Coming Home

Such a lovely week we had in Minnesota! Visits with family, dips in lakes, nature walks and sleep. Really just the perfect thing for our tired bunch.

I have not been writing here much because life has been hard on me lately and I tend to mostly want to share the sweet stuff. Things are by no means perfect, but I have had a little time to catch my breath and it seems that we are finding some solid ground. It is amazinghow much I thought I had it all under control only to find that THAT was a huge joke! This year has been full of challenges but also full of grace. Here is a little summary.

After a winter of geologic hazards (floods and mudslides to be more specific), my neighbors are finally starting to see the light and it looks like we may (fingers crossed) get some protection in place before the next winter storms begin. Along with learning a WHOLE lot about drainage, erosion, geology and the many types of engineering careers out there, I also learned quite a bit about neighborly politics and about how to try to avoid making assumptions about other people's opinions and perceptions. That old saying "you catch more flies with honey than vinegar" rings so true for me as I continue to lobby for my cause.

Even closer to home have been the troubles my middle child has had this year. About a year ago he had a BMX accident that resulted in a severe concussion. After recovering from that one, unfortunately he had another accident in February that resulted in a broken jaw. Well, you can imagine that he had a lot of pain and many doctors and dentists and chiropractors to visit. All of this meant a lot of missed school days. All along, he was suffering these severe headaches and also started having some not so great feelings. Sadly, his school (oh how I wish now - with hindsight - that we never sent him to that pit of despair we call public middle school) was not on his side and he ended up in worse and worse trouble. It was very much a terrible downward spiral. With a lot of work, family love, sleepless nights and a large team of both conventional and alternative medical practitioners, our boy is on the road to recovery from what looks like post concussion syndrome. As the new school year approaches and our son really wants to attend a "regular" school and not homeschool for high school, we are again holding our breath a little bit. This is certainly one of those times when we take a look at it all and realize how little control we have. During this terribly difficult time, I happened to be in a place where this poem was being recited. How perfectly appropriate it is for anyone parenting a teenager.

On Children
Kahlil Gibran

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,
but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children
as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might
that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.

And so we return from our little getaway and begin to prepare for the coming autumn. My oldest will start applying to college, and continue to strive to do her best (which is awesome!) at her wonderful private school. My middle one will join my oldest at that snazzy private high school and continue to recover his health as he seeks to find his own sense of himself in this tricky world full of pitfalls for teenage boys. My youngest will spend one more year in public elementary school, making new friends and proving to himself that he really can make it in that big, scary place. And I will continue to breath and hope for grace and accept the little gifts that come my way to help strengthen me for the sure challenges that will also come.

Working With the Senses

I am preparing for a class I will give next month and I thought perhaps my thoughts and notes might be a nice thing to share here.In my years of homeschooling I was always drawn toward working with the 12 senses that Steiner describes. I have gathered here much of my working knowledge of how to nurture the senses through daily home activities.

The Waldorf educational theory of development puts forth the idea of 12 senses, which are sometimes described as “upper” and “lower” and often placed into categories that coincide with the commonly understood “threefold” framework of “thinking, feeling and willing” or “head, heart and hands”. Each of these 12 senses are interconnected on a very deep level. It is suggested that through the nourishment of the senses in younger years, parents, caregivers and teachers can help to lay a foundation and remove obstacles to allow for healthy, happy development throughout life. It is also possible to work with these senses in a remedial way at any age.

The 12 senses:

(“Will” Senses)

Balance
Movement
Life
Touch

("Feeling" Senses)

Temperature
Sight
Taste
Smell

("Thinking" Senses)

Hearing
Speech
Thought
Ego "I"

The first list, the “will” senses are considered to be key foundational senses associated with the earliest phase of childhood, from birth to age 7. These four senses are said to lead to the proper blossoming of the last four “thinking” senses in the adolescent years between 14 and 21. The middle four “feeling” senses are of course key to our experience of the world but they play a special role during the middle phase of childhood from 7-14.

In a general sense, all of the activities of Waldorf education are designed with the understanding of nourishment of the senses. Early education and “old fashioned” home life activities are by nature helpful to the will and feeling senses. Rhythm and harmony in the home and in school are key elements for the natural development of the senses. Art, music, nature and beauty are essential to enlivening the senses. When there are children or individuals who suffer from various difficulties, it can be helpful to work with the strengthening of certain senses to bring about a more harmonious state of being.

