Saving Time Tip: Dish Tag

With Earthschooling, a business to run, more than ten pets, three kids and a home to keep going, I am always looking for ways to be more efficient and get things done with less stress.

"Dish Tag" has helped me so much I wanted to share it with all of you to perhaps help your homeschool days go more smoothly, too.

I wish I could take credit for this but this brilliant and fun idea came from my 15-year-old daughter who got tired of the dishes never being done on time. She thought up a game to make it fun, create good-will between us all (instead of nagging and complaining) and that is actually effective in getting the dishes done quickly on a daily basis. I was amazed at how quickly things "turned around" in our house after just three days using her idea. We were no longer upset at each other - we were actually laughing and making jokes about dishes and having fun. Doing the dishes became a game instead of a hated task and best of all, the dishes are most always DONE and I'm not the one doing them most of the time.

This is the "dishes game":

1. Post a list of the people participating on the fridge (see picture)
2. Put a marker (magnet) next to the person who's "turn" it is.
3. When that person "does the dishes" they move the marker to the next person.
4. When the next person "does the dishes" they move the marker to the person after them and so on...

The game is to see how fast you can move the marker. If you are clever you will check the fridge a few times a day to see if it is your turn and will quickly do the two cups and a bowl that are by the sink so you can move the marker to the next person. The next person may see a glass there, wash that and move it to the next person and so on. If you are clever and alert you never have more than a few dishes - even after a big meal. The funny part comes when someone gets "stuck" with more than a few. Like the time I went to bed early and said I would "do them in the morning" and ended up getting stuck with two days worth! Or the time we all quickly went through our turns and it ended up with Mosi again. She had thought she was so clever to do two cups and a fork and move the marker but it rotated back to her too quickly and she ended up with the dinner dishes.

The only rule is that you can't create one dish just so you can do it and move the marker. And if there is a dinner party or guests we usually help each other out.

Try it. We are having a lot of fun and the dishes are getting done finally without stressing me out!

Blessings & Health,
Kristie
www.Earthschooling.com

Lesson Planning - A Dozen Tips

This month has been all about lesson planning for us. I've been spending hours every day putting the finishing touches on the 4th, 5th and 6th grade Earthschooling curriculum for this coming year, planning our coming year and listening to everyone talk about lesson preparation and planning. With this in mind I'd like to share some tips to make your planning process easier:

1. Don't Over-plan: When planning lessons you don't need to plan out worksheets and step-by-step instructions. Lesson planning should be like storytelling or like giving a speech. In both of these cases the speaker/storyteller has an idea of what they want to convey but they let the mood and the audience carry the actual process. Have you ever heard someone read a speech directly from their notes? And then heard another public speaker share an idea while speaking and responding to you directly? Which was more inspiring and fun? In which situation did you feel more connected with the speaker and involved in the topic? Now, imagine your children feel the same way.

As a teacher you need to be responsive like that storyteller or public speaker. You need to be able to adapt your lessons to the audience mood, abilities, interests and energy. Make sure you have a general idea and outline of what you want to do, but also make sure you don't over-plan.

For example, if you are telling a story to a Kindergarten student, you simply need to get out the story, set up the characters on the table (wooden figures or stones, scarves, shells and clay or wax to represent some or all characters), highlight the main points and then tell the story in your own words. For an older child you simply need to highlight some of the main points of the story (this is done for you in many of the Earthschooling lessons) and, once again, tell the story in your own words.

2. Don't worry about getting the words exactly right in the story. Don't memorize the story. As the stories get more complex you can choose to insert passages from the original (chosen passages are highlighted in the Earthschooling lesson plans) and combine this with your telling.

You will get more skilled at this very quickly. The first few stories may take you an hour to plan. However, after some time you could simply read through the story once and tell it the next day. When you tell stories or teach the lesson put the emphasis on what questions the child has, what interests them about the story or lesson and how they relate to the story or lesson. This will help "round out" your lesson, require less planning time and allow more understanding and interest in the lesson. For example, when I told the biography of Avicenna to my children I talked about each highlighted part of his life. However, I would stop each few sentences and "ad lib" the lesson with them. For example, when it says "Avicenna was home-schooled by his father and learned math from the grocers" I talked about what it must be like for his busy father to manage his lessons and had my children imagine that I sent them down to the corner store to learn math. We talked about how this would be hard to do today because of all the cash registers.

3. Plan a 10 minute lesson for each hour of teaching. If you spend hours planning for a lesson you will often not use 80% of what you planned because children are naturally curious, want to ask questions and want to interact with you. Children also take more time to complete tasks than we imagine. If the lesson is done in a careful, interactive and creative way the ten minute lesson you planned could easily turn into an hour. Even if this seems uncomfortable in the beginning - try it for a week or two and try to get used to it. It will make your life much easier in the future if you can learn this skill. A good lesson, like a good newspaper article, should be able to distill what you want to teach in a short period of time. Remember what your High School speech and language instructor always told you - "Be concise and not verbose". An interesting lesson filled with about ten scattered minute of well-presented and explored facts is much more effective and memorable than an hour information-packed lesson.

4. Don't be afraid to look things up. Every teacher will tell you that planning is essential. However, a lot of parents and teachers create stress for themselves because they feel the need to know everything in great depth and detail before they teach it. As a homeschooling parent this is often impossible as you may not have gone through years of training as a teacher and you are most likely teaching numerous subjects to multiple grades - a task far above what any Waldorf or public school teacher is doing. You need to respect the great task you have taken on and realize that you will most likely need to look some things up and sometimes this will happen during a lesson. Doing this in front of your child teaches them: The skills of research, humility and the ability to always learn new things and not say "I already know that", a thirst for knowledge and a respect for the resources available to us in this age of information.

