I haven't posted for awhile. I've simply been too busy. We just finished a lesson block today, a math block on measurement. In the last six weeks we've covered time, linear measurement, volume and mass, and weight. Our story theme for the block was the Old Testament stories of Noah's Ark and the Tower of Babel. We also did a lot of cooking and practical activities to support the learning that took place. I have pictures to post of some of the activities we did, but no time to do that right now. Also, much of the block's content was inspired by the Our Little Nature Nest blog, and that blog has been made private. Since I can't really cite it as a source properly by providing links, I'm not going to get into detail about what we did.
Dallin broke his ankle just after Christmas, so for the entire month of January he was in a boot, and he was supposed to be taking it easy. "Taking it easy" and "Dallin" don't go together in the same sentence! He had just joined a basketball team and it was so hard for him to sit out most of the season. However, he went to every practice and every game and cheered his team on anyway. Dallin has expressed some discontent with homeschooling this year, and I have pondered and prayed a lot about what to do for him. I had a big heart-to-heart with him about what it was he was missing by not going to public school, and it really boils down to three things: he wants to be with his friends all day long, he wants to have recess, and he thinks the cafeteria ladies make better lunches than I do. I tried to get him to tell me some actual educational things he was feeling he was missing or topics he wanted to learn about, and he couldn't come up with even one thing. His response was, "Well, I won't know what I'm missing unless I go to school to find out." LOL! I must admit I'm not feeling all that sorry for him on the friends issue, since he still plays with friends a good 2.5 hours a day pretty much every single day. He's in Cub Scouts, goes to church every Sunday and spends 2 hours with friends there, and is on a basketball team. I'm also not feeling all that sorry about the food. I'm sure every kid would love to go where they can eat hot dogs and chicken nuggets and drink chocolate milk on a regular basis. Recess? Well as a homeschooled kid he gets way more recess than any of those other kids. But I know what he meant. He meant recess on a playground with friends.
My solution to his social woes was to go to our local homeschool playdate once week. I actually have had some impressions come to me that this was what we needed to do. I had been told that there were other older kids there and it might be a good place to find some friends. Well, with his ankle being fractured, that was out for a while. I knew I couldn't risk taking him somewhere with a basketball hoop or scooters available while he was supposed to be taking it easy. We finally went last week, and there wasn't really anybody his age that he clicked with. I'm hoping that the next time we go we'll have better luck.
The good news is that he seems to be happier! All on his own! In fact, a few weeks ago he told me that he had decided he liked being homeschooled and wanted to stay home until junior high. I laughed to myself because of course he has no clue about the armpit that is junior high. That's probably the one time in a person's life when they wish they could be homeschooled! My suspicion all along was that he was experiencing what is known in the Waldorf world as "the nine-year-change". He is nine years old, after all. Waldorf philosophy asserts that around the ninth year children go through a psychological/spiritual change, it's basically a change in their relationship to authority, to the world around them, to parents and teachers... Whereas before they felt one with the world, they now feel their separateness, and it's a scary and unsettling feeling that they have to come to terms with. They question, they challenge authority... Dallin's been much more critical in general--of the world around him, of me. I was actually talking to a non-Waldorf, public school-mom friend about a month ago about Dallin. She asked how homeschooling was going, and I told her. And her immediate response was, "How old is he again? Nine and a half? Oh, it's the age." She proceeded to tell me about a friend of hers who taught fourth grade in public school and swore that kids who formerly loved school and their teacher suddenly changed at the age of nine. School now sucked, the teacher knew nothing, etc. My friend promised me that it will get better. I was thrilled to hear validation of the whole concept of the 9-year-change from someone who has never heard of that term!
