About Donna Ashton

Donna is the founder and CEO of The Waldorf Connection, an online resource that provides workshops, courses, and coaching to homeschooling families all over the world. As a homeschooling mother, entrepreneur, writer and coach, she knows the importance of daily balance and is dedicated to helping others with this balance in their own lives. You can read more blog posts and information at: The Waldorf Connection.

How I discovered Waldorf (and how you can, too)

brooke wet paintingThe following is a guest post by Donna Ashton of The Waldorf Connection.

When my twin girls were three and a half my husband and I decided we would homeschool them.

I had no idea what curriculum I would use and had never heard of Waldorf Education.

I attended a homeschool fair in my state and purchased a book called 101 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum. The book contained a short quiz, designed to help determine what educational style would be best for me and my family.

As a Type-A over-achiever, I was shocked when my results ended up in a tie between unschooling and Charlotte Mason.

I discovered I wanted something that didn’t look or feel like traditional school. Something that would give my girls real life knowledge and a love for learning.
[Read more...]

How to create meaningful goals for your homeschool

The following is a guest post by Donna Ashton of The Waldorf Connection.

You may have planned the weekly math lessons and science projects, but have you created some foundational goals as well?

When I look back, those years I outlined my intentions, it worked.

I like to separate my goals into three main categories:

Homeschool goals, Goals for each child, Goals for myself.

You may be doing individual goals for your children, but are you also looking at your homeschool as a whole?

Have you set intentions for you to learn and grow?
[Read more...]

Donna’s Homeschool Day in the Life (with 8-year-old twins)

The following is a guest post written by Donna Ashton of The Waldorf Connection.

Rhythm is the key to making things run smoothly in our household. As a homeschooling mom who is also running a business from home, having balance and rhythm to our days helps make it all possible.

The breathing of the day is an important thing to consider when I am scheduling lessons or activities.

What is this in-breath and out- breath?  It is alternating between an outward energy producing activity and a quieter inward one.

I try to keep this balance and when things get a bit “one-sided” I can tell we need a change. Here’s a sample day for you to see what I mean.
[Read more...]