The Homeschool Journey

High School Blog

My son Gabriel has returned home to homeschool high school - and I am also teaching several local Waldorf high schoolers as well. So I will be chronicling our adventures together in a new blog. I think that this new blog will be of use not only to those of you with high school students but also those of you with 7th and 8th graders - and those of you thinking ahead! Find it here:

http://christopherushomeschool.typepad.com/highschool

Deadline for N Illinois Conference!

As many of you know, I will be giving a weekend conference in Northern Illinois (near Beloit WI) the weekend of 16 May. The deadline for sending in your registration forms and payment is fast approaching - we need a minimum of participants tyo make this happen! Please click below for details of the conference and to download the registration pack.

 

http://www.christopherushomeschool.org/waldorf_at_home_conference_packet.pdf

The "S" Question

(This is from a thread from my discussion forum on that great homeschooling nemesis - the Question of Socialization! No matter what form of homeschooling one works with, the spectre of a poorly socialized child will haunt even the most confident of homeschoolers. Here are a few pithy thoughts of mine on this subject....)

 

I think there is an extraordinarily unbalanced perception in our society of how much socializing children need. And I think that this lurks in Waldorf circles too - it seems to me that the general (ie non Waldorf) homeschooling circles have this one about right! They often point out that children - especially little ones - need far less socializing than is normally expected in this day and in this country (and probably most other Western countries as well).

Human beings are not pack animals! Yes, we are social beings, but our primary and most important arena for socializing is the home. Little ones need mama - and dad and any other siblings - and occasional visits to this or that person and into the larger world - but until they can really play properly, ie have started to develop a sense of "I", they really don't need much. Even then, home is the most important place - and should, in my experience, be the main arena of life until  about the 9 year change. And if there are no siblings? I still think little ones do not need much other than their family.

Pretty bold, eh? This is my observation of children both who have this kind of life and those who don't. And it's my observation of my family, too.

This does not mean no play dates, being isolated and avoiding park days! It's a question of age and a question of balance. I think that until about 3, there is no need for more than occasional visits to play or regular play dates - yes, more can often work, but I would keep a close watch on the child's behavior. Many "issues" and "challenges" which arise at this time are nothing more than symptoms of a child with an overly busy, overly stimulating life.

From 4 on this can gradually increase. And (List Member X), looking at what you wrote, that is a pretty busy schedule to me! And it might be fine if the rest of your family life is very ordered, predictable and has strong rhythms and that, most importantly, you are not feeling stressed out by going here and there. With such young children, that could really effect them. (and no guilt intended!)

And I know that many of us go out a lot with our young children because being home all the time can at times be so lonely, boring and stressful (it can be - let's be brave and admit it!!) So sometimes we also have to do things to help ourselves as mothers so that in balance, the children will benefit (happy mom equals happy home). There's no one recipe for this. But I do know from many consultations with homeschoolers, that the more they cut back on commitments which took them out of the home, the more perceived problems with the children seemed to disappear - even if they didn't change anything else. That has been quite amazing and right across the board, something said by people with very peaceful calm home lives and those with hectic lives and no sense of rhythm.

Steiner and Breastfeeding

(Here's an excerpt from an interesting thread on my discussion forum about Steiner and breastfeeding)

 

 

Steiner never talked about things like breastfeeding per se - he talked about the development of the human being - it has been up to other people to interpret what he said and to apply it to various situations. He had many things to say which became the basis of anthroposophical medicine, curative education and, of course, Waldorf education. Out of these initiatives has come various ideas about breastfeeding, co-sleeping and other things to do with babies.

Steiner talked about the beginnings of the emergence of the "I" at about 3 years of age. This is seen by the child referring to herself as "I", usually for the first time as well as the emergence of the memory and the first whispers of separation of the child from the mother. The Madonna's Cloak now fades away.

Other than that, one can take Steiner's powerful picture of the tiny child being wholly open to the universe and being like a sponge in terms of sense impressions to judge what might be right and healthy for her. And one major piece that he talked about - and which I bang on about at regular intervals - is the great need for physical and soul warmth to ensure the child incarnates properly.

So I add these things together and when I hear something like what (List Member X) says about weaning when the child turns her head away from her, I get concerned.( To be honest, I haven't heard that one before.) It seems to me that taking this picture of the baby as a sense organ and needing soul warmth, that extended breastfeeding (ie at least up to around the child's first birthday) makes a lot of sense. And, of course, things like slings, carrying and the family bed all seem to me to be part of this. But.... there's a funny streak amongst many Waldorf early years people which frowns upon all this....

