Bean Bag Games for Grades 1-3

Posted by Christopherus

by Barbara Benson Many years ago, I attended a Waldorf conference for homeschoolers hosted by Rahima Baldwin. One of the presenters was discussing circle time games for early elementary grades. The games that really resonated with me were the bean…

CREATIVE WRITING in 8th Grade

Posted by Christopherus

by Barbara Benson Short Story Writing and Grammar/Vocabulary On page 5 of Christopherus’ A Rough Guide to Eighth Grade, one of her suggestions for Language Arts is to help your homeschooled child write a short story using Writing for 100 Days…

Creative Writing in 7th Grade

Posted by Christopherus

by Barbara Benson   In A Rough Guide to Seventh Grade, Donna has this to say about a main lesson unit in Waldorf schools called Wish, Wonder and Surprise: “We have not scheduled this as a main lesson because I…

Second Grade Speech and Poetry

Posted by Christopherus

The following is an excerpt from our Christopherus Second Grade Syllabus, from the language arts section. I am very proud of our curriculum materials but I have to say that I am especially proud of the language arts section of all our…

Is She Ready to Read or Not?

Posted by Christopherus

Something that is very important to ponder is the difference between teaching a child who is not ready for something and allowing a strong impulse in a child to unfold. I would hope that no parent who is interested in…

Playing with Language

Posted by Christopherus

(This article first appeared in The Homeschool Journey, December 2003) I’d like to share a poem with you. I’d like you to read aloud the following poem (which many of you will probably know) and just relax into the words. For…

Composition – when?

Posted by Christopherus

Many people ask when is a child old enough/ready to write on his own. The following are some of my thoughts on this, based on a discussion with someone about her 9 year old and writing….. If a child is…

Speaking and Reading to Little Ones

Posted by Christopherus

(Here’s another reworked post of mine from my yahoo group, Waldorf_At_Home) In this thread I have not been saying that we shouldn’t talk to our children!! What I am saying is that there is balance needed – that parents who…

Spelling and Composition

Posted by Christopherus

(this entry originally appeared from me in response to  list members’ question on our Waldorf_At_Home list) It sounds to me like you have done a lot of research on this and that you have a lot of tools to work…

Homeschool Writing Group

Posted by Christopherus

I have started a little weekly gathering of homeschooled children at my home. We meet every Tuesday morning – there are four children, including my younger son and they range in age from 11 to 13. The three who are not…

Reading Readiness

Posted by Christopherus

The following is from my yahoo discussion group – it is obviously part of a thread but I thought there is enough that might be of interest here to warrant re-printing it. My experience tells me to be even more…

Creating Good Readers

Posted by Christopherus

This article first appeared in the Homeschool Journey newsletter, May 2005 One of the most rewarding things a homeschooling parent can share with their child is a love for reading. As homeschoolers we can spend the time surrounding our children…