Seasonal Lovelies

I recently ventured into the world of Waldorf voodoo books in German. There are so many fantastic Waldorfy craft books that haven't been translated into English yet. Yet? Surely, they'll come eventually. This one needs little translation anyway. It's simple enough to understand by looking at the pictures.



Mit farbegin Transparenten durch das Jahr

And the pictures are Lovely. I can't wait to make these for every season! Each one has an accompanying pattern for cutting out all the pieces. I suppose you would xerox the pattern page, but I just eyeballed it with a pencil, scissors and a paring knife. It's supposed to be made with transparency paper -- I don't know if they even carry this in the States, but as you can see, I made mine with colored tissue paper-- the kind you would use to make Rose Windows. It also calls for colored card-stock. I have looked high and low for card-stock in Switzerland to no avail. I finally found a small package (in white) at a Staples in England. We treat it like it's on the brink of extinction... this is sort of true. Anyway, I colored mine purple with oil pastels.

Here's what the pattern original looks like, plus a couple more samples from the book. I'm planning to bring at least one of the plant ones into Sunburst's botany lessons this spring.

Discovering Atlantis

Sunburst and I are thoroughly enjoying our study of Ancient India. I'm finding the Kovacs book, Ancient Mythologies, to be superb.

I like to start out each year with a symbolic marker. This year, since we were beginning with the destruction of Atlantis and Manu's voyage to India, I presented Sunburst with a few beans. Fifth grade is just brimming with new lands, new people, and new ideas. To me, they're like seeds. We plant them and see where they go.



She was a little bewildered when I told her to keep them safe, that she would need them. She pestered me on and off about them and was dying to know what they were for. Wait and see, I said.

And then we discovered Atlantis.



I had this rough idea for making a little Atlantis out of clay. I presented the vision of Atlantis, described by Plato as an island of concentric rings, and Sunburst just took off with it. She immersed herself fully in it and worked on it for a couple of days. It's regular pottery clay worked on the bottom of a pizza pan covered with parchment paper, and her creation far surpassed my expectations.

When she's ready we'll fill it with water, which will essentially destroy it... It seems a shame to trash something she took such care on, but isn't that kind of the crux of Atlantis itself? If it's true, it was supposedly an amazing, advanced civilization. In Kovacs' book he describes the Atlanteans as being capable of magic-- making cows small or men into giants. It seemed a bit far-fetched to me when I first read it, but the more I think about it, the more I wonder if he was referring to science. We're doing some pretty wacky magic these days ourselves-- cloning animals, putting fish genes into our tomatoes, and I'm sure we don't even know the half of it.




When I told how the god Brahma brought Manu out of the flood waters to India with the seeds he had saved from Atlantis, Sunburst was also given some soil. She planted three of her beans, and luckily, one of them sprouted. It doesn't matter how many times we plant seeds, its always feels miraculous to watch them grow. We'll be exploring botany in the spring, and watching this bean unfurl sort of sets the mood for that. And after a story of destruction, it seemed important to have something tangible begin growing out of that.

Another year, another new beginning.

School portraits

A couple of weeks ago Sunburst put up a sign on the wall advertising a portrait drawing business, and then she began drawing portraits of everything, from model animals to her little brother.

It was cute. We were all drawn in, so to speak, by her idea until all three kids and I found ourselves sitting around the table drawing portraits of each other. Hilarity ensued. The girls, Sunburst (10) and Moonshine (7), both decided to draw me. I figured it was a good excuse as any to come out of anonymity and show my face to the world.





E-gads! Is this what I really look like?!!

My favorite characteristics would have to be my new elfin ears and tiny, shark-like teeth. And the wrinkles-- look closely, folks, apparently my kids do.

I don't know what happened to me, but they're right about one thing. I've got some deep crevices across my forehead these days. I don't remember having them a year ago, so I'm going to chalk it up to stress and worry. It's Swiss memorabilia, right? Ugh. I might have to slip them a bit of chocolate in exchange for some artistic botox. Seriously!

Even Kitty Bill (4) notices them, as I discovered when he drew a picture of Moonshine and made deep lines across her forehead in the picture. When I questioned him on it, he insisted she had lines on her forehead "just like yours." Ahem. I asked him to look really closely at her to see if he could show them to me, and he was surprised to find that Moonshine's forehead was as smooth as butter. He promptly scratched the lines out. Although it pleased him to no end to include them on a picture of his dad, Einstein.




