Earth Day provides us a wonderful opportunity to celebrate and reflect on ways we can honor the earth. Waldorf education acknowledges the value of toys, fabrics, activities, and art supplies that are made of sustainable and/or biodegradable materials. (ie. wood, wool, silks, natural dyes, and beeswax) But, does that mean when we enter Waldorf we should throw away all the plastic, paraffin wax, and acrylic/synthetic materials? No, not at all. Not only is replacing all those items very pricey, but it is not necessarily the most sustainable practice. After all, reduce is only part of the solution...we can also reuse and recycle. Below you'll find a video Melisa put together to open a dialogue around using items that may not be traditionally Waldorf (but would be a great opportunity to reuse what you may already have at home).
*Scroll to the bottom for a fun Earth Day activity!
Related Videos
Why Is Waldorf so expensive: https://youtu.be/InuQC-prDCA
00:02 good morning most Neal self all their
00:05 potentials I hope you had a wonderful
00:07 weekend I hope that you are ready to
00:10 greet your weak in fact fact I want you
00:15 all to just doesn't matter where you are
00:18 right now I want you to affirm that
00:23 you're gonna show up as your best self
00:24 today and so I want you to say that if
00:27 you're listening and you're watching
00:29 life go ahead and type it into the
00:31 comments I want you to say I will show
00:34 up as my best self today it's so so so
00:37 easy to not show up as their best self
00:39 we've got we're exhausted I get it we
00:41 were we had Eric calls from boomerang
00:43 kid when she does is she's like up and
00:45 down up and down all night long and so
00:49 we get it we understand what it's like
00:51 when you have kids that are up all night
00:53 and you're exhausted and you just want
00:56 to crawl back under the covers and
00:57 that's not possible
00:58 and so there's that there's you know
01:01 stresses that come from teaching kids
01:04 that might not be doing exactly what you
01:07 need them to do or showing up exactly
01:09 how you're hoping that they would show
01:10 up and so my prayer for you today is
01:14 that you will just realize I will show
01:16 up as my best self today and and if you
01:19 can just say that out loud right now
01:21 even if your kids are standing around no
01:24 matter where you are just say I will
01:26 show up as my best self today and and
01:28 just really work to to embody that I
01:31 will show up as my best self today and
01:33 just say that say that over and over
01:34 because when we say it it starts to
01:38 change those grooves in our brain and so
01:39 we can start to say that rather than man
01:42 today sucks or I wish I had to do over
01:45 or all of those other things so start
01:47 with I will show up with my best self
01:49 today so that's just my little
01:52 affirmation piece as we get started here
01:54 the topic today is but it's not Waldorf
01:58 which i think is a funny topic it's
02:01 actually something that comes up a lot
02:02 we have a lot of families that come to
02:05 us and say I want to do this and I want
02:07 to do
02:07 but I know that's not Walter and I want
02:11 to stop you first and I want to affirm
02:14 what is Walter so what is Waldorf it's
02:18 actually pretty simple and so so many
02:22 things can fold into this so I want you
02:24 to remember this when you start to say
02:27 bad things to yourself about oh it's not
02:29 Waldorf or I can't do this because it's
02:31 just not Waldorf so I want you to
02:33 remember these things Waldorf is
02:36 age-appropriate material at the right
02:39 time and lively lessons that's it I mean
02:45 yeah there's a lot of other
02:46 underpinnings that go into it
02:48 but when you start to judge everything
02:50 that the that maybe your child is
02:53 interested in or you want to bring to
02:55 your child or your family does for fun
02:56 all of those things when you have all of
02:59 those things coming up and you start to
03:01 judge them and go oh but it's not
03:02 Waldorf then you want to be really
03:05 really careful about you know what
03:09 you're saying to yourself because here's
03:11 the thing Walter if is an amazing
03:13 amazing method of Education and it's one
03:16 that doesn't have to be in this box so
03:19 let's let's talk about examples so um it
03:23 was on a group the other day and a mom
03:25 had said she had said I somebody was
03:30 asking a question about you know like
03:32 violence in sporting events and while
03:37 most I would actually most is probably
03:40 too much many well their families do not
03:43 enjoy sporting events away maybe a more
03:46 mainstream family does that doesn't mean
03:48 it's not Walter the part that isn't
03:50 Waller is when you have a five-year-old
03:52 and you're pushing them into competition
03:55 that's the part that's not older but if
03:58 you're enjoying a game as a family and
04:00 that's part of your family culture then
04:03 it's absolutely Walter in fact Steiner
04:05 said something about and I'm going to
04:07 mess it up so I'm not going to even try