Sariah is halfway through her first year of kindy. We are following the Waldorf indications for a completely non-academic kindergarten. We do circle time and stories and baking and painting and the like, but no reading, writing, or 'rithmetic. This is one of those things that is a bit scary because it is SO against the mainstream. It is something that has felt very right (and indeed, the protecting of early childhood from academics was one of the things that first drew me to Waldorf education). Yet it's like the difference between having faith and having a perfect knowledge of something. Going on faith is like going out on a limb. I will be grateful to someday be on the other side and have that actual perfect knowledge of whether or not this worked! I am taking things one day, one week, one month at a time, trying to listen to the spirit and be discerning of her needs. So far this approach is fitting her. Now, I did make the determination that if she ever asked questions that were academic in nature, I would not hold back from teaching her what she asked for. And I've done that bit by bit, here and there. So I guess we've added a bit of unschooling to our Waldorf kindergarten experience. One day she got a card game off of the bookcase that involved numbers. And she wanted to know which numbers were which. So I told her. And she had a good time working with those ideas and studying the cards and reciting what she knew for about 20 minutes. And then that was that. That's my approach--give her a little bit when it's requested. But not too much. Be positive about it but don't push. Don't be "Oh my goodness she asked about numbers we'd better find a math curriculum ASAP!" Sariah is happy to be flitting about the house. She LOVES her circle time and story every day and has her favorite rhymes and verses that we do. She likes the freedom of joining Dallin at the table to draw while he works, or to play the games he plays (Sariah and I are usually a team since many of our spelling or times table games are beyond her abilities). But she also likes to be able to spend hours playing on her own, building forts with the couch cushions, pushing her baby doll in a stroller on the front walk, "cooking" with mom's spices in the kitchen.
I am doing well! Busy and sometimes exhausted, but well. I have reached a major milestone--For the past month I have gotten up at 5:30 am every school day. And been in bed between 9:30 and 10:00 pm every school night. For me, the night owl, this is huge! It is making such a difference in my life. I feel better physically. I actually have more energy, even though I'm getting about the same amount of sleep I was getting before. I love the quietness of the mornings. I made a schedule for myself for morning study, and it is working, mostly. I still can't seem to figure out how to get one load of laundry done every day, though. I still end up with loads and loads to do on the weekend. I joined Melisa Nielsen's ThinkingFeelingWilling program. It's an inner work and Waldorf 101 program, and basically a "bootcamp" for Waldorf homeschooling moms. I'm in the first month of the program so basically have been working on rhythm, as in the rhythm of my days, rhythm of my weeks, etc. It's kind of like figuring out your schedule, but more in depth. More about figuring out how you want your day to feel, not just what needs to be done. We mostly get everything done in a day that needs to be done, but the days don't always feel the way I'd like. Things feel too rushed, too crammed with stuff. I don't know how to cut that down, because I simply have SO many obligations right now. I go back and forth on whether to cut some things. The thing that would end up being cut would be my organ teaching, because it's the one thing in my life that's negotiable right now. Even my weekends seem to be so full of things, whether it's church obligations or trying to do school planning for the next week or simply fitting in the grocery shopping. There is virtually no down time ever. Somehow I get to the end of the week and everything that's important gets done. I'm not sure how--I'm chalking it up to the blessings I'm receiving for my church work. And I must say, as crazy busy as life is, I'm LOVING my calling as Primary president. I'm really loving it and feeling such a spirit with me as I try to do this work. I really do feel sustained and lifted. I've had some special moments and insights as I've been able to minister individually to specific children in our congregation. I'm also loving serving in a presidency. This is the first time I've had that opportunity, and it is such a tender mercy from God to be given these built-in friends. I am lucky enough to be able to serve with amazing and talented women, and each one of them ministers to me as well as to the children. We've lived in our ward for 8.5 years, and I've never felt especially close to anyone here until now. It's quite wonderful.
Preston isn't officially homeschooling, but he deserves an update too. He is walking and running and getting into everything. We had to put the dog's food and water in Dallin's bedroom so it wouldn't be so tempting to get into. I had been getting Preston out of probably 20 times a day. Preston has accumulated 7 teeth in the last 9 weeks, so that right there gives an indication of what our life has been like as of late! I am so sick of teething--I don't think I even have words to express how sick I am of teething! (I'm sure Preston is feeling very much the same way, in fact, probably more so!) I don't remember it being this bad with the other kids. In good news, he is sleeping pretty well. Which means that some of the time he sleeps almost through the night. Which I think is pretty darn good for a child who's gotten 7 teeth in 9 weeks. And the nights he doesn't sleep almost through the night? Well, I just chalk that up to teething and hope that when at some point we get a break, the sleeping will get even better. At the rate he's going, Preston will surpass his older sister in sleep-ability very quickly. Of course, it's not hard to surpass somebody who is going on six years old and still doesn't sleep through the night regularly!
