a pear on the way home, please don't get crazy or she won't buy the pear!" He was 5 years old and understood the rules.....