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Half Arsed Waldorf Education On a Budget

Like the Montessori Method, Waldorf Education was never intended to be only available to the wealthy. Both were designed to be widely adopted in order to provide all of society's children with the best possible early childhood experience and equally effective and enjoyable higher education.

However, public school systems are generally adopted for their ability to generate income for the education industry and not necessarily to TEACH anything. Unless you have access to a charter school or the income necessary for private school tuition, you are generally stuck with either public school or homeschooling.

And by stuck, I mean homeschooling is AWESOME and fun and interesting. If it isn't, reconsider your routine and curriculum choice.

A Waldorf education is harder to define than a Montessori one, partly because I don't have as much experience with it and partly because it's based more on concepts than actual "do this, do that" stuff. The "why" is pretty important if you want to do this for cheap or free, though.

Take, for example, the block crayons frequently used in Waldorf school. Made with beeswax, it averages $12 for a box of just 6. Granted, they last longer and make more vibrant art, but it turns out the shape is more important than the ingredients. Just last night, I read in "You Are Your Child's First Teacher" that the block shape is better for making broad sweeps of color and blending. The author suggests make block crayons at home simply by making rectangle boxes out of foil, placing two paperless crayons in the boxes, melting them in the oven at 240 degrees for ten minutes, then letting them cool. I always see crayons for sale. Get the crayola ones, they melt better.

The point is, it's very difficult to find step by step Waldorf instructions on home because once you get why they do certain things, step by step instructions aren't necessary and somewhat counter-productive for the younger ages. The schools themselves may stick to a specific "rhythm," activity followed by quiet time followed by activity followed by quiet time, but the advantage you have at home is to be able to see your child's own natural rhythm and work around that.

My children, for example, don't want to start with circle time, and if I try to get them to sit down for any reason after they wake up, there's protest and unhappiness. We start with a big "out breath" - a play date, a walk to the garden, an hour or two at a park, gym class, musical instruments and dancing - only then are the children ready for a little art or story time. I know another homeschooling mama whose children are the exact opposite - they do best with schooling in the morning and playtime in the afternoons.

These links tell you what Waldorf is and shows examples of how other families integrate it into their homes. You'll notice very few of them involve buying the $125 doll or $10-a-piece play silks. Fundamentally, Waldorf is about using what is around you - making a gnome house out of sticks and rocks you find outside, or a knotted doll from a dish towel. It's about dumping out a pile of scraps you pick up at the thrift store and letting your child go to town. It's about letting them do what you do - when you cook, the child cooks with you, and when you crochet, the child gets their own hook and yarn to play with. Throw out the idea that you have to have a $250 wooden play stand - if you can, great, but if you can't, that's not the point, anyway.

TO THE LINKS!

"Overview of Steiner Education" - what it is, how it is generally done in a classroom setting.

Wonderful Waldorf - this blog post addresses some common myths about Waldorf Education

MillenialChild.com - this page has MANY links, including overviews of curriculum for each grade

OpenWaldorf.com - you'll spend all day here

Waldorfhomeschoolers.com - lots to choose from here


All about the Waldorf Nature Table - this blog, The Magic Onions, is just fantastic in and of itself. This post in particular sums up the Nature Table very nicely.

Another post from The Magic Onions about rhythm in the home.  I myself am most drawn to this aspect of Waldorf education. As I mentioned previously, one of my favorite Waldorf-related books is Seven Times The Sun. I highly recommend it if you can get your hands on it.


Waldorf Doll tutorial and pattern

Mini Waldorf Bunting Doll pattern and tutorial

Knotted doll pattern and tutorial


Waldorf window star tutorial

Make your own play cloths.


Make your own play blocks


This short article is an introduction to crayon drawing, and explains again why block shaped crayons are used.

This article is an introduction to watercolor painting, specifically why it is done on wet paper with the primary colors.

This link reveals how those math gnomes are actually used.

Harvest Curriculum - this is free and available by one of my most favorite blogs, Wee Folk Art. You download the PDF file, and then each week has notes and photographs to show how they integrated that week's activities. The downside is that some of the recommended materials may be out of your reach at the moment. The upside is that you see how a Waldorf-inspired home school curriculum is laid out, what is involved, how it is executed, with excellent instructions and photographs.

The Waldorf Curriculum Chart on this page gives a sample of what subjects are taught in the first grade and beyond. This website also has curriculum for sale.

