The Road Less Traveled

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December 05, 2008

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Grade 4 Local Geography and History

Our last block of the year--whew! I wish there didn't have to be a "last block of the year". Because no matter what, you're going to be pushing against burnout and the temptation to just bag it all and start summer vacation. The last block *always* gets the shaft in some way or another. Though this block went much better than last year's last block. I felt this was such an important and fun subject--I wanted it to be rich and memorable. I hope it was, even if it didn't quite meet all my expectations. We started with mapmaking. I had Sariah make a map of our neighborhood. I got an idea from the book Mapmaking with Children , and I told her her map must include a scary place, a friendly place, a secret place, a junky places.... and a few more "places" that I can't now remember. She started out doing a detailed job with this but got in a bit over her head with all the trees. Our house is the big one in the middle. My k...

Grade 4 math

We had a particularly enjoyable year with math this past year. It is Sariah's favorite subject, and I attribute that to the engaging way it is brought to children in Waldorf education. With my oldest child, I was never quite sure if I was giving him everything he needed when it came to math, especially as he got older (though now that he's in public high school, he's doing just fine, so I guess whatever I did at home wasn't too terrible.) I gave a great deal of thought this year to how I wanted to organize our math blocks and our math days to maximize my daughter's learning and retention. Several things I especially focused on included building time every day for review of the previous day's skills and putting a greater emphasis than in past years on recording the learning in the main lesson book. I wanted to see if the act of having to explain what you have learned through writing or drawing would help cement the concepts in my daughter's mind. ...

The circle of motherhood

A friend and I were having a conversation recently at the playground. Her good friend's sister (I think) had just been matched with a birthmother, and my friend wanted advice on a certain situation. Apparently, the sister had asked my friend and her friend to come and help her paint the nursery for the new baby. These two friends were hesitant. They worried that the sister was acting impulsively. They worried that the birthmother might change her mind and then the sister would be stuck with an empty nursery. My friend wanted to know what advice I, as an adoptive mother, had for her in this situation. This was a great opportunity for some educating! And so I wanted to share that same education with others--basically with anyone who has contact with an expectant adoptive mom. I told my friend to treat this expectant mother (for that's what she is!) just like any other expectant mother. It's interesting, no one would say to a physically pregnant mother, "Hmmm, you...

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