Norse Myths and Man and Animal

I have to say that so far I'm really enjoying learning with these as our focus.  The Norse Myths have always been stories I enjoyed.  I love the capricious nature of Loki and the stubborness and honourable mix of the other deities.

We picked up a box on Tuesday of Viking replica artefacts from our local museum. There is a linen shift and a woolen tabard type thing. There is also a replica Thor's hammer pendant and a drinking horn. 

Today, in the oven are 2 fimo Thor's hammer Mjolnir pendants and a piece of very fetching turquoise fimo with the imprint of the Viking comb in it. We also had a bit more of our Norse Myths and earlier in the morning I read the chapter on seals from Charles Kovacs' book.

Yesterday I wrote "Fields have been harvested, chickens are out making lots of squawking noises and there is a tinge to the leaves that says Lammas has been."

Last week Springy got her dream.  She got a pet hamster called Snuggle.  It is unfortunate though that said hamster has been unwell with 'wet tail' and also seems to have skin mites!  However, I complained to the pet shop and their vet has been treating her. 

The activities I recommend other than listening, writing summaries out on the board and popping stuff in the MLB are:

- using a lucet/knitting fork to make braid (handwork)
- getting a Scandinavian recipe or two - e.g. cinnamon buns and maybe something on rye bread 
- discussing how the length of night and daytime differ in Scandinavian countries
- dressing up in a linen shift and wear a woollen over Viking tunic
- making a Thor's hammer with Fimo modelling clay or beeswax
- asking your nearest museum if they can help you with a box of replica artefacts
- looking at Viking patterns for braiding and bookwork (so either try and make them or draw them)
- Read some runes - make some puzzles up by writing messages in runes and get your child to work them out


With the Charles Kovacs book I'm reading directly out of it.  I find he has a jolly style that is engaging Springy really well.

July 2011

We went to Chatsworth House, Chester Zoo, the Legoland in the Trafford Centre and generally had a really good week holiday visiting family.  Chester Zoo was amazing as usual.  They have so many habitats.  Our favourite was probably the new African Painted Dogs enclosure.  The dogs are beautiful in terms of their colouring and the way they stand.  It was an excellent trip to coincide with Class 4 Man and Animal.  I must admit to not really getting the way this is presented in Waldorf schools.  However, as zoology it is interesting and Springy was able to see a wide variety of the wonderful creatures that inhabit our planet.

Legoland mini was fun.  We went three times on the laser ride and Springy had a good time in the play section, climbing nets and sliding.  Chatsworth House was also very interesting.  The house had an outstanding collection of native crystals such as Blue Johnstone and there were two very large crystals - amethyst and rock crystal.  We enjoyed the garden there too, especially the maze and the rock garden (and the weeping tree fountain).

Class Three Steiner blocks and lessons

We've done the Old Testament stories in relation to The Creation, the story of Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden (which Springy thought was unfair), the tale of Noah and his Ark (and again Springy thought this was unfair against the animals who got left to drown), Joseph and His Coat and the story of Moses in the bulrushes.  We went to see the Tutankhamun exhibit at the Musuem of Museums in December which tied in to Egypt and Moses.

We're reading Farmer Boy as our read aloud (although 9-year change Springy doesn't like it).

Springy can manage knitting basic knit stitches but I need to find her a teacher because I'm not getting it through in the right way to her.  I also have a spinning contact (the same as the knitting tutor) who I hope can give her a lesson in spinning wool.  She's done weaving before and also is a member of the Embroidery Guild so has done some interesting projects through that.  I'd also like to get her going with crochet but again I'm limited in my own skills with it.

Our building was a willow dome.  We still need to find a yurt to look at.  We studied about igloos earlier in the autumn.

I still need to do more on weights and measures.

In relation to farming, we have some seed potatoes.  Money is tight as usual but I'm hoping to get a raised planter to have some carrots and leeks or salad crops this year.  I bought Springy a child-sized garden fork so she can dig up the back bed herself and turn it into her own vegetable patch (or flowers or herbs).  I hope to get a little garden rake and hoe as well for her (I noticed her enthusiasm when she played with some real but child-sized tools the other week).