5. Plan more than lessons. Don't plan your week solid with lessons you are leading. This creates a stagnant feeling in "the classroom" and is very stressful for you. Even in Waldorf schools the teacher has a break and is able to hand off the class to a handiwork teacher or language teacher from time to time. Make sure you plan in plenty of time for rest, silent reading or picture books, free play, house chores (this is a fantastic learning experience which I've discussed in another article), walks, field trips and completion of old projects. Once you have allowed for all of these aspects of the day you will find that your week really has very little planning involved. Some weeks I only have three hours of actual lessons where I am teaching the child directly. We are all programmed to think we need to plan something from 8am to 3pm. However, keep in mind that even at a local school they "waste" hours taking roll, having recess, eating lunch, filling out forms, handing out work, listening to daily announcements, moving from class to class, completing worksheets and waiting for teachers to start the next lesson. Also remind yourself that the reason you are homeschooling is so you CAN be more creative and responsive. If you are like me, you may have to post this on your wall for the first few months of homeschooling.

6. Use outside resources. Make sure you plan, at least once a week, to visit a local place that relates to a lesson you are giving that week. Even if you have been there before. We visited the local Mexican grocer the week we learned some Spanish words for food items. We visited some of the bridges in town the week we studied Roman architecture and visited a friend who breeds dogs the week we started our animal science unit. We also use the local zoo, science center and Living History farms, local festivals and museums. However, often, it is the everyday places that can provide the best learning experiences. And using these everyday places helps the kids open their eyes to the wonder around them.

7. Use your children as resources. Even the youngest child can plan a lesson. Block off some time each week for each child to give a lesson of some sort. If you have multiple children this can turn out beautifully as the older ones can then teach some of the lessons to the younger ones and the younger ones feel very proud giving a "lesson" to their older siblings. Even if that lesson is telling a story with some puppets. Teaching is actually the best way to learn something so these "student teaching" moments are essential to the child's learning experience.

8. Start with one lesson. Are you intimidated into starting or don't know where to start? Choose just one thing for the week to plan and take it from there. Before you plan this first lesson you won't be able to imagine planning more. However, by the time you are done planning it you will have ten more ideas in your head.

9. Take an hour or two on Saturday or Sunday AFTERNOON. Take an hour or two on Sunday to look over the week, briefly outline your goals and what you want to teach and skim through the stories and lessons. This will make a big difference. If you have a curriculum this is probably all the planning you will need all week (this is all I need since I have my curriculum written already) but even if you don't this hour or two done at a rested time of the week when you don't have the pressure of a lesson looming so close, can equal tens of hours of planning during the week. This brief, focused time of planning is much more effective than many short sessions of "last minute" planning.

10. Honor Simplicity. Teaching in the Waldorf method is not the easiest way to teach. It involves becoming familiar with a lot of stories you may not know, handiwork you may never have been exposed to and more art in first grade than you may have done your entire school career. A lot of parents are intimidated by this process and decide not to continue with Waldorf because of this. However, what we all need to remember is that not all teachers are artists, not all the Main Lesson Books look like the ones people post online and it is the process that is most important - not the quantity or sophistication of the lesson. So, for example, if you are teaching a lesson about a Saint Francis you don't need to paint an elaborate picture of St. Francis standing with the birds. You could paint just a bird, or even just the sky where the birds fly. If you need to teach a lesson about Roman history and are not prepared you can, from time to time, READ the lesson instead of telling it. Then, after you read it, you can tell some parts again, talk about the story again or do a "story play".

11. Don't get buried in over-information. If you are using the Earthschooling curriculum keep in mind that there are a lot of extras on the website. If you are using multiple curricula or another curriculum and belong to multiple groups and lists remember that you CAN actually have too much information! Follow the simple schedule given with each Earthschooling curriculum (or create your own if you are using a different curriculum) instead of getting drawn in by the "magic" of all the options out there. You will only end up using about 20% of what you have on your shelves, in your curricula and in your in-box. That is OK. As long as you have a schedule and the goals for the year (also found in the Earthschooling curriculum) you know that you are at least getting through the basics and any extras are optional but should not be stressful. Don't stress about not completing that awesome craft you saw on the Yahoogroups or telling that amazing story from India you saw next to the story you chose for the week. You don't really need all those extras and you can always save them for the summer, the weekend or a rainy day. In fact, that's a good way to help you feel less stressed and guilty for not using "that awesome lesson". Keep a notebook especially for those "lost lessons I wished I had time for" and get out that notebook in the summer or in a pinch when you need inspiration for the day or find yourself without enough planned for the day!

12. Save money and balance your budget by purchasing curriculum.
We tend to forget how valuable our time is. How many times have you ordered out for pizza or eaten out because you were so busy planning lessons you could not cook? This cost adds up quickly. Within a month or two you could have paid for a curriculum or two. In some cases this may even effect your budget directly. An Earthschooling curriculum represents an average of 180-250 hours of planning or more. What money could you earn starting an ETSY shop, doing some part-time work or putting in more hours at your job if you didn't have those 180-250 hours lost? Probably much more than $85.00!

The first year of homeschooling I started the year thinking homeschooling would be "free" and ended the year having spent hundreds of dollars on books. The second year I was ready to purchase some supplies and books "up front" but then realized later I was missing some items and ended up spending another couple hundred as the year progressed. On top of this I spent at least ten hours a week looking for the right song, verse or lesson. I spent more hours trying to re-learn some things I had forgotten since childhood.

