Spirals and Labyrinths

Thanks to a friend, I recently discovered that the homeschool curriculum we've been claiming but not exactly using, Oak Meadow, is derived from Waldorf. So my fire for the past week has been to learn everything I can about Waldorf homeschooling. It is awesome, perfect, amazing, what-I've-been-looking-for since I first homeschooled nine years ago.

Of course, this is what I thought about most of the other schooling approaches I've tried: Montessori, Classical, TJEd, and, yes, Oak Meadow. I think I'll finish with Waldorf, I really do. Wanting to share Waldorf tidbits is what inspired me to finally start a blog. But, hmm, I didn't name the blog anything about Waldorf, did I? I may have a fear of commitment.

Onto some useful knowledge to share.

I actually have been planning next school year, which is a first for me. I have completed my first few weeks. For Katie, my six year old, I am doing the typical Waldorf approach of teaching basic form-drawing. She already knows how to form all letters in the alphabet, their phonemes, lots of word families and most age-appropriate site words. In other words, she hasn't been Waldorfed thus far. For those who don't know, Waldorf doesn't teach reading until around age seven. So by going to Waldorf, we're going backwards by most people's standards. I'm doing this because Katie's writing is poor and she doesn't love to read. Both tasks are "work" to her. I'm tired of school being work. I've tried many approaches, wanting to find the one that is educational and fun.

I may post more details about my plans for next year later. Here is my favorite so far.

September Lesson blocks:

Katie: Language Arts (5 form segments)
Kael: History (15 chapters and supplemental reading, summaries, Essay, forms)

Week Five

Circle Time: Fingerplay (spiral movements): "The Whirling Leaves" (Katie’s verse to learn and copy). Demonstrate how to draw a Labyrinth. Spanish songs; Eurythmy/movement

Katie: Read “Daedelus and the Spiral.” Work on spiral form. Work on copying verse.

Kael: History (the Story of the World Volume 3.) ch 4-6. Learn and copy verse from material.

Afternoon: Plant winter seeds, walk labyrinth at church, create stone labyrinth outside.

Awesome resources:

http://cdn.dickblick.com/lessonplans/labyrinths/labyrinths-labyrinths.pdf
http://www.papermazes.com/labyrinths.htm

Fortunately, I learned how to draw a labyrinth two weeks ago on a retreat with Earth Mysteries. I've walked them before, at church, and I appreciate their value.