Waldorf Education as an Art

"Waldorf education is not a pedagogical system but an art - the art of awakening what is actually there within the human being." Rudolf Steiner.

Its that time of year, planning for the new school year the world over form home educated children for children who maybe lucky enough to stay at home in early childhood. It’s so easy to be carried away on a whirlwind ideas with the ‘ideals’ of a life learning at home let us not forget the most important part of this process, it’s our home, our child and our journey will look VERY different to everyone else’s.

The little one turns three in September and in the U.K. this is a time many children her age begin a nursery or pre-school…knowing her, watching her, seeing her thrive, we know more and more her journey in learning is going to look very different from that of her siblings.

I see all the posts from beautiful waldorf homes and educators world wide, exploring a myriad of topics, and I have to remind myself to slow down to pause. As someone who has been educated in mainstream school this is just as much a journey of learning and transformation of unschooling for me as it is for the little one….as I see parents locally taking their children to school, taking about phonics and reading at home, maths and academics, I have to remind myself of the art of Waldorf education of its ability to awaken what is inside my little one, at a gentle and unhurried pace.

She IS the curriculum, and subsequently as she grows and progresses into academics it is still her unfolding into the world which her learning will support.

So how are we approaching the next yeaR?

🌈Play, and LOTS of it every day!

🌈Singing, Rhymes and stories in the oral tradition, often taken from my Waldorf Magic guide which follows the seasons (therefore tend to sit naturally with my child’s interests)

🌈 Being present in the life of the home through purposeful work and handwork, making our home a yes space!

🌈 Building connections and friendships, when she is ready through a local Steiner kindy and forest school.

🌈As a Catholic home I also weave in the Liturgical celebrations (so many of them) they enrich our home and faith life

@jamey_fisher_perkins Growing toward justice curriculum is something which I also have regard for, which I am using alongside our faith to build deep respect and connections with others

Other than that we navigate our days of play with time in nature and time just being active in community life, in the life of the home.

I am excited for our journey and feel so privileged for the opportunity to be able to do this with the little one. Remember you are you and your journey will look different to mine and that’s what I love about Social media and thus rich tapestry of home Ed accounts sharing, loving, caring.

Handmade rainstick

Handmade Rainstick Tutorial ☔️

One of my instruments in this months Waldorf Magic is a handmade rainstick! So simple and lovely for little hands to help make (swipe to see the little ones effort with a hammer today) it’s already a massive hit in our home and will live with our musical instruments for song, story time and play.

To make one you will need:

☔️ The inner tube from tin foil or similar (quite long and thick cardboard)

☔️ Small tacking of panel pins

☔️A Hammer

☔️Tape

☔️ A funnel and handful of dried beans and pulses

☔️ A watercolour painting (we did blue wet on wet yesterday

☔️ Glue.

1 • Tape one end of your tube with sticky tape.

2 • Hammer your panel /tacking pins in one at a time, you want them a couple of centimetres apart and rotating around the tube, so hammer one, then turn the tube and hammer the next, continue to the end.

3• Use your funnel to add the dried beans - don’t over fill, hold you hand over the open end and tip it - do you like the sound? Add or remove beans, even add panel pins if you want more of a rain sound.

4 • When happy tape them other end, coat the tube in glue and roll your painting around the end from, securing with tape along the edge to hide the pins.

Have fun making a rain stick, decorate how you like and don’t forget to tag me in any makes I would love to see!

Thoughts on the Solemnity of St Peter and St Paul.

Children, they bring love and light into our lives, such joy…frustration too. Sometimes parenting can feel difficult especially as children grow into their own..as my older two are now, who dare not breathe near each other, swinging from moments of silliness and friendship (pictured) to moments of seeming disdain for one another (about three seconds after this picture).

Love and hatred between siblings, I feel in our home two sides of the same coin at the moment, and something we are navigating as parents on a daily basis. Almost like a referee in a match. How we work out our differences in this world, how we see the common good in each other despite those differences is such an important part of being human, of building relationships and of growing in love and respect for someone for who they are, and who you are not.

Discipline a word which in the modern world we so often attribute to punishment, control and chastisement actually has its origins in discipulus, the Latin word for pupil, which also provided the source of the word disciple (albeit by way of a Late Latin sense-shift to “a follower of Jesus Christ in his lifetime”).

The age old saying your children so what you do and not what you say. Never more so an appropriate term when it comes to modelling behaviour.

Ironically today thinking about this we celebrate the solemnly of St Peter and St Paul in the Catholic Calendar. St Peter and Paul, the two foundational leaders of the Catholic Church share this day. There is some humour and irony in that given their somewhat rocky relationship, St Peter was an uneducated fisherman, he was bold and sometimes impulsive in his behaviour, St Paul was a Pharisee, a scholar who went on to travel the world spreading the news of Christianity. They had their differences just as my children do, but in their shortcomings they always looked back as disciples to the teaching of Christ - reminding them of their shared values, goals and nature.

So today on this feast day - of an unlikely pair, I hold space for myself and for you the parent out there, who may be holding space for your children who like mine are not always friends but love each other all the same.