Being My Child's First Teacher

This is an exciting day for me.  I have been hemming and/or hawing over this question of "what to do about Kindergarten" for over a year...and we still don't have a confident 100% answer, but more than ever, I am ready, or at least, ready to be ready.

My 5 year old son and I have begun our home-kindy trial period.  I have a curriculum from a trusted source and since he would be doing a two-year program due to his age anyway, we are starting now and then plan to do the full year from fall to next spring when he will be in the 5-6 age bracket.  Had we the thousands and thousands of dollars at hand, I would enroll my son in the full time program at an actual Waldorf school.  I vowed that my children would have an education that was holistic, and if I have to teach them myself, I will do it.

After all, I AM a teacher.  I have taught preschool, I have taught Drama to children ages 5-16, I have a Bachelors degree in Educational Theater which included several basic education courses.    Also, I am qualified to be their teacher is because I already HAVE been.  Parents are the first teachers of children.  "Teaching" them in a formal seeming sense is simply putting some structure to what is already there.

I still have a lot of work to do, don't get me wrong.  Planning a Waldorf Homeschool environment for my family is a little scary, but it's also exciting and FUN!  The key seems to be to know yourself as well as possible.  Just to run a household I have to be brutally honest with myself about what I need to do, so I can get things done, or they don't happen.  I need an outline.  I need lists.  I need external accountability   These are the things which hold me on track.  Any time I don't have those things, I fall off the wagon onto the street and get trampled by a horse...metaphorically of course.  In a conversation my husband and I had one of the many "should we homeschool" discussions, the very important point of "we can't screw this up" came into play.  As in, "this is their education, there can be no slacking off".  The thing is, how is that any different than raising the children? I mean, if I am qualified to change them, nurse them, keep them alive day in and day out...then guiding them into the important lessons of life and learning ABCs are simply an extension of that in my view.
The bottom line is however; not everyone sees it that way or feels they are up to the span of duties.

I know a few homeschoolers who might disagree.  I've heard them say that they don't understand people shipping their children off to someone else for school all day opting to miss being a part of that learning process day in and day out...but I'm not one of those homeschoolers.  I totally get it.
Even looking at things from a tribal perspective, where our roots come from; every village had a healer, a priest (often the same person) warriors, and teachers.  It takes the village to raise the children because they are part of a whole, and the Teacher is an archetype and can not be the ideal role for every person who bares children.
There is however also the definition of "teacher" to be examined.  The Teacher, in my view, is patience, kindness, wisdom, and knowledge, assembled with confident leadership; a guide to usher the child into the world.  In the Waldorf model of education, this is both the description of the mother and the teacher.  The child learns from the adult modeling with intention, not from a lecture monster in a tweed jacket...so there is little difference between an attentive, home maker parent and a Waldorf Kindergarten teacher...and that was the intention!  In fact, I read a description once which clearly stated that  * the Kindergarten was meant to replicate a pre-industrial rural home life.  Hence the hand churned butter and the slow paced, simple living style   
As the grades progress, it becomes very clear that Stiener's educational model saw the value of naturally unfolding learning for children as they might have in the home.  Strictly speaking, a Waldorf student would have the same teacher from grade 1 through grade 8.  That is so the teacher can really KNOW the students and their challenges and strengths,  so the student can build a trusting relationship with their teacher as a mentor and, lets be honest here, a surrogate parent for those long days.

As a person who believes in the parent-child bond as vital to overall health, I find there is an easy transition  from being a child's usher into life, to then ushering them into history, science and reading.  The world will unfold to our children no matter what, and I want to be there as it does, and ensure that they are allowed to unfold along with it.

We shall see where this leads us, but for now, this is a journey for my whole family, and I couldn't be more excited.