04:08 to quote it but he said that if it's
04:10 part of your family culture and he said
04:12 he was talking about religion at the
04:13 time like if you if this is part of your
04:16 religious practice of course you
04:18 wouldn't stop doing it
04:19 it just
04:20 it's not Waldorf or not the not the
04:24 right time for whatever it was that you
04:26 know you were bringing to your child but
04:29 you you would do it because it's your
04:30 family culture so if it's part of your
04:32 family culture to watch football on
04:34 Sundays or hockey on Tuesdays great
04:37 that's part of your family culture and
04:39 you should continue to do that even if
04:41 you don't think that that's Walter
04:42 in fact I should say one of our thinking
04:45 feeling willing that hurts
04:46 it's a wife of a pro football player so
04:50 there's nothing about it not being
04:52 Waldorf what again what the parts that
04:56 aren't is when we're pushing pushing
04:57 pushing young children so another thing
04:59 that somebody might say is and we
05:02 actually have this our old our middle
05:05 son was way into BMX he loved riding his
05:08 bike he loved competing and he was about
05:11 9 or 10 wasn't he yeah he was - he was
05:14 he was over 9 he was overnight and it
05:17 was good for him he was very melancholy
05:20 that's how he was showing up at the time
05:21 very melancholy with a hint of sanguine
05:24 and I sort of flipped more sanguine and
05:26 melancholy but you know that that was
05:29 what he loved to do so as a family that
05:32 was our culture we showed up for him we
05:34 did those things for him so beyond like
05:36 extracurricular activities that people
05:38 might say oh that startled or what about
05:41 if your child is like way into something
05:44 and you're and they're really excited
05:46 about it and they want to dive deep but
05:48 it's it's there they're too young or by
05:51 well they're sinners they'd be too young
05:52 so I would say first explore what it is
05:55 are we talking in quantum physics are we
05:58 talking you know heart surgery
06:01 are we talking just a child that really
06:03 loves Egypt so I think that you have to
06:06 sort of weigh out what it is that they
06:08 are really loving and and look at where
06:11 they are
06:12 age-wise and and are they do they have
06:16 enough skills to go deep I think the
06:18 thing that that's most important is to
06:20 realize that as they grow their
06:23 intellect grows so the intellect of an
06:25 eight-year-old that's a really really
06:27 really into studying the space program
06:30 is not going to be the same
06:32 as a 14 year old or 15 year old that's
06:36 really interested in the city's program
06:37 so I think it's it's very important that
06:40 well you might give them a variety of
06:44 things to read about say the space
06:46 program they're going to take it much
06:48 differently when they're younger than
06:50 they want when they're older and so you
06:52 want to also keep in mind okay well
06:55 we've covered this now they're really
06:57 excited about it now
06:58 I probably still need to cover it when
07:00 they're when it's the right time I
07:02 remember when my oldest he was all about
07:06 Egypt and there were those books that
07:08 they have you can see a Barnes and Noble
07:10 sometimes it's like Egyptology or
07:13 something like that and then there's
07:14 ones that they have on dragons and
07:16 there's what so it's like it's more like
07:17 a folklore than it would be anything
07:20 else I mean yeah there's some great
07:23 tidbits in there and and bits of
07:26 information but it looks like it's a
07:28 dive deep kind of book but it's more of
07:30 a commercial kind of book about the it
07:34 was about the pyramids and it was about
07:36 mummies but it wasn't actually about the
07:40 different time periods in Egypt it
07:43 wasn't actually about like the depth and
07:45 he was all over it and I could have said
07:48 oh wait you're not ready yet but I just
07:51 sort of let him do it because he had a
07:53 love for it at the time he was in fourth
07:56 grade and I knew we were going to study
07:57 it in fifth grade and what ended up
07:59 happening is he had a great time with it
08:01 in fourth grade but I made it not a
08:04 lesson so I think that that's really
08:06 important we have a child that's really
08:08 into something don't dive in and go oh
08:10 we're gonna learn everything about it I
08:12 make it a lesson let them have their own
08:14 pace ender because sometimes what
08:15 happens I've been this overzealous mom
08:18 sometimes what happens as we go
08:20 others are excited about it let's get
08:23 everything about Egypt at the library
08:25 I've totally been that mom excuse me but
08:29 it wasn't about Egypt it was something
08:31 else
08:31 so so he really wanted it and where it
08:33 really was into it so I sort of let him
08:36 do his thing I let him have fun with it
08:38 he was a budding reader he had struggled
08:41 um
08:41 you know a bit and so he was really
08:43 excited about
08:44 wanting to read so I was like sure of
08:46 course you can devour this book have a
