I don't worry about the baby, he always goes with the flow as long as I respect his need for rhythm.
I start by looking at what I want to bring to my 5 year old, Wild Thing, outside of our daily rhythm of mealtime blessings, outdoor play, daily chores, and bedtime ritual and prayers. These are the things that will give him some one on one so I can meet the needs of Nature Girl as well.
Nature Walk Day
Painting Day
Nature Craft Day
Baking Day
Cooking Day
Farmer's Market Day
Baha'i Children's Class every second Sunday
Seasonal Nature Stories/Fairy Tales
I take a big grid of paper (with 48 squares as it turned out) and I start by putting these down the side.
Then I put in everything I want to cover with my third grader in in the other squares.
This is our list (which is addressing our particular situation/life/requirements)
Hunting & Gathering
Farming & Gardening
Animal Husbandry
Fibre Animals - Sheep, Angora Rabbits, alpaca, llama, camel, goats
Shelter & Housebuilding across North America/the World
Clothing
Knitting
Sewing
Embroidery
Recorder
Choir
Music
4 processes review
time telling
place value
measurement - weight, volume, linear
Build a House
Daily Mental Math/math games
End of year introduction to Fractions
Native Creation Stories/Language Arts Block
Torah/Language Arts Block
Purim Play
Central Asian Creation - Mongolian/Tibet/Eastern Iran - Language Arts Block
River of Words Project
Eagle Fest/February Backyard Bird Count
Farmer's Market
Putting up Food - Traditional Techniques
Grains
Dairy - cheese and yogurt making - at home and visit cheese factory (local organic)
Fruit and Vegetables - Pickles and Jams, Cider and Apple Harvest
Meat - visits to farms - Organic and old breed farms - chickens, pigs, cattle
Theatre Class/Dance Classes (Morris)/Musical Theatre Class in spring with K R.
Library Day
Formdrawing
Painting
Private Eye Project
Daily Circle
Felting
French
Phys Ed - skating, swim, yaga, hiking, Adventure Girl's class as Gaspereau
Then the way I work is to cut out all the squares and start making connections between things.
I then build a weekly rhythm out of first FAMILY needs, second my 5 year old's needs, then the 3 day cycle and what I need to cover with my third grader.
I use index cards and I put together a weekly schedule and then a card for each month with special things to remember, a card for each season, and a card for each block. On the cards I keep notes about stories I'll work with, specific activities I want to do etc.
I believe that a grades child needs about an hour of your time a day devoted to their block lesson, everything else should comfortably fit into family life with preschoolers in the mix. My 5 year old loves to draw and cut and paste so while he's engaged in that during the 22 month old's nap I have a window for working one on one with my daughter every day.
(I need to recharge my battery before I can take photos, but I promise visuals soon)
2 comments:
That's quite a list! What a wonderful year. I have a 5 year old/early kindergarten child and a third grader too, I look forward to seeing how your year comes along.
Hello there!
I realize this blog hasn't been updated in awhile, but wanted to introduce myself. We've just moved to the Kentville area and will be homeschooling using Waldorf for inspiration. It seems there are a few Waldorf-inspired homeschoolers in the area. Wanted to say hello, and if you'd be interested in getting in touch you can reach me at alissamacphee @ gmail.com (just take out the spaces). My kids are 6, almost 4, and 18 months.
Take care!
Alissa
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