It is also worth stating here that a happy and peaceful caregiver is generally able to provide the best environment for children to flourish. Working to harmonize one’s own senses can have profound positive effects on a family, a home, a workplace or classroom. When we feel good, we can do good.

Following is a detailed description of the ideal state of each of the 12 senses and ways in which those senses can be nurtured.

Balance - Awareness of ones own space, ability to rest and find stillness. Posture, flexibility and finding a proper perspective flow from a healthy sense of balance. (Music, rhythmic activities, sequence games, drawing symmetrical or woven forms, carving, climbing, balancing).

Movement - Gracefulness, awareness of ones own movement in space, closeness and distance. Appropriate social behavior comes with a healthy sense of movement. (Walking, dancing, rhythmic games, walking forms and shapes. Drawing on the back with a finger, painting, weaving, finger knitting).

Life - Sense of well-being, soul level peace vs. nervousness, tension or stress. A healthy life sense results in a relaxed, alert and harmonious attitude. Rhythm, healthy sleep, proper digestion and a sense of safety are essential to healthy life sense. (Music, dance, color experiences, form drawing with mirror forms and metamorphic forms, walks or activities in nature).

Touch - Awareness of pressure, resistance, texture. Ability to distinguish oneself from ones surroundings. The birth process is the first opportunity to begin developing the sense of touch. (Swaddling, massage, baths, cocoon or “burrito” wrapping, games involving texture, body and hair brushing, sculpture, setting of clear boundaries). I liked to play the "fishing" game with my boys, either filling a big bin with warm scented water or filling a big bowl or bin with dried beans and hiding little treasures for the boys to try to catch with their toes. Also, the "feely bag" activity of placing several different textured or shaped objects in a dark soft sack and asking the children to guess what shape or guess the object.

Temperature - Warmth, coolness, sympathy, enthusiasm, love. (Activities that transform from one thing to another such as cooking, baking, gardening, building, sculpting. Also social arts and activities like games, singing, acting). Warm baths or warm scented wash cloths are nice in cool weather and cool scented spritzers are nice in hot weather.

Smell - Perception, judgement, memory. (Activities with spiritual connection, time in nature, scent experiences). I love to make my own playdough and add essential oils to the warm fresh dough.

Taste - Digestion, assimilation, ingestion, artistic taste. (Food preparation and meal presentation, painting, music, poetry and the appreciation of those arts). Blindfold taste tests are fun and can serve as a gentle entry into "science" curriculum. It is also great to get kids involved with making food and arranging it in beautiful ways. Wild food salads, home grown tea blends and edible flowers help combine many senses and get kids engaged with healthy food in fun ways.

Sight - Form, color, light, imagination. (Painting, drawing, sculpting, acting).

Hearing - Perception of sounds, tones, words of others, receiving input from the world. (Music, singing, poetry both listening and reciting, acting, experiencing silence). *Connected to the sense of balance.

Speech - Perception of thoughts and expression of thoughts, understanding and expressing through gesture as well as through words. (Poetry, literature, acting, ball bouncing or tossing while reciting, finger knitting, drawing with negative space). *Connected to the sense of movement.

Thought - Understanding of the inner character, ideas and truth. Ability to reflect, use clear judgement. (Metamorphic form drawing and mirror forms, memory games). *Connected to the sense of life.

Ego or the Sense of “I” - Perception of ones individuality and the individuality of others. (Music, dancing, group activities, singing, cooperative activities, spiral forms). *Connected to the sense of touch.

Wild Weekend

It feels surreal to be "getting back to normal" after the weekend storm wee just had! For a few minutes this past Saturday, I thought we might need to evacuate from our house. So much rain fell in such a short time that the ground became completely saturated and earth began sliding all over the place. I have never seen a storm so powerful right next to my house! At one point part of the ditch that runs through my front yard came loose and clogged the drain that runs under the road. Water piled up against our fence and began to wash in large quantities over the road. I was so thankful when the whole neighborhood showed up and went waist deep in the stream to unclog the drain - saving theroad. Near our house (about six feet from the foundation) we have a retaining wall that started to go, tumbling blocks into the stream. Behind the house water flowed down in glassy sheets, every gopher hole ever dug sprang a leak! Two more huge mudslides just on our little road made getting out impossible for hours. Then we found our two main routes into town totally closed with firefighters standing around enforcing things!

