Welcome to A Little Garden Flower & Waldorf Essentials

Falling in love again...

with our day planner! lol. 

I am no different than many of you.  I can lay forth wonderful plans and somehow they get derailed or we fall a bit behind.  This week between Christmas and New Years I am usually looking at where we are on our plan and then assessing where I would still like to go.  It never fails that *something* has come up that makes me have to move things around - this year it was several *somethings* but because I had a good overall plan in place then the assessment is really just a redistribution of work here and there.  It sorta makes me think about having a dinner party and two people who didn't RSVP just showed up... you were still planning the party so it is just a matter of changing who sits where and how the food gets split up, once that is done then the party can go on.

For a long time I used our day planner to plan out our year in addition to my big folded sheet that I always talk about - then with the growth of our business, I started putting more of our plans on the computer - that was ok but I started feeling boxed in a bit - there is something about the act of writing it down, taking the time to connect with it all - so this last week I pulled up the ebook version of our planner (the only version we offer these days) and I evaluated which things I loved from it and which ones I wanted to change.  I found that there really wasn't much I would change - just things I will add when we work on the new edition. 

I thought I would share with you a bit my planning process from this week, in hopes that it would help you with your assessment.  Remember also to tune into our radio show the 4th since we'll be talking about mid year goals.

1. I sat down with my big chart that I made at the beginning of the school year.  I looked over what we had done and also looked at what I might be able to cut given that we are about 4 weeks behind schedule.  There wasn't much I was willing to cut but after talking to Erik about our summer plans, we found ways to integrate some of the things we want to keep into our summer schedule.

2. I grabbed my trusty friends... Post-it Notes... I know.. paper... but I buy recycled ones and I recycle them so I feel like I am at least being responsible.  Between me and God, lol.

3. I made a Post-it for each child, wrote their name at the top and the lesson blocks we still needed to complete. Simple.

4. I got out a plain piece of lined paper (ok, not plain... Hello Kitty) and I outlined each child, then the month and the lesson block we were going to get through for the month.  January through May. Used my Post-it notes to make sure I covered all the bases.  Laying it out made the whole task seem far easier - lighter - doable. 

5. I printed out only the pages from our planner that I knew I would use and that I needed.  For me it was the undated month and the two undated weekly pages.  I have found that with all the children I am planning for I needed a full lined sheet per child each week so I just slipped some pretty Hello Kitty lined paper behind each of the weekly pages for the planning.  I dated everything, hole punched it and put it in a binder.  I have a thing for Post-it Durable Filing Tabs - once you discover them, they will be your friend for life... you will hide them with your chocolate stash, lol.  I use them a ton for marking lectures, school planning and business planning.  They rock. I know... I am anal.  I am always on the look out in the clearance section at the office supply store for anything that I can use for planning.   The back of the binder also has a folder for each child.  I use this for planning ahead - say I find a pretty painting on someone's blog or a chalk board drawing... piece of handwork, etc. I want to use it but it isn't right for this block - maybe it is two months away, I will print it, put it in that folder and then when I sit to do my monthly/weekly planning I will pull it out.  If it is a painting or something that requires my practice, then I try to start practicing it a week or two before I plan to teach it - this gives me PLENTY of time to feel confident.  I do this practice one or two mornings per week before the kids get up or on Sunday afternoon or anytime I can carve out.  The point is I make the time.  Remember that YOU govern your time... no one else.  You might let someone else govern your time, but that isn't the same.  I also use this (Download Festivalplannerpage) I made and slip it right into the week where it belongs so that I have it all right there.

6. Once I have the binder set up, then I can dig into my list for each child.  I generally keep like subjects together - my three will all be working on a six week block of math - this takes into account festivals, our mid winter vacation, etc.

Now that I have in place all the blocks, repositioned from where they were, I can easily go back to my curriculum to do my weekly planning.  I can grab my math book, look at which lessons we will do each day and write down the page numbers in my planner.  If I need story resources, then I can easily look at what I have in my home verses what I may need to grab from the library.

My notes, for example on my planning page (written out on pretty Hello Kitty paper!) might look a bit like this, it is based on the monthly guide in our grade 3 book, pg 93, remember we are about 4 weeks behind - this is the depth I would go into about two weeks in advance so there are NO surprises! No books or recipes to find, it is all there:

Ellie - March 1st -4th:   1st - **Form drawing (I would then clip the form drawing to the back of this page or make sure it is in her folder at the back of the binder with a sticky on it for the date) **our guide pg. 58 for story - I will have read the story in my planning phase and started to think about a drawing/painting/activity we could do that would coordinate with the first day of the story.  For this story, "The Buffalo and the Field Mouse" we might paint buffalo (since I remembered seeing a buffalo painting in my Flickr file) or we might sculpt mice from beeswax - or time permitting we'll do a painting one day and the sculpting the next.

