tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-264984572024-03-13T12:28:05.186+01:00Schooling from the heartWaldorf homeschoolingSarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00694034873325873385noreply@blogger.comBlogger365125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26498457.post-16783729853867357492013-06-01T15:43:00.001+02:002013-06-01T16:21:17.537+02:00a beautiful mess<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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We had endless days of sunshine in April, and I spent most of my extra time in the garden. Digging new ground takes quite a bit of work. With only a shovel and a hoe it is slow, back-breaking work. Square meter by square meter.<br />
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We removed the grass and uncovered rusty nails the size of a baby's arm, tin foil, old plastic pots, and stonework. We pulled up nettle roots and an army of cockchafer grubs. We dug up kitchenware, half-burnt logs, and the remains of a forgotten compost heap. We watered the soil with our sweat by day, and discovered our bodies awash with a multitude of harvest mite and midge bites by night.<br />
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We also cleaned the greenhouse, overrun with moss and algae from years of disuse. Without an outside tap, this meant lugging bowl after bowl of hot water and scrub brushes from the kitchen sink down the hill to where our greenhouse rests near the back garden. Once the sun could shine through the streaked glass, we started on the soil. We discovered that soil that hasn't seen rain for several years actually repels water.<br />
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Tucked around the side of the greenhouse we found a large rain barrel. It was full to the brim with a thick layer of slime on top and smelled strongly of algae and something I couldn't put my finger on. Next to the barrel was a coiled up hose, and we used it to siphon some of the water out. The pungent smell only intensified, so we tipped the barrel over and let its contents run down into the small apple orchard. In the bottom of the barrel remained the carcass of a large rat. What wasn't already decomposed was still bloated.<br />
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We lugged more water from the kitchen faucet. More buckets than we could count. We dug in large amounts of compost, and still the rising dust choked my lungs. It wasn't perfect, but we planted. Slowly at first. A few purchased starts, some seeds. We cleaned off the potting table and began in earnest, sorting seeds, checking the calendar for optimal planting days, filling our pots, watering, and waiting. Slowly, ever slowly, things started to grow-- both things we planted and seeds that had been waiting in that soil for years.<br />
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And naturally, we weeded, both inside and out. We pulled out dandelions and couch grass, horsetail and bindweed. And then we pulled out an inordinate number of weeds we could not name. The more we weeded, the more weeds seemed to grow. Gardening is like that. Initial effort leads to the need for continued effort. It is never finished. That's not the nature of gardening.<br />
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But after weeks of steady work, we have something to show for the effort. We have a garden teaming with both vegetable plants and weeds. Though the forces of nature are forever trying to enclose itself back upon our work, we now have spinach, salad greens and arugula ready for harvesting.<br />
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Despite the fact that it was a heck of a lot of work, it still doesn't look like much. I could get down and capture the magnificence of individual plants, particles of soil where the weeds have been cleverly pinched out. I could find the right angle and photoshop around the edges so you can't see the dying cucumbers or the teeming piles of rubbish in the neighbor's yard. I could show you the overflowing colander of freshly washed spinach leaves, the bright arugula pesto, or the delicate ornamental salad arranged on our best plate with just a trickle of mustard-laced balsamic and fresh mint.<br />
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As bloggers, we do that all the time. We aim to inspire through minutiae, through cleverly focused shots of our food, our children, our clothes, and yes, even our gardens. Even though the big picture tells a similar story, we can't see it. When we pull back our focus, the line between extraordinary and ordinary gets blurred, and suddenly we are drowning in the mundane everydayness of it all. We are small. Our accomplishments are dwarfed by the lens, so that we appear puny in our normalcy, by the realness of it all. And we are not anything, if not extraordinary.<br />
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I just don't have the energy lately to appear extraordinary, so you'll just have to take my word for it.<br />
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With the lens pulled back, this is my garden.<br />
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As you can see, it's far from perfect. It's actually somewhat of a mess. It's a beautiful mess, though. A mess with a history, wrought by countless hours of sweat and tears. A mess with promise, possibility, and potential.<br />
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Oh, how it reminds me of homeschooling.<br />
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Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00694034873325873385noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26498457.post-3255326576243608542013-03-27T00:40:00.001+01:002013-06-01T20:35:22.902+02:00One, the Sun! (part 2)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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A couple of months ago I posted the first half of our Quality of Numbers main lesson. I honestly didn't mean to leave off on posting the second half for so long, but life had other plans. Apologies to anyone who was worried that those kids would never get out of the enchanted tunnel. I hope it hasn't kept you up at night. ;)</div>
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If you find yourself wondering what the heck I'm talking about, please see part one of this story here: <a href="http://twiningoaks.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/one-sun.html" target="_blank">"One, the Sun!"</a></div>
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For those of you who wishing I would just get on with it, I will try to keep it short and sweet-- just like tunnel number six, which was....</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #222222;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">6 - a drop down into a deep room filled with huge crystals... OR a beehive loaded down with honey (the sound of buzzing is a nice effect). I did the crystal story with Sunburst, and her characters had to actually stack up the crystals to climb out. Luckily, they were able to carry just one back to the dragon. With Moonshine and Kitty Bill, the treasure was a bit of honeycomb, and we were mesmerized by the perfect six-sided forms.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #222222;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">8 - a spider web with a spider. This one landed on the prince's head! My son laughed so hard he fell out of his chair.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #222222;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">9 - they meet a fox who had previously stolen the dragon's 3 golden scales. If they can answer a riddle, he will return the golden scales. If not, well... they must agree to lead him out of the cave and he keeps the scales. I used "When I was going to St. Ives..." and changed the central number in the riddle from seven to nine. We drew three golden triangles (dragon scales) and noticed that there are not only nine points, but nine lines as well.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #222222; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">10 - they find fireflies, but this poses a problem, for without jars how will they catch ten? Or do they need to catch ten? ---With a bit of make believe firefly catching, we come to the stunning realization that it is the child's hands which holds the treasure of ten.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #222222; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Now this is where the Quality of Numbers lesson gets a bit fuzzy, because not one of the resources I have ever encountered mentions any suggestions for the number eleven. Like the last day of creation in the Grade 3 Creation study, the number eleven gets no mention.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #222222; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">11 - When I first tried teaching this block, I tried to stay in the natural world for number eleven. I couldn't think of anything, so I settled in with a suggestion from my good friend Moxy Jane to use moonbeams. That worked okay for Sunburst, but by the time I taught Moonshine, I had realized there wasn't a wrong answer for this number. Eleven is simply ten plus one more, and it doesn't matter what you're counting. So you might as well make it fun!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #222222; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">For Moonshine's story, at the end of the eleventh tunnel there was an eleven-piece matryoshka doll (for a girl who has a VERY soft spot for nesting dolls, this was a real treat). And for Kitty Bill, who has been developing a new interest in all things dinosaur, there was a shovel and the boys dug up eleven dinosaur bone segments. (Yes, segments, because as you and I know, eleven bones does not a skeleton make.) He was thrilled, both by the story and by the drawing.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #222222; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If you're still struggling with the number eleven, <a href="http://untroddenpaths.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank">Eva</a> of Untrodden Paths has contributed some wonderful suggestions:</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #222222; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2b1e15; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 14px;">For number eleven: I used Joseph's dream of the eleven sheaves of corn bowing to him. You could also use the eleven stars bowing down to Joseph in his second dream. For another, </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2b1e15; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 14px;">more grade one-like, idea: H.C. Andersen wrote a fairy-tale called "The Wild Swans," which is about eleven swans (eleven brothers). That would be perfect I think!</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #2b1e15; font-family: Georgia, Times, serif; font-size: 14px;">"</span></blockquote>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #222222; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And finally... 12.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #222222;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />There are a few different things people use for the number twelve-- a clock, a dozen eggs, the Twelve Dancing Princesses... They all felt like such an anti-climax for me. I wanted to end the story with something marvelous, and in my exhaustive search I found a very strange video that spoke to me. I called it further proof that inspired story ideas can come from anywhere, including marketing videos designed by internet marketing firms. Who knew?!<br /><br /><a href="http://web.twelvehorses.com/swf/legend.html" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">http://web.twelvehorses.com/<wbr></wbr>swf/legend.html</a></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #222222;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">12 - this tunnel opened up directly upon a field of twelve horses all under an enchantment. As this was the final tunnel, it was our most outrageous story. The story characters had to figure out A. why aren't the horses responding?, and B. how to break the enchantment. It was a favorite with both the girls and Kitty Bill, and it really spoke to them deeply.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #222222; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I borrowed the above "legend" and the horse constellation for our "twelve" picture, but in my version of the story the chariot belonged to the Sky Queen. The adult in this story remembered the legend and shared it with the kids, who exclaimed, "These must be the horses!!" But how do we break the enchantment and bring them back to the dragon?<br /><br />The characters in the story tried many things-- as many things as my children could think of to "wake up" the horses... yelling, whispering, sitting on them, pinching them, tickling them, kicking them... it went on and on, until finally, they sat to ponder the problem over lunch. The main character took out his handwork, and as he worked, he began to hum. A horse twitched! The other characters noticed, and after much guesswork, they began to put the clues together. There was a lot of humming, but this only produced twitches from the horses... curious! Finally, with much guesswork on behalf of both the characters and my child, our main character decided to sing from his heart.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #222222; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"Ponies, now ponies, don't you worry.