Einstein didn't fare too well either in Sunburst's picture. She gave him the same beady, little eyes she gave me. He's a lovely man in person though, and completely dashing, I think. Even if Sunburst did manage to capture his receding hairline, at least she didn't go adding silver paint accents to show off his gray hair. Here he is pictured next to her portrait of Kitty Bill.




Although I'm heckling the kids a little bit, it's all in good fun. Portraiture is HARD work, and I'm the first to admit it. It's one thing to draw a face AND get all the features scaled correctly, but it's entirely another thing to make that face actually look like the person you're drawing.

This is not quite Sunburst.



Close, but not her. Maybe in tens years she'll look like this, goggled-eyed and all.

And Moonshine? Forget about it. I tried to draw her twice, and neither of them even begin to capture her essence. There's something really elusive about her... if I keep trying, maybe I'll get it.




Since then Sunburst and I have been working on self-portraits in our German books. I don't capture my own image any better than I do the kids. But it's fun anyway.

Making it purty

Moving into a new place always entails some re-thinking of the homeschooling space. In the apartment we used kitchen drawers as a place for the kids to house their drawings and random creations. The new kitchen has a ton of drawers, but none of them were just right. To stave off arguments they have to be all the same size, and for sanity's sake, not so big that the kids can't find the one tiny slip of paper they can't live without. --Sanity will not be underrated!

So we headed on down to IKEA and picked out a small shelf of drawers that fit the bill, while also being easy on the pocketbook and small enough to squeeze into our tight space.



What can I say... the drawers are plastic and sort of ghastly. I managed to look at them for a whole day before I attacked them with a little bit of Waldorf voodoo. I love saying that-- Waldorf voodoo. It's a term that should be coined, don't you think? Anyway, I think the voodoo quite worked as it's much easier on the eyes, and actually quite nice. A little watercolor paper goes a long way.



The little pictures you can almost see are my kids-- Kitty Bill can't read yet, so I like to personalize the space with pictures he can read.




For the sweet Celtic calligraphy signs I have to extend a warm thanks to our dear friends in Wales. They sent us a writing sample and some pens, and as you can see we're always finding new ways of putting them to good use!

Feeling Normal

We have been living in the new house for a month now, and I have to tell you...

It's Fantastic!! I'm feeling almost normal again.

All that stress, all that depression I had been feeling since the move.... it's GONE. Kitty Bill's behavioral issues? Mostly gone, too. Frowns on faces? Gone. The children are happy. I'm happy. Even Einstein is happy. It's amazing! We're so happy to be in a house again, with a yard again, and we are actually getting so much more done. Even after the kids and I suffered through a miserable flu virus this month, we're accomplishing things. I had no idea how stressed out I was in the city apartment, but obviously, I was completely overwhelmed.

Our days of tiptoeing around are OVER. The kids are literally jumping up and down in this new house, on purpose. We're outside every day visiting the animals, biking in the countryside, chatting with the neighbors, and just simply playing.

Life is good.

Here's a peek at the new house!






And the view from my bedroom window:

A Full Michaelmas

Today we spent a lot of time cultivating our will forces. In other words, we did a lot. From collecting horse chestnuts (really, what will we do with them all?) to making conker dragons. From kneading dough to forming our own individual dragon breads. From harvesting apples to slicing and drying, cooking and saucing. From collecting hazelnuts to... well, we had to leave something for tomorrow!

Many hands make light work, and we had a lot of fun. It was a full Michaelmas, spent manifesting, transforming, and playing together. And with Moonshine's help, I managed to take pictures.

and foot!

While browsing through Rudolf Steiner's Prayers for Parents and Children, I was jarred to see two words in the following poem, er prayer.

The sun illumines
Stone, plant, beast and man.
Our soul enlivens
Head, heart, hand and foot.

The light rejoices
When stones sparkle,
Plants bloom, beasts run,
And people work.

So should our soul rejoice
When our heart grows warm and wide,
Enlightened thoughts grow strong,
Enheartened will can work.

