Transitions

I registered the children for public school yesterday.  It wasn't something I thought I'd ever do.  I'm the kind of person to make a decision and see it through until the bitter end.  But this one wasn't that.  Life these days is about making my own choices, seeing I have options, taking up new things because I want to.  That sounds oversimplified, and I guess it is.  When I write things here, there are many layers to my words, things I could never say. 

Really, it was happy moment when I made the decision.  I know I have given my all to my children for nearly ten years now.  What they need from me is different now.  What I need is different.  I need to work, of course, and to stand on ridge tops, and to share what I have with others.  My world is getting bigger and smaller at the same time.  I am learning to be patient, to be okay with open ends, and to tie up others.

I always like to know where I am going, but that's not a part of things any more.  I can't explain it with any accuracy, but I guess it is a universal experience for this kind of thing.  It feels nearly impossible to tell people how I don't want my old life, how glad I am now, how so many old burdens have fallen away, and how the new responsibilities do feel like very heavy things.  I know what I have now, and where I have been.  Oh, that is so freeing and so terrifying. 

Late Winter Scenes

Didn't we have a Spring bouquet just a last week?  Of course!  That is March for you, warm one moment and blustery and cold the next.  This week saw three snow days for the local schools, and we took them to nurse each other through a cold.  Back in the swing of things, we did have a little time to see the snow before it all melted.

There is bright green grass under the snow, daffodils weighed down by wet flakes, and birds singing in all the trees.  It is March and it's nearly half gone. 

I've been working on a hap of some kind for awhile now, since late January.  I ordered the softest tentative Spring colors.  I've completed one a couple times with different borders, none of them knitted, and then I unraveled the whole thing.  I've never done that, as I've always been pleased everything I've ever made.  Haha.  But, really, I've never done that, so now I am working my way through another hap with the same yarn and a knitted border.  Knitting with squiggly yarn produces some lumpy results, but I am hopeful blocking will tackle that problem.

In school news, we've begun new blocks for both of the children.  Roan is making his first book, a fairy tale verse reader of "The Mud Pony."  It's the tale of a boy who makes a clay pony that comes to life.  It helps him to find his people, takes them through a battle, and sees him become chief of his village before returning to the earth.  This is just Roan's kind of story.

Willow is working on math, per the Christopherus syllabus.  We've been carrying over for awhile without much issue, but borrowing is a new skill.  For this, we turned to Enki's grade three materials.  Tricky Mischief returns, learning to borrow jewels from her place value boxes to pay for a ship.  She often cartwheels her way along, so Willow made a moving picture of her making her way through the Kingdom of Jewel.

Well, the sun is up and the birds are singing, so it's time for me to get moving on my next tasks.  Happy Friday!

Hidey Holes and Snow

The North wind doth blow and we shall have snow, 
And what will poor robin do then, poor thing? 
He'll sit in his barn and keep himself warm 
And hide his head under his wing, poor thing. 

  ~Traditional :: Enki Grade One

In the spirit of "The Four Friends" math story from Enki, we took our turns at playing Minnie Minus.  In the story, she saves bits of food all Winter to share with her little friends, leaving the goodies in "hidey holes." Paddy Plus and Max Multiply find them and begin to bicker, one stuffing himself silly while the other picks them up by tens.  It is Dominick Divide who straightens everyone out and proclaims "an equal share for every hand," thus introducing the four math processes.

We took our Autumn stockpile of hickory nuts and scattered them at the bases of trees and in little hollows here and there.  It took a few days for the squirrels to find us out, but they made quick work of the gallon or so of nuts we put out, including the pile that was accidentally dumped by our front walk.  I would love to see where they have hidden them!  I'd like to think it was a real treat, since we have no hickories of our own.

The snow is pouring down today, "heavy" as the forecast described it.  We have had many dustings this year, many flurries, but not so many inches of snow.  It is good to see the air filled with snow as I sit here.  You can see my little helpful elf clearing off what snow he can reach. 