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #222222; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I'm not here to steal your fire away.<br />I want to fly with you across the sunrise.<br />And remember what begins each shining day."<br />--the chorus from "Ponies" by Michael Martin Murphy.<br /><br />As the character sang to each horse, it awoke from the enchantment. Each time we sang, it was louder and bolder, until we were bursting with song. The pure delight and joy on each of my children's faces, on the separate occasions they heard this story, was priceless. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #222222; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It touched something deep in their hearts and souls that I can't even begin to put my finger on. But these moments? </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #222222; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">That's what homeschooling is about!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222;"><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;">After the enchantment was broken, the dragon came soaring out of the cave to thank and congratulate them. The Sky Queen, in </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;">all her radiance, appeared before the story characters. She thanked them dearly, and presented the story child who first broke the enchantment with a special gift... a flute made from the magic pear tree. This was the GREATEST GIFT (as the video legend says and thus interpreted by me) --giving them the means with which to communicate without words and with nature itself. Music is its own kind of magic, after all.</span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;">At the end of this lesson, I presented my child his/her very own flute made from the magic pear tree --the quinta Choroi pentatonic flute. It's with this flute that, at the end of the alphabet lesson, our characters can call an animal friend for a lift home-- for Sunburst and Kitty Bill it was the dragon itself, and for Moonshine it was a great white bird.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse;">This was another one of these moments that no words can adequately describe, but I feel like presenting them with their very own flute in this way gave them a heightened reverence for it. Music touches us so deeply, both man and beast, and I wanted them to start out on that footing. This is a special way of communicating. Guard it wisely. Honor, revere, and develop it. And know that music is a sacred gift.</span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #222222; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Of course this was the end of our first mathematics story, which was really just a story inside another story. Filled with joy and happiness, we then continued on with the original alphabet journey which culminates in a cheerful, happy ending.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: collapse; color: #222222; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Afterwards, the flute accompanies us as we work our way into another form drawing block and on into another maths lesson.</span></div>
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As for the last few drawings above, I left those completely up to my children to work on independently. Funnily enough, they each chose to draw the horses, the Sky Queen, and the dragon. These are all Kitty Bill's drawings and text. I am completely charmed by his red dragon, golden scales and all.<br />
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Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00694034873325873385noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26498457.post-49399970821283039802013-03-17T20:08:00.001+01:002013-03-17T20:08:37.728+01:00Life and butterflies<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Sorry to have disappeared for a bit. Our last two months were filled with a lot of things-- travel, snow, holidays, illnesses, celebrations, and of course homeschooling. I also finally finished painting all the wooden furniture as a protection against future mold. While I prefer the color of natural wood, I will admit that I am really liking the bright new colors. Lime green and turquoise make me smile.<br />
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In my last post I mentioned a possible move on the horizon. In the end, we decided not to take the job offer up north. Making decisions about our future is often agonizing-- weighing all the pros and cons, ifs and whats. I often feel like we're living in some alternate retelling of the Grimm's tale <a href="http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm019.html" target="_blank">The Fisherman and His Wife</a> as we weigh things like cost of living, location, homeschooling environments, and lovelier views over the landscape. And where does it all stop?<br />
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I'm not going to deny that, like the fisherman's wife, I have often wished I could control the rising sun. However, I don't think this makes me any different from the other people on this rainy island. At the end of winter we're all a bit sullen and desperate for warm sunshine.<br />
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As luck would have it, these early days of March have been quite sunny. The kids and I are loving sitting in the sunshine every morning. It's a bit blinding at times, but I'm not complaining. I feel like a bear unfurling from her wintery sleep. It's amazing how a few days without clouds can be so rejuvenating.<br />
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Inside this den, my days have been so busy. Homeschooling my three has definitely become more than a full-time job. I know that others manage to homeschool even more children than I have and still find time to blog, but for the life of me I can't figure out how they do it. I have some theories (mostly involving gremlins), but suffice it to say that I wish I had more time in the day to share the wonderful things that are happening over here. These children continually leave me awestruck by their growing minds and abilities.<br />
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We've also taken a couple of field trips with the not-quite-local homeschooling group. One of which was to the little butterfly house in Stratford-upon-Avon. I'm not sure what I loved more-- seeing all the amazing butterflies or being so warm that I had to take off my sweater. It was a nice change! The last time that happened we were in Italy.<br />
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Speaking of change, there is more of that afoot. I'm reminded of a card my mother-in-law gave me while we were sorting and packing for our move to Switzerland five years ago. It said, "If nothing ever changed, there would be no butterflies." --Our lives are so full of transitions, I think of that card fairly often.<br />
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Einstein recently received some grant funding that necessitates a temporary move to Italy for some unknown quantity of time this summer, and he has also been invited to apply and subsequently interview for another job-- this time on the mainland. It's almost funny.<br />
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All of these transitions definitely make me think about butterflies-- do they know what's happening when they closet themselves up? Are they cognizant of their own form metamorphosing... of what their future holds?<br />
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I watched some of them emerge bleary-eyed and soggy from their chrysalises, and they didn't quite seem to have it all together. I can relate to that. Some of them found a perch where they could drip dry, but some of them didn't. They fluttered about in a wild panic, but were weighed down by their damp wings. They hit the stone walkways with an inaudible whack and just lay there stunned by their own predicament. One minute they are a fat caterpillar, the next minute they're stewing in their own soup. And next thing they know? They are airborne into a completely different creature. What am I? Where am I? What has happened to me?<br />
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Again, I can relate. Moving overseas with children has some stinging similarities. So I hung around the chrysalis cage for awhile and gingerly picked up my fallen comrades. Not all of them were going to make it, but a few of them gave it another try. They latched onto a branch and hung there in stunned silence, feeling the heat warm the last few drops of soup from their bright wings.<br />
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My own wings have finally dried out after this last move, and it definitely shows. We have been getting a ton of homeschooling done lately-- meaningful, artistic work that leaves me speechless at times. In our enthusiasm we are making huge progress. It's the kind of progress one can only make in times of complete stability. Who knows how long that will last around here, so we're making the most of it...<br />
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Kind of like these cute ants. Steadily onwards.<br />
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Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00694034873325873385noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26498457.post-43421735853936704352013-01-05T18:53:00.001+01:002013-01-05T18:59:53.995+01:00A new start<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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A new year has arrived, and with it comes so much promise. I haven't made any real resolutions yet, at least nothing beyond finishing the unpacking, but I definitely feel that twinge of excitement that comes with the mere idea of a new start. Just about anything is possible. I like that. If I could just have that feeling year-round, who knows what I could achieve?! Regular blogging, perhaps?<br />
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I didn't manage to make any posts in December, obviously. Moving house was more exhausting than I had anticipated. I thought I had cleaned up all of the mold in the month of November, but it was so much worse than I had expected. I could list my mold-saturated moving discoveries until the cows come home, but I'd rather not. Suffice it to say that unpacking moldy Christmas ornaments was definitely the final straw on my English cake... er, pudding.<br />
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I am utterly certain that the worst is behind us now, and it really is a fresh, new start. I can not only sense it in the air, I can smell the difference. And with any luck, by the end of the week I will have proper internet hooked up at the new house. I have been fighting to keep a connection on one of those mobile wifi sticks for the past month. I had such high hopes that I could keep connected during the six-week waiting period for internet and phone service, but it is only in the last few days that it has actually been working with any sort of consistency.<br />
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Consistency is not something that seems to come easy in my world. On a personal level, I would say I'm as consistent as they come-- ten, twenty years can go by and I'm still wearing the same interests, ideals and ratty t-shirts that you last saw me in-- but in my world, change seems to flow from every direction. New beginnings slip through the cracks under the doors and tumble off of lamp posts at random.<br />
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As much as I like the idea of possibility and promise, open doors and excitement, sometimes I just want to leave it like that. I want to linger in the space between the old and the new. I want to stand in that moment between past and future and just savor the electric taste of it. I want to relish the moment just before my feet leave the ground, because once I land in that puddle of the future, it's going to be wet and undoubtedly muddy. Change always is.<br />
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December brought many changes for us. A new house. Bright-colored paint to save our moldy furniture. New passports for the kids after an excruciating half-day wait in line at the embassy. And before we even had the dishes unpacked, a phone call inviting Einstein to interview for a new job in a new city.<br />
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Clearly I need to be more vigilant about plugging those cracks under the doors and avoiding lamp posts.<br />
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In all seriousness, now that the New Year has blown through the door and taken off her coat, I am definitely curious to see what she will pull out of her bag of tricks, but I have not fully given her my attention. Not yet. I am in no hurry to greet the bottom of the puddle. It's enough to know that the doors are open, that possibility and promise and puddles exist.<br />
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Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00694034873325873385noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26498457.post-68469540408338421782012-11-29T22:50:00.000+01:002012-11-29T22:50:51.246+01:00Moving in circles<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Today was the last day of homeschooling in the old house.<br />
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Tomorrow is moving day. If you've been following our adventures in England, you know that this is a big deal. The house we're in now seemed so pretty from the viewing, but after we moved in we quickly got a crash course in the dreaded rising damp.<br />
