It has been 10 days since I started homeschooling my four-year-old triplet nephews for our Waldorf-inspired kindergarten, and I finally feel like we are beginning to find our rhythm.

We start our school day in the kindergarten room with a few simple opening activities. The children check the weather using our little weather and seasonal peg dolls, along with the calendar figures that now have a place on our bookshelf. I like beginning the day this way because it gives us a gentle transition into our work before we head into the kitchen.

Most of our projects naturally happen in the kitchen, which has worked really well for us. The only thing I would still like to change is the height of our work surface. The kitchen counter is a little too tall for the children, and I think a child-sized table would make many of these practical activities easier for them.

We have also been consistently observing the plants we started from seed during our first few weeks together. The children planted seeds, watched them become seedlings, and then helped transfer them from our little newspaper pots into larger containers. At this point, many of the plants are ready to be transplanted outdoors.

Because we currently have landscaping happening in both the front and backyard, we cannot put them into our own garden yet. I decided to send most of the seedlings home with my sister-in-law so the children can continue caring for them there. We will keep a few plants with us so we can continue observing their growth from week to week.

Eventually, I would love for the children to experience the entire process from seed to harvest. We have already begun saving seeds from some of the fruits and vegetables we eat during snack time. My 11-year-old nephew has been especially helpful with this work. He washes the seeds, allows them to dry completely, places them into envelopes, labels them, and records the date they were collected. Later, when we plant them, we can add the planting date as well.

His involvement also allows the same activity to meet him at a different developmental level. The younger children can participate through planting, watering, transferring soil, and observing growth, while he can take on more detailed work that will eventually connect beautifully with his botany main lesson block.

The children have really enjoyed these gardening projects. There is so much happening through this kind of work, from fine and gross motor development to patience, observation, care, and responsibility. On this particular day, however, the landscaping happening outside became part of the experience too. The children spent quite a bit of time watching the workers in the backyard. Once the yard is complete, I am really looking forward to spending more of our kindergarten time outdoors.

We also continued with weaving. My 11-year-old nephew helped make weaving boards for his younger brothers and created a larger one for himself. I showed him some of the plant-dyed wool we could use, including a beautiful green yarn that we dyed with red onion skins. I also have some vintage green velvet that could eventually become a lining for his finished bag.

His project is designed so that he can weave on both sides of the board and eventually create a small bag. For the four-year-olds, though, I realized that this particular form of weaving was too advanced. They began to become frustrated with the process of moving the yarn in and out of the warp.

If I introduce weaving again at this age, I would make it much larger so the movements are easier and more visible. I would also keep the project to one side rather than asking them to weave both the front and back. They may enjoy having a finished little bag, but the process itself needs to meet them where they are developmentally.

Our kitchen work continued with zucchini. The children have been using serrated knives since our first day together, and I can already see how much more capable they are becoming. Zucchini turned out to be a really good vegetable for them to practice with because it is firmer than a banana but softer than a carrot or apple.

I also realized that I need to purchase more cutting boards so each child can have their own workspace. These little practical details become much more obvious once you are actually working alongside the children.

We cooked the zucchini simply with olive oil, salt, and pepper. The children had already eaten bagels with cream cheese, so in the end it was mostly my 11-year-old nephew and my sister-in-law who enjoyed the zucchini while the younger boys returned to the kindergarten room to play.

One of the newest additions to the room is our wooden play structure from Head, Hands, and Heart Boutique in Canada. My 20-year-old son assembled it, and I added wool felted leaves for fall. The children absolutely loved it. With fabric draped over the structure, it quickly became the kind of enclosed space children naturally seem drawn to for imaginative play.

We ended our day with The Hedgehog Leaves Home. The children wore the little mushroom hats my mother gave them, which made the story even sweeter. I did not use any of our handmade props this time. Instead, I reviewed a few pages from earlier in the story, added a couple of my own stories along the way, and then continued reading.

Our days are beginning to settle into a rhythm of opening activities, gardening, practical work, handwork, cooking, imaginative play, and finally story time. There is still quite a bit I am adjusting as I observe the children and learn what works best for them, but I can finally feel the rhythm beginning to take shape.

Head Hands and Heart Boutique