Waldorf meal blessings are a beautiful tradition that can help establish a sense of gratitude, mindfulness, rhythm, and ritual during meal times. In Waldorf education, meal blessings are an opportunity to foster a deep sense of thankfulness for food and community. These blessings often involve a simple verse or prayer that expresses gratitude for the food and the efforts of those who prepared it. Modelling gratitude is such a gift we can give our children, and mealtime blessings are a great way to establish the family rhythm and ritual together.

​Here are three of our favourite mealtime blessings that we used at our Waldorf school.  ​

Daily Wonder lesson plans provide the daily, monthly and yearly rhythm of your school year.  The educational planning is done, and there is minimal preparation awaiting you, the parent.  We all know how hectic the school year can get with all the things that need to happen in one day. The Wonder Squad highly recommends taking the time now to look into your prep needs.  You will be so grateful down the road for taking the time now to get organized. Lazy summer days offer leisurely ways to check things off the "back to homeschool to-do list".

Here are our suggestions:

• It is a great practice to have your child do a daily chore. It is even more fun if that chore is on a chore wheel.  Have fun creating your own beautiful wheel that speaks to the chores needing to be done in your household.  Check out this site for instructions and ideas for appropriate chores for children by age.

As parents and teachers, we are always looking for ways to understand our children, to interpret their behaviours, and to be able to support them more fully in their development.  In Waldorf Schools around the world, it is very common for teachers to use the Four Temperaments Model, as a foundation for understanding their students. ​

We're not exactly psychic, but we can predict that your children will complain that they are bored and bicker with their siblings (if they have some) at least ten times during the summer. So we are here to highlight the amazing work that is taking place behind these annoying scenes. 

Long summer days can offer so many wonderful opportunities for family time and activities that we forget to honour the downtime. Children hardly get unstructured time these days. When they do, it can be met with complaints and loud, uncomfortable noises. As parents, our first inclination is to stop that noise however we can. When we remember that boredom is the doorway to creativity, we give ourselves permission to sit back and wait for the magic to happen.

Things that can come out of boredom...​

Creating space and time for free play and teaching classic childhood games we played as kids is one way we fulfill Daily Wonder's mission to Reclaim Childhood to Transform the World. ​

Play is an essential part of the healthy development of physical, social and cognitive skills. Classic childhood games help to connect us to traditional values and culture, but they also are super fun to play. No matter your age or physical prowess, there's a classic game for everyone.

Celebrate the halfway point between Spring and Summer with a May Festival.
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We encourage families to recognize the passage of time and the seasonal rhythms through festival celebrations.  Festivals provide an opportunity for your community to unite and share wonder, reverence and gratitude.  May Festival celebrates the awakening of the earth, the lengthening of days, and the rebirth of nature around us.  We celebrate this time of growth with joyous song and dance, playful games and a community picnic.

Traditionally May Festivals are celebrated on May 1st, but we have always found that using the early weeks of May to prepare and then holding the festival later in the month works too.  And if you're homeschooling, you can be as flexible as you like.