Greek Unit Cover Page
Well, here I am doing an actual homeschooling update with progress pics! It feels good to be in a rhythm right now where we can pause from packing/organizing and focus on our lessons.
For DS10, that means Ancient Greece. We've been picking away at this for a couple of weeks now. We've combined books, stories, videos and online games to learn all about Ancient Greece. I've spoken before about how this is where I break off from a more traditional Waldorf approach in that I include media in our studies. I personally do not believe that it is harming my son to have him watch a documentary on Ancient Greece, or for him to then play a fun online game (here's one we enjoyed: https://gridclub.com/activities/ancient-greece).
I believe that if you are purposeful about the media, that children can gain a lot of knowledge and practice with a subject, while also enjoying themselves! More fun = better retention!
Below are the MLB pages DD8 worked on for St. Brigid. Tomorrow is St. Brigid's day, so we fortunately managed to study her just under the wire!
I love posting pics of our MLB pages, because I think it is important for other families to see the REALITY of them. I think it is so easy to look on pinterest and realize that your child could never create such works of art. Truth be told, many of them can't (or won't), and that is TOTALLY OK!
The idea that I impress upon my kids
is that they do their best work
and try to constantly (but slowly) improve their technique.
I want these pages to be colorful, beautiful and meaningful to the children. As such, I don't pick apart each element and insist upon perfection. I also do not have them do a "dry run" before the "real thing". I know that many Waldorf schools do that, as do many Waldorf-inspired homeschools, but I find it an unnecessary step. My children are going to naturally get better over time. I don't need to rush them, suggesting to them that each thing that comes out of their fingertips is perfection.
I believe in slow and steady progress. If there is an element I want them to focus on that day, we will talk about it first. For example, recently I have been trying to get my son to write his lower-case t's with taller "backs". This seems like a small thing, but both of my children have had handwriting issues. I also asked him to use more than 3 colors on his picture...and I have to keep reminding him to consider a border.
These are somewhat nit picky items that other homes have probably already sorted through by having their children do the photos over and over until they get a more perfect final product.
I say that you have to know your own children very well. If your child is one who strives for perfection, then that strategy would work well for them. If your child is very sensitive, then you need to sort of pick your battles. Both of my children are incredibly sensitive to criticism, so I have to be very patient and slow about the changes we make in their technique.
For us, it is about the intent, and about absorbing the info and the stories into themselves...and less about having a finished product that is worthy of pinterest envy.
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