We had another lovely day! Chris made me three new blackboards. It was so sweet to watch him build them with the kids totally surrounding him watching his every move.Sebastian measured and helped over all. This year in his homeschooling he is doing practical life skills so we have a LOT of building projects planned for him. He will be doing a lot of his math as projects.
It's hard to describe our days with out sounding repeative but it's really the little moments that make the days special and different. Watching the black paint being rolled out on freshly cut boards,hot homemade cream of Chicken soup with fresh white bread hot from the oven,watching the kids as they play for hours with an empty box from we begged off the plumbers, popping balloons in our rainbow coloured tissue paper lanterns we made for Martinmas,and to end the day apples stewing in a pot with banana bread hot and buttered (I confess I can't believe it I ate three pieces!)
Now the house is quiet.... and I sit here warm,happy,full LOL!,
It's so true
“It is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all.”
Laura Ingalls Wilder
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Thursday, November 5, 2009
beautiful week
We've spent most of it outside it's been so lovely. Today we spent a good amount of our time out doors making fairy houses and finding leaves to dip in beeswax for our nature table. The leaves came out lovely and add so much to our table. (Sorry still no pictures...) They smell so lovely. Beeswax will always make me think of Christmas and dipping candles with Ike and Nadia.
I tried a new cookie recipe tonight and they all loved it. Francesca asked me to teach her how to make them so she could make them for her children. Then they all started talking about the different things I cook that they want to learn to cook for their children. It made me feel warm fuzzies. I've discovered we do better when I make a huge batch of cookie dough to store in the fridge then just cook a couple of batches for them to eat right then. If I make them up all at once everyone in the house sneaks them and eats them all straight away... When I chide Chris about it he just laughs so... now I just bake a few cookies at time. I figure in the winter it only warms up the house anyway.
I've been busy planning for Christmas. I already have quite a few things squirreled away and I'm busy creating when I get a chance to sit down. LOL! I feel bad Francesca has been hounding me for some knitted gnomes like I made Ollie and I keep putting her off so I can use them as a stocking stuffer. I gave in and showed her how to make the little fairys I make. So there went one stocking gift already so I have to stick to my plan and not give in. She is a persistent little girl though!
So far my favorite gifts are a lovely wooden Eskimo set and a beautiful red wooden Candelabra. We light candles every night when we read stories before bed,it sets a lovely soft mood and smells so good! They really enjoy lighting and blowing out their candles (It never gets old,you think it will but it never does).
We actually do not have a lot of toys. The few we do have are usually beautiful. Well they started that way some of Nadia's waldorf dolls have seen better days LOL! She still will not give them up though. I mentioned retooling one of her favorites for Francesca and she was no way that is my doll. It's a faceless blanket baby that she loved and played with more then her bitty babies,american dolls,waldorf dolls all of her babies. Nadia was a little girl that adored playing babies it was her favourite play game. She loved (loves) her simple blanket baby. So I need to make Francesca one. Francesca hardly plays with dolls. She prefers fairytale stories but recently asked for a doll.
So they start out beautiful at least.... Our favorite toys are open ended toys meaning you can usually pretend a LOT of different things with them. Toys like blocks,play figures,puppets,play silks or cloths etc... We have some playhouse,play work type of things,dress up clothes etc.. Tons and tons of art supplies which are always at their disposal as long as they clean up after themselves. Quite a few toys are handcrafted by us both the children and Chris and I. Some of them are things you find in nature bark ,tree branches,shells rocks etc... Things you might not expect on a toy shelf but are wonderful toys in the hands of an imaginative child. In fact the less directed a toy is (example the directed play eskimo set I bought vs. just a box of mixed little wood figures) the more it's played with. I steer clear of plastic toys for the most part. They have some they play with in the tub and that is about it. I wouldn't mind some playmobile sets and we love legos so I'm not against plastic,I just find so many of the plastic toys not very imaginative and ugly.