In a curriculum like Earthschooling you purchase a year of curriculum for only $85.00 and have everything you need to teach with all year. You do not need to purchase any additional books, stories, verses, MP3s, teaching guides or anything. The lessons and teacher's guides contain explanations about how to teach them and instructions on how things work. If you decide to purchase anything that year it is optional so it is a lot less stressful on the budget knowing that, if you have a rough spot during the year your child's education will not have to suffer.

In addition, all the planning has been done for you. There are even charts that tell you when to teach each subject, what time of day to teach it and where to find the lessons. All you need to do is take an hour or two on the weekend to fill in a few personal details, take about 15-30 minutes per day to look over the stories and lessons and then enjoy! I have heard from a lot of Earthschooling members that they are happy to finally be able to enjoy teaching instead of spending so many hours planning. I know I am!

If you've made it to the bottom of this article I have a surprise for you which I am not announcing to the group or anywhere else ;) When you purchase any curriculum from Earthschooling this week (offer ends August 7th) I will send you a $10.00 instant refund. This means you can purchase curriculum for only $75.00 this week ;)

Storage Magic & Organization

Sigh...as much as I love my wooden toys and natural fibers I also love my plastic bins for organization. They are not natural at all and a bit unsightly, but they have saved me so much money and time!

About 12 years ago a friend of mine had her basement flooded and lost most of her possessions and treasures that were stored in boxes. She told me to always store things in plastic bins. I cannot tell you how thankful I am to her. Our basement flooded twice and our storeroom leaks and has terrible humidity problems. Without those plastic bins I would have lost many treasures of my own.

The second benefit of these bins is how easy it makes it to organize things. The bins were an investment each time I purchased one for about $6 - $8.00 but they have paid for themselves over and over. I purchase clear bins so I can see through them and I organize everything I store in these bins. I also label each bin. This makes it very easy to find things I usually would have lost, forgotten about or left buried at the bottom of a pile of storage boxes.

Today was a good example. I actually have a bin for "random pet items". This bin is filled with items we have used for pets over the past 5 years. Tonight I needed some "land" for our tadpoles so I got out the bin, found some "water structures" we had used for a gecko a year ago, washed them and put them to use again. These structures had also been used for our hermit crabs a few years before that. One time we found a stray dog and I found a collar and food bowl for him in there. Without having these items organized I know I would have just lost them somewhere in a pile of things. Like I used to do - LOL!

I have bins for each season/month of the year and each time we want to set up a new nature table we get out the appropriate bin. I also have bins for seasonal clothing, memory boxes for each child (many for each), one for negatives, random cords and cables from around the house, lights and other items.

Last week I had to attach a VCR to the computer to convert some old tapes to DVD. The instructions said, "You need two cords (illustration). These are not included". I was not worried. I went straight to my "random cords" box, searched through it and found the two cords I needed. I remember paying more than $30.00 for these cords so I am glad I knew where they were! I remember when I used to just toss cords in random boxes and drawers and ended up buying the same ones twice all the time.

I am so thankful that I took the time to set up this system. I initially balked at the cost of the plastic bins and it took me a few days to label and organize them but it has been such a time and money-saver ever since.

And you don't need a lot of space to store them. I keep them in a large closet stacked on top of each other. I use them about 4-6 times a week.

Spring Cleaning in the Craft/Homeschooling Room

I am SOOOO excited about our new craft and homeschooling space! It has been clean all year - keeping my office, kitchen and homeschooling room clean are top priorities around here (although the rest of the house may not look so good sometimes and don't even look in the garage). However, I don't think we realize how "bogged down" a place can get - even if it is clean and organized. Even the most organized spaces need a spring cleaning.

It was not intentional. I started because I had purchased some new crafting supplies - terra cotta clay, some more beeswax, etc...and I didn't have anywhere to fit them. One thing led to another and two days later we had completely re-arranged the rooms, we steam cleaned the carpets (I can't even believe it went THAT far LOL) for the first time in two years, we organized everything again, cleaned everything, sorted, etc....

The results are amazing! The kids have already spent much more time in the room than they usually do and their self-initiated activities have increased significantly (now that they can find everything and know where it is again). Even I am more inspired in my lesson planning. I think we have gotten more done this week than we did in the past month. WOW!

So I took some pictures to share with you all. I am just so excited. I have to share!

I posted a slide show at the NING. I didn't want to have to edit the pictures down but there are too many for the BLOG.

Also, if you are interested, I have a few videos and downloads about organization at http://www.thewaldorfchannel.com/ - if you can't find them and are interested I can send you a direct link. They are really helpful videos! Especially the E-book/Video combo of "Organizing for the Temperaments"

Enjoy the photos at:
http://earthschooling.ning.com/photo/albums/craft-homeschooling-area

PS: Someone mentioned the white walls - sigh! Don't remind me - LOL :) I have moved so many times in the past twenty years & each time I repaint the walls and create a wonderful garden and then we move. I'm sorta on a "break" waiting to see if this house "sticks" - but this does remind me of two tricks I want to share if you have white walls - drape scarves on your walls. We have one that looks like the sunset in the livingroom (see pictures) and another that looks like a rainbow in the art room (no picture, sorry). We also have one small wall that I made (just last week) into a blackboard and I will be posting some fun we are having with that. Another wall is dedicated to the children's art so that brightens up things a bit too. These things really help if you are "stuck" with white walls!

