First Day of School

Our first day of school was supposed to start yesterday, but with all the 4th of July celebrations, my littles didn’t get to bed until 12am!!! Needless to say, school began on Tuesday. This is my second year homeschooling Logan. She is entering first grade and Joshua is now a kindergartener.

This year I am going to be using curricula from Heart of Dakota and incorporating Waldorf inspired arts.

Heart of Dakota is a Christian curriculum designed especially for homeschoolers. The author of HOD, Carrie Austin, taught public elementary school for 11 years before she decided to homeschool her children. HOD is derived from what she uses to teach her own children. Her children “test-pilot” each program before it is published. HOD curriculum is based on the teachings of Charlotte Mason who believed in short lessons (10-20 minutes), study of many subject (Miss Mason’s students studied 15-21 subjects per week) and using living books (real books, not text books).

Both Logan and Joshua will be using Little Hearts for His Glory. Little Hearts is for ages 5-7. Joshua will be using all of Little Hearts except their phonics choices. He will be using Christian Light Education’s Learn to Read. Logan will be using a combination of Little Hearts and Beyond Little Hearts for His Glory (ages 6-8). She will be using the History, Science, Art, Dramatic Play, Thinking Games, Rhymes in Motion, Bible, Music, Fine Motor Skills and Storytime portions from Little Hearts. In Beyond, Logan will use the Spelling, LA, Emerging Reader Set and Singapore Math. I am using the memory verse in Little Hearts for copywork instead of the copywork suggested in the LA portions of Beyond (the copywork is tied into the history portion of Beyond which will be studied next year).

Waldorf is a curriculum that emphasizes the use of the arts to teach academic subjects. While I love the idea of teaching the academic subjects through the arts, I don’t advocate many of Waldorf’s philosophies. One philosophy I do not advocate is that children should only be introduced to the alphabet in 1st grade (not learn to read) and first grade should begin closer to age 7. Waldorf also advocates Anthroposophy, a new-age like religion created by Rudolph Steiner. Because of these types of teachings, I will never use a complete Waldorf curriculum, but only incorporate the artistic parts. It would be great if someone would incorporate the artistic side of Waldorf with a Christian curriculum. Look at the style of art taught in Waldorf just with block crayons!



I have ordered the Coloring with Block Crayon Curriculum that is shown in the video. Logan has not put the crayons down since the lesson I taught her today!!!!

Waldorf also teaches wet-on-wet water color painting. I haven’t decided what book to buy to teach the children how to do this. But here is a sample wet-on-wet technique.



I am also going to teach Waldorf Form Drawing. Form Drawing normally starts as a pre-writing skill, but I will be using it for it’s artistic nature. Students learn how to do simple things like drawing lines and curves. In later grades it advances into intricate Celtic Knots and geometric shapes. Here are a few examples.



I have bought Form Drawing Basics from Earth Schooling.

I am not sure whether I am going to use Waldorf Music methods. Waldorf only uses the pentatonic scale when teaching young children music. Much folk and traditional music are based on this scale. Kodaly and Orff also use the pentatonic scale in many pieces for young children. A pentatonic flute is taught starting in first grade. Unfortunately, the little wooden flute cost around $100.00. This is too much for my budget, especially since I would need to buy one for each child and me (4)! There are 2 alternatives to the pentatonic flute, a recorder and a penny whistle. I am probably going to use the penny whistle even thought a recorder is much cheaper. A nice penny whistle cost $12-$18 while the recorder I would choose (my favorite) only cost $5.00. The reason for choosing the penny whistle is because it has smaller holes and is easier for little fingers to cover. I really don’t recommend the recorder till 3rd grade. I may buy one Waldorf recorder book, but I am not sure which.

One of the biggest problems I am having with Waldorf art is the expense of the art materials. The art materials used in Waldorf are of very high quality and quite expensive. Most of the materials are imported from Germany. The block crayons cost around $10.50 for a set of 8. The crayons are made of bees wax. There is also stick crayons needed for the form drawing. They also cost $10.50 for a pack of eight. The coloring pencils used in Waldorf are Lyra Ferby. They cost $14.50 for a pack of 12. The paint cost $8.00 dollars a color and I have no idea how long a color will last with 3 children and me painting. The paint brushs cost $10 each. I’m not even sure how much the suggested paper for painting and drawing cost. You have to have a very thick watercolor paper for the wet-on-wet technique and the drawing paper has to be heavy and have a good “tooth”. Computer printer paper is too slick for the block crayons.

I have tried to off set the price for the bees wax crayons by buying one 16 piece set of block and stick for the children to share. The Drawing with Block Crayon website had a vinal drawing mat and the 3 primary colors of block crayons needed for $7.50 a set. I bought each child and myself a set. That way we each have a personal set of the most necessary colors and can share the rest. Instead of the Lyra Ferby coloring pencils I bought Crayola Write Start coloring pencils for each child. These coloring pencils are a higher end Crayola product costing $4.50 a pack for 8. I used a 40% off coupon to Michael’s Crafts and was able to get the coloring pencils for $2.88 a pack.