Sometimes they are given something we're not keen on keeping. Some things we out right exchange if they are given a barbie (Chris hates Barbies. The clothes,lifestyle and the wierd body) we replace it. Others usually they play with them for time and get bored and I just put it away or give it away. I have a Christmas list I created for my "dream" toys for this year for my reference. There is no way I could get them all but I slowly get some of them. If you want to have a look to see what kind of things I'm talking about, here is a link http://www.amazon.com/our-christmas-wish-list-toes/lm/R3H5S6O90WT01Y/ref=cm_srch_res_rpli_alt_36 Or another list I created http://www.amazon.com/beautiful-playhouse/lm/R15U9KEYZ5GV52/ref=cm_srch_res_rpli_alt_2
If it doesn't come up search listmania for toes. LOL! The second list look for waldorf kitchen. If you still can't find them my favorite toy store in the world is playstore. http://www.playstoretoys.com/ Many of the things they sell you can find (ebay is fantastic) or create less expensively but I love to go there and window shop.
PS. Do forgive any grammatical or spelling errors please! I usually write these at my most tired time of day and well.... I get brain fuzz...
I tried a new cookie recipe tonight and they all loved it. Francesca asked me to teach her how to make them so she could make them for her children. Then they all started talking about the different things I cook that they want to learn to cook for their children. It made me feel warm fuzzies. I've discovered we do better when I make a huge batch of cookie dough to store in the fridge then just cook a couple of batches for them to eat right then. If I make them up all at once everyone in the house sneaks them and eats them all straight away... When I chide Chris about it he just laughs so... now I just bake a few cookies at time. I figure in the winter it only warms up the house anyway.
I've been busy planning for Christmas. I already have quite a few things squirreled away and I'm busy creating when I get a chance to sit down. LOL! I feel bad Francesca has been hounding me for some knitted gnomes like I made Ollie and I keep putting her off so I can use them as a stocking stuffer. I gave in and showed her how to make the little fairys I make. So there went one stocking gift already so I have to stick to my plan and not give in. She is a persistent little girl though!
So far my favorite gifts are a lovely wooden Eskimo set and a beautiful red wooden Candelabra. We light candles every night when we read stories before bed,it sets a lovely soft mood and smells so good! They really enjoy lighting and blowing out their candles (It never gets old,you think it will but it never does).
We actually do not have a lot of toys. The few we do have are usually beautiful. Well they started that way some of Nadia's waldorf dolls have seen better days LOL! She still will not give them up though. I mentioned retooling one of her favorites for Francesca and she was no way that is my doll. It's a faceless blanket baby that she loved and played with more then her bitty babies,american dolls,waldorf dolls all of her babies. Nadia was a little girl that adored playing babies it was her favourite play game. She loved (loves) her simple blanket baby. So I need to make Francesca one. Francesca hardly plays with dolls. She prefers fairytale stories but recently asked for a doll.
So they start out beautiful at least.... Our favorite toys are open ended toys meaning you can usually pretend a LOT of different things with them. Toys like blocks,play figures,puppets,play silks or cloths etc... We have some playhouse,play work type of things,dress up clothes etc.. Tons and tons of art supplies which are always at their disposal as long as they clean up after themselves. Quite a few toys are handcrafted by us both the children and Chris and I. Some of them are things you find in nature bark ,tree branches,shells rocks etc... Things you might not expect on a toy shelf but are wonderful toys in the hands of an imaginative child. In fact the less directed a toy is (example the directed play eskimo set I bought vs. just a box of mixed little wood figures) the more it's played with. I steer clear of plastic toys for the most part. They have some they play with in the tub and that is about it. I wouldn't mind some playmobile sets and we love legos so I'm not against plastic,I just find so many of the plastic toys not very imaginative and ugly.
