Learning Along

fall in photos

2011-12-11T10:07:00.006-05:00

I seem to be just an occasional poster to my blog these days. My days are filled with playing, schooling, pushing Owl on the swing (she calls it the woo), reading, crafting, pushing Owl on the woo, gardening, animal tending, piano concerts, poem recitations, pushing Owl on the woo, baking, cooking, and occasionally cleaning. My evenings are filled with knitting, planning, and dreaming. I am so thankful for the fullness of life I'm living and I'm keenly aware of how fortunate we are. Not many posts ago, I did a summer in review. Here's my fall in review.

Owl copies Pumpkin in everything. Here they are doing piano theory work together. Our school space is in the background. It's nice to have a dedicated school/creative space.

Alybug and Owl at Cades Cove on our fall vacation

The 3 big girls at Cades Cove

Pumpkin carving just before Halloween.

Em with a baby chick

Pumpkin with a baby chick. We bought 15 new chicks just before Halloween after we lost a couple of our hens. We now have 15 chicks and 2 6-month old hens who just started laying eggs. The girls are so excited to be collecting eggs now as a part of their animal chores. Owl likes to "helpa" with egg collecting too!

Owl with her first ponytail and me

She keeps us all laughing!

One of my favorite things about our new home is the sunrises and sunsets we see on top of our hill. Here's a sunset.

Owl chases the big girls as they head down the hill to the tire woo. She seems sure that she's a big girl too.

Trick or treat

2011-11-01T13:06:00.003-04:00

The girls found their costumes in a catalog this year. Hopefully we can return to homemade goodness next year... We have Alybug the Indian, Owl the strawberry, Pumpkin Rapunzel, and Em the cowgirl.

Rosie the chicken

2011-10-30T14:07:00.005-04:00

Wednesday morning, Rob, Owl and I woke up to 3 crying girls. It took a few minutes to get out what had happened. They went out to do the morning animal chores and found Rosie, Pumpkin's beloved chicken, dead in a corner of the chicken yard and her feathers were scattered about. They saw a raccoon scamper away from the yard.

The girls stayed with me and we snuggled while Rob went out to see what had happened. Oh, how they cried. The grief was deep. Alybug and Em gathered around Pumpkin with their tear-stained faces, telling her how very sorry they were.

I often talk about how I would like to raise our own animals for meat. We would know the animals were lovingly treated and killed kindly and humanely. We would know what they ate and under what conditions they lived. Anytime I bring this up, the girls (who are nearly vegetarians and absolutely never eat chicken) protest strongly. I say, "Someday you may change your mind." They assure me they won't. I have read a couple books about backyard farming, but, other than that, I've made no real steps toward it.

We have some friends (vegetarian, animal-loving friends) who raise chickens and the two women were talking a few weeks ago about the personalities of their chickens. I smiled politely in the conversation, but I had no idea what they were talking about. My dogs have personalities, but our chickens... I visit them in their yard, but I can't tell them apart, and I have never thought of them as having distinct personalities. But now that I have witnessed my girls' loss of their hens, I have come to see their love for chickens in a new light. I have a newfound respect for the sacred connection they feel and the deep bond they share.

Rosie has been buried in our backyard. We gathered around her grave with tears, flowers, happy memories and words of love. While it was difficult to watch my girls grieve so deeply, it was beautiful. I have a new understanding of each of them and a new reverence for their bond as sisters.

all tucked in safely

2011-10-29T21:08:00.002-04:00

A raccoon has discovered our chicken yard this week. It has been a difficult few days. We lost two chickens, both times the girls were the first witnesses. This morning's sad discovery pushed them over the edge. While we figure out how to fortify our coop, the remaining 2 chickens are in our house- in the girls' bathtub, to be specific. Pumpkin asked at bedtime to get Muffin, the bunny who lives outside and seems to be safe from the raccoon in her spot, and bring her inside too. So, tonight, safely sleeping under our roof we have 2 dogs, 2 hens, 1 bunny and 15 new baby chicks.

mountains

2011-10-21T12:01:00.002-04:00

We vacationed in the Smoky Mountains for a few days last week. Fall colors on the trees, crisp autumn air, sightings of a deer and her fawn and a couple black bears in Cades Cove, apple picking, a hike to a waterfall, hopping rocks in a creek. And when we returned home and I asked Pumpkin what she liked best about the trip, she had a hard time deciding between the air hockey table and the hot tub at our cabin. Hmmm.

Oh, for a tribe

2011-10-19T11:57:00.002-04:00

Alybug and Em's story work this semester is the story of Aionwatha, from the Haudenosaunee tribe. Today as I was reading to them, I found myself on the verge of tears. I read about the clan system and how the people organized themselves into clans and then larger moieties for the purpose of taking care of eachother. They all depended on one another to take care of the children, do the planting and harvesting, celebrate the festivals, and on and on. They needed to accomplish these tasks together, because alone they could not do it all. Honestly it was a factual reading, with lots of repetition in it, in part for how this story can be used to teach multiplication concepts. And there I sat, with a big lump in my throat.

Owl is not sleeping well these days, and so I am tired. Pumpkin is needing lots of individual attention as her reading skills progress. Alybug and Em are doing more focused schoolwork which requires more preparation time for me. Of course there is the usual work of keeping our house going and our bodes nourished. Today as I sat reading to Em and Alybug while nursing a fussy squirming Owl and using my eyes to ask Pumpkin to save her math workbook question until I finished reading, I thought the Hauenosaunee were on to something. Oh, for a clan.

summer's end

2011-10-06T10:28:00.012-04:00

We visited Birdsong Nature Center yesterday for a fall hike in the woods. We were told that when the mockingbirds come back it means that summer is over. Just this week we've been hearing the mockingbirds. Despite my attempts to order them, I couldn't get blooger to cooperate, so in no particular order, here's a look back at our summer in pictures...

Owl swinging at the girls' barn.
Pumpkin getting Casper ready to ride.

Alybug getting Star ready to ride.
And all 3 girls ready for their trail ride.

Em in a corn maze.

Pumpkin calling to her big sisters.

A rare opportunity to play in the rain this dry summer. Alybug and Em are splashing in the road.
Pumpkin eagerly began piano lessons at summer's end.

All 4 girls dancing. Owl could do this all day.
A brilliant (although not so in the photo) rainbow above our house. Although we expected to find one, there was no pot of gold in our barn.

This summer Alybug and Em spent lots of time in the kitchen. They proudly cook dinner for us one night a week, but are often at work there.
Owl loves to feed carrots to the horses across the street. She signs horses and says "eat!" over and over to us throughout the day.

The girls building a hay fort with our freshly mowed grass.

Em on the rope swing at Wacissa.
Alybug and Em's 9th birthday celebration at Ichetucknee Springs.

Rob and the girls at sunset at St. Augustine.
Owl loved playing in the surf.

Pumpkin with Rosie on her shoulder.
Alybug with Hope (who turned out to be a rooster not a hen!)

It was a full summer. We have gladly shifted toward fall. The shorter days and crisp air are welcomed.

finding joy again

2011-07-27T23:10:00.003-04:00

I can't believe how long it's been since I've posted to my blog. The days run by and I never get to blogging. Just tonight as I was writing my birthday letters to Alybug and Em (I keep journals where I write a letter each birthday and I imagine I'll give these to the girls when they're 18 or so), I realized how little I've been looking at my girls this summer- really looking at them, at what's driving them, what's bringing them deep joy, what's causing them to laugh, what's causing them to stumble. When we first moved, I intentionally took breaks from packing and settling to play, to craft, to have fun. Somewhere along the way, I lost that attitude, and I've slipped into working too much. I feel like I'm always sweeping, tidying, picking up, cooking, washing dishes, folding laundry, and even things that are fun have become chores: entertaining the baby, playing games, reading books, planning meals, tending the garden. Tomorrow, I will find the joy again. Perhaps the house will be dirty, perhaps we'll have popcorn for dinner, perhaps the weeds will grow tall in the gardens, but I will be present with my girls. It will be a good day.

courageous rope swinging girls

2011-06-12T11:45:00.004-04:00

In these early hot summer days many gather at the bank of the Wacissa River to drink in the cool spring water. After an hour or so berrying, it's the perfect place to cool off. Moms spread blankets and picnics in the patches of shade; small children chase minnows in the shallows; the more adventurous children gather on the dock to swing from the rope and then dive, flip or plunge into the river.

Alybug and Em joined the crowd of 12 or so on the dock. One boy swung from the rope and flipped into the water. Another boy caught the rope and followed suit. Then another boy did the same. And again and again this happened with the boys taking turns catching the rope and swinging. The girls watched. Alybug and Em stood on the outside of the group. They walked back to me with sagging shoulders, disappointed. I casually said if they wanted to swing, in this group, they just had to get in there and take their turn.