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This damp house has been the source of so much stress for me. It's an old house, and moisture is not only rising from the ground, it's creeping in through the walls because of poorly constructed gutters, and creeping in through the roof because of, well, too much rain and poor construction. Flat roofs belong in the desert, not in England!<br />
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For the better part of the last month I have been cleaning mold off all the wooden toys in the house, off all the wooden furniture, off picture frames and nature tables. I have been cleaning it off windows and walls, ceilings and floors. It's more than disgusting. It's heartbreaking and it's wrong!<br />
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So moving day is finally here! I'm so thrilled to be leaving this house behind, but I am still wary. I have no idea if the new house will be any better. Surely, it can't be any worse. Other English people have assured me that most houses here do not have such problems, and I hope they are right! When you move to a new country, you just never know what "normal" is supposed to look like.<br />
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So tomorrow we will embark on a new adventure. Perhaps a less than perfect one, but hopefully much better than this. There really is no perfect when it comes to homes*... or well, anything, is there? Life isn't perfect. Homeschooling is certainly not perfect. Not even circles are perfect.<br />
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How fitting that part of today's homeschooling involved talking about our perceived perfections in the natural world and the reality of their imperfections. To ice the cake of imperfection, we spent some time calculating the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter, a.k.a. pi.<br />
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Sunburst and I have been playing with irrational numbers quite a bit lately, and she is completely undaunted. In the last couple of years her love of all things mathematical has really bloomed, and I am absolutely thrilled. Having a 13yo girl who excels in and is excited about mathematical processes is something I consider one of the greater successes of our homeschooling.<br />
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As a bit of fun, Sunburst got to enjoy Vi Hart's hysterically funny and smart math video on irrational numbers and the Pythagorean Theorem.<br />
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I've been admiring Vi Hart's math videos for quite some time, and I plan to show each one of them to the kids as they come up in our lessons. Not only are they wonderfully clever, but they're done by a female who so obviously embodies the passion for mathematics that I want to instill in all my children. The underlying message is clear: <b>Girls can (and DO) excel at math</b>. It's an imperative message to give our daughters, but I think sharing this message with our sons is equally important.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">*Gaudi's Casa Batllo in Barcelona seems pretty perfect to me. When I think circles, I can't help but envision the front rooms of <a href="http://www.casabatllo.es/en/" target="_blank">Casa Batllo</a><span style="font-size: x-small;">, one of my <span style="font-size: x-small;">most favorite buildings on earth. Can't we just live there? (smile)</span></span></span></div>
Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00694034873325873385noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26498457.post-29067370941934465812012-11-28T23:11:00.001+01:002012-11-29T01:02:19.681+01:00Grade 3: Creation paintings<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i>A couple of months ago I made a promise to Cathy, who leaves some of the nicest comments, that I would show some of our Grade 3 work on the blog. It has taken me longer than I anticipated to go through the books and get pictures taken, but I hope they're helpful.</i><br />
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I'd like to start with our work from the Old Testament, specifically the Creation.<br />
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When I originally did this block with Sunburst several years ago, I didn't have any images to go on, just this vague idea that one should paint it. There weren't as many beautiful resources then, so it was really a work of labor (and love!) to bring a pictorial quality to the days of Creation.<br />
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Nowadays, I can think of at least three resources that have examples for this work: Thomas Wildgruber's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Painting-Drawing-Waldorf-Schools-Classes/dp/0863158781" target="_blank">Painting and Drawing in Waldorf Schools</a>, Elizabeth Auer's <a href="http://www.waldorfbooks.com/item_2780.htm" target="_blank">Creative Pathways</a>, and the Grade 3 files at <a href="http://millennialchild.com/catalog1.html" target="_blank">Millennial Child</a>. I had recently purchased a German copy of Wildgruber's book when I brought this lesson to Moonshine, so it was kind of neat to finally see what kinds of paintings one "should" do for this lesson. --- These are not those paintings.<br />
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Of course being the kind of homeschooling parent I am, as I presented each new day of creation, I showed Moonshine both Sunburst's image and the one from the book and let her choose. Most of the time she was drawn to the ones I had created for Sunburst, but other times she had her own ideas about what she wanted to paint. Of course she did!<br />
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I used the wonderful telling of the creation from Jakob Streit's <a href="http://www.waldorfbooks.com/teaching-resources/history-world-culture/old-testament-studies" target="_blank"><i>And There Was Light</i></a>. I absolutely adored this book, and the girls did, too. The accompanying writing came from their own summaries, something I think homeschooling allows us to encourage from them at an early age. Most of them are different, but with a few, Moonshine fell in love with the words her sister used to summarize it, and Sunburst was happy to share her words.<br />
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In looking back over their work as a whole, I think it's a good example of not only how one child can inspire another, but how things can change from one child to another, even in the homeschool setting. Each child is different and has something new to bring to the table, so why shouldn't the homeschooling reflect that?!<br />
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In the beginning:<br />
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Day One:</div>
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Day Two:</div>
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Day Three:</div>
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Day Four:</div>
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Day Five:<br />
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Day Six:</div>
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None of the resources I listed at the beginning of this post have images for day seven. Coincidentally, Sunburst and I didn't do a painting for this day either because it was the day of rest, but Moonshine insisted on it. So we brainstormed and came up with the following painting, and BOTH girls then wanted to paint it for their books.</div>
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Day Seven:</div>
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Both girls are so proud of this work. It really speaks to the beauty and magic of Grade Three, don't you think?</div>
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Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00694034873325873385noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26498457.post-51323393408743248072012-11-27T15:36:00.000+01:002012-11-27T15:36:05.370+01:00One, the Sun!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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The Quality of Numbers main lesson block is perhaps my most favorite part of teaching Grade One. As for Kitty Bill, I think it's his favorite homeschooling lesson yet.<br />
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I know I've shared a bit about my alphabet story in the past, but I don't know that I've ever shared my story for the Quality of Numbers main lesson. I wrote the basic idea out for a friend a few years ago. Like everything else, it changes each time I teach it, but it's nice to have it written down to refer back to for story ideas. And as far as stories go, this one is pretty wild.<br />
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For starters, there is an enchanted cave that can only be opened by solving riddles. I borrowed the opening idea and the riddles from Eric Fairman's Pathway to Discovery (Grade One). Inside the cave is a dragon, but luckily it's a friendly dragon who is under an enchantment. He can't fly or leave the cave until someone solves the riddle of the twelve tunnels.<br />
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Since it's a continuation of our alphabet story, our three traveling characters are up for any adventure. To help the dragon break the enchantment, our travelers must explore the twelve passages in the cave and bring back "treasure" from each one. Each journey into a particular passage is fraught with interesting discoveries... passages that wind in circles or fork into separate directions. Sometimes they are very dark or smelly or impossibly small. Sometimes only the main character, the one my child identifies with the most, is the only one who can fit in a certain passage. I vary it widely to keep it interesting and entertaining, because above all, I want math to start out as being a grand, entertaining adventure.<br />
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As we journey together we discover something at the end of each tunnel. I then enlist my child's help in working out what the treasure is (and what it signifies) based on what the characters find, and they make suggestions as how to "capture" the treasure to bring it back to the dragon. My one caveat was the treasure MUST correspond with the number of the tunnel. Naturally, we converse about what each number signifies and we look to find other representations of each number in the world around us. Sometimes these representations come out within the story itself, and other times I ask the question, "What else can you think of?" It really helps us embody the spirit of each number and its place in the world. When we make a relationship with the numbers they become truths that live inside of us.<br />
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With each discovery we draw two pages in the main lesson book. We draw
the treasure in each tunnel, and then we draw the number-- with
straight lines or sticks (Roman numerals) and then in Arabic numerals. We spend a bit of
time practicing to make sure we get the numbers right.<br />
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Kitty Bill knows that as we travel down each tunnel that leads away from the dragon, we're looking for something that embodies the number of the tunnel. The beauty of this block is that it grounds the number in whatever is found, and thus gives the number a picture quality that brings it to life.<br />
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Here's what our characters found in the tunnels:<br />
1 - The sun reflected in a pool of water (One, the Sun!)<br />
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2 - Nothing! .... but ah, upon closer inspection there is a reflection of the two child characters, who began the adventure as extreme opposites and have grown into friends... (Two, Me and You!)<br />
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3 - A pile of garbage (which is always good for a laugh!)... an old shoe, a holey mitten, something unrecognizable and gooey.... and eventually a picture of a mother, father, and baby (Three, Family)<br />
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4 - At the end of a very dark tunnel, high above on a ledge... something icy, wet and cold; something soft and sweetly scented; something dry and crumbly; something small, round and juicy OR small and smooth with a bit of grit inside. This one is a bit tricky depending on the child. Kitty Bill wasn't quite sure, so I sent his characters falling through a trapdoor where they landed in the snow and had a snowball fight. When they got too cold, they made their way out of this new tunnel where the temperature kept changing, as did what was under their feet. Eventually he figured it out. (Seasons Four)<br />
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5 - This tunnel leads out to the night sky, filled with stars - they can't bring a star back, but finally one character realizes he/she has five points like a star. <br />
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Kitty Bill can't wait to find out what's in the next tunnel. What about you?<br />
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If you would like to hear the rest of the story, be sure to leave me a comment. If enough people are interested I will post the rest of the story as we go along.<br />
