Schooling from the heart

Exploring Shakespeare

2011-10-22T23:33:00.000+02:00

We spent the last two weeks walking along the Avon, seeing the sights of Stratford, and exploring all of the houses that have a historical link to Shakespeare.

It's a fantastic village-- there is so much to see and do! Kitty Bill's favorite part was helping sieve through dirt at the archeological dig going on at Nash's House. Moonshine loved Anne Hathaway's cottage, and Sunburst couldn't get enough of the falconry and animals at Mary Arden's Farm.

The girls had questions about everything, and Moonshine had to walk through some of the houses more than once to get her fill of them. We're leaving Stratford in the morning to head to another village, but we're taking a big part of it in our hearts.

Summer, goodbye-- fast-forward

2011-10-19T13:55:00.000+02:00

Well that was a longer blogging break than I had intended to make. Sorry about that.

We were literally on our way out the door to Spain when I made that last post/announcement. The kids and I had the pleasure of accompanying Einstein to a conference in the Pyrenees. Because we had been studying Roman history, Sunburst got an extra kick out of being there. After seeing the northern terrain of Spain, she was better able to imagine the horror of Hannibal's troops when they reached the Alps. In comparison, the Pyrenees were much less daunting.

We did some swimming up in the mountains and fed Sunburst's geology lessons with a tactile experience of geothermal springs. It was nice to bring two subjects together in one place, although admittedly there wasn't much that fell in line there with Moonshine's studies. However, all was not lost, because the best part of a sulphur pool is that it's warm enough to swim around in for hours at a time. Her swimming skills vastly improved in a matter of days, as did her bravery in the water.

We a made a point of taking a couple days in Barcelona to tour some amazing buildings designed by the genius Antoni Gaudi-- our final hurrah of the summer!-- before heading back to Switzerland to prepare for the move.

After that, everything else just blurred into a heap of moving preparation... the countless house-showings (and therefore cleanings!), farewell dinners/parties/hugs/presents, and last-time-just-once-more-please-can-we trips to walk along the Rhein or see the Goetheanum or our favorite toy store. Almost every night we walked through the countryside and took in the views near our house, trying to absorb every molecule of light and color, from the sun setting behind the row of cherry trees to the sparkle of corn tassels in the moonlight. Nearly every morning we walked, taking in the smells and the sounds, basking in the mythical, ethereal beauty of the sunlight breaking through the heavy mist. The Swiss sky did not disappoint.

We played soccer with the limousine cows, cheered Kitty Bill through his first and only t-ball game in Germany, accompanied Sunburst on her last horse ride on the hillside, and silently watched her say goodbye to the land and the animals she has grown to know as much as she knows herself. (But that is a post for another day...)

When we finally hit the road it was bittersweet. This country of Switzerland, that had on numerous occasions been more of a nemesis than a friend, was still home. I hadn't bargained on missing it, on the goodbyes being difficult, on the teary eyes of neighbors. I hadn't realized how easy and normal life had become there. Somehow I had missed noticing that our German had improved to the point where we were actually communicating better, reading more, understanding things, and above all, Sunburst had begun speaking in Swiss German on a daily basis. The immersion had finally stuck, just in time to leave.

We stopped in at the local shops and farm stands to load up for the long drive ahead. Everyone had their last wish-- gnome-shaped cookies from the Reformhaus, "cat chips" (Swiss paprika potato chips, that, while tasty to some, carry the distinct odor of cat food), olive tofu, dark chocolate-covered rice cakes, Swiss bread, and black grapes. We gassed up the car, ate a few grapes, and managed to make it across the border into France before the vomiting started.

Kitty Bill and Moonshine took turns emptying their small bodies over the course of the day. It was not pretty. Our six hour drive into Belgium became a nine hour hurling fest. Once we got to the hotel room the fun continued into the night and the next morning. We made it to our ferry booking at noon with only minutes to spare, and the children managed to hold it together enough to sit on deck and watch the white cliffs of Dover approach as we crossed the Channel into England.

As if sensing the weight of the moment, six-year-old Kitty Bill took one look at the cliffs and pronounced, "England looks boring!"

I'm happy to report that he has since changed his mind.

We have arrived! The first two weeks were spent simultaneously overcoming stomach flu and searching for housing. Luckily, we found a house that everyone could be excited about, and now we're just waiting for everything to come together: credit checks, lease-signing, utilities, movers... We have about another week or so of this waiting and finger-crossing business before we can start to unpack and teach ourselves to feel at home again. Waiting for normal life to start is not for the faint-hearted.

Meanwhile, we're shacked up in an old cottage near Stratford-upon-Avon. The kids and I are enjoying our break from homeschooling and taking advantage of the opportunity to learn a bit about the area and take in the sights. I'm learning not to scream when driving on the LEFT side of the road-- it feels terribly wrong! And the kids are remembering how to occupy themselves for hours at a time with only a few sticks and seeds in the small garden-- the toys from nature are ever-plentiful and still the best!

This weekend, as part of the waiting fun, we change to a different cottage and lose internet access for a few days. Hopefully I'll be back for a post or two before then. Fingers crossed!

Big Announcement

2011-07-03T12:06:00.000+02:00

Today is the eve of my home country's birthday... the day our forefathers came together to sign an agreement declaring independence from the rule of Great Britain.

In light of that, it's a bit amusing to me to make the following announcement:

We're moving to England.

Been a LONG time

2011-06-29T10:33:00.000+02:00

Four months later... sheesh!

When I disappear for awhile, it's safe to say that stuff is happening. Sometimes that stuff takes up all my attention and patience, and blogging has to take a back burner. This was one of those times.

We're still homeschooling though, in the midst of a whirlwind of trials. When everything else is going haywire, homeschooling is the one constant. I think we might be getting pretty good at it.

Where did I leave off four months ago? Oh yes, February, and my broken nose! That was a crazy time. It's healed now. Thanks so much for all the well wishes. You all know how to a make a mama smile through the pain.

At the tail end of the broken nose ordeal, all hell broke loose. Events happened. I don't know that I can say more than that at this time, though I'm sure to touch on it in the future. Needless to say, said events catapulted Moonshine into the thick, murky waters of the nine-year-change. Nurturing Moonshine through this change has been an entirely different experience than what we had with Sunburst. Much harder. Much more volatile. More tears than I can possibly count, and with good reason. It's hard to wake up and realize that the world isn't as nice as you thought.

She's good now. We're through the thick of it, at least. Other life changes are simmering, big ones, so I'm sure we'll see more fun times ahead as she finds her equilibrium. Thank goodness we're homeschooling!

Perhaps one of the greatest attributes of Waldorf homeschooling is being able to greet each individual child's stages of growth with curriculum. Not at a random moment within a given school year because their age dictates it, but exactly when they'll benefit from it the most. And that's what we've been doing this spring-- Old Testament stories. Nothing says wake up and smell the nine-year-change like the banishment from the garden of Eden, the death of Abel, and so on.

Meanwhile, Sunburst has been living and breathing everything Rome. The brutality and betrayal within Roman history has made for an interesting counterpoint as Sunburst watches her little sister move through such a strong undercurrent. I didn't expect that, and I certainly didn't plan for it. But the timing was perfect! There are much greater lessons to be learned from history than just dates and facts.

We've done other things here and there, as well. Kitty Bill is playing t-ball and loving it! Moonshine is enjoying cursive handwriting and housebuilding, and as always, math. Sunburst thinks her geology/mineralogy block is the best thing yet-- and that also comes at just the right time, because we're facing another huge upheaval.

Our job here in Switzerland is ending early. We learned about the possibility this spring, and it has been looming and growing ever closer until the possibility has become a certainty.

Einstein's boss has been offered a prestigious position, the top of his field, at a fat cat research facility in Berlin. He has invited Einstein to come along. It's a lucrative job, a huge career move... and yet, it's Germany... where homeschooling is illegal. I'm not at liberties to say much more than this, but I know that other homeschoolers can understand how the mere idea wrenches our hearts. And thus, Einstein has been actively pursuing other options for us.

He has been away more often than he has been home, and that has been a strain on all of us. He has been flying all over the world interviewing for jobs, attending meetings, conferences, writing books... Finding a job in this economy is tough. Finding a good job, a perfect job, a job that pays enough to keep the kids out of school where they belong... that's even tougher. But we think we've found one. Unfortunately, it's not back home. This tears the kids up, but there are no positions to be had in the US right now.

Hopefully we'll have definitive news by the end of this week, just in time for summer holidays to kick in. Between you and me, I'm looking forward to a few days of respite from all the stress and worries of reality.

Oh, and special thanks to those of you who have been emailing me, prodding me, to get back up on my blogging horse. I appreciate your kind words, and I'll do my best to stay astride. Hopefully I'll be back in the next few days to share some visuals.

Thanks for sticking with me.

The Danger of Bedtime Stories (or Valentine's Day)

2011-02-23T23:58:00.000+01:00

I realize I've been MIA for about ten days, but I have a really good reason.

You see, for Valentine's Day, I got this really breath-taking present. If truth be told, it was actually the night before Valentine's Day. An early present!

I wasn't expecting it at all! It was a total and complete surprise to me. In fact, I don't know when I've ever been more surprised in my life.

Not only was I surprised, but I was completely stunned! My jaw dropped to the floor. I didn't even know what to say-- in fact, I don't think I said anything at all for about five minutes.

And when I finally did speak, I couldn't tell you what I said or if I was even coherent. I'm sure there was screaming. And tears. It was one whopper of a present!

Did you guess it yet?

I broke my nose!

I'd like to say that I was spelunking or sky diving or even bungee jumping-- imagine how exciting and perhaps risky that would sound. Maybe even believable. But the truth is boring. Way more boring than that. In fact, it sounds almost ridiculous when I say it aloud. In fact, I'll say it, and then you can be witness to the ridiculousness. Ready?

I broke my nose reading a bedtime story to my five-year-old.

See what I mean!?! Actually, it was my five-year-old that broke my nose. How about that?! He was merely walking around on the bed and then he somehow fell on me. I know! It doesn't quite make sense when I say it to myself. It wasn't like he suddenly dropped from the sky and I cushioned his certain-death fall with my nose... or maybe it was kind of like that. It depends on what your notion of sky is. But anyway, my nose took the full brunt of some part of his head. My face exploded with pain, and then there was the telltale bruising, swelling, and whatnot that followed. Pain followed pretty much. Pain upon pain upon pain.

My nose hurt. My head hurt. My sinuses hurt. Even my teeth hurt. Actually, there was this constant shooting pain like someone had shoved an electric rod in my face and was trying to push my teeth out of my head. I wasn't sure if I was going to lose my teeth altogether or just end up looking like the one of the 'Hags of the Long Teeth' in Padraic Colum's The King of Ireland's Son. It wasn't until two days ago that something mysteriously and quite audibly popped back into place, and the intense shooting pain subsided and left me with just a tender, throbbing nose.

It's funny when you wake up and find yourself to be thankful for a throbbing nose. Talk about perspective. With five-year-olds randomly falling from the sky, it could have been much, much worse. Motherhood is dangerous, after all. It's a real contact sport. Don't let them tell you otherwise.

And reading bedtime stories? Totally. Dangerous.

I'm going to start wearing a helmet.

More handmade toys

2011-02-10T18:27:00.000+01:00

As promised, here are the last bits of my handmade Christmas, including Miss Jemima Mouse!

Kitty Bill loved Jeremy Mouse so much that before the day was out he was begging me to make a Jemima Mouse companion. Luckily, these mice are quite simple to put together. He insisted she have wedding clothes, as well, and then he created a fort church and conducted a wedding ceremony. Now of course he's asking for a Tiptoes... You knew that was coming, right? When things settle down a bit I'll have to oblige him.

Jemima is made from the same Holiday Mice pattern. Her wedding attire begins with the hat that comes with the mouse pattern. Then I attached yarn at the back of the hat and knit down to create a cape/veil effect. If you missed the details on Jeremy, you can find them here.

Here's the wedding photo:

If you haven't seen Reg Down's website for the Tiptoes book series, you must take a look! There are so many wonderful pictures there. And the books are pure magic. All three of my children adore his stories immensely.

What else?

Here's the outcome of that knit horse from Jan Messent's book, Knit a Fantasy Story. It was a small torture to make it come together, but in the end, the beautiful smile on Sunburst's face was completely worth it. She adores this horse. She has since named it Bucephalus-- can you tell she enjoyed studying Ancient Greece?-- and she's been busy designing and knitting a realistic horse blanket for it. Apparently the pattern in the book is just too different than the horse blankets she has seen around here.

The little doll on top just seemed like it needed to be there. She's from the Sally Mavor book, Felt Wee Folk. I just love her little dolls.

For Moonshine, I crafted two dolls: Little Red Riding Hood and the Pink Baby. Sounds like it could be a curious story all on its own, doesn't it? Little Red is technically a table puppet with a felt base, but the other dolls welcomed her into the dollhouse anyway.

Moonshine had been ogling the Little Red from the table-theater page in Sunnhild Reincken's book Making Dolls. This one is not exact, but it's close enough. The Pink Baby (perhaps it has a name by now) is copied from one the neighbors gave Sunburst last year. Sunburst traced a pattern, and she kindly helped me sew things up. There is also a tiny knit blanket, but it obscured the baby too much for the picture.

She loves them! She really, really does!

Back from holiday

2011-02-09T17:42:00.000+01:00

Apologies for my very long absence. We have been on holiday for the entire month of January, and have now just emerged from the heavy fog of jet lag.

It was a wonderful trip-- very necessary, well-filling stuff. We spent a lot of time hugging family and friends, laughing, talking, and staying up way too late. It was only our second visit back to the U.S. after moving to Europe, and while the views here are gorgeous, I really miss being home and feeling like I'm home. I don't know that it's something that you ever get over, but... we're supposed to be here now. And so we are. Here. In Switzerland.

I came home to find some very sweet blog comments waiting for me, one of them by (and I could hardly believe it myself!) the author of the Tiptoes Lightly book series, Reg Down. That pretty much made my day! The kids were so pleased that they had to bring Jeremy Mouse (and now we have his wife Jemima, too!) to the computer to show him. What fun!!

I'll be back tomorrow with pictures-- some from our trip and some that I promised you from those Christmas presents I was making for the kids. And of course I have to show off our knit Jemima Mouse, as well. She needs her moment in the limelight too! ;)

Books, prayers, and gratitude

2010-12-23T14:15:00.000+01:00

Every year we pack away the Christmas books with the decorations, and when Christmastime comes around again we hungrily unpack them-- it's like seeing old friends!

We have lots of favorite books, but the one I found two years ago at the Goetheanum, On the Way to Christmas, has quickly risen to the top of the heap.

As you can see the illustrations are so lovely, and the message is so simple: We're on our way to Christmas, and everybody-- animal, spirit, plant, and man-- everyone is coming. I was reading through it again the other day when suddenly I found myself caught-- struck, actually, in a new way.

This page spread really got to me this year:

At the bottom of the page, it says, "And he dropped his club." --It's not a big whammy of a line, but it made me think. Am I carrying any clubs? Literally, no, of course not, but figuratively... there's a lot of stuff that I hold onto. Hurts, resentments, fears, stress, passivity. Those things aren't much different, are they? I've been making a conscious effort this year to reach out to people I love and let them know it. Isn't that what the spirit of Christmas is all about?

I've been thinking about sitting down to write this post for days, and meanwhile, I received a message last night that a dear old friend of ours has just been diagnosed with brain cancer. He's only 37, and he has a baby son. The doctors tell him he has less than a year. It's absolutely heartbreaking. And I just can't stop crying and praying and sending thoughts of love to him.

This young man has an amazing capacity for love and kindness-- even Kitty Bill, who has always been kind of a mama's boy and wary of strangers, took to him right away and sat on his lap at their first meeting. And it's just so senseless to me that someone so special can be taken in an instant, whereas people who are infinitely less kind are given the gift of longevity. And life is such a gift!

But again, despair is a different kind of club, isn't it? I was reminded by reading a thoughtful post by the sweet Kelly at Freeflowing Ways how despite what befalls us, we must go on and live. Truly, truly live! It is the only way.

So today I will be praying for my dear friend, but not letting despair pull me under. There are still Christmas cookies to bake, presents to wrap, and a horse's bottom to sew up. I will be praying for my friend while holding my people tighter today, letting every second count for something. My heart is open, and I'm just so grateful for every minute.

I appreciate you, my blogging friends and family, and I'm wishing you a very beautiful holiday filled with lots of laughter, health, and love.

