Waldorf in the Home

CHAPTER 1

You Are Your Child's First Teacher

~ A Unique Opportunity ~ Parents' Dilemma Today ~ Cultural Dilemmas ~ Lack of Support for Mothering ~     A Way of Seeing Children's Development: Children Are Not Tiny Adults! ~ The Child's Changing Consciousness ~ Whose Consciousness Is Changing? ~ Our Task as First Teachers ~ Trusting Ourselves ~ Recommended Resources ~

CHAPTER 2

Home Life as the Basis for All Learning

~ Having an Adult Life to Imitate ~ "Homemaking 101 for Busy Parents" ~ Life as the Curriculum for the Young Child ~ Four Levels of Home Life ~ Resources on Conscious Home Making ~               

CHAPTER 3

Growing Down and Waking Up

~ Growing into the Body ~ What Is Your Baby Like Between Six Weeks and Eight Months of Age? ~ Learning to Walk ~ The Second Year: Mastering Language ~ The Emergence of Thinking ~ Stimulating and Protecting the Young Child's Senses ~ The Emerging Sense of Self ~ Recommended Reading

CHAPTER 4

Helping Your Baby's Development in the First Year

~ Who Is This "Intimate Stranger?" ~ The Sensitivity of the Newborn ~ What Is It Like Being with a Newborn? ~ What Is It Like from Months 2-12? ~ Physical Development ~ The Development of Intelligence ~ The Development of Intelligence ~ Toys for the First Year ~ Recommended  Resources ~

CHAPTER    5

Helping Your Toddler's Development

~ Encouraging Balanced Development ~ De ing with Negative Behavior ~ Encouraging the Development of Language and Understanding ~ The Beginnings of Imaginative Play ~ Providing a Rich Environment for Your Toddler ~ Toys and Equipment ~ Recommended Resources

CHAPTER 6

Rhythm in Home Life          

~ Creating Rhythm in Daily Life ~ The Rhythm of the Week ~ The Rhythm of the Year ~ Celebrating Festivals and the Course of the Year ~ Celebrating Birthdays ~ Recommended Resources ~

CHAPTER 7

Discipline and Other Parenting Issues

~ The Question of Discipline ~ Why Does Parenting Take So Much Energy? ~ Can You Work toward Rhythm with an Infant? ~ What About Weaning? ~ Crying Babies ~ What About Going Back to Work? ~ What About Immunizations? ~ Do the Toddler's Senses Still Need Protecting? ~ What Makes Children So Different from One Another? ~ Toilet Training ~ Separation Anxiety and "Helicopter Parenting" ~ Cabin Fever ~ Recommended Resources ~

CHAPTER 8

Nourishing Your Child's Imagination and Creative Play

~ Three Stages of Play ~ Experiencing the World Through Play ~ The Importance of Play ~ Ways to Encourage Your Child's Creative Play ~ Nourishing Your Child's Imagination through Stories ~ Recommended Resources ~

CHAPTER 9

Developing Your Child's Artistic Ability: Coloring, Painting and Beeswax Modeling

~ Understanding Children's Drawings and Development ~ The Experience of Color ~ Watercolor Painting with Young Children ~ Metamorphosis in Later Stages of Life ~ Modeling with Beeswax ~  Making Things with Your Children ~ Freeing Your Own Inner Artist ~ Recommended Resources ~

CHAPTER 10

Your Child's Musical Ability: Songs, Nursery Rhymes and         Circle Games

~ Make a Joyful Noise ~ Music and Cognitive Development ~ Singing with Your Child ~ Movement Games and Fingerplays ~ Pentatonic Music and the "Mood of the Fifth" ~ What About Music and Dance Lessons? ~

CHAPTER 11

Cognitive Development and Early Childhood Education

~ Academic vs. Play-Based Approaches ~ Why Not Introduce Academics Early? ~ The Value of Preschool ~ Evaluating Early Childhood Programs ~ LifeWays and Waldorf Early Childhood Programs ~ LifeWays and Waldorf in the Home ~  The Value of Mixed-Age Programs ~ When Is Your Child Ready for First Grade? ~ What Happens Around Age Seven? ~ Beginning Academic Work: The Waldorf Approach ~ What About the Advanced or Gifted Child? ~ Recommended Resources ~

CHAPTER 12

More Parenting Issues

~ Preparation for Life ~ Computers ~ Balanced Development ~ Television ~ Toys ~ Video Games ~ Immunizations and Childhood Illnesses ~ The Sick Child ~ Religion and Young Children ~ Conscious Parenting ~ Recommended Resources ~