Today, Tuesday, August 25, 2026, was our very first day homeschooling my triplet nephews, who are four years old, and I quickly remembered that everything takes more time with younger children, especially when there are three of them. Their older brother joined us for many of the activities, my sister-in-law was here, my daughter helped throughout the day, and together we began what I know is going to be a wonderful season of learning.

Our second day homeschooling Waldorf-inspired kindergarten was just as joyful as the first, and once again I completely overplanned. I am homeschooling my triplet nephews, who are four years old, along with their 11-year-old brother. We had wet-on-wet watercolor painting planned with beautiful watercolor paper, painting boards, sponges, brushes, and the primary colors ready to go, but we never got to it. And that is perfectly okay because now everything is ready for another day.

Our third day together reminded me once again that the best kindergarten lessons grow naturally out of everyday life. We started the morning with another batch of our organic decaf cold brew coffee. There was still a little left from our previous lesson, so the triplets enjoyed a small cup before we began our first project of the day.

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.

Our fourth day together centered around one of my favorite parts of kindergarten: working together in the kitchen. Every class includes some kind of cooking or baking because kindergarten is really about participating in the work of the home. Alongside those everyday tasks, we're also doing projects that strengthen fine and gross motor skills, develop the imagination, and meet the children where they are developmentally.

Today was our fourth day homeschooling my four-year-old triplet nephews in our Waldorf-inspired kindergarten, and their 11-year-old brother joined us once again. This week was especially meaningful because my mother was able to spend the day with us as well. Alongside my sister-in-law and my 15-year-old daughter, it truly became a multi-generational learning environment.

Today was our fifth day, Friday, September 4, 2026, of Waldorf-inspired kindergarten with my four-year-old triplet nephews, and our day looked a little different than usual. We typically meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but since I had Friday off this week, I invited my sister-in-law and the children over for an extra day together. We kept some of the familiar elements of our kindergarten rhythm, but shortened our schedule and allowed more time for free play.

I've been homeschooling my four-year-old triplet nephews for a few weeks now, and we're starting to establish a really solid rhythm. I'm still very much in the observation phase, learning more about the children and figuring out how much we can realistically accomplish each day. Time management continues to be one of my biggest challenges because we get so engaged in our projects. I'm realizing that two hours, twice a week, really isn't enough time for everything we want to do.

Many of our projects take several days to complete, and today we returned to the wool the children had cleaned and carded during our previous lesson. We're making wet felted wool balls, and I prepared the centers ahead of time using scraps of wool and yarn. The children wrapped their carded wool around the cores before we began felting them in warm and cold water.

We started in the kitchen with butternut squash, acorn squash, carrots, and kale. Even though we’ve been doing quite a bit with gardening and seasonal foods, all of our work has had to happen indoors because we’re currently renovating both our front and backyard. Hopefully, eventually, we’ll be able to bring more of this work outside.

Each child was supposed to transplant one seedling, but when one of the children selected a little pot containing two seedlings, everyone else wanted two as well. Once the other children had their two seedlings, the first child wanted another pot, which meant he now had three plants. Naturally, the other two children noticed immediately! Everything needs to be either the same or completely different, and they are very particular about making sure everyone has their fair share!

Gardening is such a natural part of the kindergarten experience, and even when you cannot work outside, there is so much you can do indoors. We have saved seeds from our squash and tomatoes, planted seeds from packets my mom brought while she was visiting, made our own little newspaper seedling pots, watched the seeds sprout, and now we are transplanting them into larger pots.

This is one of the reasons I love bringing cooking and baking into our kindergarten experience. These simple, meaningful activities provide so many opportunities for developing fine and gross motor skills, following directions, paying attention, practicing patience, and learning to take turns. All of these skills help establish the foundation for later academic learning.

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.

I tried introducing a smaller weaving project to the four-year-olds as well, but this was a good reminder to pay attention to developmental readiness. The process was frustrating for them, and rather than encouraging them to push through something that was simply too advanced, I decided the project needed to be reconsidered. A much larger weaving setup with bigger movements would probably have been more appropriate at this age.

For the four-year-olds, though, I realized that this particular weaving project was too advanced. They became frustrated with the process of moving the yarn in and out of the warp. If I bring weaving back at this age, I would make it much larger and simpler so the movements are easier for them. This was another reminder to pay attention to developmental readiness rather than simply focusing on the finished project.

The first thing they wanted to do was crack walnuts. I have this beautiful wooden walnut cracker, and each child took a turn cracking a walnut. We tried to keep the shells intact because I would love to turn some of them into little walnut-shell sailboats later. Even something as simple as cracking nuts becomes such satisfying work for young children.

I prepared a basket filled with fall-inspired materials. There were some wool felt leaves that I had planned to use for an embroidery project, but the children were much more interested in some of the other things tucked inside the basket, so we simply followed their curiosity. They were completely charmed by the little wet-felted pumpkin and immediately wanted to make one of their own. I have not made that project in more than 10 years, since my own children were little, so I am absolutely delighted to bring it back for my nephews.

The younger children moved into imaginative play with my 15-year-old daughter. Since we have been allowing more time for free play, our kindergarten days have stretched from about two hours to closer to three, but I think that extra time has been worthwhile. The play structure is large enough that each child can create a little space of their own, and they even have a slide tucked inside.

The children painted their own peg dolls in the colors of their choice using Lyra opaque watercolor pan paints. I actually loved that they were able to be part of making something that would become part of our seasonal activities instead of simply receiving something I had already prepared for them.