Handmade goodness

2010-12-18T14:52:00.000+01:00

Shhh! Don't tell. But I've been hard at work making Christmas presents. The snow and ice have kept us indoors for days, and I've already got this wee mouse finished and wrapped up under the tree. There is going to be one happy little boy Christmas morning when he unwraps his very own Jeremy Mouse!

Kitty Bill has been smitten with the image of Jeremy Mouse fighting the dragon in Reg Down's book The Festival of Stones. It's only a line drawing, but something about it really touched him deeply. In the picture Jeremy is brandishing a straw sword and adorned with an oak leaf shield and an acorn cap helmet. He's preparing to fight the dragon in a celebration of Michaelmas, where we slay our own inner dragons.

This was a very simple toy to make up, combining three easy and free patterns. For Jeremy I used the Holiday Mouse pattern. His shield is made from Natural Suburbia's wonderful Autumn Oak Leaf pattern, only I used fingering weight yarn and size US # 2 needles. Then I embellished it with a bit of embroidery to give it some added color. The acorn helmet is made from the pattern Wee Twee Tiny Acorn Tutorial, only I made it a little bit bigger than the pattern calls for, then I attached it with a bit of elastic beading string. The sword is made from straw and string.

Now, those of you who have the newer edition of the Tiptoes series might be asking yourself, "Why on earth did she make Jeremy Mouse gray? Everyone knows he's brown; he's right there on the cover!" We don't have the newer books, and if you ask my children, 2 out of 3 would say he's gray. After seeing the newer covers online, I took a poll. Kitty Bill was adamant that Jeremy is a gray mouse just like the ones we've been catching in our garage this winter. (Don't worry, we have a catch and release program.)

Sunburst's present is a bit more complicated. I saw her eying a knit horse in Jan Messent's Knit a Fantasy Story, so I thought I would give it a shot. I mean, how hard could a horse be?

Really hard, apparently. The knitting isn't so complex, but the fitting of the pattern just right onto the frame of the horse leaves a bit to be desired. I've been working at it steadily every night this past week, and in the end I think she'll really like it. I mean, it's a horse after all. Sunburst lives and breathes them.

I still haven't figured out what I'm making for Moonshine yet. I have too many ideas, and at the top of that list sits teeny tiny dolls and a hand-painted matryoshka. We'll see which one I can pull off in time.

Every year I find myself crafting down to the wee hours of Christmas morning. I don't expect this year will be any different, and why should it be? I truly enjoy it. When we lived in the states Einstein and I made nearly every present for them, but once we moved to Europe and found ourselves surrounded by so many lovely natural toys, it became less necessary. It's incredibly hard to resist an entire store packed full of Ostheimer figures, Käthe Kruse dolls, and Holzkram goodies. But I'm very careful to remember that the toys they often love best are the ones I make for them. It's almost as if they can feel the love that went into every stitch, every knit and purl, every hand-painted detail.

Yesterday we spent some time recalling the different ways we celebrated last Christmas, and they got around to remembering their presents. Easily they remembered the handmade gifts, and then they went very quiet as they tried to remember what else they had unwrapped from under the Christmas tree. It wasn't a bonanza of store-bought gifts, but surprisingly, it took them a very long time to remember.

The kids just headed out for an hour of sledding fun, so it's time for me to get back to finishing up all this handmade goodness before my time runs out.

Santa Lucia morning

2010-12-18T09:20:00.000+01:00

Holiday cheer and a recipe!

2010-12-12T12:49:00.002+01:00

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

We've been busy little elves-- rolling beeswax candles, making Christmas cards, opening windows on our Advent calendar, and hanging up decorations. Mary and Joseph have made their appearance along with our nightly reading materials that take us through Advent: The Light in the Lantern and Mary's Little Donkey. I can't imagine advent without these books, they really lend so much heart to our home, and the children still light up with every telling.

Another long-standing tradition for us, our felt Advent stockings. Each one holds a different holiday carol. We sing our nightly song before we light the Advent candles and read our story. Singing with my grandmother is one of my favorite memories from childhood, and it touches my heart to see what joyous little singers I have. There is no sound more precious than the sound of little voices rising up in song! And we are discovering that at five, Kitty Bill has quite a good memory for song lyrics!

And as always, the girl elves have been busy knitting away. There are projects going in every corner of the house and lots of whispering going on.

Not all the projects have been started yet, nor the baking, but there is time yet, still plenty of time... or at least that's what I keep telling myself.

It's cold outside, blustery and snowy with lots of ice! We're trying our best to stay warm and toasty, and when the winter winds blow, our thoughts turn towards food. The kids have made an unusual request for Christmas dinner-- soup!

I made the mistake of playing around with our pumpkin soup recipe the other day. Around here folks serve it with cream. We've always made it with coconut milk. This time I decided to forgo the milkiness altogether and add in my soup protein standby, ground nuts, and top it with a heavy hand of nutmeg. Now, my kids are generally very enthusiastic eaters. And they love pumpkin anything... but this soup? They went crazy for it.

We finished off the leftovers for lunch today, and there was a general echo of sadness until one of them piped up with the idea of soup for Christmas Eve dinner. When I acquiesced, they actually cheered.

Best Pumpkin Soup Ever

one medium winter squash (pumpkin, kuri, butternut, etc.) cubed
2 Tbs olive oil
1 large onion
2 cloves fresh garlic
2-3 cups vegetable broth (depends on size of your squash)
1/2 cup ground almonds
sea salt, to taste
ground nutmeg

Saute the onion and garlic in the olive oil. Toss in the squash, add enough broth so that it reaches the top of the squash, but doesn't cover it completely. Bring to a boil and simmer until tender (or alternately cook in a pressure cooker for 7-10 minutes). Puree this, stir in the ground almonds and add sea salt to taste. Serve with a heavy sprinkling of nutmeg.

It's dairy-free, animal-free, gluten-free goodness... unless of course you serve it with fresh, homemade bread. But I know you clever folks have got the homemade, gluten-free bread down pat already.

Unexpected joy... and a winner!

2010-12-10T16:19:00.000+01:00

Last night we went out to buy our Christmas tree. To be honest, I wasn't that excited. I had been lamenting the fact that despite talking about it for the last three Christmases, we still haven't found the place where you can go out into the wilderness and cut down your own. I've heard it exists, but knowing something exists here and finding out just where it exists are two very, very different things.

There are lots of places to buy trees here-- outside grocery stores with garden centers, outside some churches, and at small village fairs. But if you want to save about 40 dollars, you can also buy a tree at IKEA. Last night was the beginning of IKEA's tree sales this season, and that's where we headed.

We had broken most of our drinking glasses, so we had to first walk through the winding path of the store. As we were nearing the stairs we heard singing. It was very soft at first, but then it expanded and filled the room before us and took our breath away.

There must have been thirty or more children of varying ages all dressed in white carrying candles. In the center of this mass of sweet voices was an older girl dressed up as Santa Lucia, her crown of candles blazing bright. The little boys wore cone hats and carried star wands, like the picture for January (one of my favorites, as shown above) from Elsa Beskow's Around the Year. They sang about five songs, including Santa Lucia, and then slowly, still singing, they padded barefoot out of the room and down some mysterious hallway.

It was so unexpected and breath-taking, and it actually brought tears to my eyes. My children had all rushed over to get a closer look, and they came back to where Einstein and I stood, their eyes bright, their faces glowing.

Unexpected joy. At IKEA.

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

And... we have a WINNER! I'm pleased to announce that the children have pulled a name out of the hat. We will be mailing off the mobile and chocolates to:

erin said...

She's just adorable! I'm so glad to have come across your blog. Swiss chocolates too sound simply divine. Congrats on 300 posts.

Thanks everyone for your lovely comments! Having a giveaway was so much fun, I'm sure we will be doing it again soon.

Until next time, I'm wishing you unexpected joy... you never know where you'll find it!

Thoughts on St. Niklaus Day

2010-12-06T23:50:00.000+01:00

"Kind old man, St. Nicholas dear,
Come to my house this year."
-from Mary Thienes-Schunemann's The Christmas Star

My children had a wonderful time discovering treats in their shoes this frosty morning. Kitty Bill was especially excited because in his short memory there was only one other St. Nicholas Day, last year. It's so wonderful when their memories start sticking together because that's when the anticipation really starts to take on a life of its own.

Last night they carefully selected carrots and apples for his horse, and Moonshine insisted they leave out a bit of chocolate for St. Nicholas to enjoy himself. In their boots this morning they each found a clementine, peanuts, and some chocolates. That's pretty standard fare for Switzerland, but even in the states, St. Nicholas left some variety of nuts, fruit, and chocolates. But as I understand it, St. Nicholas Day is actually celebrated in a variety of ways here in Switzerland.

According to my neighbors, St. Nicholas makes an appearance in our village on the night of December 5th. All of the children come, and they sit and listen as he tells a story. He also calls each and every one of them out on their behavior, both good and bad. And at some point-- I'm not sure if it's at home in their shoes or at this event, they are given a sack of peanuts and clementines.

Another Swiss friend said that St. Nicholas makes an appearance at their house, coming round to greet their child. I don't know how it goes there with the shoes or not, but I find it all very interesting. It seems much more of a personal experience here than our typical shoes and stockings celebrations. After all, this is their Santi Klaus... kind of.... at least some of them call him that. The more I learn about our cultural differences, the more there is to learn.

For example, the other night we braved the below freezing temps and enjoyed the Christmas market in Basel, Switzerland. It just happened to be the night of their traditional Niggi Näggi, a parade of decorated Harley Davidson motorcycles ridden by Santas. Santas on Harleys. Strange, no?

However you celebrate this special day, I'm wishing you joy.

Winter Giveaway

2010-12-02T22:38:00.002+01:00

That's right, folks. I'm giving away winter. ;)

Honestly, it's beyond cold outside. So many days in a row of below freezing weather just doesn't seem fair. Tonight it's supposed to be -14 C. The snow is frozen to the road, and the icicles are ominously long, behaving as if they think it's already January. Snow covers everything, as you can see. The locks on the doors are frozen in place, so too are the horses in the field.

Well, okay, I'm only kidding about the horses. But if you'd like winter, you're welcome to it.

Meanwhile, I'm trying to get back into the crafty spirit so I can make some holiday gifts for my sweet children. I try to make them something every year. Last year I made a stuffed dog for Kitty Bill and new dolls for both the girls. This year? I am completely out of ideas. I suppose winter is keeping me inside for a reason.

As for the real giveaway, to celebrate my 300th post, I have this sweet little 'doll under the stars' mobile to share with the lucky winner. To sweeten the deal, I'll tuck some Swiss chocolates into the package as well. Goodness knows one can never have enough chocolate. ;)

Please leave a comment on this post if you'd like a chance to win. Extra entries if you follow my blog or mention the giveaway on your own blog. Just let me know in the comments. And if you're making gifts this year, I'd love to hear about them. I'll be accepting comments through next Thursday, December 9th, and I'll announce the winner on Friday, December 10th.

Good luck!!

Greeced Out

2010-12-01T23:57:00.000+01:00

Sunburst finished up her study of Ancient Greece in October. My initial plan was to let it rest after our trip, but she refused to take a break. This block was the most fun yet!

We ended up with more than we could fit in one main lesson book, so I showed Sunburst how to put together a small accordion-style book (similar to a Greek scroll, but folded-- maybe the blurry picture below helps?). The smaller book ended up holding the bulk of Greek history (30 - 5x6 inch pages), from the early settlement to the famous battles and leaders. She included form drawings, portraits, and relevant quotes. She is really proud of this little book, and her work truly reflects that, both inside and out.

Her regular main lesson book is packed with the mythology and the wonderful stories. Sunburst read Rosemary Sutcliff's retellings of both Homer's Iliad and Odyssey, then she copied out the beginning of the original Odyssey in Greek. She also read Padraic Colum's book The Golden Fleece. They all made it into her main lesson book, as well as the Greek alphabet, a study of Greek columns, a small subset of Greek words, a map, and her sketches from our trip to the Acropolis. Her enthusiasm for the work and her focus continues to impress and amaze me. Here's a little sampling:

Here are a few of my chalkboard drawings from The Iliad, The Odyssey, and Perseus, respectively:

We love, love, loved our study of Greece, but a person can only do so much before becoming Greeced out. ;) We took a break from history in November (with the minor exception of mathematical history), and we're feeling rested and ready for more. We're hoping to ease our way into Ancient Roman history next!

Finished!

2010-11-30T20:47:00.001+01:00

Another year. Another "novel" written. My girls didn't have any trouble pulling it off, but I almost didn't make it.

I'm going to go jump up and down and finish that huge pile of laundry that awaits me, but I'll be back in the next couple days with a real post, a homeschooling update, and a giveaway to celebrate my 300th post. Eek!

See you then!

Still here

2010-11-19T23:13:00.000+01:00

Poor blog. I feel like I haven't sat down in over a month. That's not the hard truth, but it's pretty close. From the moment I wake up in the morning, I am running to catch up. There just doesn't seem to be enough time lately. I may not have been actively blogging, but I'm still here. Somewhere.

Both Halloween and Martinmas came and went since my last post. I'm still shaking my head over how that happened. We had a lovely time on both accounts. We felt blessed to spend Halloween with sweet friends, and the kids were delighted to trick-or-treat a few houses-- their first real Halloween since we left the states. Martinmas was spent at home, trekking through the forest with three local families, singing, sitting around the fire, and sharing a meal on our back porch.

I've been sort of reflecting on the Martinmas celebrations gone by, when we were just one family celebrating on our own... first with the two children, and then with all three. Like any tradition, it has definitely changed over the years, especially after moving to Europe.

It's an interesting celebration in Switzerland. Our first year here we didn't celebrate it. Last year we celebrated it three times, in two languages. This year I finally figured out what the locals are doing, which isn't what we're doing at all. That's actually the extent of my understanding... ha. The Steiner school families celebrate it as one with Martinmas, but the regular folks, they just carve their turnip lanterns and sing songs without all the St. Martin references. At least some of them sing. In Switzerland traditions seem to change every few kilometers, so you never know what to expect.

This would explain why my girls seemed to know the songs better than some of the neighbors. And it also explains why some of the neighbors don't bother with the singing at all. The point for them is to carve the lantern and go for a walk, period. It's more like a party of sorts than the reverential thing we had been celebrating in the past. Both ways are kind of nice, and at the end we dissolved into singing in English anyway.

A few days later we managed to visit Richterswil, a small village near Zurich, where the town goes totally nuts and decorates the whole town with turnip lanterns. They call it Räbechilbi," and it was amazing! But it also wasn't overtly reverential. There was a parade with the strangest sorts of turnip pictures (imagine giant pictures where all the white parts were filled with burning turnips). The local kindergartners walked with their lanterns as part of the parade, but no one was singing. Instead they had marching bands playing tunes like "Smoke on the Water" and something that sounded suspiciously like "You're a Grand Ole Flag." (I'm sure it wasn't... but it was that similar!)

The streets were jam-packed with people. There were a few vendors selling odd items, like purse holders-- something you would apparently use in a restaurant to hang your purse. There were also the typical würst, glühwein (hot mulled wine), and chestnut stands, but they also sold hot orange punch (alcoholic and non). Hot punch? That was new for me. But seeing all the lanterns everywhere... that was amazing.

I love that towns like this exist in the world. It wasn't our typical Waldorfy Martinmas, but seeing a community come together like this filled me with a different kind of hope.

P.S. New camera. Still getting the hang of it.

Homeschooling at the Acropolis

2010-09-29T12:20:00.003+02:00

If you were looking for us on Saturday, you would have found us here causing quite a spectacle. I'm certain the Acropolis has seen homeschoolers before, but for some reason we attracted quite a bit of attention. What were we doing that was so exciting??

Drawing.

We must have looked rather curious, as lots of people approached us, including the Acropolis staff. They were horrified at the site of Kitty Bill, age 5, sitting with a tin of colored pencils and a notebook. They were concerned that he might go wild and start drawing on the gazillion-year-old marble rocks. After all, defacing the place is punishable by law... apparently, so is singing.... which we do a lot. But we managed to restrain ourselves just this once. And rest assured, Kitty Bill was completely engrossed in drawing a picture of Lykavittos Hill that he didn't even think about drawing on the marble.

It was a long walk up to the Acropolis. First in surprising torrents of rain, and then just as quickly, melting in the glaring sun. We stopped in the tiniest bit of shade cast by the Parthenon behind us, resting and sketching the caryatids of the Erechtheion. One woman was so taken with the sight of us that she thought we needed pictures. She grabbed our camera and started snapping away.

Our visit to Greece was absolutely fantastic. More on that to come...

