Your Child and Tests

Posted by Gabriel2

The Christopherus curriculum definitely includes tests–but the right tests, given in the right way at the right time. Listen here for a discussion of this topic plus what to do if tests are required where you live. Here is the…

Homeschoolers First and Foremost!

Posted by Donna Simmons

I am coming to the end of creating our new (summer 2019) sixth grade curriculum and a few things have happened recently which have helped me recommit to homeschooling as homeschooling–as opposed to trying to create Waldorf school at home….

No School During the Summer!

Posted by Gabriel2

That’s right—‘school’s out for summer’—including homeschool! (Alice Cooper eat your heart out– I bet most of you are too young to get the reference…sigh…!) Here in the US we are blessed with the phenomena of a wonderful loooong summer break…

Five Things Every Waldorf Homeschooler Should Stop and Consider…

Posted by Donna Simmons

By Donna Simmons I think there must be times in every homeschooler’s life when she (or he) wishes that she could just put the children on the couch and freeze them there for a year or two while she catches…

Keep Calm and Homeschool On

Posted by Christopherus

by Barbara Benson Guidelines for homeschooling multiple ages of children   One of the most frequently asked consulting questions I receive is how to homeschool multiple ages of children and keep one’s sanity! It is a challenge and I remember…

A Freshman to Senior Timeline for High School Homeschoolers interested in College

Posted by Christopherus

by Barbara Benson, mother of 5 children, all homeschooled with Christopherus and other materials through high school I realize that there are few of you homeschoolers that are currently teaching high school, but since it is very much on my…

Rhythms of Learning

Posted by Christopherus

In Waldorf inspired homeschooling we talk about establishing a good daily weekly, monthly and seasonal rhythm. What do we really mean when we say rhythm? In Donna’s Waldorf Curriculum Overview, Chapter 7, she discusses the daily rhythm of ” active…

Working Moms and Homeschooling

Posted by Christopherus

  In truth, every mom is a working mom. The job of taking care of a family is a large one. For those of us who add on paid employment, either outside the home or at home, the task of…

Transitioning from School to Homeschooling

Posted by Christopherus

Taking your child out of public school or a private school in order to homeschool is a major life decision for the family. In my experience as a consultant, this decision can often occur in early elementary, middle school, or…

TAKING STOCK- A Midwinter Evaluation of Your Homeschooling

Posted by Christopherus

January or early February is a good time of year for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere to take stock of where we are with our homeschooling. Here are a few suggestions to keep your homeschooling rhythm on track:…

Managing Multiple Main Lessons

Posted by Christopherus

(written by Barbara Benson) It takes organization, dedication and some flexibility to homeschool multiple children. The simple fact is that you are not going to be able to follow each syllabus thoroughly with each child. As a parent of five…

Role of Non-Teaching Spouse

Posted by Christopherus

  Many couples that do Waldorf inspired homeschooling share similar values on education and adopting a Waldorf inspired rhythm to homeschooling. There are times, however, when one person "discovers" Waldorf and is determined to augment it into the family lifestyle,…

Summer Learning

Posted by Christopherus

This article first appeared in the Homeschool Journey newsletter, July 2004 About a week after I wrote the last newsletter, I realized that what I had written was potentially open for misinterpretation. I had written that although we do not formally “do school” during…

Beginning a Sucessful Homeschooling Year

Posted by Christopherus

The first month of homeschooling, especially for new homeschoolers, can be challenging. Sometimes the carefully laid out plans of summer seem to go awry in the face of actually teaching the main lesson material to your children. Here are a…

September Boom and Bust

Posted by Christopherus

September Boom and Bust If you’re like most homeschoolers, you started your new homeschooling year well organized, with clear goals and with great enthusiasm. You had all your lessons well planned, with interesting and engaging projects to do to keep the work…

Keynotes for Each Grade

Posted by Christopherus

One thing that I have noticed over the years of working with parents interested in Waldorf education is that often people forget to look much beyond the grade/age that their children are currently at. This causes much confusion and sometimes…

Devising a Schedule that Works

Posted by Christopherus

One of the things that I take great pains to emphasize throughout our Christopherus publications is advise on how to teach and how to organize one’s lessons. Drawing from my background as a Waldorf teacher and homeschooling mother, I try…

Musings on School Readiness and Older Children

Posted by Christopherus

It’s that time of year again…parents agonizing about whether their six year old should start first grade or stay in kindergarten….Such a big decision. Steiner’s entire picture of the development of the human being rests on an understanding of the seven…

Autumn Field Trips

Posted by Christopherus

This year my daughters are in 7th and 4th grade and we are in the middle of Indiana geography/history and the Renaissance. To honor these two main lessons in a living way we decided to do two field trips. The…

Preparing for a New Academic Year

Posted by Christopherus

It can feel like an overwhelming task to consider planning a new academic year of homeschooling for one child let along multiple age children. When Donna asked me to do a guest blog on this topic I asked her to…

