Life Seasons

Well, fancy seeing you here!

Heck, fancy seeing ME here!

It has, yet again, been a while.  Life continues turning and things moved aside to accommodate new additions to the circle. This seems to be the time of year I look toward reading blogs the most, which sparks my interest in returning to blogging.

My favourite hobby is writing.  I love to be awake while the rest of the house is sleeping and add to what ever story my heart has forged.  And lately, when the story forging isn't going so well, as it tends to do, I turn to my blog and write an entry.

While being immersed in this year's round of curriculum planning, I have found there is a large gap in information for the Waldorf grades.  I have my few favourite blogs and websites where I find information and inspiration, but on the whole, most websites and blogs out there are geared towards the magical early years of childhood.

Beautiful shots of children playing in puddles, building fairy houses, finger knitting and excitedly looking at the new nature table settings.  Blogs filled with wonderful songs and poems, enchanting stories and beautiful crafts.

But what about the big kids?  What about the grades?  Where are those posts? Where are those kids?

Are they in school?

Do they not want that part of their life shared?

Are the parents just too busy bringing the world to their children to be posting about them?

This last one, I get.  I've been there myself, and is the reason this blog is so often abandoned.

But I also find that in this new season of life, a season that is built around children who are growing in independence and who need me in a different way, I have an urge to share what we are doing.  An urge to say "We are here!  We are in the grades! We want to share with you and hear what YOU are doing!" 

So slowly, I will be picking up my blog where it left off.  Focusing on a life inspired by Rudolf Steiner, showing you how we integrate and implement his many ideas and vision of what childhood could look like.

And also show you how we make this fit in to our modern world.

The posts might be shorter, there might be fewer pictures, but it's the content and connection that counts, right?

I do hope you will join me again!

Marina

First Math Block of Second Grade

We started our first math block of second grade at the beginning of October.  During this block we will cover even and odd numbers, roman numerals (because we skipped them last year) and a general review of the four processes. 

We started the block off with roman numerals.  I introduced them in a circle (day one I-V, day two VI - X) through a simple story about children counting apple trees in orchards. As I told the story, we used toothpicks to create the roman numerals and then added the jewels and number cards to further reinforce the meaning of each roam numeral.

At the table, my son created a list of all the roman numerals with all the equal identifiers.  We included number words in this because my son has a tendancy to not recognize the words at sight, with the exception of a few, so we added them in for practice.  Then, he wanted to do his daily situational problems with roman numerals instead of arabic, so I said go for it!  So fun!

 

The next week we focused on even and odd numbers.  We had two knights on the table who could only keep bags of treasure if it could be equally shared.  My son would count the total in each pile, divide them between the two knights and depending on the answer would write the total under even or odd in his main lesson book.  Each day we used a different "treasure".

 

At the end of each lesson, he circled the even numbers on a hundreds chart.  I actually wish I had used a 0-99 chart because the placement of the tens in a hundreds chart isn't in the correct place, but I digress.  I brought this to him in hopes that he would see the pattern of even numbers on his own, which he did by the third day. 

 These last two weeks of the month will be deticated to reviewing roman numerals, even and odd numbers and reviewing the four processes.  We will do this through situational stories that are then transfered to the main lesson book. Today we used our knights again and gave them jewels to share and add together.  My son also expanded roman numerals to show how they are really all just addition and subtraction. He figured this out on his own and used his main lesson book to illustrate while he was explaining his findings to me.

Expanding our situational problems.  We did whole to parts last year, and have switched this year.

We have had a lot of fun with this block, and I'll be honest saying that I was a bit worried about it.  Last year we used mostly JUMP math workbooks, which my son still loves and will do a page or two each day, and this is the first time we have done math with a more waldorf feel to it.  I have been pleasently surprised at how he has really taken to the way things are brought to him and I think he has much better retention this way than with the worksheets. 

Next blog post I will share some of the simple stories we use for our situational problems.

Cheers!

Marina

Praying to the Angels

I haven't ever been big on prayer.

We weren't a religious family growing up.  We are Catholics, did the whole Sunday school thing because that is what you did as a catholic kid, but rarely went to church on Sundays. Our Sunday school was actually on Saturday mornings, which made Sundays a non-issue.  Maybe that was the beginning of the end.  They did get smart though, and now Sunday school is back on Sundays.

I digress.

My point, we were what I like to call convenient Catholics.  Did it when we needed to, ignored it when we didn't.

Now this doesn't mean my family wasn't/isn't spiritual.  My mom read to me from the bible, we were taught that Christmas and Easter were about Jesus and not a big guy or a bunny.  We were encouraged to believe in god.  We just didn't do the whole church thing.

As I became older and the church became more separated from the spirituality, I became more spiritual.  When in times of struggle, I found myself calling upon spirits to help guide my decisions.  It was a knee jerk reaction, often done in a pleading and aggressive nature, but the underlying truth is that I did believe there was something out there that moving the pieces of the puzzle.

Since I've become a parent, I've relied on my spirituality in a different way.

My oldest has always talked about angles.  I don't know if he saw them when he was a baby, heard someone say something about them, or just learned about their existence through the stories that have been read to him, but he has always described a connection to them.

It was when our family dog died three years ago that angels really became a strong part of his beliefs.  He believed that our beloved Abbey was now his guardian angel.  His exact words were, "Now that Abbey is an angel, my angel can go keep another child safe.  Abbey will protect me."

 A year later, as I was drowning in Waldorf research, about to start my journey in to this wonderful life and education style, I came across many references to angels.  Namely praying to your child's guardian angel for help and guidance.

This is a practice I have started myself.  It is often the side of Steiner that people begin to feel uncomfortable with.  He had some pretty distinct thoughts on spirituality.  And it isn't for everyone.  Like everything I do, I take what I like and leave the rest (in case you missed it, I have issues, check out number three here ), and that probably won't ever change.

Praying to my children's guardian angels isn't so much a practice of looking for answers.  It is more a practice of looking to my heart for the right path to take.  A way to slow down, not jump in to a quick solution because I feel a solution needs to be found.

It is taking a moment of calm.  Taking a breath instead of continuing to talk.  A way for me to reflect and not react.  A time to let it sleep.  