Baby knitting

2010-09-22T09:35:00.001+02:00

We have finally finished knitting for the new baby across the street. The week he was born the sky filled with storks-- over 100 of them. We counted!!

I'm not pleased with how the sweater turned out. It's like one of those magic washcloths that grow exponentially when wet. Seriously. It started out life much, much smaller... it was only when I blocked it that things went terribly wrong. Next time I won't be blocking anything on my birthday. I'm sure that had something to do with it. It was another good exercise in showing the children how to accept defeat. On your birthday, no less.

But it's still cute. I gifted it anyway, and despite its faults, the mom adored it. Whew! It's so hard when gifting goes awry. The pattern is the very cute Duck Soup by Anny Purls. I will be making it again, larger, with different yarn. The kids are all insisting that they need one in their sizes, too. Funny kids. I think that top knot has them enchanted.

I also made the baby a blue berry hat, just because, with a leaf embellishment. Though I have since been told it was a cultural faux pas to give a baby hat without straps. I wonder is this really true? In America it's pretty standard to have hats that don't tie.

Sunburst knit the baby a pair of socks. She did a nice job with them, and she was very excited to see him wearing them yesterday!

The pattern is called Leftovers Baby Socks (or as the pdf link reads: Baby Socks - Turned Heel). This was Sunburst's second time making baby socks-- though it has been a long time. She found this pattern easy to follow on her own, and she has since made another pair for another baby. I have to say that they are great newborn size, but for bigger babies they would run a bit small.

And Moonshine helped me knit the doll for the baby's big sister. This little girl has been feeling a bit displaced by her baby brother, and she was very pleased to be receiving a gift, too. It's just a tiny doll, but she pushes it around in her doll stroller just the same. And she chews on the hat. She's only two. I find it fascinating that the texture of wool is something she finds comforting enough to mouth.

The girls are so pleased to see their gifts being used and loved... it's good incentive for them, since there are still two more babies to knit for. I think it must have something to do with all those storks!

Wir schreiben Deutsch!

2010-09-15T01:08:00.000+02:00

Yesterday I told you about the German lessons I created for my children. Today I want to tell you about two books we're using for book work and how we're making them fun.

Moonshine, my 8.5 year old, is using "Fun with German" by Lee Cooper. It's written for English speakers, and the point is to be able to pick it up and read in German from the very first page. It's empowering, it's colorful, and it's fun. It actually is. It touches on pronunciation, starting with very small steps, and continuing on in such a simple manner that before long you are actually reading and understanding quite a bit of German.

Moonshine is LOVING it. She can't get enough of it lately. It's what I find her doing first thing in the morning and the last thing in the afternoon. We're both hoping it will help her feel even more empowered. She is already tickled by the fact that she can now read in German.

We're taking each page and turning it into a lesson-- reading it aloud many times, copying the writing and the picture, underlining whatever words she wants to underline-- those new to her or ones she thinks are new to her-- and sometimes adding in a new word that she might need help pronouncing. We're using colored pencils to make it more fun. And I'm doing it along with her in my own book. My kids really enjoy embarking on a project together with mom, it feels special and important. And she's so proud of herself already!

Here's what her first few lessons look like:

And then she noticed there were so many words that mean "the" -- so I explained and we made a page for them. In Moonshine's drawing below, the gender neutral quality of das is illustrated by a "suitcase" she says.

The thing about this book is that you don't have to work hard to make it exciting. The pages in the actual book look pretty much the same:

And 30-odd pages later you're able to read something of this length:

Doesn't it look like a fun book? I can't say enough good things about Lee Cooper's books. They are all like this-- Fun With Spanish (two books), Fun With Italian, Fun With French... They're old enough to be out of print, but there are still many cheap copies to be found in a quick Google search.

Sunburst, my 11.5 year old, is using the Das Sind Wir readers by Peter Oram. He created these German readers for use in Waldorf schools in the UK, and they are very well done. Each book (there are two) has fifteen lessons. They're meant for Grades 5-6, I think, and they assume that the child has some grasp of the language already... which is perfect for Sunburst.

Each lesson has a theme (waking up, school, my city) and at the end of each lesson are the related vocabulary words and phrases for that lesson. In the back of the book there are some questions pertaining to each lesson, meant for the teacher's use, as well as a lesson by lesson glossary.

My only problem with this book is that it assumes the teacher is fluent in German. All the material directed at the instructor is also in German... and while I get the gist of some of it, I haven't had the time or the inclination to really sit down and fully grasp how I'm supposed to be using it. So I'm making it up.

First we read the lesson together. She likes to read it in German and then translate it aloud to the English equivalent. Then we take this lesson and pretend it's a letter which we have to reply to-- at the end of each lesson, as part of the reading, are questions based on the reading (Where do you live? What do you play? Are you fully awake?) And so we use those as a jumping off point and write a letter to the boy in the lesson. If he talks about his town, then we do, too. And we make sure to answer his questions. We keep our letters in simple little notebooks.

Just to give you an idea, here are a couple of Sunburst's (uncorrected)"letters."

This is really fun for Sunburst, and again, she loves that I'm doing it with her. We compare what we wrote, and it's really interesting to see how different our letters become. We're doing one lesson per week, and that seems like plenty. Her goal is to be able to check out books at the library and read to her heart's content. I think by the time she's finished with these books she'll have no problem. Certainly she will be able to check out German early readers after only a few more lessons.

You can find all of Peter Oram's books at the website Starborn Books.

(This is my first post with the new Blogger interface, and it's giving me fits. So if it looks too wonky on your end, please let me know. Thanks!)

Wir sprechen Deutsch!

2010-09-13T00:28:00.000+02:00

Today I found myself acting out a wild story about a boy who wanted to make a birthday cake for his friend, with candles, but he didn't know how old she was. He called her on the phone, but it was a bad connection. So he mailed her a letter, but he forgot to use a stamp. Then he decided to go ring her doorbell, but the doorbell was broken. So he knocked... nothing. Then he began pounding and banging on the door, but no one heard because the mother was running the vacuum cleaner.

Imagine, I'm standing there banging furiously on the dining room door with one hand while with the other I am running the vacuum cleaner and pretending not to hear. Meanwhile my kids are calling out suggestions, laughing and smiling, and completely engaged. They love it so much, and I'm so pleased-- because we're actually, at this moment, homeschooling. And what I'm presenting is their German lesson.

The funny thing is, I don't speak German. Not really. I took it in college, but outside of class, I didn't use it. Not once. And if you don't use it... well, in twenty years time it just seems to float away on the breeze. It's not the most useful language you can learn as an American living in the Southwestern US. Spanish would have been a more obvious choice, and I probably would have stayed that course had my friend and I not met these cute Austrian brothers at the opera. The college crush, both blind and fleeting-- it was as good a reason as any to learn a language. Even if I never used it again... and I didn't. Not until I decided to teach it to my kids, and then I had to start over, from scratch.

When we lived in the US and my girls were younger, I used songs and games and very basic attempts at language introduction. For resources I googled fingerplays and checked out picture books and cds from the library. I sang them songs and made up silly little games. My goal was not to create fluent speakers. I simply wanted them to play with the idea of language-- hear new sounds and try to make them. If they learned a few words and had fun doing it, then that was a bonus.

And then we moved to Switzerland, and my focus changed. For the first year we honestly didn't even need German. Hardly anyone spoke to us in the city, and so our language usage was pretty much confined to asking for a bathroom and reading ingredient labels on food packaging. Now that we've been living "auf dem Land" for the last year, learning the language has become somewhat of a necessity.

It's hard teaching a language when you don't speak it fluently yourself. We've tried just about everything-- Rosetta Stone, books, cds, random internet resources... The materials I've found just aren't enlivened enough. So I decided to make my own. I've started putting together a few ideas from here and there, including psychology research on language acquisition, and the girls can't get enough of these lessons. They love them. They beg for them. And it makes me so happy.

And just in the last few weeks that I have been implementing this, I have seen a HUGE change in the girls' language abilities. And in my own. I'm far from fluent-- but I think we're definitely onto something VERY good here. Even the neighbors have been commenting to me about how well the girls are speaking lately, and I couldn't be more encouraged by this. It's astounding, really. Every day they come in from playing to tell me excitedly that they understood something someone said, or said something that was understood. They are starting to feel empowered again. Imagine that! It makes me cry, really.

Basically, I'm telling very short, simple, thematic stories twice a week. I have two characters, Johann and Julia, and the stories revolve around their comical interactions with each other.

My rules for the stories are:

I have to tell the whole story in German (as best as I can).
It has to build on words they already know.
The words have to be contextually connected and useful.
It has to be simple.
It has to be funny.

So I tell the story, acting out bits and drawing pictures and words on the chalkboard as I go (usually with a dictionary in my lap), and then the girls and I draw the picture together on paper, purposefully making it as ridiculous as possible. We discuss which words to write-- we only pick a few (less really is more), and I make sure to include verbs. I label my paper, Sunburst copies the words from my paper, and then I help Moonshine label hers.

We've been doing two stories per week, on Monday and Wednesday, and then on Friday the girls are required to put on a very short play for me from the week's lessons. They love this. Plus it gives them a reason to review the work and practice using the language in context and without judgment. Nothing kills the joy of learning a language like judgment. So we don't do that. We just try, together. We keep it fun and silly, and we make complete fools of ourselves. Learning a language requires that above all else-- the courage to look/sound stupid.

Here are some of our pages. Like I said, my stories are pretty ridiculous. I'm sharing all three versions (mine, Sunburst's, and Moonshine's) because I can't choose between them. Anyway, when we feel like we have enough pages we'll bind them together in a book, along with some other (not so exciting) pages we made last year.

Basic greetings, including Swiss and the triple Swiss kiss:

At the Swimming Pool:

A (very strange) Race-- this tied in nicely with a our week of lions:

Cooking with the Baker:

Feeding Chickens:

Bird Party (tied in with bird fables):

These lessons are the heart and soul of our language learning. And they're working. We're really starting to speak and understand German!

We're also doing some fun book work with the language to work on our reading skills-- but I'll have to share that tomorrow.

The last two weeks

2010-09-06T21:54:00.008+02:00

Fables and heroes - finishing up second grade work with Moonshine:

Hiawatha

The Peacock and the Nightingale/Peacock and the Crow -- I combined the two, and they went together very nicely:

We all painted peacocks together, but Moonshine's came out the best.

The Sun and the Wind:

Studying the Greek gods and goddesses with Sunburst:

Oh, what a joy Ancient Greek mythology is! The timing really seems to be perfect for her-- I'm so glad we waited for fall and didn't try to cram it in before summer holidays.

We covered the whole set of Greek gods/goddesses. Not all of them made it on the chalkboard. All of them did make it onto paper. Here's just a little taste. The first one is mine, the next two are Sunburst's drawings. The poems were a joint effort.

Sometimes Kitty Bill comes and copies my drawings off the chalkboard. He's almost five. Here are his renderings of Hiawatha and Apollo... notice he didn't draw Artemis?!

With thoughts of a bow and arrow he made a short leap to Robin Hood. He made sure to write the name on the chalkboard because I had written Apollo's name. Sunburst wrote the letters down for him, as he requested, and then he copied them onto the board. Very cute.

We have these lovely, very simple Robin Hood readers from Rosie Earnshaw that we picked up for Moonshine in Sherwood Forest last summer. Can you see the striking resemblance to Kitty Bill's drawing?

With bows and arrows on his mind, Kitty Bill went outside and promptly made a set from branches he pulled off the tree. It worked, somewhat, so Sunburst rushed in and showed him how to make a proper bow and arrow set. Apparently you have to bend the branch as you tie the string on so it will stay taut. Between the two of them I have seen enough "arrows" whizzing through the house to last me a very long time. The phrase "not in the house" doesn't seem to register... I'm starting to think they don't speak English anymore. Perhaps they only speak warrior now?

Long, toxic day

2010-08-31T22:48:00.003+02:00

I had hoped to blog a pile of backlogged stuff today. I had also hoped to teach today. None of those things came to fruition. Today we woke to the banging of pipes before our house filled up with smoke and I had to load the kids, rats, and birds into the car and leave. We didn't actually go anywhere, just down the road a bit. Where can you go with a car full of caged pets? Nowhere, really... well, maybe Petsmart. But no, not in Switzerland.

My house was pretty toxic for hours. The workers claimed to be cleaning the boiler or something to that effect in an apologetic broken mixture of English, French, and German. All I know is that it was awful, and so we sat around in the car reading and knitting. It was cold and overcast, so when the sun finally came out the kids ran around and visited the horses. I made trips back to the house to open windows and turn on fans and forage quickly for snacks. I ended up with an insane headache in the process, but by three o'clock the air and smell had cleared enough for us to bring the pets back inside and have lunch. And by then I was too exhausted to do anything.

I had such fun lessons planned for the day... but this is the kind of curve ball that life throws sometimes. Homeschooling is never separate from life. Imagine the kinds of things kids can learn from strange situations like this. Had they been in school, they would have missed the whole thing.

Instead, they learned about the dangers of smoke inhalation, engaged in a discussion about carbon monoxide, and while we've never talked about fire drills, they got to experience one without all the bells and whistles. (Note to self: check batteries in smoke alarms.) And what a surprise that my children can actually put their shoes on and get outside quickly. Some days have left me wondering about that, but now I really know it's possible.

While we were parked down the road the kids watched a horse being trained. They deepened their friendship with the woman who works with horses. Now that their German has improved she appears to be friendlier with them (and me, too). She met the rats and gave us a free outdoor cage for them, and then invited the kids to help groom the horses. Finally befriending this woman, after trying for one year, was a very big deal.

Our local homeschooling friend showed up around 2pm (there is only one other homeschooling family in our state), and she brought me an essential oil mix that I could drink for my fierce headache. I have never actually imbibed essential oils before, so that was pretty strange but also wonderful. I'm looking forward to buying some at the store next time I go to town.

We also learned the German word for parakeet - Wellensittich - and the German word for carbon monoxide detector - Kohlenmonoxid Detektor. We made a cursory search for one awhile back, but we've never been able to find them in the stores here like you can in the US. Now that I know what it's called... maybe that will help, because I think we really shouldn't go another day without one, especially since the oil boiler lives under our daughter's bedroom. And today we learned just how paper thin our floors and walls really are.

Long, toxic day. Thank goodness for unschooling. We learned so much.

Week of lions... and Greece!

2010-08-21T17:12:00.007+02:00

Last week, to meet Moonshine's request of more "boy saints," I presented her with a story about St. Jerome and the lion. I wrote her a flute song based on this story, and I was so glad that it was such a hit because I had planned a whole week of lions.

I also mentioned last week that Moonshine is trying out some new behavioral territory. Could it be the nine-year-change approaching already? I'm hesitant to label it as such, but I do know that it's making us all crazy, herself included. She's being antagonistic to everyone and she's not sleeping well. It's a dangerous combination... and well, she rather is like a lion.

I carried over the heart theme from last week, and challenged Moonshine with a poem I wrote just for her. She copied it into her copy book, memorized it, and recited it--- all with great joy! And because she's insisting to write things phonetically and without help, I pulled some words from the poem and challenged her to her very first spelling quiz. She was so excited!! She remembered every single word, and she can't wait for her next quiz.

The poem was very simple, but the message is also very clear:

Fill my heart
with gladness.
Fill my heart
with joy.
Fill my heart
with love
For every girl and boy.

Fill my heart
with kindness.
Fill my heart
with care.
Fill my heart
with tender thoughts
For creatures everywhere.

To extend the heart theme, I invited the kids to watercolor-paint some hearts. Then to extend our lion theme, I went ahead and pulled from my second grade materials and told the story of the Lion and the Mouse. It was a good reminder of kindness as well. --Those of you who have Teaching With the Fables by Sieglinde de Francesca will recognize my attempt to recreate the picture from the cover of her lovely, lovely book.

Sunburst and I worked on Greece, Greece, and more Greece. And math, of course. I also tossed another wondrous geometrical form her way, shown at the top of this post. She is lapping it up.

This is our rendition of Helios and the sun chariot with Prometheus stealing fire to give to the humans:

We also worked together to copy out the amazing family tree from the front of D'Aulaire's Book of Greek Myths. It was a challenge, for sure, but we worked at it little by little over the last two weeks, and it's already helping us to keep all the Greek mythological gods and goddesses sorted. Greece is definitely a lot of fun!

Back to lessons

2010-08-20T12:14:00.000+02:00

Last week we got back to lessons. I didn't anticipate how busy we would be, nor that the girls were going to have their own ideas about how things should go, so it was a bit hodge-podge. Despite what I had planned, Moonshine desperately wanted to add Saint Catherine of Siena to her saints book. In fact, her only other request was, "Please, can we do more saints!"

