Discovering Waldorf – ” Homeschooling – Planning for the Year Ahead”

Now planning my 3^rd year using Waldorf-inspired education, I will let you peek inside how I plan out my year.

First things, first- Get Organized

I start by cleaning and re-organizing the homeschool room. This allows me to check supplies, make notes of what needs to be replaced or ordered and gather stray items.

Next step is to get your all resources together. All my curriculum books, inspiration guides, magazines, song books, & items bookmarked on my computer are now together in one place. I can see everything and am usually surprised at rediscovering a book that has been long forgotten.

2)Review curriculum

I take time to get familiar with which blocks & objectives are to be covered that year. This will give me an idea what is to come. Next, I read the stories I will be bringing to my children (example the Fairy tales, legend stories) from curriculum guides, books from the library, websites I have tagged or files I have saved. I make notes and really get a feel for this year’s ideas.

3)Calendar. I use a Year at Glance calendar, which is 12 blocks on 2 sheets of paper. I write in all holidays, festivals, vacations, and birthdays. This gives me a framework for where to start placing my blocks. I keep this in my 3-ring binder school binder.

4) Main Lesson blocks: Next, I decide where the blocks will go throughout the year. I fit them in between holidays & festivals and when I feel it is the best time. On my year-at-a glance sheet I have the numbers 1-4 under each month and these are my weeks. For 1^st grade we did Fairy Tales. I had the Letter we were covering and the fairy tale that went with it written there. I use this as my basic guide. I use a weekly planner to fill in the details for each week. I use one page per week and write in the things I want to cover that week.

5) Additions: Once the main lessons are filled in, I decide upon the other things I need to weave in like recorder, foreign language, & handwork. I check my resources for these. I rely on sources such as, Living Crafts magazine, All Year Round, Festivals, Family & Food, and Earthways for inspiration.. I really like to gear my handwork around the seasons and festivals, so I plan more projects than we will do, but that way I have a choice. I order the supplies and get everything ready ahead of time, so I don’t have to keep running around each week.

6) Circle Time. I plan a summer, fall, winter & spring set. I choose the opening verse which we will say all year and get a new circle time candle. Then, I choose other seasonal fun songs, verses, etc. A Journey through time in Verse & Rhyme has amazing resources. I also have the Wynstones season books. I also use A Childs Seasonal Treasury which is great, especially for kindergarten 1,2,3 grade.. Then I type the verses, print them and put them in my binder.

7) Weekly Planner pages. I was using daily pages and found that it wasted so much paper and I didn’t need that much space. I switched to 1 page per week. I make headings of the lessons we cover. (Main Lesson, Math, Handwork, Baking, Music, Science/nature) Then, if I don’t do it Tuesday, I cover it Wed. This gives me flexibility and I can see the whole week. I review my week on Sunday night and I try to write out these weekly planner pages at least a month in advance.

8) Halfway. I use the weeks after Christmas holidays to take a look at our schedule and see where I need to adjust. Have we gone faster than my plan? Added something else? We went a bit faster in some areas and I had to move a block in February last year. This gives you a halfway point to see how it is going and make adjustments for the remaining year.

In conclusion, I highly suggest planning out the whole year in outline form and then moving things around as needed. You will see the whole picture and will be able to add resources that coincide with your lessons because you know they are coming later in your year.

No plan is perfect and it is ok to be nervous when you start out. Just take my advice and get started. The better planned you are, the more confidence you will have.