They walked back and watched a few more minutes. And then, they walked past the bigger than them boy and snagged the rope before him. Oh so quickly, they made a leap together over the water, dropping at different times. I kept watching and when the rope swung back to the dock, one of the girls caught it and swung. And another girl and another girl. I sat on the grass and my heart swelled with pride.

blueberries

2011-06-10T11:15:00.008-04:00

We cannot get too many blueberries this summer. Owl seems to be following in Pumpkin's Little Sal footsteps- all eating and no kerplunking. Two trips to our nearest u-pick farm so far and I see many more until the end of the season in mid-July.

Our perfected muffin recipe:

Combine 1/2 cup orange or pineapple or pear or . . . juice and 1/2 cup oats and set aside

1 1/2 cups flour (I mix white and whole wheat or buckwheat or . . .)

1 1/4 t. baking powder

1/4 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

2 T. sugar

1 T. ground flax seed

Stir above and then add:

1 egg

1/4 cup canola oil

1/3 cup applesauce

Stir and then add oat and juice mixture and stir.

Add 1 1/2 cups blueberries and stir.

Spoon into muffin pan. Sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on top and bake at 400 for 18 minutes. And then, as young Alybug and Em used to say, "Yum them up."

the doings

2011-05-31T14:48:00.005-04:00

Our new additions from the long weekend- 4 baby chicks (we hope they're hens!) We were told they're hens, but the man who sold them to us was pretty unscientific in his certainty. The girls are in love and the baby is in frustration. Oh, how little Owl wants to squeeze these things. We're still working on names- the current talk is Laura, Mary, Carrie, and Grace. Yes, we're STILL all about Little House on the Prairie. We're learning about chick raising as we go- so far, so good. Ashley English's book Keeping Chickens has been a helpful resource.

The 3 girls worked hard to get this treehouse started. Rob helped with fortifying the board for safety. It's a little high for my preference, but it's what we've got going now.

This is the herb garden. It's got a few varieties of mint and basil, oregano, rosemary, chives, lemon verbena, pineapple sage, zinnias, strawberries and sunflowers. The girls and I have been creating some scale drawings of things around our house (working on math there) and this is one of those drawings.

The butterfly garden- fennel, dill, parsley, salvia, lantana, and pentas so far. Again, we've got a scale drawing of this garden too. We also have a vegetable garden, but no photos of that one. Some corn (we just stuck seeds in the ground, so we'll see how that fares), tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, canteloupe and watermelon. It's been hot hot hot and dry here, so we're watering lots and hoping for some rain.

We've been working inside too. Just about all the pictures are on the walls. Two of the three bathrooms have freshly painted walls. Cabinets are up next. We're still tinkering with functionality and I do have a long project and wish list, but most things have found their places.

We've discovered new fruits on the trees on our property. We have several loquat trees and ate lots of that fruit raw, but by the time we got around to figuring out how to preserve it, it had over-ripened. Next year . . . We didn't let that happen to the kumquats. Pictured here is kumquat marmalade. We have loads of blackberries ripe on the bushes now and so far are keeping up with the eating there, but we may get to making some blackberry jam yet.

settling

2011-05-29T15:59:00.006-04:00

We are finding a new normal rhythm to life in our home. It’s exciting, all the new to us and fresh things. We have cleaned out clutter in the process of moving, which gives us cleaner and simpler spaces. We are meeting new neighbors. We have an amazing new yard and are enjoying our newly planted gardens and are dreaming of all we will someday do with this space. The girls have new forts in live oak trees. We are choosing fabric to make new curtains. We are hearing new noises and seeing new wildlife- turkeys, a fox, rattlesnakes (!), peacocks, bunnies and bluebirds are the exciting discoveries. We are finding new walking trails. We are learning our way around a new side of town.

Amidst all the joy, the transition is exhausting, even difficult. Maybe all transitions are. We have found stability in the familiar routines of our life together, intentional pauses in the middle of busy days doing, and good nourishing food. I have learned to stop doing to read a book, go for a walk to pick berries, write a letter, watch a play put on by the girls, bake cookies, snuggle... Eventually all the pictures will be hung, the bathrooms painted, the boxes unpacked, and the closets organized.

One!

2011-05-16T12:54:00.006-04:00

My, how quickly a year has gone by. Our little Owl is one. She had a lovely birthday which involved lots of sister love, yummy cake with dewberries from our backyard, and plenty of time outside.

These were her handmade gifts. I sewed the elephant sundress. Em embroidered the onesie. Alybug sewed the blanket. And Pumpkin (with just a little help from me) sewed the puppy toy. Owl has been watching her sissy sew the puppy and she was so happy on her birthday morning when she could finally have it.

Owl took her first steps a week ago and is toddling everywhere these days. In a hurry, she resorts to crawling, but she mostly walks. She likes to greet friends and family with a salute and a "Ha!," wave bye ("Ba, ba, ba, ba, ba..."), and, most recently, and much to the delight of her sisters, give hugs.

first things first

2011-04-17T23:16:00.009-04:00

Well, we have ourselves a new house. In a week or so we'll be moving in. We are all just thrilled. Today I washed windows and Rob and the girls hung hammocks and tree climbers and a tire swing.

school on the fly

2011-03-23T13:48:00.003-04:00

With all the hub bub of house hunting and the onslaught of necessary phone calls and meetings once we did decide on a house (!), our life rhythms are a bit out of whack. Yesterday was one of those days where flying by the seat of my pants was just right. I read Happiness is A Warm Puppy and then the girls all wrote their own versions in their journals. They typically enjoy journal writing and drawing, but this activity just matched our day yesterday. Happiness (or happyness for Alybug) lists flowed easily and freely.

Happiness is a Warm Puppy was one of my favorite books as a toddler, and it has reappeared to a prominent place on our shelf with Alybug and Em's upcoming Peanuts play. I still am aghast at their eagerness to perform. Who would have thought they would be 8 year old actors? Not me.

I have photos of the girls in our yard full of azaleas every year in early spring.

popping in

2011-03-06T22:19:00.004-05:00

I intended to be a more regular blogger this year, but, well, it just hasn't happened. We've had our house for sale since Christmastime, and we're now under contract with our buyers, so it's time to find a new home. We're all so tired of looking at houses. We've had a few dreamy houses slip between our fingers, so here's to hoping the next dreamy house is on the horizon. I'm feeling frazzled by it and excited about the possibilities. Land, country quiet, a big garden, some chicks... these things are filling my daydeams.

Pumpkin on her 6th birthday

Spring has sprung here and it's particularly lovely this year. Lovely in its earliness and lovely in its brilliance.

the tribe

2011-02-02T21:42:00.008-05:00

I busied myself in the kitchen this morning and Owl was puttering in the tupperware cabinet. The three big girls were at play in the backyard. Their calls to one another caught Owl's attention. She crawled on over to the window and saw Alybug at the hose. She smiled and cooed at the sight of her big sister. Alybug stayed for a few minutes to make silly faces in the window, eliciting giggles and hiccups from Owl. Giggles always lead to hiccups for the little one.

It seems Alybug reported to Em and Pumpkin because they each soon showed up at the window to play with Owl too.

school plans for the big girls

2011-01-31T21:34:00.005-05:00

With our school year more than halfway over, I continue to muddle my way through it. It's time to accept that I'm flying by the seat of my pants this year and it's okay and it's even working. Enki's third grade curriculum wasn't a good fit for us, and I had many sage stories left over from our second grade work last year. The sage work continues to nourish Alybug and Em, so we have stuck with it. I am much less prepared this year with my cultural units. I have managed to pull a little together, but not with the depth I did last year. And yet, they are thriving and connecting deeply with our work. The fall found us learning about Baal Shem Tov and this winter we are working through Malidoma Some's story. I'm not sure who's coming up next. But it will come together just in time.

Alybug and Em are voracious readers. They're both reading Akimbo stories now- it connects in with our sage work. They've read most of the American girl series books. Alybug has read the Caroline years series of the Little House stories, not written by Laura Ingalls Wilder, but still enjoyed by Alybug. Em just reads and reads constantly. Her recent favorite is Rent A Third Grader. She regularly reads aloud to Pumpkin- picture books and chapter books. Pippi is the current read in this vein. Both girls like to write. They are keeping reading journals this year. We began using these as a place for the girls to write summaries of books. We have also taken off with some creative writing in them, and I am impressed with their work here. They've done perspective writing (e.g. with Abel's Island, write Amanda's story- the novel tells us Abel's story and Amanda is there at the beginning and the ending) and creating their own stories (e.g. the Kaya book series includes 6 books- you write book 7, Kaya's next adventure). Oh, and the writing is pretty much all in cursive these days. That just happened.

I began doing some spelling work with the girls, but they weren't transferring the knowledge into their writing, so I backed off. They both, but especially Alybug, have lots of room for spelling improvement, but I expect it to come in time.

As for math, we work some math practice worksheets occasionally, and both girls are comfortable with adding and carrying and subtracting and borrowing. They have multiplication and division down conceptually and are just beginning to get into multiplication tables. They're great at "counting by" (thanks to the Strange Family circle verse). I expect to do more place value work in the spring. Both girls are loving piano and they get math-y thinking and work in with this. It's fun for me to watch them learn piano and to see how Miss Justine teaches them.