Poetry

This is a very useful resource (and I hope it will be ready to purchase soon becuase it sounds like a keeper for the bookcase):

http://www.waldorfpoetry.com/look-inside.html

I loved this poem by Dorothy Harrer:

The Four Sentences by Dorothy Harrer

Commands

Listen to the night wind blow.

See the swirling flakes of snow.

Close the window. Shut the door.

Keep out the wild wind’s angry roar.

Light the fire.  Let it blaze.

Exclamations

How wonderful the morning is!

Oh, what a sparkling day!

Sky’s blue around the golden sun!

The wind has died away!

Statements

The golden sun shines on the snow.

The trees blue shadows make.

The colours of God’s own rainbow.

Twinkle in each snowflake.

Questions

Where do snowflakes come from?

Why are they so white?

Who gives them each a separate form?

How far has been their flight?

And what creates the rainbow

In which each star of snow?

We've also been working on the number 11 (using the Earth School Grade 2 Maths Block and augmenting it with our own ideas too).  Springy has enjoyed being able to work out the multiples of 11 from double digit numbers and doing it as a trick.

E.g. 22 x 11 = 2_2
2+2 = 4 (put the four in the space)
22 x 11 = 242

We wrote out some sentences about 11 e.g. The Chancellor of the Exchequer lives at No 11 Downing Street and The Mariana Trench is 11km at its deepest point in the ocean and Aquarius is the eleventh sign of the Zodiac.

St Lucia Day

We had a nice day. Cinnamon buns for breakfast (homemade), a candle and a made-up by us rhyme:

"Santa Lucia brings the light
Santa Lucia day over night
Santa Lucia stars in her hair
...Have you ever seen a maiden so fair?"

...with a playdate this afternoon :) Yay!

 And Marsha Johnson of Shining Star School says:

"The story of Lucia is an important one in the dark time of this season....she was an Italian girl who was promised in marriage to a man by her father....she wished to dedicate her life to the one lived in the holy places, the sacred spaces, the quiet contemplative retreats of the sisters and nuns in those old days...but her father desired to alighn his ambition through her with another family....

She refused.

Her intended became enraged and was very cruel to Lucia, finally causing her death. Thus the red sash on the white dress...

The story of her life was known and she was regarded as a very holy and special person, who would give up her own life rather then compromise her ideals.

Later, in the far north, was a time of starving. The people were about to die for lack of food, the weather was frigid, the nights were deeply dark and there was no relief in sight.

Then, across the waters, a boat was seen. In the front of the first boat, stood a maiden, dressed in white with a red sash and on her head, a crown of lights burning in the darkness...the boat was loaded with food and behind, tied together, other boats filled with food to sustain life.

The boats slowly came in and beached on the shore...the people took the food and distributed to each family as was its need, and the people survived....and it was known that this WAS Lucia, the dark headed Italian martyr, who had brought this food to the people of Sweden.

It was a miracle.

To this day, we celebrate the bright yellow flaming candlelight of this miracle with S-shaped saffron/cardamom buns and the wreath of candles atop the head of the eldest girl-at-home of the family, each year on Dec, 13.

This is the story...."

 And there is a link to Faerie Rebecca's site for Saffron buns:

http://faeriedust2001.blogspot.com/2005/12/santa-lucia-day.html

And the recipe from there:

day we will make our Lussekatter, the saffron buns that Lucy carries. The cookies look like eyes (the Italian saint tore out her own eyes--gotta love the lives of saints!), but we like the idea that they are a reflection of Freya's cats that pull her chariot across the sky. Here's our recipe for Lucy's Cats, gleaned from a long-forgotten internet source years and years ago:

• 1 packet yeast
• 1/4 cup warm water
• 1 stick unsalted butter
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 egg
• saffron threads (or powdered saffron, about 1/4 tsp.)
• 4 cups (about 400 grams) all purpose flour
• beaten egg (for brushing)
• raisins or dried cranberries or currants

Dissolve yeast in warm water (I like to add a bit of honey, too, to make the yeast grow more quickly). Melt the butter, stir in milk, and then add this mixture to the yeast. Beat in the sugar, salt, egg, and saffron, blending until smooth. Add in the flour a cup at a time, and work until smooth. Cover and let rise for 30 minutes. Turn the dough out and knead. Pinch off small pieces of dough and twist into an "S" shape and place on baking sheet (I like to use a stone). Cover and let rise until doubled in size, about 20 minutes in a warm kitchen. reheat oven to 425 degrees. Add raisins in the curves of the "S" and brush with beaten egg. Bake for about 10 minutes or until golden brown. Makes about 2 dozen of Lucy's Cats.

