I was just wondering if you have theme weeks/days. I know that older children often decide to do projects on things that take their interest, but do you use themes for younger children? I only ask as the nursery that DS was at seems to always have a theme running. These can go on for a week or more. Recent ones have been senses, Chinese New Year, Families, etc. I sort of like the idea and keep meaning to incorporate the pagan festivals into something similar (along with finally getting the season table up and running!) Part of me wold like to be more organised and tie things in with certain events and celebrations, but DS is only 3 and a half and he’s happy just playing with his toys and doing painting and sticking. I suppose I feel like I *should* be doing more activities with him, but I’m not too good at planning stuff like that!

What do you do?

seasons is our very loose theme..making things to put/hang round our seasons table..but we wander through other ideas on the way, depending on how ‘themey’ I’m feeling! i’m doing some heart kind of things as a bit of a valentines theme at the moment,but its just to give me a ideas really..
i try not to let myself run too much on themes because the nursery nurse in me gets too carried away and i ended up ‘planning’ too much and then it feels too structured which i’m trying to keep away from! there is a teacher in me screaming to get out and am trying to drown her!!!

mummyk x

Yes, I do. It’s my middle ground between mayhem and control. 

I have a theme for the day:  Monday is story telling (especially floor puppet plays and introducing theme stories for the week), Tuesday is handwork day, Wednesday is Washday (along with Montessori-type activites), Thursday is food planning, baking, cooking ahead, Friday is preparing for Shabbat (baking Challah, cleaning the house, and we often do painting or wall display work too).

I also have themes going on at home in the stories that I tell and activites I plan.  We just did early spring celebrations (there is still some Chinese New Year and Imbolc and St Brigid stuff going on this week) and we are starting to use The Story of the World to explore history.  I’m using the book as our morning story at the end of circle time on Monday and then planning other stories to read to them around that, and I have a supply of short related activities to play with if they ask for something.

We’re still very much unschooling, but also very much Waldorf homeschooling.    I introduce things through songs and stories at circle time (and we HAVE a circle time LOL), we have set points through the day where we are usually doing particular things, little rhythms around the ordinary progress of our days, but in between that the children decide what they will do and when.  If I really want them to try something, I do it myself without comment and they often join in!  But they don’t always even notice the themes I am playing out in what I read to them or do with them, and that’s OK too.    Jenna has a main lesson book, and now when she asks for work I do something with her that she can put in her lesson book (things like making a colour wheel or reading a theme related story she can draw from, and last week she asked for some handwriting so I gave her a short spring poem to copy).  Hence it looks rather like Waldorf, but with unschooling at its heart. 

I’m working on planning enough that I have stories and songs ready for the week ahead, and so that I can give Jenna in particular one ten minute something to do a day if she asks for it (she usually does at the moment, and usually works on it for far longer than ten minutes).  Whilst at the same time staying relaxed enough not to insist they join in with something and open enough to leap off and change *everything* I’ve plannned to follow a different track that they have discovered. 

Jenna is nearly seven, and I noticed she was telling me she was bored ALL the time and asking specifically to “do school at home”, and this was the way I was most comfortable with giving her that structure without directly teaching and controlling the learning outcomes.  Sometimes I panic either way - am I giving her too much, am I not offering guidance that she is asking for, am I pushing, am I failing to allow her to push herself?    Right now, she still has times with nothing to do, and I don’t offer something every time she asks (just suggest she could go bring me a book, or help with a household task if she feels the need to do something) and I also often tell her that if she’s bored she is quite capable of doing something about it lol.  But she also has more guidance than I imagined, which I am coming to comfortable terms with. 

For Morgan, she is so happy to do whatever is put in front of her I’m especially aware not to give her things that are developmentally inappropriate.  When Jenna was four, and wanted to write, I thought she was ready to write (she wasn’t, but I felt I HAD to let her lead in the way she wanted to go).  When Morgan asked to write, I gave her a paper with her name on and asked if she wanted to copy.  She did, and asked for more writing, so I gave her some easy form drawing exercises which she loves and is doing almost every day now lol.  Best of both worlds. 

Thanks ladies. That’s the sort of thing I’d like to do. I often look at your blog, Sarah. Wow, you sound very organised! I like the idea of different activities on different days, but again if DS is just happy playing with blocks then that would be fine too. Are there any books that would deal with Waldorf rhythms? I have ‘You are Your Child’s First teacher’, but I’ve only read bits of it. I suppose that would be a good start. Thinking about it, I have quite a few books that cover seasonal activities, such as Earthwise, All Year Round, etc. I just need to get round to being organised and looking through them in preparation and not picking them up now and then!

DS kept asking me to do things with him today, but nothing seemed to keep his attention for long, so maybe I need to plan so that I have things up my sleeve…

Yes, read the books you have lol, All Year Round and so on are good places to start, and so are many places around the internet.    The Parenting Passageway and A Little Garden Flower, as well as The Crafty Crow are good places to collect verses and crafts you might like. 

Naturally I am a painfully disorganised person, impulsive and laid back, late for everything and often in chaos, so the Waldorf stuff has given me a good (gentle) kick up the backside into being a more reliable person for my children.  I now have a folder in which I keep a calender with nice big spaces to write ideas in and pockets for resources.  I also keep a running list of things I want to try or things I think might interest them, one in my household notebook and one on my computer (this one has lots of links too).  I try to update them about once a week and check in on whether we are doing what we want and still having plenty of free time, whether I’m planning too much, whether the children have something new they want to include, etc.  The main thing for me is writing everything down, then writing it again in more organised order, and regularly checking in with myself. 

If you’re going to start with seasonal things or festivals, I strongly suggest adding them in slowly.  And don’t forget how little he is yet, even if you were to decide to homeschool a whole curriculum you don’t have to write it from scratch and you don’t have to start today (or even this year).  Start small.  Look at what you already do.  Add in rituals around the gateways of your day if you are looking to include more meaningfulness.  If you want to begin a circle time, start with simple finger plays and rhymes you already know by heart, and introduce a story from a book you already have and both enjoy reading together!  I’d bet you can come up with one activity from ANY book you chose!

Also, remember that household tasks and other practical things like cooking and baking are things that you could involve him in as much as possible.  They are great skills for him to learn, purposeful, fun, educational, and relaxed.  I often need to remember that I need not bring in NEW things for them to do or experience when I’m often failing to give them the experiences and responsibilities just of every day life in the home.  Make sense?

Thanks for that Sarah

I don’t want to suddenly come over all Waldorf and change everything, but I’ve been meaning to get a season table up and running for ages. Plus celebrating the pagan festivals has been something I’d like to do properly too. We go to 3 groups each week, but on the days that we don’t I’d like to have a bit of rhythm or something going on!

I know what you mean about things like baking, etc being just as useful. DS ‘helped’ me hang the washing on the airer to dry today. We also ended up singing songs on the way home from the park, just because the idea popped into my head.

I like the idea of circle time, although ours would be more of a ‘line time’! I definitely want to get more creative with stories and songs. He love books, so that’s a good start.

Plenty of food for thought