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Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00694034873325873385noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26498457.post-26093849943463974912012-11-25T19:08:00.000+01:002012-11-28T23:23:36.571+01:00Autumn: beauty and botany<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Autumn has been dragging its crimson and golden feet this year. The colors have been gorgeous for an entire month, and I have been awestruck, mostly without camera in hand.<br />
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Moonshine and I started her botany study this month. There is no more perfect a time to begin botany than in the autumn when the mushrooms just can't help but burst from the ground at every turn. This is especially true in England. For some of us, the mushrooms want to also grow inside the house... but I digress.<br />
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Botany is perfect for ten and eleven-year-olds. At a time when they're turning inward again, feeling a bit off-balance, plant study turns their attention outward to the growth of nature around them. It's almost as if you can hear them saying, "Hey, I'm not the only thing that's growing around here."<br />
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My resource books for this block include Charles Kovacs' <a href="http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Botany-Charles-Kovacs/9780863155376" target="_blank">Botany</a>, Gerbert Grohmann's <a href="http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Living-World-Plants-Gerbert-Grohmann/9781888365122" target="_blank">The Living World of Plants</a>, Comstock's <a href="http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Handbook-Nature-Study-Anna-Botsford-Comstock/9781607962991" target="_blank">The Handbook of Nature Study</a>, and Klocek's <a href="http://www.waldorfbooks.com/item_1358.htm" target="_blank">Drawing from the Book of Nature</a>. What I love about both Kovacs and Grohmann's books is that they both approach plant growth in parallel with a child's growth. In my opinion, Kovacs is the better story-teller, but they are both giving the message that growth and knowledge go hand in hand. Embrace them. Be proud of how far you've come!<br />
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It's exactly what children at this age need to hear.<br />
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Moonshine went for a little walk in the garden to look for mushrooms. Even I was surprised at how many different kinds she found!<br />
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We harvested five kinds and tried to do some spore prints on the back steps. The wind had other ideas, and both mushrooms and paper were scattered in all directions within an hour. The wind came up so fierce that afternoon that it cracked our eucalyptus tree in half.<br />
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We'll try it again in a couple of weeks when we have a nice sheltered place from the weather. For now though, it's fun just to look. Isn't the purple mushroom stunning? <br />
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Her heart is really into this lesson, and already her main lesson book is turning out beautifully.<br />
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Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00694034873325873385noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26498457.post-10169589251659503992012-11-20T00:44:00.000+01:002012-11-20T12:19:20.192+01:00Love from Australia<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Remember how I said I wanted to do more crafting this year? A few weeks ago I signed up for the handmade <a href="http://www.naturalsuburbia.com/2012/10/natural-suburbia-christmas-ornament-swap-2012.html" target="_blank">Christmas ornament swap</a> over on <a href="http://www.naturalsuburbia.com/" target="_blank">Natural Suburbia</a>.<br />
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I had so much fun crafting this little Christmas gnome, and I was so delighted to discover that my swap partner was the very sweet and talented Aleta of <a href="http://www.hinterlandmama.com/" target="_blank">Hinterland Mama</a>. Have you seen her blog? She is always making the <a href="http://www.hinterlandmama.com/2012/11/co-sleeping-wool-felt-bed-mama-and-babes.html" target="_blank">loveliest things.</a> <br />
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She sent a gorgeous embroidered felt heart for our Christmas tree...<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YNxB62GwXoc/UKqwMl6lEBI/AAAAAAAAGrM/CdZS8llO1Ag/s1600/IMG_1650.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="262" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YNxB62GwXoc/UKqwMl6lEBI/AAAAAAAAGrM/CdZS8llO1Ag/s320/IMG_1650.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It went up on the nature table right away.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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plus a gluten free cookbook and other goodies.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-D-Q4JKaRH3A/UKqwNjq6RfI/AAAAAAAAGrU/mdRvrYSWW0Q/s1600/IMG_1653.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-D-Q4JKaRH3A/UKqwNjq6RfI/AAAAAAAAGrU/mdRvrYSWW0Q/s320/IMG_1653.jpg" width="247" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Crikey! Why isn't my flash working?!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Swapping is kind of an adventure, don't you think? You craft
something for a complete stranger and then send it off into the world...
and you never know what will happen. It takes a bit of faith, a bit of
hope, a bit of courage... and definitely a bit of love.<br />
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There's nothing like a little love from Down Under to warm a girl's heart.<br />
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Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00694034873325873385noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26498457.post-60474248421912661392012-11-11T01:13:00.002+01:002012-11-11T01:13:53.351+01:00Some good news<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I have been wanting to make a post the last few days, but honestly I'm not sure where to start. Things have been crazy. I didn't think they could get any worse after the emotional turmoil of October, but <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murphy%27s_law" target="_blank">Murphy's Law</a> prevailed.<br />
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Rather than go into it, I'm just going to go with the good news. There is still so much to be thankful for.<br />
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1. We raised enough money for the services and burial of my nephew last weekend. This was no small feat, and I want to thank each and every one of you for your donations, prayers, and sweet words. My brother and his family are forever changed by this experience-- not just by the tragic loss of their son, but by the compassion and kindness of people who made it possible to lay him to rest.<br />
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2. The US elections are over.<br />
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3. We are moving!<br />
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After months and months of searching, we finally found a new rental house near the countryside. There are horses, cows, sheep, walking trails, and two toilets-- with three growing children that was beginning to be a priority. We're still waiting for the paperwork to clear, but if all goes well we move in on December 1st.<br />
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This was not exactly the plan for how we would spend the month of November. After the upheaval of October, I had great hopes for getting a lot of homeschooling accomplished this month. It doesn't look like that's going to happen, but I'm so elated that this new house seems to have serendipitously fallen into our laps.<br />
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We are all very excited.<br />
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Once we have this house ready to show, I hope to be back with some lighter posts. Thanks for sticking with me. xo<br />
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Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00694034873325873385noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26498457.post-77294707456489740792012-10-26T00:45:00.002+02:002012-10-26T00:45:42.433+02:00Talking to children about murder<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Thank you for all of the love and prayers in the comments. You are the sweetest friends! And another huge thank you goes out to those of you who have donated to help my brother's family lay their son to rest. I cannot even find enough words to express how grateful I am for such a loving community. We have had donations coming in from all over the world, and I am so touched by your support and generosity.<br />
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I've been up until the middle of the night most nights this week talking to my brother or other family members on the phone. We've been crying and praying, trying to figure out what else we can do to help them from so far away. It is unbelievable how much funerals and burials cost. The national average in America is about $10,000 USD. Talk about kicking someone when they are down. It certainly makes me think about insurance. Who among us thinks about the possibility that our children may be murdered? As parents, it is our worst nightmare, but how many of us actually invest money specifically to pay for it in case it happens?<br />
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To be perfectly honest, I haven't. I hardly ever let my children out of my sight, but that's not to say that something couldn't happen someday, especially once they go off to university. Whenever the thought of something that horrific stirs inside me, I push it away. It's unthinkable. Unimaginable. And yet... it happens all too often.<br />
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It happened to my brother's son. KC was your average American teenager living in a small town. A 30 year old man preyed upon these teenagers, and my nephew stood up to him and was brutally murdered for it. His friends say he was protecting a girl. They say that he had a big heart, and if something wasn't right, if something was unjust, he wouldn't stand for it. He was no angel himself, but he felt a moral obligation in his heart to stand up even in the face of danger. He was a lot like my brother in that way. I remember my brother standing up for me when we were young.<br />
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During one of these phone calls with my brother we talked about having to explain to our children what happened. It's hard enough to tell our teenagers, but our younger children... they have so many questions. They have questions about death anyway, but somehow when a person is old or sick, death seems to make more sense. When the person who dies is young and healthy, when it's murder, it is so much harder.<br />
<br />
<i>How can fighting with someone make you die? </i><br />
<i> Why are there bad people in the world?</i><br />
<i> Will someone make me die?</i><br />
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I don't know how much my brother's youngest was able to understand, but he had plenty of questions. My kids had questions, too. I shelter them from the news, media, and videos. I even preview books before I let them read them. My teenager still hasn't been given permission to read all the Harry Potter books, much to her chagrin, let alone those Hunger Games books her friends back home are talking about. So my children, probably much the same as yours, don't have much context to work out the ideas of murder. And when it's someone they know personally, their cousin... it's somehow scarier.<br />
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I sat them down and told them in the simplest terms I could think of. Your cousin died. He was protecting a friend from a bad person, and the bad person hurt him. After they pressed me for more details, I told them there was a weapon involved-- a knife. I didn't dare tell them where or how because I can't even say those words aloud to myself, the details are so terrifying and unthinkable. But I did have to say that by the time the police arrived, he was already gone. His soul had left his body.<br />
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It was an absolutely heartbreaking conversation, but I couldn't help to think how fortunate it is that our Waldorf homeschooling lessons don't gloss over some of the more terrible aspects of humanity. From the time we begin teaching them the fairy tales, they learn that bad ends come to bad people. Murder is something sort of mysterious and magical though, that can often be undone-- like in the Grimm's tale of <i>The Three Little Men in the Wood</i> where the queen gets tossed out the window into the river and turns into a swan. To bring her back to form (i.e. life) the king has to swing his sword over her head three times. If only it were that simple!<br />
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In grade two we teach them stories of saints and heroes, some of whom meet an unfortunate end. But how many of us actually tell those ends?<br />
