Sunday, June 12, 2011

Waldorf - Everybody's Doing It

A lot of the blogs I follow, almost all of them, use Waldorf ideas or Waldorf inspired activities, etc. in their homes. Either that or they send their kids to Waldorf schools. There is a lot I love about Waldorf. I love the beautiful surroundings, the natural toys, the reading of nursery rhymes, folktales, fairy tales, the handwork, getting the kids involved in gardening and baking, etc. I just can't bring myself to follow this one path. The problem I have is committing myself to one type of education as if it is always right. Every kid is different and every kid has their own path. If my kid wants to write her alphabet and copy words at age 3 or 4, then so be it. I'm not going to stand over her and force her, but I'm not going to stop her either. I'll let my four year old choose a theme for the week, next week we're focusing on unicorns, and then we go from there. I promise you, she will want to write the word unicorn. She will then start sounding out words that start with u. She will have trouble because she will try and think of words that use the long vowel sound for u like in unicorn. She will ask me for help. I will tell her the short vowel sound for u and she will then come up with many words. She likes doing this. There is no force here. I am not pushing her to write or read too early. She is pushing herself. Anyway, she's just going to do what she wants. I guess that's called unschooling? I don't know. I'm learning too.

4 comments:

  1. I am right there with you. I call myself an eclectic homeschooler. I take what I like and what works for us from different philosophies! My daughter, 3.6 years old, also wants to read and write. I have been using some Montessori ideas for her.

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  2. Take the bits that you like and fit it to your circumstances. We like the stories and following the seasons, but I don't stop J asking what words are, or doing numbers. there are lots of ideas out there you can use - or not. It sounds like your girl knows exactly where she is going :)
    xx

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  3. I think many homeschoolers take what they like from a particular school of thought and leave what they don't. I am part unschooler, part Charlotte Mason and I am sure part my own mix. All I know is they have fun and learn and that is all I am looking for.

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  4. I feel the same way as you do. I read a few Waldorf homeschool listservs & am always a little turned off by the "...but that's not *really* Waldorf..." type members. I love a lot of Waldorfy things, especially for the younger kids, but I don't imagine I will do things 100% Waldorf throughout my kids' schooling. I think at the end of the day I am/will be more eclectic, maybe even unschooling. Who knows? All I know is what works for us now, you know? xo

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