Winter Handwork

This is not my best photo ever to say the least but I can’t really go wrong when trying to capture the moods of my tween. This is my Hope Pixie, she is 12, in 6th grade, and we do waldorf inspired homeschooling. Part of homeschooling for us, that is not common in other traditions, is handwork. In this case, crochet. She made the above scarf on her own for her 6 year old brother. I think he will love it. She has already created a hat for one of her sisters and will make another scarf a bit different than the above and in other colors for her Meme. Many waldorf children learn to knit in 1st grade. My daughter found she had no love of knitting but has blossomed well with crochet. Boys and girls, it makes no difference, they all learn handwork. One might think that such skills are no longer needed in our modern world. I beg to differ. Having a young child sit with real yarn, and knitting needles or a crochet hook gives the child real items to work with and turn into another real item. Video games work on skills all together different. Young children need to work into their bodies, to master them. Waldrof philosophy states that we should work on the body before the mind as most children are not ready for head work till around the age of 7. I am not sure I believe it all, but I can tell you that pushing head work early in a traditional way failed us entirely, and then unschooling didn’t help either. So we are mix with the goal to keep the love of learning alive. It is very alive in our home these days. It might be a scarf that doesn’t look like a typical art lesson at a public school. It is art though, and it is wonderful! Hand work helps children make real world objects that have value in their world. Maybe make face cloths and dish towels. Dishtowels we have found are best in a cotton yarn! Remember, if the item is going to be around hot water, best to not use wool if you do not intend for it to felt up! A scarf is a basic winter item, a nice gift, but it is basic, and there are so many other things that could me made that have a place in the home that is useful and not just in winter.