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In grade three we begin teaching the Old Testament. To me, this is where we really hit upon ideas of violence and murder with Cain and Abel. I remember telling this story to my girls and their eyes were wide in horror. I think the strength of the story serves a purpose at this age, but clearly I had no idea just how much I would need that story to be something they could call upon and examine so soon. We also have the making of knives by Cain's son, the theft of a knife, and how it's used to murder someone.<br />
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My girls both remembered this story, and they grew very silent thinking about it.<br />
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The tales of murder and destruction only increase from there. The Old Testament stories are rife with them, as are the tales from the ancient mythologies, Rome, the middle ages, and surely the reformation. The underlying message is that people who stand up for their beliefs, stand up for truth and righteousness, often get killed for it. We admire these people, they are heroes and martyrs. But it doesn't change the fact that they get murdered, often in cold-blood. It doesn't make it any less terrifying to think about.<br />
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Moonshine, thinking of how her cousin died, reminded me that the Norse believed it was better to die in battle than in your bed.<br />
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But perhaps most fortuitous of all, this week I had started telling Moonshine the story of Siddhartha, the Buddha, for her ancient India study. Siddhartha was a prince completely sheltered from all sorrow in the world. When he finally encountered the old, the sick, and the dead he was so troubled that he became a hermit and meditated on how to reduce suffering in the world. In the Kovacs' book <i>Ancient Mythologies</i>, Siddhartha asks the question: How can people and their souls become free of evil?<br />
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A demon comes along and tries to lure him away from his meditation by telling him that his son will die unless he goes to him immediately, but Siddhartha isn't swayed. He answers: All men must die sooner or later. I must find consolation for all sorrows, not only for my own...<br />
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Eventually, he receives an answer to his question, and he is transformed into an enlightened being. People and their souls can become free from evil through compassion, kindness, love, and pity. Through caring for each other more and more.<br />
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It's a strong but simple message, one that hopefully brings my children peace. Continue on loving and living and caring for others, even in the face of sorrow and hardships.<br />
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You've really brought that message alive for me this week. And I thank each one of you with all of my heart.<br />
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Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00694034873325873385noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26498457.post-34709004391156619292012-10-23T18:17:00.006+02:002023-10-13T14:38:54.391+02:00Heartbroken<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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My 18 year old nephew KC was brutally murdered on Sunday morning.<br />
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My heart is broken for my brother and his family. As you can imagine, the loss of a child is so completely devastating.<br />
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If you pray, please pray for them.<br />
<br /><br /></div></div>
Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00694034873325873385noreply@blogger.com29tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26498457.post-50723394210696136132012-10-19T18:22:00.002+02:002012-10-19T18:35:51.027+02:00Quick, build an ark!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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As our trip to Switzerland was winding down, the rain was intensifying. I remember lying in the tent our last night and listening to it beat down with ever-increasing strength. It was so loud! Just when I thought it was raining really hard, it would start raining even harder.<br />
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By morning the ground had become
completely saturated and was running down the
little street in rivulets. Once out of the tent, all the children
became completely soaked. As if the rain weren't enough, suddenly water
started pouring out of the ground in our old backyard/garden.<br />
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Remember when
we first moved in and I blogged a <a href="http://twiningoaks.blogspot.co.uk/2009/08/saying-goodbye.html" target="_blank">picture of the back garden</a>? And then I mused about the drain in that picture? Well, now we know what the drain was for...<br />
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It's too bad it didn't work!<br />
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Farther back in the garden is some kind of manhole cover. It wasn't there when we first moved in-- or else it was only grown-over with grass. Sometime during our first year it suddenly appeared, and we wondered over the purpose of that too, just like the drain.<br />
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On our last morning visiting, with the rain still coming down and the cow field squishy beneath my boots, suddenly the manhole started pouring out water at an amazing rate. One minute I was standing at the gate to my old garden talking with the postman, and the next minute water was gushing everywhere.<br />
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It ran down the small incline and flooded our old back porch and the entire ground floor of the house. The water piled up and everyone had to think very quickly what to do. Boards were pulled from the porch walls, buckets and brooms were used to move the water into the street, and finally a dam was built to divert water from the house.<br />
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It was incredible how quickly everything happened, and heart-warming how everyone quickly came together to help in a crisis.<br />
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By lunchtime the rain had subsided a bit and the flood had been successfully diverted. We managed to dry all of our children off and pack up our very wet and muddy tent. After a hearty lunch, all our neighbors and friends gathered together in the street to wish us farewell. The sight of them standing all together waving madly as we drove off really touched my heart. It wasn't the tearful goodbye we had shared a year earlier, but a joyful one. I was reminded of the words from a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-rWiFyAUnE" target="_blank">circle song</a> we used to sing with a Waldorf group in Texas before Kitty Bill was born and when the girls were still very small:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Merry meet, and merry part. And merry meet again.</i></blockquote>
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Unfortunately, as we made our way down the road we saw that our little farm wasn't the only place that had succumbed to flooding. The fields and allotment gardens were a terrible sight!<br />
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Can you imagine?! So much water...<br />
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Although it doesn't even begin to compare to the devastating floods seen in other countries this year, my heart broke for the families who work these allotments. It's confounding to think of the damage that just a few days of hard rain can do. And to think that we camped in that rain... and somehow we didn't float away. It's just crazy!<br />
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Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00694034873325873385noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26498457.post-42500678117084348592012-10-18T19:08:00.001+02:002012-10-18T22:07:44.004+02:00Camping in Switzerland<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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We made it home after an exciting week away, and the children immediately started coming down with some kind of virus. One lone sneeze led to another and now all three children are at various stages of sickness--- coughing, sneezing, fevers. As usual it's the price we pay for taking them out into the world. It was worth it though, because it was a really fantastic trip.<br />
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Our time in Switzerland was jam-packed with so many activities, there was hardly time to catch our breath. It was so wonderful to see our neighbors and friends again, and they all gave us such a warm reception. It was truly like coming home.<br />
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Everything was just as we left it-- the farms, the fields, the horses, the cows...<br />
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The weather wasn't nearly as cold as predicted, but the relentless rain made up for it. As each day progressed the cow field became soggier and soggier. Aside from the fact that we were sleeping outside, it wasn't much different than living in England. However, that didn't stop our neighbors from worrying about us.<br />
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We brought plenty of gear (or kit, as they say in England) and were fully prepared to cook all our meals, but between friends and neighbors we hardly had to cook anything at all. We were treated to so many lovely meals-- homemade bread, Indian food, salads, pumpkin soup, pumpkin spaghetti, apple pies, and snacks of all kinds. We felt so loved and well-taken care of.<br />
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Oddly enough, we spent quite a bit of time at our old house. The new tenant was the first person I met upon arriving, and he immediately invited us over for coffee and to have a peek around inside. It's such a strange feeling to walk through your old house filled with someone else's belongings! But it was comforting to know that a nice family had moved in after us. He has turned our old porch into a workshop where he makes the most exquisite wooden bows and arrows. He talked us through the process, and all of us were so impressed. Kitty Bill was especially taken with him and kept asking for permission to go have a chat and offer his help.<br />
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Sunburst was absolutely thrilled to be back. She spent our entire last year in Switzerland volunteering at a horse stable every morning and afternoon. She was so determined that she would set her alarm and wake in the early hours and be out of the house even before Einstein and I had risen from bed. She mucked stables, swept, fed, and ran to watch every time the farrier or vet came to call. Aside from helping in the stable, she also helped with the cows-- mending fences, corralling cows, attending births, and finally helping to nurse an abandoned baby cow.<br />
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So once again Sunburst set her alarm and rose in the early hours to help in the stable. This time she took Moonshine with her, and they were up and gone at first light. The smile on Sunburst's face every morning said it all-- this is where I belong!<br />
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In between stall cleanings, horse riding, and visiting, I had a walk through the Goetheanum bookstore and took the kids for a day trip into the big city-- Basel. We hit all our favorite spots, and the kids were so happy to see that the Heisse Marroni (hot chestnut) vendors had already set up near the Rhine. We also managed to attend the <a href="http://www.robiano.ch/" target="_blank">Jugend Zirkus</a> (youth circus) one night. One of our homeschooling friends had joined last summer, and it was so fun to see her transformation into a circus performer. She gave us a little behind the scenes tour of all the circus wagons. It was so fascinating!<br />
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Twenty children participate in this circus and travel around from town to town, not only performing but setting up and taking down their circus tent. They have a team of wagons pulled by tractors, and the kids live together in the wagons during circus weeks. They even have a kitchen wagon and a bathroom wagon. The whole idea was so interesting, and of course so foreign to anything I grew up with in the states. Of course Sunburst immediately wanted to move back to Switzerland so she could join up.<br />
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And if that wasn't enough excitement, on our very last day we awoke to a hard rain and flooding. Nothing says camping vacation like flooding!!! No wonder the kids are all sick...<br />
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It's time for me to make more tea and wipe more noses, but I'll be back tomorrow to regale you with pictures of the flood. For today, I'll leave you with pictures of the new angel sculptures outside the Goetheanum. Aren't they lovely?!<br />
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Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00694034873325873385noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26498457.post-29160496098967951922012-10-05T23:00:00.000+02:002012-10-05T23:00:36.651+02:00Sleeping with the cows<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