08:48 good time and then what happened when we
08:51 actually did Egypt in school was he was
08:54 like whoa there's so much more here than
08:56 I understood because that book that
08:59 thing that he was devouring was not the
09:02 totality of it and so then we were able
09:03 to really go deep when it was time and
09:06 so I want you to feel like when you're
09:09 looking at you know planning for next
09:12 year bring in the things that your kids
09:15 love but don't go all crazy and and make
09:19 it a lesson you can't make it may be a
09:21 short lesson but don't go all crazy
09:23 because what tends to happen when we
09:25 become that moments like overzealous
09:27 about something like oh my gosh they're
09:28 friendly excited about something I have
09:30 to like do it to death
09:31 what it tends to happen is that then
09:34 they get sick of it so don't do that to
09:38 yourself instead let them be open about
09:41 it let them pick resources about it that
09:43 they want let them have fun and be in
09:46 that space of being excited about
09:48 something and you don't have to have a
09:50 lot to do with it you can't say hey do
09:52 you want to do some lessons on this most
09:55 kids will probably say no mom that says
09:58 don't go oh we're gonna get a lesson but
10:01 we're gonna don't do that because you
10:03 you don't want to unless they prompt you
10:05 because you don't want to you know like
10:08 I said get overzealous about it and then
10:10 have that it will kill their their
10:12 desire so so just let it unfold and you
10:17 know if it's not in the timeline of
10:19 where they are with with lessons what I
10:21 generally tend to do is they look at
10:24 when are we going to actually cover this
10:26 topic and if it's something that we're
10:28 like never gonna cover well not never
10:30 but you know it's not part of the
10:32 curriculum so it would be something that
10:34 I was excited about and pulled in if
10:36 it's something like that then we're will
10:40 absolutely dive dive into it if it's
10:42 something that maybe they're going to
10:43 cover in the next lesson block or
10:45 something that is definitely
10:47 age-appropriate material I will
10:48 absolutely oops sorry okay to the tripod
10:51 oh absolutely
10:53 jump in and and
10:57 we'll do some lessons about it but only
10:59 if it's from a like they're excited
11:02 space I want to be really careful and I
11:05 think that that this is definitely in
11:07 line with what Steiner would have said
11:09 because he said we're not we're not
11:10 teaching college-level course we're not
11:12 we're not giving them all of the
11:13 information about botany and fifth grade
11:15 we're just giving them those those
11:17 foundations to grow and and that goes
11:21 for all of the lesson blocks because
11:23 what we want is when they're done with
11:25 school we want them to be we want them
11:28 to have their appetite sweated for
11:30 several things so they can then go deep
11:33 about things that they're really excited
11:34 about and that's what they tend to study
11:36 in college or study more of afterwards
11:38 you know whether it be college or trade
11:40 school or even just a career that they
11:42 go towards so so helping them to sort of
11:46 develop that space is really what we're
11:49 looking for it's really what our aim is
11:50 here so we're not like looking to go in
11:53 in crazy amounts like you know college
11:56 level class I always try to remind
11:58 myself especially when we're in high
11:59 school doing high school stuff I want to
12:02 give them the information that is you
12:06 know definitely yes you this is this
12:09 covers it but I always keep in the back
12:11 of my head am i offering you know is
12:14 this a 101 college class because it's
12:16 not that's what you want to keep in mind
12:18 and then if you have a child that that
12:21 you you figure might not go to college
12:23 because maybe their interests are sort
12:25 of outside that and and what they want
12:28 to do there is no college for they just
12:30 more experiential then you might go a
12:32 little bit deeper with that child but if
12:33 you know that child that child's like
12:35 yes I've been wanting to go to Stanford
12:36 since I was six years old then then I
12:39 would leave some space for those college
12:42 level teachers even to go deeper so just
12:44 sort of keep those things in mind when
12:46 you are planning this lesson blocks do
12:48 we have any questions or comments or
12:50 anything over there oh don't I go too
12:52 fast so I was trying to think other
12:55 things that we get the it's not Waldorf
12:58 about you know there's definitely the
13:00 iconic things of Waldorf the wooden toys
13:04 and that the fluff stuff but I also want
13:08 to encourage
13:09 those of you who have dads and maybe at
13:12 you too you know I was thinking dad's
13:13 with he-man collections or Star Wars
13:15 collections but maybe you got a
13:17 Strawberry Shortcake collection that you
13:18 really like or there's something from
13:21 your childhood that you really want to
13:22 bring to your child you know I think