 

Old Testament Stories and clay

We did some 3 times tables (with stamp stamp clap), told a story about the Tower of Babel and #Springy is now playing with some old clay that is soaking in water. She's going to be doing some clay tablet writing over the next few days (I hope - not much clay though!). We've also read Story of the World about the first writing.

 I went to Michael Hall earlier this week and had a great time experiencing a Day in the Classroom.

We covered Nature Stories.  I learnt a lovely story from experienced Waldorf teacher David Smith (30 years of class teaching).  This is an adaptation because it as an oral story and I didn't tape it:

Once there was a plant nursery and in the autumn and spring, as you may know, a lot of birds either leave or come to our country.  They travel from far away, sometimes from countries to the far north with ice and snow and sometimes from hot places such as Africa.  Now there were a lot of new baby plants growing in the nursery and some of the birds had travelled long and far and they watched the little plants.  They noticed that one of the plants was growing bigger than the others.  They gathered around and had a look and they noticed that the leaves on this baby plant were so big.  "Aha" said the swallows, "You must be an elephant plant - you have a trunk and two big ears."  The birds laughed.  The baby plant felt sad because he didn't want to feel different from the other plants in the nursery but the birds kept calling him an elephant plant.  The birds said to the other little plants growing in the nursery that they shouldn't talk to the elephant plant anymore.  The little plants at first said "Oh no we're all plants" but the birds said that if any of them kept talking to the elephant plant that they wouldn't be friends with them.  The elephant plant felt very sad.  He was all alone and so he turned his head up to the sun and asked the sun to make him like the sun.  "Please make me like you Sun."  And he grew and he grew as he held his head to the sun.  The birds had flown away for a while and when they came back they noticed the elephant plant.  "Ooh, you've changed, you're just like the Sun," they said.  They started to make a fuss and told all the other birds and the other plants in the nursery that the elephant plant looked like the sun.  The birds said "How did you stop being an elephant and turn into the sun?  We know what you are, you're a sunflower," but the plant didn't want to talk to them.  He started to turn away and as he did his heart went cold.  He didn't want to know the birds or the other plants in the nursery.  They'd been so mean to him and his only friend had been the sun.  But as his heart turned cold he started to change again.  His golden sunshine flower darkened.  The birds tried to talk to him again.  "We're sorry," they said.  "We're sorry we were mean to you but we didn't know that you were a flower of the sun."  The other plants said sorry too.  "We're sorry too, we're sorry we listened to the birds when they said not to talk to you.  It doesn't matter that you were different."  But the sunflower was still hurt and his heart went even colder until all the light went from him.  And then he felt so sad.  He missed the birds and the other plants and he began to cry little grey tears.  His tears fell to the ground and the birds gathered about and they picked them.  "Ooh, these taste delicious. Thank you," they said to the sunflower.  And the sunflower didn't hurt anymore.  The birds took some of the seeds and they planted them.  "Next time we see an elephant plant we'll remember to be kind."

Mr Smith tells story after story throughout the Main Lesson.  He doesn't just do one.  He links them to the next day and the previous and so on, adding on.  It's nothing like most of the curriculum emphasise where there's only one story per day.  He had such a quiet voice but it seemed to resonate all around the room.  We were leaning in to listen.  He held a picture of a Cicely Baker tree picture - a beech tree.  This is not verbatim but is the gist of what he was doing:

 "Do you remember I was telling you about the trees and at this time of year the leaves start to change colour and they fall off.  Well there's a tree called the Copper Beech and they're all one tree.  What colour do think it is?  It's a brownish red colour.  Now the squirrels ran off with some of the beech mast (and he had some to show because they go out gathering up stuff from nature before or having a look about and he links his stories in that way).  They buried it in the ground and it grew and grew.  And do you know what colour the leaves were?  Green!  Not copper because copper beeches are all one tree.  No, to grow a copper beech you have to take a branch off a copper beech and plant that, not the seed.  It's called grafting.  Apple and pear trees are grafted.  Can you remember the tree that the King of Spain's daughter had?  I had a little nut tree, nothing would it bear but a silver nutmeg and a golden pear...  Later in the year we'll do some grafting.  Some pear trees can have 10 different pears on them or apple trees can have different branches each with a different type of apple...but we'll do that in the garden later on."