Oak Meadow Curriculum - homeschool or online support, based on Waldorf ideas. If you review what each year's curriculum includes, you get a feel for what goes on in the lower grades versus the upper grades.


Live Education - also produces Waldorf-inspired curriculums

Christopherus Homeschool - one of the most popular and well-known Waldorf-inspired programs out there.

Half Arsed Montessori On a Budget

During a discussion about my last post, someone mentioned it was all moot if you can't afford to send your child to either school. It's true, some lucky states have Montessori and Waldorf charter schools, and I envy those parents with a bit of dark, seething jealousy. Meanwhile, the rest of us are presented with unsubsidized private schools that necessarily require tuition that exceeds our monthly food budget.

The homeschool alternative can be equally daunting because the full range of quality Montessori materials runs in the thousands.

Montessori purists often argue that a Montessori home education is lacking because in the school environment, the mixed ages interact with one another, with the older children assisting the younger children, and both benefiting. At the very least, they claim one should acquire authentic Montessori materials at whatever price.

Unless those purists are offering full scholarships to my local Montessori school or a $3000 gift card for Nienhuis, those purists can bite me.

The core of Maria's philosophy lies in 3 basic principles. 1, children require liberty and choice in the classroom. 2, one should employ the 3-part lesson when teaching something new. 3, materials should be attractive to the children and the activities involving them should be self-correcting - that is, it should be apparent to the child whether or not they have made a mistake so that the child does not need a teacher to point it out for him or her.

Maria Montessori used metal insets for the children to help them gain control of the movements required for writing because those were the materials available at the time. I doubt my child will be missing out that much if they use plastic stencils I find for 50 cents at my thrift store. The fundamental principle is the same.

So, enough chatter! How can you learn about the Montessori Method at home for free and make or acquire materials for cheap or also free?

BEHOLD!

The full text of Maria's book, The Montessori Method, is available online for free.


Video training by Margaret Homfray, a student and then colleague of Maria Montessori, is available through Google video for free. If the link doesn't work, simply google Margaret Homfray and click on the video tab. Warning, these are long and she talks slow, but they are very thorough.

The Great Lessons, for free. These may or may not coincide with your own beliefs about God and the universe, but they are nevertheless fascinating and can be altered to better fit your religious views. I, for example, believe in a God who looks like a person rather than a "God With No Hands," so as I prepare to teach these lessons to my children next year, I will be rewording them.


MontessoriMaterials.org is the single best website for free materials and advice and making your own materials at home. Many of the free materials require that you have access to a printer, so if you don't, this is where things can get expensive. My printer is broken so I often print things at the library. Some of the free downloads include your own moveable alphabet, which you can print out in color. I have actually compared the wooden moveable alphabet to similar items from other stores made from plastic magnets or foam, and the wooden alphabet is actually a better deal when you realize how many of each letter you get in the kit. However, none of that beats printing a few pages up in color, laminating them at Kinko's and cutting them yourself.

One might argue that the paper materials will not attract the child the way the wooden ones might, but that person has apparently never helped a child happily and readily learn to spell Dalek. The excitement is in the words, not the materials.

This is a great post about the Prepared Environment - that is, creating a space that is child sized and child friendly, designed so that they can be more independent and more engaged. Maria pointed out that this limited the need for some discipline problems because the children no longer had the frustrations they had in other, less child-friendly environments. It is similar to why we child-proof our homes - otherwise we'd be spending our days saying no from morning until night. Instead, prepare the environment for lots of yeses.

I also belong to a Yahoo! group dedicated to making materials at home.

A word of caution about discount Montessori supply stores - some of them are a bit shady. Some have been having sales for several years now, which means essentially they don't have anything for sale, they just say that all the time so you think you are getting a deal. In the world of Montessori materials, cheaper often means questionable quality and even more questionable service. It certainly looks nice to spend $25 on knobbed cylinders instead of $80, but the $25 one I bought wouldn't come out of their holes and I chose to sand them down a bit myself rather than try to go through the trouble of navigating the frustrating world of returns through mail.

If you have had a good experience with discount Montessori sellers, please leave a comment to share the good news with others.

Stay tuned for my next post, Half Arsed Waldorf Education On a Budget.

Montessori Versus Waldorf Education: Which One Do You Choose?

The short answer is, you don't. You let your child decide. Which one draws them and makes them happy? That one is the right one. Or, you do both.

The long answer is that these two natural education philosophies seem at complete odds at each other. Waldorf is based on art and imaginative play and has at its core the belief that academics before the age of 7 can be very detrimental. Montessori is based on utilizing all the senses to learn new things and shows children complex concepts in math and language at rather young ages. It also discourages fantasy play in lieu of real life experiences.

