Parents

EXCHANGE EVERYDAY~February 28, 2019 6 Waldorf-Inspired Principles for Families

Sanya Pelini, on the website Mother.ly describes six Waldorf-inspired principles that she says would be possible and beneficial for every family to adopt:

1. Childhood isn't meant to be a race: Children do not all develop in the same way, nor do they develop at the same rhythm. Waldorf education teaches us to be attentive to the needs of each individual child and to stop expecting our kids to be what they're not.

2. Become a storyteller: Stories help children to connect, they teach them new words, and they take them to places they've never been. Waldorf education emphasizes the importance of telling stories rather than reading stories. Storytelling builds a child's imagination. Making up stories can be difficult but it gets easier with time. You can also tell simple stories you remember from your childhood…Young children like to listen to the same story several times so they'll be happy with the same story repeated for a while.

3. Connect with nature every day: Children thrive on physical activity. Playing outside also spurs their creativity. Connecting with nature means teaching our children to be more attentive to the world around them…

Opportunities to connect with nature abound: smell flowers, pick flowers, collect pebbles, take pictures of insects, pick leaves, paint or draw still life objects, play with sticks, build forts, dig, play with sand, scavenger hunts, etc.

4. Teach your kids to play: Waldorf education is based on the principle that the simplest toys foster the greatest creativity…

Waldorf education favors simple and eco-friendly toys to which everyone has access: pinecones, shells, acorns, yarn, silk rags and handkerchiefs, sticks and branches, wooden blocks, acorns, stones, cardboard etc.

5. Establish routines: There are many benefits to establishing routines. The authors of the book Simplicity Parenting (incidentally, one of the authors is a Waldorf educator) are convinced that rituals and routines give children a sense of security and provide them with roots. They believe that establishing routines can simplify parenting and make parenting a more fulfilling experience.

6. Make room for art: Making room for art means providing our children with unstructured moments in which they can practice creative play. It is in these moments that they develop their creativity…

Source:“6 Waldorf-inspired principles every family should adopt,” by Sanya Pelini, Mother.ly

EXCHANGE EVERYDAY~9/28/2015~Sleep Matters: A Huffington Post article, "What We've Learned About Kids And Sleep In 2015" provided these observations:

• Sleep is when the brain flushes out, which is especially critical for kids — during sleep the brain cleanses itself, essentially flushing out its own waste.

• Uninterrupted nighttime rest is particularly vital for kids, because the growth hormone needed for tissue and muscle development is produced mainly overnight, especially from midnight to 6 a.m.

• The National Sleep Foundation’s guidelines on how long children of different ages should snooze are clear: 10 to 13 hours per day for preschoolers, nine to 11 for kids between ages 6 and 13, and eight to 10 hours for teens.

• Lack of sleep can lead to misdiagnoses of ADHD.

• Sleep debt puts kids at higher risk for obesity and diabetes.

• Sleep debt can make kids more likely to get sick.

• Contributed by Kirsten Haugen

EXCHANGE EVERYDAY~10/4/2017~Are We Blowing Their Minds?

In the new revised edition of Caring Spaces, Learning Places, the original author, Jim Greenman, told the story of a child who was very confused by the difference in expectations between his home and early childhood program:

"Four-year-old Wole Oletunde’s parents were graduate students from Nigeria. At home he was expected to be an obedient, well-mannered child who looked after his two-year-old sister, and was formally respectful of his mother, father, and any other adult he encountered. At his child care center, in the four-year-old room, he was expected to be a free-spirited child, with very little responsibility, to address adults by their first name, and romp with them outside.

His behavior at the center (subsequently observed in other children in the same situation) was 'center-inappropriate,' (in other words, weird): He was perceived to be sometimes 'spacey' – wandering around or daydreaming, and sometimes seemingly aggressive or defiant. He was thought to be the problem, when, in fact, the dissonance caused by the disparity between home and center expectations was literally blowing his mind as he worked through it.

Homes are different; what is ‘normal’ behavior at home varies by culture, individual family differences, and situational contexts. Knowing the full context of the child’s life and his behavior in a range of settings is the first step in individualizing care and learning and respecting diversity."

CMS Pre-K Parent Expectations~

• Home Visits- Each teacher ordinarily makes at least one initial visit to the child’s home prior to school beginning. Please record the date the home visit was made.

• School Visits – Parents are encouraged to support their children’s learning by attending workshops, PTA meetings, conferences and other opportunities during the school year. The total number of visits that the parents/guardians made to school to support the child’s learning (i.e. would not include early dismissal, forgot book bag) should be recorded

• Books read – Families are encouraged to read a minimum of 100 books during the year. The actual number of books read should be recorded (even if the amount is more or less than 100).

Parent Visit Documentation

Volunteering:

"Effective this year, CMS is now able to use passports, as well as Social Security Numbers and driver’s licenses, to help screen all campus visitors who want to volunteer in our schools. A bill passed by the legislature allows local and government organizations to use passports as proof of identity and residency. CMS volunteer coordinators, parent advocates and other staff who work with volunteers have been trained and the CMS screening system has been updated to include passports. Adding passports to the list of identification options allows a larger, more diverse group of families to serve as volunteers in our schools while maintaining a safe learning environment for students, staff and other school visitors." Email from Julie Babb, 2015

Home Visits

Exchange Everyday

Revisiting Home Visits

November 15, 2011

I always had a decent sense of outrage.-Bella Abzug

In "Building Relationships by Revisiting Home Visits," in the latest issue of Exchange, Carol Hillman offers these reasons for doing home visits...

"During the visit you are building memories that can be shared in conversations with your students all year long. Those shared moments form the foundation of a rock solid relationship. The details of that experience, coupled with your enthusiasm and good judgment, are the mortar that holds everything together.

"An equally important component to the visit is continuing the relationship with the parent that began earlier on the phone. As a parent is welcoming you and your teaching companion into the home, you are also welcoming the family into your world at school and a year-long collaborative process. You share a mutual goal: to understand the child and to work together to foster her growth . A great deal depends on how you present yourself in the family. This visit allows you to communicate your respect for the parent as the child's first teacher. Let this come through in subtle ways: through the softness of your voice, the smile in your eyes, and your attention to the parent and what he or she has to say. Let your body language reflect your respect as well."