Science is still happening in our garden and just in our natural world. Art is well-loved- practical arts and fine arts. I am happy for how much I continue to grow in this part of my creative self along with my girls.

So, school is happening. Our rhythms are much more relaxed than they have been in years past, and Alybug and Em are working more independently than ever before. It feels like we're evolving.

soccer season

2011-01-31T21:01:00.003-05:00

Pumpkin is playing city league soccer this year for the first time. She struggles her way through the practices, saying afterward that she didn't get enough turns with the ball. That wouldn't be unusual except that at home, she has little respect for the concept of taking turns. With her sisters, she regularly insists on more than her fair share. She uses her voice and her little strong body to get what she wants. But on the soccer field, she waits for her turn.

Owl at 8 months

2011-01-23T21:33:00.001-05:00

Small as she is, Owl is part of the community with her sisters. She hears their voices in another room and crawls her way to them. Em, Alybug, and Pumpkin gladly include her in their play. When Owl finds a toy horse stirrup and inserts it in her mouth, her big sister makes a trade with her, skillfully convincing her to covet a more suitable chew toy. I often say this: watching my girls interact with and love on one another makes me wish for a sister.

At 8 months old now, Owl is crusing along furniture, even occasionally standing unsupported. She cannot yet sit up on her own though. She loves to eat out of her mesh feeder- she'll eat any fruit or vegetable that's frozen. Off a spoon, she insists on helping to hold the spoon and she only eats prunes, pears and sweet potatoes. She has lots of smiles for everyone, but is happiest being held by mommy, daddy or her sissies. She is ticklish on her thighs and under her arms. She loves to play peek a boo. Whenever she laughs hard, she gets the hiccups. She has a few long hairs on top of her head which sometimes stand up- we call this her stork look. We just know that Owl is a wise one. She is attentive to what's happening in her little world.

mindful mornings

2011-01-23T17:40:00.000-05:00

Early mornings find me searching within for energy. The sun beams in our east facing living room windows and Pumpkin (always the first one up) searches in the game baskets for the right game to play. It's her Felicity american girl board game these mornings. I stumble in the kitchen pouring coffee before I wrestle Owl into a new diaper. Alybug and Em appear with freshly brushed hair.

And then, well, then I check email before scanning the newspaper as I play the game Pumpkin has prepared. Hmmm. I think I could do this better. I want to connect with the fresh new day. I want to notice the sunbeams, taste the coffee, breathe in the morning, and reconnect with my family. I'll start this week.

a new year

2011-01-20T22:40:00.005-05:00

I am a little late in welcoming in the new year, but here I am. It's been a while since I've been in this space. I am avoiding my blog. I am not sure what exactly I want my blog to be. Is it a record of our homeschooly things? Is it a family scrapbook? Is it a journal? Is it a means for me to connect with other crafty mamas and homeschool mamas? On different days, it has been each of these things. I think I want to play with writing and storytelling in this space too. A new year feels like a fresh opportunity- a chance for me to tell the stories in a new way. I hope to be here more often.

christmas cheer

2010-12-20T23:26:00.007-05:00

We are busy little elves baking and crafting this week. The girls look forward to making our wrapping paper- foam stamps and freezer paper. It doesn't get any better than a handmade gift in handmade paper! This morning the girls were all in separate places in the house busy creating and asking for occasional help from me.

Pumpkin has been talking about how she really wants a big bike like her sisters' (which, in my opinion, is too big for her- hers is plenty big) and Alybug and Em emptied their piggy banks and went to the bike shop with Rob to buy Pumpkin said bike to have on Christmas morning. What sweet and generous hearts they have!

We watched the Nutcracker to kick off the holiday season a few weeks ago and one of the girls' friends was a soldier. Here they are all dressed up with Grammy before we went to the performance.

As for our creations, I have just a few pictures of stuff in process. But here are some links that provided inspiration for much of our gifting.

recycled crayons- http://rhythmofthehome.com/archives/autumn-2010/recycled-crayons/
candle jars-http://gardenmama.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/12/my-entry.html
peppermint bark recipe-http://orangette.blogspot.com/2008/12/look-at-that.html
fabric balls-http://www.purlbee.com/fabric-beach-balls/
fall canned pumpkin butter and apple butter- I tinkered with a few recipes
There are lots of paper and wool and felt holiday creations around our home- how fun that my big girls now get to work creating all on their own.

I'll end this post with a couple pictures of our sweet Owl, who is mobile now and getting into all kind of trouble. She's crawling and just this week cruising along furniture. Oh my!

Oh, and here are some other posts from my blog that I revisit this time of year- Christmas books and winter solstice litany

loving on the baby

2010-11-29T20:31:00.003-05:00

Little Owl has learned how to crawl. It happened in fits and spurts, first rocking back and forth on her knees moving just a tiny bit backward, then belly crawling, pulling her body with her arms, then nothing for a few days, and finally she figured it out and she's an all out crawler- getting just where she wants to go. Owl's 3 big sisters share in her excitement. They cheer her on and swell with pride at her accomplishment. It's so fun watching these big girls of mine just love on our baby. Owl has brought out a new trait in each of her sisters. Em shows new confidence and strength. Pumpkin has found a patient side of herself. Alybug loves with fresh tenderness.

our school days

2010-11-27T09:33:00.002-05:00

Since finding Enki 4 years ago, I have been enamored with the curriculum. It has supported our family beautifully, helping us to find a rhythm that works for all of us. It has helped Rob and I to value the joy and wonder of childhood and to both notice and create magic. It has connected me to a community of mamas who inspire me with their creativity and encourage me with their commitment to teaching and loving their children. For kindergarten and grades one and two with Alybug and Em, I have followed the Enki way and it worked for us. Pumpkin tagged along on crafts and practice work and mostly played during lesson time. It all fit together seamlessly. My girls loved our school rhythms and were enthusiastic learners. And then this fall came- kindy for Pumpkin and grade 3 for Alybug and Em.

It all fell apart. Pumpkin tired of hearing the same story all week long (that's the Enki way for kindergarten) and she wanted "real" schoolwork. Alybug and Em despised the Torah stories. I tried to see meaning and purpose in them, but I came up empty too. Add on to that, little Owl's needs and it's been an adventurous fall semester. We worked with a grade 2 sage- Baal Shem Tov for a few weeks and then we veered toward unschooling. I'm glad for the little anchors that hold our days together. For our schoolwork I've followed along with the girls' interests. For Alybug and Em, that has been horse books. Marguerite Henry is a new favorite author. They're primarily using reading journals- for summary writing and perspective writing. We’re getting some handwriting practice in there too. I add math work into practice time- they're routinely doing adding and borrowing now and are working on multiplication tables. Measurement is a 3rd grade math skill and that has been happening spontaneously in kitchen and house projects. Science just happens with time outside in the natural world. And as for Pumpkin, she loves the town board word family work (which is 1st grade Enki). She’s reading level 2 readers. She’s doing some basic math practice work with addition and subtraction. I find I'm reading more picture books to her with an occasional Enki kindy level story thrown in. And that’s about it for our school time. Many days we do a movement circle, but not every day, and our cultural work has totally fallen by the wayside. I’m thinking in January or February we’ll try the Enki Haudenosaunee 3rd grade unit. Pumpkin will continue to direct her learning and I’ll follow along with her, guiding as best I can. I'm finding a new confidence as I trust my intuition in the girls' schooling and I'm growing less worried about mistakes and missed opportunities.

thankful

2010-11-25T21:11:00.003-05:00

This morning after waking early, the girls and I created this year's thankful tree, set in a small bucket of dried beans. We all wrote people and things we're thankful for on paper leaves and then hung them on our tree. A simple activity and it called to all of our minds how abundantly wonderful our life is. We have much to be thankful for.

a rambling catch up and full moon fishing

2010-10-23T19:56:00.011-04:00

Owl in her new mama made bonnet. She needs to be able to do Little House quotes too. Oh, how it's all about the Little House on the Prairie. The big girls bonnets are well-loved and 2 out of 3 have been remade with new ribbons.

some autumn-y placemats the 3 big girls and I made. Owl is there in her new little chair, which has made mealtime more fun for all of us. She's a squirmy thing in our laps and now that her hands work (as Pumpkin says), dinner with her on your lap can be an adventure.

Alybug at the piano
Happy Owl. I found this photo on my camera- one of the big girls took it, along with some photos of some American Girl dolls.

Last night we fished at a favorite state park. No one caught anything, but that didn't matter. The air was crisp and clear, the moon full and bright, the lake quiet. As dark settled in on us, I read the picture book Basket Moon. I love the story of the little boy watching and waiting until he's old enough to accompany his father on basket selling trips, then when he goes along, he's taunted and ashamed of being a hillbilly. In the end the boy has a respect for the craft and the calling and he waits to hear his own calling to make baskets. Alybug listened with eager ears. She's growing up, this girl of mine.