In other words, it helps me to make better decisions instead of decisions in the heat of the moment.  Something that I work on on a daily basis.  And don't we as parents do that often?  We do or say something when we are frustrated or angry and then regret and worry and stress over it, wondering what damage we've done and how to repair it.  Taking a moment to say "I need to stop.  I can't make decisions right now," and then to listen to where your heart takes you once you have calmed down is not only a healthier option for us, it is a better thing for our children to see.

And anything that gets me to stop and breathe is something that is going to benefit everyone in my family.

 Try it out and see where it takes you!

Marina

A Wish I Wish for My Children

 

I think a lot about what type of adults my children will grow to become.  How what I do influences them and shapes them and all the choices they will make as they travel that bumpy, exhilarating, confusing and amazing road to adulthood (the road doesn't get much better after that, but I digress).

I wish every night that I help them navigate that road by being a good example.

Not so they'll be "good" adults.  But so they'll be good people. 

Here are six things I consciously try to model each and every day.  I am by no means successful every day, but I hope they notice these little acts of what I feel should be a minimum of human behaviour when I display them, and hope they grow to understand why I feel they are so important.

1.  Kindness.   Always kindness.  Two wrongs don't make a right.  If someone is being rude or hurtful, ask if they need help, ask if they meant something different, and if these are not options, don't engage.  Step away.  We never know what someone else is going through and to throw more negativity toward what might already be a bad situation isn't ever going to help.

2.  Share joy.  Living in a city, we tend to walk around in our self absorbed bubble, where we go through our day just to get through to the other side.  Many of us don't even realize how negative we've become!  But sometimes, the smallest of things can turn a person's day around and remind them that while we are in a city, we are really all just part of the village.  Smiling at someone you pass on the street, holding a door open, asking someone struggling if they need help, these are all acts that show not everyone lives in the bubble, and maybe, if we are really lucky, they might even pay it forward.

3.  Take stock.  Remember what you have, before you focus on what you want. It doesn't matter what it is you want, before you covet, count your blessings.

4.  You are enough.  That's all I have to say about that.

5.  It is okay to fail.  Get up, dust off, apologize if necessary, and try again.  Always try again.  

6. When offered gum, accept.  Always.  It might be a hint, it might just be a piece of gum.  Either way, better safe than sorry. Okay, so this might not be an act of humanity exactly, but it brings up a good discussion.  Sometimes people go about things through the rear door instead of blasting through the front.  Instead of hitting the nail on the head, they coax it in, maybe they pre-drill, or maybe they worry the force of the hammer will break the nail.  What ever their reason, listen to people. Look for the message between the lines.  Judge lightly.  Know they mean to help.  And accept help graciously.

And take that piece of gum.  Really, just do it.

Cheers!

Marina

Michaelmas Story

Here is my mash up of two popular Michaelmas stories.

This is just an outline, as it was a verbal telling of an outline in my head.  It is a rather long, detailed story, and at first I was worried it would be too much for my kids, aged 7.5 and newly 5, but they were riveted the entire time and asked for it again after I was finished!  I love successes like that :) 

***Feel free to use this story with your family at home, but if you share it with friends, kindly link back to this page.  Thanks!***

Way up in heaven lived an angel named Saint Michael.  Michael was the keeper of heaven, made sure that all kind souls had a place in heaven as angels, and protected them from harm.  One day a dragon, flying high in the sky. He flew so high that he ended up in heaven. He was an angry beast and when he saw all the kind and happy angels he tried to extinguish them with is fiery breath.  Saint Michael told the dragon to leave, but the dragon refused.  So Saint Michael fought the dragon to protect his angels, but the dragon knocked him down.  Stunned for a moment, Michael gathered all his strength and bravery and raised his sword, which shone brightly with the glow of the stars.  

Michaelmas

This is the first year we'll be celebrating Michaelmas, and I am very excited about adding this celebration to our year!

We are currently in the middle of a language arts block, so I'm weaving it in to our circles and main lessons.  The kids really thrive on stories, so they have been the main focus of all our circles so far this year, and the stories of Saint Michael and George and the Dragon are such great stories I really couldn't wait for the end of September to get here. 

Saint Michael is known as the Saint who conquered the "dragon" in heaven, a saint who gives strength to people, and a Saint who represent victory over evil.  Some stories say during his battle, he banishes the dragon from heaven, and the dragon falls to earth.  Michael then creates an earthly body of his spirit in George to fight the dragon on earth and protect the people from evil.

I love the focus on conquering the dragon, celebrating inner courage and strength.  During the week we will be focusing on identifying some of our personal dragons and how we can overcome them.  On the feast day, September 29th, we will have a small knighting ceremony to celebrate conquering our "dragons".  

I couldn't find any stories that had both stories woven together, so I had to create my own. I found some inspiration from this free ebook on waldorflibrary.org .  It has a few nice stories to tell young children.  I find they really focus on harvest, and less so on courage and bravery, so I really just took snippets and ideas to weave my own story together.

The kids came inside from their outdoor time early and were super excited to jump in to the new set up!  The props stay out and the children play with them reenacting the story all week long. We don't have a nature or seasonal table, so this is my compromise.   Mondays used to be a drag to get back in to our rhythm, but now they wake up excited about the prospect of a new story for the week.

I used a variety of the toys we had at home as props, but I did purchase a dragon because the one I attempted to make just wasn't cutting it.

The villagers hiding from the dragon in the castle. 

George and the princess battling the dragon.

George getting knighted by Saint Michael for his kindness, courage and bravery.

When Saint Michael knights George, I taught the children our verse for the week and introduced it to them as the Knights Oath.

For main lesson work we moved to the table and drew shields with the oath written on them.  My kindergartener really wanted to write the words herself, and I was really impressed with her attempt!

My second grader wrote the entire poem, but was thrown by the shape of the shield, so it came out a bit jumbled.  He is currently working on re-doing it on a larger piece of paper, because he isn't happy with the final main lesson book product. But for a kid who has really weak fine motor skills, I'm pretty proud he persevered through the poem, without complaint.

Typically he does a picture summary of the story we are focusing on and then prints a written summary a few sentences long (not copy work, his own original sentences describing his picture.)  I hadn't planned on the summary work today, mostly because I knew there was a lot of work in the shield and verse, but he still really wanted to draw a picture.

Michael and George conquering the dragon.

