Every Wednesday our members get to ask Waldorf teacher Diane Power questions about their homeschooling experience, Waldorf education and more. These Q & A sessions are posted on the member blog every week so you have access to all the past Q & A sessions. Become a member of Earthschoolingto get your questions answered personally every week.
Question from Earthschooling Member: I have a question regarding main lesson books, esp in regards to the temperaments. We have narrowed down my 7 year old to choleric, and for the most part when we have been doing main lesson book work he becomes very interested and dives right in and exceeds what I would have expected him to do. It’s quite wonderful to see. My oldest who is 13, we have determined is phlegmatic. I have noticed that she tends to do the bare minimum and doesn’t seem to want to proceed farther than that. Yesterday while discussing the feudal system, she had the idea to add under her pyramid drawing of the system figures of the various peoples within the system and what they would have looked like. I thought it was a lovely idea and must admit I was quite excited to see her want to go above and beyond and to explore this, so I quickly in my enthusiasm suggested we could even go and research rather quickly what they would have worn, etc. so we could draw them as accurately as possible. At this point her eyes glazed over and she quickly determined it was not worth the effort and said she would just be doing the pyramid after all. I am afraid my excitement and push for her to do more may have scared her off, lol. My question then is to know if this is to be expected among the different temperaments, and if this is something I should accept and not push for overly much, or if this is something that she needs to work on overcoming and I should try to gently encourage her to expand and include her own ideas. I am afraid my “pushing”, which at the time I viewed as excitement but now I see how she probably felt about it, will only deter her future efforts. Thoughts? – K.T.
Response from Diane Power: Regarding your older daughter, there may be other things involved. First, her age. At 13 many of my students weren’t too keen in their MLB. To address that, I began giving block projects in G6 that had an outline of the requirements but each student could determine how they wanted to complete it. Example- the feudal life – by the end of the block create a model of an estate thru painting, modeling or drawing. Another block they may be asked to write a poem about a famous person that we have heard about. Another could be totally up to them but pertaining to the subject matter. Give sufficient time, and a due date. I usually give 3 days for them to write a proposal on what they wanted to do, the materials they would need and any extra help etc they anticipated needing.
Perhaps something about your enthusiasm triggered her to shut down. Observe and see how the dynamic between the two of you may be playing a part in this. You could also give her a chance to present a part of the information to you – what did she learn from perhaps a novel set in those times that would be of interest to all. Usually my Phlegmatics did all the work willingly, but took forever to finish, going slowly and methodically copying my work into their books.
PS: I just saw your add-on note regarding her enthusiasm. Again, not so uncommon at her age. What DOES she like? Is there a way to make that a part of what she learns? The fashion, makeup, music, relationships (male/female and best friends) for example that you could bring also? Another thing at her age is peer work – is there a way to meet up with others her age in your community or by Skype to do projects or share work ?
K.T: Hmmm I will see what I can do. We live in a small town outside of a big city, so could possibly find something to drive to. Maybe Skype is an option. Even with that idea, she hates to go places. We have an event tomorrow where she would be with 4 other girls her age, and she would just rather stay home and nap, lol.
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