Setting up Homeschool Co-ops

I'm supporting a homeschool consulting client who is putting together a Waldorf preschool co-op in MD two days a week. They are doing Monday ("Bread Day") 9 am to 3 pm, and Thursday ("Soup Day") 9 am to noon.

Here is the draft schedule we came up with: http://www.waldorfcurriculum.com/Preschool/schedule%20preschool%20website.pdf

Her booklist can be found in a previous post on my blog.

I am also in the process of setting up a Waldorf homeschool co-op myself in IL. We are looking at Monday and Friday from 9 am to 3 pm, Tuesday and Thursday from noon - 3 pm, and Wednesday as a full day at Dayempur Farm.

Monday 9 am - 3 pm
Tuesday noon - 3 pm
Wednesday Farm Day
Thursday noon - 3 pm
Friday 9 am - 3 pm

For children who need Extra Lesson work, Tuesday and Thursday mornings are set aside for that one-on-one.

I went to visit the farm on Wednesday to have a tour and interview the farm staff. There were beautiful heritage turkey toms strutting, chickens running free and milling around Zac's stroller, baby chicks, rows and rows of vegetables, apple trees laden with fruit, greenhouses, fishing ponds, and lots of friendly adults and children enjoying the farm experience. They have projects in sustainable building like a straw bale house and solar showers, and a beautiful herb garden filled with medicinal herbs. Their herbal salve is famous around our farmer's markets!

Our special subjects will be Art, Handwork, Philosophy, Agriculture (obviously), Yoga, and American Sign Language.

Monday and Friday from 9 am to 9:30 am will be Yoga.

Monday after Yoga will be Philosophy and Friday after Yoga will be Art.

ASL will be Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Clearly, in order to have a consistent main lesson time, it needs to be Mon/Tue/Thu/Fri afternoons. Yes, afternoons. I absolutely believe in Hands / Heart / Head and I think that movement and play and free choice should start your day. And the academics should come after you feel refreshed and are ready to be peaceful and do work that is a little quieter. Not that Waldorf doesn't infuse movement and art into everything!

All in all, we are super excited for the upcoming school year!

My schedule of blocks has been revised from what I posted a while back (2016-17 School Year Blocks). My oldest daughter will be starting high school this fall. She is fourteen. My middle daughter is in 7th grade and has decided to try public school. So my youngest daughter will be homeschooling with me, as well as the children in our co-op. So my range of grades is more like 1st/2nd/3rd and 6th/7th. Here are my current main lesson block notes:

Block One: Math I

Form Drawing

Quality of Numbers

The Story of Geometry

Block Two: Cultural I

Aesop's Fables

Puppetry

Ancient Mythologies: India, Persia, Babylon, Egypt

Block Three: Language I

Saints

Old Testament I

Block Four: Science I

4 Seasons

Poetry

Physics

Block Five: Math II

4 Processes

Baking: Time, Temperature, Weight, Volume

Block Six: Cultural II

Native American Legends

Middle Ages

Block Seven: Language II

Grammar

Old Testament II

Block Eight: Science II

Nature Study / Thornton Burgess

Geology

Astronomy

Block Nine: Math III

Algebra

Column Algorithms

Business Math: Fractions, Decimals, Percents, Ratios, Graphing

Block Ten: Cultural III

Biomes of the World

Fundamental Needs of Man

Local History & Geography

Block Eleven: Language III

Creative Writing

Old Testament III

Block Twelve: Science III

Housebuilding

Chemistry

Geology, Astronomy, Chemistry, and Local History & Geography are the blocks that will be new to me this year. I'm very excited!

I already have a few things, like Teaching Geography by Roy Wilkinson, and

Don't forget to check out the amazing collection of Waldorf books available as a free download in PDF form at the Online Waldorf Library, including

Chemistry Reader: An Orientation to Developing Chemistry Instruction in Waldorf Schools by Dr. Dirk Rohde, for grades 7 - 12

Some possible resources to buy:

Geology and Astronomy
by Charles Kovacs

Geology Underfoot in Illinois
by Raymond Wiggers

Southern Illinois: An Illustrated History
by Bill Nunes

The Wonders of Waldorf Chemistry
by David Mitchell

Photographic Card Deck of the Elements
by Theodore Gray

Elements: A Visual Exploration of Every Known Atom in the Universe
by Theodore Gray

Learning about Ratios with "Star Soup"

The recipe for hummingbird nectar

So, some quick updates on what's new with us.

