*I was inspired by my friend, Taisa, who did a post in November about her Homeschool Happenings. I loved hearing about her adventures in learning with her children.
Here we are, immersing ourselves once again in our regular rhythm and routine ~ ah, how I love it! I really thrive on rhythm, (which also helps wonderfully when trying to manage a three year old's Type 1 Diabetes). We are back into homeschooling ~ and because Forrest is in Kindergarten, it really is pretty mellow. It is a wonderful way to step into the world of homeschooling, sampling here and there, trying on bits of this, discarding some of that.
We are using the Christopherus curriculum, and for Kindergarten, Donna is pretty loose about it all. Truly, learning at this age is merely play-based, structured by the rhythms of the family and the festivals of the season. We do a morning circle three times a week, and while I have heard it is a challenge for many homeschoolers, the circle works most of the time for us. Perhaps because my children are so young and any excuse to sing loudly and do verses with actions is always great fun!

handwork on Mondays
During the circle, we also discuss a virtue of the week (actually, we talk about the virtue for two weeks). I used this in the classroom when I was a teacher at a local alternative school and it was wonderful. I use only the most basic virtues suggested, like patience, respect, truthfulness, generosity. I briefly introduce the word and we talk about what it would look like to practice this virtue, and then we use that word throughout the day/week as a reminder of how we can treat each other better.
We also read a fairy tale, often from the Brother's Grimm collection. I spent a good deal of time in the summer reading most of them, deciding which ones were appropriate for Forrest. We read this tale three times (or more) during the week.
So far, we have enjoyed...
- The Little Red Hen
- The Hut in the Forest (Grimm's Brothers)
- The Star House (Grimm's Brothers)
- Little Boy Knight (Suzanne Down)
- The Giant Turnip
- Harvest Moon Magic (Suzanne Down)
- Elder Brother
- Rumpelstiltskin (Grimm's Brothers)
- Little Red Cap (Grimm's Brothers)
- Autumn Bear (Suzanne Down)
- Mother Holle (Grimm's Brothers)
- The Elves (Grimm's Brothers)
- The Star Money (Grimm's Brothers)
- The Gingerbread Boy
- The Legend of Babushka

my Kindergarten resource pile...most of which I acquired when I was a teacher
My ongoing dilemma with our homeschool year has been the question of Forrest's readiness for Grade 1. He is a November baby, and he turned six last fall. I wrestled with this for so long, flip-flopping back and forth several times, and then some more. I consulted various forums, friends, and our local Waldorf Kindergarten teacher friend. Almost all of them suggested waiting to begin formal schooling until Forrest is as close to the age of seven as possible. There are many reasons for this, but my favourite explanation was simply, "Once you've awakened Sleeping Beauty, you can't get her to sleep again." So, we chose to keep it simple this year.
There were a few moments when I clearly saw this was the right decision, despite his body showing the classic Waldorf signs for intellectual readiness. I attempted to add a few Grade 1 activities such as the Weather Tree to our circles. He lost interest in that after a few weeks. He also has a Main Lesson Book called the Mother Goose Book. We recite a nursery rhyme every circle, one per week. On the second day, he illustrates the rhyme in the Mother Goose Book. He was so enthusiastic about it and readily set to work for ten minutes, putting his best intentions into his drawings. After a few months, he announced he didn't want to do this anymore, and I happily obliged. (I could just picture him in a school setting, where Kindergarten children go all day, five days a week, and my boy would be getting bored and mischievous, being sent to the principal's office for disruptive behaviour). However, the following week he asked to do the illustrations again, and has been into it ever since.

Forrest's Mother Goose Book ~ illustrating "Snow, Snow Faster"
Towards the end of December, I noticed Forrest seemed bored ~ a word my children don't really use. I talked to him a bit and asked him how he was feeling, and he told me he wanted to do more school work. Oh dear, I panicked and worried tremendously about our homeschooling path. He is, afterall, a very gregarious boy who interacts so well with others. However, after a lot of reflecting, we decided Forrest needed more challenges, not public school. So then I pondered beginning to teach the letters to him. But I kept thinking about Sleeping Beauty. Instead, I came up with a second Main Lesson Book for him to illustrate, the Sounds Like Main Lesson Book. With a new sound each week, Forrest (and Sunshine, if she likes) draws everything he can think of that starts with that sound. Last week was "B" when we read the story of Babushka. This week it is "S" because we are singing a lot about snowflakes and snowmen. Forrest loves this!

Forrest's Sounds Like Main Lesson Book ~ illustrating the sound "B"
We also are beginning to visit the library twice a month...and that is a very special treat in my little one's eyes. It is very exciting to go to town with the express intention of loading up on some new stories. As Forrest said recently, "Mama, I just love the Books."

Forrest's first knitting project on wool he dyed himself ~ a blanket for his doll, Erla
Art continues to be a central activity for my children and me. We handcraft on Mondays, setting up the week for handcrafting whenever they feel like it. Today the children sewed their own gnomes. We plan on doing some weaving, knitting, and more sewing as well. We also paint, model, draw, create, often based on the seasonal festivals.

Can you guess who made the pink and purple gnome and who made the blue and green one?
Finally, I recently discovered the Homespun Waldorf forum...it is wonderful! There are a lot of familiar mamas on there, and it is such a treat to engage in conversations with them about learning at home.
This homeschool year is an ongoing journey of learning for all of us. I so treasure the time with Forrest, when all is so fresh and exciting, when his enthusiasm is contagious.
I would love to hear how other people are experiencing their homeschool year so far.