We've been busy preparing this week for a trip to the continent. We'll be gone just a week, but the kids are ecstatic about it because while our primary reason for going is work-related, we've promised to make a full trip of it and take them to visit the friends, horses, and cows they left behind in Switzerland.<br />
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Part of my preparation for this trip is in the form of knitting. There are two little ones that I've missed dearly, and I wanted to bring them a little something special. So I've been busily knitting away some foods for their play kitchen. I had so much fun knitting tiny treats, that I went a bit overboard. But can you not stand the cuteness?<br />
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The <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/heirloom-carrot" target="_blank">carrot</a> and <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/heirloom-strawberry" target="_blank">strawberry</a> patterns are my own, but the others are mostly free patterns that I found online. And while the <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/doughnut" target="_blank">doughnuts</a> are not the healthiest little treats, and the Swiss children probably won't even know what they are, I think they are adorable. Once I saw the pattern I couldn't help myself. It was so clever!<br />
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And the <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/garlic" target="_blank">garlic</a> and <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/knitted-shrooms" target="_blank">mushrooms</a> make me very happy. I actually knit more mushrooms than I had intended because Kitty Bill kept claiming them for himself. He loves them.<br />
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And lest he be forgotten, my other knitting preparation was actually for Kitty Bill himself. Since we're planning to camp in a Swiss cow field for a few days, and it's near freezing, we need to dress warmly at night. While we were getting our winter gear out, he reminded me that I <i>still</i> haven't made him a hat.<br />
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I've made Kitty Bill countless hats over the years, but I knew what he meant. A couple years ago I made Moonshine a special hat with elephants on it. And then Sunburst saw it and put in her order for one with horses on it. And Kitty Bill? He has since been begging me for a hat with robots on it.<br />
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A kid who loves to build electrical things needs a robot hat, don't you think? But he didn't want any old robots, they had to be just the right kind of robots. Cute and friendly ones.<br />
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He has been a fan of robots for years. Oddly enough, it all started when we moved to Switzerland. The moms in our area would get together and have a kind of yard sale (boot sale, for my UK readers) at the local park, and they would sell off their kids' outgrown clothes and toys. At one of these sales there was a giant, plastic monstrosity of a robot, and Kitty Bill went berserk for it. It was red with moving parts and sounds, and no doubt with enough batteries lasers would shoot out of its eyes and scorch something.<br />
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He was two or three years old at the time. There was no way I was bringing it into our house, and no amount of distraction would budge his tiny heart. As I recall, there was a lot of screaming and kicking, but we made it home without the robot. I promised that I would make him one, and I did. I knit him this crazy transforming robot. I was good to my word, and he was so happy that the plastic robot monster from the park was long forgotten.<br />
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But then robots became a thing, just like horses are with Sunburst; they are the magic key. So if I wanted Kitty Bill to wear a sun hat, I had to embroider a robot on it. A winter hat? Robot. Eventually he grew out of that phase, they all do, but for a time I was thoroughly convinced that any woman that wanted to marry him would have to agree to having robots on top of the cake.<br />
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But now he's seven, and he still wants a robot hat with cute robots on it. How can I deny him that?<br />
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I'm happy to announce that it passes the cute and friendly test. Kitty Bill absolutely loves it. Now he can't wait to sleep with the cows!<br />
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So now I have another pattern to share... but it needs a name. Any suggestions?<br />
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Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00694034873325873385noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26498457.post-14018638318825894352012-10-04T15:31:00.002+02:002012-10-04T15:31:17.671+02:00Exploring light and dark<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Sunburst and I spent some time over the summer exploring the lovely qualities of charcoal.<br />
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We decided to tackle a series of exercises from Thomas Wildgruber's inspiring book, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Painting-Drawing-Waldorf-Schools-Classes/dp/0863158781" target="_blank">Painting and Drawing in Waldorf Schools</a>, and we had so much fun. They start very
simply with spheres, and then increase in complexity with each exercise.<br />
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The guidance provided with these drawings is wonderful. I was required to do a little bit of charcoal work in college, but with very little guidance. Looking back at my youth, I am so aghast that I paid and attended college level art classes that involved no actual instruction. While we inadvertently learn something through our own repeated ill-attempts, with guidance the process is much less painful and infinitely more productive.<br />
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Another thing that struck me about these exercises is that even with such a simple medium, the results vary. While Sunburst and I were drawing the same things, stylistically, there is a huge difference. Her drawing style with charcoal has a scratchiness to it that no matter how hard I try, I cannot manage to replicate. The same is true for her-- she can't soften her drawings to match the feel of mine. We had a lot of fun trying though. And as Sunburst is getting older, she really enjoys it when there is something obviously <i>off</i> about my drawings. Yes, the teenage years have truly begun!<br />
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Here you can see the style differences. I wonder if it has anything to do with temperament.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pZAG5IKcEGw/UG1q_rvJ43I/AAAAAAAAGg8/BGfDOdcrbP4/s1600/IMG_0536.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pZAG5IKcEGw/UG1q_rvJ43I/AAAAAAAAGg8/BGfDOdcrbP4/s320/IMG_0536.JPG" width="240" /></a> <a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-iEb8cgsDs_o/UG1q8odTPOI/AAAAAAAAGgo/zDqUhVc0nXU/s1600/IMG_0527.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-iEb8cgsDs_o/UG1q8odTPOI/AAAAAAAAGgo/zDqUhVc0nXU/s320/IMG_0527.jpg" width="239" /></a><br />
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At
one point in the exercises you progress to drawing your own image using
what you've learned-- the examples for this exercise differ between the
German and English editions. Sunburst couldn't wait for this
exercise, because of course she knew exactly what she wanted to draw--
horses!<br />
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I was more reluctant because I had absolutely
no idea what to draw. In the end though I managed to surprise myself.<br />
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We took a small break from there to begin our study of discovery, renaissance and reformation. We hope to get back to it and complete the last three exercises-- trees and landscapes. The difference these charcoal drawings have made in Sunburst's renaissance artwork is definitely noticeable. On more than one occasion lately I have heard her exclaim, "Did I really draw this?!"<br />
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We've moved on into taking the dark/light exploration into our work with colored pencils, and the results are really fun. Moonshine, meanwhile, has been watching this progression with awe. "Will I be able to draw like that too someday?"<br />
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"No," Sunburst told her with all sincerity. "Your drawings will be even better."<br />
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Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00694034873325873385noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26498457.post-47090336827706867752012-10-01T23:42:00.000+02:002012-10-01T23:48:45.084+02:00Book review: Painting and Drawing in Waldorf Schools<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Painting-Drawing-Waldorf-Schools-Classes/dp/0863158781" target="_blank">Painting and Drawing in Waldorf Schools: Classes 1-8</a> by Thomas Wildgruber<br />
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This is a book I've been wanting to write a review on for a couple of years. I first stumbled upon it at the Goetheanum bookstore in Switzerland with my good friend Cari. One look inside the book and we were both immediately smitten. It didn't matter that the text was in German or that its purchase price was enough to choke a horse-- we both HAD to have it.<br />
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Early this summer it was released in English, and I hemmed and hawed about whether or not I needed a copy of it that I didn't have to translate. The pre-order price at <a href="http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Painting-Drawing-Waldorf-Schools-Classes-1-8-Thomas-Wildgruber/9780863158780" target="_blank">The Book Depository</a> made it worthwhile though-- a mere pittance compared to what my German copy cost me. So I winced only slightly before clicking the order button, and I'm so happy that I did, because while most of it is exactly the same, some things and images are different. Plus, it saves me the time and effort of translating.<br />
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Let me repeat myself. This book is so good that I bought it TWICE.<br />
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It's a wonderful guide to every type of painting and drawing experienced within Waldorf education. Almost every section contains step-by-step guides and thoughtful commentary. The pictures alone are so inspiring. This is the book I had wished for when I started homeschooling Sunburst so many years ago and had only the vaguest idea what main lesson artwork should look like.<br />
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This is the book we've been waiting for.<br />
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Included in this masterpiece are the beginning painting lessons-- the ones that leave most of us homeschoolers with our heads spinning. It goes on to give a wealth of painting examples for the main lessons in grades 2-5. As a busy homeschooler teaching three grades, there are not enough hours in the day to do this many paintings. But I love that they exist. I love being able to flip though the book and pick and choose a few ideas to bring here and there. Some ideas I change because that's the nature of art, and others I bring as is because they are just that good.<br />
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One major thing this book has done for us is to re-enliven our form drawing. Form drawing is actually presented very differently in Europe than in the United States. Okay, I don't know if I can honestly say "all of Europe," but I can definitively say that the main lesson books I saw when I toured the Steiner schools in Switzerland were filled with very colorful form drawings, not much different from the ones in Wildgruber's book.<br />
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Here's an example from our own form drawing lessons so you can see what I mean.<br />
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It's the same drawing, and yet it looks so much more impressive, inviting, and exciting. Shaded with rich contrasting colors it becomes this palpable thing. For those of us who were introduced to form drawing as practiced in the states, this is like a free pass. There is no need to wait for freehand geometry in fifth grade to make form drawing look this beautiful. And it helps my children to fill in the enclosed spaces so they can really grasp the feeling-- did they create balance?<br />
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Other sections of this book that I particularly love for the lower grades are the botany paintings and the drawing section with inspired artwork to display in the classroom. If only I could draw this well! The author goes so far as to recommend that children will learn more from our guided drawing examples on paper than from our use of blackboards. I have noticed this to be true with my own children, and it is so nice to hear someone say this.<br />
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For the middle grades, I love that there are several wonderful explorations of light and shadow using different mediums. And as if the book wasn't already useful enough, the entire section on perspective drawing is priceless.<br />
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But you shouldn't take my word for it. To see all that's on