13:24 what's really important is that
13:26 especially in this time that we live pop
13:28 culture is just it's as part of life you
13:31 know most of many of us grew up in the
13:33 70s and some of you the 80s and I'm
13:36 really old so some of you in the 90s too
13:37 and so I know that there are things that
13:41 maybe have been iconic to your childhood
13:43 that you are really excited to share
13:45 with your kids because it was something
13:47 that makes you excited and happy as a
13:48 child and so you want to bring that to
13:51 your child too and I think that that's
13:54 okay we did a video a few weeks ago on
13:57 on Star Wars because they know that's a
14:00 huge topic and so we did this video a
14:02 few weeks ago on that and sort of when
14:04 to bring things in movie wise and story
14:06 wise but when it comes to say you know
14:10 your husband's collection or your
14:11 collection of toys that you've been
14:13 hanging on to just let your kids play
14:15 with them do you know you don't actually
14:17 have to explain everything that's going
14:19 on or what each of the figures mean you
14:22 can just give them to your children to
14:23 play with excuse me
14:26 and if it's something that's really
14:27 important like if you've got vintage
14:28 Star Wars of course you want to sit
14:29 there with it or old he-man figures or
14:33 anything like that that was something
14:35 that excited you you want to not let's
14:37 just go hey just go take them off you
14:38 want to be careful with them and you
14:41 want to help them show respect because
14:42 you know what we appreciate appreciate
14:44 so we want to make sure that we sort of
14:46 show them respect but I think that when
14:50 we are in this box of then we we rob
14:56 ourselves joy and our children possible
14:59 joy too so we want to be really careful
15:02 with that we want to be careful with the
15:03 this idea that we have to be on this
15:06 little Waldorf box because I tell you
15:08 what if you're in that box it's really
15:10 small box and you're gonna rub your
15:12 shoulders and bump up against it and
15:14 that's not what Steiner intended
15:16 sign or antenna that you live life and
15:18 that you bring life into what you're
15:20 doing and and sort of welder has a state
15:22 of mind and when you start getting to
15:25 the place that it's a state of mind
15:26 rather than it's boxes that you have to
15:29 check off or or things have to look a
15:32 certain way then it you could relax and
15:35 it becomes a way of living and way of
15:38 life rather than something that is just
15:40 for school and you're constantly
15:42 worrying about you know is this
15:44 appropriate or or can we be doing this
15:46 rather than just sort of asking yourself
15:50 you know where does this fit in right
15:52 now and and you can do that in a way
15:55 that is not stressful for yourself just
15:58 asking yourself where does this fit
16:00 right now or hey this is okay dad wants
16:03 to enjoy this time with my child and I
16:06 want to see them have fun together and
16:08 and it's okay that it's he mad or it's
16:11 okay that it's Star Wars it's it's okay
16:13 because that doesn't take away from this
16:16 other piece over here I think we really
16:18 spend a lot of time at least I see a lot
16:20 of I'm spending a lot of time and I was
16:22 there a long time ago
16:23 of being in this place of really judging
16:27 everything with the wrong lenses you
16:32 know if we're if we're judging
16:33 everything with this Waldorf lens then
16:37 we're we're going to be stuck in the
16:39 space and and I would definitely say I'm
16:42 a welder purist when it but it I'm a
16:44 purist when it comes to what Steiner
16:46 actually said and the curriculum I'm
16:48 definitely not a welder cultural
16:51 theorist because when it comes to that
16:53 Waldorf culture oftentimes families do
16:56 not realize that what actually goes on
16:59 in a Waldorf teachers home is much
17:01 different than what you think and I
17:04 remember the we were doing some filming
17:06 years ago for a teacher and it never
17:08 ended up going anywhere but it was
17:10 really funny because when Eric was
17:13 filming her she was really stressed out
17:15 because her TV was in the background and
17:17 I was like you know it's alright that
17:19 you have a television actually that
17:22 might help people see that you have a
17:24 television maybe then they won't be so
17:26 stressed out all the time
17:28 you know definitely we're in the space
17:29 of wanting media to be controlled and
17:32 and not have it take over our lives but
17:34 just the fact that you have a TV is not
17:37 a horrible thing you can you can just
17:39 breathe deep it's okay and we'll make
17:41 sure you make people actually think
17:42 you're more real than what you they
17:45 think you are and I think that it's
17:47 really important that we realize that
17:50 those teachers are human beings too they
17:52 have the same exact same struggles that
17:55 you have and maybe not all the same but
17:58 they definitely struggle we have a lot
18:00 of a lot of teachers in our and I think