He also had some plastic worms, yes plastic, to show the different lifecycles of a worm because he says bringing animals to the classroom often results in accidental death.  He also has a briefcase of plastic insects including a preying mantis.  He asked whether it was a praying mantis or a preying mantis (good way to discuss spellings).

He said that Grade 3 is when you introduce rules.  The Old Testament is rule introduction.  Then you start with grammar, spelling and so on.  I was amazed by how much writing there was for Class 3 in their Main Lesson Books.  The writing was small and cursive already.

Music:

Nice idea on how to introduce musical staves - once there was a little gnome playing his recorder but all the notes kept floating away on the breeze and he couldn't remember how to play them again. Fortunately there was an angel sitting in a nearby tree and her hair caught the notes....

 

 

September and what we've been doing

We've been utilising the Christopherus Second grade curriculum as our scaffolding.  Although Springy would be in Third Grade I feel that because we deviated from the traditional Waldorf curriculum last year that I want to back track a bit and go over things until January. 

We've started with a mini maths block and have been using Four in a Row maths games.  Springy has done some lovely pictures in her Main Lesson book so far including squirrels for maths (as outlined in Christopherus). 

The Christopherus package is quite pricey but the plus side is I enjoy the way Donna Simmons writes.  She's like a warm cup of cocoa with her words - comforting and friendly.  The downside is there is still quite a lot of working out to do at times and I wish the material were all together, rather in separate books at times as there is quite a bit of fiddling back and forth.  That said, I'm beginning to understand more on Waldorf again to the Class/Grades approach.

End of August

Since I last posted Springy has had another maths lesson with a private tutor.  Sometimes it's hard to be objective when you're are home educating so C and I decided that a series of three lessons over three weeks would be a good idea.  We certainly found a great tutor and Springy has progressed in a positive way.  It also helped that the tutor had a puppy at home.

Today we went out in our little rowing boat which was great fun.  We saw 3 egrets and a very big black-backed gull.  We had to be careful not to get in the way of some of the yachts that were about and their wakes.

I've got several books lined up on Native American buildings for reading (as usual here, one has gone missing in the collage of chaos).  We also have Farmer Boy and Schoolhouse in the Parlour by Rebecca Caudhill as read alouds.

Springy finished her Magic Book so it's time to move onto a new one.  I'm feeling a little more confident and have been reading various educational materials to keep inspired.  We never stop for summer holidays so we're not really about to start a new year as such.  I feel we're still in the Class Two zone for some things developmentally but that also Springy responded well over the summer to many of the Class Three elements that were introduced.

This morning in her maths lesson she was asked about solving a puzzle.  She had to get four people across to an island by a boat.  There were 2 men and 2 women.  The rules were that the boat could only carry up to two women or one man so she had to work out the sequence.

No Resources

Another factor that has made this past year more daunting is the lack of resources.  This year just gone was so dire on a financial level at various points that there was no way I could have spent money on resources.  We have had to make do with what we had but it's not been easy.  I am learning about Steiner Waldorf as I go along.  Kindergarten I understood really well, perhaps because of my previous knowledge and experience of working with this age group.  First Grade didn't seem too bad either - fairy tales and a child who could already read and write with ease because of their own intuition.  Second Grade seemed incredibly disordered because I had a) a lack of time to read around Waldorf stuff and b) I had no curriculum materials that I could make sense of.  Instead we used non-Waldorf educational materials such as workbooks which Springy didn't always resonate with.  Also, my husband, though well-meaning, allowed Springy to watch pop videos and other media forms which I disagreed with but because I was not there to supervise it went unchecked as part of her "education".

We're now in a position to get some resources so I'm putting together lessons.

