Waldorf Tradition: Michaelmas

Turner's only school experience so far was this awesome little Waldorf School in Jacksonville, FL. His attendance there was due in part to my hesitance to go with what everyone else was doing (sending their small children to "school."): something about doing that felt wrong since he was just not ready. A few months in to the regular school year a friend was yard sale-ing in the small community between 3rd and the beach and found the school. We set up a tour and quickly realized the Waldorf way was something interesting for early education. 

The love I developed for that school was immediate. It was unlike anything I've ever experienced and our first experience with a school was magical and filled with all sorts of foreign celebrations. The first we ever acquainted ourselves with was Michaelmas, the celebration of Saint Michael. Here is a super simplified version of the story that I loved telling the boys. 

We carried on the tradition this year with some dragon bread. Turner actually remembered parts of the very short story I told. 

We enjoyed the bread with along with some sword and battle axe play! 

Intentions

My intentions with homeschooling the boys for their early childhood education are simple: have fun, learn with all the senses and to just let them be. I have no rules, no guidelines, no expectations. This is going to all be new and a learning experience for met, too. It is going to be an exercise in patience, this much I know.

I have decided to use the daily and monthly guides provided by Little Acorn Learning.  By using these guides, I already feel a little more at ease with our 'curriculum' and I know it's going to be a way for our family to learn and grow together. Three days per week we will follow Little Acorn until we learn what works best for the boys. Tuesdays, Thursdays and downtime will be used for the gradual introduction of letters, numbers and other fun things. I have high hopes for this "schooling" and I know it will bring a nice flow to what seems like chaos right now.

I'm hoping to begin this all the first week of November and, in the mean time we'll be moving. To try to ready for November, I'm printing guides/ideas/papers and organizing in a master notebook. I plan to stick to our rhythm as closely as possible and I truly hope to establish a "normal" as quickly as possible. We have had a hectic 18 months and it's time to figure out how to have a more peaceful time with the boys.

We all have a lot to learn and I'm ready for a little change!