I haven't been here in a while. I've been busy sewing- some autumn-y placemats for our table, and autumn-y skirts for the big girls, a bonnet for baby, a Little Red Ridinghood halloween costume for Em, and I'm keeping a pretty good pace with my solstice sweater knitting.

I'm creating our school lessons week by week this year. Alybug and Em are doing a hybrid of second and third grade work- I'm using some of Enki's second grade sage and trickster stories that we didn't get to last year as our main story work and we're doing mostly third grade skills work with some second mixed in for both math and language arts. Science is mainly driven by the seasons. Alybug and Em have begun taking piano lessons and are loving that. Pumpkin is super eager to learn to read, and she's making quick progress with it. When Pumpkin is motivated to do something, she dives in with gusto and passion. So, she's doing 1st grade skills work with kindergarten stories. Little Owl is just growing and growing. She's trying to crawl. When being held, she wants to stand up and see what's happening. She spends much of her day in someone's arms. At last week's riding lesson, she got her first opportunity to sit on a pony and she was quite content sitting tall on Mossy the pony in front of Pumpkin. If only I had my camera. I often say that. I got a new snazzy camera last Christmas and I still haven't read the manual. eek. I fantasize about photography- real photography. I have a couple books- haven't opened them. And I often forget to even bring the camera with me. There, I said it, so maybe just by putting my photography dreams out there, I'll open up a book or two and follow through with it.

summer reads

2010-08-02T09:36:00.003-04:00

Alybug and Em just about always have their little noses in books these days. I was worried about their slow progress with reading, and that was unnecessary. Last fall they were at Frog and Toad level, and now they're both reading 3rd grade level chapter books.

Their independent reads they've liked-
Little House easy reader chapter books
Pony Pals (they've both just about read every book in this series)
Betsy-Tacy (4 in this series)
Thornton Burgess Animal Stories
Pippi Longstocking (3 in this series)

Sitting on the bookshelf-
Beverly Cleary Ramona books
Boxcar Children
Twig

Our Recent Read Alouds-
Thimble Summer
The Saturdays and its 3 sequels
Strawberry Girl
The Mysterious Journey of Edward Tulane

Sitting on the bookshelf-
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
Caddie Woodlawn
Swallows and Amazons
Journey to Mythaca
The Magic Finger

Pumpkin is not a fan of listening to chapter books, although she did like Strawberry Girl. I think it was the Old Florida cracker accents. She's often heard saying, "Naw" just like Shoestring. She is reading/memorizing the Biscuit and Puppy Mudge easy reader books. She enjoys picture books, and her recent favorite is The Three Little Horses by Piet Worm, which is a very odd book.

I read Half the Sky to discuss with a group of women. It's an intense book and has me hugging my girls tighter these days. How fortunate we are to live in this country! After reading it, I need to find a plan of action- giving money, writing letters, something to support women around the world. I tend to learn of such things and overwhelm into inaction, but I don't want to let that happen this time. I want to find a way to make a difference for the better. I'm rereading As A Driven Leaf (a novel I read in college for a Jewish tradition class), and next will come The Red Tent. Alybug and Em's fall school unit will revolve around the Torah and ancient Hebrews. It feels right to explore Judaism in fiction for me right now alongside my prep work for them.

knitting again

2010-08-02T09:22:00.004-04:00

I am beginning to find my knit again. Little Owl has turned into quite a good little sleeper, which is leaving me with more energy. Inspired by soulemama, I'm hoping to have 4 little girl sweaters knit in time for solstice. Owl's is just about finished. I thought I'd start simple and easy. The big girls' pattern is a little bit trickier.

Alybug, Em, and Pumpkin had

great fun winding their yarn into balls on the swift, and Owl sat in her bouncy seat watching the swift turn, totally mesmerized.

embracing the heat

2010-07-28T20:47:00.003-04:00

Whew, it's a hot summer. I know it's always hot and humid for us in July, but this summer seems unusually so. The girls have a good attitude about it. We get out early in the day, and we often swim in the afternoons. But even the pool is getting too warm to be called refreshing. Ugh. Last Sunday morning the girls talked Rob and me into a trip to the Greenway. Tree climbing, kite flying, a little knitting for me, and lots and lots of drinking water. I do love the Greenway, but I think I need some cool weather before I'll be ready to go back. And that's months from now...

Summer fun

2010-07-07T23:00:00.007-04:00

Time moves quickly and slowly at the same time. Some of these long hot summer days are just creeping by. And yet, as a whole, they're flying by me. Owl will be two months old tomorrow. She's smiling and cooing at us now and that's great fun for all. Alybug and Em are thriving as big sisters. They love to help take care of the baby, help cook dinner, unload the groceries, send an email to Daddy with a request of mine, and the list goes on. My, how they're growing up, these girls of mine. Pumpkin loves to take care of the baby- as for the other helpful things, well, she's not so enthusiastic about them.

Big fun for us on the 4th of July again in our driveway.

We spent a few days at Cape San Blas last week. The beach was oil-free. The weather was lousy- no sunsets or stargazing with all the clouds and rain, but we still had a fun time. Owl slept with the ocean sounds. Pumpkin, Alybug, and Em could have played endlessly in the surf and waves. From the lighthouse, some boom could be seen. I don't quite understand how this boom helps protect the beaches, but we saw it all along 98 on the drive over. We sent cut up and hemmed t-shirts to help clean the animals through crafthope. I think it helped the girls to feel like they could offer something to help with the devastation they keep hearing about. Alybug included a note in our box of rags, suggesting that the rehabilitated animals be sent to Sea World. I am overwhelmed at the extent of the loss of marine life.

happy 8th birthday

2010-06-12T21:35:00.012-04:00

My, where has this time gone? It seems just yesterday my girls were toddling around, and now they're 8 years old. Here are a couple photos from our party yesterday. Last year, they both said was the best birthday ever. This year, they both said the same thing. Wow.

Em with her horse cake, all smiles after many many slides on the giant water slide in our yard

Alybug, modelling her new "daddy dress." A dress from Daddy has become a birthday tradition.

I feel so fortunate to be mama to these amazingly thoughtful, wise, and strong girls. The way they see the world and the way they love life inspires and challenges me. Since I was a girl myself, I have dreamed of being a mommy, but never in my dreams, was it this wonderful, this big, this fulfilling.

oil on our beach

2010-06-06T12:33:00.003-04:00

The BP oil spill has made it to Florida. Our beloved Cape San Blas is in its path, and we are just heartsick. Part of me wants to pack up the girls and head there right now for one last look at the unspoiled ocean and sea life, but the practicalities of life with a newborn baby and a husband who's been in Philadelphia this weeked for a family funeral have prohibited that.

On our beach, we have seen fish and dolphins and found sand dollars and starfish and beautiful shells. We reveled in the sounds of the ocean, jumped the waves, splashed in the surf, built sand castles. We have witnessed breathtaking sunsets and moonrises, we have celebrated with friends, we have found healing. And now, what will become of this place? Alybug asked a couple days ago if Sarah would know the beach like they do or if it would be ruined. Sadly, we just don't know. Time will tell.

baby love

2010-05-30T21:10:00.007-04:00

We are all completely smitten with our new little one. She's perfectly wonderful. The big girls adore her. I am feeling really good- tired, of course, but good. I got my VBAC, and whew, what you don't know about childbirth until you do it... Still I am so happy to have birthed this little one just the way I wanted and hoped. These newborn days are blissfully sleepy for us all. We're enjoying lots of time at home, mainly in our jammies, reading, snuggling, and eating good food.

All 3 big girls are adjusting well- it's easier than we expected. On the day after our little Owl was born, Em told Rob she felt like she was dreaming, it didn't seem real that she had a baby sister. She is a well-loved little baby, just about always in someone's arms.

We call this expression the "Mickey Rooney." The Black Stallion is a favorite movie around here, and Mickey Rooney often sports a look like this one.

our new baby

2010-05-15T12:13:00.005-04:00

Here she is...

Our little night owl

Born 3:29 am on May 13

8 lbs, 20.1 inches long

We're all completely in love and happily adjusting to life together.

patience

2010-04-26T23:29:00.005-04:00

I am oh so ready for our baby to be born. My due date is still two weeks away. It's a long wait for all of us. Today Em and Alybug helped me pack our hospital bag. We have our plans in place, and now we just wait. I'm trying for a VBA2C- I'm hopeful and anxious and excited and scared. Waiting is hard for me. The unknown is hard for me too. And waiting for the unknown- well that's really hard. I'm getting lots of practice living in the moment.

The girls and I are having fun creating for baby. This sweater pattern came from One Skein Wonders. I finished a couple days ago and Em came over and snapped this photo. I have also knitted booties, socks, and a couple hats. Today the girls and I snazzed up our burp cloths with this idea, using random scraps of fabric from other sewn creations of theirs. They had great fun with it. A few other things I have on my list to make if we do wait another 2 weeks- these fabric balls, these bibs, a bonnet for baby and some simple sundresses. For the big girls who will wait with my mom or some friends for part of my labor (they want to be there for the birth), I made something like these- only bigger, to be more like sachets, with a pocket on front instead of a button and I tucked a note inside each pocket. I will have my mom give them to the girls and they can feel a little extra love from Mommy.

