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Journal

Caregiver’s Balancing Head, Heart and Hands

In Waldorf Schools you will hear the expression “head, heart and hands” used to explain the faculties of ...

Simple Preparations for Hanukkah

I am passionate about renewing the festivals that are important to us so that we celebrate them in ...

Simple Preparations for Meaningful Gift Giving

In our home we try to keep gifts simple, small, meaningful, purposeful, and quite often handmade, as well ...

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Self-Care does not have to mean massages, manicures and spa days.
Most Self-Care Practises are FREE and are as simple as:

☕️ A cup of calming tea in silence
🛁 A hot bath or a long shower and body oils
📺 Winding down with a favourite TV show
❤️ 1:1 connecting with a parenting partner (could be a grandparent, aunt or friend!)
🚽 Going to the bathroom when you need to!
📱 A phone call with a trusted friend or family member
🧘🏽‍♂️A walk outside, a sit spot or some inner work practice
🙅🏻‍♀️ Holding boundaries with children
🏋🏻‍♀️ Lifting weighs, yoga, cycling, running or other physical exercise
🎨 Artistic expression- music, art, dance
💌 Group messaging with close friends
🛌 Getting regular sleep & resting when you need to
🐕 Time with a beloved pet
🧑🏽‍⚕️Staying up to date with dentist and doctor’s appointments for yourself
🍶 Drinking enough water throughout the day
☀️ Getting some sunshine

Can you name some other simple self-care practices that don’t cost a dime and help to fill your cup?

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We’ve been packing hot lunches all winter long for our kids and the biggest difference I’ve seen is less “hanger” when I pick them up after school.

It takes a little extra effort to pack a hot lunch but if you can prepare and batch cook in advance it also takes a lot of stress out of wondering what to pack for lunch!

Thermos hack I only learned this year: Fill the thermos with boiling water from the kettle FIRST, then empty it out and immediately put the hot food in and close the lid.

We adapt the recipes above from:

@ministry_of_curry Dal
@natalietrusler Meatballs
@delish Spanakopita
@thekitchn Lentil Stew

Enjoy the hot lunch! 🍽

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We need to first and foremost do the inner work ourselves in order to model for our children the very values we wish to see in the world around us.

I hope we all carry this work with us into the weekend, wherever and whoever we are.

#waldorfinspired #waldorfeducation #positiveparenting #blackhistorymonth #montessoriathome #simplictyparenting #wildandfreechildren #waldorfhomeschool #parentsofinstagram #headhearthands

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Today I am sharing one of our most loved art supplies: @allofuscrayons .

I purchased a set of these crayons early this Fall and all of my children were elated to finally have a range of skin tones that reflect the diversity of their own skin, that of their friends, neighbours, the characters in stories that they listen to and the characters in their creative imaginations. They were such a hit that I decided to buy a set for each of the early childhood and lower school classroom’s at my children’s school and they were met with just as much enthusiasm.

Sabine, the founder and owner of @allofuscrayons and voice of @waldorfincolor hopes that these crayons will help to “guide our next generation forward with the seeds of inclusion in art, and the inner momentum to always embrace the world around them with open hearts.”

She is a Waldorf parent who observed the limited choice of crayon skin tones and was inspired to create these beautiful beeswax crayons herself.

Unlike most beeswax crayons used in Waldorf schools, @allofuscrayons contain NO PARAFFIN and are made only from beeswax, plant wax and natural earth pigments.

If you have young children who enjoy the benefits of crayon drawing at home, I highly recommend a set of @allofuscrayons . Why not also send the website and some information to the faculty and admin at your child’s school or create a parent fundraiser to buy a set or two for each classroom?

Sometimes, it’s the simplest changes that make the most profound difference in the world, and I truly believe having these crayons accessible to all children will have a greater impact than we could ever imagine.

#notanad #allofuscrayons #colorsoftheworld #waldorfeducation #waldorfcrayons #montessori #montessoriathome #waldorfathome #waldorfinspired #waldorfhomeschool #wildandfreechildren

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One of the things I love about #waldorfeducation is its focus and emphasis on movement for a healthy early childhood. Climbing, spinning, swinging, skipping, hopping and crawling have all been shown integrate the right and left brain hemispheres; develop fine and gross motor skills as well as coordination and balance. All of these skills are pre-literacy essentials.

But today, I want to share the resources we use when we have decided our children are ready to explicitly develop their phonetic awareness and reading skills.

My Top Five Tools for Beginner Readers:

📕 All About Reading Pre-Literacy Program @allaboutlearning takes children step by step through activities to help them develop phonetic awareness. This program was recommended by @ginnysheller many years ago & it has been my go-to when each of my children has started their reading journey. It’s fun, multisensory and based on the Orton-Gillingham approach.
📗 Reading Guide Highlighter strips (google this) help children who find it challenging to track & follow the line they are reading. They basically block out the rest of the page so that your child can focus on one line at a time.
📘 Shelley Davidow’s Early Reader Series is a gentle introduction to reading simple words. The books progress in difficulty & are satisfying for even beginner readers to sound out.
📕 Montessori Sandpaper Letters are exactly what they sound like & a way for children to begin practising writing and recognizing the letters of the alphabet. We always start with capitals and then move on to lowercase letters.
📗 Finally, I am a Waldorf early childhood teacher but I am also a parent and this year more than ever has presented an opportunity to try to find balance with all things, including technology. I carved out times in the afternoons to help my older children with homeschool work while my younger children played on a reading app called @readingeggs . They loved this novel time and I was surprised with how much they absorbed and gained in terms of reading skills. My youngest (6) still enjoys going through a level on the weekends.

Any other reading tips or favourites you have in your family? Share below! 📚

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$I recently took our youngest to the hospital in the middle of the night due to a very intense and abnormal tummyache that had me worrying about appendicitis. All is well- it ended up being a very strange 48 hour virus despite no one else having had it and none of us having left the house in over a month. With four children, this was certainly not our first trip to the emergency department (anaphylactic reactions, that time I thought the toddler had swallowed a screw (she didn’t 😅); a fractured radius and a fish hook stuck in a 4 year-olds finger two days after I had given birth 😩... come to think of it, this list only refers to my eldest daughter’s hospital record so far. 🤣🤣) Do you have one child who seems to frequent emergency more than the others? Do you have hospital bag essentials you know to pack in that emergency-adrenaline-rush so you’re prepared for the wait? Of course, in a true emergency, there is little to no time for hospital bags, in which case you might be able to throw a few things into a bag while you wait for an ambulance if you’re not actively engaging in first aid. Hospital visits are are scary and stressful for everyone involved, both parents and children. Having a few home comforts with you for the trip can help make the experience feel a little more under control, comforting and calm.$

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