Handwork for Homeschoolers is still going on, and has been a big success. Today we had a "make up" day where we make up projects people missed. On those days, I don't choose a picture book or set up new lessons. We listen to a musical story and I get out supplies for projects we've done in past sessions and everyone decides what they are most interested in. Today it was Peter and the Wolf (we like the narration by David Bowie) for our story, and the activities were making hummingbird nectar, wet felted geodes, and some free sewing time where one child designed and sewed a layered fabric flower brooch with a button center and another child designed and sewed a trapeze swing short-sleeved dress for her stuffed monkey. Of course we had snack and played too!

I love hummingbird nectar as a simple lesson in ratios (Hands-On Math!: Ready-To-Use Games & Activities for Grades 4-8 is great for ratios and proportions and, in fact, all kinds of math lessons) but I've never thought of using blocks before to share the recipe. We have a bunch of colorful wooden stars from Star Stack-Up, a board game that Hearthsong made but apparently doesn't sell anymore, and so I explained what a ratio was visually. One part : four parts. The girls had never seen any math relationship written that way. And when I used the word "part," they didn't know what I meant. Even though I explained that the unit of measurement could be anything from a spoonful to a pound, as long as you had four of water to one of sugar, you were keeping the recipe correct, it didn't really click until they saw the blocks. In fact, when we measured out the ingredients, I laid the blocks down on the kitchen table instead of a written recipe.

We also discussed what it would be like if it was one part water : four parts sugar, and they were able to imagine how that would be MUCH different.

I think it would be great to use the colorful stars to make "star soup" and practice this some more. Let them write any "star soup" recipe they want -- let's say 1 blue : 2 green : 1 red -- and then make one batch of "soup" by putting the appropriate stars in a basket. Then have them double it or triple it and keep the relationship between the colors correct.

In non-math-teaching-news, Zac and I have been taking long leisurely walks every evening when it cools off. I found the best insect repellant for kids. It's a cream and easy to apply, it smells great, and it not only repels bugs it helps heal the skin. Zac's welts from previous bites went right away.

We love their after sun balm too.

Zac is in developmental therapy and speech therapy, for a 30% expressive and receptive delay, but he is making great strides and we are fortunate to be in an area that has so much support for early intervention. FREE at-home early intervention with therapists that come to you, no less. He's gaining milestones all the time. It's fun to take him new places and see his reaction. We went to Castle Park and I got the sweetest shot of him playing peek-a-boo behind a tree.

It was hilarious, though, since this park is an art park and has tons of amazing statues, but he mainly ignored the statues and instead he watched the children playing and the animals nearby. And he spent a lot of time trying to pick up tree roots, thinking they were sticks. When he's older he will appreciate how amazing the multi-level castle playground structure is (complete with several hidden passages) and all of the fantastic art up in the trees and the dragons you can climb on, etc...

Hmmm... a rock

Ooooh, a stick!

(A squirrel, checking out our dropped strawberry-apple puffs)

Cat?

Bricks!

Yeah, this dragon's not cool at all

What are those kids up to?

I'm outta here

A bench! Awesome!

Now this is really fun!

Next week we are doing a week-long Art/Handwork/Theatre camp where we will be putting on a play of "Peter and the Wolf." I'm so excited about doing it this way. So, there's no stress involved since the children don't have to learn any lines. David Bowie will take care of all that for us, not to mention Prokofiev. They can just focus on bringing the story to life through costumes, sets, additional music, dance, puppetry, masks, and so on. Whatever we come up with! We are cooking every day and putting on a reception at Friday's performance. We will be making hand-drawn programs. Everything artistic and hands-on and FUN that has to do with drama. I have seven kids and seven parts, so what could be more perfect than that? I can't wait to do a bunch of my theater workshop ideas with these kids. One of the workshops I went to years ago at Barbara Dewey's was a homeschool Art & Drama weekend and I still have my notes from all of the drama warm-up activities each morning. I remember Misty fondly!!!

I've completed my needle felting course, started my art of storytelling course, and am still working on the introduction to Anthroposophy. I love the online Waldorf teacher training program through the Sophia Institute. And I'll be traveling to take a watercolor painting class with Gail McManus, which I am super-excited about and have been wanting to take for years!

My garden has fallen behind since I don't have my husband to help keep me motivated and consistent. He loved loved loved going out to that garden every day to see what new was growing and ripening. But the heirloom tomatoes from Mother's Day are still going strong, there's a yellow squash which I started from seed that survived and has thrived, and the rhubarb is enormous. (So is the lamb's ear and the assorted collection of weeds... but I am participating in a research study on why people grow their own food in backyard gardens and she will be coming out to interview me, and help in the garden, every two weeks. So that should provide some incentive and much needed manpower!) I miss my prolific garden from last year. But I never did get my straw bales, since I don't have a truck right now, and that de-railed me quite a bit. Plus the emotional aspect of missing my husband. And now I know that the best thing to do if you want a straw bale garden is order them in the fall, put them in place, let them stand all winter and get conditioned, flip them over in the spring and plant right into that moist decaying mushroom-y loveliness.