Today things are clear and sunny and warm and the flowers are full and perky! It is a wild turn around. The two main roads I mentioned earlier are still in bad shape, losing ground underneath them. But they have opened them both as one lane roads while the county road crew considers the options.

As soon as the storm subsided and things were relatively stable, I went out and stocked up on staples and bought a new shovel! The experience made me realize that we are sorely underprepared for a quick departure. I will take some time this week to try and have a better emergency plan in place. If the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster in Japan was not enough to make me get my act together, a huge storm in my backyard sure did the trick!

Spring Flowers

Spring is really starting to pop around here! I love my dog walks each day lately. Sometimes the fog hugs and sometimes the sky is clear blue and sunny, but always the spring greens and early flowers are full and lively!

My daughter took some wildflower books out of the library this week. I think she intends to make drawings for her art class. I opened one and immediately learned names and interes

ting facts and lore about some of my favorite spring wildflowers.

Here are some striking Hound's Tongue (Cynoglossum grande) growing along the trail on a shady wooded hillside. It gets its name from the shape of its l

eaves. In medieval times it was believed that if you laid these leaves beneath your feet, dogs would not bark at you as it was known to "tie the tongues of dogs". Later it was used, mixed with animal fat as a remedy for dog bites. Native Americans used the roots medicinally to treat colic and ulcers and topically to relieve pain from burns.

I am getting my annual craving for some nettles tea. The young Stinging Nettles (Urtica dioica) in the yard are just right for picking. I find it to be an excellent spring tonic, full of iron and vitality.

More Trouble in the Hen House

After all these years with chickens, I suddenly have one who wants to eat eggs! This is new to me but, apparently it is not that uncommon. For now I seem to have solved it by adding lots of extra straw to the nest box and collecting the eggs several times each day. I am also giving the ladies extra calcium in the form of oyster shells. It may be that a craving for more calcium is driving the egg-pecker to her crime. I began to suspect something was wrong when my daily egg count began declining and I noticed a tell-tale wet and sticky spot in the nest box.

These last two days (since the new measures) my egg count is back up and I have a lovely fresh rainbow in my fridge!

I have one suspect, "Red", my only remaining Rhode Island Red. I already have one hen, Olivia, separated from the group, I really do not want to have to pull Red out as well. I did manage to make Olivia her own private condo, but I have not really had that carpentry craving lately.

Cooking and gardening are my main two pulls right now. Last night I made a rich stock with roasted vegetables and roasted oxtail. The beet tops give the stock this nice red color.


I had a feeling this would be a good meal to serve my family right now. Acacia seems a little low in iron and she needs to be on top of her game right now with the college entrance tests around the corner. Ziah, well, with the fractured jaw I figure feeding him a little oxtail might help his bone healing powers. Rowan is certainly hitting his stride with school and violin and soccer. It is just a joy to watch him in his peak of childhood days. Something about the 10 year old child is such a treasure to behold! I suppose it is made more special for me because I have the other two moving into and through adolescence and all of the new challenges that entails. Now that my youngest is about to move into this next phase of development, I truly savor these last precious days of open innocence. So I think perhaps I too need the extra boost the oxtail soup provides to help me keep up with these kids and other animals in my life!

Miso Soup and Mammograms

I have not made miso soup for a very long time, even though I make some sort of soup just about every week. Today I revisited it and it was delicious! This version was filled with green onion, carrot, daikon, burdock, broccoli and fresh oyster mushrooms. I made it in honor of my very first mammogram, which I received today.

I read ahead in one of my nutritional guides and it suggested drinking carrot juice before and eating miso soup after a mammogram just to help with the processing of any radiation. I also decided to drink a glass of Kombucha and take several droppers of reishi mushrooms for good measure.
I decided a while ago that I would go ahead and get a baseline mammogram at age40. Well, I turned 40 in January this year and so here I am submitting to a very strange machine. I was nervous because of stories I have read and heard about the pain of the actual process, but for me, it truly did not hurt a bit.

Next, after the results come back and I hopefully get the A-ok, I will need to consider whether I will get another mammogram every year. At this moment, I don't like the idea of exposing myself to that sort of x-ray every single year unless there is a reason for concern. When I saw my lady doctor last week we had this same conversation and it appears that even among the experts, there is no clear path.

