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LucyP
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| Posted: Oct 01 2009 at 2:04pm | IP Logged
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We have finally woken up and realised that our boy needs us to swap over to something more like Waldorf. The gnomes and gnumbers maths has been a revelation and such a rest to him, after workbook maths that is very demanding intellectually and with fine motor skills. Our son is 5 3/4, but has emotional issues that mean he can struggle to cope with life and any "failure" as he sees it sends him over the edge. I was speaking to a mum who has pulled her daughter from a steiner school and we were discussing how much it would suit my son but how I didn't want to do it...  Well, we have now decided that we will - with law changes in the pipeline, giving our learning a nice label will be useful anyway, but I think this could work for him.
The thing I was wondering was whether others have switched methods in this way - and what worked for you regarding the change. I am not sure what to do about reading/writing - two areas that our son is slowly gaining competence in. I'm not sure whether I should stop all work on that, or progress very slowly - I had in mind making Wednesday our writing day, when we both write letters together, so he can see the point of writing is communicating. We did it that way this week, but I'm not sure whether a complete break and then starting again in a bit, as would be a more waldorf-y way to progress, is the better choice.
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Sarah M
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| Posted: Oct 02 2009 at 1:49am | IP Logged
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Hi Lucy! I have found this post at Parenting Passageway helpful in this regard. She has a lot of other great stuff there about taking baby steps to Waldorf-- it's a great blog!
Hope that helps some.
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donnalynn
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donnalynn
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JuliaT
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Lucy, I think Waldorf would be a good thing for your ds. I consider Waldorf a cathartic curriculum. When things have been topsy turvy in our house due to life bumps or upsets, I do more Waldorf-y things to calm and fill my children's spirits. It works every time.
Donna has given you some great suggestions. I wouldn't worry about academics right now but I would fill your ds's day with stories, crafts, creative activities and getting outside to enjoy God's creation. If his soul is hurting, then academics won't do much good anyway.
Blessings,
Julia
mom of 3(10,8,6)
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LucyP
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| Posted: Oct 05 2009 at 3:30pm | IP Logged
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Thanks for the ideas and advice, ladies.  So far, although, like all change it is hard for our son, he is able to see the benefits and keeps talking proudly about being a kindergartener! I was amazed that despite me taking away the lego and playmobil he is still happy (even happier) with a basket full of wooden blocks we made from offcuts and old logs, playing very creatively and freely. Both he and his 2 year old sister are loving the songs, the sense of being hurry free, the stories-out-of-my-head, the little rituals and being babied a lot more. They love helping out with baking bread and cooking, and DS will be starting making bird feeders with his daddy. We're doing lots more walks, and all the pressure is off - all the easy readers, maths stuff (even the gnomes), pencils etc are packed away. And he is very pleased. The one thing he was unhappy about was having his plastic baby doll Mr George go on holiday for a while - he will be coming back but for a little while we have gone all handmade with toys and it is working well.
Every time I think "oh we should do such and such" and I read and see it is from first grade or second grade and so I am stopping, speaking less, playing more, and watching them both have so much more fun. It's a wonder to me. I didn't think I was a very high pressure mama, but it seems I was. It was brought home on nature walk today when instead of identifying things, sharing latin names and explaining, I just joined in the wonder over "Grandfather Oak" and some pinecones like hedgehogs.
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4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: Change of tack to Steiner/Waldorf-ish