Also in my mind as the fall approaches is my wish list of Montessori materials I want to buy. There are things I miss from my old classroom and would love to have, to supplement what we have at home for school. (The first thing I missed, immediately after moving to Illinois, was my classroom tapestry loom. And Adam got it for me for my very first Christmas here.)

My heart is with Waldorf for sure but there's no denying the value of Montessori math, grammar, and geography materials. And I need to narrow down my list of must-haves and create a budget. I will post it once I have created it. Also, I plan to photograph and post all of last year's main lesson books before a new school year begins!!!!!

Meeting a Local Wooden Toymaker

As part of setting up our homeschool co-op in Southern Illinois I've been making connections in the community.  I find it is always really inspiring and rejuvenating to plan a new school year!!!  I'm so pleased with what we are coming up with.  The kids will be spending every Wednesday at a biodynamic farm in Anna, we have a potential yoga teacher and a sign language teacher, and I've found a sewing teacher at Flyover Infoshop plus the creative writing classes at the public library...

One of the connections I've made is a local toymaker who specializes in creating natural open-ended handmade wooden toys.  She made her daughter's toys when she was little!  Anna is very inspired by Montessori (she was a Montessori homeschooling mom) as well as Waldorf.  She has even offered to come and lead workshops for parents who want to learn to make toys.  Wouldn't it be lovely to give your child wooden toys that you have made yourself?  And her workshop is JUST amazing.

Anna is the most beautifully organized person I've ever met.  You can instantly tell that she has a graphic design background.  Her home is so tidy that it just makes your mind relax at once.  And her creative space is tucked inside a large closet that spans the length of one room.  When you open the doors it's filled with neatly labeled supplies, palettes of color swatches, toys in the process of being made, and sketches for new ideas.  She has shelves and shelves full of completed toys as well.  If I had a workshop it would look like an explosion... but not her space!

She makes her own polish with local organic beeswax and refined coconut oil, which is safe for little ones to put in their mouths.  (She told me she will be posting a tutorial for how to make this soon; however, if you're curious right now, she gives the instructions in written form in one of her Facebook posts.) The toys are painted with an earth-friendly organic chalk paint, in beautiful pastel colors, with a few touches of gold for warmth.  She hand sands everything before and after painting to soften the edges.  She is passionate about using natural materials and researches all of her toy making supplies and suppliers extensively.

In addition to her wooden toys she has hand-crocheted teething rings (the broccoli one is really cute), stacking ring sets, and nesting bowls.    

As a Montessori mom, she's focused on beautiful organization and presentation.  Many of her toys come in fabric bags or hand-painted cedar boxes.  She even sells very nifty bags for when you are on the go, like when you're waiting for your food at a restaurant, and they contain a variety of toys and a mat to lay them all out on while you are playing.  VERY Montessori.  Her little peg people have eyes but not facial expressions.  So sweet and VERY Waldorf.

I wish I could describe how warm her space made me feel inside.  And it was great to meet her daughter and hear her talk about some of the toys her mom made when she was younger.  It is so different to go to a toymaker's workshop.  What an experience!  It is not at all like shopping from a catalogue or website.  You can really feel the person's heart and how much goes into their work.  Anna spends hours designing, hand-painting, hand-sanding, and finishing these toys with her all-natural homemade polish and they are just irresistible to the touch.  Zac about fell out of my arms trying to grab the teak bowls and painted wooden balls (which come apart in two halves and fasten again with a gentle click via magnets), the curving wooden rattles, and the peg people.  She even gave us a toy to take home with us.

I just loved the blocks which are stenciled with bird feathers.  Such a simple but beautiful idea!  She has lots of sets of wooden blocks and I know some of these will be a must-buy for us.  They are hand-cut, hand-sanded, hand-painted, and come with cotton drawstring storage bags.  She has some interesting and creative matching games as well, sets of hand-turned wooden cups with little wooden peg people.  She wood-burns different patterns of dots and/or paints designs which have to be matched up in pairs.  So simple and sweet.  I cannot wait to take a toy making workshop with this lovely woman!

Anna has lots of pictures of her work on Instagram (her pictures are better than mine -- you really want to see them) and you can get in touch with her too via her Facebook page.  Enjoy!

Vintage Children's Books

eBay limits how many items you can put on your Watchlist... to 200. Can you believe it???? I only discovered this when I recently found a homeschooling mom's shop called Karen's Living Books and I was happily flagging things to think about for later. Until I hit my limit!

