St. Patricks Day: A Waldorf Homeschool Celebration

Legend has it, finding a four leaf clover is lucky and St. Patrick attributed the three leafed clover to the Holy Trinity.

Before creating circle times or putting holiday activities together, I first meditate on the subject. During the meditation phase, I ask myself, "What are the main teaching points? Can any of them be compacted for economy in teaching? What is the spirit of the activity or what kind of environment should be created? The spirit of St. Patrick's Day seems to be colorful, playful and a bit mischievous. Here's what I came up with.....

A Waldorf Homeschool St. Patrick's Day Celebration

A few circle time verses:

Beams of Love Finger Play:

Round the golden dome above (Bring arms above head in a circle.) 

Sends to me its beams of love (Bring arms slowly down and cross over heart.) 

As I go about my day (Move arms back and forth like “walking.”) 

Beams of love unfold in play (Start with hands crossed over heart and slowly bring arms down and outward.) 

Take these beams I give to you (Hands outstretched showing palms, move them outward more.) 

And pass them on in all you do (Bring hands together in front of you.) 

—Eileen Straiton

Little Cobbler:  A rascal little elf is he Who taps on shoes each day. Hee hee! He laughed, Disappeared, when asked, Could he come out to play.   —Sara Wilson

Homeschool Baking: No Icing Sugar Cookies

While we were waiting for the sun to warm us up in the morning, we baked clover sugar cookies. I have had this recipe tucked away for awhile. Best sugar cookie the West side of the Mississippi. It's actually for Christmas, but we just used our clover cutters. The best thing about it … it doesn't involve messy icing. The cookies are colored by brushing on egg yoks that are colored with food coloring. You can find the recipe here: Pioneer Woman's Christmas Sugar Cookie

Foraging for Clovers

Since the children are so little, we were happy to just find clovers. Before going out to look for clovers. I read them the following.

Five Green Shamrocks

(A simple children's St Patricks Day poems)

One green shamrock, in the morning dew,
Another one sprouted,
and then there were two.

Two green shamrocks, growing beneath a tree;
Another one sprouted,
and then there were three.

Homeschool Games: Leprechaun's Bag of Gold 

Leprechauns often carry a bag of gold with them. So, I used yellow construction paper to cut ten circles that represented gold coins. I numbered them 1 - 10 and put them in a bag. For fun, the children ordered them in ascending and descending order. We had the most fun taking one or two out of the bag and letting the others guess which one was missing. 

Hidden Shamrocks

Before circle time pre cut several shamrocks. Hide them arround the room or if it is warm enough outside. Everyone had a turn hiding and finding. This was the activity the twins learned to guide people by saying "Hotter or Colder" <3

A hidden shamrock, under our classroom table.

A Homeschool Story for Wet on Wet Watercolor Painting

The Sunbeam's Visit by Cornelia Fulton Crary

This is a great story to tell whilst painting it with the children.

One day, as the glorious sun came up to bid the world "Good morning," one beam of light came out with all the rest, and went to give its part of rightness to the people of the world. In this beam of light were six little rays; but they all had on white cloaks, and they went along so close together that they looked like one clear, white ray. 

It was early in the morning, and as the beam of light went on its way straight from the sun, to take its message of love and brightness to the world just as well and quickly as it could, it went through between two of the slits of the blind in the window of the room where little Johnny was snugly tucked in bed fast asleep; and it shone right on the top of a glass inkstand which Johnny's mother kept on the table. As the beam of light went through the sharp edges of the clear glass, all the little rays took off their white cloaks, and went and stood hand in hand in a streak of colors on the white ceiling. 

Each one of the six rays that made the beam of light was a different color. Three of them were strong, and able to take care of their little brothers and help them to be bright as they were, just as little children who are bright and happy help others to be bright and happy too. These three strong rays were red and yellow and blue.