For today, however, I am just spending some time taking care of myself, a novel idea! I had a luxurious meditation and a fine shower and then soup and garden time!

Mishaps and Mysteries

Well, I wish I could say that I have just been on vacation and that is why I have not posted here in so long.

Part of my trouble with posting here is that my life in changing somewhat. I am no longer a home schooling mom. My kids are not so young anymore. I am still at home, but more of a straight up home-maker, not a home schooler. It is a new identity and since this blog started when I was a home-schooler, I am not certain exactly what to say here that might be interesting. When I was home-schooling I was always planning and full of good ideas. These days, I just move from one task to the next.

One thing that holds true through all my years of parenting is that rhythm is key! I love those weeks when the routine carries itself and our household runs smoothly, with tasty meals served on time, not too much homework and time to relax. I am lucky to get one week out of four like that lately! But I have experienced it and know it to be possible, so that is what I strive for.

This winter has brought a series of mishaps and mysteries with my children, forcing me to rearrange my priorities from one moment to the next. Of course, these trials also make me appreciate how lucky we are in so many ways!



First Rowan failed his vision exam at school. This might explain some of the challenges he has been experiencing with reading and letter reversals! I scheduled him for another exam with our own eye doctor - someone who specializes in developmental optometry, but that is still weeks away, so I have no idea if we will be heading for glasses or special (time consuming and frustrating) exercises or both. Luckily our family has vision insurance!



Next we have Ziah! This boy has had a rough season. First of all he had the flu, bona fide influenza! It is funny that he was the only one in our family to really get knocked down - fever, chills, aches and aches and aches. He missed a full week of school, with his public school teachers and administrators already on my case for too much missed school. He recovered a bit and then went down again with a sinus infection. This time he got antibiotics and began to pull himself together, but not before we had to cancel our annual family trip to the snow. Truly we could not afford the trip to the snow anyway so it was rather a blessing that we had to cancel. The real excitement came, however, when we took a little trip to Austin TX to see some sweet family. Ziah brought along his bike so that he could check out the semi-famous "9th Street Jumps" a series of small and large dirt bike jumps close to the center of the city. Ziah rode well all weekend and then just before we were set to leave for the airport, he wanted me to film him doing one set of jumps that he was proud of. There we all were, the smiling audience when, bang, he hit a tree! He was wearing a helmet but the tree hit his chin straight on, causing much blood and loose teeth! After a stint in the waiting room of the large city ER, we decided to walk out and catch our flight and deal with the whole thing in our home town. This turned out to be a good decision, but that flight seemed much longer than it usually does!



All in all, Ziah was lucky. He did fracture a small portion of his jaw bone (the part that holds the lower teeth in place), but his teeth actually look ok! He did not lose consciousness, something I am happy about with all the new research about repetitive concussions. He did need 9 stitches in his chin, but now he looks even more "badass" to use his phrase. He now has a strange looking wire cage along his lower teeth, but his jaw is not wired shut. He cannot chew for four to six weeks, but his favorite food is soup and he can now have a milkshake every day! Luckiest of all, we have excellent health insurance!


Now for dear Acacia. Hers are the mystery ailments that will require more investigation and may not be the right subject matter to delve too deeply into here in this forum. On the bright side, she is super enthused about school right now and is doing well or even better than well in her high-pressure prep school classes. She has her eye on the prize (which right now is college) and seems to be really coming into her young womanliness beautifully!

Through all of this runs the daily routine - meals, rides, homework, violin, chasing the chickens, hanging the laundry (yes, my dryer broke a while ago) and sweeping up the mountains of dog hair that seem to be taking over! I so look forward every day to my dog walking time. It is for this half hour or so, twice a day, I can breath, be calm, think clearly and spend time with my fur bag of unconditional love and slobber.

Winter Routine

Holiday time has finally arrived in my home! While so many around us were calling itChristmas time right after Thanksgiving, my family needed a little more time to adjust. Feeling the arctic blast that hit the westcoast a week or so ago helped us get into the mood. It was a struggle to get my oldest engaged with our annual family tradition of finding and cutting a tree for the living room, but after a good emotional explosion followed by a cool down session and some healing dialogue, we were able to pull it together and have a fairly smooth and genuine family afternoon.

Now I am on to preparing some little gifts that need to mailed out. In the front of the top photo is a set of felt crowns for my new niece and three year old nephew. I may have already missed the deadline for posting to the Philippines, oh well.