What I have heard is the idea that when the child is able to walk away from his mother, somewhere between 9 and 12 months, that this is a good time to wean. This actually affirms the observations I made when I ran early education and Mom and Toddler classes many years ago. If a baby was weaned somewhere between 10 and 14 months, it was usually no fuss and almost seemed as if the baby didn't notice. It flowed with her increasing independence and moving away from Mama. But if one delayed past that time, one was usually in for the long haul - 2, 3 or 4 years of breastfeeding. This seems to be because of the child's growing awareness of her surroundings - the breast becomes a possession the child does not easily relinquish.

Now - I make no judgments here. I weaned both my sons during this phase with no problems. This was my choice - I did not want to breastfeed any longer and this time seemed to work well for my boys. We co-slept until the eldest was about 7 - the youngest stayed in the bed until he was about 9. This seemed really important for all of us.

Some woman choose to wean earlier, some later. I think that if the woman is clear about her needs and the needs of the child and doesn't get these mixed up, that there is a wide range of "best time" to wean. Many little ones definitely need to go beyond the cut -off I mentioned. No problem.

Back to "what does Steiner think" - or, I should say more properly, what does anthroposophy suggest out of its understanding of the human being - I see 3 years of age as the major change point. Before that? I think only the mother, with her deeply attuned sense of intuition of what each of her different children needs, can say. However, there are pointers which people can miss if they don't know about them - thus I mention this 10 - 14 month phase.

Caring for a Cat

(I am now starting to put selected posts which I have written on my discussion forum here on my blog... I can't re-print the whole conversation which we have, but just a few snippets here and there which I think others will find useful. The following was about how to involve very young children in the care of a household cat)

 

 

I do think that lots of animal stories can help - and also stories about your cat in particular. Involve the children in kitty's care - "look sweetie - see how kitty purrs when we pet her? When she arches her back like this, she's telling us how much she likes us. Can you arch your back?" Help them enter into the cat's experience by imitating and "being" the cat (to some extent). "Can you purrrr..." "Here let me brush your hair gently just like we brush kitty." And so on. Tell them little stories about how your kitty was born - how you got her and brought her home... tell them little stories about a cat that lived in a family with two children and how kind the children were to the cat... and always, always, always use imitation when interacting with the cat around the children so they can see. No mention of negative stuff - just model and tell strories about the right way to handle a cat.

Telling such tiny children "not to" won't work - they don't have the inner experience yet to use such information. They are experimenting - kitty does interesting things when they are "mean" to her. And though they can know that it is not ok to hurt kitty, their "meanness" is not introspective, is not arising out of a moral basis - so it can't really be termed "mean".

This is not in any way to say that it is ok for them to hurt the cat! But what it does mean is that you will have to be extra vigilant and make sure that you are right there so that kitty does not get hurt. And it might mean you need to put the cat out more or close her into a room where they can't get at her - if you would not know that they did this. You have to both protect the animal and be preemptive to avoid them hurting her.

If you put the cat out and the children ask for her to come in, you can say something like "Kitty would like to come in - but only if we all have our gentle hands on. Can you show me how you use your gentle hands?" etc. If the "rough hands" start to be used, then kitty must go back out (or into another room) and you need to say something like "Oh dear. Looks like you forgot your gentle hands. Kitty needs to go away now. She doesn't like rough hands."

Good luck - this could take a lot of energy on your part - but in the end it'll be worth it!

__________________

This Semester

Our first step once Gabriel decided that he wanted to return home and once we all agreed that this was indeed the best thing to do was to have a discussion about what he wanted to do. As in the middle years of homeschooling, we had a conversation about what Gabriel's interests are and then I would note all that down and make suggestions about additional or alternative things to study.

 

Gabriel had already been doing an independent study at school with me in Philosophy - not really a subject for 9th graders, but Gabriel was pretty adamant. He had had a pretty rough first semester so we wanted him to feel good about what he was doing in his second semester at school. Well, he wound up returning home and Philosophy has become his first main lesson. At school he would have only had 3 weeks for a main lesson - at home we have the luxury of drawing that our to 5. In later blogs I will explain in some detail what we are doing for each block (and for other lessons) - for now I'll just give an overview of our plans.

 

After Philosophy we will have 5 weeks of History for main lesson. This is Gabriel's favorite subject (at the moment). He wants to do modern history but I have persuaded him to go back and pick up on Ancient history again for now. I have given him two whopping great books to look through to figure out what he wants to do. One is Ancient History: First Civilizations to the Renaissance a huge 900+ page volume full of photos and illustrations as well as World History: Patterns of Interaction, a conventional high school text book published by McDougal Littell. I have used the latter one extensively when preparing for classes I taught at the Waldorf-ish high school here as it is very well done. One would never want to teach out of a text book (at home or at school) but a text book certainly helps one get an overview of things and helps orientate oneself to do further research.