Blessings & Health,
Kristie

Small Spaces & Waldorf

The question came up on the list this week about how one could work within a small space. What essentials would a person need to homeschool within a space budget? List members have shared some great ideas for essential toys, crafting items and books. One of my favorite ideas was to use a window ledge as a nature table. This reminded me of all the other ways in which we creatively fit things into small spaces. We used to live in a condo and had very little space, but even now that we live in a house it seems that we still don't have enough space because my imagination is endless! If I had unlimited space and money I would have a music room, a craft room, a library, and...well, you get the idea! Even people with a lot of space can benefit from space saving ideas.

When I think of fitting a lot into a little space the first thing I do is try to scale everything down. Instead of purchasing large paper, you can purchase smaller sizes of watercolor paper. Instead of using an entire table for the nature table, why not use the window ledge, as a couple members already pointed out? Other things you can downsize -

1. A small table-top puppet theater can substitute for an entire shelf of wooden figures or even for a larger puppet show. This little theater is small and portable. It is also easy to store and easy to access when you want to use it for storytelling time (see picture).

2. There are so many things that are "table top" nowadays - how about a table-top blackboard? A table-top easel?

3. Instead of shelves with large baskets you can place smaller baskets of crafts and items around the house in different areas.

4. Instead of large blocks you can buy a small set of architecture blocks.

5. Instead of a piano or guitar or violin you can go with the traditional Waldorf recorder and/or kinder-harp. These are much smaller than the instruments many children play today and take less space to store.

6. Instead of a large dollhouse you can have the dolls live under a wooden mushroom, in a tree house (made from a trunk) or in a small tent.

7. Instead of a doll-bed, the dolls can co-sleep with the "little parent".

8. Instead of a stroller for the doll a child can use a miniature version of a sling to carry their doll.

Whatever you are thinking of buying think about what smaller versions there may be available. Of course, smaller is not always "better" if the child is 3 or under and still putting objects in their mouth. However, children over the age of 4 or 5 seem to have a fascination with small objects and toys. The popularity of "Polly Pockets" and "Littlest Pet Shop" mainstream toys have proven that with their great success in the mainstream market.

Class Mantras

We are always working together to develop workable class mantras. By workable, I mean ideas that work for everyone in the class, are understood by everyone in the class and are meaningful to what we want to accomplish. I thought I would share some of my favorite "mantras" with everyone. What are some of your favorites? If you have some favorites yourself please post them to the end of the BLOG. Thank you!

1. Mantra One: We need solutions and not problems. This is to encourage students to come up with solutions to their problems instead of complaining. It is so easy to fall into the "I don't WANT to do that activity" mode. This mantra encourages students to come up with workable solutions instead of complaining. This works well because in the process of coming up with workable solutions students are given wonderful opportunities to be creative and they are allowed to "be in the teacher's (or parent's) shoes" for a moment and experience the actual difficulty of coming up with ideas. A good example of this was two days ago a child in the enrichment class said, "I don't want to make bread again!" When it was suggested that she find a solution to this "problem" she realized that she actually did want to make bread, she just didn't want the same toppings on the bread so we found some additional selections for her and she enjoyed her bread very much!

2. Mantra Two: We need to keep the air clean too! This is a reminder that our words and attitude can pollute the air in the same way the dust or dirt can pollute a surface. If gossip ensues, or children are teasing or focusing on negative thoughts they can be encouraged to keep the air cleaner by putting happier, more peaceful thoughts into the air. This idea can be expanded on. You can have an "air cleaning" session with a sage stick and some positive thoughts said outloud by everyone or you can do a little "acting" and pretend you are wading through a thick sea of dirty air.

Repetition helps enforce the ideas so instead of repeating the ideas 500 times, the familiarity of making it a regular statement helps to reduce the need for repetition and encourages everyone to participate in the "reminding". If you were to make a different comment every time someone complained it would become confusing to the child and would create an ongoing need for the parent or teacher to repeat their ideas over and over. When you use a "mantra" it makes it easier for the child to remember.

You can also create verses, poems or songs out of these mantras, you can draw them and hang them on the wall, or include them in the Main Lesson Book.

MEMBER BLOG TOPICS THIS WEEK
(there are many more topics in previous weeks. Scroll down to previous BLOG posts to see the previous member topics)

Montessori and Waldorf Meet on a Rock
My Favorite Nature Walk Theme & Activity - Full Lesson

There were many member questions answered this week as well. These questions included: Ideas for reluctant readers, natural tick removal tips, how to deal with "selfish" behaviour, and more.

The member video this week was "How to Make a Felted Bendy Doll"

Remember - for a limited time - when you become a member at www.herbnhome.com you only pay for ONE of the services (Waldorf Channel Membership, BLOG Membership or Health and Homeschool Consulting) and you get the other two services for free!

Natural Living: How to Use/and or Print Online Materials

Dear Parents,

Are you still on a learning curve with all the online resources out there?

Did you know you can save hundreds and perhaps thousands of trees a year by using online books and materials? It takes some time to get used to and it is a gradual process but the end result is worth it for the environment, for your organization at home, for your budget, and for the future of our earth.

One reason I avoided online materials for so long was because I wanted the "feel" of the book in my hands and I wanted the book on my shelf. I felt that a book was more "natural" than using electronic books - even if it was the same book (most classic books are available for free online now). It is a bit like my struggle when I converted to digital cameras. I was a professional photographer and had been using those big sturdy manual cameras for years but the amount of waste created by the film tubes, film, and paper packaging was upsetting for me. Having worked in a photography lab in college I also knew how toxic the chemicals were for the environment. I would have to say that the person who invented digital photography has done one of the best things for the environment of anyone on earth. Although we try to keep our home as non-electric as possible I finally realized that my purchase of so many paper items (books, newspapers, magazines) was harming the environment and that by switching many of these items to a digital source I could really make a difference.