Dallin broke his ankle just after Christmas, so for the entire month of January he was in a boot, and he was supposed to be taking it easy. "Taking it easy" and "Dallin" don't go together in the same sentence! He had just joined a basketball team and it was so hard for him to sit out most of the season. However, he went to every practice and every game and cheered his team on anyway. Dallin has expressed some discontent with homeschooling this year, and I have pondered and prayed a lot about what to do for him. I had a big heart-to-heart with him about what it was he was missing by not going to public school, and it really boils down to three things: he wants to be with his friends all day long, he wants to have recess, and he thinks the cafeteria ladies make better lunches than I do. I tried to get him to tell me some actual educational things he was feeling he was missing or topics he wanted to learn about, and he couldn't come up with even one thing. His response was, "Well, I won't know what I'm missing unless I go to school to find out." LOL! I must admit I'm not feeling all that sorry for him on the friends issue, since he still plays with friends a good 2.5 hours a day pretty much every single day. He's in Cub Scouts, goes to church every Sunday and spends 2 hours with friends there, and is on a basketball team. I'm also not feeling all that sorry about the food. I'm sure every kid would love to go where they can eat hot dogs and chicken nuggets and drink chocolate milk on a regular basis. Recess? Well as a homeschooled kid he gets way more recess than any of those other kids. But I know what he meant. He meant recess on a playground with friends.
My solution to his social woes was to go to our local homeschool playdate once week. I actually have had some impressions come to me that this was what we needed to do. I had been told that there were other older kids there and it might be a good place to find some friends. Well, with his ankle being fractured, that was out for a while. I knew I couldn't risk taking him somewhere with a basketball hoop or scooters available while he was supposed to be taking it easy. We finally went last week, and there wasn't really anybody his age that he clicked with. I'm hoping that the next time we go we'll have better luck.
The good news is that he seems to be happier! All on his own! In fact, a few weeks ago he told me that he had decided he liked being homeschooled and wanted to stay home until junior high. I laughed to myself because of course he has no clue about the armpit that is junior high. That's probably the one time in a person's life when they wish they could be homeschooled! My suspicion all along was that he was experiencing what is known in the Waldorf world as "the nine-year-change". He is nine years old, after all. Waldorf philosophy asserts that around the ninth year children go through a psychological/spiritual change, it's basically a change in their relationship to authority, to the world around them, to parents and teachers... Whereas before they felt one with the world, they now feel their separateness, and it's a scary and unsettling feeling that they have to come to terms with. They question, they challenge authority... Dallin's been much more critical in general--of the world around him, of me. I was actually talking to a non-Waldorf, public school-mom friend about a month ago about Dallin. She asked how homeschooling was going, and I told her. And her immediate response was, "How old is he again? Nine and a half? Oh, it's the age." She proceeded to tell me about a friend of hers who taught fourth grade in public school and swore that kids who formerly loved school and their teacher suddenly changed at the age of nine. School now sucked, the teacher knew nothing, etc. My friend promised me that it will get better. I was thrilled to hear validation of the whole concept of the 9-year-change from someone who has never heard of that term!
