Welcome to Day 9, Thursday September 17, 2026 of our Waldorf-inspired kindergarten homeschool! Today, we enjoyed a beautiful combination of gardening, baking, weaving, watercoloring, and free play with my four-year-old triplet nephews and their 11-year-old brother.

We began our day by observing the growth of our seedlings and watering our plants. Some of our tomatoes didn't survive because we transplanted them a little too late, so my older nephew helped plant a few more seeds. Since we're still working on landscaping our front and backyards, the children will be taking their plants home to continue caring for them in their own garden. Gardening is such a quintessential kindergarten activity, and we will continue incorporating it into our homeschool experience throughout the year.

Another beloved kindergarten tradition is baking! Today, my 15-year-old daughter led the children in making a delicious apple crumble with cinnamon. I love incorporating seasonal recipes into our homeschool days, especially during the fall when the beautiful aromas of apples and warm spices fill our home. Our sense of smell is strongly connected to memory, and I hope these familiar scents will become part of the beautiful childhood memories the children carry with them as they grow.

What I especially love about these activities is that they are meaningful. The children are developing their fine and gross motor skills through real work, not simply performing movements for the sake of developing a skill. They are measuring, mixing, stirring, watering, and caring for their environment. These are purposeful activities that allow them to participate in the daily rhythm of family life while experiencing the joy and satisfaction of accomplishing something within their own capabilities.

My 11-year-old nephew also began a weaving project today. I showed him how to prepare his cardboard loom, cut the openings, and add and secure the warp threads. He will also be helping his younger brothers prepare their looms when we introduce weaving to the triplets during our next kindergarten lesson.

For our artistic activity, we continued our wet-on-wet watercoloring experience, this time working exclusively with red. I soaked the watercolor paper and prepared a rich dilution of our watercolor paints. The triplets worked on covering their entire pages with red while practicing how to hold and use their paintbrushes correctly. We are focusing on gentle brushstrokes and learning not to press too firmly against the paper. My older nephew enjoyed a slightly different watercoloring experience, appropriate for his age.

The children are already making wonderful progress with this activity, and I am so excited to see how their watercoloring develops throughout the year. Once they finished, I used the back of a paintbrush to write their names into the corners of their paintings before setting them aside to dry.

After enjoying our freshly baked apple crumble, the children had plenty of time for free play. Although I didn't capture their playtime on camera, I did capture the aftermath! And yes, cleaning up is also part of our kindergarten experience.

We ended our day with a very special delivery from Head, Hands, and Heart Boutique in Canada. After all my years of homeschooling, I finally have a beautiful Waldorf play structure! This is something I had always wanted for our homeschool, and I am so excited to finally be able to introduce it to my nephews. The children helped me unbox our new addition before getting ready to head home.

Another beautiful day filled with meaningful work, artistic experiences, delicious food, and the simple joys of childhood!