Sometimes they are given something we're not keen on keeping. Some things we out right exchange if they are given a barbie (Chris hates Barbies. The clothes,lifestyle and the wierd body) we replace it. Others usually they play with them for time and get bored and I just put it away or give it away. I have a Christmas list I created for my "dream" toys for this year for my reference. There is no way I could get them all but I slowly get some of them. If you want to have a look to see what kind of things I'm talking about, here is a link http://www.amazon.com/our-christmas-wish-list-toes/lm/R3H5S6O90WT01Y/ref=cm_srch_res_rpli_alt_36 Or another list I created http://www.amazon.com/beautiful-playhouse/lm/R15U9KEYZ5GV52/ref=cm_srch_res_rpli_alt_2
If it doesn't come up search listmania for toes. LOL! The second list look for waldorf kitchen. If you still can't find them my favorite toy store in the world is playstore. http://www.playstoretoys.com/ Many of the things they sell you can find (ebay is fantastic) or create less expensively but I love to go there and window shop.
PS. Do forgive any grammatical or spelling errors please! I usually write these at my most tired time of day and well.... I get brain fuzz...
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Sights that take your breath our day today
Literately as we came over the hill in Truro ,into Ptown it was so beautiful I drew a huge in-breath. Francesca said it looked like it was out of story. I think the word that could best bring to mind what we were seeing is the word surreal. It looked surreal.
It's been a long time since I've been in the area this time of year and I had forgotten how lovely it is. Hands down the tip of the Cape is my favorite part. It's so wild and lovely feels timeless. It makes me long for a Cape I never knew,one with far less men and "progress".
We started the day with a visit to the Truro library. Oh what a beautiful children's room! The room was just filled with sunshine having wall to wall windows with lovely window seats beneath them to read and dream on. Lovely open ended toys to play with and the book selection was fantastic. I discovered several books that I fell in love with. This one I have to have for our home libary it would make a lovely coffee table book too. http://www.amazon.com/Wave-Suzy-Lee/dp/081185924X
Sadly we didn't get to go for the long walk I had planned it was impossible to get the children to want to leave that lovely room. When they were finally ready,we had just enough time to catch the sunset from a lovely beach we discovered I think it was on the other side of Wellfleet Harbour. It was lovely they ran around making all kinds of discoveries,chasing the birds and then we sat had a snack. I asked them while they were eating to not talk and to just listen. They asked if we could do just that every time we went for a walk. It's so soothing even for a child to sit and be still.
I am discovering the more sensitive I am towards them the lovelier our days are. What does it matter if plans are spoiled? Children have a way of creating new exciting plans. I've come along way from my stacks of workbooks,schedules it would be hard to explain how I feel and what I see happening with my second set of children. (We have two older teen-aged children as well as the three little ones)
It's amazing to watch them teach themselves as I provide the means and inspiration sometimes. Sebastian taught himself to read because he had to dive into Captain Underpants and Shel Silverstein poetry. Now we work on phonics with games to improve his spelling he doesn't even look at it as work,. He's taught himself basic grammar writing comic book after comic book. Which he started off copying sentences from his favourite books because he didn't know how to read or write on his own yet.
We learn math ,science etc... often from projects we take on. Sebastian asked to build a sundial that interested him. So we learn about time and shadows as we are doing.We call it block learning. We will study time until he gets it(or if he's not ready we will move on but come back at some point to a concentrated block of learning it.) not jump from one concept to another. I have found that when they have a solid grasp on something they retain it better. Rather then just when the lights are coming on,we move to another concept like so many math programs do.
Sometimes I will choose a subject like right now we are learning about the pilgrims and Wampanoags because we are planning a trip to Plymouth Plantation. But within the subject I have chosen (I call it trying to inspire them) I still follow their interests. Sebastian was interested in our family genealogy as I had mentioned our family goes way back in America. So I went digging asking relatives who have been studying our family tree. He was so excited to learn that is a decedant of the man in the Peanuts Mayflower video (In America Series) that peanuts made fun of that fell off the Mayflower (John Howland who married a Tilly so we are related to two Mayflower families).
