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mamamuse
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Interests: attachment parenting, enki/waldorf homeschooling, knitting, hiking, meditating musician mama
Expertise: always learning
Message: message me
Member Since:
3/24/2006
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| Yesterday the kids chose a book about Evolution from the library. As we read it together it hit me that we've never discussed creation theories or theories of evolution. Kai lit up like a light bulb as he read and got so excited about the connections between us and apes and the whole miraculous wonder of the universe.
He asked me, "If those other creatures have been on this planet so much longer than humans, then how come humans know what the names of those creatures are?". He pondered it for a while and then answered it for himself. It was magical watching his mind work. It also clarified some of why waldorf is proving to not be a good fit for him. (There are many other reasons but I won't go into them here). There is so little space in his situation right now for questioning, for inquiring, for figuring out your own answers. He's a natural scientist, artist, musician, inventor, but there's no space to express or explore that. We've been told over and over that the work of waldorf in first grade is social, not academic. That's a big huge disappointment to him, since he is so ready and excited to learn, and the social experience is proving to not be so positive. Personally I don't see why the two things have to be mutually exclusive.
Today he spent the morning in a progressive, independent school. He worked on math problems and was tested in his reading skills. He came out buzzing with enthusiasm and spent the rest of the day doing math work sheets.
So, yes, we're exploring our options YET again. It's exhausting and upsetting, but here we are. It may be this independent school, it may be public school, it may be sticking it out at waldorf, it may be some form of home schooling. The school we fell most in love with was a montessori that doesn't have any spots for this year.
I guess the silver lining is seeing that a bad experience has not turned him off school or learning altogether, and that he is so able to articulate what he needs. I want to make sure over everything else that we keep that alive and don't limit him. We have some time to find the right fit... | | |
| Well I've been hearing from more and more friends around the globe who are wondering what happened to the blog and how we are all doing; I had no idea so many were reading! I'm re inspired to catch up here but so little time and so much to say.
First off...WOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO....on our new president. Wow, wow, wow.
Sadly the initial thrill had the edge taken off by California ruling against gay marriages. More wow, wow, wow : (
Been meaning to post school photos but the truth is we're having a very mixed experience of Kai's school that has had me holding back. There is so much that is wonderful about it; Kai loves the lessons, the school site, the arts, his good friends there... Unfortunately though we are already up against some big discipline and communication issues with the school. We're not the only ones. I've heard these stories over and over about this particular school, particularly in relation to boys, but had higher hopes for this new teacher. Unfortunately it seems she is following the same path as many other teachers there.
I don't know what our options are at the moment. I don't think things will improve there any time soon. We're already having to think ahead for next year. It's exhausting even thinking about that. There is so much more to say about it, but for now I'll just tell you, I miss homeschooling! Honestly not the day to day of it, since I love my job so much and was never cut out to be a full time sahm, but I miss my child being able to be who he is without judgment or control being exerted over him.
I don't expect perfection in any school and I gave up ideals some time ago, but I do expect my child - all children - to be respected and accepted for who they are, instead of being expected to fit into an unnatural mold. I expect a school to have open lines of communication, trust and honesty. I also expect a school to find a place for joyful natural energy, humor and creativity. To not have so many rules or try to control children's behavior and play to such a high degree. A school that accepts responsibility for their failings and learns from them instead of placing all blame on the child and their family/lifestyle. And, imagine this, a school that turns to current research and study for interventions and pedagogy, instead of referring back to Rudolf Steiner and anthroposophy for absolutely everything.
I have hope that we will find somewhere where this exists.
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| Me to Lila, who is standing in a bucket of water naked:
"Lila I really don't want you standing in a bucket of wet water when you have a cold"
Lila:" But mama, there's no dry water anywhere"
Once you've had mama brain, do you ever recover? 
last week kai had his first real jazz club experience at a matinee show to see dave holland. he was mesmerized. lila did her usual shaman-medicine-woman-free-improv dance up and down the aisles during the drum solo. i learned the big lessons (a) don't sit kids in rotating bar stools and expect them to sit still, and (b) don't expect other 6 yr old boys to enjoy jazz shows. we took a friend of kai's who wanted out after about 2 tunes. thank goodness for ear plugs.
time to get back to kai's drum lessons i think, and maybe starting piano. one of the problems i have with waldorf is the timing they use to introduce musical instruments. they completely neglect rhythm instruments until middle school, and no music notation until 4th grade, which seems nuts to me. if this is the window of opportunity for learning foreign languages, then this should also be when they're learning music as a language.
today once i extract lila from her bucket of wet water we're off to see this guy with an all star latin jazz line up outdoors for free. that ought to sort my head out.
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