offer here, you should have a look at the Table of Contents which is
available as a pdf download <a href="http://www.kunst-didaktik.de/hbuch.php" target="_blank">HERE</a>. And then take a look at some of the images included in the book gallery <a href="http://www.kunst-didaktik.de/galerie.php" target="_blank">HERE</a>. (Note, some of these images have been replaced by even better ones in the English translation.)<br />
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I absolutely adore this book. I could go on and on. There is one series of exercises that Sunburst and I attempted over the summer that really lifted our work in so many ways. I look forward to sharing some of our drawings with you in the next few days, so I hope you'll come back for that.<br />
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Now if only we had a book like this for the high school grades... Yes, I can dream!<br />
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Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00694034873325873385noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26498457.post-77739941176193275122012-09-30T14:17:00.000+02:002012-09-30T14:17:09.874+02:00Eating our dragons<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Lately the air has turned chill, and the last few days the wind has been blowing a bit wild. There is a definite bite to it.<br />
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The cats picked up on the seasonal change immediately. They've been running wildly through the garden and bushes, up and down the trees, and throughout the house in the middle of the night. They've been climbing up the bookshelves, knocking things off, and chasing each other across our beds while we sleep. When they woke me that first night, I wondered what had gotten into them. But the next day it was obvious to everyone.<br />
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The wind has gotten inside them.<br />
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This same wind, the one that takes gentle cats and turns them into demons possessed, seems to have also gotten into my children. Not one of them could sit still the last few days. They were looking for reasons to argue with each other, with me, even with themselves. I was bewildered by their change in behavior until I looked at the calendar and realized that it was the end of September already.<br />
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The wind, the sudden bite in the air, Michaelmas... it all adds up.<br />
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After much dragon-like ado this week, Friday we settled back down to our normal routines. Then in the afternoon I told them a story, and we made dragon bread. Everyone worked with such care and creativity on their breads, shaping their dragons just so. I think these are the loveliest dragons yet-- so different from each other.<br />
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And that's how it should be. We each have our own dragons, our own
short-comings, our own temperaments. And when they get the best of us,
we have to slay them. Only then can our true selves, our golden
goodness shine through.<br />
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The first picture below shows all five dragons, while the second picture shows just the kids' dragons. The last picture is after baking.<br />
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The main lesson work this week was perfect for Michaelmas. I wish I could say I planned it that way, but it was all sheer coincidence. Sunburst learned about the reformation and how Martin Luther stood up to the wicked pope Leo X. Moonshine finished the tale of the Ramayana and Rama's fight against Ravana and his league of demon warriors-- very much like dragons themselves. Kitty Bill's story was much more mild. He heard the story of Mother Holle, a perfect example of two types of behavior. I love that the second sister started out with good intentions-- I will work hard! But even by the second day those intentions were overcome by her own laziness. Who can't relate to that?!<br />
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Kitty Bill helped me make the golden rice, a regular tradition for Michaelmas-- rice cooked with turmeric. With Einstein's help in the kitchen, Moonshine treated us to a mesmerizing Indian-themed meal of Chana Masala and a variation of Korma that she called Hanuman's Delight. One taste and we could all see that it was aptly named; it was so delicious!<br />
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Now that the weather has had a few days to work within our spirits, the cats seem to be quieting down. I hope the children aren't too far behind.<br />
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Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00694034873325873385noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26498457.post-83810227604255770432012-09-28T11:03:00.001+02:002012-09-28T11:10:51.564+02:00Heirloom Strawberries<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I just can't stop thinking about strawberries lately. Maybe it has something to do with all the wooden ones we carved this spring, or maybe it's my desperate attempt to hang on to summer for just a little bit longer.<br />
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Whatever the case, I found myself knitting up some little lovely berries the other night. Unlike the wooden ones, these ARE big enough to share with the littlest ones in our lives. And I'm truly happy to be able to share this pattern with you.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Heirloom Strawberry</span><br />
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<b>Materials</b><br />
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>US #4 (3.5mm) DPNs</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>small amounts of worsted weight yarn in red and green</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>small amount worsted weight yarn in contrasting color for seeds (optional)</li>
</ul>
<ul style="text-align: left;">
<li>stuffing material</li>
</ul>
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<b>Strawberry</b><br />
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CO 9 stitches and divide evenly on 3 dpns. Place marker and join to knit in the round.<br />
Round 1: Knit<br />
Round 2: *Kfb* repeat to end (18 sts)<br />
Round 3: Knit<br />
Round 4: *K3, kfb* repeat to end (24 sts)<br />
Rounds 5 - 8: Knit<br />
Round 9: *K4, k2tog* repeat to end (20 sts)<br />
Round 10: Knit<br />
Round 11: *K3, k2tog* repeat to end (16 sts)<br />
Rounds 12 - 14: Knit<br />
Round 15: *K2, k2tog* repeat to end (12 sts)<br />
Round 16: Knit<br />
Round 17: *K1, k2tog* repeat to end (8 sts)<br />
Round 18: Knit<br />
Round 19: *K2tog* repeat to end (4 sts)<br />
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Cut yarn and thread through remaining stitches to close. Stuff strawberry body through the top and close hole. Embroider seeds if desired, and weave in ends.<br />
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<b>Leafy Top</b><br />
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With green yarn CO 6 stitches and join to knit in the round.<br />
Round 1: Knit<br />
Round 2: *Kfb* repeat to end (12 sts)<br />
Round 3: Knit<br />
Round 4: *Kfb* repeat to end (24 sts)<br />
Round 5: Knit<br />
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The following round creates the leaf-tip shaping through decreasing and binding off certain stitches while leaving others live on the needles. <br />
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Round 6: BO the first stitch (k2, pass first stitch over), *k2tog, k1, BO 1 (pass the decreased stitch over)* repeat to one stitch from end of round, k1. (9 sts)<br />
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Cut your working yarn leaving a 12” tail. Keeping your live stitches on the dpns, place your top on the strawberry.<br />
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Using a yarn needle, sew into your last stitch and remove it from the dpn and secure it to the upper side of the strawberry. Bring your needle up through the top of the strawberry to secure it, then bring your needle down into the side of the strawberry where you want your second stitch to attach.<br />
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Slip your needle into the next live stitch and attach it as you did the first live stitch. Repeat until you have secured all live stitches to the strawberry.<br />
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Bring your needle up to the center of the strawberry top and use the remaining yarn to cinch together the first row from your CO edge to form the stem. Weave in all ends.<br />
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Enjoy!<br />
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<i>If you prefer, this pattern is also available as a PDF download both <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/dls/sara-hills-designs/119185?filename=Heirloom_Strawberry.pdf" target="_blank">HERE</a> and on <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/heirloom-strawberry" target="_blank">Ravelry</a>. </i><i>As always, if you knit one of my patterns, I would love to see!</i><br />
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Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00694034873325873385noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26498457.post-34251889556564525232012-09-27T13:18:00.000+02:002012-09-27T23:20:34.167+02:00Updates and some knitting<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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We've been hiding from the rain and the chill the last few days, so I've actually gotten some work done this week. It feels so good to get things accomplished! We're preparing for a little journey in a couple of weeks, and my plate has been so full that things have been slopping off of it. I'm ticking things off the list one by one. It's all I can do.<br />
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I've been getting a bit of knitting done at night when it's just too cold to sit at the computer. I wanted to share this particular piece with you because I had a bit of fun with the buttons. This little sweater is going to a working mom who is so very dear to me. She has no time for hand-washing knits, so no wooden buttons! These are in fact hand-drawn onto shrinkles paper. I found the very simple and wonderful tutorial at <a href="http://scissorspaperwok.com/2011/07/18/how-to-make-clothing-buttons-from-shrink-plastic/" target="_blank">Scissors Paper Wok</a>.<br />
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Here are the buttons before going into the oven.<br />
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And here they are afterwards. So cute! <br />
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The sweater pattern is the <a href="http://suzies-yarnie-stuff.blogspot.co.uk/2010/03/7-hour-toddler-girls-sweater.html" target="_blank">7-hour Toddler Girl's Sweater</a>, and I love how it knitted up. I hope the recipient loves it, too.<br />
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Now for the updates!<br />
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First up, I've finally managed to update my resource list for Grades 1-3. Wow, what a lot of work that was! But I hope it's much more helpful now. You'll find a lot of new resources there-- books that have come out in the last few years that I absolutely love, as well as a few amazing websites I've had bookmarked. I plan to update the lists for Grades 4-8 soon...<br />
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Second, I've mucked around with the sidebar a bit. There is now a picture of me for those of you who have been wondering for ages how many heads, eyes, or antennae I have, now you will know. I have resisted putting up a picture of myself for ages because I really dislike being photographed. I tend to make really goofy faces no matter how hard I try to look normal. And I've been told that my smile is so big it could swallow nations. I'm not sure if that was intended as a compliment or not, but I can't argue with the truth.<br />
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Other things you'll see on the sidebar-- more labels! I don't know why only a few labels were showing before, but now they are all visible, even some weird ones. I've even gone back and added labels to <i>almost</i> my entire first year of posts... you know, the ones I wrote way back before labels existed. Have I really been blogging for almost seven years?! And because sometimes labels just don't cut it, I've added a search bar as well.<br />
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The last new sidebar addition is a list of our patterns and tutorials. It's not a complete list, but it's a start. The list includes patterns both shared on the blog and in other publications, including two lovely farm pieces that were featured in Living Crafts magazine a few years ago. I have a new knitting pattern to share on the blog (tomorrow!), an upcoming woodworking tutorial, and another knitting pattern coming soon from Sunburst, so please watch this space.<br />
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Now if I could only figure out how to set up a virtual cafe in my sidebar, we could all sit and chat together in real time... ah, to dream!<br />