The red and the yellow rays had between them another ray who held tight to both of them, and the red and the yellow ray each gave him some of their brightness; so he was an orange ray. 

And the yellow and the blue had fast hold of the little green ray which was between them, sharing the brightness of the yellow and the coolness of the blue ray, and very happy and bright himself while he was standing close to them.  

Then, at the end of the line, close to the blue, stood another ray. He was something like the red ray at the other end of the line, who gave him some of his red glow; but he was more like the blue, because he stood close to him and shared his color, which, mixed with the red, made him a purple ray. 

So there they stood, the red and the orange, the yellow and the green, the blue and the purple rays, holding each other's hands and looking at Johnny.

And all this didn't take as long to happen as it takes to tell about it; for as they looked at him, Johnny felt their brightness against his eyelids, and opened his eyes to see what it was, and said: "Why, there is the light; it must be morning." So he got up right away, and washed his face and hands very clean, and dressed, so he would not be late to breakfast. He opened the blinds to let more of the sunshine in, and then the six little rays ran back through the glass and put on their white cloaks again, and went with all the other beams of light to make the day bright. And Johnny stood before the window and said "Good morning" to the sun, which had sent the beam  of light to visit him and make him glad.

A St. Patrick's Day Song

For the tune ...

Saint Patrick was a gentleman, he came from decent people

He built a church in Dublin town and on it put a steeple
His father was a Gallagher, his mother was a Grady
His aunt was an O'Shaughnessy and his uncle was a Brady
Success to bold Saint Paddy's fist he was a saint so clever
he gave the snakes and toads a twist and banished them forever.

Final Thoughts

“Some luck lies in not getting what you thought you wanted but getting what you have, which once you have got it you may be smart enough to see is what you would have wanted had you known.”  —Garrison Keillor  

We have so much to be thankful for. Happy St. Patrick's Day. I'm off to set a leprechaun trap.

For information about Homeschooling or Homesteading products Ancient Path offers, we would love it very much if you took a look around our Etsy Shop. Our family is so grateful for all of you who have supported us over the years. Thank you!

 

Our Waldorf First Grade Homeschool

“Each person needs a field of activity for his inner life, for his willing, feeling, and finally for his thinking soul. The child needs this field of activity for the strength of his soul as does each adult. If I do not present the child with the images of the language of the fairy tales, then the contents of his soul will be supplied by the idle talk of the alley. Car makes and money concerns; trivial, unimaginative bits of everyday conversation will rule the field of his soul, resulting in a field filled with weeds.” ~ Helmut von Kugelgen

Inner Life of a Child

To the child, fairy tales have an enormous effect on the inner life. They help them work out and face problems that will arise in life. A fairy tale given at just the right time, can educate, support and liberate the emotions of a child. 

It is plainly obvious that my children do not experience the world the way I do. They think it would take a long time to walk to the sun. I do not wish to hurriedly bring them up to my, often dulled, adult way of thinking. I am interested in keeping the imaginative magic of their childhood alive. Albert Einstein said that imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited but imagination encircles the world. 

Waldorf Homeschool: First Grade Fairy Tales

In First Grade, children learn the letters of the alphabet in an artistic way. Teaching the alphabet in art form, allows the letters to live imaginatively inside the child forever. Waldorf schools use this form of teaching the alphabet. It's modeled after Rudolf Steiner's lecture. After all, drawing pictures on cave walls is how we have communicated since the beginning. 

With each consonant, a fairy tale is told and an anchor image arises from the story. That image is artistically rendered. The vowels are taught differently. I'll save that for a post by itself. On the day the story is told the children arrive to an illustration of the anchor word drawn on our chalkboard. There is a "rest" period for the story, which is usually one day, before the letter is rendered into their Main Lesson Book. Here is an example of our letter 'K' chalk drawing and Main Lesson Book work.