I go through this much planning for EACH day for EACH child.  This is how planning sets you free.  All I have to do now is go over the next day's lesson quickly the night before, read over the story, go to bed.  In the morning I will get up and meditate, work our business, then head to the school area of our home to prepare the chalk boards for the day.  These days, my 3rd grader gets the regular board since her lessons demand it.  My older boys don't get a much board work unless we are drawing a map together or working on geometry, etc.

I regularly get asked where we fit in handwork and baking, etc.  First, you will have to tailor each rhythm to fit YOU... we live a really busy life with the ages of our children, their activities and our business too, so we fit in handwork and baking where we can, at least once a week for baking and several afternoons or lazy evenings for handwork.  When you make it a priority then you find a way to make time.

The next question usually is... Where do I get the planning time?  I expect it.  Erik gives it freely because he knows how smooth our lives run when we have planned.  He knows that I am calmer, the kids know what direction to take and he feels strength when there is peace and love at home.  His work in the planning is making sure kids are occupied so I can get it done.  This week has been sorta easy since the big boys are still on the mend from the flu... but that leaves us with the VERY smurfy Ellie and Sam... they have taken several trips to the store, to the library, to Grandma's to visit her kitties (she's out of town) - whatever it takes so I get the time. 

In the end, there is NO substitute for planning... there is no such thing as a curriculum that won't require you to do some leg work... if you aren't planning this far in depth then you are missing SO MUCH of the wonder in this method. It is there... hidden in the creases of pages, in the lectures you thought you couldn't understand but BOOM magically now you get it... it is there.  Seek it. Meditate on it.

Awesome Uncles

In the midst of our home made holiday, Ellie (nearly 9yrs) got something she has been pining over for months.  A sewing machine.  Turns out that her uncle (he's in the film industry) had a sewing machine sitting in his closet for the last few years.  A Janome no less!  I have a high end one and I just wasn't thrilled at the prospect of teaching her on it - she's still a few years away (ala Waldorf handwork indications) but she takes to homemaking and handwork so naturally I didn't want to squash it.  Over the last few weeks we have been hand sewing and strengthening her knitting/purling skills (she'll crochet this year too) - we just never dreamed that mentioning to Grandma that she wanted a sewing machine would get one to our door within two weeks.  Thanks Uncle Robert!

This is the pin cushion she made in anticipation of getting her machine!  She told me that this is the best Christmas ever, lol... such a sweet girl. 

  

Finished project - a knitting bag, completely lined with a pocket for her needles - all I did was man the rotary cutter and help her pin - the rest was all her.  She is already planning the next project.

Grade Three Jewish Studies & Inner work

We are starting to wind down our Jewish studies for the semester - we haven't gotten through everything I wanted to but we got through a lot and so we will put the rest of the stories aside for the Spring (there are plenty of great Jewish festivals to celebrate!) I also decided we would go through some stories we missed while we study measurement with our math block in January.

Although we aren't doing a traditional Hanukkah, we are doing some fun things.  Rather than her regular advent calendar, which usually consists of chocolates brought each night by the Christmas Fairies, this year Ellie asked for a Hanukkah celebration so we have been leaving small treats each night, ranging from dollar coins to chocolates.  We also had a Jewish dinner - made entirely by her - soup, potato pancakes and all!  

Don't look at my messy kitchen!

We are so blessed by the stories of the Old Testament.  For me, in preparing her lessons, it really gave me time to ponder some of the lessons surrounding the curriculum for my own inner work.  I was pondering commandments the other day... so many people see them as limiting our lives but I have come to really understand them in a different light. Commandments are a lot like the rules we make for our children to keep them safe... many of us have spent so much time rebelling against our childhoods, that we haven't taken the time to look deeply at the origins. It is a great challenge during the years we are teaching these different cultures to really take in some of their teachings and try to understand the origins rather than pushing them aside. 

Pondering the festival of lights is a great source of inner work for this season.  Have we had times in our life when we have only had enough oil for one night and somehow it stretched for eight?  Miracles happen every day, we just need to look for them.