This Winter, with its false Spring and other surprises, seems to go on.  Snow could easily come for another month, or not.  Some things are starting to leaf out and the dogwood buds are opening, perhaps in time for Easter.  I'm supposed to go out to the post office today, which of course falls on a snow day, but maybe it will prompt us to take in the sights.  It sure is pretty nice just to look out the window here at home.

School Days

Bright and challenging are words I would use to describe things lately.  The days have been full, very full, and I can see that I will need to be even more disciplined in this new season of life.  In between illness and a broken arm, we have done our best to move forward with our studies.   They are my studies, too, after all.  Roan spent a couple weeks working with numbers, reviewing some qualities, and doing some simple things with his increasing collection of stones, marbles, and crystals.

Willow had a second block with Old Testament stories.  We spent the first block, through the sons of Cain, with Jakob Streit's book And There Was Light.  This time around, we used the Christopherus Old Testament stories, as we simply have so much ground to cover.  There will be a third block before the year is out.  Please don't feel bad if blocks take longer than the recommendations--they are simply recommendations, after all!

In our work with numbers, we heard stories about one-to-one matching, greater than and less than, and even and odd.  We played games for each, which wasn't something I did a lot of with Willow.  She had some more age and development on her, so it wasn't as necessary.  For Roan, it is just plain fun.  Here, they were playing Contest for the Crown, where two similar princes vie for the crown, one being false and less than the other.  Willow contributed some of her costume jewelry for the contest.

Roan is cast-free now, and learning to use his arm again.  He's working with vowels this week, while Willow and I study The People of the Rice, as Christopherus calls them.  I find myself missing the complete materials of Enki for grade three, but I am gaining proficiency in finding what we need from used books and our local library.  Always one to love Natalia Belting and her wonderful stories, we'll be using two Ojibwa stories from The Earth Is On a Fish's Back this week.  We also had a nice windfall of some Native American books donated to the local library.  These are often sold for a small donation, so they are now a part of our library.

For vowels, we'll have a return to painting with water colors, and spend this week intensively painting the sounds of each.  If it helps anyone, I think it's quite possible to get three cups of paint out of the smaller bottle size, instead of the pint I used mix up.  These are the more vivid Stockmar colors--carmine red, golden yellow, and prussian blue.  I'm not sure the others would do so well.

And with that, there is much to do and I must get to work in these last few minutes.  Thank you all for your kind words and prayers.  They have been a tremendous help to me in this experience.  I never dreamed I would be here, but it is here that I am.  I wish you all a happy Tuesday!

Snow Study

The return to school work involved plans for a week of Winter stories for Roan and weather study for Willow--a perfect match.  I know that many people try to plan concurrent blocks for their children, but I have generally kept the work separate, since everybody hears most every story, anyway.  It's definitely more Wintry this year, so we spent two weeks on our one week blocks.  When a powdery snow began falling Friday night and most of the day yesterday, even better!

It was so easy to see all the flakes and their beautiful details.  It's a treat when the forecast shows no snow and it showers down all day.  It's too bad it didn't amount to six inches, but we're going to look for more snow today.

See?  Tiny crystals!

I remember finding the most snowy part of a hill, after the bulk had melted, and sliding down as much as I could.  I was wearing out the snow, I guess.  For this snow, the pine needles covering the ground at the Roland Estate provided the extra slippery runway we needed.  It's so nice that they encourage us to play in that yard, too.  There are many times I really, really long to live in the country where we could spread out more in a yard of our own.

Willow spent several days, earlier in the week, on her snow crystal pictures.  We read Snowflake Bentley and The Big Snow among other stories, which gave her inspiration.  Her printing is coming along, I think.  She seldom uses capital letters out of place now.

We saw plenty of frozen waterfalls and icicles coming out of rocks on our drive through the Grandfather Mountain area.  I had her make a picture of the Ice Rocks from memory, since our visit is still a ways off.   Well, it's time to sign off and make waffles.  We got a waffle maker for Christmas and everyone is very excited!