The kids were very excited about this story and played with the props all afternoon.  I am really looking forward to focusing on building our character through this story and working on some inner dragons.  The children really connected with that theme of the tale, which actually surprised me a bit.  I thought it would be all knights and dragons and battles that would stay as their focus.

Tomorrow I will post the story I told, in case anyone else wants a story with a bit of a different take.

What will you be doing to prepare for the Feast of Saint Michael?

Cheers,
Marina

Following the Sun

(This is the final installment in my rhythm series. To see the first three posts please see here: daily, weekly, monthly )

As the sun starts to fall towards darkness again, I can't help but be excited.

I'm a darkness kind of girl.

I love the shorter days, cooler temperatures, and festivals of the season.

The darkness surrounds me like a security blanket. I. Love. This. Season.

That being said, as a family we aren't as in sync with the sun as we are with the moon.  To be honest, all that extra daylight that starts in the early months of the year really throws us for a loop. The days are almost too long, the nights too short.  And not one of us enjoys the heat.

I think the majority of our issue with all this darn daylight is that we are a family that thrives on routine.  And that includes bedtimes.  So in the summer, when the kids are tired and going to bed at 8:00 and 8:30, with the sun still streaming in their window (or busting through the edges of a blackout curtain), everyone gets a bit cranky.

To illustrate our love of darkness, this quote comes from my son on the night of the summer solstice.
"FINALLY!  The sun will start sinking again so the nights are longer."

 Maybe we were all bears in a previous life, looking forward to the months and months of hibernation. HA.

So, moving right along, we suffer, sometimes not so silently, until we notice it getting darker again.

One thing that has really helped anchor our yearly rhythm is marking the year with celebrations.  We mostly celebrate the vernal and autumnal equinox and the summer and winter solstice, with a few other nature festivals thrown in the mix as well, such as May Day and Michaelmas.  These anchor points through the year help it us to move through the months back towards the end of the year, giving us something to look forward to while we make our way back to the dark.

Why celebrate festivals at all?  Well, simply put, they are good for the soul.  The help us to connect with the rhythms of nature.  Many of the festivals celebrated in the waldorf year have been celebrated for centuries, and as preparations take place, the anticipation and excitement of the festival create a quiet sense of joy and connectedness within the family and community.


Many first time Waldorf families will try and fit in many many festivals and celebrations, giving each and every one their all. And I get it.  There are so many wonderful things to celebrate, so many beautiful verses to say, so many stunning chalk drawings to covet.  But try and do too much and many families will also soon find out what burnout feels like.

To them I say choose the festivals and celebrations that mean the most to your family.  Find the ones that really speak to you and your heart, and leave the rest.

And don't over do it.  Keep things simple. The goal is to create an event that is special in a quiet, unobtrusive way.  A wonderful yearly routine that everyone looks forward to, but doesn't exhaust you just thinking about it.

If  you start to think "Oh man,  not St John's Day AGAIN!", you are doing too much.  Each festival should be preceded with anticipation and calm, and shouldn't make you want to hide. 

If you really want to touch on all the festivals in the waldorf year, find a friend, school or community organization that celebrates the festivals and attend their celebrations.  It is nice to let someone else do the work sometimes!

Here is a list of what we celebrate through the year:

January - a small new year celebration
February - nothing
March - spring equinox
April - Easter
May - May Day
June - Summer Solstice
July - nothing
August - nothing
September - Michaelmas
October - Halloween
November - nothing (we might try Martinmas this year, as we'll be in the midst of a saints block)
December - St Nicholas / advent / Christmas (its a big month long celebration!)

As we go through the year, I will post pictures and explanation of how we celebrate so you can get a better idea of how we celebrate.

The most important thing to remember is it isn't what other families do that counts.  It is the memories and connections you make with your family that makes a festival mean something to your heart.

Cheers,
Marina

Monthly Rhythm

(This is the third installment of my rhythm series.  To see the first two posts, please visit daily rhythm and weekly rhythm. )

I cherish our monthly rhythm.  It really is the heart and soul of our family.

We actually discovered a monthly rhythm well before I ever danced with the idea of a Waldorf inspired lifestyle.  I wrote a bit about my daughter and the moon in my daily rhythm post. Once I became aware of how strong the pull of the moon is for her, we quickly fell in to a happy monthly rhythm.

Now that we are homeschooling, I have expanded that rhythm to recognize how the moon effects our learning.

The full moon is a time of great excitement and lots of outdoor time in our house.  During the day before, the day of and the day after I try and plan to be outdoors as much as possible.  This helps us all reconnect with the earth and allows us to absorb as much light as possible.  In a way it resets our internal clocks.

I find that during a full moon, we don't sleep as well.  There have been studies (you can read a report on one here ) that have proved this to be true, but I don't need a study to know that it takes the kids longer to fall asleep and that they wake up earlier each and every time the moon shines bright (even if it is cloudy).  I take this in to account when I am planning and make sure that we not only have lots of time outdoors, but quiet time indoors.

From the full moon to the new moon, we fall in to the darkness, gradually slowing down our days until we at last come to the darkness of the new moon.  On this day we often close the curtains and use candles during the day, do quiet activities like handwork and read alouds, a movie afternoon, or a walk on a trail through a thick forest.  It may sound crazy, but we all really look forward to this day!  The kids call it our cozy day and it functions as an anchor for us each month.

During the two weeks from the full moon to the new moon we focus on things we have learned, continue to work on projects we have started, discuss goals we have or things that need changing.  This is a time of review and contemplation over where we are and where we want to be, a time where we plan and reflect, preparing for the next two weeks.

The next two weeks are full of activity and new beginnings.  As we climb back in to the light, we focus on introducing new concepts, starting new projects (or new wings of old projects), learning a new skill, and put lots of energy in to our days, finally hitting the climax of the full moon. We spend increasingly more time outdoors, basking in the light of the sun and the moon. 

Once the full moon has passed and we fall back in to darkness, we take all the new skills and concepts we have spent the last two weeks focusing on and let them sit.  We rarely introduce any new concepts during this time unless they are entirely child led, but even that is a rare occurrence.  It seems the children have a natural understanding and pull towards living in the moon cycles.

And there you have it!  Our happy little moon rhythm.

Next up is the final installment of my rhythm series, seasonal rhythms and how we follow the sun on her journey around the world :)

Cheers!