 

Anyway, Gabriel has until Monday to decide what he wants to do: he has to either choose a civilization to study (Mesopotamia, China, Egypt) or choose a time period and study what was happening at various places during that time. Depending on what he decides he wants to do, I'll come up with requirements for papers and possibly a test. He is presently doing a main lesson book in Philosophy and will not be thrilled by two MLBs in a row. So we'll see. I am tryoing top get him to do some art projects but I have found that pretty hard with him since he was about 13. Fortunately he can do some art classes either at his old school  or in the community. So it's not a proper Waldorf "teaching via art" - but it's the best we can do!

 

After that is a 2 week catching and bits and bobs period in April. He'll be able to take a breath during that time - his grandmother and her husband will be visiting here from the UK during that time as well so we'll be pretty busy with them.

 

After that is two weeks of cooking - from planning to putting it on the table, all on his own. He wants to do really fancy cordon bleu type meals. I look forward to that - especially as that will be when we are finishing our second and third grade curriculum and might be fairly crazy!

 

The last main lesson of the year will be on ecology. That will be 4 weeks long and we will hopefully be joined by our neighbor's son who had been in the same class as Gabriel and also decided to return home (he also had homeschooled).

 

In addition to these main lessons, Gabriel is doing French, pottery, dance and then theatre at school; and math, English and business studies at home. This latter is something he's been involved with since we started Christopherus. Gabriel co-wrote our Medieval history unit study and has been a help in the office for quite some time. Starting last summer we took him on as a paid part time employee then lost him to school... now he's back and he will be involved in website management and design; marketing; fulfilling orders and much more!

Homeschool High School

Well, Gabriel, my 14 year old, decided to return home. He spent a semester and a little bit at the vaguely Waldorf high school where I was teaching and has had enough. He has come home.

 

So now both my boys are homeschooling again! Well.... I'm not sure what Daniel is doing really counts - he's doing a correspondence course for his British exams so that he can get a job or perhaps go to university once he's settled back in the UK. Gabriel, like us, has no plans for moving and eventually wants to go to college here. Like his brother, he could probably go to a very selective college - unlike his brother, that is a path which interests him. Daniel has decided that he needs grounding and wants to pursue a trade. He is interested in working for the railroad. Or he might go into the Royal Navy, a path which really challenges his anti-militaristic parents - though the discipline and hard work would undoubtedly do him an enormous amount of good. Daniel has always been a handful - largely because of him I have never felt I have "the answer" when it comes to parenting and largely because of him I am very good at strategizing ways of dealing with difficult youngsters with clients! He has also helped me be humble - I might be an expert when it comes to working with children and teens - but he helps me remember that parenting one is a totally different kettle of fish!!

 

Anyway, he is at home studying - he also goes to the high school to take Spanish. Gabriel will do most of his work here at home but will take a couple of classes at the school as well. He will continue with French and is finishing both a dance class (tango, would you believe!!) and a pottery class. Once they finish he'll join a theatre class. I am pleased he can do those things at his old school as they are certainly not opportunities I can provide at home (sorry - I don't tango with anybody!).

 

There are many reasons why Gabriel came home - some have to do with the school itself. But his main reason is that he likes to study things in depth and that was not possible at school. This was in part due to a school which is not formed very well - there are far too many classes and the main lessons are too short (they are all 3 weeks long). But the nature of school itself does tend to conspire against deep study - even in a real Waldorf school. He tried out school before - he spent a semester and a half in our local Waldorf school in 5th into 6th grade. His main complaint was that he had no time to read books - they had 30 minutes two or three times a week to read - but many of the children were very restless and noisy and Gabriel got very distracted - and when one is used to being able to read uninterrupted for hours at a time, reading in 30 minute bursts just doesn't cut the cake!

 

So... we are Real Bona Fide homeschoolers again! And that means I will be sharing with you all what we do! This is good news for the range of curriculum we are orividing as I not only have the high school lessons I taught at school to draw from for publications, but I will be designing lessons for Gabriel and will be churning them out over the years too!

 

I will also be regularly blogging in the meantime focusing on what I am doing with Gabriel. There are no other Waldorf high school homeschoolers doing this as far as I know (and if you know differently please tell me about it!) so I anticipate this will be of great service to those few lonely souls trying to do Waldorf high school at home. If you know of any place where this blog can be listed where others will find it, do so! Please tell other Waldorf (or open to Waldorf) high school at home people about my blog. Let's get the word out there so people will be less isolated!

The new blog: Waldorf High School at Home