Homeschooling, for me, is a journey.
I began this journey with my son nearly five years ago, and a lot has changed in that time. We originally began by following the philosophy of Montessori, as Elki went to a Montessori school for his early years. But over time I was drawn to the art and beauty of Waldorf schooling and in the past year have introduced this into our home. I have been using a bought curriculum, which I really needed to begin with, but recently I have been questioning, do I really need to follow someone else’s curriculum? Is this hindering my imagination and our families freedom? Is it causing me to have feelings of inadequacy when I don’t live up to the curriculum’s schedule? Is it preventing us from homeschooling in an authentic way, suited to our needs, interests, and circumstance? Well, I’ve come to the conclusion that the answer to all of these is Yes.
So, this year I will plan for Elki and Anusha (who is starting first grade!) from a wide range of resources, the least of which not being our beautiful Earth that inspires me everyday.
This week I have made a simple start by doing some activities with Anusha, one of which was a very eagerly awaited first knitting lesson! Anusha had her knitting needles that she got for Christmas and a ball of second hand wool given to her by a friend in a bag ready to go. We sat down together and I got out ‘A First Book of Knitting for Children’ by Bonnie Gosse and Jill Allerton for her to have a look at, and then I showed her how to make the slipknot,
“Around two fingers, over the yarn,
pull a loop through,
jump out of the barn!”
Then I showed her how to cast on,
“In through the front door, dance around the back,
peek through the window,
on jumps Jack!”
We cast on ten stitches together, and then I showed her how to knit her first row (using the same verse as for casting on but in the last line saying “off jumps Jack”). She ended up knitting several rows and was so happy to now know how to knit like mum and her big brother,
It was really interesting how quickly she picked it up, and she enjoyed it so much more than Elki when he learnt, such different little people. I can see us knitting together for a long time to come!
Birdies in their nest 