I tend to get a fair amount of emails this time of year that sound a little frantic.

"We got off track and there is no way I will finish!"

"I am stuck!  We all just want to play and we are not finished."

Sound familiar at all? Or maybe you just didn't intend to have as many sick bugs as you were struck with...or maybe you have a little one that gave you more fits than you expected? So many reasons that we get off track.  The important thing isn't to sit and dwell on the WHY. Now is the time to take stock and think about how you can spend the next 6-8 weeks getting finished up.

Something I always do is look at my original plan, exactly how far off am I?

a week?

a month?

WHAT? You didn't make a plan?

ok, that means you need to email me and set up a consult! I can't fix that in a blog post. I can help you fix a week or a month though. GET SUPPORT HERE

Grade 1: What are you behind on? Letter introduction  How is the process of learning going?  Remember that it is a...

Years ago, we went through our old house with our sweet landlady. She hugged me and said we were the best renters she ever had - and she had MAJOR reservations in the beginning because of the size of our family. She gave me the biggest compliment... she said... "You and Erik are such pioneers. When the Spirit calls you to something you answer right away. I admire that."

I thought about that for a bit... I pondered our lives, what we do, how we do it and what our family means to each other.

I really did think about her words... that we were pioneers. What does that even mean? 
I guess I am one. 

People used to call it being wacky or weird or just plain odd. In my younger days I probably would have just been labeled or given myself a label of "alternative" and that is a fine label if you want to carry it. But pioneering means so much more. I think I had to fully stand in my own biography to grasp it all. When I started out breastfeeding and cloth diapering, I wasn't...

I had a client ask this question and I pondered it a bit. As I have been working through my own planning and also reflecting on my career as a homeschooling mom.

What makes us fail?

All of us have an off year here and there - some of us have several years that are not what we'd like, whether it is a birth, death, divorce, illness... or even just an off time for us as Mom, it happens to us all.  What separates those who fail (or think they fail) from those who don't is one thing...
WILL.

Often those seeming *failed* years aren't - especially if you had a plan. To have a plan, you have to have will. To execute your plan you have to have even more will. To execute your plan in the face of adversity and trials takes a mountain of will. We've had a few gnarly years ourselves and my planning saved me - when I was ill before Sariah was born and on bedrest, that plan kept me sane - when we went through legal battles with my former husband and I wanted to melt into a heep on...

**PLEASE NOTE THAT WE ARE DISCUSSING GRADE 1 AND UP. THIS DOES NOT APPLY TO KINDERGARTEN.**

Being attracted to Waldorf's beautiful lessons is a great place to fall in love, but then there is often a gap in translating that to our homes. It takes time and a great deal of practice. When our curriculum gives instruction to tell the story and draw/paint or model on day one and recall and summarize together on day two, what exactly does that mean? What is your planning part and how do you make that happen?

Let's break it down - first, this is NOT a replacement for proper planning, but consider this post a bit of a crash course.  What sets Waldorf apart is that it touches the WHOLE child.  The main lesson drawings are part of this WHOLE child approach.  This means that each main lesson touches the child: THINKING, FEELING and WILLING.  As part of your learning with Waldorf, it should be your goal to fully take in all that Waldorf is so you can bring it to your child....

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....

I have had a lot of questions about how to cultivate mood at home. I think this is one of those things that you take for granted after you've been at this for a while. We can feel if the mood is off or on. It comes from doing. Reading all the books about the school setting or looking at pretty blog posts won't help with the mood.

One night it struck me. I was watching a silly movie after all the kids were in bed. Ramen Girl. It was a great little feel good movie. In the movie, the girl wants to learn the age old tradition of making Ramen (not the cheap stuff you get at the store!) This seems to be a big deal for her teacher as it is more than just a recipe that you put together in a pot. She watches and watches and tries and tries.  She fails time and again. Her teacher tries to help her understand that it isn't the ingredients, it is the Spirit that she is missing. She eventually breaks herself down and becomes humble and then her soup is successful.  Where am I...

I have had a few questions about confidence so I was thinking it may be a hot topic among others. It is also a great topic for those with family events. 

Where does it come from?  It comes from doing something that you know is RIGHT and that you believe in.  It also comes from being well versed enough that you can talk to others about what you are learning - that comes with a bit of time. With our Thinking, Feeling, Willing program, you will have more confidence in how the curriculum is laid out, but it won't be until you see it in action that you will gain a full testimony.  Right now you'll have to lean a bit on my confidence.

For those of you who breastfed or still do, remember back to those first early days of being a Mom for the first time... your breasts were giant from your milk coming in and you were unsure about nursing in public. Maybe you were heckled by others and you just couldn't get comfortable, but you knew this was the right path so you stuck to...