Being Greek

Okay, so we aren't Greek, lol... but right now you can't tell my middle son that!  I have seen something in him this year that I knew was there but he was hiding it a bit... maybe it was the nine year change, maybe it was his temperament but BOOM this year he is giving me more!  This has been so evident in his studies - but especially so with Greece.  He started the Percy Jackson series over the summer and had them all read before we had our first Greece main lesson - he even dutifully read all the other works I gave him for Egypt and India... all the while he knew we would eventually get to Greece.  I look at the changes in him this year and it mirrors the culture he seems to be so steeped in.  He has a love of beauty and new found diplomacy but if you cross him the Spartan warrior steps out. 

Steiner suggests that a real in depth historical study not start until age 12 (grade/class 6) - before then we are laying the foundations of what will become the thread of time for them... so much of history begins with the epochs of Greece and Rome.  Rome is covered in grade six, once they are 12yrs, this study fits the age group just as much as Greece fits the 10-11 year old child.  I've not yet met a child of this age that isn't completely in love with Greece.  It is a funny place for most boys to stand... girls are still pretty yucky but we present them with this adventurous tale that includes heroes relationships with women of history and also this huge battle over a woman.  I remember my oldest son was so irritated at the battle of Troy.  He loved the war parts but "Helen" he would say "... is just not worth it!"  Now of course today he would disagree but he is older and wiser and nearly 13!  His brother (the Greek) said to me yesterday "these stories are awesome but what is up with Paris? He needs to get a life."

In fifth grade, Greece should be studied in terms of religion, outlook and their way of life (see Rhythms of Learning, chapter 6 and also all of Steiner's lectures on teaching history.)  This study of Greece in grade five becomes the foundation for the rest of the history curriculum.  While other ancient cultures are definitely a factor, Greece and then Rome really become the base for our modern history and following the thread of time really gives children a whole to parts sense of it. 

In From Symptom to Reality in Modern History, Steiner said:

"The real essence of humanity lives in historical impulses; what is gathered together in these impulses live in external historical events, which in turn have their effect on individual human beings." 

While they explore the stories and ways of life of the Greeks, it really becomes apparent to them in later years just how much this culture influences the rest of history.  It need not be laid out to them in grade five - they will make some of those connections on their own - in grade six you can bring Greece and Rome together and discuss what exists today.

In Teaching History, Steiner writes:

"You should begin with what still exists today, then go on to show the children how such things first developed and took control of human development during the Greek period. This will give the children a very solid idea of everything the Greek period gave to the development of humanity.  Through such a presentation, the children should get the idea that historical life is not something that endlessly repeats.  Instead, a specific period achieves something very specific for humanity, something that remains."

As parents/teachers we have such a wonderful opportunity to heal our own gaps in education by learning, inside and out, history the Waldorf way.  I loved history in college - but I never understood the threads of time and the historical impulses as I do now by learning not only dates and events but about people... their lives... their struggles.  In Discussions with Teachers, Steiner suggests that it doesn't really matter which texts are used as long as the person presenting the material can read between the lines.  He mentions that we should be so inspired that we not only fully understand history but that it lives within us... then we can give it to them!

I have been trying to wrap up Greece for the last week and Monday he came to me and told me he just wasn't ready and could we extend Greece so he could learn even more... he wants more stories, more conquests... a bit more of that immortality that he still holds within himself.  I couldn't turn that down!  Looks like he will be reading more stories while we look forward to a math block next month!  As he nears that 11th birthday, my guess is he'll be ready to move on.  I love homeschooling with this method.  It changes them... it changes us.  It works to make us part of the WHOLE.

Blessings.

Melisa

Some books my son has enjoyed or are on his list:
Black Ships Before Troy by Rosemary Sutcliff
D'Aulaires Book of Greek Myths

Traveler's Guide to the Ancient World: Ancient Greece by Eric Chaline (we also have the one for Rome, these are lots of fun!)
The Children's Homer by Padraic Colum
The Aeneid for Boys and Girls by Alfred J. Church
We Goddesses by Doris Orgel

and of course the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan (there are 5 in the series)

For teaching help in grade 5, our book "A Journey through Waldorf Homeschooling Grade Five"  is a great resource.

Be a Beacon - Relationships

I am so excited about our Beacon program!  It is growing each day and we are really enjoying the group of wonderful Beacons we are working with.  Tonight's show centers around relationships, getting them healthy and keeping them that way.

Are you still on the fence about our program? Come and check us out for a month and see for yourself.  Inner work is such an important part of life... homeschooling... self study - all of it!

Use the button on the side bar to join.  See you tonight!

Love and blessings,

Melisa

Be a Beacon schedule

I had some moms ask me what we would be covering and if I would be willing to share some more specifics about our plan for the Be a Beacon schedule. 