My new typical daily routine is starting to take shape now that all three children are off to school. I wake a bit before 7 to enjoy a bit of coffee with my spouse and then get to work cooking breakfast (usually eggs, sometimes pancakes) and helping with lunches (I make the sandwiches). My darling daughter is now able to drive herself to school! So it is just the two boys I must then shuttle off to be on time when the bell rings. Next I walk the dog, feed the dog, feed the chickens, feed the cats, and generally do the "pet rounds". By now it is usually 9am. Clean-up time. I get the kitchen mess cleaned up, sweep or vacuum up the huge quantity of dog hair, garden dirt and crumbs that has accumulated since the previous day and start a load of laundry. At this point, around 10am, if the house is not in some sort of bigger disaster, I take some time to check email, do paperwork and make phone calls. If I am lucky, I get to do some crafty thing for an hour or so before some more mundane tasks beckon. I like to get the shopping and other errands taken care of before I go pick everyone up beginning at 2:30, but I like to time it just right so I get the maximum time by myself in the house! After all these years with constant company (young children at home, husband working from home and then homeschooling kids) I must say that solitude is such a treat! Once I do pick up the boys and daughter is some or else off with the tutor or at her volunteer job (she's got college applications on her horizon), I help with homework, walk the dog, feed the dog, feed the cats, feed the chickens and start to get ready to feed the humans dinner. Then it is cleaning up again, reading books to the youngest one (such a nice tradition, I will be sad when he no longer wants to be read to), and off to bed.

So when I review my own schedule I wonder how I managed before I had this "extra" time. Now that I have a routine, I also notice how often things are out of the ordinary. There seems to be always some child or some pet who is not feeling well and this requires lots of extra attention and fussing and sometimes trips to the doctor or vet. The other day it was actually me who needed the attention. I was walking the dog in the afternoon and the dog wander

ed off to check out the neighbors compost heap. I spotted a different neighbors new cat (a youngster and very cute and sweet) and took the opportunity to pet and pick up the little kitty. This was dumb because my dog then came bounding out of the woods, all excited to say hello to kitty as well. The cat freaked out and scratched me, hooking my lip deeply as it leaped away. I felt

the cut and the blood and immediately went into a mild panic (I must admit that first thing I though of was the scar - such vanity!). I cleaned up and headed to the urgent care. No stitches

but an ugly fat lip with a big red scratch!

When my husband first saw it he was so sweet, assuring me that it was not that bad and reminding my of my herbal knowledge. Ah yes, I do have a good relationship with many good skin herbs. I have been doing warm compresses with plantain and calendula and massaging arnica oil and vitamin E. No signs of infection. I think it will all be ok! I will say that I did not cook dinner on the night of the big scratch! We had take out.

Reinventing

Such a long time between my posts! I have been keeping busy, that is for sure, but not many photos. Lately I have been spending my days trying to reinvent myself, find a new rhythm as a stay at home mom with kids at school. Probably the most notable recent event to announce is Acacia passed her drivers test and is now officially licensed! My oldest child is a driver! Amazing. Besides all the driving practice practice practice that led up to the big test, I have been keeping my house pleasantly clean, making nice meals, baking good treats and sitting down for some luxurious handwork! I even got an order for a dozen of my little felt hummingbirds from a sweet local garden shop Now that is encouraging!

Another fun project that I have finally had time for has been making herbal massage oils and salves. It is such a luxurious craft, capturing the bounty of the garden and slathering all of this rich oil on my hands as I steep and stir and pour.

Halloween has come and gone. We decorated and baked up a storm, and then a real storm came and washed away our party plans! Oh well, maybe next year...

Giveaway Winner!

Happy Michaelmas everyone!

Congratulations to the Tan Family and to Jennifer Tan of Syrendell fame and Gosh Yarn It goodness! The Tan Family is the winner of my little Giveaway. Of course, my offerings pale in comparison to the Tan's, but it is fun to share around. You can check out all of the wonderful ideas, crafts and musings that she has to share by checking out her blog: http://syrendell.blogspot.com.

A big thanks to everyone who took the time to make a comment on my little creations!

I hope I can post more often and get some more giveaways going, this has been fun! For this Michalemas, however, I will be attempting to tame the spelling dragon that is causing so much distress in our homework sessions!

