Well, it's been a few months since I posted. Fiona and I have gone through the 2 Language art blocks, Nature blocks and Quality of numbers. We are now on the second Math block and this one introduces the four processes, addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. She is smart as a whip, really gets this stuff! We are at week 3 of this 3 week block, introducing division. It is easy for her to divide out. Fiona is obsessed with fairness. But more than that, doing math problems focused on the whole of the number and seeing how many processes are tied up into each number has been fun to see with her, through her eyes.
I thought about going back and updating it week by week to "catch up" so to speak, but while it might give me a sense of completion, it would just be too stressful.
I am looking ahead toward next year, grade two, and am very excited to use Donna' Simmons (of Christopherus ) again. She has been invaluable to me for insight, practical, just everything. She has also urged me to attempt to network together all us Waldorf Homeschoolers in Michigan. A daunting task but one I believe will benefit me and my family greatly.
We had a great time during the holidays. I can not believe how much more meaningful they were this year focusing on All Saints day , we visited my mothers grave (something I have never done since the funeral..Very cathardic) and continuing with Thanksgiving, Advent, Christmas and Epiphany. I'm actually looking forward to Lent this year! Since we are not Christian, though I grew up in a Catholic home, celebrating these times throughout the year has been difficult, but using the festivities as a way of introducing that part of my life to Fiona and Anya, and creating a meaningful passage of time throughout the year is becoming more important to me and them than I would have thought. So we celebrate these points through the year, as well as Wesak (buddha's birthday) and I see the effect it has had on Fiona. She has an understanding of what these celebrations are to us as a family and how other families celebrate. I could go on and on (I think I may just have) about how deeply the celebrations have touched me and my family, but I will wait and think more on them as I think I may be babbling a bit.
Anyway, Co-op is awesome, great friends! And while it isn't strictly Waldorf, I think it does just fine. Afterall, Fiona has what we do each day at home to be her basis of education. Co-op has provided group activities, cooperative games, active math, plays and art in groups as well as many science experiments.
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