We are going to cover a wide range of topics - many unique to Waldorf homeschooling but also many, many that are unique to being MOM.  Homeschooling or not, you will get something from our program.  Below is a list of our topics for the next few months, we will of course be talking about many more things within these topics and getting down to the nitty gritty of inner work, planning our lives and feeling the FREEDOM that Steiner often speaks of while learning how to live and govern our lives without resistance.

• November - Why inner work? Getting started.  The importance of relationships, partners, children and Source.  Working WITH these relationships to make us better. 
• December - Advent festivals.  This is a month for ALL faiths - what were Steiner's thoughts on Advent, the season, what it means to us, how we can gain strength - we will be sure to include those on the other end of the globe too.  These are universal lessons.
• January - Biography aka My bag of poo and how I got it.
• February - Meditation through art - guided work and on our own.
• March - limitations as excuses... we will push through the "I want to BUT..."

These are just some of our topics.  We are exploring them with many different faith bases and working through them together.  You can join at any time and get our archives so please don't worry about missing anything.  All are welcome. I hope you will join us.

Blessings.

Are you willing?

EDITED* Read below

Are you willing to do what it takes?  I woke up this morning pondering what makes some people rush forward and feel confident while others seem to get stuck.  I thought about all the families I have worked with over the past few years and how some can talk to me for an hour on the phone and then make huge strides because they just needed that extra oomph and others that I can talk to week after week and they still seem to struggle with the same issues - ones really central to homeschooling... planning... inner work... rhythm... so it really got me thinking - what separates the two? I started by thinking of common things I hear:

• "I don't have the money."  I hear this one a lot.  It always gives me pause because Steiner's basics dictate that education should be free - accessible to all - all who WILL it of course.  If you lack the will forces to make it happen then all the money and curriculum in the world will not make it happen.  The curriculum basics are easily found - we have written about them time and again, they are available here on this blog, other places on the net, you can join a yahoo group to get them.  Once you have them you can do so many things - you don't have to buy a curriculum, but if you do it doesn't have to be expensive.  For my single years, when I was homeschooling three children, I used the library extensively - I couldn't buy books, I didn't have the budget to get the expensive (or cheap!) ones recommended on Waldorf groups so I got really good at using the library and praying/meditating on what my children needed.  I kept a wish list handy for times when a family member or someone would offer to buy a book for me (keep an Amazon wish list updated and make sure your family and friends know you have one.)
• "My life is too hectic. I don't have the time." I hear this one a lot too!  So wouldn't NOW be a good time to get things smoother? Do you like a hectic life? Do you enjoy how it makes you feel or your children? I live one of the most hectic and busy lives of anyone I know and I could easily let my inner work time go to the birds but if I did... my life would go to the dogs! The wolves!  Someplace bad. lol.  These are the moms who need the inner work the most.
• "I just can't make myself do it." WOW.  When I hear this one then I often think... they are just not uncomfortable enough or they would seek change.  When we are uncomfortable enough with our current situation then we seek change - change can be hard if we let it.  Change that is forced naturally makes us resist.  Life should not be lived in resistance.  What I often find when talking to these moms is what they are resisting is peace.  WHAT? Why would I do that?  Well Mama... only you know that answer to that one. Peace comes from us.  We are the peace makers - there can be strife all around us but we are the ones who make peace and hold it within our home.  If you want it - create it.  If you want the peace that can come from this curriculum and teaching your children this way... you have to create it.  It doesn't come from a book, it doesn't come from an outside source... it comes from YOU. It is within you.  The best way to figure out why you resist peace is to connect. This brings us back to inner work.  My guess is you think you were called to Waldorf for your children - maybe in part... but you were really called here for you.  Don't waste another day - CONNECT!

When I look at families that are getting it quickly and walking forward, it is because they have a connection or they are willing to make one.  They see the need for change and they do just what they need to do to make it work.  They are willing. Steiner confirms this in his writings - the only thing that separates us is the WILL to do it.  This doesn't mean you won't have down times!  This means that your down times are out weighed by your times of complete peace and bliss.  It is a choice.  Life can't make you happy.  You make life happy.

I tell anyone I work with - "I will match my energy with your effort."  What does that mean?  Well if you are ready to make change then you are teachable - you are starting to pick up speed and want a running mate - you understand that part of learning is doing and not just watching - you are ready to jump in.  You are becoming a Beacon.

Much love and many blessings.