Another fun photo of late- Belle and Toby are often ponies- here Alybug and Em are driving Belle as a cart pony. Love those azaleas in the background- the blooms are falling off now. Toby often finds himself in crossties, being groomed.

spring...finally!

2010-04-04T16:09:00.010-04:00

I'm still around, but haven't taken time for blogging lately. Just this week we hit 80 degrees for the first time since November 9th (that's some kind of record for us). We celebrated the occasion with some lemon pound cake and strawberries. Yum. This is my favorite time of year- dinners outside on the patio, azaleas and dogwoods in full bloom (usually that happens in time for Pumpkin's birthday, but all the flowers have been late this year), cool mornings and warm days.

What we've been up to this past month...

We tried our hand at fishing. The girls had lots and lots of fun, but nobody caught anything.

We watched the cross-country portion of the Red Hills Horse Trials, accompanied by Grandpa B and Miss T. Oh, how these girls love horses! The breathe horses, dream horses, read horses, write stories about horses and on and on...Alybug and Em are enjoying reading the Pony Pals book series by Jeanne Betancourt. Monday (our riding lesson day) is the most anticipated activity of our week.

Lots and lots of sock knitting. I did finish three pairs of these in time for putting them in easter baskets this morning.

We've been up in trees, running in fields and exploring creeks with friends, enjoying singing class and our art co-op. We've still found some time for lessons and spring crafting. Rhythm of the Home has been a fun new resource for me for crafting ideas. Francis of Assisi is the sage we're working with right now. We're continuing our work with place value in math. I've got another monthish until our new little baby girl will be joining our family on the outside. So I am slowing down. We did learn last week that I can still manage a bike ride, big belly and all.

Ending with a couple Easter photos...

pumpkin's 5th birthday

2010-02-26T22:13:00.006-05:00

Our little Pumpkin turned 5 years old today. Her dream came true with this bunny for a gift. She is so happy to be 5- a "big girl" for sure!

A nasty stomach flu is working its way through our family, but Pumpkin was feeling good today. Alybug missed the birthday cake celebration and Em's tummy is still healing, so she wasn't up for cake. Hence a day full of bunny play, cards, board games, books, and wearing jammies.

the big picture

2010-02-03T22:06:00.003-05:00

I have my daily, weekly, and monthly plans for all the schoolwork the girls and I do together. I try to be flexible, and things change sometimes, but our plan is generally followed. Our days are filled with movement, stories, play, books, crafting, writing, reading, discovering and learning. Our days are good and we are thankful for this rich life we're living.

Today was just a bit off. This morning Alybug and Em didn't remember much from the story I told them yesterday, and then when we drew from the story, they were both discontent with their drawings. Pumpkin wouldn't cooperate with our cultural dances, and made such a fuss it wasn't fun for any of us. I got distracted with some housework and our usual afternoon practice time never happened. I tried to work some math word problems into our dinner prep and the girls weren't interested. At the end of the day, I felt ready to chalk this up as just one of those days, knowing that tomorrow will be a fresh start, a new opportunity for all of us. But also in our day was some great creative play involving Johnny Appleseed, Little House on the Prairie, a finger knitted horse harness, and 3 giggling girls. Today the girls checked on the drying progress of their hand-dyed yarn from yesterday and made plans for their next knitting projects with this special yarn. This morning as I putzed around the house, I heard singing from all 3 girls on the hammock in our backyard. Maybe, just maybe, those things were more important than the story recall or the math practice games.

It's so easy for me to get mired down in looking at my girls' skills- math and reading, I mean- and I lose sight of what it is that really matters. Are my children loving life and are they living fully? Are they asking questions? Do they believe in themselves? Do they know how to create? Do they take risks? I think these are the most important things.

hopping around

2010-01-30T20:18:00.005-05:00

Our new morning circle time on the trampoline is going wonderfully. We gather together, sing our greeting song, talk about the weather, day, date, etc. including some Spanish in there, and then move our bodies. Jim Along Josie was our main song of the week- run, skip, hop, jump high, jump low, log roll, slither, yadda, yadda. Em was inspired this week to bring the hop balls along to trampoline time, and then to the zip line. They had a great time with it. Alybug and Em are all about creating new games to play and adding twists to games they already know. Pumpkin is handling our lesson times with much more grace after really playing hard outside. woo hoo! She's sinking in to the kindy stories now too.

knitting for baby

2010-01-30T20:04:00.005-05:00

We've been passing this little hat around between me and the girls, each putting our stitches on it. It's the umbilical hat pattern from Stitch n Bitch.

I just last night finished my blanket. This pattern is the Linus blanket from Knitting for Peace. I'm pleased with how it turned out. I began knitting this at the beginning of my second trimester, as I was just beginning to feel excited and hopeful about our baby on the way. And this coming week I'll begin my 3rd trimester. Now we know she is a little girl and we have chosen a name for her. My belly is big and round. I feel her movements and the girls and Rob eagerly touch my belly to feel her little kicks. We are all so excited to meet her and welcome her to our family. Next on my needles for baby is Saartje's booties.

theodicy

2010-01-30T17:34:00.004-05:00

One of my old religion professors in college has a weekly column in our newspaper. I usually read it. He wrote today about theodicy- how to reconcile God's goodness and sovereignty in the face of evil. He wrote about Haiti and the evil of the natural disaster there. The column quoted Archibald MacLeish's verse drama, "J.B."- "If God is God, He is not good. If God is good, He is not God." I recognize the complexity of this question, this dilemma for believers. Ultimately, the columnist says it's a matter of faith for him, that is, he believes that God is powerful and that God is good. I understand that. But I don't have that faith. For him, the question isn't why is there evil, but rather how can I best respond to it. I do connect with that. Action makes sense to me.

Alybug and Em ask about God. They want to know why God is important for some people. We're still watching Little House, and there's lots of God and church and churchy words like sin and salvation in those episodes (not as much in the books as in the TV show). In our Harriet Tubman story we've been working with in our lessons, the story of Moses plays a prominent role. Of course, they didn't know the story of Moses. So I told them. And then was asked the logical question, "Did that really happen?" That's Alybug. Always wanting to know the bottom line, the truth. I dodged the question. I know it's okay to not know all the answers. In fact, I think it's best to not know all the answers. For me, I don't know is more honest, more real. And yet, and yet, I want to have certainty. I'm still learning to rest in the I don't knows. For me there are so very many I don't knows.

winter break

2010-01-07T15:25:00.007-05:00

We've been relaxing and taking things slow around here. Alybug and Em often have their noses in books. Our living room is a gathering place these cold days lately where we keep a fire going all day long. Both big girls like to read to Pumpkin, and she mostly likes being read to.

Crafting is kicking in again too. We took a short break after all our Christmas crafting. Pumpkin is enjoying emroidery. I think embroidery is a bit too free form for Alybug and Em. I'm learning right beside Pumpkin, and it's quite fun! The big girls are keeping busy reading and finger knitting. We need new knitting projects. I'd like to dye some yarn with them soon and have them knit with their own hand-dyed yarn. Living Crafts had an article on dying yarn with kids last fall. I'm still knitting away on a baby blanket and I'm planning to sew a quilt for Pumpkin's birthday next month. I've never quilted before, and I found something I think I can do in Amy Karol's Bend the Rules sewing. Pumpkin laments the fact that she doesn't have a handmade quilt and blanket like her big sisters do (made by my NaNa who died before Pumpkin was born), so it's time to do something about that! I sewed little Christmasy totebags for the girls for Christmas (filled with airplane stuff to do), and I used this tutorial as inspiration- mine were bigger and simpler. They've already been packed away with Christmas things, so I don't have a photo to share. But they turned out well. Below is a photo of some jammie pants I sewed for the girls this year too. 2 of the 3 are already in need of some seam reinforcements, but I'm learning... I hope I'm ready for a simple striped quilt. The binding is the intimidating part to me right now. But I haven't yet begun.

I'm gearing up to start our second semester of second grade next week. We'll do the African-American tricksters and sage story of Harriet Tubman, followed by a LA skills week for the rest of January and beginning of February, then the rest of February will be place value with math. March and April will bring Indian tricksters, Mahatma Gandhi and more work with place value. We'll also put together a play in the spring. The girls loved doing the Four Friends play last summer. I'll continue to work with kindy stories with Pumpkin this semester. I'm switching up our circle time to be aimed at her needs, which for now is an adventure circle with a story line rather than just the rhymes and exercises, which Alybug and Em are content with. Makes for more work in planning for me, but I think it will help our days. I need to find a way to get Em and Alybug's academic verses in- they really frustrate Paige, so it's a challenge to find a consistent place for them in our days. They just can't work in our movement circle.

