rhythm & the home...more thoughts from mrs marsha
"I would begin with this in preparation for the fall. I would rise early and begin to establish a rhythm for the home and the children if you have not held onto one at this time. I would gather in a family meeting and decide together, which day of the week will be cleaning day, laundry day, baking day, arts n crafts day (can be many things here) and go out and socialize day. Leave the weekend free to do family things and bigger projects.
Add in a very routinized and highly insisted upon daily schedule for the children: in bed at 8 pm, awake by 7 am, three meals and two snacks, healthy bath or shower each day, husband can help with all of this when not working, be present, be up on his feet, moving around, helping the children achieve these simple goals in a sweet way....two parents working together.
Take it easy this summer, we will have about 9 weeks before school begins and do one room per week.......if you have 9 rooms! If you have 5 rooms, you will have 4 weeks 'off' to play, then! If you can organize the home, de-clutter the spaces (look to reduce, recycle, remove by about 50 percent of each room) then you can really begin to prepare for Fall 2009 lessons for the older children."
it really is common sense that the more clutter we have, the more piles & mounds of material objects we have surrounding us, the more cluttered out lives & rhythms, even our minds will be.
we did this once before, when orin was 6 & we had just begun our waldorf journey. it was amazingly liberating! and yet, over the past 3 years, we have had 2 more children & have slacked off a bit on what we would/wouldn't allow into our home.
we worked on that this past month...really letting go. lance was brilliant...he is really good at looking around & seeing what "needs to go", where i tend to have an emotional, packrat-ish attachment to things. :) i let go of my own inhibitions & followed his lead & our house is now much more the peaceful, loving home that it should be.
"I would begin with this in preparation for the fall. I would rise early and begin to establish a rhythm for the home and the children if you have not held onto one at this time. I would gather in a family meeting and decide together, which day of the week will be cleaning day, laundry day, baking day, arts n crafts day (can be many things here) and go out and socialize day. Leave the weekend free to do family things and bigger projects.
Add in a very routinized and highly insisted upon daily schedule for the children: in bed at 8 pm, awake by 7 am, three meals and two snacks, healthy bath or shower each day, husband can help with all of this when not working, be present, be up on his feet, moving around, helping the children achieve these simple goals in a sweet way....two parents working together.
Take it easy this summer, we will have about 9 weeks before school begins and do one room per week.......if you have 9 rooms! If you have 5 rooms, you will have 4 weeks 'off' to play, then! If you can organize the home, de-clutter the spaces (look to reduce, recycle, remove by about 50 percent of each room) then you can really begin to prepare for Fall 2009 lessons for the older children."
it really is common sense that the more clutter we have, the more piles & mounds of material objects we have surrounding us, the more cluttered out lives & rhythms, even our minds will be.
we did this once before, when orin was 6 & we had just begun our waldorf journey. it was amazingly liberating! and yet, over the past 3 years, we have had 2 more children & have slacked off a bit on what we would/wouldn't allow into our home.
we worked on that this past month...really letting go. lance was brilliant...he is really good at looking around & seeing what "needs to go", where i tend to have an emotional, packrat-ish attachment to things. :) i let go of my own inhibitions & followed his lead & our house is now much more the peaceful, loving home that it should be.
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