September

Rowan, my youngest, has decided to stay at school, changing my role as homeschooling mom completely! Now I am homework mom. I have my mornings "free" for once and it is a lovely respite. The house is cleaner than it used to be, but it is never spotless (they do all come home eventually) It is amazing what can happen in just a few hours with three hungry kids doing homework! So I am doing the basics and then letting some mess stay so I can do the fun stuff (gardening, baking, crafting, maybe a little yoga). Who knows how long this lull will last?

Now we are reading the Norse Myths at home in the evenings. This is the one part of the Waldorf Fourth Grade curriculum that Rowan really did not want to miss by going to public school. He remembers these stories in a dreamy way from when I taught them to my older son a few years ago. So, lucky me, I still get to delve into the stories of bold Thor, all-knowing Odin, beautiful Sif and that trickster Loki!

As the school year began, it became clear that Rowan needed a refresher on his times tables! His teacher sent home a worksheet with 36 Basic Facts and I created some watercolor flash cards to make the experience more lovely. We created a game with them, hiding a small treasure or coin underneath each one and setting a timer to give it an extra challenge! These 36 basic facts don't include the zeros, ones, tens, elevens or twelves, so we spent a little time talking about those easy facts.

So far the shift in roles has been mostly painless and it is giving me time to create more fun felt goodies and work on some new designs for my old sweater upcycling project. It is nice to feel like the time I put into making these crafts is not pulling time away from other duties.

Big Changes

Well, I was planning on regular posts here as the school year started, but then everything changed! Rowan has gone off to school! This journey has been such an adventure and I have tried to take each year as it comes, watching each of my three children learn and grow and find their way. The youngest has been home the longest, but it seems that the time has come to let him fly a bit further from the nest!

So now what to do with myself? And what to do with this blog? I feel like I am just warming up to it. I think I will keep it for a while and see if I can find a new relationship to it, but right now I imagine it will stay rather quiet around here while I relax into my new role...

A Giveaway

I love to paint on Mondays, even in summer, even when we are not schooling. Something I never tire of is playing with color, so I end up with sheets of finished watercolors and wonder what to do with them.
thing I have done is create several sets of alphabet cards, both print and cursive. First I created them for my home classroom and later made some for others. It is a nice way to make something useful out of my artistic impulse and it keeps the stack of paintings in my closet from hitting the ceiling!

Yesterday I was painting and making some alphabet cards and looking at the little scraps of paper left after the cutting process. I have been thinking a lot lately about the concept of "zero waste" and how possible that really is. For a long time now I have been using re-usable grocery bags, storing things in old shoe boxes, recycling, composting, seeking out local foods or growing them myself, raising chickens and worms (both excellent composters). But I am seeing newspaper articles and little stickers in shop windows claiming "zero waste" status and wondering how I can, in my own way create less waste. Perhaps I am thinking about this because of the ongoing saga in my own household regarding our septic system. I have become way too familiar with the ins and outs of our literal waste system this summer! Looking for ways to reduce how we tax our home system has made me more aware of other areas where I can try to reduce waste in my life.

So, when I saw these little scraps of paper I thought about what I could do to make use of them. I came up with the idea for some little greeting cards. Once I had the scrap pile whittled down to only very thin strips I let the worms take care of those!

Now I have this sweet set of four paper collage note cards. One thing I realized was that it took a lot of extra time to sit and make something else out of my little scraps. But the activity was artistic and I was thankful that I had the time to spend. I may not always have the extra time, but now I know that there is always something more I can do. In honor of the project and to encourage others to think of ways to reduce waste in their hobbies, art and lives, I am offering the set of four cards as a giveaway. Just leave a comment here and I will enter you into a random drawing on 30 September 2010.

Getting Ready

It is fun to plan for the next school year! Today I cleaned my bedroom. It felt wonderfulto get all of the dust out of the corners and to begin to sort through curriculum materials for fourth grade.

When I thinkof fourth grade, I smile. The well balanced ten year old, the prime of childhood! There is a symmetry in fourth grade that completely resonates with the study of Norse mythology, fractions, long division and the movement toward science in the Human and Animal block. When I look at my older daughter's work, I see everything in rainbow colors and lovely, imaginative drawings with a new orderliness in the writing samples. My older son, who was actually home schooling in fourth grade benefited from form drawing and tongue twisters and poem's with rhythm. We learned to tie knots, paint animals and sew cross stitch.