Marina

Giveaway Winner

Hi everyone!

Thank you everyone for participating in this give away :)

The winner of the Lavender's Blue Homeschool Curriculum is post number 24, Mary U!

Please contact me via email by using the contact form on the right and I will connect you with Kelly.

For everyone else, Kelly's 50% off sale for her grade one curriculum continues through Thursday July 24th, so jump on over and indulge in the savings!!

Curriculum Review and Give Away: Lavender's Blue Homeschool Kindergarten Curriculum

***All opinions in the post are my own and are without compensation.  I'm just sharing the joy I found through this curriculum :) ***

A year ago, I made the best homeschooling decision I have ever made.

I switched to Waldorf from a more classical approach.

And I didn't know what I was doing.

At all.

After spending time on some of the Waldorf facebook groups, I felt like I needed to buy so many things to make our new lifestyle a reality. I felt overwhelmed by the "must dos" and "do nots" I was seeing all over the computer screen, I thought that maybe this wasn't going to work.

But after digging through the superficial blogs and facebook posts, I found a blog that really resonated with me.

One of the very first things I read about homeschooling the Waldorf way that made me feel confident that it was a path I could take was this blog post, written by Kelly from Lavender's Blue Homeschool.

It centered around music and movement in the kindergarten years, one of the things I was aching to add back in to our lives after a very stressful classical year.

After spending the night reading through every. single. blog post Kelly had written, I knew not only that Waldorf was the way I wanted to go, but that I really wanted to try her Kindergarten curriculum.

My main concern though, was my rising first grader and my newly four year old.  Would I be able to use the kindergarten curriculum with both of them?  After many emails back and forth with Kelly, where she answered all of my million questions with warmth and understanding, I knew that this was the curriculum for me.

Kelly's Kindergarten Curriculum is a four season curriculum, with each season lasting 12 weeks. Each season starts with a general introduction to building a Waldorf - inspired homeschool and life style.  I knew right away that Kelly was a great fit for my family when I read this, just five pages in:

"Teaching kindergarten is more about creating a healthy home life than anything else,
and the essentials will express themselves differently for every family. They don’t lend
themselves to a structured curriculum - they will come from the heart and soul, culture
and traditions of your own unique family. The goal is not to be some kind of clone of
what you think a Waldorf family looks like or what you see at the local Waldorf fair, the
dreamy online toy catalogue, or the gorgeous blogs and books that you read.

I will give you ideas to think about, but then you can rely on your heart and intuition to
decide what works best for your family and helps your child thrive. You will learn this
by doing it, living it, always observing your child, and adjusting as you go."

                                                                                                           ~ Kelly Erhman

I immediately felt that this was something I could do, and something that I could tailor to meet the needs of my family, and not make our family meet the needs of a curriculum (although I didn't need to change anything at all to meet our families needs!).

Kelly gives an introduction to all the major aspects of a Waldorf kindergarten, taking you through the how-tos of things like beeswax modeling, water colour painting, telling stories, and handwork. Her explanations are simple and easy to follow, and really leave you feeling like you can do it. Most importantly, Kelly focuses on how to create a joyful and magical kindergarten experience, by building the home life and creating a strong base that will carry you through early childhood and beyond.


The curriculum focuses first and foremost on creating a rhythm in your home and centers around circles that are full of beautiful folk tales, songs, painting and modeling, finger plays and hand crafts that are seasonal, but secular. What I really loved about the circles is they are something that has grown in to a tradition for our family.  My children eagerly anticipate the stories each week and spend the whole week re-enacting them and singing the songs from circle.

My concerns about blending kindergarten and first grade were unfounded.

My first grader enjoyed the circles and activities just as much as my kindergartener, and the curriculum has taught me how to carry a circle so well that I feel confident I will be able to continue for all the upper grades as well. The weekly painting and modeling activities have all been hits with my children and the hand crafts have gently built my children's ability to the point where they often pull out supplies and make things on their own. The hand crafts have also become a special way for my children to create a home made gift for the ones they love.

What I gained more than anything else was an understanding of Waldorf beyond the pretty toys, gnomes and Elsa Beskow books.  Kelly's curriculum gave me the base that I needed to build a strong rhythm for my family, a home life that centers around calm and joy, and a mindset that sees the wonders of early childhood and embraces it.  The ongoing support I receive from Kelly has been invaluable and it got me through those first weeks of transition and through any time that I have felt like I needed help getting back on track.

I have recommended Kelly's Kindergarten Curriculum to many of my friends, and now I have shared with you the joy it has brought to our family!

I am especially excited to announce that Kelly has worked hard and long all year long to put that same care and gentle guidance in to a grade one curriculum!

To celebrate the launch, I an honoured to host a giveaway, my first here on the blog.

The giveaway is for a complete kindergarten OR first grade curriculum!  You get to choose :)

All you need to do is leave a comment below about why you think a Lavender's Blue Homeschool curriculum would be a good fit for your family.

This giveaway will run from Sunday July 20th to Wednesday July 23rd, 2014. A person will be chosen at random and announced here on the blog on Wednesday evening, 8:00pm ET.

Please note: Anonymous posts will be disregarded, so make sure to put your first name and last initial!

Kelly is also offering a great discount on her first grade curriculum.  Until Thursday, July 24th, enter the coupon code YES and receive 50% the purchase of the first grade curriculum!  A great deal! Click the button below for more information on the first grade curriculum :)

Cheers!

Marina

Weekly Rhythm

(This is the second post in a series of posts about rhythm.  You can find the first one here )

"How do you find time to clean your house?"

That is one of the most frequent questions I get and see floating around the internet when it comes to homeschooling.

Being in the house every day, it does tend to get a tad messy.  I once had a friend say that nice thing about working all day and having the kids in school is they don't have time to make the house messy.  Good point!

So, when we are spending the day homeschooling and living in our houses, how do we find the time to clean? 

This is where Waldorf is my saving grace.  One of the first things Waldorf stresses is for wee ones to take part in many of the housekeeping chores that take place each day.

Steiner encouraged parents and teachers to let children fold socks, sweep the floor, wash dishes, etc.  All these things help children develop a sense of awareness over their body and how it works.  It provides them with purposeful movement and different sensory experiences, and it shows them that they are a valuable part of the home environment and that they have something to contribute as well. I know from my own experience that doing chores and being given that responsibility has really helped build my children's self esteem.