It's all a bit of a mess but we had a good morning this morning.  Last night we read a Bonnie Scheckie book on House of Wood which relates to Native American Indians and also shelter building.  Springy did a couple of pages in her Main Lesson book with a picture of things made from wood and also we did a page based on a story from a Live Education Class 2 resource about Grandfather Corn which a friend kindly let me look at.  I want to save up and get both the Live Education and Christopherus materials because I realise I can't do Waldorf on my own.

I'm going to read this http://www.waldorflibrary.org/Journal_Articles/klocekchores.pdf because I feel like Springy could do with contributing a bit more to the home.

August 2010

Wow - it's been a very hard year.  I spent a lot of that time in college and it was hard going.  However, back to home education. 

Springy saw a maths tutor the other day who said she's not a natural mathematician but meant it nicely.  I've known for a while that Springy often does things really well one day and then seems to have forgotten it all a day or even an hour later.  It can be quite frustrating but I guess that is part of education and learning - it's not a linear path.

I nearly moved forward with class Three stuff  - farming and Old Testament stuff.  In fact we have done a few bits from these areas because we can easily watch arable farming around us and also we've been growing quite a few things as per usual so we have our own "crops".  Springy also made a tipi in the garden using bamboo poles and a sheet and we've done a bit on Native American First Peoples stories.  From the Old Testament we have heard the stories of Adam and Eve, Noah and the Flood and Joseph and His Coat.  However, I've been aware that maybe we need to do some revisiting of Second Grade/Class Two Steiner Waldorf stuff because last year, although we home educated, we did little in the way of Main Lesson fun.

Waldorf Skills and Goals for Classes

Overview of Skills and Goals:

http://www.waldorfschoolofcapecod.org/documents/SkillGoals.pdf

December 2009

St Nicholas is going to be our theme this month because we're doing Class 2 Steiner Waldorf in our approach anyway.

http://www.stnicholascenter.org/Brix?pageID=437

St Nicholas stories in the Waldorf tradition

Lovely blog with bee feature

http://naturenest.wordpress.com/category/animals/bees/

and this:

http://web.me.com/meaningfulmathbooks1/Site/Lower_School_Math.html

and this article:
http://opencreativity.open.ac.uk/assets/pdf/strathclyde/Learning%20to%20think%20in%20Steiner.pdf

And this on rainbow writing:

http://faeriedust2001.blogspot.com/2005/11/rainbow-sentences.html

Class 2 type year

Well we're not really a class - although I learn just as much as Springy at times.

This year we're going to be focusing on Fables, Animal Friends, Saints/Sages, Nature Stories and so on.

I can really see Springy is fascinated by animals. With our new addition to the household, our lovely dog, I can see how Steiner would have observed the interest in animals. He was really astute with his observations. Springy is totally occupied with animals and wanting to accumulate more pets.

Our doggy is gorgeous - she's lovely temperament and ever so loving and easy to care for (apart from the revolting ticks that I had to remove from her the other day).

So:

Times Tables - keep practising 2x, 1x, 5x, 10x and we need to add in 11x, 3x and 4x
Regular use of arithmetic (Magical Maths books by Letts) and conversations on other mathematical themes
I want to do a recap on Roman numerals which we did cover but I'm not sure how much of this Springy retained.
Learning the spellings of common word clusters e.g. would, should, could and peep, sheep, deep etc
Doing small blocks on the Animal themes above along with Form Drawing to help improve that focus and concentration - simple sentences from the Fable e.g. "The mouse saved the lion" or "Slow and steady wins the race"
Increase the frequency of handwriting use and with practice we hope will come improved writing stamina and appreciation

I'm more aware of doing my research before the fable to ensure that I know enough about the animal concerned. I've always been someone interested in wildlife and animals anyway so that makes it easier. Springy already loves nature so it's not hard to instil that love for the main characters in the fables.

The Merry Month of May

This last month we've done lots of things. We did the Jamboree on the Trail (a walk with the beavers and cubs), visited Ikea as a family for the first time (we love lingonberries), Springy and our puppy took part in a dog show (Springy wants to be a dog groomer and dog trainer when she grows up now), I took my First Aid Appointed Persons course again (just a 1-day one), went to the Mind/Body/Spirit event in London (had an amazing Indian Head Massage) and enjoyed the lovely weather outside. We've been going on lots of walks with our lovely dog.