The weather and the calendar of events in my area are inspiring me to begin our school year with a block on Local and Natural History, combining a focus on the human and animal with stories of and from local Native American tribes. An Ohlone Day celebration takes place near us in early September. I have been working on a story that involves a young Ohlone boy who sees himself in the still water of a pond. In this he notices some qualities of himself and realizes how different he is from an animal like the fish who swims by in the water or the bird that flies overhead. He will then have a long (something new every day for a month) talk with his grandfather about what it means to be human and admiring the gifts of many animals. I can then weave together some of the early history of California as well as a study of some of the many native animals of California. I don't have it all worked out perfectly yet, but then again, things often don't go exactly as I plan them...

My new clutch of hens has started to lay eggs! I have been waiting expectantly for weeks now and yesterday we had two small brown eggs. After a summer of bravely fending off the predators and watching the hens grow from little fluffy things into full sized clucking ladies, I am finally seeing the little gems they can produce.

Entering the county fair every year means that we often spend the first couple of weeks in September making and preparing entries for the fair. It also helps bring a personal connection to the fair itself and this makes the whole event more fun. This year Rowan plans to enter the baking contest, the Lego contest and the vegetable creature contest. I entered a little family of wool sheep inthe needle felting display.

Summertime

A summer of ups and downs so far: one child with a broken heart, one with an (almost) broken head and one who is just bored.

But I think that boredom is good for children once in a while. Besides, with a week in Southern California, a week in New York City and now two weeks of Celtic Fiddle Camp underway, my youngest really doesn't have much to complain about. I think sometimes he believes that summer should be about having some fun exciting plan for each day. The trouble comes because I want summer to be about having as few plans as possible. So we try to meet in the middle.

As for the broken heart, that has been a healthy process as well, as far as I can tell. My oldest had a sweet relationship that lasted quite a while, but, these young hearts grow fickle and things must change. The nice thing for me is that I have had some very nice hours to spend with this most interesting teenager. One huge first for me is teaching her how to drive! I am amazed again and again to see what a capable individual she is becoming!

And then there is my daredevil! My middle child. When he becomes transfixed with a hobby/sport/passion, he throws himself full force into the pursuit. So it is with his bmx bike and the tricks and jumps and routines he can perform with aid bike. He is careful and thankfully he always wears a helmet and that is what saved him from anything more serious than a concussion and an awful case of road rash on his dear cheeks. No skull cracking so far! It is a risky sport and some ask me how I can allow him to do it, but those people don't really know this child and how silly it is to think of me, his mom, telling him to stop pursuing his passion. Anyway, he suffered through it and seems to have grown from the experience.

As for me, I just try to get into the garden whenever I have a spare moment!

Finishing Up

Much has happened in these past weeks, of course. Our school year is winding down and we found a very peaceful way to do this by returning once again to the Old Testament Stories. We picked up with Moses and spent a full week delving into his life and journey. Next we touched on some of the well known stories of the Bible: Samson and Delilah, David and Goliath and Jonah and the Whale. These stories enlivened Rowan's imagination and brought out great drawings from him. It was a nice way for me to bring closure on this third grade year and its Old Testament theme.

For the past week we have been reviewing the year, looking at all of our paintings and main lesson books and trying to recall our best memories from the year. Most of Rowan's best memories had to do with our wonderful home school group that meets each Friday for crafts, festivals and an annual play production. This group has so enriched our home schooling experience, I am not sure how we would have managed without it.

Now summer approaches and I feel the pull into my own personal pursuits. I love being a home school mom but I also love the perk of summer vacation!

Spinning Cocoons

We had a terrible tragedy in our neighborhood last week and I have found myself a bit untethered. I am distracted and cloudy feeling and find myself lost in thought all the time. It is certainly true that something like this helps bring things into perspective, count our blessings, avoid sweating about the small stuff. As I work to reconcile my own feelings and wrestle with my own faith during this dark time, I find myself also needing to guide, teach and protect my little guy, Rowan.

