We love playing:
Snap
Lotto (French)
Memory
Max the Cat
The Orchard Game
Ludo
Thursday, 24 May 2007
May the Force be With you
Well, at the end of this month (the 28th) it will be 30 years since Star Wars first came out (I also have a special friend whose birthday it is).
I've not blogged much but we have been very busy and learning loads.
I have a new book on block crayon techniques from a Steiner school perspective. It is excellent and I've been teaching myself from it by practising the lessons within. Sigi's book (Sigi De Francesca MA Ed) is just brilliant (this is her website http://www.kitntales.com/).
E has done loads of things recently - birthday parties, nature walks, playground visits, shopping, drawing, painting, crafts, library trips, playing outside in the garden, caring for her guineapigs, getting new shoes (pink ones) and more playing.
We sat out in the garden tonight and did some pictures. If she was at school I would be worrying that it was already bed time and we wouldn't have so much time together and the closeness that we have.
The other day she amazed me because I'd talked to her about odd and even numbers (not in any depth and not in an engaging the head too much way but just matter of fact because she had asked) for while now and I was printing off the A Little Garden Flower kindergarten e-book and because I had to reverse the pages I was sorting them out for the printer - counting out loud 1, 3, 5, 7 and then E continued the rest of the sequence until the late 80s/early 90s (in odd numbers).
We've been reading a Reg Down book featuring Tiptoes Lightly:
http://www.tiptoes-lightly.net/
I really like the stories - they are short and flow nicely. I love the way the story finishes and E wants to know what happens in the next story (great for bedtime or for a regular story session).
I've not blogged much but we have been very busy and learning loads.
I have a new book on block crayon techniques from a Steiner school perspective. It is excellent and I've been teaching myself from it by practising the lessons within. Sigi's book (Sigi De Francesca MA Ed) is just brilliant (this is her website http://www.kitntales.com/).
E has done loads of things recently - birthday parties, nature walks, playground visits, shopping, drawing, painting, crafts, library trips, playing outside in the garden, caring for her guineapigs, getting new shoes (pink ones) and more playing.
We sat out in the garden tonight and did some pictures. If she was at school I would be worrying that it was already bed time and we wouldn't have so much time together and the closeness that we have.
The other day she amazed me because I'd talked to her about odd and even numbers (not in any depth and not in an engaging the head too much way but just matter of fact because she had asked) for while now and I was printing off the A Little Garden Flower kindergarten e-book and because I had to reverse the pages I was sorting them out for the printer - counting out loud 1, 3, 5, 7 and then E continued the rest of the sequence until the late 80s/early 90s (in odd numbers).
We've been reading a Reg Down book featuring Tiptoes Lightly:
http://www.tiptoes-lightly.net/
I really like the stories - they are short and flow nicely. I love the way the story finishes and E wants to know what happens in the next story (great for bedtime or for a regular story session).
Wednesday, 25 April 2007
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.
Monday, 23 April 2007
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).
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
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
Friday, 6 April 2007
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).
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.
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.
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