I'm now planning for the next stage in Springy's education - we're slowly integrating animal stories in as per the indications of Rudolf Steiner. We have 3 new paints which we are going to be working with (not because of developmental reasons but because I never could afford 3 new paints before). I feel that we have achieved a lot (with support from friends who have encouraged me to be positive) in our education this year. We've been working on our times tables and so on but we're past Aries and Taurus and into Gemini now so the Zodiac is whizzing by and I like to work my year from Aries to Pisces.

It's already June and we need some rainy weather to stay inside a bit more and do some more academics. Springy and I have been discussing how to use question marks, exclamation marks and periods (full stops).

We're still doing swimming lessons - we got a new teacher this term and he's been great so far. the last few terms were a writeoff but he has made up for it and Springy is now able to dive underwater to collect objects off the bottom (she's better than me).

St George's Day

We took part in a St George's Day parade at the weekend. It was good fun - I mostly followed Springy around with the camera.

Our puppy is gorgeous. She's getting dog "eyebrows" now which gives her lots of expression. Today she had a fantastic time playing with another dog and they rough and tumbled on the green.

Springy and I did a form drawing session today. We also read Pico the Gnome which is a sweet story. Springy is having trouble finding the ground and the sky in terms of balancing her form drawing but is still doing very well. She made a spell book the other day - we stayed off writing for months and now she keeps writing under her own volition. She decorated the front in the Stockmar crayons and has written some spell-like poems inside. They're copied from My Secret Unicorn, a series of books she has been reading. She also sometimes writes her own poems and is forever telling me ones she has made up, on a verbal basis.

I'm reading a book on painting in the Steiner schools. It's really interesting and has given me a new insight into the colours and the way painting is covered. Rather than using nouns to describe the way the paint colours relate (which is the incorrect emphasis of many of the "waldorf" styled consultants) they say the correct way is on using adverbs and adjectives - the colours are the entities themselves. Having recently taken a workshop on Goethean and Steiner's thoughts on colour this is starting to make more sense to me. The colours themselves are the spiritual elements and essences.

The opposite of the painting is the form drawing which relies on outlines and can be done in bold colours.

'School as a Journey' by Torin Finser

Found this e-book to read:

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=S_-oI4v5X3kC&pg=PA82&lpg=PA82&dq=waldorf+blackboard+drawing+course&source=bl&ots=O1NhyiGgYW&sig=pmlK3DeGK8xo-ypb8-be4VZ5_uA&hl=en&ei=RfboSenYJc6rjAfxuPSeCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6#PPA12,M1

and:

http://www.angelfire.com/or/cmcquoid/VersesandSongs.htm with lots of verses and songs including this one:

Little dwarfs so short and strong,
Heavy-footed march along;
Every head is straight and proud,
Every step is firm and loud.

Snowdrops and Lilies

Today Lily (our new shih tzu puppy) had her 2nd vaccine which means next week we can take her out properly.

Today Springy and I did a couple of watercolour paintings using the wet-on-wet technique. Springy did a yellow circle, surrounded by blue which was the sun in the sky. I did a snowdrop picture.

Snowdrop painting
First of all use very diluted blue and wash it from the bottom of the paper upwards in horizontal strokes. This leaves stronger blue at the bottom and lighter blue at the top of the paper. Then use yellow and take this over the bottom third of blue to make green. Use the brush to come upward in stalks (green). Then wash brush and dry it and lift off the blue paint where the stalks end to make the white snowdrops.

The story went as follows:
The winter had been full of cold ice and snow.
Then the sun began to shine a little - the grass grew again and then little shoots started to appear - up they came from the ground...it tried to snow again but the sun was too strong.

I will try and post a picture later on this week.

(c) Liz Plant 2009

You and Your Child site

http://www.youandyourchildshealth.org/resources.html

This looks very interesting to read around.

Window Stars

Here is a link which is useful to make a window star (from our waxed square papers). We made a lovely 5-pointed star as a Christmas decoration which we stuck on the window and this will make another but smaller one:

http://www.uwgb.edu/dutchs/recmath/Star6Exact1.HTM