We are moving sweetly and steadily through a gardening block. This week was just right for my tender mood. We studied butterflies and other insects in the garden. I was lucky enough to receive a butterfly habitat and a little kit with live caterpillars a couple of weeks ago and this week they all miraculously spun themselves into chrysalis. Along with this we had poems, stories and books out from the library. I have a lovely copper ball and found an exercise in Audrey McAllen's The Extra Lesson that involves spiraling the ball around the body from the feet to the head with the imagery of spinning a cocoon and being safe inside. This felt like something concrete I could do with Rowan to help him feel safe even with the sadness and uncertainty that has gone on around us this past week.

Our painting last week was of spring butterflies and so this week I continued the spiral theme and we painted big blue and red spirals. After the copper ball exercise and painting the spirals, Rowan was able to write and read significantly faster and smoother than last week. I am not completely sure there is a connection, but it was a remarkable jump he had this week in his academic ability.
The very best part the gardening block is gardening! We garden all year every year here and Rowan has always been a great helper in the yard, but with this block, he took special pride in our little projects. We worked on mending some raised beds to keep the gophers out (hopefully!) and we pulled weeds, trimmed back the rosemary (again!) and transplanted 14 small cypress trees to a more suitable location on our property. Spring flowers are in full force right now and we soaked in the aromatic beauty and felt as busy and as happy as the bees all around us.

We found a crumbling dyer's mushroom in the garden when we were exploring for garden bugs and decided to have some fun with science and dye some wool felt with different plants and mordants. Rowan is becoming good at measurement and thermometer reading. This dying project was a chance for him to practice those skills in a very practical way.

Finally I pulled out the clay and worked with the methods presented by Hella Loewe in her book Basic Scupltural Modeling: Developing the Will by Working with Pure Forms in the First Three Grades. We began the series of exercises some time ago and it was quite challenging for Rowan to attain a smooth sphere without using the table to pound the clay. This time around, however, Rowan was much more able to work with the different forms with only the force of his palms. We worked through several forms: sphere, oval, egg, saddle. At the very end, Rowan quickly transformed his smooth saddle form into the head of a snake with large fangs! I agreed that he could let it dry like that and put my own sphere back into plastic for another day.

Spring Garden

Our farming and gardening block is so much fun! One thing we just had to do to kick start the block was drop by the local feed and seed and pick up six new darling chicks. Once again, the broom closet is a little barn as we raise up our chicks to be big enough to move into the outside coop.



I found a nice poem to begin our gardening block with by A. Fairman in Wynstones: Spring

A little brown bulb went to sleep in the ground.
In his little brown nightie he slept very sound.
Old Winter he roared and raged overhead.
But the little brown bulb did not move in his bed.
But when Spring came tiptoeing over the lea,
With fingers to lips as soft as can be.The little brown bulb just lifted his head,
Slipped off his nightie and jumped out of bed!

Here is Rowan's rendition of the poem:


We started our formal lessons by reviewing the seasons and the months of the year. We sang the "Months Song" many times and worked out some creative charts. Thanks to Our Little Nature Nest blog, I also found this lovely book online called "Bobby of Cloverfield Farm" by Hellen Fuller Orton http://manybooks.net/titles/ortonhf2865228652.html. This story is simply a perfect accompaniment to our farming and gardening block.

This week, our painting theme was
"The Four Seasons Color Wheel".

Rowan's is on the left, mine on the right.

After our verse, poem, story period, Rowan cannot wait to get outside and actually garden every day! We have been focusing on the soil, getting it ready, checking different garden beds for soil that is too heavy or too sandy, turning the compost so it will be ready sooner, feeding our friendly worm bin and cleaning our the hen's big coop so that we can make use of their fine manure (after it sits a while and cools down!) We cheated a bit and used store-bought potting mix to start some early seeds (squash and cucumbers and lettuce). As we were weeding one bed, I decided to transplant a couple of the "weeds" we had pulled (an evening primrose and some foxgloves). I talked to Rowan about root division and the difference between plants grown from seed and those made from cuttings or division (I am keeping this in mind for a little math work later: division review). After we finish about an hour's worth of gardening, Rowan has plenty to write about in his daily gardening journal.After he finished his youth orchestra performance, Rowan came right home and burned his music! I was a little surprised at this, but now he is super focused on learning some new fiddle songs and it is amazing to see how much better he is at both reading music and picking up the rhythms! The orchestra experience, despite his nervousness, was so positive, I hope he will do it again. He has already said he is looking forward to Celtic Camp this summer (a fun local strings music camp focused on Celtic and other fiddle tunes - combined with climbing trees, swimming and running around in the woods).