In Waldorf circles it's pretty common to hear the words "head, heart, hands," but this is the first time I have ever seen them followed by the words "and foot." It goes without saying that Waldorf education, or Steiner education as they call it on this side of the Atlantic, does emphasize creative movement as an educational construct. But without saying it, it remains unsaid. Unspoken. Unemphasized. In browsing through the prayers, I notice that Steiner does emphasize it. In these prayers he mentions stepping and walking fairly often, which leads me to wonder when the words "and foot" got axed from the curricular mantra and why.

Here's a funny and brilliant TED video that reminds us to put the and foot back in education, embrace creativity, and make mistakes.



Thanks to my very dear friend MoxyJane for sharing it with me!

Saying goodbye

This is our last official week in our apartment, and it's starting to feel a little sad to see it go. It's a nice place... not a good fit for a boisterous family of five, but it sure is pretty.




As you can see, we have a lot of wide open space in this apartment. The kitchen is small, but we have two toilets and laundry facilities inside the house, which is not common in apartments here. The large, sklylit loft makes a wonderful playroom for the kids. The only real drawback is that we have no yard, not even a balcony. And it's a walk-up, which is fine, but hauling groceries for a family of five up three flights of stairs is tiring. And the noise... the kids have to walk on eggshells when the downstairs neighbor is home.

We pick up the keys to our new house on Monday. That's right, I said house. We found a house with a yard... not exactly the easiest thing to do in Europe, so we feel extremely lucky. My first question to the landlord was, "Can I put in a large vegetable garden?" He replied, "Yes. If you need more room, just ask the farmer to move the fence." Move the fence?!! Talk about accommodating!

The rooms are smaller in this place, but we have a view of the countryside, a bit of mountain, and even a castle! The house backs up to farmland, bordered by forest. There are horses and highland cows... and did I mention? Another homeschooling family lives just down the street.

Life will never be what it was in the states, but I think ours will be returning back to a more normal, noisy state. The first thing I plan to do is make sidewalk chalk and entreat Moonshine to the same sorts of number games that Sunburst enjoyed on our big concrete patio. And there will be lots of mandatory running games INSIDE the house.

Here's just a peek of what awaits us.



ps. Yes, I do see that there appears to be a drain in the middle of the yard. I'm trying not to think about what that means.

Grade Five Resources

As always, this is a work in progress. These are the resources available to me. We'll, see how many of these I actually use. It's in no way a complete list... but a good start nonetheless.
***Edit --I've updated the book list by putting the resources I loved in boldface. Hope that helps.***

Our Lessons

History

Discovering Atlantis
India, as promised
Everything cows
Ancient Persia and Forms
Ziggurat veil painting

Wedjat Eyes
Here Comes the Sun (cuneiform sundial)
Greeced Out
Homeschooling at the Acropolis
The Last Two Weeks
Week of Lions and Greece

Botany

Discovering Atlantis

India, as promised

Booklist

General
Eugene Schwartz (Millenial Child) Grade 5 files
Path of Discovery: Grade 5 - Eric Fairman
Spiritual Syllabus Grades 5-6 - Alan Whitehead
Waldorf Curriculum Overview - Christopherus
Grade Five files at waldorfhomeeducators - M. Johnson
Little Garden Flower publications

Math
Math Lessons for Elementary Grades - Dorothy Harrer
The Man Who Counted - Tahan
String, Straightedge and Shadow
Beginner's Guide to Reconstructing the Universe
The Joy of Mathematics - Pappas
Ron Jarmon's math book

Literature/English/History/Science
An English Manual - Dorothy Harrer
McGuffey's Fourth Reader
McGuffey's Speller
D'Aulaire's Book of Greek Myths
Ancient Greece - Charles Kovacs
Ancient Mythologies - Charles Kovacs
Chapters from Ancient History - Dorothy Harrer (helpful)
Teaching History I - Roy Wilkinson (helpful)
Cradle Tales of Hinduism - Sister Nevedita
Ma'at's Feather (read alone)
Pyramid - David Macaulay (interesting)
The Living World of Plants
Botany - Charles Kovacs
Drawing from the Book of Nature
Handbook of Nature Study


German
Assorted picture books
Neue Fibel: Teil 3 - Paul Dohrmann
Kinderlieder Kinderreime

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

The BOOKS are here!

I just received a new batch of homeschooling books in the mail today. I actually hooted when Einstein brought them in the door. I hadn't expected them for at least another week... even overseas, Bob and Nancy's bookshop ships FAST!

