u/sea-song11

I’ve been slowly collecting our homeschooling supplies, as I have a 3 year old who’s definitely needing more rhythm, so I thought I’d ease into it this year. As a bit of background info: we love waldorf and I’ve always wanted to give our children this type of education since before becoming a mom, but our local school is still somewhat far and also the tuition cost is just not an option for us at this time. That being said I’ve been diving deep in studying more of the pedagogy by reading books, listening to podcasts, reading blogs, posts on here and just every resource I can find, it’s been really beautiful because it’s definitely been a personal journey for me too.

Now, as we are establishing our rhythm I’ve been gathering some supplies, but we’re on a budget, so I want to try to make the best of it as we go. So far I’ve been able to get:

The stokmar modeling beeswax

Watercolor paper pad, and

The small set of stokmar block crayons (we’ve been using these every week for a few weeks) but now I’ve been hearing that since they’re blocks it doesn’t promote a good pencil grasp, and that is best to alternate between these and the stick crayons?

I do have a bit of a budget now that I was thinking to save towards the watercoloring supplies for the wet on wet technique, but now I’m wondering if I should get the stick crayons first?

I’ve also noticed that he does like to make more detailed shapes, as he has started drawing “people” (big circle with sticks as legs and dots for eyes and a smile) with a magnetic drawing board. So I’m really thinking I might need to get him the stick crayons.

But I also know the importance of watercoloring and he’s also been asking for paints. It’s just taken some time to be able to get everything and the supplies for this definitely add up. The paints themselves (set of 3) are $33, the watercoloring boards ($25-50 each), paint brushes (don’t know the price but need two as well), the paint jars ($20) and I do already have one pad of the paper to start with.

So, What would you recommend in my situation and for a preschooler? Should I get him the crayons first and just slowly continue gathering the watercolor supplies? Or do the opposite? If I get the crayons are the crayon holders absolutely necessary?

I’ve been so excited about this specially as we’ve started getting into a weekly rhythm, but it’s been hard to very slowly gather everything and be patient. Again he’s only three years old so I’ve been trying to focus on some of the deeper things, like the rhythm itself and just our home life in general, songs etc.

Thanks for reading all of this and I appreciate any guidance, advice and encouragement so much!

Hi everyone! I’m excited to start getting into some of the celebrations this year starting with Michaelmas. We’ll probably keep it really small this year as I have a three year old and a baby. We’re planning a very small gathering with some of our friends (ages 19 months to 4 year olds plus the babies).

As we prepare for it, I’d like to get some books on knights and dragons for my son. But my question is if he’s too little for that? I’ve read that medieval history and knights are taught later on in Waldorf, but I think there might be some more simple books I could get for him? We do have a couple of Sarah’s silks swords and he does like that kind of play naturally, and I think learning a little bit about knights would be a good way to channel that energy and directing it into chivalry, defending and protecting etc. Also as context for Michaelmas.

I’d also love any and all suggestions for how to structure the celebration taking the ages of kids into account. I do have some ideas for the preparations (recipes and decorations) but not so sure about the activities and entertainment of the day.

I’ve been researching and reading a lot, both online and from books, but this is my first time ever doing this and also introducing it in our community. I live in a place where there’s no Waldorf initiatives or even many people who know about it, so I’m hoping to slowly start something or get others interested by sharing the beauty of the celebrations.

Your advice means so much, thank you in advance!

I’m trying to choose between the pentatonic children’s harp or kinder lyre (Auris) or the pentatonic glockenspiel. I’m looking toward establishing rhythm and was thinking to start with story time/ music.

I have a 3 year old and newborn