Balloons

Today we went to a birthday party for a 2-year old. Daughter had a lovely time and there were 7 children in total - on the way out she received a helium balloon. Once we got home she tried tying a doll to it only to find that this dragged the balloon down - "The doll is too heavy for the balloon" so she untied it. We then used hair tyes and added them one-by-one and watched for the balloon to dip down. It was a nice little observation and it was interesting to notice her experimenting with the science without any explanation.

Beans and Triops

Our bean thing is growing well - I need to move it to a larger container - but daughter continues to water it every day. The red currant bush seems to be flourishing and the change of soil in the autumn for the blueberries means that they look well - lots of flowers so I hope there will be lots of fruit. I need to weed around the strawberry patch but the raspberry canes look like they will give us a crop again. I'm looking forward to picking our own at the nearby fruit farm as well - last year we saw a hornet in the autumn (beautiful but scary) when we went apple picking.

Our strange crustacean friend (Candle the Triops) is huge - he's about 2 inches in length and zooms about looking for food still. I will really miss him (or her) when he dies because he has been such fun; today, whilst I was chopping the vegetables I could hear him sifting through the stones in his tank, so he's quite good company in the kitchen.

We've been playing lots of card games recently e.g. snap, Top Trumps and daughter seems to recognise a lot of numbers. Tonight she worked out that 10 and 10 is 20 (from counting all her fingers and all her toes).

There and back again...

We had a lovely time at my parents' house. We went to a zoo, to the Chestnut Center for Owls and Otters (if we had gone a week later we would have seen the valley covered in bluebells), and a number of other things.

We went to the library - daughter likes the Oxford Reading Tree books ( we don't have them in our local library) and read a number to me at the library. She had a great time playing with cousins and also children of old friends of mine during our stay as well.

I managed to dye some wool using the leftover pink dye from our boiled Easter eggs. With a capful of vinegar the colour has stayed put (the wool looks like candy floss - it's a cochineal-based dye). Unfortunately we both picked up a bad cold whilst we were away and although daughter has recovered I've got pharyngitis (and I feel useless because I can't read or sing).

Today was French (usually I attend but didn't want to pass this on to the tutor) so daughter went in alone. I noticed daughter doing scissor legs (Enki stuff - well not Enki in origin but she's picked it up through that) around the garden today and she's getting very adventurous on the swing (fell off and bumped her elbow and then re-enacted same thing for daddy to show him how she had fallen off, only this time she bumped her head - fortunately not hard!).

She also went to the playground when the schools had finished. It's a good way to ensure social interaction (with an only child you need to make a lot more effort) by finding a good local playground and going on a regular basis. She has made some friends there who now bound over to her. I think they are fascinated as well because they know she doesn't go to school. After that we went to the library and I found a few knitting books with small items in. I've decided that I will stick to knitting small items because no matter how much I try anything larger eg a jumper goes wrong for me. I also got a feltcraft book out (I'm awful at handicrafts but enjoy doing them and reading up on the theories and then attempting the smallest item possible).

Tonight's dinner was a tagliatelle bolognese - olive oil, celery, carrots, onions, garlic, tomatoes, beef, smoky bacon

Spring 2007

Spring has arrived and although we are away from home on a holiday to grandparents at the moment, here is what our Spring looks like.

First off, we are growing a bean (planted on a waxing moon) plant. Daughter has been very interested in watching it from the first shoots to when we left it the other day with about 6 leaves.

We have also grown a Triops, called Candle, from an egg. He (or she) was the only one to hatch and daughter has been enjoying feeding Candle every day. She has learned about cleaning it out (I do it but she helps by ensuring I don't catch it in the cleaning pot) and had to patiently wait before it hatched. It's a fascinating little creature (it's a type of crustacean) and it zooms about its little tank and when it finds food it gets very excited, homes in on it, grabs the food and swims on its back (a bit like a sea otter). They are a lot of responsibility so not recommended for families who won't look after them properly!

We also are using some stories and songs as a regular part of our rhythm:

Princess Spring - Enki Education
The Story of the Root Children - Sybylle Van Olfers
Pelle's New Suit - Elsa Beskow

I also ordered a bag of fleece and some mini carders. We washed the fleece by soaking in warm water and washing up liquid (Ecover) - soak and don't rub unless you want felt. We dried it and then carded it. I've tried to spin it on a drop spindle but that isn't working (well it works but I don't know how to do it right, despite some good instructions).

Daughter has also seen some spring lambs who were just a day old.

Easter is only a few days away and gifts this year are toothpaste (Weleda calendula and Green People Orange), a little knitted rabbit (homemade), a wooden orange, and some felt egg cosies (which we need to make).

My Child - Remember Your Child

To me the whole reason we are home educating is because we believe that is best for our child and that no one else could improve on that level of responsibility and care.

We're not following any particular method. Since we discovered home education as an option I have always felt that our method is based on our child's needs which is why we're not Waldorf, or Montessori or Enki and so on. Yes, I may borrow some of the ideas from each of these (and other) approaches to education but to me the most important factor to indicate success is the child at the heart of it.

Sometimes it can feel that people are so busy focusing on someone else's approach that they forget their very own child is the reason they are doing the thing they are doing. I know on occasion I have become so entangled with reading up on an idea or philosophy that I go off at a tangent and want to change things to the point that I forget that what I already do is working and needs no label. At the same time I enjoy reading, studying and learning more and more.

The most important thing that Steiner Waldorf has shown me is that you don't need to rush things like academics in too early. At the same time, because my daughter has wanted to read and has figured out reading a little herself I'm not going to discourage her either. It's so beautiful to see her work out symbols around her environment. At the same time it's nice to see her not distressed and also not totally academically focused.

Rhythm

Rhythm to me is not the same as routine. This is a term used in Steiner Waldorf circles, particularly for Kindergarten age children and also mentioned are the terms in-breath and out-breath - breathing in and breathing out. This relates to our lives, the parts of the day, the seasons and is also a natural physiological function and mentioned in yoga as well (e.g. pranayama).

How to find rhythm?

I'm not perfect at this (not sure anyone can really be) and this is something that I am still working on. Something that helps is to ask yourself two questions and then write down the answers to give yourself focus:

What do I want to do?

What do I need to do?

and relate these to each person in your family, your family as a collective (we), your daily lives, weekly lives, monthly and also seasonal periods.

In my family housework is important - I need to do laundry, washing up (don't have a dishwasher and we have an annoyingly small sink), the garden during the spring and summer months (a little in the autumn) and so on. We also want to bring in painting, baking, knitting, playtime (very important) and running our businesses etc. I don't even believe that rhythm is exclusive to SW education but it's something that people need (and some people prefer stricter schedules and routines but that's not something that appeals to my rebellious nature).

Steiner Waldorf and Holistic Curriculum

Here is a useful list of curriculum resources:

A Little Garden Flower (Melisa Nielsen)

Christopherus (Donna Simmons)

David Darcy

Enki Education (Beth Sutton)

Golden Beetle (Alan and Susan Whitehead)

Live Education (Bruce Bischof and Rainbow ...)

Nature Kiddos (Jodi Carnes)

Seasons of Joy (Annette Frontz)

Waldorf Curriculum (Rhoda ...)

Waldorf Home Educators (Marsha Johnson, Shining Star, Oregon)

Waldorf Without Walls (Barbara Dewey)

There are a couple more but I need to dig them out.