Rhythm of the Day
by Mary Jo AbiNader. Lotus & Ivy Class 3 Main Lesson, Class 3 Math, and Classes 1-8 Pentatonic Flute and Recorder Teacher
What are we talking about in Waldorf Education when we talk about rhythm? This is a question that often comes up and it becomes even more important for us at Lotus & Ivy with the consideration of families in different time zones and schedules. My experience comes from teaching in brick and mortar Waldorf schools for 17 years. I understand that each family will need to find a rhythm that works well, considering the differing ages of children in your household, your time zone and your extra curricular activities that happen at a fixed time of day. So let’s go deeper into the question. Rudolf Steiner tells educators that we are tasked with teaching children two things, 1) how to sleep and 2) how to breathe.
When we look at nature, we can see sleeping and breathing in many instances. Look at the four seasons, cycling around, giving the earth rest and rejuvenation during the winter, while the plant life is active underground. Look at day and night. For the human being, the night time when we are asleep is a time for healing sickness, rejuvenation, digesting the events and emotions of our day and in essence, an extremely important part of conceptualizing what we learn. Sleeping is letting it go, resting. In school, we experience this rest in a big way. Over the summertime, children are not in school and almost forget all about numbers, or spelling. Yet when we create the rhythm again in September, the effort that it takes to recall what we know creates a space where what has been learned is imprinted into the memory, actually right into the cells in the limbs. And sometimes it does take effort! Building the rhythm of your school week will support your child’s effort in remembering what they already know.
Breathing in and out, as you know, is crucial for our survival. Yet breathing can refer to more than bringing air into the lungs and letting it out again. There are activities that are inbreath. These activities require focus and clarity. You can see it when your child is focusing on a math problem, or concentrating while writing an essay. They lean in and become still. Depending on your child’s age, this kind of focus and concentration can only last for a while before they get tired or distracted. Then your child might need an outbreath. Outbreath activities allow us to stretch and broaden our capacities of focus and concentration. Some outbreath activities include artistic activities, nature, singing, playing an instrument, gardening and just plain recess. These can provide a balance and a breathing to other more inbreath activities. However, a child is rarely served by “just going crazy” or being overstimulated. This is different from the healthy inbreath and outbreath we try to create each day.
In general, in a Waldorf School, the daily schedule attempts to create a balance between inbreath and outbreath. This creates the rhythm of the day. Usually there is the period in the morning for more inbreath lessons, especially the main lesson and afternoons are balanced between artistic, craft and subject lessons. Actually, teachers design each lesson with a balance between inbreath and outbreath as well. After a verse or bonding activity, each lesson may contain movement, group work and individual work.
Your class teacher may offer additional activities such as crafts, field trip suggestions and homework to spread out over your week to create the balance. You may be signed up for homeschooling group activities as well. Now how can you create this balance of inbreath and outbreath weaving your family activities with Lotus & Ivy’s Zoom schedule? Good Question! Keep observing your children for fatigue or interest and shift your activity accordingly. Know that they may need a shift to rejuvenate or reset from overwhelm or just need a break. In my teaching experience, I did not always have the flexibility to follow a specific child’s need to transition slower, since I was also on a whole school schedule and needed to move along with the community. However, some children do need a gentle nudge to develop their stamina and grow their ability to participate. Try to find that nudge to increase your child’s ability to concentrate and focus for longer periods of time. They may be uncomfortable at first but will soon develop increased capacity.
I have put our Lotus & Ivy School Zoom schedule in a chart, one for Eastern Time Zone and one for Western Time Zone. I’ve suggested activities to surround that schedule that might help you develop a schedule that works for your family. Feel free to recreate a chart with your own family activities in there as well.
As homeschoolers it is great to be able to slow down the schedule and have lots of space between activities. It is still very important, however, to have a consistent schedule that you and your children can rely on. There is comfort and safety in knowing what to expect. We can develop the flexibility for things to change, once we have that feeling of being able to rely on the consistency around us. The most success in whatever happens in your day is based on observation.
“Where is the book in which the teacher can read about what teaching is? The children themselves are this book. We should not learn to teach out of any book other than the one lying open before us and consisting of the children themselves.”
― Rudolf Steiner, Kingdom of Childhood
Let us know how your routines and rhythms are shaping up over the next few weeks. Happy Breathing and Sleeping!
About Mary Jo AbiNader
Mary Jo AbiNader’s journey as a Waldorf teacher began in 2002. She remembers her first class of 30 students so well in those beginning days of Class 1 in Portland, Oregon. Those children are now grown, just about 24 years old and doing marvelous things out in the world. That class went on to high school the same year that Ms. AbiNader’s daughter finished high school and went to college. Ms. AbiNader then went for an adventure in Hawaii at the Honolulu Waldorf School bringing her class from Class 2 through to Class 8. These students are Juniors in High School now and keeping in touch has been awesome to see how they are taking their strengths from their Waldorf Education and applying them in High School through perseverance, creativity, initiative and courage. Ms. AbiNader returned to Portland, Oregon to teach Class 1 and 2, and now looks forward to continuing in Class 3 with a new online class with Lotus & Ivy.
Prior to her Waldorf teacher training certification at Rudolf Steiner College, and working towards a Masters of Arts in Human Development from St. Mary’s University, Ms. AbiNader earned a BA in Theater Education, taught theater arts, creative dramatics and directed plays and built curriculum with teachers in public schools to integrate music, art and drama in the classroom—for a total of 18 years in Washington, D.C. and the Greater Portland, Oregon area. This background has brought a richness into her Waldorf classroom over the years. Ms. AbiNader continues to study to stay connected to new trends in education and deepen her understanding of The Waldorf Pedagogy. She is currently working toward a certificate in Educational Support from Association for Healing Education with the intent of understanding and supporting the needs of all children, especially as we attempt to recover from the last year of pandemic stress and uncertainty. Social-emotional learning can be supported through the arts and storytelling.
Ms. AbiNader’s daughter lives and works in the Portland area, having been bolstered by her strong education in Waldorf kindergarten through Class 12. Ms. AbiNader enjoyed the sunshine and beaches while living in Hawaii, and here in Portland, her loves include biking, bookstores and hiking through the forest.