One subject or inspiration will often jump to another unexpectedly. When I mentioned some famous people we are also related too ,he wanted to know who Churchill was." How can you describe that man in a single sentence so we will get some books ,maybe a movie and then we might try to do something Winston did. He enjoyed painting so we might see where his interests lie in that and attempt our own project or look at what life was like for him as a child during his time etc... I bet he will remember our relative Winston Churchill based on his interest. Luckily we can do this follow when they are interested. You always remember things you are interested in so much more like your favorite subjects in school. They engaged you at the right time and at best engaged all your senses. I love the Yates quote "Education is not the filling of a bucket but the lighting of a fire,"
We still do daily rote work but we do not do gobs and gobs of worksheets. Instead I try to find ways that engage all their senses. We might play board games,jump rope the a times table,paint a science fact,sing a song etc... I really like the Waldorf and Unschooling methods. They believe a child's early learning should be fun and natural,a slow start that develops into a more rigorous study as the years come on. I think the stats for Waldorf grads continuing on into collage is something in the 90s. So yes kids do not read strongly until sometimes 3rd grade or later going at their own pace, but they are not behind in the end and have a great love of learning.
Sadly still no pictures,my computer is running off an old harddrive and I have to replace it before I can load up all my "stuff".
It's been a long time since I've been in the area this time of year and I had forgotten how lovely it is. Hands down the tip of the Cape is my favorite part. It's so wild and lovely feels timeless. It makes me long for a Cape I never knew,one with far less men and "progress".
We started the day with a visit to the Truro library. Oh what a beautiful children's room! The room was just filled with sunshine having wall to wall windows with lovely window seats beneath them to read and dream on. Lovely open ended toys to play with and the book selection was fantastic. I discovered several books that I fell in love with. This one I have to have for our home libary it would make a lovely coffee table book too. http://www.amazon.com/Wave-Suzy-Lee/dp/081185924X
Sadly we didn't get to go for the long walk I had planned it was impossible to get the children to want to leave that lovely room. When they were finally ready,we had just enough time to catch the sunset from a lovely beach we discovered I think it was on the other side of Wellfleet Harbour. It was lovely they ran around making all kinds of discoveries,chasing the birds and then we sat had a snack. I asked them while they were eating to not talk and to just listen. They asked if we could do just that every time we went for a walk. It's so soothing even for a child to sit and be still.
I am discovering the more sensitive I am towards them the lovelier our days are. What does it matter if plans are spoiled? Children have a way of creating new exciting plans. I've come along way from my stacks of workbooks,schedules it would be hard to explain how I feel and what I see happening with my second set of children. (We have two older teen-aged children as well as the three little ones)
It's amazing to watch them teach themselves as I provide the means and inspiration sometimes. Sebastian taught himself to read because he had to dive into Captain Underpants and Shel Silverstein poetry. Now we work on phonics with games to improve his spelling he doesn't even look at it as work,. He's taught himself basic grammar writing comic book after comic book. Which he started off copying sentences from his favourite books because he didn't know how to read or write on his own yet.
We learn math ,science etc... often from projects we take on. Sebastian asked to build a sundial that interested him. So we learn about time and shadows as we are doing.We call it block learning. We will study time until he gets it(or if he's not ready we will move on but come back at some point to a concentrated block of learning it.) not jump from one concept to another. I have found that when they have a solid grasp on something they retain it better. Rather then just when the lights are coming on,we move to another concept like so many math programs do.
Sometimes I will choose a subject like right now we are learning about the pilgrims and Wampanoags because we are planning a trip to Plymouth Plantation. But within the subject I have chosen (I call it trying to inspire them) I still follow their interests. Sebastian was interested in our family genealogy as I had mentioned our family goes way back in America. So I went digging asking relatives who have been studying our family tree. He was so excited to learn that is a decedant of the man in the Peanuts Mayflower video (In America Series) that peanuts made fun of that fell off the Mayflower (John Howland who married a Tilly so we are related to two Mayflower families).
