Dear friends,

One of the hallmarks (or, unfortunately increasingly former hallmarks) of Waldorf education and of Christopherus is the absolute commitment to the protection of childhood as a vitally important and legitimate phase of human development. While there are many ways to offer this protection—not regarding children as merely younger less experienced people but beings of a completely different consciousness; not allowing any media exposure; valuing free open-ended play—there are of course those events which penetrate the protective sheaths we create around our children.

We are in an acute crisis of this kind right now. Our foremost task as adults—as parents—is to continue to protect our children whilst responding appropriately to their concerns and questions.

The situation in the Middle East is grave. Propaganda will not tell us what is really happening: it is a cliché but is correct: the first casualty of war is truth.

So while as adults we strive to gain knowledge and to understand, as parents, our most important task is to get ahold of our emotions. Reactive, knee-jerk emoting serves no one, least of all our children. There is plenty to mourn, to fear, to be horror-stuck by. But if we are to ‘hold the line’ for our children, we must figure out how to work through our strong emotions and reach some sort of balance. Strong emotions are quite appropriate right now in these extreme circumstances. But our children need to witness how we struggle through our pain and work toward balance—explanations are not what is needed but we must embody the calm our children thrive within. This is not about suppressing emotions—it is about transforming them and not being caught in wild swings of emoting. It is the honest effort of struggling toward compassion for other human beings that our children need to see—and for those under about 13 or 14 this is not about explaining or talking about what one is doing, but honoring the spiritual substance engendered by honest compassion toward other human beings and trusting the effect this has on our children. And if our teens are also caught up in what is unfolding, then they will need guidance and the example of how we strive toward love. And never be afraid to say to an older child ‘I don’t know and I really don’t understand what is happening. But I do know this….’ and share some of your foundational spiritual truths with your child. Until the teen years, this is best if cloaked within a story.

Little ones—up to about age 9—do not need explanations or information. Do not fall into the trap of thinking that telling our children our concerns and giving them information is in any way empowering. It is placing a burden on those who are not ready to bear such pain-—adults need to gird themselves to cope with terrible situations and children need to be strengthened by sheltering in the calm centeredness of adults. 

Your own spiritual path and striving then, is the single most important part of how you can help your child when the pain of the outside world—or death in a family for instance—touches him. Praying together with your child, to God or to her Guardian Angel, is one of the most powerful things you can do, a gift to your child which she can grow into as she matures and takes responsibility for her own spiritual path.

This blog post entitled “When Violence Touches Children” could be of help.

Inventory Sale

As most of you know, we have been in a process of making all of our publications print on demand. This has important implications for our friends outside the US as in many places the materials are printed locally and thus not only are there substantial shipping savings but customs could be non existent.

We have the following publications in our old pre-print on demand format and need to clear them off our shelves. For the month of November, they will be on sale.

Coupon code XYZ15 will be active November 1st til November 30th to get 15% off the publications below.

Please note this sale is primarily aimed at low income families---we would appreciate it if those with the means could wait for the usual prices to apply. Also, this sale is only for those in the continental USA.

15% off the following publications:

• From Nature Stories to Natural Science
• First Steps on the Journey
• The Journey Begins at Home
• Seventh Grade Language Arts
• Eighth Grade Language Arts
• 6th Grade Curriculum
• 4th Grade Curriculum
• 3rd Grade Curriculum
• A Year of Astronomy
• Earth Science
• Physics

Remember, sale starts November 1st-30th. Use code XYZ15

Do note that our Fifth Grade Curriculum is no longer available as it is being extensively updated and improved. It will be available again early in 2024.

It is unlikely that there will be another Homeschool Journey newsletter before Advent—here is something I posted on my blog many years ago which might be of interest to some of you.

Feedback—Homeschool Tips

This is in response to last month’s newsletter which you can read here.

Thank you for sending your homeschooling tips. I especially appreciated #5 (Don’t Rely on Other People). My children are ages 2, 4, and just now 7 years old. A few years ago, I decided not to do any learning centers, co-ops, or formal play dates (with people i dont care for either). The only exception is a wonderful play based German immersion preschool 3 half days a week for my 4 year year old. My older child has already aged out of the program and has begun formal lessons with the Christopherus program. I feel that so many homeschool families shuffle their kids around from one program to the next. It's worse than regular school as it makes you so inefficient at running your household, not to mention disruptive for the children!. 

I decided that I would socialize my children organically, like inviting a family over for a whole afternoon of playing (for children and adults) food, and just enjoying each other. Because it is such an occasional event, the children get so excited to prepare the house and food ( even if we can only manage to order pizza). I love how they think ot is so special. There is almost no need for the young children to be in so many activities that it disrupts the family life. 

Thank you for the newsletters. I look forward to reading them every time.

MaryAnn

Dear Donna and fellow families.

These points listed are simple and common sense. They are the procedure essentially to use as a guideline so you can stay in your own wisdom to also allow yourself time and space for reflection.

As a unit, one Can be with the children but all holding your own peaceful space. It’s insisting on those quiet times regularly.

To feel the sun on your face and breeze on the skin… that are equal in value to all else.

Especially at times when the outer society may be in an emotional and busy state of mind. Thank you Donna.

Sincerely, Janet

I would also like to point out that one of our readers, a librarian, was upset by the idea expressed a couple of issues ago by one of our Christopherus mothers that libraries are not always ‘safe spaces’, referring to the content that is sometimes promoted. I decided I stick my neck out quite enough so I am just going to acknowledge the great importance of our public libraries and their dedicated staff whilst also acknowledging that a political agenda behind book choices is also a reality and a concern.

Until November,

Blessings on your homeschool journey,

Donna