I've been pulling my hair out a bit about teaching fifth grade-- there is SO much to cover this year! India, Persia, Babylon (or is it Mesopotamia?), Egypt, Greece, Botany, Geometry... it makes my head spin! Living in a German-speaking region, we have zilch available locally. And as far as I know, I'm the only Waldorf-inspired homeschooler east of the English Channel, so I can't even have a peek before I buy... unless it's online somewhere.

Now that my first two shipments have arrived, I'm happy to report that I've made some very good, albeit blind, purchases:

Ancient Mythologies
by Charles Kovacs

I love the way Kovacs' books read. It's like you're listening in on lessons, and you are, essentially. He goes through various myths of India, Persia, Babylon, and Egypt in this conversational, talking to ten-year-olds way. The stories evolve fluidly in the conversation, and the conversation itself appears to be the red-line that ties everything together. The only downside is that you have to follow the conversation to really know where you are.... which the more I look at it, the less it seems like a bad thing. His stories really suck you in. I adored his Man and Animal book, so I'm sure I'll get a lot of use out of it.



Chapters in Ancient History (in a biographic vein)
compiled by Dorothy Harrer

To be honest, I'm not very fond of spiral-bound books. It's a pet-peeve, I know, but some of the ones out there are just hard to navigate through, and regardless of the content, harder still to find on the bookshelf. They just all look the same! However, I am so glad I purchased this! It contains stories from India, Persia, Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Greece. It even contains biographical tales of the major figures in Ancient Greece, which means that I may not have to purchase any other texts... like a separate copy of Gilgamesh. I can just boot that sucker out of my Amazon wishlist (along with all those Ancient Greek biographies) and move on. The best part is that each section comes with a quote (presumably from an ancient text of that time) along with a summary of the relationship between the people of that time and the celestial sphere, or heaven and gods. I find that simple explanation priceless, because honestly, this is all new material to me.

The language of these stories is very different from the Kovacs book mentioned above. Harrer's stories have more of an ancient feel to them, which is sometimes great and sometimes just plain wordy. Her sections for each cultural epoch are fairly small, and with few exceptions, different stories than what is included in the Kovacs book. I think I'll have to pick and choose between them.



String, Straightedge, and Shadow: The Story of Geometry
by Julia E. Diggins

I took Geometry my sophomore year in high school, and I simply loathed it. It bored me to tears, and perhaps because of the way it was taught, has since been this abstract thing I've felt absolutely no kinship with or interest in. That said, I can tell you that this book looks fantastic! It tells the story of geometry, from the oldest times through its progression to Ancient Greece. It's packed with eye-candy drawings, both of geometrical relationships and the people who used them (guys in butt-flaps and togas) and how they used them. It looks so interesting, that I'm confident this book is going to change everything for me!



Botany
by Charles Kovacs

I haven't yet given this the attention it deserves. But from first glance it appears to be great, in Kovacs conversational-style, and packed with information. The text includes all the different plant families, plants used by people (grains, coffee, etc.), and a bit about bees. Unlike his Man and Animal book though, it doesn't have accompanying artwork, so I'm less apt to delve in immediately. I appreciate the simplicity of his writing-style though, so I'm sure I'll get a lot of use out of it... though honestly, at first glance I like the following book better.



The Living World of Plants
by Dr. Gerbert Grohmann

This book is talked up as THE book to use for teaching botany, and really, it is THE book. It's written for children, so the language is simplistic (but not stupid) and to the point. Better yet, there are pictures; throughout the book are simple line-drawings corresponding to the discussion at hand. I appreciate that. It looks excellent! Essentially, this book has the same textual feel as Kovacs book, only with pictures.


I'm planning to combine these botany books with the beautiful drawing help in Drawing from the Book of Nature.

. . . . .

Since I'm talking fifth grade, a review of this book already on my bookshelf seems necessary...


Teaching History I: The Ancient Civilizations and the Fourth Cultural Epoch
by Roy Wilkinson

I bought this for cheap a couple of years ago from a local homeschooler who was cleaning off her shelves. It's good, it's interesting, but it's not enough by itself. This is the "how-to" and "why" guide to teaching ancient history. It has the cliff-notes version of the stories and gives a lengthy summary of the places and times at hand. There's even very small biographical summaries of the major Greek folks. But I wouldn't call it enlivened. It's dry and informative in that Roy Wilkinson style, which, the more I look at it notice is the point. And that has it's place. It's the kind of reading for me that takes a bit of concentration and note-taking... the kind you can't do with kids jumping on the couch. If I get some quiet moments, maybe I'll read more of it.

