Fall Festivals

Posted by Donna Simmons

By Donna Simmons I love this time of year. I love the bright blue skies, the vibrant shades of red, gold and orange on the trees. I love the warm sun on my face and the cold wind – the…

Religion Lessons

Posted by Donna Simmons

Religion lessons do not figure in the Main Lessons curriculum (there is a specific religion lessons curriculum – but to my knowledge, only a handful of schools in this country or in the UK use it) and the Old Testament,…

Reading Readiness

Posted by Donna Simmons

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…

School or Family?

Posted by Donna Simmons

From the earliest days of catastrophic Hurricane Katrina, well-meaning proclamations were issued from governors and other politicians or civil servants from affected states that schools would accept children from displaced families. Reporters talking to families or relaying the seriousness of the situation repeatedly…

Katrina’s Orphan

Posted by Donna Simmons

So many awful images from Hurricane Katrina – the ones involving children stand out for me. A desperate father holding up his three week old baby, crying out for formula. Babies in intensive care whose parents were evacuated. And, most…

Keeping One Step Ahead

Posted by Donna Simmons

This article first appeared in the Homeschool Journey newsletter, April 2005 One of the new and exciting challenges of living in town (as opposed to our former life on our farm) is the phenomena of friends. It seems obvious and…

A Visit to the Science Museum

Posted by Donna Simmons

This article first appeared in the Homeschool Journey newsletter, February 2005   Just a little note to warn people that the following has been issued from Donna’s extensive Waldorf Curmudgeon files… I promise that March’s newsletter will not contain any…

Discipline and Inner Work

Posted by Donna Simmons

This first appeared in the Homeschool Journey newsletter, January 2005 No whining or nagging! Identify what makes you slip into either of these and      then do something to correct it. If you hear your mother’s (or father’s) voice…

In Praise of No Praise

Posted by Donna Simmons

This article first appeared in the Homeschool Journey newsletter, January 2005 When my family and I returned to the US from Britain, we came to live in an anthroposophical intentional community which, amongst other things, hosted visits from school groups,…

The Role of the Homemaker

Posted by Donna Simmons

This article first appeared in the Homeschool Journey newsletter, December 2004 When I was watching TV the other evening (yes – I watch some TV. I tell my 11 and 13 year-old sons that I like to keep an eye…