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Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00694034873325873385noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26498457.post-65500749479130502762012-09-24T22:10:00.001+02:002012-09-24T22:10:34.312+02:00The age of discovery<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Sunburst and I have been enjoying reading about the age of discovery and the renaissance. Normally this is a grade seven subject, but we're inevitably a bit behind schedule. Six months to be exact. With all the moves over the years, and the breadth and depth at which homeschooling allows us to study a subject, we will never truly be "on schedule" again. And that's okay. In fact, I prefer it this way rather than rushing ahead to the next thing. It's one of the blessings of learning at home.<br />
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We are truly enamored with this new age of exploration, and Sunburst's abilities just keep expanding. Every year I find myself amazed with her work, both as an artist and writer, and this year is no exception. She has really come into herself lately. Her summaries and artwork are all done independently now, with only the smallest bit of advice from me from time to time.<br />
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Last spring I could see a glimpse of this coming, as I did very few drawings with her towards the end. Now she feels completely confident to work alone. It's a wondrous thing to watch.<br />
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For discovery, so far we have focused on Prince Henry the Navigator, Magellan, Columbus, and the conquistadors Pizarro, Almagro, and Cortez. She has enjoyed writing about each and every one, and the illustrations in her main lesson book have been more map-centered.<br />
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Here's just a little taste of her work. I love the caravels.<br />
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We've also been studying the renaissance painters, with an emphasis on Giotto, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, and Michaelangelo. Though it takes an inordinate amount of time, it's a wonderful opportunity to try to copy work from the master artists. I let her sift through their images and pick the ones that spoke to her. So far she has attempted artwork from both da Vinci and Raphael. Michaelangelo and Giotto are still yet to come.<br />
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And then what? I don't know! Architectural changes... or whatever catches our fancy. It's the age of exploration and inspiration, after all.<br />
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Here is a taste of her work from the master artists, Leonardo and Raphael.<br />
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Her portrait drawing leaves me breathless. I remember when we first started homeschooling and it was all we could do to manage the block crayon drawing. If you would have asked me then if Sunburst's drawing would ever reach this level of wonder and skill, I would have laughed. I would have hoped, surely, but honestly? I would have said only in my wildest dreams... and yet, here we are.</div>
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Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00694034873325873385noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26498457.post-91478448578666833162012-09-22T22:02:00.000+02:002012-09-22T22:02:38.664+02:00Flying machines<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Kitty Bill (7) made this all by himself. This is the kind of thing that happens when mom and dad aren't looking.<br />
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The propeller is a curved piece of wood that he planed before attaching it to some electronic bits. Then he taped the whole shebang to his bicycle and added a kite for wings. Pretty clever, don't you think?</div>
Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00694034873325873385noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26498457.post-67446184274156665432012-09-21T13:51:00.001+02:002012-09-21T20:11:53.719+02:00Seven!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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It's official. All of my children are into their second seven-year cycle.<br />
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Kitty Bill had a wonderful birthday filled with all of his favorite things, like pomp and circumstance and cake.<br />
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He had a few other things, too. Vegetable stuffed crepes and tofu scramble for breakfast. Phone calls and mail from the other side of the world. And presents, of course.<br />
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He was delighted to see that the girls had made him things for the dollhouse. Moonshine made him some bedding -- a pillow, woven blanket, and woven rug. Sunburst made him a doll.<br />
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While Kitty Bill was thrilled with these gifts, what he wished for most of all for his birthday were two specific Kinderkram castle pieces. That was all well and good when we lived in Switzerland and wooden toys seemed to drip from the trees, but now we're in England. The natural toys that fall from the trees on the continent are then subjected to shipping fees, customs and taxes. So by the end of it, the purchase price for a lovely piece of shaped wood could feed a family of five for two weeks. At least.<br />
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So Einstein and I decided to do a bit of woodworking. This was our go-to method in the states for everything from play stands to dollhouses. And you know what? It feels so satisfying to be making wooden toys again.<br />
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Plus, we still had money left over to buy candles for the cake. ;)<br />
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Here's the castle <a href="http://thewoodenwagon.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=TWW&Product_Code=FKK40543" target="_blank">defense wall</a> I built from pine using only hand tools. I used a standard saw to cut the pieces to size then cut the crenellations with a coping saw. I sanded, glued, and clamped it together. Then I took some watercolor to it and finished it off with beeswax.<br />
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Einstein built a catapult. Kitty Bill has been drooling over the <a href="http://www.blueberryforest.com/images/Images_ct/kinderkram-40518-catapult-535.jpg" target="_blank">Kinderkram catapult</a> for years. Einstein and I drew out some plans to make a similar one, complete with an attachment for horses. It's made out of a small block of hardwood, twigs, and dowels. Einstein used a standard saw to cut the wood to size and a coping saw to cut out the pieces. He drilled the holes for the dowels, and then he carved out the "spoon" with a chisel.<br />
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I watercolored the dowels and pre-made wheels to match before adding a beeswax finish. Though it doesn't look exactly like the one in the catalog, it turned out beautifully. And it works... perhaps too well.<br />
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So far no one has lost an eye. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it stays that way.<br />
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Shared on <a href="http://www.naturalsuburbia.com/2012/09/creative-friday-9.html" target="_blank">Creative Friday</a>.</span></i></div>
Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00694034873325873385noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26498457.post-9532318123057410022012-09-21T12:08:00.000+02:002012-09-21T12:08:00.180+02:00The tamest fox in the world<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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And then I was bitten by a fox.<br />
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You know how you plan out your week, and usually, it goes fairly well with only minor bumps along the way? And sometimes you have other weeks where every effort at progress is thwarted and nothing goes according to plan? By Wednesday it had been that kind of week.<br />
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Luckily, I have a sense of humor.<br />
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Monday and Tuesday were spent swimming upstream. Figuratively, of course; it's far too cold for swimming just now. Because we're juggling so many balls, both in homeschooling and as a family, I decided to put one of them down. The pigeon.<br />
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In the midst of lining up a cat/rat sitter for an upcoming journey, we realized that the bird posed a bit of a problem. Leaving the cats and the bird unsupervised in a room together for hours on end, even with metal bars between them, left us all feeling a bit uneasy. So I made a few calls, and we decided to take our little pigeon to a wildlife rescue sanctuary.<br />
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In one sense, it feels awful to pawn the pigeon off on someone else, after all, it was my beast that attacked it. I feel this overwhelming sense of responsibility. On the other hand, I knew in my heart that it would have a better chance at a happy recovery surrounded by other wood pigeons instead of lurking cats. So off we went.<br />
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The place was absolutely amazing, and the volunteer staff was fantastic. I was happy to see that they had loads of pigeons. They not only had pigeons, they were just short of a zoo. They had so many different kinds of animals, it was astounding. They had owls and parrots, ferrets and rabbits, snakes and lizards, ducks-- just wandering around. There was even a tame doe walking about trying to set the reptiles free. They even had foxes. Tame foxes!<br />
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Or so I was told.<br />
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We love foxes. We have some in our garden, and each time our motion lights click on at night we run to the back windows hoping for a glimpse of the foxes. So you can imagine the excitement when we arrived at this place, and the man announces that we can pet a fox. The tamest fox in the world.<br />
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The man went on to tell us how this fox was hand-raised by someone and subsequently dumped. He took her in and loved her, and she has been just as sweet as can be, like a dog. Apparently she's so tame that she has done loads of television and film work, so she's not only tame, she's a bit famous as well.<br />
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He brought her out and Einstein and the kids started to pet her. I snapped a couple of pictures, and then reached my hand in to have a little pet. And that's when she bit me.<br />
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Perhaps she thought I was paparazzi, and I should have asked her to sign a release form.<br />
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While a small pool of blood was welling up on my hand, the man continued to assure me that this particular fox was completely harmless. Apparently she just plays a little rough, like the time she almost took off his nose. It was a love nibble. She rarely does that.<br />
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Which I suppose means that I'm one of the few... one of the <i>painfully</i> chosen ones. What luck!<br />
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If you want to pretend you were there with me, this is what you saw: <br />
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And if you want to play a game of guess the owls, here they are:<br />
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Did you have a productive week? Or did something unexpected happen?</div>
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Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00694034873325873385noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26498457.post-23313699166795279792012-09-11T23:30:00.000+02:002012-09-12T01:28:30.114+02:00What is it?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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While he hasn't caught any more birds, there is an obvious downside to covering our cat in bells. His hunting skills have been demoted to catching things that hardly move at all.<br />
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Today he sauntered in and dropped this strange thing at my feet. I had never seen anything like it before. Apparently, neither had he; the look on his face was priceless.<br />
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What is it mom? Why does my tongue feel so funny?<br />
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After he dropped it, he shook his head from side to side and made the most awful faces I have ever seen a cat make. If he could have spit, I'm sure he would have. I didn't know whether he just got his mouth pricked by the hairs or if the thing had secreted poisonous juices, but I promptly examined his catch and set out to do a bit of sleuthing just in case.<br />
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It's a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sycamore_%28moth%29" target="_blank">Sycamore moth</a> caterpillar (<i>Acronicta aceris). </i>Not poisonous. But it sure is fun to look at. The kids think so, too.<br />
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Sarahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00694034873325873385noreply@blogger.com8