Waldorf. When I think of this educational philosophy, I can't help but think of beautiful childhood. Simple. We have been on our homeschooling journey for 10 years now. The last 6 have been inspired by the Waldorf method. I am no expert on it. I have not even come close to being as much of a purist that I would like to be. I have not yet been able to completely get rid of the tv, or those wonderful gifts of plastic toys that so many well meaning people have gifted my children. Yet, what we have been able to incorporate into our lives, have simply made it beautiful. Especially how our children learn. Today I had to reflect on this as my 6th grade son was working on his geometry lesson. The other children were so drawn to what he was doing, that they all did one of their own. I know that my little princess, who is 7, is not in the same place in her life that this is for her, nor is my little man who is only 5. This is where I say we use Waldorf as an inspiration. Homeschooling 4 children, the younger ones are bound to want to have a taste of what the older ones are doing, I mean, seriously, when you see something so beautiful, you would be intrigued as well wouldn't you? And I let them work on it. And we also do the stories that speak to each of them. And when they grow older, they will redo these lessons they are sharing with their older brother, because at that point, it will speak to them in a whole other way. And in my opinion, that is perfect for us. Today, as with many other days, I realized that we have been so very fortunate to have been lead to this way of teaching our children. My 6th grader would not be so into his math lesson had the results not been so captivating. I doubt he would be coming to the table with so much anticipation if I were just handing him worksheets. Funny how the things we are looking for tend to find us and just seem to work....beautifully!