I wasn't planning on doing any this year! We had saved the last few pages in her book for memorabilia from our trips (pictures, postcards, bookmarks, pamphlets), but instead, she wanted to do some more "boy saints." Apparently I didn't give the boys fair coverage in our block this past spring. It's a good thing I still had a few more up my sleeve!

I finally found chalkboard paint this summer, repainted my boards which were in terrible shape, and got them hung back up. It had been so long since I had drawn on the chalkboard, so I was happy to put up my rendition of Saint Catherine gazing at the sunset. Moonshine took one look at it and declared, "Oh, that's just how I imagined it!" ... Whew!

I drew Sunburst a geometric form to wonder about (yes, the heart in the middle is covering up my imperfections... but it's also serving as a reminder to put our hearts into everything we do-- an important reminder, especially given some new behaviors Moonshine is trying out). With chalkboard drawings up and stories to tell, we were off and running.

We also reviewed some math and worked in two German lessons-- I'm trying out a new approach this year, and it seemed to be a big hit. Yay! We also worked in some reading practice, copywork/memorization, and quite a bit of handwork. All that and full afternoons, too!

All in all, it was a good first week.

Viva Italia: Day 4 - Ancient Rome

2010-08-19T10:04:00.002+02:00

When you drive into Rome, the first thing you notice are the umbrella pines. And the bug guts on the windshield. :( But mostly, it's the pines.

And then the sun... it's different in Rome, if you can believe that. It was radiant and spraying everywhere. It felt like a sign... as if we had finally arrived somehow. I let myself imagine that the sun always looks so radiant in Rome. The haze of pollution had nothing to do with it, I'm sure. Ahem.

We were a little naive to think we could just drive to Rome. It's a major metropolitan city. Sure, we had driven in other major cities in the past, cities where we had been advised not to-- New York City, Amsterdam, Paris, Berlin. We had just driven around Florence a couple days before, so why would driving in Rome be such a big deal? I mean, it's just driving, right?

Wrong. To drive in Rome you need to have a death wish. And you need to know where you're going. We were sort of lacking in both departments. We barely made it alive to our bungalo, and that only involved driving in the large loop that went around Rome. The crazy drivers in N. Italy have nothing on the ones in Rome. It was completely nuts!! That, and Wrong-way Rhonda, our GPS, was practically no help whatsoever. Apparently she has never been to Rome either.

The first thing we did was make it to our bungalo, which in reality turned out to be a mobile home, only a ten minute walk from the Mediterranean Sea. It was so nice to not have to set up the tent and start a campfire! The first thing I managed to do was walk into a tree and give myself a bloody nose. Can you imagine?! I had only reached into the car to grab out our travel books, and when I turned around-- WHAM! I had forgotten exactly how close we had parked to that tree.

After we all stopped laughing, and of course I stopped bleeding, we made dinner and combed through the travel books in attempt to plan our day-- our excursion in Rome had been reduced to one single day--- and there was way too much to see. I kept reminding myself that because Rome had not been built in a day, it therefore could not be seen in a day. But of course we had to try anyway.

First item on the agenda, after navigating the series of buses and trams to get into the city: meeting an old, dear friend of mine near the Colosseum. Meeting her necessitated walking around the Colosseum. Our eyes were gaping at the sights! And I was grinning a mile wide-- we're in ROME! We're actually in ROME!! It was unbelievable, and it looked like this:

Even the ground was pretty. It seemed like everywhere I looked my brain registered form drawings... ones we had done, or ones we could do in the future. This one we did a variation on last year as fish scales in the story of Atlantis:

It was then that we met up with my dear friend P and her beau. She and I met during our senior year of high school when we were both hired to work the concession stand at a movie theater. We became fast friends and stayed close through college-- we were even roomies at one point. We both moved away, and the last time I saw her was at my wedding. She made a beautiful bridesmaid. When I heard she was going to be in Rome the same week we would be in Italy, we just had to meet up!!

After a brief respite from the heat, and boy was it HOT, we headed back out to explore the Roman ruins. We walked back around the other side of the Colosseum, and I couldn't stop snapping pictures. It was truly incredible!

There was a mad throng of tourists, and although we bought tickets, the line to get into the Colosseum was hours long. Since P had already been a day prior, we decided to skip the waiting and spend time visiting while we meandered around the Roman Forum, also included on our entrance ticket, just up the hill. It was fantastic!! There was so much to see everywhere we looked.

Yes, there was even wedding pictures being taken here in Ancient Rome. It struck me as kind of strange... and yet I couldn't help myself from snapping a picture. I kept thinking how dirty her dress was going to get (am I a mom or what?!!), but I bet they got some lovely pictures.

From the Roman Forum we had this breathtaking view of the Colosseum and the Arch of Constantine. I couldn't choose which ones to show you-- I think together they really give a good feel for how immense and impressive these structures actually are.

And walking around just inside the entrance to the forum:

Archaeology in progress:

Above, carving detail inside another arch. Below... the green door with purple columns that had us all enchanted. It's the Temple of Romulus, and it boasts the oldest functioning lock.

Looking back over the forum:

It was truly something to behold all of this! But with only one day in Rome, time was a-wasting. We headed off in search of lunch, shade, and cold drinks.... it was good to rest our legs after such an action packed few days... and so much more of Rome left to see that afternoon!

Next installments: modern Ancient Rome and the Vatican....

Weekly planning sheets

2010-08-17T22:32:00.008+02:00

Now that I've got a yearly planning page that works for me, it was a natural progression that I needed to make a weekly one as well. I wanted simple. Seriously simple. One sheet. Nuts and bolts.

I came up with this one. It's my weekly macro list. This is the one that hangs on the wall so that everyone knows what to expect. I colored it up with pencils to make it easier to read and prettier to look at.

After I did this, I needed a micro list-- one for my eyes only. It has a little more space so I can write what I intend to do. It's still simplified enough to fit on one page, but it gives me enough room to put just enough information that I know what's going on at a glance. I can really feel the week out this way.

Here are the master sheets. If you click on the images below, they should open up large enough for you to save and print out. (They fit fine on my European paper size... hopefully they will translate well enough onto standard letter size, too.)

Fairytale woods

2010-08-17T15:32:00.005+02:00

Local schools started back to school last Monday, and hence, so did we.

We started off our week with a bike ride around the farm fields and up to the top of the hills to do a little observation. Everything has been harvested already except the corn and the soybeans. The hay has been baled, the wheat is long gone.... and indeed it's getting colder.

We rode on into the forest where the children were met with quite a big surprise. I told them we were meeting some "friends" in the forest, but they certainly didn't expect these characters!

Einstein and I had discovered them on our last walk... and I was totally blown away at the sight of them. I hear there are more fairytale characters as you go deeper into the forest, but I thought we'd save them for another day. The kids were quite impressed with this group-- they ran around hunting for all seven dwarfs and then "helped" each of them do his work. It was very sweet to watch them at play here.... and that was just the beginning of our week.

Einstein was out of the country all week, and we had obligations every single afternoon--- such a busy, busy week!! But though I didn't manage to post anything, we managed to get a little bit of work done. Hopefully I can share that in the next day or so, but until then, I hope you enjoy these new woodland friends as much as we did.

Saint Elizabeth Dobro Blues

2010-08-05T17:21:00.005+02:00

There's something infectious about songs in this family. All it takes is one person to hum a bar, and someone else picks up the tune and carries it around with them. Usually it's Kitty Bill. But any one of us is susceptible to the draw of melody. Even Einstein.

There's something very cool when a Dad picks up a song his child is learning and plays around with it. I think it gives a child more confidence in a way, more respect for what they're learning-- after all, music is cool! Especially when Einstein plays it. The kids always get a kick out of it.

I don't know quite what else to say about this, just that I have to share it with you. This is our Saint Elizabeth song morphed and played by Einstein on a homemade dobro. It makes me smile every time I hear it.

Grade 6 Resources

2010-08-05T14:37:00.004+02:00

As always, this is a work in progress. We'll, see how many of these we actually use. It's in no way a complete list... but a good start nonetheless.

Booklist

General
Eugene Schwartz - Grade 6 download
Path of Discovery: Grade 6 - Eric Fairman
Spiritual Syllabus Grades 5-6 - Alan Whitehead
Waldorf Curriculum Overview - Christopherus
Grade Six files at waldorfhomeeducators - M. Johnson

Math
Math Lessons for Elementary Grades - Dorothy Harrer
String, Straightedge and Shadow
Beginner's Guide to Reconstructing the Universe
The Joy of Mathematics - Pappas
Drawing Geometry - Jon Allen
Geometry Lessons in the Waldorf School, Ernst Schuberth
Mathematics Lessons for the Sixth Grade - Ernst Schuberth
Teaching Mathematics... Classes I-VIII, Ron Jarman

Literature/English/History/Science
An English Manual - Dorothy Harrer
McGuffey's Fourth Reader
McGuffey's Speller
Ancient Rome - Charles Kovacs
A Day in the Life of Ancient Rome - Alberto Angelo
Teaching History I - Roy Wilkinson
Teaching History II - Roy Wilkinson
Castle - David Macaulay
A City, David Macaulay
The Living World of Plants
Botany - Charles Kovacs
Drawing from the Book of Nature (love this!)
Handbook of Nature Study
Physics is Fun

German
Assorted picture books
Das Sind Wir - Peter Oram
Neue Fibel: Teil 3 - Paul Dohrmann
Kinderlieder Kinderreime

Music
Singing Every Day - Lila Belle Pitts
Various recorder books
Various piano books

Homeschool Planning

2010-08-04T17:21:00.008+02:00

I'm still trying to slog through my Rome pictures... but meanwhile, I'm feeling the pressure to start getting things ready. It's August, after all. Local kids are back to school here NEXT WEEK. I can't deny any longer that a new year is upon me.

This year I've decided to try a different way to plan things out. That big sheet of divided paper that lots of people use just doesn't work for me, so this year I made my own template on normal-sized paper. It gives me the entire year at a glance. Plus I like to list my goals for each child-- emotional, physical, whatever I need to remember to focus on.

We still have a few things to finish up from last year. For Sunburst, that's Greece. Usually Greece has to be carried over to Grade 6 anyway, so I'm not worried at all. Actually I'm excited-- as of this morning we're planning a field trip to Athens this fall. Yay!!

It's still a work in progress, and I've probably left something out... but here's what I've got lined up for Sunburst this coming year:

And Moonshine... she's just not emotionally ready for the Old Testament stories yet, so we'll continue with stories from second grade-- there are way more than you can cover in second grade. We'll bridge the gap with Farming and LOTS of Math blocks, and then we'll hit the Old Testament in the early spring when Moonshine turns nine. With her birth date falling where it does we're always bridging the gap between years, waiting for the emotional/physical markers-- always-- before we jump in with both feet. It works for us.

Here's the plan for Moonshine:

Anyway, here's a blank of the template I made to use this year. It's not fancy or anything, but I thought I'd throw it out there if anyone was interested. Maybe it will work for you, too. When you click on the image it should open up into a larger format that you can save and print from.

Now I'm onto the micro planning of the first blocks... fun!!

How is your planning going? Is anyone else getting excited to start a new year??

Songs for Saints/Heroes

2010-08-03T17:55:00.011+02:00

So... I wrote a bunch of songs when Moonshine and I were doing her unit study/block of the saints for Grade 2. I felt having music to go with this block really enlivened the experience for us, and she absolutely loved every minute of it.

I've got a whole pile of them here, and I've been trying to figure out the best way to share them with you so that if you want to use them in your own lessons, you would have both the sheet music and a sample to listen to. I think I've got it figured out.

As of today I have my own little channel on YouTube and my very first video (huge learning curve for me!). Moonshine was quite eager to have her flute playing and vocals recorded for the experience. Anyway, I hope you like it. And if you would like to hear more of our songs, please let me know and we'll try to put more up soon.

Also, if you use it to enliven your own homeschooling lessons, I'd love to hear about it.

Been thrifting

2010-08-03T11:46:00.000+02:00

We went to the thrift store the other day because I wanted to pick up some cake/dessert plates for this dinner party we were hosting. But thrifting never quite works out that way, does it? We found the little hand-painted green table above-- exactly the table that Moonshine needed, and green! Her favorite color!

And then Moonshine found this handmade Waldorf bendy-doll and a tree. It's always like this.

Whenever we go we always find something too cool to pass up. Like that fantastic dollhouse store we rescued a few months back. That's how the kids think of it-- rescuing. Especially when it comes to dolls.

Here's Michael-- handmade down to his handknit sweater. His face is some kind of hard plaster form covered with fabric. Two francs later and Michael has come to live with us. The girls are already knitting him things.

And then the marionette lion. Can you say no to a hand-carved marionette lion? It's impossible, I tell you.

And dollhouses. They are a personal weakness of mine. And the kids know it. Moonshine spotted these little Swiss houses and immediately fell in love.

Right next to these was another. It had a built in stove and sweet little orange curtains.

And her people moved right in... and they were so happy!! Moonshine has created a little village now. Most of the furniture has also come from another particularly fortuitous trip to the thrift store.

I know it's crazy, isn't it? We keep trying to live with less stuff. And shop consciously, consume consciously. And reuse, recycle, and reduce. But sometimes those things just aren't synonymous. We're doing some of that... but it's hard to say no to this beautiful, unloved stuff. Amazing stuff that people made with their own hands, discarded.

People do like to buy new here in Switzerland, so you can find anything-- even Waldorf toys, spinning wheels, and weaving looms-- at the thrift store. And all of it dirt cheap. I'm torn. I'm not sure how to feel about it, really.

But I did manage to get plates. In case you were wondering. I suppose if nothing else, I did buy what I came for... and then some. Wooden plates at the thrift store.... sheesh!

Summer table

2010-08-02T13:19:00.003+02:00

I almost never remember to post these before the season is over, but this is what things look like over here. There's actually not a lot of nature on this table. The little yellow flowers are from our mustard greens in the garden. The rocks are ones we collected when we went swimming in the river with friends. We carried them back through the forest to their old farmhouse and spent hours polishing them by hand. And the tiny blue eggshells the kids discovered somewhere around here.

The kids helped me pick this lovely bouquet from the little Blumen field down the street. We have many self-serve flower gardens here. They come equipped with knives and/or scissors, a price list, and a metal box for paying. It warms my heart that people here still rely (and CAN rely) on the honor system. We often buy our produce from local farmers by the honor system as well.

Of course this would never go down well in the States. First of all, and sadly, someone would take advantage. Second, knives and scissors... just sitting out there on a table in the middle of a field? Our laws wouldn't permit it. Such a liability!! I wonder if Switzerland is able to do it this way because of the mandated health insurance? They have forest kindergartens, and in grade school kids often have field trips to the forest where they are allowed to bring pocket knives for cutting branches. Imagine the uproar in the states if we had that!?!

Why are things so different here? And does the honor system still exist in the States? The only time I ever encountered it was at a tiny pottery and salve shop in Utah-- they had the loveliest wood-fired pottery. I remember hearing that they also sold hand salve to the Dalai Lama. :) I bet they have some interesting karmic tales to tell.

A visit from the stork(s)!

2010-07-30T23:28:00.004+02:00

Really. Storks!!

We've seen a few of these white storks around here this summer-- both munching in the fields and flying past the windows-- but we had no idea there were so many! Sunburst spotted these out the window today, and the kids and I sprinted outside to watch them. We were mesmerized.

They flew over the house and circled around in the sky above our back garden for about five minutes before they flew off. The weather has been cold and wet for the past week, so I wonder if they are getting ready to head South to Africa already?!! I don't blame them.

The timing is pretty fun because our neighbor is getting ready to have a baby. We saw one of these storks land on her roof the other day, and the kids laughed and laughed about it. The stork party in the sky today was a good reminder that I MUST finish knitting up that baby gift. And soon!

I tried to zoom in on the storks and I got these very grainy almost prehistoric shots. I don't know why I find them so pleasing, but I do. Sunburst counted about two dozen of them while I was snapping pictures. What a sight they were!!

More St. Catherine

2010-07-30T15:31:00.004+02:00

I just unearthed the brochure we picked up at Santa Caterina's house and sanctuary. Since a couple of you were going to share pictures with your kids, I thought you might want to see what the inside looks like.

Above is a picture I took of the outside. The rest of the pictures are taken from the brochure, so they're a little grainy. But I think you can get the gist.