When I lived overseas for years without a public library or affordable bookstore I was even more motivated to try out the digital world. The cost of printed homeschool materials and books was also a motivating factor. Keep in mind, also, that although we in America have bookstores and/or libraries on every corner, than much of the world does not have these resources so readily available to them location-wise or budget-wise. This is an issue of the environment for some, but an issue of necessity for others.

There were a number of online resources back in 1996 when I started using them for homeschooling but using them was a challenge. Here are some of the "tricks and tips" I used to get me through those book-less years and some new ideas too:

A. Read the news online - you have access to more news that way anyway. I read from a variety of different news sources online.

B. Shop online instead of getting magazines. This can save many trees each year. Write to the companies that send you magazines and request that they stop.

C. Make sure ALL of your bills, credit cards and bank accounts bill you electronically. Most all have this as an option now, and this alone has eliminated FOUR BOXES of paper a year from my house.

For books that must be printed out (like children's books with pictures or music that you will need over and over) I use a few different methods depending on where they will be used...

1. For children's books I usually print them out on stiff water-color/recycled paper, punch holes in them and then bind them with natural yarn. This creates a charming and affordable children's book. There are some lovely children's books available for free (vintage) online with gorgeous pictures as well as some modern ones that can be downloaded for about 1/4-1/3 of the cost of the printed book. Printing at home is more energy efficient than the large printing machines used to create "real" books and uses less ink as well. You can choose to print on recycled papers, using environmentally safer products. On average you will also save 8 sheets of paper per book plus the cardboard used to make the cover. This may not seem like a big deal but over time and multiplied by hundreds of people this can make a big difference. You can also be assured that the materials you are using are disposed of properly and in an environmentally safe way. I have started offering my children's books for sale in this format at: The Dream Angels Publishing

2. You can also use photo paper if you want the pictures to pop out at your more or you want a sturdier "book", although this has less of a "natural" feel about it and is less environmentally sound.

3. When a book is going to be used often, like our verse books, I print out the pages, tuck them into plastic page savers and put them in a little folder/binder.



4. When I am printing out something like lesson plans (from http://www.earthschooling.com/) I print out only what I need and I put it in an organized binder. Some of the plans can be read and other items need to be printed out (like verses). I usually read the recipes or craft instructions off the computer screen by setting the computer near the area we will be working and then covering it with a pretty silk scarf when not in use. With stories, since I will be TELLING them rather than reading them, I usually read them the night before on the computer and then practice telling them that evening. Since the telling of the story is very personal I don't need to memorize it anyway, I just need to remember some of the details, any repeating lines and the general story line.

5. novels and longer books that you might be reading, and especially online courses I recommend reading online or using a hand-held device like the Amazon.com KINDLE. This is a reading device that allows you to read online books as if you were holding a book. It also has its own built in book-light. As a parent dedicated to Waldorf education and natural living I always consider any electronic purchases very carefully and this one has passed my "test". It is a bit like struggle when I converted to digital cameras that I mentioned above. Like I said before... the person who invented digital photography has done one of the best things for the environment of anyone on earth. I am hoping the same for the Amazon Kindle. We are a society of information and long distance communication. Even the rising gas prices are pushing more and more people to online studies (http://www.theavicennainstitute.com/) . And, as homeschoolers, we use many online resources. Using an electronic reading device can save hundreds of trees in just one year. Eventually the book industry would adapt in the same way the music industry has and we will be able to save more and more.

However, not all books can be read electronically. I am not looking to eliminate books! Just to eliminate the waste of paper on books or documents that we don't need to read over and over and have printed out ( see above). Every little bit counts. There are 650 people on this mailing list. If everyone printed out one book today instead of purchasing it we would have saved 650 book covers and over 5,000 sheets of paper! If we all read Tuesday's paper online instead of getting it on our porch we would have saved thousands and thousands of sheets of paper.

Once again, I am not advocating that everyone switch to electronics, only that we make more informed and thoughtful decisions about what books we purchase, what we print out and what we don't print. A balance, rather than going to one extreme or the other...

I hope this has helped inspire you to use some more of the online resources that are available out there today (http://www.earthschooling.com/ and http://www.thewaldorfchannel.com/ ) and has given you some ideas on how you can do that most efficiently. If you have any ideas to share please post them in the comments section.

And keep in mind that a lot of the effort here will be in getting used to thinking about what you read in a different way. Many students and parents I have worked with (in printing out hundreds of pages of online lesson plans and lessons) have initially felt the need to print out everything and organize it so they could "work better" or "see everything", but many of these same students and parents have found that this need has lessened over time.

And another helpful tip I learned from a student - if you absolutely cannot stand to have your materials online and you need to print out hundreds of pages consider logging into http://www.kinkos.com/ - you can send them PDFs (all the files at http://www.earthschooling.com/ and http://www.theavicennainstitute.com/ are in PDF) and they will print and bind it for you so you can pick it up at any of their locations around the United States. This can STILL save you money as well as paper. Printing and binding still saves at least those 8 sheets of paper and the cover.

Blessings & Health,
Kristie

Organization Magic

(I WISH I had a before picture! Imagine the floor strewed with stuff and the bed was a loft bed but we cut off the legs and there were about 20 stuffed animals on the bed, etc...etc...)

You have probably figured out by now that I LOVE organizing things. But as I always say in my seminars on organization: "Organization is a point of balance you come back to but life is always changing. It is impossible to be organized all the time."

