Verses

Tweeking our daily routing, I have added verses into the mix.
I really enjoyed using them today. It gave a lovely sense of rhythm to everything & as an added bonus, it lead us very naturally into prayer, at regular intervals.
The verses came from Seven Times the Sun: Guiding Your Child Through the Rhythms of the Day by Shea Darian I subtly changed a couple to apply them to our Christian beliefs.
Here is what we are doing;

Upon waking:
Verse:
The light opens up & I walk in,
the day invites me to begin
I ask the Lord, ‘How shall I start?”
Says the Lord, “With a wish upon your heart.”

Prayer from daytime book

Mealtimes
Prayer from mealtime book

Chore Time
Verse:
I meet my work
with strong limbs (with fists, raise arms out in front, chest height)
open hands, (open hands with palms up)
proud heart. (cross hands & bring palms to chest)

Prayer
Song:
Many hands make light work.
Many hands make light work.
Work together, work together
M-a-ny hands.

Beginning school time:
Song:
Come to the circle where dreams are found,
Take my hand, we’ll dance around;
Ha-la, Ha-la, Ha-la, Ha-lo,
Round & round & round we go.

Prayer

Quiet Time
verse:
Quiet now, we pause to rest, (finger on lips)
Silence is our tranquil nest (cup hands)
Our movement stilled,our voices cease, (finger on lips)
we bathe our souls in quiet peace. (cross hands & bring palms to chest)
Prayer

Bedtime
our bedtime routine is as follows:

Bathtime & story with daddy.


Bible Story whilst eating supper ; always warm milk with cinnamon, wholemeal toast spread with butter & honey.

Light our candle & sit around it.

Verse:
There is a candle by my bed,
It dances as with cheer,
While I say prayers for those in need,
& those I hold most dear.
there is a candle by my bed,
It’s there to let me know
Our Lord hears my bedtime prayers
In the low light of its glow.
And though I reach to blow it out
When my prayers are done,
that little flame lives in my heart,
‘Till the day returns with the sun.

Prayer: from book

Peacemaking:

Blessed are the peacemakers
for they shall be called the children of God
Matt 5:94

Prayer

Healing: (when someone has an accident, or is unwell)
verse:
Bring me ointments,
Bring me herbs to smell,
But mostly bring a gentle kiss
To soothe & make me well.

Prayer

Just a note to clarify; When I state 'from book' next to our payers, we have a series of board books; each one with a different theme; daytime, mealtimes, sleepy times, special times & so forth. The prayers in here are super-short & make lovely spring boards for our own prayers.

The Beauty of Maths

This week I will be telling the girls the story of "The Fairy Tree of Evens"
This is a wonderful activity I have gleaned from the files section of the wonderful waldorfhomeeducators yahoo group.

My tree has been painted onto a glass door in my dining room. Oh, this was fun! I used brown, gold, red, orange & yellow paints.



the Fariy Tree is a place where fairies like to go about with a friend! Oh yes, the Star Fairies wear silver and sparkles and hold hands as they fly, and the Moon Fairies love Cream Colored dresses with Lavender Ribbons, and the Sun Fairies have curly red hair and like flashy bracelets and little pointed orange silk pantelets with bells that ring around their slim ankles, the Rainbow Fairies dress in a riot of color and tumble left and right to form arcing flashes of color, and of course the Raindrop Brothers have dripping locks of dark ringlets and wide smiles like those lights that form in the dancing wet places, their feet are clothed in dark blue slippers with silver tips and their tunics have silver threads woven in and out in beautiful patterns….and their bright green caps gleam with miniature dewdrops, like bright jewels all over!

Here are my fairies: (There are lots & lots of them - they are made with watercolour paper & painted to correspond with the fairies in the story)



The fairies that live in the tree help Mother Oak keep track of her Acorn Children. Each of these children likes to climb the tree sometimes to visit their mother and she likes them to hold hands as they go to be safe and careful, and the Fairies come and help keep the children so safe as they climb and play……..this is the fun part. They climb with their friends and finally sit alone with their mother.

Here are the watercolours to be used for numbering the Acorn children;



And here are the acorns themselves :)



Sorry this isnt a great photograph. The acorns are needled felted & glued into acorn caps.

I made this little bag for everything to be kept in when not in use:



This really is a lovely, simple story for teaching the quality of numbers to 6 & 7 year olds. I am really looking forward to getting going with this, this week.

My New Blackboard

Oh, I love it!
I used a piece of large MDF we had leftover from a household project & painted it with blackboard paint.
Here it is in all its glory, with my drawing for this weeks language arts lesson 'T'

Things to make & do...

Besides focusing on our maths, this morning, we did plenty of making:
We made Breakfast bread:



We made Fudge:





And we made Beeswax polish so the girls can lovingly care for their Freshly sorted toys.
It was very simple to make; we melted some beeswax & olive oil (i used quite a lot of oil, as I wanted a more 'creamy' texture. You could try adding only a little oil & make 'polishing crayons' for your children to rub onto their toys & then buff with a cloth)
When all has melted together, allow to cool, then add a few drops of essential oils - we used mandarin, which is known as "the children's remedy" in France for its broad range of soothing effects.
Mix well & pour into a nice clean jar.



I intend to store this in a tiny basket, with some wee dusters & think up a lovely story to tell, as we do our polishing :)
Have a lovely day

My New Planner

I thought I would share with you my new school planner



Isnt that cover adorable!