From the brochure:

"Since the time of St. Catherine, the House has gradually been turned into a series of Oratories and Chapels which are filled with reminders of the Saint and paintings glorifying the Patroness of Italy."

There are four different Oratories or chapels. They're built where the kitchen, wool dyeing plant, bedroom, and kitchen garden used to be. This is the room we saw... I think it's the old wool dyeing room, but I'm really not sure.

This is another Oratory, perhaps the Kitchen Oratory:

The Church of the Crucifix (kitchen garden):

St. Catherine received the stigmata in 1375 apparently while praying in front of this crucifix, painted by Giunta Pisano, in Pisa. (A quick google images search of this painter turns up some fascinating and inspiring images for Grade 2 saints work.)

And the fresco ceiling in the Church of the Crucifix:

I hope I'm not breaking any copyright laws by sharing these. I did actually purchase the brochure in the gift shop, if that helps any. There aren't any photographers credited on it, so I will just put out a huge universal thank you to whomever took these pictures. You are now a source of inspiration to the Waldorf-inspired homeschoolers everywhere. --Thank you!!

"Giving Love"

2010-07-29T23:00:00.005+02:00

Lately I've felt like there has been a tornado following me around the house. As soon as I pick up one room and move on to the next, WHAM! The tornado hits. Everything I do is very quickly undone. I know you understand what I'm saying... toys, paper, books... anything really, just manages to spray itself in all directions as if some unseen force were testing the limits of my patience. I can't manage to clean fast enough.

What's really interesting is not the tornado phenomenon that seems to accompany any house with small children. That's pretty standard fare, I think. What fascinates me is that no one else in my house seems to notice it. They walk right through a room or two and don't give the effects of this whirlwind a second glance. It's as if they don't even notice that it's there. How could they not see it?

Now, I'm not a neat freak. I'm pretty side-tracked a lot of the time-- the mail piles up until I have enough time to sort it and decipher it to see if it's important (this always involves the German dictionary or an internet translator). I do happen to leave knitting projects and half-finished books laying around. I'm always getting up in the middle of a page or a row to tend to somebody's needs, so a little bit of a mess doesn't bother me. It's the five puzzles that manage to be strewn across the floor before I can blink. It's the clean bathroom that's suddenly covered in mud. It's the food that spontaneously flings itself off the table, just after I mop the floor. It's never-ending.

I know you're not stopping by to hear me nag. Ugh. I don't want to hear it either. But I do want to share something interesting I discovered. The reason it seems that nobody notices the mess is that, really, nobody does. I finally asked them, and no, they don't actually see it. Should I have expected this answer? I don't know. But I was truly taken aback.

So I did something crazy. I asked the kids to accompany me on a tour of our house, starting at the front porch. I told them the rules were that they were not allowed to do anything but look. And while they were looking, we would ask ourselves one important question: Does this house look loved?

They caught on pretty quickly, and they were shocked by what they discovered when they opened their eyes and looked at it from that perspective. They each, even Kitty Bill, discovered a myriad of things they had forgotten to put away. Not being allowed to actually do anything but look at those things was torture to them. They were jumping at the bit to do the right thing. But no, I wouldn't let them. Does this house look loved? It was a resounding no.

When I finished torturing them with my walkabout I asked them to sit and watch me "give love" to a room. It was a comedic exercise, really, because I stood around and just looked at things. I picked them up and pondered them, and put them back down. I pretended that I had no idea what to do. Soon enough the kids started shouting out helpful suggestions on where I should start and what I should do. It was hilarious! They had such a hard time watching me play dumb, and I had to stop them several times from getting up to help me.

Once the fun and games were over, I let them choose one room in the house that we could all give love to, together, for a few minutes. They were so happy to be able to lend a hand. For the first time in awhile I didn't have to point out the things that needed picking up. They actually saw them!

Sunburst then suggested that they should start helping out with regular chores, rather than random ones, so we sat down and came up with daily chores that I would definitely welcome some help with. I applied some waldorf-voodoo to our chore wheel, pictured above, with watercolored paper and Lyra pencils. The kids are rotating the circle every Monday. They can all lend a hand to some degree-- and even the smallest hand is fine by me. You just give the amount of love you can. No more, no less.

At the same time I decided to re-institute the reminder list for each child. I tend to remake these every few years, especially if the youngest child is having a hard time remembering to run straight to the toilet in the morning. The list actually helps with that, among other things. It reminds them of the things they need to do to help take care of themselves and their things. Loving the world starts with loving yourself.

I tack the lists up near their beds, but this is the first year I framed them. The kids are really delighted with them. Sunburst especially. Give a choleric child a list and they can't help themselves. It's a challenge to them, and they will rise to meet it. Phlegmatic children, however, are not so easily motivated. But we're trying. We keep trying anyway because it's important. And it's the only way we can keep the tornado at bay. With love. Always love.

Viva Italia: Day 3 - Siena

2010-07-27T11:29:00.001+02:00

We really didn't mean to stay all day in Siena, but once we got there we couldn't help ourselves. It was wonderful!

Here's the view from the parking area:

That's the tower from the Cathedral of Siena in the background. The church you see on the left is San Domenico. And here's one a bit closer where you can start to make out the marbled-stripes of the cathedral:

From here we descended into the city. And the views were spectacular.

The town was smaller, and the streets were even more narrow here than in Florence. There were so many medieval walkways and alcoves -- you could literally lose yourself there!

In one alcove we discovered this-- and we're still not sure what the place is, but the well seemed to be a big deal:

By then we were starving, so we convinced the pizzeria at the edge of the Piazza del Campo, the historical town square, to make us a vegan pizza. Then we sat around the piazza people watching and munching our delicious lunch. Here's the Piazza del Campo and the town hall, the Palazzo Pubblico:

Look closely at that last picture-- there's a she-wolf suckling some human babes. This was a common sculpture in Italy. It's called the Capitoline Wolf, and the babes are supposed to be Remus and Romulus-- this will come in handy for our Grade 6 studies of Ancient Rome.

We finally made it to the exquisite Cathedral of Siena, and it rose up like a giant zebra in the midst of the old city:

You can see the nice details here, while Einstein ponders the map and Kitty Bill (who would now prefer to be called something like "Rocket boy" on my blog) sits on the post and whines about how tired he is of walking around. "Can we PLEASE get some gelato??" --They actually had vegan gelato at some shops in Italy, so it was a reasonable request.

Inside the Cathedral it looks like this postcard here:

Before acquiescing to the gelato demands, we stopped at bought some fruit at this stand here-- truly an example of picture perfect Italy:

Also on offer every few feet was beautiful, painted pottery showing off a perfect landscape of Italy... which we did not buy:

After wandering around town a bit I kept seeing signs for Santa Caterina. We followed them and found ourselves at the home of St. Catherine of Sienna, the other patron saint of Italy. This was not a saint that Moonshine had studied this year, but it was one I had read in my prep work. I told her what I remembered, and we sat in the wee little chapel they had created there and gazed at the pictures. It was a very sweet place (unfortunately I can't show you as we weren't allowed to take photographs). We then popped over to the adjoining gift shop and Moonshine picked out some postcards of Santa Caterina as well as a rosary and starter booklet. She had been seeing rosaries everywhere in Italy, and she was very curious about the whole thing. She found the rose smell enchanting and wore it around her neck for three days before I noticed it was giving her a rash-- probably the rose-scented oil?

Here's a peek at St. Catherine's house:

Apparently they give tours of Saint Catherine's house, but it didn't appear to be open when we went. This was a common theme we ran into, but we were happy enough with what we saw. Siena is such a beautiful city, it's hard to leave there feeling anything but contented.

Out of all the lovely things to see, the thing I loved best about Siena was the laundry hanging out the windows of these really old buildings. Did you ever think laundry could look so beautiful?!?

We had to be in Rome the next day to meet up with an old, dear friend of mine from high school/college days... so next stop: Roma!

Viva Italia: Day 2 - Florence

2010-07-24T08:55:00.000+02:00

Florence was amazing!!

We wandered into the city and stopped at the sweetest botanical gardens to enjoy the view.

There was so much to see here, including the fantastic marble cathedral. We parked and walked until our feet ached-- literally hours-- and left so much of the city unseen. It was gorgeous though. Sunburst was especially taken with the statues and the art students busily sketching them. Moonshine, meanwhile, kept stopping to smell the roses.

Cathedral:

The golden door:

Statues galore. I especially love how the lion looks frightened that there is a pigeon on his head.

We walked along the river, soaking up the views there, before meandering along and discovering an little international bookshop. What a delight!! We left with our arms full of treasures-- including some materials for Grade 6 Ancient Rome lesson prep. Yay!

Next stop: Siena

Viva Italia: Day 2 - Pisa

2010-07-21T12:17:00.000+02:00

The drive to Pisa from the western coast of Italy wasn't much. Welcome to Tuscany! It was hot, dry, and all I could think of was the Arizonan desert. Though honestly, it's hard to be homesick when you're in Italy.

Rhonda, our GPS, couldn't quite figure out how to get us into the city of Pisa. She kept leading us to the other side of the tracks-- and indeed there was a train there, both coming and going. It was desert, grunge, and graffiti-- aside from the train and litter there was not much there. I'm not sure where she thought she was taking us, but it certainly wasn't the heart of Pisa.

This is what the travel brochures don't show you:

The heart of Pisa looked like more like this:

We parked, paid the meter, and walked about a mile in the terrible heat to see two buildings: the leaning tower (Duomo) and the Baptistry of St. John (Battistero di San Giovanni). Did you know that kids under eight can't go in the leaning tower at all, without exceptions? We were a little bummed by that, so rather than leave Kitty Bill out-- honestly, not an option-- we opted to admire the outside together.

If there's one thing I've learned from traveling around Europe, you can't see it all. You just can't unless you have unlimited time, unlimited funds, and no kids. Even then you probably couldn't pull it off. There is just so much to see. And some things are actually online-- like the Baptistry of St. John. You can visit it from the comfort of your computer chair. (Be sure to click on the video to hear the acoustics. The folks in this video are quite amusing, too.)

For all the trouble it took to get into the city of Pisa, our travel book said there really wasn't much more to see. The main sights are just all there crammed together, so it's really a one-stop destination: Get off the bus, take a picture or twelve, and get back on the bus. The little walkway around this center is also crammed with trinket sellers, so you really get a good touristy experience.

Here are a couple videos I found online featuring the Leaning Tower:

Wonder why the tower leans and how they've "fixed" it?

Hear the bells at the top of the Leaning Tower.

Next stop? Florence...

Viva Italia: Day 1 - Getting there

2010-07-20T10:04:00.004+02:00

The drive from Switzerland to Italy is one of the most picturesque routes we've driven. The mountains rise up majestically on both sides of the road, and the views filled me with such joy and wonder. It was a fantastic feeling.

There are tons of tunnels on this road-- some have windows on the side where you can glimpse the scenery. The largest tunnel is St. Gotthard, named after a Catholic bishop. It's the third longest road tunnel in the world. It's 15 km or 9 miles long, which is fine, really, unless you're claustrophobic. I took this opportunity to do some carschooling, so I told the kids the story about St. Juniper-- one of my favorites, and I was hoping we'd run into him in Rome. I like to think of him as the naked Saint, because as legend has it, he took the vow of poverty so seriously that he gave away his own clothes.

The kids also kept themselves busy in the car reading, singing, snacking, and apparently carving carrots with their teeth. Honestly, it was a talent I didn't know my children had.

Moonshine's candlestick (ala St. Juniper story); Sunburst's fox and bird

We stopped at some stores near the Swiss/Italian border to do a bit of shopping, and our GPS got mighty confused and turned us in a bevy of directions. Ever since she tripped us up in England we've given her the moniker "Wrong Way Rhonda." We even have a little song we sing to tease her when she gets lost, fully knowing it's our fault that we choose to follow her directions. With her guidance we couldn't find our way out of a teacup, let alone back onto the highway out of the shopping center. Somehow we entered Italy through a back door, hardly knowing we were at the border until they were staring confused at our license plates and then waving us through. American license plates are pretty handy in this part of the world, as no one quite knows what to make of them. Those days will be behind us soon enough, I think, if we can finally pass our inspections. But that's another story.

The path we took through northern Italy was mountainous and curvy-- kind of a hold onto your hats deal. Italian drivers are nuts!! They took these curvy mountain paths at ramming speed, so it was no surprise to us when we came upon an overturned semi in the road. The traffic slowed down out of necessity, but once it passed the wreck, traffic was cranked back up to dangerous speeds. Accidents are just a roll of the dice, I guess, to Italians. To us, having survived one a few years ago, I have to say we are a bit more cautious.

Onto Genoa, which we saw through the windows of the car. Beautiful city! It seemed appear out of nowhere through the nooks and crannies of the mountains. Here they build everything close together in amazing pastels, crammed right down in the valleys next to the sea. Every time we came upon a valley it was a feast for our eyes.

We camped that night in a small village on the Mediterranean. The campsite was nestled into a rocky outcrop in the hillside. The architecture was wonderful, but the terrain reminded me a lot of growing up in the southwestern US.

There's something laughable about setting up your tent on the only available patch of dirt-- which wasn't really dirt at all. It was mostly gravel and burrs. But we were tired, it was late, and we wanted to take our dinner down to the beach to catch the last glimpse of the sunset. Amazing! Truly, truly amazing! We had finally arrived at the Mediterranean Sea!

Viva Italia

2010-07-20T09:43:00.003+02:00

We took a homeschooling field trip to Italy over a month ago. We took a week, our camping supplies, a camera, and just went. It was wonderful and fantastic and breathtaking.

The real problem with trips like these is the documentation. Somehow, in one week's time, we took over 1600 pictures. Poring through them is a full time job. Paring them down to just a few to share with you is near impossible. It just takes time and gumption-- both of which I have been seriously lacking in the last month. I've been occupied with other things, which I'm excited to tell you about, but first... Italy.

We went, we saw, we conquered. I think I'll take you through it one step at a time, one post at a time. It's the only way to do it justice. And perhaps the only way I'll ever get through it.

I hope you enjoy the ride.

Fun with friends

2010-06-23T14:07:00.005+02:00

A couple of weeks ago our dear friends came to visit before their move back to the US. We'll miss having them almost in our time zone, but it sure was great to get to spend a huge chunk of time together before they headed home. Good memories, indeed!

Above and below, our picnic day at Interlaken, Switzerland. Beautiful views, cold water, and more paragliders than we could count!

Dads and kids enjoying the sparkly view:

And in Colmar, France having a lazy, Sunday walkabout:

Moonshine enjoyed the long conversations:

Sunburst and the boys dream of hats:

Yesterday our friends made it safely back home... to their new home, that is, in the states. We're wishing them all the best-- a quick and easy assimilation back into American culture and much laughter and love in their new home. We'll miss you!! Cheers, friends!!

Back home again... and whew, tired

2010-06-23T11:34:00.003+02:00

I don't know where the time is going, but we've been back home for at least a week and I'm still recuperating. I'm just so very tired (the incessant rain and chilly temps hasn't helped). And my plate is full to bursting.

Italy was amazing! I came down with some kind of virus/hayfever cocktail midpoint through our trip, but did that stop me? No. Of course not. We were in Italy! There was way too much fun to be had and so much to see and do!

My plate is still full, but the sun is finally shining again! I'll be playing catch-up in the next few days-- both in reading and posting, so please bear with me as I try to get back into the groove of things. I'm looking forward to seeing what you've all been up to.

Is it feeling like summer where you are?

Homeschool field trip

2010-06-08T11:05:00.003+02:00

Yesterday I finally got around to putting some posts on that I had written a week ago just before our friends arrived from Wales. They were here all week, and we had a great time visiting with them. I have some fun pictures to put up from our adventures... but they will have to wait until next week because...

Today we're headed out the door on a homeschooling field trip to Italy. We'll be visiting a few of the Saints that we studied to round up Moonshine's unit on saints and heroes, and then we'll hit Rome to give Sunburst a taste of what's to come next year. Ought to be fun!

See you all next week!!

For the love of books!

2010-06-01T17:10:00.006+02:00

I have to admit, I am really enjoying this Saints/Heroes unit study so much more this time than I did with Sunburst. I feel like last time we only scraped the surface, and this time it's as if Moonshine and I have gotten to the heart of it. The stories are breathing inside us both... even Sunburst is curious to hear what we're doing and asking to be included. Even Kitty Bill is taking note of the emergent enthusiasm and confidence in Moonshine, and he is eager to mimic her drawings.