Both have research backing up their opposite claims of how children learn and thrive. How can they both be right?

The first answer is that it's important to understand why Maria Montessori concluded that fantasy play had no place in the school environment. In her observations, when a child was presented with the opportunity to either play with a play kitchen or join an adult in a real kitchen, they chose the real kitchen every time. Instead of playing with a doll house, they would rather work in a real garden or help sweep the floor. They wanted to do the things the adults in their lives were doing, and found joy in it.

What parent doesn't know their child prefers to play with a real remote or cell phone over a fake plastic one? Why are toddlers always drawn to the "no touch" things like our computers or car keys? Because those are  the things WE are drawn to. They look to us to see what it means to be a human being, and if being a human being means spending hours at the computer, well, they want to spend hours at the computer, too.

So much of Montessori involves Practical Life activities, which revolve around teaching children to do many real things by themselves, using real tools and doing real tasks. Maria Montessori did not discourage fantasy play because that's what she wanted, she excluded it from the learning environment because the children wanted it. They had small sinks and small kitchens and small gardens and helped set real tables arranged real flowers and always they preferred that over other things.

As for learning academics starting at age 3, it was entirely up to the children if and when they would learn math or letters. A teacher presented an activity, and then put it on the shelf, and the children were welcome to spend as little or as much time on that activity as they chose. Of their own accord, they were drawn to numbers and geometric shapes and learning the parts of a flower. She simply provided the opportunities, and they made the choice.

I observed this in my own son early on. He had two sets of toy animals - one Fisher price set of cute animals on Noah's Ark, and one set of realistic-looking hand-painted Schleich animals.  He preferred the ones that look real, every time, so that eventually we gave the Fisher Price ones away.

I also crocheted him a lot of play food, but he mostly used them as balls to bat around. I just bought the children a play kitchen because the play kitchen seems to be one of the most universally played with toys. The kids use it most often as a mountain for their animals and figurines. Meanwhile, they have their own aprons, and I am never short of helping hands in our real kitchen. Connor is fantastic at kneading dough.


(The Google founders credit Montessori school with teaching them to take their own initiative)


An overview of activities going on in a Montessori school)

Like a Montessori education, Waldorf is at a child's own pace and gives children a great deal of freedom in their own learning. However, this is done completely emerged in fantasy play. Math is taught using gnomes in a story. The first years revolve primarily around music, finger plays, stories and art. It is in tune with natural changes, such as the seasons, night and day, and other rhythms that make up life. Festivals and holiday celebrations are a large part of both the Waldorf school experience and home experience.

While a Montessori nature table is made up entirely of things the children find outside in nature, the Waldorf nature table integrates colorful cloths, felt dolls and other hand-made items into the collection.

The first seven years of a child's life are considered to be very physical, and so movement and play are emphasized. The schoolwork includes handicrafts such as knitting, woodworking and playing musical instruments The next seven years are more based in the thoughts, and that is seen as the optimal time to focus on the abstract ideas of math and language.

Waldorf educators claim that current brain research is on their side, and that delaying reading until the first grade is beneficial.


(A quick photographic overview of a Waldorf class)


(Overview of Enki, which is similar to Waldorf but without the spiritual (anthroposophy) aspects, integrates some Montessori philosophies)

So how does one choose?

Connor has chosen for us. He prefers Montessori for reading, and Waldorf for math.

On his own without our prompting, he has had an immense desire to learn letters and learn to spell and read. This came from watching us work on the computer. Last year he realized he could look up things he likes on the internet, and started asking us to look up everything from legos to pictures of squids to videos of Doctor Who. When I became pregnant, I didn't want to get up from the couch and type for him anymore, so I started spelling things out for him. That evolved to us writing things down on paper for him to copy. Now he can spell "lego" on his own and is learning to spell such complex words as "schleich" and "Anakin."

And, he has shown serious interest in the sandpaper letters. We have integrated that with learning the phonetic sound of one letter every week, combining it with arts, such as gluing glitter to a letter A or macaroni to a letter B or molding bread dough into the letter C.

Connor is 5 years old, and he wants to read and write. I'm not going to wait until he is seven years old to help him.

Numbers, on the other hand, do not interest him as much. We have tried various Montessori materials but they do not draw his attention. We've tried counting frogs and even online computer games. Math interests him when we are dividing a bag of gummy candy by 4 people, and he counts with me when we bake something and add the ingredients. Mostly, though, math is not something he will be taught. He will learn it when he is ready.