Melisa Nielsen

EDITED* Someone asked me about depression... you know depression is an odd thing.  I know it can be totally debilitating.  So much more is known about depression today than even five years ago.  Diet, environment, inner work... there is so much more than just getting medication and being done with it.  Being willing to work on depression is part of developing will forces.  Sometimes we really need help with this and when this is the case then we need supportive and STRONG loved ones.  We need partners willing to step forward and help us in ways that may not be on every partner's to do list!  This is where our connection to each other is so important. 

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT! BE A BEACON!

“The self-education of adults is essential for the Waldorf approach to educating children, because Waldorf does not consist solely of methods, techniques, or structures, but rather the development of human capacities – those of the children but also, and more importantly, those of teachers and parents.”

~ Robert McDermott

Welcome to Be A Beacon! You are in for a treat - an inner work treat.  We have been talking about the importance of inner work for years and we are answering a call to address inner work for our very important demographic - MOMS!

There are so many paths to inner work - where do you start? We will explore many paths, many cultures and many teachers.  Among those teachers we will discuss the work of Rudolf Steiner, Dr. Wayne Dyer, Abraham, Deepak Chopra and many more. We will work with concepts from the Bible, Koran, Gita and many other holy books - there are many, many common threads. I will work to relate my own experiences as well to bring you a dynamic program that will have you on the road to really feeling like the BEACON you should be for your family.  This is a very exciting new service and I hope you will all take the journey with us!

"At every moment the listener may say to himself: that, of which they speak, I too can learn, if I develop within myself certain powers which today still slumber within me. There remains only one question — how to set to work to develop such faculties."
~Rudolf Steiner, Knowledge of the Higher Worlds

   Monthly Membership includes:

• Special access to newly recorded shows available only to those participating in the program.  These shows are meant to get you started on this journey and to get you thinking about what inner work means to you. These recordings include:
• Welcome to "Be a Beacon"
• Catalysts for Change
• Personal Gurus
• The Importance of Inner Work
• How to Meditate
• Bi weekly lessons and discussions delivered via private yahoo group
• 2 monthly private live radio shows/interactive chats
• Archives available for duration of membership
• Planning and goal setting tools geared directly to Waldorf homeschooling
• In depth inner work study covering many faith groups, including in depth Steiner and other modern inner work experts.

Some of the monthly themes include: getting started right, relationships, balancing, knowing when to cut back and how, Steiner's basic 6 in depth,  festivals and inner work meanings, exploring biography, mediation through Waldorf art and so much more.

When you join, you will also receive recommended reading and tools to get you started along with an invitation to join the private group.

Register through our store - we have monthly, quarterly and six month options.  Sign up soon!  The series starts on Thursday, November 12 at 9pm EST.

Gnomes!

We have a thing for gnomes here... as if you haven't guessed! Toward the end of the summer, my dear friend and Waldorf teacher, Sigi de Francesca asked us to help her in the editing of a new book - A Donsy of Gnomes. We were not going to pass up helping a friend and also learning new gnome stories!  So while Erik edited, Ellie and I read them at bedtime, during handwork and any other time we could fit them in.  We were delighted.  I am delighted now to announce their arrival in Sigi's brand new shop!  We will eventually have the book in our store too, but for now you can visit her.  The book is really delightful and for anyone who loves gnome stories, it is a must have!

Inner Work 105

We are in the home stretch!  Steiner's next exercise involves something that can be very hard so again I turn to some of the things Dr. Dyer says about gaining peace. One thing that sticks out in my mind is that Wayne often speaks of looking at each situation as it comes and trying to remain free of personal bias.  This is exactly Steiner's assignment...

Fifth Basic Exercise:

Freedom from bias - develop in oneself the feeling of approaching every new experience totally without prejudice - be ready to accept a totally new experience.

How many times in a day do we walk into a situation with our spouse or our children and our own bias keeps us from seeing what could be the whole picture?  More than once I have fussed at one child, usually the one that I assume would be causing the trouble, only to find out that I was totally off-base.  This exercise is good for working on relationships with children and adults alike.  When I can practice this one, it becomes apparent to me that I can give situations no energy, either positive or negative, until I feel like I have a full grasp of it all.  It allows me to practice the other exercises as well.  Think about how peaceful our world would be if everyone of us could approach daily life this way; conflict resolution would be so easy!

Make it an intention tonight as you mentally prepare yourself for tomorrow that you will begin the day without bias and see how you can work through the day.  How does it change things for you?   Today I would love to for you to comment on one situation in which you approached it with bias only to realize you were in the wrong.  As you work with this exercise, be sure to journal about it somewhere!

Blessings.

Melisa Nielsen