Also, I find when my house is scattered and messy, my brain is scattered and messy.  And if mine is scattered and messy, I can only imagine how my littles feel. 

But where do we find the time? 

To keep your clutter and dust bunnies from taking over the house, you need to fit it in to your daily rhythm, by creating a weekly rhythm.

A weekly rhythm is made up of things that don't need to be done daily, but find a place in your lives at least once a week.  For my family, a weekly rhythm is two fold:  homeschooling and homekeeping. 

Our homekeeping rhythm goes like this:

Monday - clean bedrooms, change sheets, vaccum bedrooms

Tuesday - clean dining room and living room

Wednesday - clean bathroom

Thursday - clean office

Friday - Sunday there are no specific cleaning chores to do.

Now, with all that written out, I do need to say that I do some laundry every night, because the electricity is cheaper.  And I also have daily chores that get done to help with upkeep. These include tidying in the kitchen after each meal, wiping down the bathroom before I go to bed, and because we have a dog, I vacuum the first floor each day.  These are a part of our daily rhythm.

Both the children help with chores each day. They put away clothes, they scrub the bath during their bath time, they actually fight over who gets to scrub the toilet or wash the floors (I kid you not), and they are both responsible for keeping their toys in their proper spot and helping me when things need to be organized a bit.  They have been a part of chores from the beginning and take pride in the responsibility.

But doesn't it take longer?  Don't they sometimes do things not quite right?  

Yes.  It typically takes longer.  And yes, there will be streaks on the bathroom mirror and random dust bunnies that didn't get caught, but those can be quietly and quickly fixed, and those are lessons in themselves.

Gentle reminders and cleaning tips are well received in this house because of the gentle way they are given.  For example: "Oops, one dust bunny was hiding out under the tv stand.  You know how I get those guys?  I switch to the arm instead of using the wheel.  Here, try it!" And that's that.

And because we stay on top of things on a weekly basis, it typically only takes about a half hour in the afternoon to get everything done that needs doing on that day (we only have about 1100 square feet of space total) leaving lots of time for all the other things we'd rather be doing.

In order for this to work we also have "tidy as we go" and "everything has a place (except for that pile of papers I've been shifting for the last four years)" as mottos that we TRY to live by.

And have no fear, if you were to come by any random day, you'd be greeted by a dining table full of books and crayons and a living room with swords and lego and playmobil scattered.  BUT, it will get cleaned and tidied and when we wake in the morning, we start with a fresh slate.

I'm all about the fresh slate :)

Our weekly homeschooling rhythm is totally different, and very fluid.  It is totally focused on experiences for the kids, and while we try and do these things on the specific days, it doesn't mean they aren't done on other days as well.  It is just that these are things the children picked that they really enjoyed doing and wanted to make sure there was time for them each week.

Monday is bake day

Tuesday they are at a nature program

Wednesday is art or music

Thursday is typically a walk to a library or board/card game playing

Friday we are typically on a hike.

The weekends are family time and while we still follow a pretty typical daily rhythm, we don't have anything scheduled for each weekend.

It is important to remember that you can not have a solid weekly rhythm unless your daily rhythm is solid.  I hear of so many parents struggling with rhythm because they try and do everything all at once.

Start small.

Start daily and work up to the bigger stuff.

The mess will still be there in the morning.

I promise.

Marina

Things have changed...

I have really noticed a change in the kids since starting our Waldorf / Charlotte Mason journey.  This has been especially prominent during our trips up north or to the nearest wooded area. 

Here is how they are changing:

1.  Long trips in the car no longer require DVD players or Leap Pads. 

I know.  I KNOW.  Most people in the Waldorf / Charlotte Mason community have already jumped on the no media lifestyle thing.  I have not.  And up until now, the DVD player was a pleasant way to keep the kids entertained on those traffic filled trips up north. 

But something has changed this year. 

The DVD players are still on, but the kids aren't paying any attention.  Instead they are looking out the windows again, noticing what is around them, chattering endlessly about the animals, rattling fact after fact they have picked up from read alouds, and calling out the shapes they see in the clouds.  And they also aren't bickering, but creating games and laughing and enjoying their time together. 

(On a side note, I wouldn't be totally truthful if I said I was 100% thrilled with this development.  Don't get me wrong, I know how wonderful it is.  I KNOW this is better than having them stare at a screen for two hours with earphones on their heads.  But those two hours used to be my time with my husband, where we were able to have a conversation without the kids really interrupting.  I know this is better, but I crave those hours again to have much needed quiet time with my husband.)

2. Nature is no longer scary

This last year we have really been out in nature.  A lot.  And it has really changed the way my kids see all the creepy crawlies out and about on our journey.  Last year, this would have never happened:

Touching a fuzzy caterpillar? No problem!

Holding a small hopper?  Yay!! (big hoppers are equally exciting, and just as snuggly, but I have yet to get a picture of one because I never seem to get to my camera fast enough.  The big guys are a lot less patient than the little ones.)

Fishing with this huge, body the size of a quarter, creepy crawly hanging out on the dock??  They didn't even bat an eye.

Now, I will admit that if any creepy crawly gets in to the house, there is still some nervousness and need for removal.  Though my son has proudly said that spiders don't bother him anymore unless they are bigger than a dime.  Progress, people, progress.


3. We can be in nature, and enjoy nature. 

There is no grumbling about being cold, hot, bored, tired or not seeing anything.

We can even now sit quietly and draw or paint what we see.  THIS is a miracle in my books, because there is nothing I love better than to attempt to sketch out something I see in nature.

4.  Mama doesn't freak out at the creepy crawlies or random jumpers and sliders that cross our path.

I'm not running to be the first to pick it up, but I'm also not running in the opposite direction. 

Progress people, progress. 

Instead of freaking out I calmly look at their find and we talk about it.  Frogs, turtles, caterpillars and beetles I'm good with handling.  I haven't made it to garden snakes yet, and I'm pretty sure you'll never see me picking up a spider. 

I also have adopted a new reaction to bugs in the house or bunkie.  It goes something like this:

"Hello buggy.  You stay over there, I'll stay over here, nobody gets hurt.  You violate the terms of this agreement and I get the bug catcher."