Uh, what's my job??

I'm trying to get back into the swing of things. I know, it has been awhile. I can't seem to find the time anymore. For months now... ever been there?

It occurred to me this morning as I discovered, yet again that we have no cereal in the house, that I'm really working more than three jobs here. Why is it that this has never crossed my mind before?

House-cleaner (working overtime now that we've advertised our apartment)
Personal chef and shopper (stores are NOT open late here)
Teacher - Grade 5
Teacher - Grade 2
Mother/Nurse/Laundress/Magic-maker
Wife

I know there's some overlap there, but honestly, it's a lot of work. I need more hours in the day to get everything done. Is it a planning issue or just a really full plate? I don't even know anymore.

What I'd like to add to the above list is Writer. But despite my best intentions, it's not happening. This blog, obviously, has not been happening. And that novel I'm still editing, again, not happening so much. I haven't even managed to read blogs in the last few months. How sad is that!?! I'm just feeling so blah and ick that I don't even know where to start.

So... let me start with YOU. I'm going to try to eek out some time this week for blog reading. Please leave me your blog addy in the comments and I'll pop over for a visit.

Happy little eggs

Easter was always my favorite holiday as a little girl. My mom would boil up dozens of eggs and as a family we'd all gather around the table together, endlessly dipping into the rainbow of colors.

Together. Looking back I think that was the biggest part of it. Easter was more about being together, doing together, laughing and enjoying and goofing around, than any of the other holidays. My dad would sit at the table and dip eggs with us, we'd hide them in the craziest places, and then have contests to see who could make their chocolate bunny last the longest. I never won. (I still have no willpower when it comes to chocolate.)

It's been a long time since we all sat down for Easter together, but I'm trying to keep that spirit of togetherness alive in my children, especially at Easter. Since we don't eat eggs, and we've given up the plastic ones (conveniently they don't sell them here in Switzerland), I whipped up an easy little pattern-- another one of my patterns of desperation. My girls, ages 7 and 10, helped knit them up. I hope you'll enjoy making them as much as we did.

To download the pdf of this pattern, please click HERE.  You can also find it on Ravelry.

Felted Knit Eggs

Materials:
wool yarn scraps-- worsted or bulky wt
US #8 or #9 dpns
Wool stuffing

Instructions:
CO 12 st, and divide evenly onto 3 needles.
Place marker, and join into the round. K 1 row.

Row 1: *K1fb, k3* repeat to end of row (15 st)
Rows 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 11: knit every stitch
Row 3: *K1fb, k4* repeat to end of row (18 st)
Row 5: *K1fb, k5* repeat to end of row (21 st)
Row 7: *K1fb, k6* repeat to end of row (24 st)
Row 9: *K1fb, k7* repeat to end of row (27 st)
(begin decreasing)
Row 12: *k2tog, k7* repeat to end of row (24 st)
Rows 13, 15 and 17: knit every stitch
Row 14: *k2tog, k6* repeat to end of row (21 st)
Row 16: *k2tog, k5* repeat to end of row (18 st)
Row 18: *k2tog, k4* repeat to end of row (15 st)
Row 19: *k2tog, k3* repeat to end of row (12 st)
Row 20: *k2tog, k2* repeat to end of row (9 st)
Row 21: *k2tog, k1* repeat to end of row (6 st)

Cut yarn and thread through remaining loops to close top of egg, and weave in the end. Fill your egg with stuffing (moderately full--don't overstuff), and then thread your yarn end through the CO edge, pull it closed, and weave in the ends. Voila.

If you use wool stuffing, both the egg and the stuffing will felt together and create a nice weighted egg that bounces. You can also use fiberfil, but the egg itself won't felt as well as the wool-stuffed egg. Use fiberfil if you want to create a hollow egg, as shown above, for hiding little trinkets in. Once it's felted, just make an incision and remove the fiberfill.

To felt: Throw your eggs in a pillowcase or garment bag and wash in HOT water in the washing machine with some jeans or towels. I only ran mine through once because I ran out of laundry to wash, but feel free to do what you need to do. Don't forget to allow time to dry before the big hunt begins. :-)