"A homeschooler with 18 years of experience, I stock out-of-print and hard to find children's books as well as titles such as those used in Sonlight, Truthquest, Five in a Row, and other homeschool curricula."

This is an awesome store for browsing, especially if you adore vintage children's books. How can you not want a book called Wingfin and Topple or A Gift-Bear for the King or The Buttons at the Zoo or School for Sillies?

And it's the illustrations that I find so charming, as well as the sweet old-fashioned writing.

The best thing is to go through her store like a kid in a candy shop. She has almost a thousand vintage children's books. BUT her prices are somewhat arbitrary and can be high, so I would recommend ogling her delightful selection and then quickly checking Amazon to see if it's available for less. For example, she lists A Boat for Pepe by Leo Politi (1950) for $40.00. Amazon has it starting at $5.80. She lists The Hat by Tomi Ungerer (1970) for $15.00. Amazon has it starting at 49 cents. She lists Catch a Little Fox by Fortunata (1968) for $12.00. Amazon has it starting at 99 cents. However, her edition of Catch a Little Fox is listed as pristine and gift quality and that can account for the price difference. I got a vintage baby book from her which she had labeled as gift quality and Yep! It was as if it were brand new. Just lovely! So, when looking at a book, decide if you want a copy that looks exactly like it did when you were a child, or if you are happy with ex-library and just want to have any copy available so that your family can enjoy it.

Books that are damaged are still wonderful for found poetry. I saw this at an art show at Carbondale New School and it was fabulous. You take a page from a chapter book and then color over or otherwise obscure most of the words on the page, leaving just a few. These remaining words are carefully chosen so that they form a poem. You discover the poem in the existing words on the page. I love this! It's like Michelangelo carving marble by removing the excess to reveal a figure that was hidden inside the whole time.

Rudolf Steiner "The Story of My Life"

I am reading with great pleasure the autobiography of Rudolf Steiner.

In willing, freedom is practiced;
in feeling, it is experienced;
in thinking, it is known.

It is peppered throughout with fantastic quotes, as well as just being fascinating reading in how his philosophies developed slowly over time and with much careful thought. He was always quite taken with mathematics and philosophy, seeing these as two sides of the same coin, and persisted in reading and understanding every philosopher, scientist, artist, theologian, and mathematician he could find, and deeply absorbing what they had to say and deciding if he wanted to bring any of their ideas into his developing world view or if he wished to reject their approach. I had never had the idea of Steiner as being a rapacious consumer before. I thought he sat around and came up with his things through some kind of psychic intuition. But he actually lived in a dual reality, eagerly partaking of the OUTER WORLD and, particularly, the social and intellectual scene around him, as well as deeply living inside himself and the INNER WORLD of spirituality.

I admire Steiner even more now that I see him as a person who learned just for the love of learning. He would write that he worked hours and hours as a tutor, while simultaneously taking all the coursework necessary for pursuing his own education, but would -- just because he couldn't help himself, he had to -- squeeze in as much time as possible to devour Hegel, or some other writer, just to see what they had to say.

It took him forever to compile and edit Goethe's writings and add his introduction because he kept getting sidetracked into the development of his own spiritual world conception (which was quite stimulated by what Goethe wrote about the natural world), and then Steiner would return to Goethe and make sure he understood what he was saying and then go back and develop what he was thinking on his own and then check in to see if he had an accurate conception of Goethe's views and then go back and develop his own... and he wouldn't under any circumstances do anything less than this, no matter how long it took, simply because it was the right philosophical way to approach the work. The man had integrity.

I remember when I was in college and had the time to read Nietzsche just for fun! My undergraduate work at Smith College was in Philosophy. These reading assignments now, 20 years later, give me the feeling of being back in that happy time. I like reading something that I don't understand the first time through!

You can read Rudolf Steiner's autobiography as a free PDF or, if you prefer a bit of the books-on-tape approach, there is a YouTube video where someone spends 11 hours reading the autobiography to you.

This 38 chapter autobiography is part of my Waldorf teacher training. I've actually discovered that you can find quite a lot of what Steiner wrote -- for free -- in YouTube format where the books and lectures are read aloud.

First Free Product

So... I was all excited recently when I was mailed a free product to review.

This was my very first time ever being approached to review new curriculum! And I was so honored!! All the times that I saw on Amazon "I was given a free copy of this item in exchange for my unbiased review" I thought, why can't that be me?

This week it was.

Unfortunately I did not care for the product. AT ALL. But I wrote an honest review! A very honest review. And if you'd like to read it, here it is:

I the Guy Writer's Journal