For now, he likes the Waldorf approach of finger plays and books that might talk about numbers or basic addition and subtraction. We can integrate it into his fantasy play - General Grievous has 4 light sabers, Ventress has two, so General Grievous has twice as many. We do subtraction at the library when we tell him he can pick out 5 books, he has picked out 3, so how many more books can he still get? But he has no interest in lining up the number rods, counting sticks or touching the sandpaper numbers.

The conclusion to draw from all of this is that each child has their own complex way of experiencing the world, and sticking to any one philosophy without observing your child in it is a less effective way of doing things. I love the Montessori method, but if some of the activities aren't working for us, as a homeschooling mom it is my prerogative to switch to something else or tweak it up a little so that learning is always something fun and engaging instead of something to just get over with so we can move on.

My three year old is loving all the Montessori materials and jumps at any chance to use them, but when she is done she is ready to grab a costume from her dress up box and run in circles and howl at the moon. She has her practical life, and then  she has her fantasy life. She has it all.

The truth is, there's no right and wrong way to homeschool, only right and wrong ways for YOUR child.  The same goes for alternative schools. Connor goes to a preschool enrichment school once a week, and it is neither Montessori or Waldorf - it is at his gymnastics school, and the majority of the 3 hour class is spent in physical activity, followed by a little bit if circle time, basic numbers and writing time. Connor LOVES IT.

My favorite Montessori book is Teaching Montessori In The Home, because it includes ways to make some of your own materials. My least favorite is Montessori From The Start, because she seems to go above and beyond Maria herself and comes across as very anti-attachment parenting. Some of her suggestions for children under three made me uncomfortable.

The Montessori-related blogs I read most often are Montessori Matters, My Montessori Journey, The Montessori Goldmine, and Maria Montessori. Montessori Goldmine is especially delicious.

My favorite Waldorf-related book is Seven Times The Sun, which is about establishing daily, weekly, monthly and seasonal rhythms. My copy is well-highlighted and dog-eared. Another good one is The Children's Year: Seasonal Crafts and Clothes. I do not own a copy and check it out from the library frequently.

The three Waldorf related blogs I read most often are The Magic Onions, Rhythm of the Home, and Wee Folk Art. Wee Folk Art isn't necessarily Waldorf based, but the crafts are similar in style and everything is free.

Facebook Finds The Virgin Mary Offensive

I finally had a profile pic flagged and removed. This is the Virgin Mary breastfeeding Baby Jesus in all her disgusting, child-corrupting glory.

Obviously, Facebook deciding to "draw the line at nudity" is a ridiculous way to determine what is vulgar and what is not. The really amusing part is that someone then had to have looked at this and thought, yes, this image really is offensive, I'm removing it and sending her a warning.

Of course, I clicked on the required acknowledgment and then immediately re-posted this exact profile picture.

Autism Research: Breakthrough Discovery on the Causes of Autism

This is the single most important article I have read all year, and that is not an exaggeration.

CLICK HERE for the for the full article by Dr. Mark Hyman

These are the highlights, though I encourage you to read the whole thing.

"These disturbances in energy metabolism were not due to genetic mutations, which is often seen in mitochondrial problems, but a condition the children studied acquired in utero or after birth."

So, Autism is an acquired condition, not something that is inherited.

"Bottom line, if brain cells cannot produce enough energy, and there is too much oxidative stress, then neurons don't fire, connections aren't made and the lights don't go on for these children. In fact, this problem of energy loss is found in most chronic disease and aging -- from diabetes to heart disease to dementia. Brain function and neurodevelopment in particular are highly dependent on energy."

The mitochondria are essentially tiny digestive systems, taking in nutrients and turning them into energy. If they don't function, the cell goes hungry.

"The causes of mitochondrial dysfunction are well known, specifically as it relates to metabolism and the brain, and I have documented them in my books "UtraMetabolism" and "The UltraMind Solution." They include environmental toxins (iv) -- mercury, lead and persistent organic pollutants(v) -- latent infections, gluten and allergens (which trigger inflammation) sugar and processed foods,(vi) a nutrient-depleted diet(vii) and nutritional deficiencies.(viii) These are all potentially treatable and reversible causes of mitochondrial dysfunction that have been clearly documented."

The causes of this cellular problem can be poisons from the environment, inflammation, and a lack of certain nutrients.

