Golden Goose

The Golden Goose Chalboard Drawing

Close-up

I laminated this weather chart so my son can check off the weather each day. At the top, he writes in the day of the week and date (in x/x format). At the end of the week, I'll take a quick pic to add to our photo album to keep for our records.

Here's my son working on his "bucket work".  I use a clothes pin system to help keep track of items studied each day. I'm making a mental note right now to post about how that system works. I have made videos of it, and now can't remember if I posted them or not! lol! You can see the Golden Goose chalkboard up on the wall to one side of the window and the September chalk board on the other.

This is my son's "main lesson book", where today we worked on the letter G lesson of the Golden Goose. We listened to the story first before working on the picture.  My son's biggest challenge is writing/drawing since he still has pencil grip issues, so these types of activities are really helpful for him. 

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As you can see, we're digging in even deeper with Waldorf themes.  As I mentioned in another post, I do stray from the typical Waldorf curriculum right now in that we are still having our son do other worksheets for academic learning even though he is only in grade 1.  I tend to only have him do 3 subjects a day as a rule, but some days he has 4 really short ones, some days only 2, and other days we simply enjoy BEING and do not worry about academic subjects in the typical sense and instead spend those days unschooling.

I love the flexibility of our current structure. I enjoy going with the flow of what makes sense for any particular day.  Right now, this combination appeals to the side of me that believes that we cannot completely leave out structured academics (even if only semi-structured), as well as the side of me that wants to ensure the children actually play and have a gentle approach to learning.

There is no yelling to get work done. That's not to say I don't encourage the work to get done in various ways. The truth is, if a worksheet does not get completed on a day I had hoped for its completion, I simply put it back into the bucket for another day - but I do not necessarily give up entirely on that worksheet. Naturally, some worksheets, upon reflection, end up not feeling like a good fit for us. I have found myself on more than one occasion discarding such worksheets completely.  

Admittedly, the more Waldorf-style lessons I incorporate into our curriculum, the more I find myself re-evaluating some of the other curriculum I've put aside. I do not see myself getting rid of it all, but I do see that some workbooks will likely become donated items. I'm allowing myself some time to feel it out and see what makes sense as we go along.

For now, in this moment, we are having a slow morning. Both children slept in until 10am, which is unusual for them. I have also been noticing some strong signals from my body telling me to slow down. I will therefore honor what my body (and the children's bodies) is telling me: take some time to breathe, relax, and enjoy this moment.