School Days

School days are chugging along, doing the next thing, and making adjustments to the schedule.  I've learned a lot in these almost three months of two students, both about my students and my materials.  Roan has completed his quality of numbers block, and I believe he was glad.  He said he wouldn't go past drawing thirteen fairies!  He does have a kind of diligence that is admirable, and he is willing to complete things without shutting down. 

My thoughts on his first grade year so far are that we are taking our time.  He is younger, chronologically and developmentally, than Willow was during first grade.  I am glad to take things at his speed, stretching him where needed and letting him linger over things and revisit them, too.  I need to do some research on how to handle this in my state, but I think we'll just plug along slowly and pick up with more first grade work next September.  That is the bonus of homeschooling, after all. 

Willow has completed her time and money block.  Telling time has been pretty easy for her, so we focused on units of time outside of a clock.  We learned about the phases of the moon and some units of time people used before clocks came on the scene.  Willow has a pretty good grasp on how to buy things in a store on her own, so we did the same with money.  We learned some of its history (more on Yap Island here) and worked on firming up carrying over.  I'll have to get a photo of our "math house" improvisation.

This block required me to make up the materials myself, so I relied on life experience and encyclopedias.  It feels a little archaic to use them, yes, but I think there is real merit to doing so.  They do tell about things in a sort of a story format, which I think fits well with Waldorf.  We take what works and leave the rest, in terms of outdated or biased information.  I really think it is important for children to see me using books to learn, instead of a computer.

From here, we'll move to Old Testament stories for Willow and fairy tale letters for Roan.  Willow hasn't heard many Bible stories, believe it or not, even though she has attended church.  We've kept that to seasonal festivals and bedtime rituals, which is further explained in A Guide to Child Health.  That could sound terrible to say that (especially living in a very religious area), but I suppose it is up to each parent to make choices about what their children are exposed to.

I think she is ready to hear the stories and I am seeing that Roan is ready for the more challenging fairy tales of grade one.  There is always something to learn, and I must admit I can't think of a better use of my mind.

Main Lessons with Moving Pictures

When we began using the Enki materials, there was the assertion that the school time would work from a three-fold process: open intake, artistic digestion, and mastery.  The intake is the easy part--the child simply listens to the story.  The artistic digestion and mastery leave lots of room for creativity.  One can simply draw pictures or paint, play games, work with manipulatives, model beeswax, work on building projects, perform puppet plays, or work on the plays using the scripts provided in the materials.

While Enki has/had schools, their main focus has been homeschooling.  The materials they set forth are generally for home use, though the games and some videos include a classroom element.  Some footage shows movable pictures, though these, as far as I know, were not given much mention in the homeschool materials.  That's where Making Picture Books with Movable Figures comes in.

This is wonderful fun for the children and another option that can be used for both digestion and mastery.  Roan is working on quality of numbers right now, so he has more picture work for the story above, "East of the Sun and West of the Moon."  I think it is interesting to see how light his drawing is, compared with Willow's.  She did "Owl and Rabbit" from Christopherus.  It reminded me of some of the trickster tales from last year.

The premise of this book is to use poetry to create picture books for children, often referring to Rudolf Steiner and his indications.  They provide numerous poems as suitable examples.  The point is that the text should have some kind of action in it that can be represented with a moving figure.  Since Willow is working on a poem a month and putting them into a poetry book, some of hers will include movable pictures.

 

The book gives clear instructions for creating the backgrounds and layering them to create different fields for the figures. It also tells how to make the figures and assemble the pages.  I'm sorry my photos are a little dark--it was getting dark outside!  I helped the children to decide how to put their pages together and left them to do the coloring and so on.  We used old watercolor pages for the stiff sticks to move the figures, which made it easier to choose the right length.  We used regular liquid glue, but I think a glue stick would work better on the lighter paper.