As I looked at my house two months ago this certainly looked very true to me. My organized house that usually took a brief run-though to clean, and usually looked in order was looking like a tornado hit it. And it wasn't that is was never organized. It was often organized...but it took a lot of work to get it to that point again every few days.

Something had to be done. So I looked into the first rule of organization. Did everything have a place and was everything in its place? It turns out part of the problem was that not everything had a place or the place was too small or not convenient so a lot of the things that were laying around were "homeless". And somehow homeless items always seem to invite company so...the cycle had begun.

So I looked at the things that did not have a home and realized that many of them we did not even use that often. So I went to the second rule of organization - do I have things that need to be thrown out? It turns out this was our main problem. And this is the hardest problem to solve because it involves taking everything out of drawers, shelves and rooms and putting back only what is still used and sorting the rest.

So we started the project. I thought it would take a week but it dragged on for 6 weeks. What kept me going was that I had a goal in mind and although there were boxes all over it was being done in an "organized" manner.

What we did was this:

1. We tackled five rooms at once - livingroom, art room, Suni's room, Mosi's room and Sofi's room. All these rooms were joined by a common hallway (or if not joined, at least near the hallway). I placed the boxes there.

2. I provided an endless supply of boxes with labels - garbage, Goodwill or charity clothing (each box was labelled with sizes so they were organized according to boy, girl and size), Ebay items, memory box items (old photos and art projects to keep), art supplies from bedrooms (so we could integrate them with the art room), and various other boxes as the topics came up. At one point we even had a box for memory album things because the kids had been working on them in their rooms and left supplies in there instead of the art room.

3. We dumped everything section-by-section in each room into the middle of the floor and the children and I sorted it all together (everyone did their own stuff and then I did a final sort after they sorted...because some things ended up in the wrong boxes LOL). We had boxes piled in the livingroom for 6 weeks. My friends were starting to give me strange looks and my kids were embarrassed to invite anyone over. I started wondering if I had made a BIG mistake!

4. Finally one day all the boxes were sorted. We had 40 boxes of things to go to Ebay, Goodwill, friends or storage. I put the boxes in the garage to deliver/sort later and we all re-claimed our space.

That was 5 weeks ago. Since then some major changes have shown up in our lives and they look like they are here to stay (after 40 days of something you can assume it is here to stay unless you work to change it...that is an old adage that runs true for many things)! Of course, I KNOW that having too much stuff causes clutter and makes it hard to clean, but I didn't realize the depths to which that goes (having moved so much in the past 20 years I never lived anywhere long enough to gather that much clutter) until I saw the change in myself and children.

Without the overload of extra stuff the following changes have happened:

1. Sofi, who has never had a clean room in 9 years suddenly is obsessed with keeping her room clean. Because she does not have an overload of stuff (but still plenty - whew!) she is able to clean her entire room in about 15 minutes which makes the time span more manageable for her. After she has things straightened up she has taken to 'redecorating" and moving things around - having fun with her new space.

2. Suni, who has always been organized, but has had trouble keeping things in place the past year, has had a meticulous room for the past 5 weeks. He reduced everything he owns to one shelf and 4 bins that fit under the bed and is quite happy.

3. I have not had to spend more than a few moments every day straightening up the house (of course deep cleaning takes extra time) and have been astounded at this change. It seemed that for a while I was always picking up things and putting them where they belonged. What helped the most was making sure all the art supplies, crafts and scrapbooking supplies were back in ONE ROOM. So now, they all have a place and they are all together in one room. This means that instead of having colored pencils all over the house they are only "all over" one table now. And the kids have been using the craft supplies much more frequently now as well.

Now I just have to list those four boxes on Ebay....sigh...

The other 36 have already been distributed to the appropriate homes.

I hope this inspires someone else to try the same thing. It really was difficult and seeing that mess in my house for 6 weeks was "painful" but in the end the results are something I can certainly live with for a LONG time! And like I said, I have never lived long enough anywhere to acquire so much so I really didn't realize what a gigantic impact all this extra stuff had on our lives and our state of being. Not only did the space change, but the Feng Shui changed too. Our entire lives are "lighter".

If you are interested in seeing any of the organizational videos I have done you can check out the "Homeschooling" link at http://www.thewaldorfchannel.com/

Blessings & Health,

Kristie

http://www.thewaldorfchannel.com/

http://www.earthschooling.com/

What's Good for the Gosling...

What’s Good For the Gosling…
By Kristie Karima Burns, MH, ND
http://www.thewaldorfchannel.com/
Permission to reprint this article is given to anyone who also includes my name and website in the reprint.


Have you ever heard the term “What’s good for the goose is good for the gander?” (It means, basically that what a man can do, a woman can do to or what is good for the man, is also good for the women)

I would like to coin a new phrase and dedicate it to Waldorf schooling: What is good for the gosling is good for the goose.

Over the years I have heard so many parents reflect that sentiment – even myself. When I attended the parent-child class with my children in the Chicago suburbs I used to joke that I was going for me and they were just along for the ride. At my Waldorf enrichment school overseas many mothers commented to me that they were surprised how much THEY looked forward to coming to my program and just the other day someone commented that they didn’t know who was getting more out of Waldorf – their kids or them!

This is one aspect of Waldorf education that makes it so appealing and healing at the same time – it encompasses each person as a holistic being. In striving to be the best teachers we learn the skills of inner work and meditation, in creating paintings with our children we can sometimes heal ourselves from our own rushed childhood years. In teaching a main lesson on mythology our own fire for learning is re-lit and in taking nature walks we re-learn appreciation of nature from our own children.