Sariah is halfway through her first year of kindy. We are following the Waldorf indications for a completely non-academic kindergarten. We do circle time and stories and baking and painting and the like, but no reading, writing, or 'rithmetic. This is one of those things that is a bit scary because it is SO against the mainstream. It is something that has felt very right (and indeed, the protecting of early childhood from academics was one of the things that first drew me to Waldorf education). Yet it's like the difference between having faith and having a perfect knowledge of something. Going on faith is like going out on a limb. I will be grateful to someday be on the other side and have that actual perfect knowledge of whether or not this worked! I am taking things one day, one week, one month at a time, trying to listen to the spirit and be discerning of her needs. So far this approach is fitting her. Now, I did make the determination that if she ever asked questions that were academic in nature, I would not hold back from teaching her what she asked for. And I've done that bit by bit, here and there. So I guess we've added a bit of unschooling to our Waldorf kindergarten experience. One day she got a card game off of the bookcase that involved numbers. And she wanted to know which numbers were which. So I told her. And she had a good time working with those ideas and studying the cards and reciting what she knew for about 20 minutes. And then that was that. That's my approach--give her a little bit when it's requested. But not too much. Be positive about it but don't push. Don't be "Oh my goodness she asked about numbers we'd better find a math curriculum ASAP!" Sariah is happy to be flitting about the house. She LOVES her circle time and story every day and has her favorite rhymes and verses that we do. She likes the freedom of joining Dallin at the table to draw while he works, or to play the games he plays (Sariah and I are usually a team since many of our spelling or times table games are beyond her abilities). But she also likes to be able to spend hours playing on her own, building forts with the couch cushions, pushing her baby doll in a stroller on the front walk, "cooking" with mom's spices in the kitchen.
I am doing well! Busy and sometimes exhausted, but well. I have reached a major milestone--For the past month I have gotten up at 5:30 am every school day. And been in bed between 9:30 and 10:00 pm every school night. For me, the night owl, this is huge! It is making such a difference in my life. I feel better physically. I actually have more energy, even though I'm getting about the same amount of sleep I was getting before. I love the quietness of the mornings. I made a schedule for myself for morning study, and it is working, mostly. I still can't seem to figure out how to get one load of laundry done every day, though. I still end up with loads and loads to do on the weekend. I joined Melisa Nielsen's ThinkingFeelingWilling program. It's an inner work and Waldorf 101 program, and basically a "bootcamp" for Waldorf homeschooling moms. I'm in the first month of the program so basically have been working on rhythm, as in the rhythm of my days, rhythm of my weeks, etc. It's kind of like figuring out your schedule, but more in depth. More about figuring out how you want your day to feel, not just what needs to be done. We mostly get everything done in a day that needs to be done, but the days don't always feel the way I'd like. Things feel too rushed, too crammed with stuff. I don't know how to cut that down, because I simply have SO many obligations right now. I go back and forth on whether to cut some things. The thing that would end up being cut would be my organ teaching, because it's the one thing in my life that's negotiable right now. Even my weekends seem to be so full of things, whether it's church obligations or trying to do school planning for the next week or simply fitting in the grocery shopping. There is virtually no down time ever. Somehow I get to the end of the week and everything that's important gets done. I'm not sure how--I'm chalking it up to the blessings I'm receiving for my church work. And I must say, as crazy busy as life is, I'm LOVING my calling as Primary president. I'm really loving it and feeling such a spirit with me as I try to do this work. I really do feel sustained and lifted. I've had some special moments and insights as I've been able to minister individually to specific children in our congregation. I'm also loving serving in a presidency. This is the first time I've had that opportunity, and it is such a tender mercy from God to be given these built-in friends. I am lucky enough to be able to serve with amazing and talented women, and each one of them ministers to me as well as to the children. We've lived in our ward for 8.5 years, and I've never felt especially close to anyone here until now. It's quite wonderful.
Preston isn't officially homeschooling, but he deserves an update too. He is walking and running and getting into everything. We had to put the dog's food and water in Dallin's bedroom so it wouldn't be so tempting to get into. I had been getting Preston out of probably 20 times a day. Preston has accumulated 7 teeth in the last 9 weeks, so that right there gives an indication of what our life has been like as of late! I am so sick of teething--I don't think I even have words to express how sick I am of teething! (I'm sure Preston is feeling very much the same way, in fact, probably more so!) I don't remember it being this bad with the other kids. In good news, he is sleeping pretty well. Which means that some of the time he sleeps almost through the night. Which I think is pretty darn good for a child who's gotten 7 teeth in 9 weeks. And the nights he doesn't sleep almost through the night? Well, I just chalk that up to teething and hope that when at some point we get a break, the sleeping will get even better. At the rate he's going, Preston will surpass his older sister in sleep-ability very quickly. Of course, it's not hard to surpass somebody who is going on six years old and still doesn't sleep through the night regularly!
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