I'll continue to post our progress on our pictures here, since it cheers us so to make them.  I think it's also good, all-around practice in being thoughtful, instead of rushing through work.  There are so many opportunities for simple, subtle self-improvement through the arts.

Sea Change

We read "Snow-White and Rose-Red" this past week for Roan's studies, introducing the letters R and B. I really enjoy the Grimm's tales and it was nice to have these sweet postcards on hand.  I want to live with those girls and their mother in their cozy little home!  This was the end of his first letters block and now we'll move to number qualities.  With this move, we're also switching over to Enki.

I'm not one to change horses mid-stream, but I really missed the depth and spirit that the Enki curriculum provides.  I've now seen many of the other Waldorf-inspired options available: Waldorf Essentials, Live Education, Christopherus, and Lavender's Blue.  I feel, more strongly than ever, that Enki is the most complete program (formerly) available.  It's a teacher training in a very full, very heavy box.  DVDs to show painting, movement, copper rods, recorder, drawing, handwork, and work with language arts, CDs of songs, and lots of explanations of the pedagogy.

The Lavender's Blue Homeschool materials are great if you are looking for ease of use and planning.  They're very complete for drawing, painting, songs, and extra verses.  The container story does well with introducing form drawing.  But.  I really felt like we needed something more.  I needed four or five days of work instead of three.  I was continually going to my Enki binders to find little extras.  Circles were based on the Enki materials after the others fell flat.  I really missed all the wonderful seasonal songs and verses.

I guess I would say that I love the mood of the Enki experience.  It feels like we are going into a time out of time, reaching in all directions.  It is similar to what Padraic Colum wrote in an introduction to the Pantheon version of Grimm's Fairy Tales:

In the place where the storyteller was, the coming of night was marked as it was not in towns or in modern houses.  It was so marked that it created in the mind a different rhythm.  There had been a rhythm of the day and now there was a rhythm of the night. . .

So yesterday, I had a couple hours to myself and I planned new blocks for Roan.  Two years ago, that would have been a very intimidating task, but it was simple and fun this time around.  I really, really like the alliterative verses provided in the Enki rewrites of the global fairy tales.  For me, I think that really helps with taking hold of the letter sound.  I'm excited to hear the stories again and get back to a familiar rhythm with stories that reach back through the pages of time.

October Things

Little things I have been saving up to share.

The moon--wasn't it so pretty when it was full?  It shimmered across barn roofs as I drove out the Old Davis Homeplace on Saturday.  Other small things: elastic for beads right when I needed it, a new old blender, a peg rack just after I'd thought of one, a little book rack for Laurel's side of the room, the answer to some worries, and a new opportunity for my family.  More on that later, perhaps.

Roan learned to braid the last time we went to White Top. It was pretty easy for him, which was such a surprise to me. We made grass crowns.  He made a belt and wore it around his waist.  I think he would have a belt for every day of the week.
 

I started a bread recipe from Earthways and came back to this face.  A note about whole wheat flour in baking--I generally use 1/2 to 1/3 whole wheat flour.  It just tastes and behaves better.  I've only made a couple recipes where 100% whole wheat was the way to go.

This branch, the color.  This red oak grows by my parents' mailbox.  I feel pretty safe in saying it came from the great oaks that stood in their yard, relics of the old growth forest that once stood there.  I was struck by this branch and its vibrant color, only to find it on the ground a couple days later.  Out in a blaze of glory, it seems.

Well, it's a steamy morning here and I'm hoping Mike will put an air conditioner back in for us.  The air is so wet anything paper is rippling or limp.  I am so weary of this strange weather.  Time to get the cream of wheat going!

Pictures that Move (and Snow!)

As a mother, it is almost the law that I must love children's drawings.  This is such a happy task, and I am glad to do it.

