Rhythm

Randomly in Fairbanks Alaska we have a marvelous waldorf toy store. One of the two owners of it is doing a 4 part lecture at the local UU church about brining waldorf home both for homeschoolers as well as for parents who want a little waldorf flavor in their childrens lives.

Tonight was part one - Rhythm.

Rhythm... an often sought after thing in the world of children regardless of if homeschooling or not. Often Rhythm is confused with a schedule.

a schedule looks something like this:

7:00 wake up get dressed
7:30 Brakefast
8:15 chores
8:45 school
Noon lunch
12:45 quite time / naps
2:00 outside time

a Rhythm looks likes this:

7:00 wake up get dressed
breakfast
chores
school
Noon lunch
quite time / naps
outside time

On first glance these appear to be exactly the same and this is where the confusion comes in. Both are the same. The only really difference is the clock. A rhythm means that after -this- comes -that-. So after lunch it is always quite time. After quite time is outside time. Sometimes lunch takes 20 minutes and sometimes it takes an hour. Sometimes everyone naps for 2 hours and sometimes you're lucky if you get 30 minutes.

Both systems intend to keep people in the flow of things the problem with a schedule is that when something takes an hour instead of 30 minutes or the kids end up getting involved in a activities that ends up taking most of the day instead of the time alloted it throws everything off. The kids may or may not care but the parents get out of wack and when Mamas not happy, nobodies happy.

Rhythm is intended to let both parents as well as children know what to expect next in their day (kisses good night and lights out always follow the bedtime story) but allows for things to flow at their own natural pace.