(something I still hate doing because of the close proximity needed to catch the darn buggers)

This method has worked surprisingly well. I seem to have a knack for communicating with bugs.

And most importantly, the fifth and most wonderful change I have noticed:

5. We NOTICE things now that we never paid attention to before.  

We hear the birds chirping, even when we are in the house, and can now easily identify all the major backyard birds we've encountered.  New bird sounds?  That is like a treasure hunt.  We grab the binoculars, our bird books and our bird app and try and piece it together until we have figured out what type of bird it is.  

Just yesterday during our main lesson, Alexander froze and turned his head toward the window.  He had heard the first of the cicada bugs.  Now he looks for skins on all the trees hoping to see where they are drying their wings. 

Over the weekend they noticed a difference in the pile of leaves way off in a corner of our garden.  There was a very small hole on top of the pile, and after waiting for a long long time, they saw the nose of a little chipmunk poking out. 

The list is endless, and so is the excitement they feel when they discover something new.  

If nothing at all measurable ever comes out of homeschooling my kids, if this whole thing totally flops right in my face, I will know that one thing worked and was worth this crazy journey. 

My kids have a connection with the earth, and if we continue to foster its growth, will never be broken and will always shape who they are and the decisions they make.

And that makes me one happy mama.

Cheers!

Marina

Creating Rhythm

When we were first introduced to Waldorf philosophy I was drawn to its focus on nature.  The celebration of of the seasons and really getting in touch with the cycles of the earth.  

Since my daughter's birth, we have been ruled by the moon.  She has always been affected by the full moon, something I didn't notice until she was about a year old.  There were always three days of the month where she was just inconsolable and when I finally put it together, it changed the way I viewed those days.  I prepared for them. I embraced them. And to this day, I plan accordingly. 

I have an app.  Seriously.  We need this level of preparation. 

One of the lovely side effects of adopting a Waldorf inspired homeschool is that it reminds me how connected we ALL are to the earth, and how realizing this can bring a sense of calm to the home.

We found our sense of calm through creating rhythm.  Rhythm is one of those key phrases you hear thrown around when people talk about Waldorf lifestyle, one that many struggle with creating.  There are three main types of rhythm, daily, weekly and seasonal and some people, like those of us that are ruled by moon cycles, also follow a monthly rhythm.

I have found that the key to creating a daily rhythm is to create a strong core.

To find what the core of your rhythm is, just watch your family for a few days.  What are the main points of your day?  What are things that happen every day around the same time?  Make note of how every one behaves, how they feel emotionally and physically. Is After observing your family for a few days you should have a good feel of how everyone functions throughout the day, what the pivotal moments are that create the core of every day. If you don't feel you have a strong understanding of the ebb and flow of your day after a few days, just stick with it for a few more.

Remember though, you are looking for patterns only.  You are not looking for the same thing to happen at the same time each day.  You are only looking for similarities across a few days.

Once you have found the similarities, these will be your anchors. These will be the events that feed your rhythm throughout the day, provide the transition from one event to the next.

I will use my rhythm as an example.   When I followed our days, three distinct patterns appeared.  Food, dog walks and afternoons.  Our days are anchored by our meals.  they need to happen at around the same time each day or the kids start to fall apart.  Our dog also needs to be walked twice a day, morning and evening.  And afternoons in the summer equal heat, which translated in to kids that were over heated and cranky by the end of outdoor play time. 

I used these anchors to create our rhythm, using the dog walks as transition times (in the morning it transitioned us to circle time, in the evening to our evening gardening), meal times as anchor points, and the afternoon heat as something to avoid that wasn't working in our days.  We switched around some things in the morning so that we would have lots of outdoor time in the morning, and moved our main lessons to the afternoon after everyone has had their lunch.

I did this observation in the summer.  For winter, our rhythm changes slightly and I will talk about that in a different post.  Right now lets focus on daily. 

Here is what our rhythm looks like right now.

• Wake, eat, get dressed
• Walk dog
• Circle
• Outdoor time
• Lunch
• Main Lessons
• Free play time
• Handwork/art/baking (weekly activities typically go here)
• Outdoor time
• Tidy
• Dinner
• Reading
• Dog Walk
• Gardening / outdoor time
• Read aloud and snack
• Bedtime Routine

The one thing I really want to stress is there are no times associated with rhythm.  Rhythm is all about transitioning from one activity to another calmly, not because it is time to do so, but because the activity or event in complete and it is time to move on to the next.  It isn't about ushering in one activity after the other for the sake of doing things and checking them off a list, it is about mindfully choosing events in your life and letting their predictability guide your days. 

Things change, new and exciting things happen.  But the wonderful thing about a rhythm is you can pick up where you need to.  You are not a slave to the clock.  Last minute afternoon play date?  That's great!  Pick up after dinner.  Quick run to the store needed in the morning?  No worries, just pick up the next thing you want to do and go with it.  Away for a weeks vacation?  Wonderful!  Bring your rhythm, or parts of it, with you, or drop the rhythm and get back to it when the holiday is over.

Just make sure that your anchor points are strong and you can always get back to your core rhythm.  It takes commitment, yes.  It isn't something that builds itself and it does take work to find one that works and then stick to it. But the most important thing is to find what makes your family run smoothly and calmly and focus on those events that keep you smiling instead of hassled.

And most importantly, don't stress over it.  It takes some people longer than others to find their rhythm.  You will find yours.

I promise.

Cheers!

Marina

Summer Solstice

 We had our first summer solstice celebration yesterday.  We have always talked about the first day of summer, but never have we immersed ourselves in the longest day of the year.  One thing we have fully adopted from the Waldorf philosophy is living in the seasons and really letting them guide our activities. 

To celebrate the solstice, the kids and I sat down and brainstormed some ideas.  We had my nephews over for the weekend, so the kids decided first and foremost, they would be playing outside for most of the day to make the most of all the daylight. 

The second idea was make glass lanterns with tissue paper.  The kids wanted to have candles burning after sunset to keep the "sun fire awake a little longer". 

Our lanterns

My idea was to make paper boats and float candles in the kiddie pool.  We have been doing a lot of paper folding lately, and this provided the perfect opportunity to put our creations to use.