I have taken all my homeschool planning sheets, printed them & had them spiral bound at my local Staples Office Supply Store.
The first page contains my name & telephone number, should my precious planner & I be parted; & an inspiring quote to keep my eye on the ball, so to speak :)
The following few pages contain our favourite verses for Circle Time



Then comes my timetables page;who is doing what & when during schooltime & our circle time activites & weekly rhythm (yet to be marked in)



Next up is our day to day schedule - ahem, rhythm (I must remember that word, as we are following more of a waldorf path this year!)



The next page features all the festivals/birthdays/special days that we celebrate each year, plus full moons etc.



Some planning info & a goals page (yet to be marked in)
These pages are taken from Melisa's EBook.



I then have a page for each season, with each month planned out as to our goals for each subject.
Our subjects this year are:
French
Maths
Language Arts
History
Faith
*lots* of creativity & Nature Study
Artist Study



Then we get on to the bulk of the planner; my weekly planning sheets



Last but not least I thought I would share my matching box of matches :)
(aarghh! I forgot to add this photo & have since deleted it! - I simply covered a large matchbox with the same cardstock as my planner)
I am planning to re read this lovely book & make our bedtime routine more creative again. Creative, but simple. We already have the story, snuggle/nursing & prayers; but we have gone back to lighting a candle & saying a verse or written prayer. There is something very special about the familiarity of this routine that little ( & not-quite-so-little ones adore.

Happy planning & sweet dreams!

The Clutter Monster

One of my New Year Goals was the following:
"8. Simplify. How , what & when I am not yet sure...i just know that everything within me is crying out to live a more simple life..."

I faffed around thinking about it & then I read an article on the waldorf home educators Yahoo group
The article is called The Issue of Toys, Children, and Materialism.
This is an article you need to read!
It moved me to the point that this weekend, my girls went to stay with their grandparents & I attacked our home like a crazy lady!
I have filled around 10 black plastic bags with toys/clothes & other clutter, that has either been freecycled or taken to the rubbish tip.
My home is 'lighter' my head is 'lighter' I am so happy with the results.
According to Marsha (who wrote the above article) I need to do this again in three months. It's a date with myself that is going on the calendar!

The Autumn Sensory Table

I have been mulling over some ideas for our sensory table during the autumn months.
Our is going to be themed according to our nature study for that month, but here are some general ideas i have come across:

Leaves & little wooden woodland creatures
Rice (dyed in autumnal colours
Acorns
Pinecones
Applesauce (for the really brave mummy!)
All types of seedpods
Lentils
Pumpkin seeds
Nuts

Strawberry Jam & Butterflies

We made some delicious strawberry jam & here is the recipe.
It needs to be started the day before:



Of course it helps if you have a hear-shaped strawberry :)



Boiling up:



The finished article:



We immediately opened one jar & tucked in; the others were gifted to neighbours.

Just for good measure, one of our butterflies hatched.
Just stunning.

This year, we are having help with our Maths....

Meet the maths gnomes



& King Equals



We are going to have some fun this year ;)

Or First Day Back at School

What a busy, fun filled day!
We began with our first day photographs:



not quite what I had in mind, but lovely, anyway ;)

Here is our sensory table, all set up for our theme for August: Shells & Sand



The girls are digging in



Mid-morning came a huge surprise for me; a package from my new pen friend Lisa



She has sent the most thoughtful & lovely gift; everything I need to knit a beautiful lace shawl; and the best bit - she will be knitting it too! Our very own knit-along!
After I had recovered from the shock of such a gorgeous surprise, we finished off our lessons & had lunch. Rose went to have lunch with Granny & Grandad, as this is her routine for Mondays :)
Elianna had quiet time & I set up for our monthly artist study.
This month we looked at Jackson Pollock.
Here we are, all set up for afternoon tea & artist study;





The shells for our 'inspiration'



& our working area;



Elianna;



Her first piece;



Second piece;



& my piece;



Miss Rose is now home & has eaten all her gingerbread & I am about to make dinner
have a good day yourself :)

Celebrating the first day back at school

As today is our first day 'back at school' I thought I would share our traditions. We are a little early this year; normally we begin in september, but as we are taking a two week break in September, we started early this year.

Back To School -
Proverbs 2:2-6
So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding;
Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding;
If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures;
Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.
For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.

Photographs in the morning
Alphabet Soup for lunch!
A back to school Tea Party..


Gingerbread Alphabet Cookies
Ingredients
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter 3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs 1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup molasses 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp. cinnamon 1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ginger
1 tsp. baking soda
Heat the oven to GM 4.
Directions
In a large bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Mix in the molasses and the vanilla extract.
In another bowl, combine the remaining ingredients. Then add the flour mixture to the butter mixture a little at a time, stirring well each time. Cover the dough and chill for at least 2 hours.
On a floured surface, roll the dough flat to a 1/4-inch thickness. Now your kids can cut out large letters with a butter knife.
With a spatula, set the letters on a lightly greased baking sheet. Bake for about 10 minutes or until the cookies are set. Yield varies depending on the size of the letters.



Hot Mulled Cider
Pour 1/2 a carton of fresh apple juice into a large pot on the stove.
Place 1/4 teaspoon of whole cloves, 1/4 teaspoon of whole allspice, and 1 cinnamon stick onto a square of cheesecloth and tie up. Add to the pot.
Heat the cider to a boil, stirring regularly. Leave the pot uncovered so that you and your family can enjoy the warm, delicious aroma.
Once the cider boils, lower the setting to simmer for another 5 minutes to allow for thorough infusion of the spices. Stir occasionally.
Remove the spices from the pot and ladle hot mulled cider into mugs or other glasses designed for hot beverages.