Here's Saint Columba, from Moonshine (8) and then Kitty Bill (4):

The love of books is something we can all really identify with, including Moonshine. After our study of Saint Columba she was seen at most hours of the day doing just this:

Prior to this she had read her way through the entire Cobblestone Cousins series, a few Magic Treehouse books, and at least one Secrets of Droon. But this... this tattered, old copy of Charlotte's Web? The size and heft of it made her feel quite mature, as if she had finally arrived at the wonderful world of book-reading. She finished it in about a week! And straight-away she put it back on the bookshelf and picked out another, just as big, and grinned like mad.

Seeing

2010-06-01T16:41:00.008+02:00

I spent last week playing catch up. It's amazing how much housework builds up when you can't see.

The good word is that my eyes have been good all week. I went to my local optometrist for an eye test last Tuesday, and after very minimal testing and a bit of conversation, I was abruptly sent away again. He pronounced that I didn't need glasses, and that perhaps I should never, ever get my eyes dilated again.

He took my eyeglass prescription that I was given the previous week and eyed it curiously. I don't know much about these things, but apparently it stated that I was both near-sighted and far-sighted, and I had an astigmatism in both eyes as well. Stranger still, I could actually see with this prescription when I was still under the effects of the eye drops. I could actually see very well, only I couldn't walk. Everything seemed to be the wrong dimensions.

Fast forward to my last eye test, after the effects of the drops finally wore off, and without correction I could read everything this doctor put in front of me. For grins he showed me my sight with the prescription, and I could see nothing. Everything was a warped blur!

It's just all so curious to me! And I'm sure thankful that things are back to normal. My original eye concerns this doctor brushed away as perhaps indicative that I need more sleep. Mothers of young children don't get enough, he said, they are always tired. Ain't it the truth! So I've been working on that too. Sleep is really a nice thing.

Because of my current eyesight theme, a friend recommended I take a look at St. Odilia for Moonshine's saints/heroes lesson. Absolutely a perfect choice for us this week!

Long weekend

2010-05-24T17:50:00.004+02:00

We had another three day weekend thanks to Pentecost. After growing up in the states with separation of church and state, these religious holidays always catch us by surprise. Inevitably we forget to do our grocery shopping, and with everything closed down, well... it gets kind of interesting.

My eyes started feeling well enough Sunday afternoon for a little hike in the forest. We went with some friends, and though I have no idea where we ended up, it was amazing. The trail moved upwards between high stone cliffs that had been etched by water probably thousands of years ago. There were little caves at our sides and a small rivulet running under our feet. Someone had meticulously built wooden bridges and staircases leading up over this whole expanse. My pictures don't quite do it justice, but it was really breath-taking.

At the first summit we reached a prairie full of families playing frisbee, sunbathing, and barbecuing. There was even a playground for the kids. Just five minutes more hiking led us to another summit-- a restaurant and a pasture with camels! That's right-- camels in Switzerland! How funny is that!?!

Even funnier, we were told that the Wanderweg, or the trail, that leads into the next village goes through this camel pasture. So naturally we decided to walk on this trail to get a better look at the camels. There was a mama and a baby, so just as naturally this turned out to not be the best idea. The mama chased us and growled. I didn't know camels could growl, but this one did. It was a very throaty kind of sound, and the message was very clear: Stay the heck away from my baby! Still, it was interesting.

On Monday my eyes seemed almost back to normal. I spent a little bit of time in the garden putting yummy starts in, thanks to our gardener friends, and Sunburst managed to scrub the rat cage for the first time by herself. It took her All. Day. Long. Have I mentioned before that she's equal parts choleric and sanguine? She dives head first into a project and then gets completely distracted... I had to remind her what her focus was when I found her hours later walking the rats under our big shade tree, complete with harnesses she had fashioned out of knitting yarn.

I realize these pictures are a tad blurry, but I swear it's not my eyes. Have you ever tried to take a picture of a running rat? I'm sure a few of you have!

I'm off to get my eyes checked again tonight... hopefully all will go well. The pharmacist I spoke with on Saturday thinks that I was having an abnormal reaction to the dilation drops, so I don't think I'll be having those again. Today I can see just as well as before my first exam, and neither the sunlight nor the computer screen seem to be much of an issue for me. You can imagine how much I'm rejoicing!

Thanks again for all your kind words over the last week. You mamas are the best!

Eye update

2010-05-21T22:09:00.007+02:00

My eyes are still terribly sore, so I'm only popping in here for a second. But I wanted to say thanks for the kind comments and wishes and prayers. I really appreciate it so much!

I made it through my second round of tests, and they can't figure out what happened. I had the symptoms of a sudden retinal detachment or tear, if I understood him correctly. But after scads of testing, he doesn't see it. I've had some chronic twitching under my eye for the last few months, too, which is maybe related to eyestrain? Or rat allergies? Completely inconclusive results. If my symptoms continue they said the next step is an MRI.

I don't wear glasses, and if I did the prescription would be minimal. I had my eyes checked for my driver's license just last year and the doc shrugged and said, "Eh, maybe just don't drive at night."

Now that I've been in for the testing, my eyesight is awful. For three days now everything is blurry-- both near and far-- and my eyes ache. I can't handle bright lights or read or look at the computer screen for more than a few minutes or I get a splitting headache. I'm just walking around holding my head. I don't know if this is a reaction to the testing medicine or what, but it's really scary and confusing. And of course the doctor gave me a prescription for glasses at the end of my second appointment.

Today I took that prescription into an Optik to order glasses. They took one look at it and said my prescription was very strange and probably wrong. After I explained my symptoms and my normal eyesight, they said it was most assuredly wrong and strongly recommended I get a second opinion. So I will undergo more testing next week.

Meanwhile, life goes on in a very minimal fashion. Including homeschooling, or what I can see of it.

Wedjat eyes

2010-05-19T12:07:00.006+02:00

I wanted to post yesterday, but I honestly couldn't see the words on the screen. My left eye has been twitchy for the past few months, but it did something crazy night before last. I spent yesterday in a considerable amount of distress and went through a gamut of emergency testing that left my pupils as large as moons and looking like I had wedjat eyes. They told me I would recover my sight in three hours, but six hours later my eyes were still completely messed up. ( I couldn't even see my own eyes reflected in the mirror, so Einstein took this picture for me.)

Today they hurt. A lot. And things are a little blurry. I'm wearing sunglasses in order to type this, and tonight I go back in for some other kinds of testing. There was a bit of a communication break-down, so I'm not even sure what is going on. But I think the doctor said my eye wasn't falling apart, as the symptoms indicated. But perhaps whatever testing I have tonight will tell-all. Fingers crossed.

In the several hours of non-seeing yesterday I was really surprised at how much of my daily activities are directly reliant on sight. Mothering. Cleaning. Reading. Knitting. Mending. Writing. Gardening. And homeschooling, of course.

Right now Sunburst and I have our feet dug figuratively deep into the Egyptian sand. We're talking about Isis and Osiris and Horus... and this wedjat eye, the eye of Horus. It's supposed to symbolize, not just sight, but an agent of action. And that's what eyes are! Everything I do and am is sight-dependent. And not being able to see, even for a few hours, felt completely debilitating.

And it would be. In the hours of waiting and wondering yesterday I couldn't help but entertain the awful thought of "what if." What if I was losing my sight? If I lost my inability to see, you know, how terrible is that? On the extreme end, I wouldn't be able to see the sweet faces of my children again-- or my grandchildren someday-- or my beautiful husband. And how would I continue homeschooling them? We use an arts-based education, and art is at the heart of everything we do together*. Watercolor painting, pastels, crayons, pencils, fiber, clay-- you name it, we make use of it. Not only use, but joy. How do you live without that?

I guess you learn, but I can't imagine the kind of internal damage that does. I knew an artist once who lost his eyesight to macular degeneration, and how hard just being awake must have been for him! The walls of his house were lined with his life's work-- work which he couldn't see! He kept painting, but as his condition progressed, well... you can imagine how that effected the process and outcome of his work, emotionally and physically.

I guess I'll find out tonight what the future holds in store for my eyes... meanwhile, for my sighted readers, here's a bit of our recent Egyptian artwork to tide you over. I hope these photos are in focus-- I can't tell.

*Imagine how hard it would be to teach a child the nuances of drawing with block crayons if you couldn't see? Or watercolors? Oy!

Here comes the sun!

2010-05-17T15:54:00.004+02:00

Finally! We've had it in fits and starts the last two weeks-- a minute here, an hour there... not much more than that. And always at 11 am. Ask me how I know?!

Today, however, we've had sun for a couple of hours. We're all rejoicing, especially Sunburst. For the last two weeks she has been painstakingly monitoring the sun's presence and trying to build a sundial. It's not so easy when the sky has been constantly filled with rain and dark clouds and terrible gusts of wind.

It would have been much easier and more accurate to make one on paper, and we eventually will, but I think this way she's learning so much more than she ever imagined. And she's having loads of fun doing it. She opted to make the numbers in cuneiform, as they might have done in ancient Babylon.

Plus, any excuse to go outside and visit the horses is a good one...

Recipe for trouble

2010-05-14T13:03:00.003+02:00

2 rats + me = asthma

Sadly, it's true. It has turned out that my seriously bad Spring allergies this year are not actually Spring related. These sweet little rats are causing me all sorts of grief. We're at the point where any contact with the rats (or being in proximity to anything/anyone who has touched a rat) sends me into fits of coughing and wheezing.

This was not what any of us had bargained for.

It's still cold and raining, putting a hiatus on most of our outdoor lesson plans... so our focus has now shifted to allergy containment. Sunburst is pretty upset about the whole thing, as you can imagine. This morning we went around the breakfast table making a list of possible ideas for ways to remedy the rat-allergy situation. One of the kids suggested a solar-powered venting fan. Kitty Bill thought a hermetically-sealed, outdoor, rock cage might do the trick.

While not feasible ideas, they sure are interesting... which makes for a whole new range of homeschooling questions. How could one build a solar-powered venting fan? What's the range of temperature change from one area of a room to another, or one floor of the house to another? And what is an allergic reaction anyway? Is it fair to hermetically seal a rat's cage? And do they make plastic bubbles for people like mom?

The question-making is tireless. Can the same be said for my ability to breathe? Stay tuned.

Mother's Day surprises

2010-05-10T08:50:00.005+02:00

It was a fantastic Mother's Day. The kids surprised me with the sweetest handmade gifts, and I was so tickled by them that I had to share.

Sunburst secretly knit a sea otter from the pattern in this book. She improvised a knit sweater for it and sewed a tiny card onto the front paws. So cute!

Moonshine carved a blue chaffinch with her very first pocket knife. And she only cut herself once doing it. Whew. It's so sweet!

And Kitty Bill, not to be left out, gave me a small cut-out doll of myself-- a mini-me! Sunburst helped him make clothes and glue the hair on, but the rest is all his hard work. The picture on the shirt is him, of course, where I keep him right next to my heart...

It was a lovely day-- the sun came out long enough for Einstein and I to build a small house for our tomato starts, and then it poured rain the rest of the long, lazy afternoon.

Happy Mother's Day

2010-05-08T10:55:00.002+02:00

"All I am I owe to my mother. I attribute all my success in life to the moral, intellectual, and physical education I received from her." --George Washington

I saw that quote earlier today and it just touched my heart.

Wherever you are and whatever you're doing, I'm wishing you a wonderful, peaceful mother's day.

A wee bit of sewing (and muffins!)

2010-05-06T22:10:00.007+02:00

Though it's still raining, we got a bit of sunshine in the mail this week when our order arrived from Superbuzzy. There's nothing like pretty fabrics to cheer a girl up!

We're all having serious trouble focusing this week. So as an impetus for us all to get our work done, I promised the girls I would sew up a couple of skirts for them after lessons. I've never seen kids work with so much gusto! I might have to order more fabric for our next rainy spell.

I made these from half a yard each, but because of the design layouts, they're different styles. Sunburst helped me pick out the fabrics, and Moonshine was extremely pleased and surprised with her Matryoshka pattern. When Sunburst picked out the mushroom pattern for herself, I had to laugh. After we finished the lower plants, she begged for a break from Botany so we could do more history together. Since that break she has done nothing but talk about plants. I even caught her embroidering fly agaric mushrooms onto a pair of jeans the other day-- and not just mushrooms, but soil and mycelium as well. She is too funny!

As an extra treat we made pumpkin muffins from our fall freezer stash. The weather certainly feels like fall, so why not?!! They're packed with yummy seeds, which really makes me smile. I'm trying to be better about writing down recipes as I make them up-- you can imagine the kind of trouble I get into when Einstein or the kids ask for a repeat and I have no clue what I did. So since I remembered to write it down, here's the recipe... with yet another clever title. ;-)

It's Raining Vegan Pumpkin Muffins
1 c whole wheat flour
1 c all-purpose flour
1 t baking powder
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 t ground cinnamon
1/2 t ground ginger
1/2 t ground nutmeg
1/4 t ground cloves
1/2 c evaporated cane juice
1 1/2 c pumpkin puree
1/2 c oil
2 T water
1/4 c pumpkin seeds
1/4 c sunflower seeds
1/2 c raisins

Preheat over to 350 F. Mix the dry ingredients together. Add in the wet ingredients. Stir until just mixed. Bake in greased muffin pan for 25-30 minutes or until done. Makes 12.

Ziggurat veil painting

2010-05-05T10:14:00.009+02:00

For our first attempts at veil-painting I chose to incorporate the temples from Ancient Mesopotamia and Assyria. Since this was a time of great expansion, I thought we should expand a little too and try some new art techniques. Not too shabby, I think, for a first try.... though we still have a long way to go.

Tulips

2010-05-04T16:20:00.006+02:00

Spring is officially over. We've turned back to let Winter have another go at us... or so it seems. The powers that be came and turned the heat back on yesterday. I didn't request it, but I'm not complaining. It's cold and wet and only threatening to get colder and wetter.

So naturally, Sunburst and I spent some time today admiring the natural order of the universe.... in the vase of tulips on the table.

Amazing things are happening inside these plants. We kind of knew that already, but for grins, we took a closer look. It's all there-- spheres, triangles, star patterns, symmetry... amazing. Stunning. Wonderous. Perfect... except that one of them had 7 petals. We kind of liked that, as imperfection in nature still results in something splendid.

We did a fair job trying to capture them in pastels, though they are much easier to capture with a camera!

Songs on Sunday

2010-05-03T14:42:00.001+02:00

The rain kept us in all weekend.

We spent most of Sunday singing together and playing music and then recording it. We had such a blast!

It all started when Sunburst realized that her rat Ronia didn't have a signature song. A while ago Einstein, the dad, made up a reggae song for Sunburst's rat Pepper, and all the kids sing back-up on it. It's very cute. But poor Ronia, Sunburst felt, was feeling a bit left out. So Einstein came up with the chords, and Sunburst set to work creating "Redwall-style" lyrics with three verses and a chorus. Here's just a taste:

"If'n you see a rat who's sweet as can be
Who can cuddle like a babe an' seem so free
Eat like a hare an' go like a flow
An' have a belly white as the snow

Yer lookin' at
Ronia, Ronia
Love 'er, hug 'er, hold 'er
Ronia, Ronia..."

We were having so much fun that we decided to change the words around into a birthday song for Einstein's mom. Yep, we're one of those families that will call on your birthday and sing the most ridiculous things just to show you how much you're loved-- our style falls curiously somewhere between the Partridge and the Addams families. (Did the Addams Family ever sing?) Anyway...

There was quite a bit of flute music going on, too. I've been writing a lot of songs lately to go with Moonshine's lessons, but I've been struggling with finding the time it takes to write them all out in musical notation. Now that Moonshine has really taken off with the flute, she has been delightedly compiling each song she learns into her own music book. This is great fun, and such a joy for her! Except that she has to wait around for me to write them out. Waiting for mom is... well, not so much fun.

My ultimate plan with having Moonshine compile this music book is so I can eventually teach her to read the music that she already knows, like I did with Sunburst. Ergo, it's important to have the songs all written down properly.

Enter the new love of my life-- Finale Notepad. I don't have a ton of free time to sit around and write things out, but I can enter them into this software, tweak and tweak, and play it back until it sounds right. I was so inspired by how quickly this process went, the songs just came flying. The program is easy enough for Sunburst to work on her own. And it's a great way to self-check your own musical writing, at least for me, because sometimes I screw up. It's true. Or worse yet, I make a song up and completely forget it an hour later. I hope that's a sign of a full life and not an aging brain. ;-)

Here's a simple little math song:

Don't forget to notice the clever title. ;-)

Have you seen Jack-in-the-Green?