"The take home message here is that the answer to autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders will not be found in one of these factors, but in all of them taken together in varying degrees in each individual. There is no such thing as "autism." Rather there are "autisms" -- different patterns of biological dysfunction unique to each child that result in multiple insults to the brain that all manifest with symptoms we call autism."

By looking at one cause at a time, modern science has erroneously claimed that certain factors that could cause autism don't actually cause it. The reality is that autism is generally caused by several factors combined together.



As someone with an autistic sister, this kind of information is very important to me. I hope scientists and medical professionals pursue this line of research so that we can make this kind of treatment more available and see more widespread recoveries.

Shut Your Judgmental Jolly Santa Trap

So I'm salivating over the many craft blogs I follow, and one of them presents the cute little idea of "the elf on the shelf." This is a cute little elf you place in view of the children, and this is Santa's "informant." Big Elf Brother watches you, and when you're good, he reports it to Santa Claus, and when you do something bad, little elf snitchy squeals on you.

I do not like this. I have never liked Santa as the bringer of toys to good children and coal and tears to bad children. I have never liked this concept of God, either, the bringer of blessings when you are obedient and the bringer of hurricanes when your historic neighborhood is too tolerant of the homosexual agenda.

While it's true that when one of my otherwise flawless children smacks the other one with a toy, that toy goes away for a while, Bryan and I operate from the solid assumption that our children are GOOD and always good. Nothing they do diminishes that.

We don't reward good and punish bad. We exchange. This isn't working out because it's causing hardship or pain, so we need to take it away and replace it with something else. Hitting your brother hurts him and we are not a hurting family. Let's find a way to solve your problem without hurting. It upsets mommy when there's bath water on the floor because someone could slip and fall and mommy is left with a big mess. Since it is hard for you to remember that bath water stays in the bath, I'm taking the cups out of the bath for now and trading them for a toy that doesn't hold water. When you're done with your bath, I'd like your help drying off the floor.

Everyone, including little children, needs to know that they are forgivable and inherently good. When Santa Claus comes along to judge little children on whether they belong on the naughty or nice list, suddenly their value becomes a matter of what they do instead of who they are. There's no being nice because we want to have a peaceful home where people like living there. There's being nice to get presents and the threat of missing out on Christmas if we forget and lose control of ourselves, this massive influx of toys is at stake and we could lose it. Being good isn't about character anymore. It's about fear of external punishment. It's about that scary elf on the shelf watching and judging our every move.

Have you ever lost your temper with your child and had them come up to you, teary add, and ask softly if you still love them? It's shocking to realize you made your child doubt your love for them. That's one of the worst, most damning feelings in the whole world. Now make that moment all December long. Will Santa still think I'm good? Have I done enough to "earn" goodness?

Now imagine you are 5 years old and you line up to wait for your turn to sit on Santa's lap and tell him what you want for Christmas. "What's your name? Have you been good this year, Alisa?" I don't know, define good! Am I human and make mistakes? Am I supermom, never ever getting angry with my children or my husband? Do I ever swear at people who cut me off? Do I sometimes think Glenn Beck is a trickster? Is changing someone else's diapers enough or should I be volunteering every month in a soup kitchen?

How about a Christmas that doesn't put a measurement on me?

We are celebrating St Nicholas Day tomorrow because Saint Nick was a real Bishop who gave to the poor. The legend goes that he saved three young girls from being sold into slavery by providing a dowry for them, gold coins brought in a sack or stocking. The legend goes on to say that he often threw money into the open windows of poor families, with the coins sometimes falling into the socks hanging to dry. Tonight we are sneaking gold chocolate coins into our children's stockings and telling them that Santa Claus brings presents to children because he likes seeing them happy and wants poor children to have food to eat and clothes to wear and a special little toy to play with.

How about THAT Santa Claus? One that didn't judge if children were good or bad, but loved all children and just wanted all of them to be cared for and happy? What about turning our kids into Santa's elf, and having them help us pick out a nice little $5.00 toy to drop in the toy drive box?

How about a magic love elf on the shelf who, when we feel angry or sad, we can tell him all about it and then he will help us feel better and feel love again when we hug him?  How about a Start Over Elf who, when we're all falling apart, waves a magic hand and then everyone gets to take a deep breath and start over?

What about a Santa that has nothing to do with good or bad, naughty or nice, but everything to do with giving and love? How about a Christmas that is 100% inspiring instead of 50% fear? Forget the elf on the shelf. How about the Santa in the heart?