Thread: Waldorf Kindergarten

Hello all... I am starting my first offical year homeschooling and am looking for some company along the way. Is there anyone else here who is doing kindergarten this year? My intention is to be somewhere between Waldorf and Unschooling, if that's such a thing.

Any other active forums on Amity's for homeschoolers?

-Jeannine

I'm interested! My dd currently attends Waldorf preschool but we are going to start a couple of "homeschool" ideas to try out homeschooling this year (and convince dh). We will be doing some Waldorf and a few structured things (just recognizing letters and numbers). Are you planning on following any of the waldorf curriculums?

hows it going ???
Updates please !!!

Hello... Life has been going well and we have been keeping busy. I've been reading the Christopherus Homeschool Kindergarden overview. So far kindergarden has been alot of the usual. We like to visit the library and play outside. My son is turning out to be a little nerdy like his parents. We've done some science experiments with crystals and bakingsoda volcanos. Read a ton of books on Pirates. Started a savings account.

All in all, just living life. I have to send in my second quarter report to the state next week. Paperwork hasn't been as bad as I thought.

How about you?

Jeannine

I'm doing Waldorf kindy with my 5yo and 2nd grade with my 8yo. My trouble is that my 5yo is really wanting more academics, and I am torn right now over how to handle that. By Waldorf standards she would still have another year of kindy after this year, meanwhile she is really anxious to get started on first grade work NOW. For a while I was thinking that she would get bored with it after the novelty of homeschooling wore off, but she isn't, and it's starting to feel like I am putting her off and ignoring her. Hmmm, not sure what to do really.

Chrissy, my oldest two boys are 5 and 6. I use Christopherus and have actually spoken with Donna on the phone about this very thing. I buy my 5 yr old the same MLB's and he does what he wants of the lessons. I find that he usually listens to the stories and copies a few letters and then starts drawing pictures. He loves numbers so he does more when we are in a math block. It is not pure Waldorf, but it works for us and I think that is one of the compromises that is sometimes necessary in a home setting. I do plan on doing a full first grade next year with him. I will use a different letter story since he had already been through Donna's and I will use Donna's squirrel math story instead of math gnomes so things are fresh for him.

Thanks for answering! So, are you not strict about the age/grade thing. My oldest is on track (8 in 2nd grade), and I think it is a pretty good fit right now. I am thinking of starting Lilah in 1st grade in the fall even though she will only be 6. What grades are you doing with your kids? Oh wait, just looking back I see that you're going to do 1st grade with your then 6yo next year too.

Anyway, thanks!

Although I really like the Waldorf philosophy, I tend to lean toward unschooling too. With my 6 yo, he likes to write letters and stories, so although that's not part of kindy, I do help him spell out what he wants to say. His handwritting is getting pretty good.

This is my first experience with homeschooling and I too am a little concerned about the year delay that Waldorf education embraces. My oldest is 6 and is going Kindy this year, but by public school standards should be in 1st grade. Overall I am happy with where he is at, but that thought seems to be stuck in the back of my mind right now.

I'm glad to see a few other mom's posting here.

Jeannine

on the age and grade issue. I didn't start my oldest son in first grade until he would have started first in a waldorf school, but with the younger kids who are around when you are schooling the older one, I think it is just inevitable that they will pick it up and want to be a part of it. I do try to watch him though and if he gets frustrated remind him that he doesn't have to do it and maybe he should wait a bit. I do that in a creative way so it doesn't seem like I am telling him he isn't capable.

Have any of you Waldorf mamas used a Little Flower Garden? I'm curious about it.
Sometimes I think if I had know a little more about what I was doing at the time, I might could have made the Waldorf thing work for us. IDK. Every once in a while I think a little about trying it again.

I like A Little Garden Flower. What grade/age are you thinking of? For Kindergarten, I think I prefer Christopherus, and for that age the price is pretty similar.

I have ended up owning soooo many different Waldorf curricula over the past few years. I love it all, but for different reasons. In the end, I think my favorite at this point is Christopherus. It is more expensive than ALGF once you hit the grades, but it is more in depth.

Originally Posted by mum2conor

on the age and grade issue. I didn't start my oldest son in first grade until he would have started first in a waldorf school, but with the younger kids who are around when you are schooling the older one, I think it is just inevitable that they will pick it up and want to be a part of it. I do try to watch him though and if he gets frustrated remind him that he doesn't have to do it and maybe he should wait a bit. I do that in a creative way so it doesn't seem like I am telling him he isn't capable.

That makes a lot of sense. I am planning to do 1st with Lilah next fall, even though she will be newly 6 as well. We're going to take it very gently, and if she needs another year of it, I have no problem doing that.

I need help finding creative ways to help her not get so frustrated and feel incapable!

Originally Posted by chrissymama

I like A Little Garden Flower. What grade/age are you thinking of? For Kindergarten, I think I prefer Christopherus, and for that age the price is pretty similar.

I have ended up owning soooo many different Waldorf curricula over the past few years. I love it all, but for different reasons. In the end, I think my favorite at this point is Christopherus. It is more expensive than ALGF once you hit the grades, but it is more in depth.

Well, not K, but maybe 5th, or possible 4th but probably 5th. Little Dude will be going into K, but he really likes 'doing school'. Right now he's doing LLATL Blue and MEP math worksheets, so I'm sure Waldorf K will be academically strong enough to satisfy him. Not sure about 1st....
My girls tho seem to respond well to very gentle schooling, lots of arts and crafts and a big dose of getting to do what they want to do. This year we've been very child-led, using lots of library resources and very little curricula and it's gone well.
When we tried Waldorf we did OM, there were a lot of we really liked about it. But the phonics and math were a bad approach for us, and that's what caused us to give up on it. But we enjoyed the reading selections, the history and science activities, the arts and music. If I had been smarter then, I think I would have stuck with it and just supplemented.

Originally Posted by chrissymama

That makes a lot of sense. I am planning to do 1st with Lilah next fall, even though she will be newly 6 as well. We're going to take it very gently, and if she needs another year of it, I have no problem doing that.

I need help finding creative ways to help her not get so frustrated and feel incapable!

I'm having the same issues with Kallan and I tried getting him to step back from desk type work at all and do a more traditional Waldorf K, but that made him more upset. He really wants to do the type of things big brother is doing. When he gets frustrated, I try my hardest to redirect to something else. I don't let him attempt form drawing at all. I also have started to do only art on Fridays and they are both loving it. I am using ideas from the deep space sparkle blog and it is going very well.

How's everybody doing?

We have been doing way more playing outside than actual "school" work. I feel great about that for my Kindy girl (and the younger 2), but slightly nervous about if for my second grader. I'm really looking forward to the summer, and to spending a lot of time and thought planning for the fall.

I am nearly sure that I am going to use Christopherus 3rd grade for Noah. I still haven't decided quite what to do with Lilah, who will be 6 on 10/1. She really really wants to learn to read. I think we are going to do 1st grade, but will start slowly and see how it goes. I'm not sure if I'll buy Christopherus 1st grade or just piece it together myself.

What's going on in your Waldorf-y homeschool?