18:03 you feeling willing program and and
18:05 that's okay because I love them all and
18:08 they all come to learn something
18:09 different and so I I want you to realize
18:11 that you know it it doesn't have to be
18:15 this crazy thing where you have to have
18:18 perfect pictures all the time for
18:19 Instagram or you have to have this
18:21 perfect space just live your live your
18:23 best life and and enjoy yourself and
18:26 have a good time with this curriculum
18:28 and stop stressing about whether or not
18:31 it's Waldorf it's just just dive in
18:34 there and and and ask yourself is this
18:38 meaning my child away need that need it
18:40 too or the way they need it too is more
18:41 important and so yes you want to make
18:43 sure you're doing prayer and meditation
18:45 for your children that that's probably
18:47 the most important thing when you're
18:49 homeschooling not just with water foot
18:52 with anything that you are doing regular
18:54 prayer and meditation about the children
18:56 you're teaching because guess what God
18:58 knows that better than you do whatever
19:00 now and you put on that source knows
19:03 them better than you do and so you want
19:06 to make sure that you're in that space
19:07 of meditating on them on a regular basis
19:10 so that you are giving them bringing to
19:12 them presenting them feeding them
19:15 exactly what they need and the beautiful
19:18 thing about that is it's sort of this
19:19 relationship of you sort of ignite
19:21 something and then because they have
19:23 everything in them I truly believe this
19:25 that we have everything in us when we're
19:27 born it's just about unlocking and in
19:29 drawing that forth at the right time and
19:31 that's really what Waldorf does we've
19:33 draw it forth at the right time and so
19:35 you want to really be attuned to that
19:38 you want to you want to be
19:40 a place where you are you know
19:42 continually seeking guidance about your
19:44 child and not guidance from the internet
19:48 spiritual guidance
19:50 so before you hop on on Facebook and ask
19:53 that question before you pose that
19:55 question to your friends ask source
19:58 first and and sort of be in that space
20:00 of really looking for guidance for your
20:03 child so and that's pretty much it I
20:07 can't think of anything else if you come
20:10 up with something that that falls into
20:12 this category of but it's not Waldorf
20:14 please please please drop me a note drop
20:16 me a DM if you're on Instagram if you've
20:17 got questions if you're on Facebook drop
20:20 me a PM I'm totally happy to answer
20:22 questions or to even have some
20:24 suggestions for future videos
20:28 we're actually going to as the month the
20:32 next month comes because this is the
20:33 last Monday in March I don't know how I
20:36 got here holy cow we're going to
20:39 actually dive deep into some temperament
20:41 stuff in the coming weeks
20:43 so there was that and we're we're really
20:47 excited Eric and I are working on some
20:50 really fun classes that a video series
20:54 and and then we'll have the launch of
20:58 thinking feeling willing again will be
21:00 open and we have some fun awesome
21:04 amazing things that we're bringing to
21:06 that that nobody else has I was super
21:09 excited super super excited about that
21:11 and I'm working on the 2019 planning for
21:14 peace journal so there's that that's
21:17 coming up so there's a lot of things
21:18 that we have coming up that we're super
21:19 excited about and so with that I'm just
21:23 going to leave you all and hope that you
21:24 have a beautiful week that's my prayer
21:27 for you they have a beautiful awesome
21:28 week and that you again if you were not
21:30 with us in the beginning and I want you
21:32 to do this now I want you to say out
21:34 loud and type it in the comments if you
21:36 want it I would love to see you type it
21:38 in the comments but you know I know most
21:40 of you won't so I'm just gonna say it
21:41 say it out loud I will be my best self
21:44 today say it like it doesn't matter if
21:47 you're in the quiet room and you have to
21:49 do whisper it or if you're with you
21:51 to say I will miss my best self today I
21:54 will show up as my best self I will do
21:57 the best that I can and that you know
22:00 sort of holding yourself accountable for
22:02 it even if you're sleep-deprived
22:04 even if you you know aren't feeling good
22:06 show up as best as you can and and be
22:09 the best mom the best partner best human
22:13 that you give me so I think that's all
22:16 you guys have a wonderful week bye
Related Episodes:
Ep. 185 Why is Waldorf so expensive?! : https://www.spreaker.com/episode/41249645
As recycling opportunities re-open, I will add links here. Many donation outreaches, such as Crayola marker recycling and school and library art drives, are currently on pause due to Covid-19 restrictions. Local shelters and secondhand stores are also wonderful places to donate unwanted items as another opportunity to recycle!
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