2010-05-01T23:10:00.008+02:00

Thomas Crane & Ellen Houghton, London Town, 1883

I was just over at A Polar Bear's Tale-- she is always putting such inspiring artwork up-- when this one in particular caught my eye. I had no idea that Jack-in-the-Green was associated with the first of May. To me it has always been a song... still remembered from childhood. And always, it makes me think of my dad.

He and I were blessed enough to see Jethro Tull play live, twice. Though my dad has been gone six years this May, I can still hear him singing along.

I found a nice little video of Jethro Tull singing Jack-in-the-Green, 1977.

May Faire, sort of

2010-05-01T21:06:00.004+02:00

Today... nonstop rain. All this week, rain.

I'm so glad we weren't counting on today to do anything special. In fact, we had a pretty awesome celebration last weekend. One of our dearest friends was in town, along with her baby, and the glory of May was already here.

The fields were bursting with dandelions, laughing children, and song. We made daisy chain garlands and dandelion garlands, picnicked in the yard, made a visit to the Goetheanum and castle ruins, and picnicked again by the river. It was a gorgeous and soul-filling weekend, ending with a trip to the Black Forest where we hugged our goodbyes.

There's nothing like surprise visits from an old friend, laughing late into the night, and for the first time seeing her features reflected in the shining face of her child. It was a weekend we'll treasure for a long, long time.

Loving the Saints

2010-04-29T08:47:00.000+02:00

You know that feeling when everything just suddenly and miraculously falls into place in homeschooling-- when the kids are truly impassioned and learning and excited, and it just seems so easy?

It doesn't happen all the time. I mean, we regularly have a lot of fun and we learn things and we get excited, but once in awhile we experience these truly golden moments where everything clicks and feels perfect. And in those golden moments every fiber of my being knows without a doubt that we're meant to be doing exactly this. There's no self-doubt or worry or any of those creeping voices that gnaw away at the back of my brain. In those moments there is only pure delight.

We experienced one of those moments last week.

Moonshine started on her Saints block and she couldn't be more delighted about it. I remember Sunburst enjoying her Saints block a few years ago, but Moonshine is just over the moon about it. We're using a few different materials this time around-- starting with Tomie dePaola's book Francis: Poor Man of Assisi. I love Tomie dePaola. I love this book, and now, after reading it, I love St. Francis even more.

Moonshine was so moved by his stories that she started drawing them on her own. For fun. With block crayons. One morning last week she delightedly presented me with this picture:

When your child is so moved by a story that they wander off and draw a picture without you, you know you have something special. What's a mom to do? I brought out her new main lesson book and asked her to paste it in. Then we forged ahead. I took a few days to tell the stories from dePaola's book, and it also carried us through St. Clare and Brother Jacopa. Though Jacopa de Settesoli is not a saint, she's my absolute favorite so far! I don't think a tale of St. Francis is complete without her.

We even made up a batch of her famous "cakes" that St. Francis loved so much. They were so simple and delicious that we've made them three times since last week! I omitted the drying time from what is believed to be the original recipe and used unblanched almonds, just to make them easier. We cut ours into squares and put crosses on them. Here's the recipe that Moonshine pasted into her book:

Brother Jacopa's Cakes / Mostaccioli

1/4 c honey
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 c ground almonds
1/2 c whole wheat flour
1 egg white (or egg replacer)

Mix and knead well. Roll out dough between baking paper, and cut into shapes. Bake at 250 F for 20-30 minutes. Makes 18 small cookies.

Moonshine also announced last week that she "loves drawing with block crayons" and she's "addicted" to drawing with them. Admittedly, they are difficult at times, but her sudden and overflowing love for them just blew me away.

We've moved on from St. Francis to St. Elizabeth of Hungary. I wish I could say that I loved my resource for that story, but I don't. The more I research her online, the more I realize that the story I told Sunburst, though lovely, wasn't exactly accurate. Nor was the version of St. Francis and St. Clare that I told her using the same resource. It really bothers me, but I'm wondering, should I care? If it moves a child's heart, does it matter if the details are messed up?

What do you guys think? Please leave a comment, as I would really love to know.

Happy 4th Blogaversary!

2010-04-28T09:04:00.002+02:00

I missed my own Blog Anniversary earlier this month. That's so like me! Four years though, wow! I'm not sure if I can count the lean blogging years during the move, but I'm still here. That's a sure sign of something. A strengthened will, maybe. Or insanity. Or both.

Anyway, happy four years! And if you've been reading along all this time-- wow! And thanks. If you're a new friend, thanks to you, too! I appreciate each and every one of you, and your sweet comments mean so much!

Here's to another great blogging year! Hopefully I'll say something useful. ;-)

(Celebratory pose brought to you by the lovely, late Freddie Mercury from our recent trip to Montreux, Switzerland. We are the champions, my friends.)

Way down here...

2010-04-10T01:18:00.005+02:00

It was a quiet week here. A blah week. My Spring allergies are in full force, and I've had all the get-up and go of a large stone. So it seems kind of fitting that we spent most of it not soaring with the birds, but cruising the forest floor. What delights we discovered there!

Growing up in the desert, I was mesmerized by the magical beauty of the mosses. My enthusiasm for each little leaf paled in comparison to the kids delight when they discovered this moss-covered stump. They were sure this was the exact place where the fairies get married-- services down below and the dance hall reception on top. I can almost picture it.

While we were at it, we explored the lichens, too. They were hard to miss.

This little guy was hard to miss, too. He politely waited for me to snap a picture before he hopped out of sight.

Since we're in the midst of our botany studies, I asked Sunburst to collect a few specimens and put together a moss garden. It's just an old baking dish we've re-purposed with soil, moss, and other items--- bark, rocks, etc. I think it turned out pretty nice...

Sunburst has been poring over it with a magnifying glass. There's so much more to see when you have adequate lighting... there's a whole 'nother world in there! Such fun!!

A bit of Spring cheer!

2010-04-04T14:42:00.004+02:00

Just a little brightness inside to help us truly feel Spring. Despite the chilly air outside, the daffodils are gloriously blooming! They really are fearless in the face of the icy wind and rain we've been getting this past week.

We received our new European nature table stand a few days ago, and I'm completely smitten with it. After so many years creating our nature table on a flat surface, this was just what we needed to change things up. On a whim, I took one of our white playsilks and dyed it pink with food coloring and vinegar. It worked very nicely. I heated up a pot of water with about a cup of vinegar and several (maybe 10-12) drops of red food coloring. I just submerged the damp silk into this and let it simmer in the color for about 15-20 minutes. Then I rinsed it out until the water ran clear. -- The cheery color makes me happy!

Knitted eggs, from last year's egg pattern, also made it onto the table to help celebrate Easter. The root children are waiting just a day or two longer to change over though... these little guys are several years old. I have no idea what happened to our flower children, so I'm making new ones this year... fun!! Hopefully they will show their shining little faces in the next few days.

I'm hoping the same for Mr. Sun, the big tease.

Wishing you an Easter morning that's clear and bright!!

Snow!

2010-04-01T09:14:00.005+02:00

It snowed last night.

Not like this though. But it snowed. I'm realizing just how ambiguous the whole "goes out like a lamb" saying really is. The interpretive door is blown wide open...

Compared to lions, lambs are assumed to be these quiet, calm, fluffy little things. The lambs on the hill behind my house are pretty loud, actually. Not quite as loud as the wind yesterday, but loud enough that I can hear their bleats and clanking bells when the kids are quiet. It's not so much noise that it would shake the shutters throughout the night and keep us awake, like the wind did, but I think you know what I'm saying.

It's supposed to snow again this weekend. Not like this.

But white, I suppose, like the lambs behind our house.

We walked up the hill and visited with them a few days ago when the weather was lovely. Some of the lambs aren't white at all, and some are a bit mottled. They look more like my garden soil after it had been pelted with hail. The sun was actually shining when I uncovered the garden yesterday. As soon as I went inside the house it started hailing. I went back outside, it stopped. One last trick of the weather... I finally gave up and encouraged the sky to destroy my garden. It's early yet, after all.

And then this morning we woke up to snow. Though not like this.

The snow is just on the hillsides that surround our house. It's dusting the trees and settled in tight between them. The birds don't seem to notice it. Right now they are singing outside my window. Their song sounds something like "Come out and play! What a glorious day! It's Spring!" If anyone should know, it's them, right? But it's not... it's barely above freezing!

Is it possible that they have a sense of humor? After all, it is April Fools.

So, I welcome the snow this weekend. Do you hear that sky? Get it over with, so we can get on with things. Shake out your last wintery white pillow and let it snow.

Just please, not like this...

It really did snow like this in February.

Gearing-up for Easter

2010-03-31T17:06:00.008+02:00

Yesterday Kitty Bill and I cooked up a little bit of pre-Easter fun with a magical, moving picture. We had a great time telling stories with it-- about bunnies that run and hide, find eggs hidden in the grass, and meet little gnomes. We even made some songs.

For inspiration, I used the very cute book: Making Picture Books with Moveable Figures by Brunhild Muller. I've been eyeing this one for a long time at the German bookstore, and I was so pleased to discover it in English. The author gives plenty of indications by Rudolf Steiner why this sort of thing is recommended for little children. The smile on my four-year-old's face was indication enough for me.

Kitty Bill was so enamored with our bunny scene he decided to make his own moving picture. It's called, "The Magic Moving Boat" complete with a plane, castle, and motorboat. The captain of the magic boat happens to be smoking a cigarette. Odd? No. That's living in Europe for you, and further proof that these little ones notice positively everything they encounter out in the world, including random smokers on the street.

Luckily he's taking in the positive images, too.

What are you doing to gear-up for Easter?

Mushroom hunting on Saturday

2010-03-29T12:49:00.000+02:00

Mushrooms by Sylvia Plath

Overnight, very
Whitely, discreetly,
Very quietly

Our toes, our noses
Take hold on the loam,
Acquire the air.

Nobody sees us,
Stops us, betrays us;
The small grains make room.

Soft fists insist on
Heaving the needles,
The leafy bedding,

Even the paving.
Our hammers, our rams,
Earless and eyeless,

Perfectly voiceless,
Widen the crannies,
Shoulder through holes. We

Diet on water,
On crumbs of shadow,
Bland-mannered, asking

Little or nothing.
So many of us!
So many of us!

We are shelves, we are
Tables, we are meek,
We are edible,

Nudgers and shovers
In spite of ourselves.
Our kind multiplies:

We shall by morning
Inherit the earth.
Our foot's in the door.

A little birthday knitting

2010-03-27T12:38:00.001+01:00

Moonshine has a birthday coming up. I found a pattern to knit her favorite thing in the world-- matryoshka dolls. It's all hush hush until the big day, but I'm so excited about it I had to share.

Matryoshka pattern from Susan B. Anderson's Itty-Bitty Toys.

Nature, nature everywhere...

2010-03-23T14:47:00.005+01:00

Last week we unearthed a huge snail in the garden. Its house was still closed up for the winter-- something Sunburst recognized immediately from our study of snails last year. We brought it inside to see if we could catch it warming up and opening the door...

We had set it on the windowsill and after a few days had forgotten about it, actually. It wasn't until I had the kids in bed and sat on the couch with Einstein that I heard the strangest sound... crackle... crackle... crackle... the snail was out and crawling around. We missed the big show, but we got to take a good look at the cast-off door the snail had made. We were so surprised at how strong it was!

Then we found a peacock butterfly in the garage. Not the best place to sneak out of your chrysalis...

Next came the salamander...

And of course more digging in the garden. There is so much nettle still, plus I've discovered that our yard used to be a road... a very, very long time ago. So underneath the nettle roots are huge stones. Luckily it's a very old road, and though it's a ton of work, I can use the stones to line the garden beds. Once I dig them out that is... It's slow going, but I've learned something about myself. I'm like a dog with a bone when I want to be.

The kids are not helping dig. But I'm going with the old adage that modeling ~~workhouse behavior~~ this care for the earth before their eyes is enough. It sinks in... while I had my nose to the grindstone the kids had built a couple of forts out in the yard.

It's so good to feel the warm sun again!

Word World... a world of words

2010-03-18T14:09:00.006+01:00

Last week I posted about the struggles Moonshine has been having with school, and the struggles I have been having figuring out how to teach her. This week it's as if all of that is behind us. Moonshine is having a blast making words.

I dug up an old lesson idea I created for Sunburst-- Word Family Village. Moonshine remembered it well from helping Sunburst color in all the roads, and she was super pleased to be able to conjur up this world of her own accord. She's calling it Word World, which is really fun to say five times fast. I can't do it, and she loves that even more.

My dear friends in Wales happen to be also doing the word family block this week. While I was reading about her fun variation of it on her blog, here and here, I noticed a link to my old lesson... I had entirely forgotten that I had created a cute little story to go with it.

Sometimes I forget to read my own blog.

The greatest part of this lesson right now... baby silent e. With Moonshine's help he's causing a load of trouble. Can becomes cane. At becomes ate. It makes her giggle. (Of course sometimes he's not silent-- at becomes eat, etc.)

Kitty Bill got in on the fun, too... He made houses with doors so he could hide his little people inside them. Everything has got to have moving parts with this boy.

All in all, we're having a fantastic week!

Happy St. Patties Day!

2010-03-17T19:27:00.007+01:00

Look! It got warm! We spent most of the day outside enjoying the warm sunshine and all the crocus in the yard.

I happily toiled for hours digging nettle roots out of the garden bed I hope to plant in very soon. The nettle was six feet high when we moved in, so the roots are everywhere and deep. Such a lot of work for the smallest space, but nothing makes me happier than digging in the garden.

Not much school was done today... a little painting... can you tell we're excited about Spring?!

A green, semi-Irish dinner... potatoes with almond-arugula pesto and a green salad.

The leprechauns made an overnight visit and played the usual tricks-- moving furniture, turning things upside-down, and making things green. The kids were delighted, as always. However, this year something was extra fishy. In addition to the chocolates for the kids, the leprechauns left a couple presents for Einstein and me. This has never happened before... but I have to admit, one of those leprechauns is a fine little knitter.

Wishing you all a beautiful, warm St. Patrick's Day!

Is Winter over yet??

2010-03-15T16:24:00.005+01:00

Moonshine, watching the snow come down in droves last week, said:

"On my calendar it says there is going to be a 'Good Friday' soon. I don't understand that. How can it snow for so long and be a good Friday?"

When even the children are sick of the snow, surely it must be time for Spring to finally come. Today Sunburst found some crocus in the yard, drowning in snow melt and rain. It's supposed to be 13 C on Weds and sunny to boot. I'm crossing my fingers.

Right on time

2010-03-10T15:18:00.004+01:00

Time. It's something we parents think about when it comes to our children. It's a constant, recurring theme. We start by counting them off by weeks when we're pregnant. Then when our due dates come we start to ask how many more days...? We record their ages when they smile, roll over, sit, crawl, speak, walk...and onward. How old are they when they learn to read, to ride a bike, to tie their shoes, to tell time?

We measure and compare and wonder. Sometimes we have a child that skips walking altogether and runs, leaving us panting to keep up. For me that would be Sunburst. She's always racing ahead as if time were a fleeting thing. And sometimes we have a child that is content to just sit it out and dream. Clock? What's that?

I know a lot of it boils down to personality, but I would be ignorant if I didn't notice there was something more to it. Learning is a bit of a struggle for Moonshine. The only thing that makes complete sense to her is math, oddly enough. Reading has been a struggle. Music has been a struggle. Even the physicality of playing with other children has been a struggle.

She's always been this dreamy child, head in the clouds, feet tripping unaware into traffic. Catching balls, finger games, clapping games, climbing, running, jumping... all sort of mysterious activities to her. She's on her own schedule, always has been-- I carried her for 42 and a half weeks before she was willing to make the journey towards the light of day. She started speaking at 8 months but waited the requisite 12 months to walk. She's reading now, but once in awhile the words come out backwards. Sometimes she forgets words she has already learned, and sometimes she reverses letters and numbers.

It's not laziness. She works extremely hard. Math concepts come easy for her, but the rhythmic counting by twos and threes and fives and tens is a challenge. Rhythm and coordination are somewhere out in left field. Pencil grip is awkward, but artistic expression is still realized despite it.

Moonshine can out-think all of us at the dinner table, Einstein included. But if she were in regular school she'd be behind. She wants to learn so badly, but she already recognizes it as a bit of a challenge both inside and outside herself. And that, in simple terms, sucks. It makes learning less joyous than it should be.

I'm continually fascinated by her and completely humbled by the task of teaching her. With Sunburst, it's easy to think I have it all figured out. With Moonshine, I find myself rethinking everything, constantly reevaluating and reorganizing and relearning how to teach, how best to guide her, and how to help her acquire the tools she needs.