Most of the stories I have chosen are Brother Grimm's Fairy Tales. Some parents have concerns about the sometimes violent or gruesome content of these tales. We can even see water downed versions told. This results in a depravation of the senses, kind of like a the effects of pain killers. In Brother's Grimm's tales humans undergo trials and suffering. The deeds of a person earns them rewards, such as the hand of the princes. Children do not experience the greed of the witch the way adults do. The story will only be as scary as the imagination of the child. 

Spinning the Tale

It's best to dedicate a space for storytelling. To create an atmosphere of reverence, a candle can be lit and extinguished each time. The children connect with the storyteller if they are told the story rather than read the story. I know that is a lot of memorizing, but worth the effort. I draw short pictured story lines for myself as a cheat sheet. 

A Waldorf Journey Through the Alphabet Curriculum

We offer a complete Waldorf Alphabet Homeschool Curiculum for First Grade. 

Everything you need to teach the alphabet in a fun, imaginative way! 

Grab your digital copy here:

A Waldorf Journey through the Alphabet

***For information about Homeschooling or Homesteading products Ancient Path offers, we would love it very much if you took a look around our Etsy Shop. Our family is so grateful for all of you who have supported us over the years. Thank you!

Magical Cedar Tree: A Home School Tale to Spin

Since the beginning, we have sat together listening to the stories of our ancestors. Storytelling is the vehicle for which we learn. 

Forest Schooling on the Homestead

Our very best memories are made during our Forest Schooling hours. Most afternoons are spent wondering through the acres of forest behind our home. We have adventures and find all sorts of living things … many of which I never knew existed. Our recent adventure accompanied a story called, "The Legend of the Cedar" In the Waldorf pedagogy, stories from the ingenious people of the land are told to the children to help them connect with the earth beneath their feet. This generally takes place in Second grade, but the Native American stories all tie in wonderfully with our afternoon Forest Schooling. One of the books I'm using for activity ideas is, Forest Schooling. The idea for a magic wand made out of sacred tree branches, came from this book. Earlier that day, I stumbled across a stunning website of folktales, Spirit of Trees. This is where I found the story, "The Legend of the Cedar" 

I am working on reading a text and then retelling it by heart. The littles respond to the stories on a deeper level when I am looking them in the eyes telling it to them. I know that the stories are resonating with them because I see their eyes light up. 

I had the perfect cedar in mind to hike to. We visit it often, as it is one of our best climbing trees. I told the story under the tree and afterwards we looked around on the ground for sticks that had broken off that tree. We collected several other items that day to tie to the end of our magic wands. Kayden was lucky enough to find a feather for his. We avoided putting anything poisonous on our wands. Once home, we assembled our wands and they are now reside above the front door of our home. The Cherokee author, Jim Fox, noted that many Cherokee medicine men have cedar in their medicine bags and hand cedar branches above their doors to ward off bad spirits. 

Homeschooling

I have been homeschooling my twin six year old's since the beginning of August. They are considered Kindergarteners by traditional U.S. schooling methods and are considered to be in the "early years" of Waldorf education. We are a special circumstance, as they were in a traditional public school for Head Start and Pre-K. When we started in August, they were already readers. So, my biggest challenge this year has been "slowing" down the adult guided learning process to get them on track with the Waldorf pedagogy, without stopping completely. Children can become disinterested in learning whenever they become board with it. That would be counterintuitive because my highest endeavor is to cultivate a love of learning for my children. 

Our Kindergarten is comprised of a circle time where we learn poems and music on our glockenspiel. We spend about 45 minutes in the mornings doing a Seasonal Circle Time. We offer several of the Circle Times we used instead our Etsy Shop

Our afternoons are taken up with the magical experience of Forest Schooling. I hope they never out grow Forest Schooling. <3

First Grade Homeschool Curriculum

☆☆ This activity warped into an entire Waldorf First Grade curriculum, I wrote for the boys. It uses Native American stories to teach the children the quality of numbers. Check it out here:

Quality of Numbers

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