Our fleet

 After a full day of playing outside, we ate a meal that included the first fruits of our vegetable garden (lettuce with chives and a parsley and basil salad dressing) that we purposely waited to harvest on this day. Then we went out to create some art with rocks around our lanterns.  Truth be told, I think I had more fun than the kids did.  My little man has asked to do this over again as he felt he didn't spend enough time creating his rock art.  The call of his cousins, who finished quite quickly, was too much. 

Working to create some rock art

And then we waited for the sun to fall.  We played outside for a bit longer and then enjoyed a movie with some treats.  Finally it was time!  We went out and each child lit their lantern and then they walked through the garden.  There was an air of reverence between them, their voices hushed as they quietly discussed the patterns they made and the fun they had on the longest day.

They also spun the boats around the pool by creating a whirl in the center with their hands (science, check!)

After they had enough, they went in to get ready for bed and I stayed outside to take a couple more pictures.  After a few minutes I realized the house was dark but for a small glow coming from the living room.  The kids had shut all the lights and when I listened I could hear them telling a train story (when one person starts the story and other add to it).  It was lovely to hear their chatterings as I soaked up some much needed peace in the back yard (five kids is a loud undertaking!)

And now that it is all over, I am SOOOOOOOO excited that we are falling back in to darkness!  I am by far a lover of fall and winter and am excited to be returning to shorter days and longer nights.  Our rhythm just seems to flow so much better without all this dang sunlight ;)

I hope you all enjoyed your Summer Solstice!

Cheers,
Marina

A Year in Review and a bucket list.

One of the MANY things I love about homeschooling is the ability to slow down and catch a breath when it is needed. Last week we had one of those days. 

At ten in the morning we were still in jammies, curled up in the living room, each one of us doing our own thing.

I was working my way through a book about learning to draw.

Little man was drawing plans for his next Minecraft creation.

Little lady was playing with her sticker book.

It was lovely that we didn't need to go anywhere. We were basking in the emptiness of the day ahead.

About twenty minutes later, my little man declared it the start of summer.  "We have no more classes now until the fall.  This is what I want to do all summer."

Well okay then.  I asked him if he enjoyed his classes this year and we dove in to a long discussion about all the things he loved, and didn't like so much, this year.

On his like list:

• Woodworking
• Garden Class 
• Minecraft
• chalkboard math
• circle time with singing and poems
• learning to read, 
• copy work, 
• hiking
• (field) trips with friends, 
• writing out the grocery list, 
• baking, 
• planting the garden, 
• drawing maps while we walk around the neighbourhood

On his didn't like list:

• Boring trips, 
• writing stories

I'm really happy that he feels he had such a successful year. We tried some different things this year, with a focus on hands on activities and LOTS of outdoor time, based on his feedback about homeschooling last year. I really feel that made the difference this year.  Most of what we did was right from his suggestions last year.

He then created a list of all the things he would like to do in the coming months.  A bucket list, so to speak.  He was really excited about creating this list, and has since added some things and written it all out so he can cross things off as we do them.

On his to do list:

• garden class again
• more woodworking, 
• make a Minecraft book, 
• learn how to make a Lego Movie, 
• read more so he can read his big pirate chapter book all by himself,
• learn to bake muffins on his own, 
• take a survival class, 
• be a pioneer for a week (this one should be interesting for all of us),
• practice printing because, and I quote, "I want to write so many words but my fingers aren't strong enough and my brain doesn't know enough words on its own.",
• play in a creek, 
• learn to skip stones, 
• go to SportBall classes.

A pretty thorough list if you ask me, covering lots of different areas of his life.  It looks like we have fun times ahead of us!


My little lady added some things of her own:

• more painting and crafts
• make puppets
• make an Elsa dress

I'll be using this list of activities as we map out our next few months, making sure to continue to incorporate our outdoor time and hands on activities.  The rhythm we have established over the last year has become the one thing that ground us, allowing us the freedom to add new activities and the security of knowing that certain things will always be a part of our day.   It centers us and helps us through the hairy times.

And I'm sure there will be some hairy times to come!  Especially if we all have to be pioneers for a week!!

Cheers!
Marina

Lesson Learned

Well look at that.

A whole "school year" has come and gone since my last blog post.

I was busy with the business of homeschooling.  And when I wasn't busy with the business of homeschooling, I was pursuing my own interests which kept me away from the blog.

We had a very successful year, although our learning isn't completed.  We are what some people call year long home learners without a summer break.

What we really are is a family that learns together all the time.

I've been reading many blogs the last few days, many of them focusing on what the mamas have learned since they began the homeschooling journey. So I thought I would take a moment and do the same.

So many things have gone well since we started homeschooling two years ago.  A few things haven't meshed well with us.  And some things we never got around to doing.

Two things that really work well were our focus on Waldorf and Charlotte Mason styles of education, and continuing to focus on bringing more cheer and calm to our family through stories and song.

The biggest thing I learned this year was that perfection is over rated. I'm a planner by nature, but waiting to start doing something until all the pieces fell in to place was draining my energy and halting our discoveries.

So I let go of the elaborate plans and now, when we find an interest, we just go with it.

I let go of some of the control, and surprisingly enough, feel more in control of our lives.

Before, I was always chasing the dream of creating the perfect situation to learn something.

But the perfect situation to learn something is when nothing is perfect.

The perfect situation to learn something is when the spark has been lit and we follow its light to see where it takes us.

Sometimes it leads us exactly where I thought it would.

But more often than not, it leads us on a wonderful adventure we could have never anticipated.

That was a great lesson to learn.

Cheers,
Marina

Rudolf, Charlotte and Maria - Part One

We are an inspired homeschool family.

Inspired by a whole bunch of people.

This is the first year of homeschooling where I really feel like we have developed a path, are thriving on this path and can see the path lead us in a direction where there is light at the end of it instead of uncertainty.

Over the summer, I was nose-in-book.  I was really searching for something more for our family.  I found our homeschool becoming too school like and I wasn't thrilled with that.

One thing I knew that I was looking for was a way to bring more spiritualism and calmness to our daily activities.  And by spiritualism, I don't mean religious spiritualism.  I mean a sense of self, a sense of connection between us and the world around us, and a sense of being. 

The other thing I knew I wanted was to incorporate were stories and singing.  During the last year of homeschooling the song had left our family and we rarely made time for stories anymore. We were a bleak bunch!