In early May our baby should be joining us and we'll take a couple months off from our school rhythms. We may finish second grade work next fall and switch to 3rd grade in January 2011. But that's a long ways off...

winter wonderland

2010-01-01T20:24:00.006-05:00

Our snowy vacation was perfectly perfect. Our little cabin in the woods held all the fun we needed. The sledding hill just outside was well-loved by all of us. I have never sledded before, and wow, it was fun. The girls flew down the hill; I was a bit more cautious. There's lots of room for creativity with sledding- sledding trains, disc/sled combinations, sledding from the hill to the icy drivewayand back to the snowy hill....

The woods seemed full of magic. We walked down the hill beside our cabin to the creek below, filled with snow and ice, under a canopy of snow-covered tree branches, with the only sounds being the rushing of the creek and the swishing of our boots through the snow, and I felt like I was in a dream. The quiet and the cold together created a new space, almost a whole new world.

We learned lots of things about snow. 1. Waking up to see snow falling is the most magical thing ever 2. Snow is really fun to eat and roll around in, expecially if you're 4 or 7 years old (I didn't find laying in snow to be fun). 3. It's hard to walk in snow- our hike in the woods was a short one. 4. When the moon shines on snow, it looks like it has glitter in it- just like our snowy pinecone tree ornaments. 5. Snowmen are big projects, and much easier with wetish snow than with powdery snow. 6. Snow pants have little boot cover inserts in them which are handy to use (lesson learned the hard way after a wetish snow day) 7. Sledding in -10 degree weather isn't fun, even if the sun is shining. 8. Sledding in 7 degree windy weather leaves you so cold you can't talk or think or feel your face. 9. Hot chocolate or hot tea (depending on the family member) tastes better in Vermont than Florida.

The girls are hoping to move to Vermont. They really loved our trip. The town we stayed in is named Chelsea. It's not really a town (more rural than that), but it's where our cabin was. On one of the really cold days when we mostly stayed inside around the fire we agreed on a name for our new little girl on the way, and her middle name is Chelsea. Makes a good story to tell her someday.

a monthly post

2009-12-23T21:46:00.004-05:00

The days are flying by for me. We've been busy creating, crafting and baking this month. No photos to show though- it's hard to capture photos in the midst of our work. Some of what we've been up to:

burlap trees inspired by these
knitting gifts for Daddy- a scarf, hat, and mittens
lots of sewing in secret (both me and the girls)- they've sewn gifts for eachother and a few other family members too
big fun with pinecones, white paint and glitter to make tree ornaments
cutting paper snowflakes
window decorating with window paint markers
lots and lots of cookie baking- pressed shortbread cookies have been the girls favorites to make and decorate; peanut butter kiss cookies have been their favorite to eat!
reading Christmas books (see this post for a list of our favorites)- A new solsticey favorite this year is Lucia and the Light
celebrating our annual Spiral Garden festival with our homeschool co-op
singing Christmas carols while Daddy plays guitar
rolling beeswax candles
recalling solstices and Christmases past - as the girls are getting older, they are remembering and cherishing our family traditions.

Now for tomorrow we have a few gifts left to wrap. Rob and I have a big Christmas surprise for the girls too. He's taking them bowling tomorrow (another rainy day here) while I secretly pack suitcases for our snowy New England vacation. Santa is leaving plane tickets and snow boots under our tree. After a quick breakfast, we'll be off to the airport. This will be the girls' first experience of snow. Oh, how enchanting snow is for Florida children!

Oh, and other big news... our baby is a girl. We are all thrilled!

popping in

2009-11-23T20:23:00.004-05:00

We have to really pay attention to notice Autumn, but there are glimpses of her presence. This crepe myrtle in our front yard is particularly colorful this year. This photo doesn't quite capture it. I do like the contrast with the green in the background. The leaves are growing redder day by day, and in a week they'll be gone.

I remember reading somewhere last summer when I was preparing our second grade year that developmentally second graders are looking for heroes. Hence, the sage stories are nourishing because they provide the child with people to admire and respect. Well, I see the hero thing with Alybug and Em. We are FSU soccer fans- they are having a great year and are in the NCAA quarterfinals later this week. Alybug and Em know all the players' names and positions. They cheer for them enthusiastically when we go to the games and at home on our little soccer field, they take turns being Jessica Price, Erin McNulty, Becky Edwards, etc. They both have plans to someday go to FSU and play on the soccer team.

Alybug and Em are reading, really reading. They read level 2 easy readers to me during our afternoon practice time. When I read chapter books to them, they are looking over my shoulder, sounding out words on their own. Their eyes have been opened to the world of words. From the newspaper to signs to restaurant menus to books, they are finding words all around them. They are loving their newfound ability.

We are wrapping up our Mourning Dove Native American block. I have really enjoyed the story of Keeten and living it with the girls. We have done some fun activities this block (and Pumpkin happily joined us for them all)- we made moccasins with this kit; we made dreamcatchers which now hang above the girls' beds; we loved playing Native American games- Ine Iche Chaio and the stick/blindfold game from Enki materials, modified just a bit; we have learned and played string games (this youtube video was inspiring; we have read some great Native American picture books (Old Turtle, Beardream, Between Earth and Sky have been favorites). We have talked about how there are different tribes of Native Americans and yet they all seemed to run together a little bit in our cultural block. I didn't do much intentional distinguishing between them. I'm not sure if I should have or not. We have spent some time this past week learning about nighttime. In our story, Keeten goes out at night to seek her guardian spirit. Alybug and Em were particularly focused on this part of the story. So, we've read books about nocturnal animals and we saw a great little show at our planetarium called The Little Star that Could. It was fact heavy about space and the planets, but it was set within a story. The girls just loved it.

Now we're doing a weekish with math review for our morning lesson. I think we'll spend the month of December preparing for and anticipating Christmas. Christmas has been a traditionally magical time for my girls. This post has some of our favorite books. We're planning lots of crafting, baking, sewing, and knitting this year for gifts for friends and family. We'll have a winter circle to start our days off and the rest of our days will probably be spent Christmasing and creating. We'll see how it goes...

stone bunny

2009-11-12T22:23:00.003-05:00

This bunny lives by our front walk and we dress her as the seasons change. The girls came up with this little number today, complete with the sign. Note 5 flowers and 1 small one- that's the baby's flower.

An aside about the baby, I'm beginning my second trimester and feeling well. I just began knitting a blanket for baby. The girls all have plans for knitting hats and toys. We're all excited to meet this new little person. She is a regular part of conversation around here. Yes, baby is still most often referred to as she, but Alybug often reminds us it could be a boy!

fall festival

2009-11-12T22:08:00.007-05:00

Our co-op group, Children's Garden, celebrates fall every year with a festival. This festival was our 4th one with the group. It has become an important tradition for our family. This year we did a fall craft together and then the usual Stone Soup story where the children are all villagers and as the story is told, they each add something to the soup. The soup is always tasty, and different every year, of course, as stone soup should be.

The children also ran an obstacle course. This is always the favorite for all 3 girls. Pumpkin takes it most seriously, running and jumping and throwing as fast as she can. It's fun to watch. The children all cheer one another as they race around the course.

After our dinner of soup and potluck, dusk came and the children were told a story for Martinmas, then we walked a lantern walk through the dark out to a bonfire. We sang these songs as we walked. The lanterns looked beautifully magical in the dark. The evening ended with s'mores. We are thankful to be a part of this inspiring and creative group.

dinnertime

2009-11-12T21:41:00.002-05:00

We have a little dinner blessing song we sing before we eat. After the song ends, Pumpkin has recently begun proclaiming, "Amen. I wish I had a farm with 25 horses." It cracked us all up the first time, and now it has become a regular dinner event- the "Amen. I wish I had _____" It just about always involves horses or farm animals for all 3 girls. I tried to change it tonight by beating them all to the punch line, with "Amen. I'm thankful for the cool weather and the fire in our fireplace." They all chimed in with an I'm thankful for but they were sure to add their I wish on as well.

trick or treat

2009-10-31T20:37:00.007-04:00

A recent photo of the 3 girls. Alybug is the one with the missing two front teeth.