Roan made this little picture for me, with just the cabin and trees, and "mailed" it to me while we were working at my mother's office.  Back at home, he added the snow and smoking chimney.  He knows just what I like--to be in cabin in the snow.  It is so sweet, and I think I'd really like to frame it.  I have a collection of Willow's drawings from around this time.  Maybe I should pick one of those, too.

We made moving pictures, according the suggestion from Lavender's Blue first grade.  Roan did the story of Semeli Mountain this week.  Here he is working on his picture, just after he'd had the sudden discovery that he could make another kind of tree.  He decorated them with apples and gold stars, of course.  The part of this picture that moves is a c-shaped opening to the cave the mountain.  He wrote across the top, with great patience, "Semsi Mountain, open up!"

And here is Willow's picture of a farmer plowing an acre of land, as part of her measurement block.  I couldn't deny her the fun of making a moving picture, too.  Bless her heart, her clouds and sun are always happy, even when they are asleep.  I put in a verse of the song we have been working on as a way to have her practice writing.

I've ordered a book on movable pictures that I'm looking forward to getting in the mail.  And with that, a busy Saturday awaits!  Happy weekend!

Earthways

A month into our school year, things are becoming more clear to me.  Willow and Roan are in the midst of their second and third blocks, respectively.  Roan spent a week on Autumn nature stories from the Enki materials, instead of sprinkling them through the year, as we have done in the past.  I'd like to write more about the Enki materials and their comparison to other curriculum options, but I'll save that for its own post.

Right now, I'd like to offer my thoughts on the Earthways book by Carol Petrash, and how it has tied into our schooling over the years.  I can see how this book must have inspired the Enki creators in their work, and I think we'll come return to it time and again.  As crafty as I am, I'll admit that I do a lot of the crafting while the children look on.  It's time to shift that!

The author spends considerable time on ideas for greening your home or classroom, on reusable versus disposable, and the like.  I'd call it a Waldorf kindergarten craft book with an environmental slant.  Mainly, it is helpful if you are looking for themed activities to cover a whole month of weekly work.  There are sections on wheat, berries, beeswax, butter, wool, indoor and outdoor play spaces, and so on.  If you've read the festivals books from Hawthorn Press, some of the ideas inside will seem familiar.  I believe I've seen dozens of instructions for lanterns across my home library, though we often make the same kind each year.  I feel ready to branch out a little this time. 

The section on corn is an interesting one, and echoes some of the activities suggested by the Enki crafts guides.  A new one for me was grating corn cobs.  You begin by having the children remove the dried kernels, then they string them (which is quite challenging!), and then you can let them grate the cobs together.  It makes a colorful kind of "meal" that the children love to play with, even if it is a little messy.  It's a mess that I think is one of the better kinds. ;-) We've done this with an old cob and I think we'll do it again soon.  Laurel really enjoyed it.

Enki suggests this kind of candle holder for children to give as holiday gifts.  We've never made one, but I've recently gotten a big hand drill, so I'm feel more optimistic.  Our town also has a steady supply of smaller candles now, much to my delight (an herb store!).  I think of this as a thing to make each year, but still worth the special effort.  We shall see.

I guess what I am getting at is that there are SO many ideas out there for children and nature crafts.  If you're looking for a simplified list or book, this one is it.  I think the skill range can be fairly wide for a home setting or a mixed age class.  Nothing is really too difficult or requiring special equipment, unless you are intending to grind grain (they suggest a coffee mill).  I've bought numerous books along this vein and I'll weigh in on a few others later on.

Well, it's nature school day and nutting is in the plans.  Maybe a little wood splitting, too?  We shall see.  Happy Thursday!

First Grade :: Week Two

I don't know if I'll be able to keep up with the weeks all year long, but I like using this space for accountability and accounting. It is so nice to have a visual record of what we've been doing in our school times.   Lately, we've finished up our first form drawing block for first grade.

Laurel has joined in with Roan, mostly a bystander, as he has worked.  She has tried some of the forms, though I have not encouraged her, and she can make recognizable shapes.  Here, she's doing the sun, which combines a curved line and straight ones.

