Waldorf Concepts to Simplify

I know many people will be horrified at the "rigidness" of some of these ideas, but as a single mama of three children, a 17 year old, a 25 month old and a 21 month old  I believe adding these to our family's rhythm will make things much simpler and allow us to focus our energy on more creative and productive outlets than what to make for meals and what to wear.  I also hope it will add a little more certainty to my children's lives that things are cycular, they come and go and come again.

Using the correspondences for the days of the week found in many Waldorf books, honestly I am not sure who created these correspondences I  do know I was familiar with them before I became interested in Steiner, I believe they are fairly ancient to humankind and Steiner adapted them to some of his philosophies.  I have seen them in Greco-Roman texts.   However as a Waldorf family we will just use the chart found in "The Waldorf Kindergarten Snack Book" for our daily grains and this chart  for our colors (it also contains the grains and many other correspondences such as Steiner's biodynamic preparations).

For colors of the week I am creating outfits that correspond to the daily colors for myself and the littles, honestly they wear natural colored woolies most of the winter so I just need to knit them vests, or overdresses to wear on top. My hope is this will eliminate trying to pick out clothing in the morning, we all will know its Monday, is baking day and purple day! I also will try to highlight things in are home of that color to help them recognize what day it is, simple things as using purple napkins on Monday or creating a centerpiece at the table with a collection of their purple toys.

Kiera washing dishes at school on "Red Day"

I have also incorporated the grain of the day into my meal plans.  We get a box of local produce from a local farmers market twice a week which really dictates what we eat, but I have been adding the grains in for their days.  Yesterday was "Rice Day" so the children had sticky rice with ginger baked pears for breakfast, and a mixed veggie stir-fry for lunch and dinner served over rice.  Today was "Barley Day" so we enjoyed barley pancakes with cooked cinnamon apples for breakfast and  made a large pot of curried vegetable barley soup.  Tomorrow is "Millet Day" so I am making cranberry millet squares for breakfast and Cauliflower Millet casserole for dinner we often eat the same thing we had for lunch for dinner, again its just easier,

Pears waiting to be baked.

So far it has been much easier having parameters to work with, I know I have to use this certain grain, and I have the food from the farmshare to use (I do add things that I can't buy from local farmers but I try to make the bulk of our food from our local farms).   We are only a few days into this experiment but so far I am really enjoying the ease of it.  Rudolph Steiner I do believe you were a genius!

Shared on  Our Seasons of Joy's Waldorf Wednesday's.

Handwork for the Soul

Are they not just too sweet in their handknits? It truly does warm my soul to know my handwork is warming their little bodies as the weather turns colder this season.

I've always believed on a spiritual level, you create your reality, what you send out, what you focus on is what you receive etc etc, you see that thought in many world religions and philosophies and I think there is much truth to it. Because of this belief I feel it is very important for young children to see adults crafting and creating the things in their world, from simple meals, clothing, to

ys etc... Watching something transform into a beautiful useful handmade item is very exciting for small children and it gives them confidence that they too can create and an appreciation for the work it takes to craft things.

 The children’s
 Sprouts teacher was talking about Rudolph Steiner's thoughts on the importance of handwork. He believed children’s' souls do not entirely inhabit their bodies yet and people that work with small children's ether bodies are constantly being tugged upon by the children.  Thus Explaining why after spending a lot of time with little children older people tend to feel drained although they have not done much physical or mental work. Steiner believed handwork gave back and grounded the adults' spirits after being subjected to the tugging of small children all day.

 I have experienced this grounding and recharging without giving it much thought as to why I feel the need to knit or stitch at night after a full day with the littles, not only is it relaxing in an odd way it is invigorating.  I think having something tangible to show for your work at the end of the day is always good, and often times are work with children does not yield tangible results.  Pictured below are a few of this season's handwork:

A few Milo Vests I made this Season for Eoghan

Dresses, Mismatched Knee Sox and a Shawl for Kiera

Matching Milo and Plain Vest for Eoghan and Kiera

Purple Plain Vest for Kiera