In noticing the ways that Waldorf can be good for us as well as our children, we can gain a deeper appreciation for the teaching methods as well as for the efforts we put into our teaching hours. We can also discover new and wonderful things about ourselves and enrich our own lives.

This week, our show on The Waldorf Channel was about a parent making a main lesson book (see http://www.thewaldorfchannel.com/ - click on ART). As a parent we are also learning and a main lesson book can be something that we can use to record that learning, express ourselves, honor what we are learning and create a sacred space for it. As a baby we are cheered with each new skill we learn. Our first laugh is rewarded with praise and photos. Our first steps are rewarded with hugs and squeals of excitement from the adults around us. However, when we learn something new as an adult how often do we get praised for it? Keeping your own main lesson book can be a way for you to honor that.

The reason I call it a “main lesson” book rather than a journal is that I want to emphasize that the scope of the book is to record lessons and processes rather than a mixture of lessons, photos, and experiences. A memory album is a record of the past. A journal is a record of our inner thoughts and experiences. A main lesson book is a record of lessons we are working on now – academic, artistic & spiritual. In my main lesson book this week I have written out two of my favorite quotes and decorated them with a flowery border. The next page is a mandala meditation I did when I needed to work through some frustrations. Mixed in with those kinds of entries is a page I did with the kids on herbal form drawing and another page on a story we created together.

Another area of Waldorf we can learn from is the skill of rhythm in our lives. Modern society teaches us to schedule things by the hour and accomplish as much as we can in one day. We are told that we must be on time to work, on time to school and on time to everything we do. We are given cereal so we can rush through breakfast, frozen meals so we can rush through cooking and cars so we can drive quickly to wherever we are going. In this rush we often lose our sense of rhythm and can become quite overwhelmed and confused.

In Waldorf education, rhythm is a central part of the day. In Steiner’s writing it is hard to find a lecture in which he does not refer to rhythm and cycles – of the day, of the month, of the year, of the life and even of the life of earth & mankind itself.

In his lecture, The Christmas Festival (at: http://tinyurl.com/2baklv), Steiner says, “Man seems to become more and more akin to the great rhythms of Nature. If we think of all that encompasses the life of the soul, of the course of the Sun and everything that is connected with it, we are struck by something that closely concerns us, namely, the rhythm and the marvelous harmony in contrast to the chaos and lack of harmony in the human soul. We all know how rhythmically and with what regularity the Sun appears and disappears. And we can picture what a stupendous upheaval there would be in the universe if for a fraction of a second only the Sun were to be diverted from its course. It is only because of this inviolable harmony in the course of the Sun that our universe can exist at all, and it is upon this harmony that the rhythmic life-process of all beings depends. Think of the annual course of the Sun. — Picture to yourselves that it is the Sun which charms forth the plants in spring time and then think how difficult it is to make the violet or some other plant flower out of due season. Seed-time and harvest, everything, even the very life of animals is dependent upon the rhythmic course of the Sun. And in the being of man himself everything that is not connected with his feelings, his desires and his passions, or with his ordinary thinking, is rhythmic and harmonious.

By realizing this within our children and ourselves we realize how important “little things” like morning circle time, regular meals, regular bedtimes and regular routines are to our holistic well-being. There are many theories today that most psychological issues we deal with as a society are greatly attributable to our lack of rhythm. Depression can often stem from days, months or even years of sleep deprivation (example: http://tinyurl.com/3x6atf) . ADHD can become manifested when a child or adult is exposed to an environment lacking in rhythm (example: http://tinyurl.com/3c47pc) and many illnesses, especially of the digestive system, can be directly related to our habits of eating out of rhythm with the seasons and with our own physical needs.

However, although we may spend hours planning the rhythms of our child’s day, we sometimes forget our own. While we definitely reap the benefits of the morning circle time and other rhythmic routines we sometimes forget that our own routines often need a rhythm. In the same way we schedule a different activity for each day (bread making on Monday, painting on Tuesdays, etc…) we can also schedule our own chores in this way.

In my personal situation, I schedule both my household and my business duties in this way. On Mondays I clean the animal cages and change the sheets on the beds. On Tuesdays I scrub the kitchen floor and clean the bathrooms. The list rotates every week. In my business I have a similar list. On Mondays I list things on Ebay, I do home and business related shopping and I ship any weekend orders I have. On Tuesdays I do finances for the home and the business and on Wednesdays I write BLOGS, articles and do my main work on the Waldorf lists. On Thursdays I see consulting clients and on Fridays I have office hours for students from my natural healing classes.

In the same way I also have a rhythm to my day, which reflects the rhythm of breathing in and breathing out that the children follow. After spending some time on breathing in (E-mail, gardening, doing dishes) I make sure that I spend some time on breathing out activity (ie: running errands, lessons with the kids, healing work)

I also make sure my day contains the three elements of head (writing articles or mental work), heart (chatting with friends, being with my kids, partner and pets, meditating) and hands (knitting, baking, creating something). The morning is a natural time of awakening when a person can best function in creating projects & writing. Afternoon is naturally the peak of the day when more physical activity is required, such as a walk. Many people who ignore this natural rhythm can experience a “low” or feeling of fatigue daily sometime in the afternoon. The evening (and early morning before the sun comes up) is a natural time for inner work and peaceful activities as a family.

On days when I do not follow these rhythms I can feel the difference in my mood, productivity, outlook on life, ability to work and levels of inner peace and balance.