And with two completely different school-aged children, it's hard for me to draw the line at what's in the range of normal. Sunburst makes a lousy yardstick. She has always out-raced, out-cheetahed, and out-risked all of her friends. Moonshine is more cautious. She is the only child I have that recognizes the value of a good night's sleep-- she's not so afraid about missing out on the action. And she's still the only child I can take to the grocery store who doesn't knock over displays, tip grocery carts, or run amok. It's kind of refreshing, actually, but at the same time I find the learning issues hard to blog about.

I don't want to label her. I just want to understand her and help her the best that I can. I have been making it a point not to push her, rather waiting until she feels ready, until her clock starts ticking and her enthusiasm kicks in. But I'm starting to think that sometimes our inner clocks need a bit more winding from the outside now and then.

In the end, I think she'll have a lot more endurance than Sunburst. She'll know what hard work feels like, and her successes will be that much greater. In the end, it won't matter so much how long and arduous the road was or even when her clock started ticking. She'll be right on time.

Tiny shoppers

2010-03-09T00:01:00.005+01:00

As promised, here's a little pattern to make bags for your dollhouse people.

Supplies you'll need:

Print-out of the pattern
Recycled paper
Glue stick
Scissors
Stamp of your choice, marker or stamp pad

Click on the pattern and it should come up full size.

Start with your recycled scrap paper measuring 3" x 6". Go ahead and lay it on top of the pattern. See where all the fold marks are? You're going to match up the folds on your paper, using the pattern as a guide. Go ahead and fold them all in the same direction for now, and you can adjust the direction of the folds in a minute.

When you get to the part where it says "handles," there's a cut line. Go ahead and cut that part off into two equal pieces and fold them each in half.

Now, fold the bottom fold which indicates the bottom of your bag. You're going to want all your folds facing the same direction, except the inner folds on the sides of the bag. It should look like this:

Go ahead and run your glue stick along the part of the pattern that says "glue," and attach it to the inside of the bag front, like this:

Now you're going to want to fold up the bottom of the bag sort of like you would if you were wrapping a present. Push down on the sides until the fold lines of the front match up, like so:

Go ahead and crease those lines and glue it all together. To get a nice firm bottom (ha, if only it were this easy in real life!) set the bag down on a hard surface and press down from the inside. A stack of Legos makes a good presser. (What, you don't have Legos? *grin* They are the new bane of my existence.)

Right, onto the bag handles. Go ahead and open the fold on your handles, run the glue stick down the length of it, and fold them back up. Glue the ends and stick them onto your handle scraps like so:

Go ahead and slather these handle scraps with glue (right on top of the handle ends) and stick this piece inside the front and back of your bag, sandwiching the handle ends inside.

Press your bag down firmly and fold up the bottom on one side. Stamp or decorate as you like, and voila-- the dollhouse people are ready to hit the shops!

One man's trash...

2010-03-08T00:01:00.002+01:00

Well, technically we didn't find it in the trash. We were out at the thrift stores scouting for bunk beds when we stumbled upon this little beauty. How could we pass it up?

Isn't it cool?!?

Wait, you don't know what it is yet, do you? Oh, sorry. Let me take it apart for a better picture. Look here:

Now, isn't it cool?!? We were pretty excited when we spotted it-- and for cheap too. I don't know how old it is, but it's obvious that it has seen a lot of play. The thing was caked with grime before we scrubbed it. And worse yet, it was full of old corn. And bug casings. Lots and lots of bug casings-- even the boxes! Luckily we're not afraid of bug casings.

After attacking it with the vacuum and soap, Sunburst and I decided to do a little refurbishing. Those scribbled names and prices had to go.

I know you're looking at that and wondering, green? I was wondering that myself halfway into it, but it worked out. The final result was very pleasing-- a treasure indeed!

The girls spent the afternoon happily setting up shop. Each and every drawer is filled with something to sell. And the customers keep on coming... luckily, I made up a pile of shopping bags just in time for the first sale.

I'm pretty sure that box of chicken bouillon she's buying is expired, but the bag is so cute she probably won't notice. I'll be back tomorrow with a pattern for the shopping bags. No dollhouse store is complete without them, you know. :-)

Revision Fridays

2010-03-05T12:55:00.006+01:00

Our plan for the month? Story revision: monkey-see, monkey-do style.

I just finished an incredibly helpful class on novel revision with author Lani Diane Rich. I cannot rave enough about this class-- I learned so much and had a load of fun doing it!

The girls have seen me hard at work and heavy-handed with colored post-it notes. They've been drooling over my story board, watching me collage, and eavesdropping on conversations between Einstein and I about plot and motivation. And some of it has been sinking in.

Out of the blue yesterday Moonshine, age 7, announced that she had a really great idea that she needed to edit into that story she wrote during NaNoWriMo. And Sunburst, age 11, immediately remembered that March was NaNoEdMo (National Novel Editing Month) and she had better get cracking on her story too!

So today I started the kids off on the rewarding road to story editing. During March we've decided to have Revision Fridays... which means I get to work on my story a bit too, and while I'm awake rather than staying up all night. Yay!

I'm pretty excited. What's better than helping your kids actualize their dreams? Nothing, except when those dreams coalesce with your own. :)

Introducing... Ronia the rat

2010-03-04T09:54:00.000+01:00

Yep. We're totally and completely suckered in by these creatures.

Our other rat, Pepper, was lonely... she told us she needed a new companion pronto. And how could we resist this cute face?

Ancient Persia and Forms

2010-03-03T17:29:00.004+01:00

Sunburst and I are just now finishing up the study on Ancient Persia. I've notoriously fallen behind on my own schedule. C'est la vie. Lengthy vacations and illnesses will do that to you, and I've made a conscious decision not to feel bad about any of it. Choosing to embrace this moment is as empowering as it gets. Isn't that nice?

Now, for not nice... Can I say for a minute that, pictorially, there's just not much out there for Ancient Persia? Well, I guess I just said it. Really, there's nothing. Maybe Live Ed has something, but I don't have their books. I have pretty much everything else, and I'm telling you, there just isn't much out there to draw from. Maybe the 5th Grade study of Ancient Persia isn't important? That doesn't seem right though. Or fair. I'm all about fair representation.

I presented the story of Zarathustra from Kovac's amazing book, Ancient Mythologies, and came up with an idea for a pictorial representation of Zarathustra as a baby being impervious to all the harm King Duransarun tried to do to him. It worked for us.

Mine on the left, Sunburst's on the right:

The form at the top/bottom of the page is modified from a beautiful example on Live Ed's website. It's a pretty difficult form. We have definitely not mastered it yet, either of us, but we decided it was good enough.

We're going to envision another drawing or two this week before we move on to Ancient Babylon/Mesopotamia... which I again have no pictorial resources for. Anyone blogging on that?

----

Meanwhile, Moonshine is back to form drawing-- a few months ago we tried the Clown of God form lesson I created when Sunburst was in Grade 2. But it didn't take then. Moonshine just wasn't ready, wasn't into it. So... now we're trying again. So far, so good.

Sad news

2010-02-26T09:15:00.003+01:00

We lost a rat the other day. Sunburst was pretty heartbroken about it. All the kids were. Me, too.

I'm not sure what happened, but I have a pretty good guess. After doing a bit of research online, I think what we thought were initial quirks turned out to be some kind of respiratory sickness. What we interpreted as cuddly and lazy was probably lethargy. All that noise she made when she was sleeping? Probably wheezing.

So she was sick when we got her... and we just didn't know better. Go us! Actually, I wasn't there when the rats were picked out, but Sunburst said that they weren't allowed to handle the rats at the store-- could be a language misunderstanding? It's hard to tell sometimes.

So now we're down to one-- just little Miss Pepper, who truth be told, has been sneezing since we got her. I read online that this is not a good sign either, but she's very energetic... so there's hope. If all goes well with her, we'll have to find her a new rattie friend to play with.

Rat death already... not what I had bargained for. That's for sure.

Currently Reading

2010-02-25T16:37:00.007+01:00

Sunburst received this as a birthday gift from the neighbors, and they recommended it as a great read aloud. Boy were they right! I have never seen my kids get ready for bed faster than when they know that Mom is going to read some more of the Ronia story.

If you're not familiar with it, Ronia is the daughter of robber Matt. They live out in the woods in an old castle and rob people that pass through. There's another band of robbers in the woods, their arch enemies-- the Borkas. When the Borka robbers end up moving into the other half of the castle things get interesting, especially when Ronia befriends Birk Borka, a kid her same age. What happens next? I don't know... we're still reading.

All three of them are thoroughly mesmerized by the story, including 4-year-old Kitty Bill. Admittedly, it's not appropriate for him in its entirety-- I'm not even sure it's appropriate for me!!-- so I'm skipping over some of the scariest parts involving the the wild harpies and the gray dwarfs.

The wild harpies live in the woods and feed on fear. That's fine-- so there's something scary in the woods. Point made. But as far as the dialogue goes, do they really need to go on about how they will "scratch and bite you until the blood runs" or whatever nonsense they keep carrying on about? No. I think that's taking it too far in a book for kids. The gray dwarfs aren't much better. They threaten to "bite and strike." So whenever I get to the bloody scary parts, I'm picking and choosing the words I want to read pretty carefully.

Otherwise-- great book!

Speaking of great books, Moonshine has finally found some reading material that interests her.

The Cobble Stone Cousins series is about three nine-year-old girls who do stuff, like make a newspaper for their street, go to a wedding, and help their aunt at her flower shop. They are very sweet beginning chapter books-- just the thing for Moonshine who has been trying very hard to love The Magic Treehouse books or the Secrets of Droon.

Moonshine is reading up a storm these days. Thanks to the Cobblestone Cousins, she is finally enjoying reading on her own. Yay!

Dying yarn for Moonshine

2010-02-19T14:02:00.003+01:00

Moonshine has been knitting since she was four. The ability came on suddenly after a stomach virus. Stranger things have happened.

Since then she has knit in fits and starts. She has finished a few projects-- simple dolls, purses, washcloths-- some with help, some on her own. Most recently she has been working on a sweater for her doll. It's a pattern we're making up as we're going along by holding it up to the doll. It's not very exciting or interesting. The yarn was pretty in the skein, but knit up it kind of looks like vomit.

Anyway, she hasn't worked on it much, and I don't have the heart to push her on it. I've seen her wistfully watching Sunburst work on her knit foxes-- and I'm feeling like she needs a more inspiring project. Something that doesn't look like vomit. Something that she can visually conceptualize. And something that will push her skills to a higher level.

She can knit and purl with a fair amount of ease, but I suddenly realized, I had forgotten to teach her how to stripe. In the past I just did it for her. It's time, don't you think?

While I was thinking about it, I figured why not let her dye the yarn like our friends in Wales do. I had two skeins of Knit Picks Bare yarn lying around, so we roughly divided each one into thirds and made six small skeins. Dying them was "easy, peasy," as Moonshine has taken to saying. We soaked them overnight in a vinegar water mix, and then she dyed them with food coloring mixed in water.

We dyed the yarn in small garbage bags for easy clean up. The purple isn't as pleasing as we'd hoped... but it will do.

We heat set the dyes with steam. Here they are in the steamer basket. We had to be careful to keep the skeins from touching, or else the dye transferred.

Then we spooned the steamed yarn into a colander to cool a bit. Since we used superwash yarn, we didn't have to be too careful about felting. Once they cooled enough, we soaked each skein in a bowl of water to wash out the vinegar smell and any extra colorant.

We hung them up to drip dry in the shower, and the next day we transferred them over to the radiator.

As punishment... no, not really... I'm having Moonshine and Sunburst work together to wind them into balls. There has been a rift growing between them lately, mostly an age thing (I hope!), so I thought having them work together would be a nice start. It takes a lot of patience to hold yarn for someone.

They have been taking turns holding and winding. I think it's helping. Today they have been much more cooperative with each other, and Moonshine is excited to get to work knitting her new project: a rainbow-striped flute case.

happy, happy, love, love

2010-02-14T13:50:00.003+01:00

Pancakes and strawberries have always been a must for Valentine's Day. In the past I have actually poured them on the skillet into heart shapes. What a load of work that is! I was feeling lazy this year, so I imprinted each one with a heart cookie cutter. It actually turned out better than expected.

For maximum effect, press the cookie cutter into the pancake as soon as you flip it. As the pancake cooks, it rises in the center. If you press your cookie cutter into it soon enough, the heart will rise. If you wait too long, the heart cracks.

Kind of deep, huh?

I can already see a future filled with strange pancakes...

Eleven... and Rats!

2010-02-10T16:55:00.006+01:00

I've been very sporadic about mentioning birthdays on the blog through the last few years. I don't have any good reasons for that... but I aim to do better.

Sunburst turned ELEVEN the other day. Holy cow! I can't believe we've been doing this parenting schtick for eleven years already! It seems like only yesterday she was smearing food in her hair and flushing miscellanea down the toilets.

Now she's a pre-teen and experiencing all the fun that goes along with that-- mostly staring wide-eyed through the windows of Claire's and contemplating new earrings (she got those pierced last birthday). I know she was wishing for a special new pair for this birthday. She was hoping for other typical presents, too-- books, craft supplies, games, and... a rat.

Yep, I said Rat. Disgusting, eh? It wasn't at the top of my list either, but somehow she got it into her head that having a pet rat would be a fine idea. We studied them last year during our man and animal block, though I admit she was already smitten by then. Shortly after that she presented her dad and me a heartfelt proposal detailing how she would take care of a rat if she was allowed to have one. A heartfelt proposal, with drawings no less... how can you say no to that?

We couldn't. I was reminded of something Charlotte Mason said (and I'm paraphrasing here) about how children need something to love. Something to think about, to take care of. Eleven is surely old enough-- why not a rat?

When we got back from the States Einstein took her into the pet store to pick out a rat. It was easy, peasy. One came right up to the glass and made eyes at her. "Pick me! Love me!"

And then the pet store people informed Einstein that, by Swiss law, they had to buy two. Isn't that crazy?! Apparently this Noah's ark-ish law applies to a few other animals, not just rats. Alas, it was not "buy one, get one free."

I present you with our rats: Pepper and Pancake.

Sunburst and her rats have become fast friends. They are extremely tame. They love to crawl around her dollhouse and snuggle with her while she reads. She loves them. She loves to think about them. And she loves to take care of them. And she's already making headway trying to train them.

And me? I had agreed to rats on one promise from her-- that under any circumstances I would not be required to deal with them, including touching them. I was serious. The idea of rats seriously disgusted me. I imagined them running around the house pooping on everything and chewing up my knitting.

But now that I've seen them... they're beautiful. They're sweet. And they are VERY clean animals. I can't help myself. I'm in LOVE... with rats!! Who knew??

Gee, but it's great to be back home...

2010-02-09T10:10:00.007+01:00

Oh, Hello!!

Are you still here after my long absence? Thanks so much for waiting.

We just returned home from a WONDERFUL three weeks back in the states. It was fantastic to be home home again. We had warm Arizona sunshine, horse-riding, hugs galore, family dinners, weeping at the sight of Trader Joes and Whole Foods, seriously late nights with my mom, brother, and sisters... plus I got to meet the boyfriends (eek!). We consumed an inordinate amount of coffee, distributed 50 pounds (I kid you not!) of Swiss chocolates, bought two suitcases full of used books, played numerous bouts of Wii Grand Slam Tennis with Einstein's parents, met the newest baby of the family, and most importantly, loved on our grandmothers. Quality, important stuff, all of it.

My well is filled up and I'm ready to tackle anything!

Starting with getting back into the groove after a VERY long homeschooling break. We spent our first week back fighting off a nasty jet lag/flu cocktail (this cough is the pits!) and welcoming a pair of baby rats for Sunburst's eleventh birthday.

More about the rats coming tomorrow. Today I'm off to unearth my lesson plans. They are here somewhere... I hope.

Advent time

2009-12-03T21:44:00.003+01:00

It's beginning to look a lot like Advent.

There are candles aglow....

The nature table has been ~~covered in rocks~~ magically transformed...

The string of Advent stockings has been placed just so, each one holding a favorite seasonal carol....

The Advent lantern calendars are popping open their little windows...

We have wreaths... lots and lots of handmade wreaths...

Is there anything better than candlelight, boughs of evergreen, and felt scraps?
I think not.

I hope everyone is having a great start to this beautiful season.

Yay!

2009-12-03T08:36:00.005+01:00

We did it!

Our household wrote a cumulative... 132,876 words... in November.

That's a lot of words.
Whew!