The container story from Lavender's Blue corresponds very well with the forms being taught.  It's possible to make an entire picture of the story using the forms--straight, curve, beehive, flight of the bee, mountains, parallel straight line, sun (missing here) and hills.

Roan's drawings have a very early first grade feel to them, as they should.  He had no interest in drawing for the longest time and very little interest in writing.  He shows great patience with both tasks, with a little encouragement.  I know he has felt so proud after accomplishing each picture.

I'll be back later with third grade things.  We're off to the library!

School Scenes

 Oh, it has been chilly this week!  The warm weather blew out and brought rain and cold.  We had our first fire in the fireplace last night and it warmed the living room nicely.  It's too bad, I think, that the fireplace isn't connected to the more central chimney in the house.  The furnace has that one, so I won't complain too much.  It was around fifty degrees for nature school, and quite damp outside, so we welcomed the chance to walk and warm up.

Inside, we have marched along with our form drawings and other skills.  Roan has made real progress, offering proof that letting a lesson sleep for a few days does help.  He's been learning to use his block crayons, as well, and that has provided another challenge and opportunity for triumph.  He felt so proud when he was able to make a tree the way I showed him.  I think these things will help his patience grow.  He's often a slow-and-steady person, but has some areas that need improvement.  We all do.

Willow is working on a calendar with Roman numerals, in addition to reviewing second grade forms.  We're using the smaller size practice books turned sideways, with a page for the dates and a page for the seasonal picture and month name.  I also decided that the little shepherd could help her mark the date each day on the nature table.

Here's her picture inspired by the Bonnie Shemie book on mound-building, Mounds of Earth and Shell.  The children were especially fascinated by these people and we do have some nearby mounds we might visit.  Willow really loved filling up the page with people.  You can see that her handwriting here is a real departure from her normal.  I had a long sentence for her to write, so I penciled it in and she traced over it.  It shows me the potential she has, and I am excited to help her make progress.

Well, today is shopping day and a school day, so I better get a move on!  I'm tempted to turn on the furnace, but I'm resisting.  Some rice pudding on the stove and hot tea will be welcome!

First Day Views

It seemed a long wait for September to arrive, but here it is in all its wet and windy glory.  The children said they could smell Fall today, and I think I might agree.  We were a little slow to get started, but we did it!  Roan spent his time hearing his new verses for the year, beginning his container story (from Lavender) and working on drawing straight and curved lines.  In addition to the usual pointing out where we find them, we made pictures from our story using straight and curved lines.

Laurel was along for the ride, with her little slate, and she was just as proud of her work. We were all quite chalky when we were done!

Willow learned about Roman numerals for the first time, as Enki never introduced them in the materials we had (or maybe I missed it!).   I can see where memorizing math facts for ten helps this skill along.  We talked about one more and one less than five, and did the same for ten.  Willow was able to draw them very easily and we'll do more with them next week.  She'll be using them to make a calendar for the year.

We reviewed second grade forms, and we'll continue to do that for the next two weeks or longer.  I have the Christopherus form drawing book and we started with simple mirrored curlicues.  Willow has often struggled with lower case letters and curving forms, so it was so nice to see her working on them and making progress.  I drew the straight line and she put the mirrored images on it.  It's not perfect, but we'll revisit it Monday morning.  What was important was that she tried and did it without frustration.  We turned it into a big cloud with angels above.  Willow says they were playing ball with the sun.

We were a little rough around the edges, but I think the framework is in place to make a good year.  It's important I stay focused, which we all know is a challenge to do.  I think the theme for this year, if there is one, would be discipline--of the self, of the home, of our days.  Last year we worked on kind ways, and both of those tasks go hand in hand and never end. 

And now the school week is over!  It's funny to say that!   We'll get back to work on Monday and Mike will take Laurel out for some special time together.  Happy Friday!