The girls had great fun trick or treating tonight. They were happy to be often identified correctly as the Ingalls girls.

an afternoon

2009-10-15T20:28:00.005-04:00

Today my mom had the day off work, so she picked up the girls a little before lunchtime and I had an afternoon all to myself while they had a fun date with Grammy. It was a perfect day. The rain poured down outside, and the dogs and I sat in a quiet house. I'm rarely home alone, and I had forgotten how quiet quiet really is. I sewed the girls' bonnets for Halloween (pattern found here) then just putzed the rest of the afternoon away. It was fun to sew all by myself. I appreciate my little helpers (Pumpkin is drawn to the sewing machine and never misses an opportunity to help), but it was refreshing to listen to some loud music and sew away with just a little furry something for company. The bonnets turned out great. The girls didn't take them off this evening- mostly they wore them over the backs, like Laura and Mary do, they say.

end of our first block

2009-10-11T16:32:00.003-04:00

We have finished our first second grade block lesson around John Muir. Far and away, the girls' favorite part of our 7 weeks has been Scottish dancing. They loved it. I imagine our circle will seem incomplete on Monday without it. They also really liked the trickster tales and the John Muir chapter story work. Em loves writing, and writing the longer summaries was fun for her. Both girls' handwriting is getting neater and better spaced. It's a very rare thing for a letter to be written backward anymore. Both girls are becoming more confident drawers. Last year they wanted all our drawings to be led by me, and this year they're doing great on their own. They usually each depict a different scene from the story when we draw. I draw along with them, choosing yet a different scene. It seems to aid our summaries on day 3 when the girls refer to our pictures from day 2. I don't think I did the best job of immersing us in Scottish culture, but we did listen to Scottish music from time to time- Dougie Maclean was a big hit, and we baked some shortbread cookies. A follow-up sage picture book both girls enjoyed was Squirrel and John Muir by Emily Arnold McCully. We did some science work with trees, and that was fun. We hung our scale drawing of a sequoia tree (alongside a 6' man, a 100' pine tree and an 80' live oak tree) in our school area and the girls often point that out to people. They both connected with John Muir, specifically on the whole save the earth mentality. Florida's legislature (which convenes in Tallahassee, where we live) is debtaing offshore oil drilling and the girls have an interest in following that and in fighting against it. Sure, some of that is because of what they hear from me and Rob, but I like to think some of that is John Muir inspiration!

Our Language Arts skill story this block was Silli Billi, working with syllables. And wow, that has really supported Alybug in her reading progress. She has taken off with it these last few weeks. Em has too, but it's a more dramatic change for Alybug.

The past 3 weeks we have been working with math in our morning lesson. During the trickster and John Muir weeks, we had been working with greater/less and even/odd and some addition and subtraction during our afternoon practice time. So, when we shifted to math in our morning lessons, it was a bit hard. The girls just loved all the drawing and writing we had been doing. We did some of that in math, with the reawakening 4 process story In Case of Drought and again with the counting by story, Missing Diamonds with the strange family characters. But then it was working with math manipulatives, games, and worksheets. It felt like practice time work, but we were doing it in our morning lesson block. We got through it, but I know everyone will be happy to switch back to trickster work tomorrow with our next sage, Mourning Dove, and we'll do math work in our practice time slot.

Rob's off at the Greenway with the girls and I have some preparation to do for our upcoming week. I may get back on tonight with some pictures of our work from this block.

the first big fall

2009-10-10T20:22:00.002-04:00

Alybug and Em both fell off their horses at their lesson on Friday. The other little girl in their class did as well. It was craziness in the woods. They were on their first mini trail ride (up until Friday all their lessons happened in a small dirt ring), and they were so excited about it. In the woods, one of the horses got startled by something and took off, dropping its rider, and the other 2 horses and riders followed suit. Em hung onto her pony a bit longer than the others and didn't let go of the reins right away, so she was dragged a little bit. No injuries, and the girls recovered okay, but, whew it was scary. After some processing (and lots of tears from Em and Alybug) and popsicles, the teacher had them all get back on their horses- in the ring this time- and ride for a few minutes.

Today we were talking about it, retelling the story, and I said if they felt up to it, we have a lesson on Monday. They both acted shocked that I would think they weren't up to going on Monday. They love horseback riding. It's the thing they look forward to all week. Why would we not go?! I guess in the end I was more rattled by the falls than they were.

big news

2009-10-07T22:58:00.003-04:00

We have a new little one on the way! We are all thrilled with this big news. Baby should arrive in the beginningish of May. When we first told the girls, they were stunned with the news and couldn't really respond. Rob suggested a game of freeze tag, so off we went to the backyard running and squealing. After the game, the girls were all ready to process. Em curled up in my lap, quiet and thoughtful. Alybug had lots of questions, the first of which was: Did this happen last night? ! A few months ago, we had a basic sex talk, at Alybug's initiative. Then, of course, lots of details- when will the baby be here? can i hold her? give her baths, etc.? what will we name her? Incidentally, baby is most often referred to as she around here. We'll all be surprised if it's a boy! Pumpkin's first thoughts about it: Now Alybug and Em will be big sisters to somebody else. Interesting perspective. Now she talks about being a big sister herself and taking care of the baby, but that first reaction really struck me.

Today we had an ultrasound, and baby was a little cutie. Her/His legs were squirming around. The girls were wide-eyed as they looked at the screen and listened to the heartbeat.

And now we wait and watch as baby and I grow.

peace of twilight

2009-09-07T22:18:00.003-04:00

As we approach fall, twilight brings my favorite time. At twilight, we are often found outside. The day is nearly over, and night is nearly here. The trees stand still with dark leaves against a darkening sky. The birdsongs fade and the cricket chorus enlivens. The toads come out of hiding. The girls play happily in their backyard fort, coming back to the porch for a flashlight. I sit in my chair, satisfied with the day. It is easy to breathe deep and slow in this space.

knitting and a big girl date night

2009-09-02T20:52:00.008-04:00

The girls and I have been knitting. Pumpkin has finally embraced finger knitting and we have her knitted yarn chains everywhere. Below are photos of a market bag I knitted and purses Alybug and Em knitted. Em's is on the right- she is a tight knitter; Alybug's is on the left- she's a loose knitter. I suppose that says something about their temperament. Me? I'm a tight knitter myself.

Last weekend Rob and I took the big girls on a date night to see an FSU women's soccer game. Pumpkin had a grammy date night. Alybug and Em had a great time at the soccer game and are still talking about #6's throw-ins. That girl was amazing! I've never seen anyone throw like her. I enjoyed time with just Alybug and Em. As we walked to the game from the car, Alybug and Rob walked hand in hand, Em and I followed behind them. There's something about walking with Em, focusing on only her, holding her hand, talking college soccer, that touched a deep part of my heart. It was a short walk, but it was one of those moments that will last in my mind.

2nd grade circle details

2009-08-31T13:19:00.004-04:00

My girls love morning circle time. They always have. So, our circle is on the long side. I'm still tinkering a bit with it, but here's what we're doing now as well as a plan for mixing things up as we need changes:

Opening- Good Morning, dear Earth, then we all (whoever wants to) say something we're thankful for

A Days of the week song we learned at the library, and/or a months of the year song

Talk about (in Spanish) what day it is, what month it is, what the weather is...

Tis A Gift to be Simple (switch to Come Pretty Little Leaves)

Small Horses (switch to My Little Pony)

Recorder Song

Bean Bags-a few here, Pancake, Pitter Patter, 2 Squirrels, others...from 1st grade, and then Eagle and Wren (switch to Proud Prancing Ponies)

Energy/Temperament Verse

Scottish Dances- our first week we did Loch Lomond and I's the B'y, this week we are adding Aiken Drum

Copper Rod- Paige does Jack Be Nimble while we watch and rest from dancing

Straight As A Spear

Copper Rod short vowels

Strange Family (switch to Word Family game and/or Multiples in Motion)

Sitting partner clapping rhymes

Subtraction Verse (switch to Doubles)

Family Dance fingerplay

Sage spin and fold

Then we move to our lesson table and recite My Heart is in the Highlands before beginning lesson (will switch this poem to September after 2 weeks)

That's it for now, and it's working well.

a look back and a look ahead

2009-08-27T21:18:00.006-04:00

I said a few weeks ago I'd post some reflections on first grade. Lists seem to be working for me these days, so a few lists-

Things that worked:

1. Our basic daily rhythms- the girls all thrived on the days when we stuck with our basic routines of breakfast, circle, lesson time, play, lunch, rest, craft, play

2. The girls all really played well together, with great cooperation and creativity (watching them together makes me wish i had a sister!)

3. We found a balance of home and out- Pumpkin did gymnastics in the fall and horseback riding in the spring; Alybug and Em did soccer in the fall/winter and horseback riding in the spring, and we all went to our weekly waldorf-y co-op.

4. The big girls loved our lessons and our circles. Paige mostly loved our circles, and she handled the lesson time with grace and pep. She often sat at our little table and played with playdoh or lacing cards or blocks, and she popped in and out of lessons, so she had her own crayon roll and good book, and all the other 1st grade fun stuff.

5. Crafting- the girls enjoy creating. Knitting, drawing, painting, sewing- these were all well-loved crafts.

Things I'll Change next time around:

1. Get Spanish into our everyday. We're doing that this year, with a few good resources (Jose Luiz-Orozco music CDs, Ana Lomba's Hop, Skip, and Learn Spanish, Livemocha.com for me)

2. Do a real rest time every day. The girls struggled with that last year because Em was afraid to be in a room by herself. Maybe afraid isn't the word, but she just couldn't do it. So usually all 3 of them or at least 2 of them played quietly. Over the summer, Em got over this and they're now separated during rest time- at least for a good chunk of the time. I think this space is good for each of them.