If you reflect for a while you will find that there are many ways in which you can incorporate Waldorf into you own life as well as your child’s life. If you have any inspirations that work for you please share them with the group at:

waldorfschoolonline@yahoogroups.com


ADDITIONAL NOTES

This article was about using Waldorf methods for adults as well as children. If you would like to read more about Waldorf and rhythms an article about Waldorf and Rhythm can be found at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/waldorfschoolonline/files/ (Click on Waldorf Basics)

Soul of man!
You live in the heart-lung-beat
That guides you through the rhythm of times
To the sensing of your own soul's being:
Practice spirit contemplation
In equanimity of soul,
Where the surging
Cosmic creative deeds
Unite
Your own I
To the cosmic I;
And you will truly feel
In deeds of the human soul.

- Rudolph Steiner

END NOTES

1. In some countries where it is very warm or hot it is actually WITHIN the rhythm of that country to take a nap in the mid afternoon, so when I mentioned not napping, I was speaking of only some situations. A lot of rhythm DOES have to do with the environment that surrounds us!

2. Rhythm is something we strive for. After writing the article I didn't want everyone to feel like I always had this lovely rhythm going on in my life. But there is a big difference between having on and not having one. If you have one and then your day gets de-railed by another life rhythm (bad weather, someone popping in for a visit, illness) you have a clear map and road to go back to. If you do not have one to begin with then you are often wandering seeking one both mentally and physically.

How can I deal with iresource/information overload? MEMBER QUESTION #14

Dear Kristie,

I get so much good information from this list and others too. I guess I just love lists! But after a few days of reading all the information and resources I just feel overwhelmed and often the e-mails get lost and I never do end up looking at these great links! How do you deal with this? - JK

Dear JK,

I also belong to many lists and have found hours of inspiration from them. However, it can quickly become overwhelming if you don't have a system to organize everything into! If you are part of the monthly lesson plans you received a lesson planner with those plans and that is what I use to organize all of this information. I plan themes for each day, each week, each month and for the year. Every month I include themes of many kinds including a handicraft theme and a science theme, etc...

Now, when I get an e-mail from a list that has a link I just can't resist I file it in my notebook under the theme where it belongs. If I get a post that does not "belong" anywhere (in any month, holiday or theme) I create a new category. However, I have not created any new categories for a while!

You can do this in a notebook and "write in" or "clip in" information when you receive it and over time this becomes like a big scrapbook of learning and an invaluable resource. You can also organize this online in your e-mail account by creating a MAIN FOLDER called Lesson Plans and then SUBFOLDERS called Math, Science, March, April, etc....

You can also file the e-mails in your computer in the same way.

If you would like a great starting point for organizing your year you can use the Waldorf Lesson Plan Guide for the Year with ANY lesson plans you are now using. They are not just for use with my lesson plans. So even if you are using other lesson plans you can also "plug them in" the system.

If you are not part of the program you can purchase just the lesson planning guide at:

A Year of Waldorf Lesson Planning Guide

I will also be giving a lecture on organization and lesson planning at the Eastern Iowa Homeschooling Conference in April.

Hope this helps!
Blessings & Health,
Kristie

Easy Healthy Snacktime

My favorite time saving idea is "snack trays". I purchase some plastic (they don't come in any other material...do they?) snack trays (usually made for party dips) with lids and I fill them with various healthy snacks and keep them in the fridge and on top of the fridge (the nuts and things). Right now I have about four of these trays FILLED with fruits, veggies, nuts, dried fruits, etc...some have some cheese in them. I took a picture of two of them. I get these trays out every morning for breakfast and every afternoon for snack time. It helps the kids and I get a lot of healthy food into us without too much effort! And since the snack trays are easy to prepare and always ready I don't have any excuse for not eating healthy!

Blessings & Health,
Kristie
www.THEdreamangels.com

I confess RE: Waldorf Home Organization

OK, I confess, my kids never watched the "Homeschool Organization" video I uploaded to www.thewaldorfchannel.com

This is what my dining room looked like this morning and I have 3 questions:

1. How did coats get on the floor when nobody went outside since I reminded them to pick them up last time?

2. Why is there only one blue shoe on the floor (In the background)? Where is the other one????

3. Does a coat hook mean NOTHING to these children?

Love & Laughs,
Kristie

ORGANIZING IDEAS: Creative Use of Baskets

I love having everything in my craft room and art room (some people call it the dining room) organized in pretty baskets so that everything is always ready to be used and I am more inspired to do my crafts and art and so are the kids. This basket organization system works wonders for our creativity. I can sit down any time and pick up my knitting basket and start to work. Suni often grabs the basket of wood to whitle and Sofi and her friends love to grab the baskets of paper and colored pencils. Having things out in view like this really helps inspire items to be used!

The only problem I was having with this organization system was that my CATS were always getting into the felting material. And they LOVE to sleep on it. I finally found a solution!!! Those adorable baskets with a hole on top. The small ones are meant to be kleenex holders and the large ones are meant to be picnic baskets that provide extra space for bottles and larger items. This one (see picture) is wonderful for my stuffing! Now the cats don't mess it up anymore and I always have it handy for my projects - no need to hide it anymore in a cuboard now that it looks cute :). I don't think I have opened most of my cupboads in a month anyway.

ORGANIZING IDEAS: Tea Tin Pencil Holders

I often buy this wonderful tea from Barnes & Noble that comes in these lovely tins that I hate to throw out so I was keeping them for a while...not knowing what to do with them. Then, the other day I had some kids over and I needed a place to put the markers they were going to use to color with (I'm also using this for my colored pencils). We don't get the markers out too often so they were all nice and organized in color order in the bag...I couldn't bear to have them all mixed in a basket. So I took out the tea-tins and - voila! A wonderful way to organize any colored drawing tools! I was even able to match the colored markers to the colors on the tins :)