We Can't Do It All
There, I said it. Transitioning from Christopherus/traditional Waldorf to Enki there is no way for us to finish all of Enki grade 1 before it is time to take a break and plan grade 2. The break has to happen...I don't see us going past September without needing a break, and time to plan.
It is okay. Beth is right; the boys would be in a mixed grade classroom at an Enki school, and even within one grade you would have skills ranging from a grade below to at least a grade ahead.
We are not behind. Breathe. We are where we are on the path. We aren't trying to catch up to anyone. I will never regret having given my children time to be young, and I will not take away their break in order to "catch them up" to Enki standards. I will see everything as part of the journey, and not kick myself for not having started Enki last fall. Heck, I tried to start Enki last fall. Things were beyond my control, and we did the best we could. What we chose was nourishing in its own way.
I have to go back and ground them in the math. Looking at it, I am going to take them all the way back to the first Enki Number Qualities block. In fact, I think this is how we are going to finish out grade 1:
5/30-6/30: Number Qualities (we'll be on vacation 6/16-6/25, so we'll get through number qualities and greater than/less than, have a week off, and come back to finish even/odd).
(4 days off for the 4th of July holiday)
7/5-7/28: Fairy Tale Summaries and Sight Readers (we're going to give this a shot - one thing we haven't been doing all year is sight words, so we'll just see where it takes us).
7/31-8/25: Four Processes (we did this block with Christopherus and they seemed to "get it", but I want to get them really grounded in it).
(3 days off for beach camping)
8/29-9/22: Nature Stories/Adventure
(End of grade 1, Autumnal Equinox, 8 day beach vacation)
So we never get to Fact Families, and that is okay. It is better to get them grounded in the basics than to check off everything on a list. T-Guy won't be exactly where he might have been had we started Enki last fall, but J-Baby will have been exposed to a lot for being 6YO (and not 7YO until next April).
So the story I read this morning sleeps for a couple of weeks. This afternoon we'll talk about zero and read a story for the number 1.
It is okay. Beth is right; the boys would be in a mixed grade classroom at an Enki school, and even within one grade you would have skills ranging from a grade below to at least a grade ahead.
We are not behind. Breathe. We are where we are on the path. We aren't trying to catch up to anyone. I will never regret having given my children time to be young, and I will not take away their break in order to "catch them up" to Enki standards. I will see everything as part of the journey, and not kick myself for not having started Enki last fall. Heck, I tried to start Enki last fall. Things were beyond my control, and we did the best we could. What we chose was nourishing in its own way.
I have to go back and ground them in the math. Looking at it, I am going to take them all the way back to the first Enki Number Qualities block. In fact, I think this is how we are going to finish out grade 1:
5/30-6/30: Number Qualities (we'll be on vacation 6/16-6/25, so we'll get through number qualities and greater than/less than, have a week off, and come back to finish even/odd).
(4 days off for the 4th of July holiday)
7/5-7/28: Fairy Tale Summaries and Sight Readers (we're going to give this a shot - one thing we haven't been doing all year is sight words, so we'll just see where it takes us).
7/31-8/25: Four Processes (we did this block with Christopherus and they seemed to "get it", but I want to get them really grounded in it).
(3 days off for beach camping)
8/29-9/22: Nature Stories/Adventure
(End of grade 1, Autumnal Equinox, 8 day beach vacation)
So we never get to Fact Families, and that is okay. It is better to get them grounded in the basics than to check off everything on a list. T-Guy won't be exactly where he might have been had we started Enki last fall, but J-Baby will have been exposed to a lot for being 6YO (and not 7YO until next April).
So the story I read this morning sleeps for a couple of weeks. This afternoon we'll talk about zero and read a story for the number 1.
Comments
As for the rhythm, it takes time. My friends will tell you that I have been actively working on daily rhythm for more than 2 years now. Isn't it great to look back and see how far you've come?