Waldorf Kindergarten Vlog | Day 3
Our third day, Tuesday, September 1, 2026, of Waldorf-inspired kindergarten was filled with gardening, practical work, cooking, storytelling, and plenty of opportunities for the children to participate in the everyday rhythm of the home.
My triplet nephews are four years old, almost five, and their 11-year-old brother joined us again as we started the day by making another batch of organic decaf cold brew coffee. This has quickly become a little tradition for us, and my older nephew has become quite skilled at preparing it.
Our main project for the day was gardening. We used a simple tool to make newspaper seedling pots, and my 11-year-old nephew became so proficient that he made nearly 50 of them. My mother was visiting us this week and brought a bag of seeds, so everyone was able to choose what they wanted to plant. The triplets carefully filled their pots with soil, made small holes for their seeds, planted them, and watered them.
Even though some of the vegetables we planted are not necessarily ideal for this time of year, I felt that the experience itself was valuable. We will revisit planting again in the spring, but for now the children are learning through doing, observing, caring for something, and participating in meaningful work.
What I especially loved was that everyone joined in. I planted seeds, my mother planted seeds, my sister-in-law planted seeds, and the children planted seeds. This is one of the things I appreciate most about homeschooling and about the kindergarten years. These activities are not simply projects created for children. They are real-life activities that naturally include children of different ages and the adults around them.
I continue to be impressed by the patience of the triplets. They are learning to wait for their turn, follow directions, and work carefully. Watching them pour just the right amount of water into their pots reminded me how much coordination, concentration, and dexterity are being developed through such simple tasks.
After gardening, it was time to clean. The children swept, mopped, and wiped down the counters, and they genuinely enjoyed participating. Sometimes we overlook just how much young children want to be included in every part of the work, including the clean-up afterward.
For snack, we made guacamole and tortilla chips. I am saving the avocado skins and pits for a natural dyeing project later in the season, so even our snack is connected to something we will explore again in the future. I love incorporating food preparation into our lessons because it gives the children another opportunity to participate in the practical work of the home.
We ended our day with our continuing story, The Hedgehog Leaves Home. I have only been reading a few pages each day, and each time another animal is introduced. Somehow, I already had nearly every animal mentioned in the story tucked away in our schoolroom. Each time a new one appeared, the children waited excitedly while I went upstairs to find the matching figure so we could continue the story together.
It has become such a lovely way to close our kindergarten days. The story has a beautiful autumn feeling, which I love incorporating into our homeschool experience, even though Southern California is still very hot and does not always look or feel like the autumn we see in our books.
These two-hour lessons seem to pass so quickly, and today we even went about 40 minutes over. With each day, I am learning more about the children, their abilities, their patience, and the way they respond to the rhythm we are creating. I am also learning quite a bit about myself along the way.
Day three reminded me again that kindergarten does not need to be complicated. Gardening, preparing food, cleaning, storytelling, and participating in the life of the home offer so many meaningful opportunities for young children to learn and grow.
