Category: 5th Grade
-
The Benefits of Homeschooling
The benefits of homeschooling have struck me again. I had the enchanting opportunity to meet one of my students and his family for a picnic at a beautiful botanical garden today. The whole family came along, including mom, dad, and his two siblings. Since much of my teaching is online I often don’t get to…
-
What is Waldorf Homeschooling? A Beginner’s Guide
We’ve all heard of it: Waldorf Education. Some of us have even experienced it. Many more are curious but don’t know where to begin. It often sounds overwhelming, and Waldorf teachers can seem like wizards, composing lessons like symphonies. Yet, the question, “What is Waldorf homeschooling?” need not have a complex answer. Let’s break it…
-
Mentors for Teens
—
by
Today, we will turn to the age old conundrum that has no doubt plagued parents for centuries. It goes something like this, “Why doesn’t my teen listen to me anymore?” We’ll unpack this all-too-common challenge and propose a solution that has to do with finding mentors for teens. The Need to Rebel It’s true. Adolescents…
-
Nature and Learning
In this post, I’d like to discuss nature and learning. That is to say, specifically the seasonal cycle and how it affects students’ ability to learn. Perhaps it’s because in the spring, students seems to just fall off their seats laughing for no apparently good reason. Or, perhaps it’s because it takes us fifteen minutes…
-
Therapeutic Education (The Four Temperaments in Education, Part II)
In this second of two posts, we will discuss the four temperaments and how to work skillfully with them. This understanding is necessary to provide a therapeutic education to our students. One of the unique insights of Rudolf Steiner, creator of Waldorf Education, was that studetns are different and need different treatments from one another.…
-
Teen Mental Health
The world has never experienced a mental dis-ease epidemic like the meaning crisis we currently face. There are many reasons for this, materialism being the most pernicious. Like a deeply rooted weed, it infests the garden of society’s soul. We have grown accustomed to looking at everything from the outside in and trying to remedy…
-
Homeschool Vs. Public School
In this post, we will discuss the common question of homeschool vs. public school. A recent article reported a number of studies indicating that on average, homeschoolers outperform public schoolers on common assessments like the SAT and ACT. Critics suggested this was due to more favorable demographics like parents’ income, marriage status, and level of…
-
The New Economics
Last night, I went to a lecture by Jac Hielema of Economy Transformers on the new economics. It was life changing even for me who have been studying this for several years now. Extraordinarily, Jac and his colleagues in the Netherlands have managed to put this into tangible practice. I’d like to tell you a…
-
Homeschool Easter
Homeschool Easter. You don’t have to be Christian to connect to its mythos and find value in its celebration. Of course, Christianity imbues this spring holiday with rich imaginations, but that’s not the point. The point is the resurrection of life as shown in these common symbols: In this post, I give some indications for…
-
The Anxious Generation
Go to any town or city today. Look around and observe the youth, and what do you see? No doubt, you see young ones struggling to fit in, wearing questionable clothing, and just generally appearing insecure. This is nothing new for teens an adolescents, but this one seems more chronic, more deeply disoriented. You are…