One subject or inspiration will often jump to another unexpectedly. When I mentioned some famous people we are also related too ,he wanted to know who Churchill was." How can you describe that man in a single sentence so we will get some books ,maybe a movie and then we might try to do something Winston did. He enjoyed painting so we might see where his interests lie in that and attempt our own project or look at what life was like for him as a child during his time etc... I bet he will remember our relative Winston Churchill based on his interest. Luckily we can do this follow when they are interested. You always remember things you are interested in so much more like your favorite subjects in school. They engaged you at the right time and at best engaged all your senses. I love the Yates quote "Education is not the filling of a bucket but the lighting of a fire,"
We still do daily rote work but we do not do gobs and gobs of worksheets. Instead I try to find ways that engage all their senses. We might play board games,jump rope the a times table,paint a science fact,sing a song etc... I really like the Waldorf and Unschooling methods. They believe a child's early learning should be fun and natural,a slow start that develops into a more rigorous study as the years come on. I think the stats for Waldorf grads continuing on into collage is something in the 90s. So yes kids do not read strongly until sometimes 3rd grade or later going at their own pace, but they are not behind in the end and have a great love of learning.
Sadly still no pictures,my computer is running off an old harddrive and I have to replace it before I can load up all my "stuff".
Friday, October 23, 2009
ugh another dead computer
It's so frustrating my computer died again. Chris has me up and running on something that allows me access to the computer but not to all my "stuff". So yet another post with no pictures. When we are up and running I will have to do a slide show of all our pictures. We had a lot of fun these past weeks. I don't even know if I could remember all we did so I'll just try for highlights. Let's see... We went apple and cranberry picking. The cranberry picking was the best through the lovely dunes in Turo. I love Turo it's so wild looking. We might be getting a bunny. We saw an angora bunny at a spinning demonstration and fell in love. I figured we could hand spin what ever fur she gave us. Francesca was fascinated watching the wool being spun into yarn. She started knitting this year and loves it.
We went to the zoo today. It was a lovely day despite the cold overcast weather. The kids finally were able to see coyotes live and in person. We hear them regularly outside our home so it was neat to see them. They looked so sad though it made me sad.
We enjoyed the aquarium in Wood's Hole. I was bummed they don't let you pick up the creatures anymore still a neat little place though. Sebastian is fascinated with sharks right now so we really need to make it up to Boston to the Aquarium there. We have a membership at the children's museum and it's the place we go most often in Boston but we need to branch out. I might get a science museum membership this year it's either that or a pool membership. I can't seem to force myself outside when the weather is freezing and we need the exercise.
I know we did so much more but that is all my up in the middle of the night brain can remember... LOL!
We went to the zoo today. It was a lovely day despite the cold overcast weather. The kids finally were able to see coyotes live and in person. We hear them regularly outside our home so it was neat to see them. They looked so sad though it made me sad.
We enjoyed the aquarium in Wood's Hole. I was bummed they don't let you pick up the creatures anymore still a neat little place though. Sebastian is fascinated with sharks right now so we really need to make it up to Boston to the Aquarium there. We have a membership at the children's museum and it's the place we go most often in Boston but we need to branch out. I might get a science museum membership this year it's either that or a pool membership. I can't seem to force myself outside when the weather is freezing and we need the exercise.
I know we did so much more but that is all my up in the middle of the night brain can remember... LOL!
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
I love this. I believe I have lived most of my life to try to please others which is different then what God wanted us to do loving others. Pleasing others is giving up your God given destiny to live a life that is dictated by others, their versions of what a Christian,mom,wife etc.... should be. So I've lived a shadow life and I do NOT want my children to live that type of life. So while this video isn't all that I'm talking about it's a glimpse of some of it.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
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