Next up, nature.  The kids thrive in nature so I wanted to make sure that it was a huge part of our lives.  I didn't want to be stuck at a table when the sun was calling us outside.

And lastly, I really wanted a focus.  Not a schedule, but something that would keep us gently moving in the right direction, but not make me feel all stressy and hassled and a slave to check lists and goals.

I found most of my answers with Rudolf, Charlotte and Maria.

Rudolf Steiner, a philosopher and creator Waldorf Education.  (If you are wondering where the name Waldorf comes from, Steiner was approached by the owner of the Waldorf-Astoria Cigarette company to create a school for the children of his workers. Tada! The first Waldorf school was created.)

Charlotte Mason, an educator who believed that children were people and should be treated as such, and who believed that children should be taught facts through stories instead of just the dry fact based text books.  Sign me up!

Maria Montessori, a doctor and educator, who's main focus started with children who had special needs.  Her educational philosophy is very scientific and based largely on providing manipulatives and sensory exploration for children to develop specific skills.

These are just loose descriptions of these wonderful people.  In the next few blog posts I will outline in more detail each educator's philosophy and the bits and pieces that we have adopted for our homeschool.

Cheers!
Marina

First Day of School Tomorrow

Well, looking at the clock, really, it is today.

The summer has flown so quickly.  I'm sitting here and the breeze coming through the window has some very chilly fall undertones to it. 

But still, when I looked at the calendar this morning, I couldn't help saying WHAT THE WHAT????

How can it be September already?

And tonight I find myself awake with anticipation over tomorrow.

Tomorrow we fully immerse ourselves in a new way of learning and family life and I'm so excited, I can't sleep. 

I'm hoping the routines and rhythms we create together will help us to connect again, feel relaxed again, and most of all, have fun again! We've started some and I have noticed a marked change in our day to day interactions already.

So here is a basic outline of what we'll be doing in the coming weeks.

Wake, eat, dress, walk dog, all the nitty gritty that happens every morning.

Next up, morning circle.  This is where stories will be told, songs will be sung, games will be played, and it will be the basis of the main lesson work that comes next.

At each circle, stories and songs will focus on specific topics. Tomorrow we'll be starting with phonics for my little lady, and I have created a story that I will share while drawing pictures at the same time that incorporate the letter a and words that being with that sound.  The next day we'll stay with the a theme, read a story called Mouse and the Great Big Apple, and focus on math by talking about, and using a real apple, sharing an apple.  For Anna we will focus on the number one (each person gets one piece) for Alex I'll focus on beginning to learn times tables through grouping. Then the next day we'll go back to A and the next we'll do math again. Right now we are only going to be doing circles four days a week.

After our morning circle, we move on to working on our main lesson book.  This is the extent to our table work this year, will be short and sweet and focus on what was discussed during our circle.  Tomorrow, Anna and I will draw things that start with Aa and practice writing the letter. Alexander will work on "a" word patterns, drawing pictures and spelling the words beside them. 

Alexander will also be doing JUMP math, because he was sad to have completed his math workbook and not have something to continue.  And he will also read aloud each day from a reader of his choice.

We'll also have time to continue our project work.  Each of us currently has a project we are working on that we focus on for a period of time each day.  These are things we chose, and are available for us to work on whenever and however long we want.  Alexander right now is working on knitting, Anna is making a robot out of recyclables as well as making puppets out of felt with me and I try to write when I get a chance (but really, any time one is working on a project, I take that time to keep the house from looking like a bomb exploded.)

Geography we'll do through History which will be told through stories.  Right now we are reading Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder, as well as looking through the History of Canada and how European's settled and lived when they first came to Canada. Later this month we'll be visiting Crawford Lake Conservation Park and see a longhouse and learn about First Nations heritage.

For science we'll mostly be working on observing the natural environment and study what the kids show an interest in.  This will happen more incidentally, but will also make it's way in to morning circles. 

But most importantly, what we'll be doing is singing.  My kids love to sing.  They love to hear me create songs on the fly, silly poems about mundane things.  They love finger plays and nursery rhymes and we'll be doing a lot of those all day long. 

I'm excited!  And I really should be getting to sleep so I don't feel like a zombie tomorrow...

Happy first day of school, how ever you plan to celebrate it!

Cheers,
Marina

It's a Pioneer's Life

Alexander is a history buff, just like his mama. 

When at the library, he skips the picture books and chapter books and goes straight to the non fiction shelves in search of the perfect next book about a time far away from our reality.

It is the one things we totally bond over. 

He and bond over many of his interests.  He can talk to me endlessly about his Legos, or pirate drawings, or obstacle courses he's created in my livingroom, or plans for his club house. And I enjoy those moments.

But over history, we BOND. We bond on the level that he bonds with Peter when they get creating something with wood and nails or starting a fire or tinkering with the car.  It is a pure interest that we both share that provides endless hours of discussion with out any of it being forced or false. 

A few days back my mom helped me with the kids for the day so I could dig my house out of the homeschool planning mess of the century, without the kids "helping".  She took them outside and they played happily in the front yard while I cleaned inside.

After about three hours, my mom called up the stairs asking me to come down to see something.  This is what she wanted me to see...

My little man had spent the entire morning "fishing" (represented by the bark on the plank), then seasoning and smoking the fish on the plank across the green bins.

Beside the "hearth" hang the spices he is drying.  On the ledge, the spices he has collected from the "field" and is preparing for use as a seasoning on the fish. 

He even found a long curved stick with a Y at the end that he used to stoke the fire between the green bins and "breathe air in to it" by pretending the stick was a bellows. 

What gets me is up until now he has been really interested in the farming practices and building methods of pioneers, and that has been the focus of all our long talks about pioneers.  Even when we go to check out Pioneer Village, he checks out the fields and flowers and the structure of the houses. 

He picked all this up incidentally during our visits to villages and picture books from the library. Mom was totally floored by the preciseness and detail he put in to every move, making sure it was as authentic as he could make it.  He even, at one point, requested suspenders for Christmas, because "pioneer pants don't have 'lastic and can't stay up on their own.".  What the...

He's my little man.  A history buff in the making :)

Oh, and the fish he was smoking?  They are now salted (with chalk of course) and hanging by their tails ready for the long cold winter ahead. 

Just in time for us to start reading the Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder.

I wonder what he will come up with next.

Cheers!

Marina