From Chaos to Form

Posted by Christopherus

This is a rather short reworked post from my Waldorf at Home discussion forum. An exhausted forum member wrote in, asking for help with transitioning her 7 year old daughter from total unschooling to a more Waldorf – ie formed…

Good Test, Bad Test

Posted by Christopherus

I like tests. I really do. I enjoyed them as a child in the Waldorf school I attended, I enjoyed giving them to my homeschooled sons and I enjoy giving them to my students. I enjoy creating tests and I…

The “S” Question

Posted by Christopherus

(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…

Mood and Main Lesson Material

Posted by Christopherus

Each year when the administrator at the Waldorf-ish high school where I teach part time asks me “when would work for you to teach your main lessons?” I like to sit a bit and think about what it is that…

Educating for Excellence

Posted by Christopherus

Sometimes I get the feeling that people forget to look beyond the “fluffy pink” beginnings of Waldorf and do not know much of where the education they are working with is aiming. Sometimes the Waldorf bubble encapsulates the parent as…

Team Sports – what age?

Posted by Christopherus

It can be challenging sometimes to decide when it is appropriate to allow children to engage in organized sport – does one say yes when the child shows interest or are there some guiding principles to keep in mind? For those…

Planning For Next Year

Posted by Christopherus

So…. I thought I’d give you all a few tips on planning for the next year (and all you Southern Hemisphere readers you’ll just have to come back to this blog entry later in the year!). One of my main…

The Well Trained Mind and Waldorf

Posted by Christopherus

(here is another old post of mine from my yahoo group, Waldorf at Home. This one comes from a thread about Waldorf and classical education. I would like to call it “so-called classical education” – see my quote at the…

Last Year At Home

Posted by Christopherus

I can’t believe school only started two weeks ago! I feel like it’s all I think, breath and do – and that it is Life. How could it only be two weeks old?! Of course, by school, I not only mean…

Friendly Teens

Posted by Christopherus

It always amazes me – and saddens me – when I hear about or read about parents who have no idea who their teens are, who cannot communicate with them or who are at a loss as to how to…

End of Year Wrap Up

Posted by Christopherus

It is now mid May. My 6th grader and I are drawing his year’s schooling to an end – next week is our last formal “school week”. I thought I would share a few thoughts on how we have, in…

Not School at Home

Posted by Christopherus

I wrote the following article for Lucie Smoker’s  eclectic and Waldorf-inspired homeschooling website, Wonder Homeschool, which unfortunately no longer exists. Many people are completely bowled over when they first encounter Waldorf education. The truly holistic and spiritual acknowledgement of the…

Working Together

Posted by Christopherus

My son Gabriel and I have been busy these past few weeks creating a new unit study publication for sale – this one is on the Middle Ages and follows on from the Roman History unit study we already have….

The Waldorf View on Teaching

Posted by Christopherus

(this is a response I gave to a question on my yahoo group Waldorf_At_Home)   I think a question could be asked "how does the child know to ask what she wants? How does she know what she wants?" This…

But Is It Waldorf?

Posted by Christopherus

Here’s my one week progress report on the journey back home by my younger son, Gabriel. A couple of entries ago (eeecchh – sounds like items on a menu) – er, a couple of blogs ago? – no that’s worse…

Raising Compassionate and Socially Aware Children

Posted by Christopherus

This article first appeared in the Homeschool Journey newsletter, November 2004 The following are excerpts from the keynote talks I gave in Fair Oaks, CA and Ann Arbor, MI at Waldorf in the Home conferences. The entire talk would be…

How To Do It!

Posted by Christopherus

This article first appeared in the Homeschool Journey newsletter, October 2004 (and much has changed in our family since then!) My original topic for this month’s newsletter was something quite different than what you are about to read – I…

Summer Learning

Posted by Christopherus

The following is an oldie but goodie from the earliest days of Christopherus. It is about the need that children have for long months away from academic work, that the dread ‘Summer Loss’ is a symptom of poor educational practices….

The Joy of Learning

Posted by Christopherus

This article first appeared in the Homeschool Journey newsletter, June 2004 Well, summer has come to Northwestern Wisconsin, USA – after nearly 6 months of frozen ground, it is such a pleasure to work in the garden again. Lettuce, potatoes,…

The Value of Silence

Posted by Christopherus

This article first appeared in the Homeschool Journey newsletter, January 2004 In my mind, I visualize Advent time to be like a huge balloon, building, building, building, getting bigger and then POP! Christmas Day, which in my family is also…

Cultivating Perseverance

Posted by Christopherus

This article was first published in the Homeschool Journey newsletter, November 2003 By Donna Simmons As I struggle to write this newsletter, I am half listening to my husband and sons having their recorder lesson. My sons would rather not…

Schedules

Posted by Christopherus

This article first appeared in the Homeschool Journey newsletter, June 2005 By the time this newsletter gets to you all, it’ll be late June … and many of you will be starting to collect your thoughts about next year. Many…