3. Practice time- this is our post rest time lesson, which involves worksheets, table math and reading games, handwriting practice. For some reason this often fell by the wayside last year for more crafty activities. Perhaps that was right for us then, but this year we'll do a more significant practice time. We're just beginning our school rhythms back this week, and so far we're having energy for focused work at practice time.

4. For the 1st grade fall I loved the curriculum with fairy tale consonants and the math curriculum worked well for us too, but the humanities blocks in the spring never felt quite put together. When I do first grade with Pumpkin in a couple years, I'll want to tweak the spring lessons. I think I got too focused on LA skills work and I didn't spend enough time with more fairy tales.

That's it for now. I may come back and add some more to this list.

We began 2nd grade this week with Alybug and Em. I can hardly believe they're second graders. It's been a great week. We're beginning with the sage, John Muir. Circle is great fun, with cultural dances. This week has been Scottish trickster stories in our morning lesson. We're doing math practice from last year- odd/even and greater/less this week. We're also working on handwriting during practice- those pesky d's and b's have been the focus this week. As far as reading goes, they're still not really reading, but they're making headway. It seems a key piece both girls are missing is short vowel sounds. They recognize that sometimes vowels make short sounds, and they're pretty good at figuring out when, but they mix up all the sounds. For example, in and on are hard to distinguish. We're getting there though. I need to make some word family games with these short vowel families. And making more lists of short vowel sounding words will probably help too. I'll add that into the practice time plan for next week.

Overall I'm feeling good about our year ahead. I am so thankful to be at home with my girls. Last night, Rob and I were sitting in the driveway while the girls played in the fading light, and just as we called them in to get ready for bed, they brought me this vase of flowers they gathered from our yard with a note which read: Dear Mommy, We love you very much and they each signed their names. It's a good life.

pumpkin's half birthday

2009-08-27T20:31:00.003-04:00

We celebrate half-birthdays. It seems a bit over the top, and perhaps it is, but it's become a fun tradition. Pumpkin is our chocolate girl, and she requested that her half a cake be chocolate with chocolate frosting. We yummed it up.

bowling and skirts

2009-08-11T21:36:00.003-04:00

We went bowling last weekend. Pumpkin was bothered by how slowly her ball went down the lane, so she often asked Daddy to take her turn. Alybug and Em had different styles. Em focused on form, so she looked pretty and Alybug focused on gusto, so her ball went quickly. We all had great fun.

These are the skirts I sewed a couple weeks ago. My girls just love handmade things. These skirts have been worn (and washed) a lot, and they're holding up well! We have lots of space in our days for handmade food, clothes, and playthings. I'm discovering the fun of creating. It takes lots of effort and planning for me right now, but I'm beginning to think more like a creator.

knitted socks for the girls

2009-08-06T22:20:00.005-04:00

I started these socks at midsummer, hoping that way I could finish them by fall. But here they are...early! Pumpkin's socks are the pink ones; Alybug's are the orange and yellow; Em's are the blue and purple. They chose their yarn. These socks in progress have been my companion this summer, following me from the living room bookshelf to the front yard lawn chair, on car trips, to the lake and swimming pools, to our friend's farm, always nearby in case I have a few minutes to keep my hands busy. Over these weeks, I have recalled my NaNa sitting in her rocking chair with needles clicking. She always said she needed to keep her hands busy. And now I feel the same way.

craft idea link

2009-08-06T15:19:00.002-04:00

I stumbled on this website, chock full of fun summer craft-y ideas. I think we'll try a few these next couple weeks. The juice can stilts and tie dye jumped out at me on first glance. But I bet there are some other treasures in there too.

summer moments

2009-08-04T19:34:00.004-04:00

We've gotten into the really hot days of summer. Our usual lake is too hot for swimming. The city pool "has too many rules," according to my girls. So we're out for early morning bike rides and forays into the yard, and then we're out again after dinner. This can make for some long days. Here's what we're up to:

Ice treasure hunts. I've always got a tupperware or two in the freezer in some stage of ice treasure creation. When it's 97 degrees and high humidity, with ice, we can handle playing outside for a while.

Riding bikes through the sprinkler, trampoline jumping over the sprinkler, hose freeze tag- if we're outside in the heat of the day, there must be water.

Alybug and Em have picked up their knitting again. They're currently knitting baby dolls from Melanie Falick's Kids Knitting book. Pumpkin is knitting a hat, with varying degrees of success. She's just not into finger knitting, which at 4 years old, is better suited for her than needle knitting.

We (mostly me, but the girls helped with ironing and sometimes pushing the foot pedal of the machine) sewed three skirts from the Oliver + S lazy days skirt pattern. I'm new to sewing, and this skirt was really fun and easy to sew. We have picked out fabric and ribbons for more skirts.

Today we played Simon Says for a very. long. time.

Cards are all the rage around here- crazy 8's, rummy, old maid, beat your neighbor, newmarket

A new to us game- eeBoo fairy tale mix-up story cards. We've had great fun telling group stories with these cards.

We went bowling last week with some friends, and the girls loved that. It's a small university bowling alley, and we were the only ones there, which made for some great hide and go seek for the kids after bowling.

Summer journals- I took composition books and covered and decorated them, then I give the girls a writing prompt each day. They make lists- we're not into sentence writing yet. They love this activity, and it's been fun to see their lists. Some prompts- games I like to play, favorite animals, favorite colors, favorite foods, favorite sweet foods, favorite books, favorite songs, favorite friends, places I dream of going.

Baking. Alybug and Em have a newfound independence in the kitchen, and they love to cook and bake. The girls assembled summer vegetable soup recently, almost entirely without my help. Alybug and Em like to read baking recipes, and Pumpkin measures the ingredients.

Play doh and sculpey have been great sources of fun. Play doh is more fun for Pumpkin, and Alybug and Em prefer the sculpey to model. Food for baby doll gatherings is the most common creation.

Oh, the baby dolls. We have too many dolls. They all get played with. The girls and their babies and big girl dolls have parties, surgeries, school days, more parties of different kinds. We recently inherited 3 American Girl dolls from an older friend of theirs, who wanted to make sure her dolls were given a good home, so she chose my girls. They're honored.

I'm reading all the time. Pumpkin is sticking with Frances books and many early readers, which are great for Alybug and Em- Frog and Toad, Little Bear, and Mouse Soup are are her current favorites. Alybug and Em have enjoyed, of course, Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House on the Prairie, and On the Banks of Plum Creek, and also E. Nesbit's The Railway Children (this was the first Nesbit book we've read, and they loved it- I need to get some more of her books), and Barefoot Books' Grandmother's Stories.

We just painted a chalkboard on a wall in our school space, and writing on it has been great fun for the girls. Em likes to write word family lists on it.

Rearranging furniture. Alybug loves to rearrange our spaces. Our house is relatively small for the 5 of us, and there aren't too many possible configurations of furniture, but we often move things around. Today was the girls' bedroom, and they were thrilled with their new perspective and new dresser spots!

Summer is winding down for us. We'll be back into our school rhythms in about 3 weeks. I'm getting the fall mapped out for our school days. Alybug and Em will be doing 2nd grade and Pumpkin will be tagging along. I'll probably get her started with kindergarten stories after Christmas.

I'd love to hear other long summer day activities. We're needing fresh ideas and energy to make it through these last few weeks.

in the moment

2009-07-21T20:22:00.003-04:00

Living in the moment is something I'm not so good at. I often find myself looking ahead, or occasionally looking behind. I have to be intentional to be here now. This is something I work at, and I have made lots of progress. Mindfulness meditation is a practice of mine. Still I struggle. I notice my straying thoughts and come back to the moment, back to my breath. In my days, I seek to be present as I read Happy Birthday, Harvey Hare for the second time or swim with the girls for the third day in a row. I fight against thinking about the house chores to be done, the sock I want to finish knitting, when I'm going to get to reading through my second grade curriculum, what bookkeeping jobs are waiting for me at Rob's office, and the list goes on, with the mundane and the big questions floating in my head. I know that when I focus on these things, these yet to be done things and yet to be answered questions, I miss so much in the now. So I catch myself and I come back to the now. Again and again.

summering

2009-07-16T20:51:00.007-04:00

This summer we've been swimming, swimming, swimming. All 3 girls are little swimmers now, which has brought me to a new level of alertness at the water. Little Pumpkin tends to overestimate her abilities.

Other than swimming, we've been spending lots of lazy days at home. The big girls are loving E. Nesbit's Railway Children, which we are currently reading. Our yard is getting some good play early and late in the day, when the heat isn't unbearable. We've been baking all sorts of yummy sweets- rasberry cake is my favorite. The mattresses from our beds have found their way to the living room for some great forts. Little House on the Prairie is on the TV most afternoons.

Visiting the state capitol museum with second cousins

Happy 4th of July!

Caterpillars gobbling our fennel. They'll become black swallowtail butterflies.

Green pepper growing in our garden

Riding Kaspin at Grandpa B's

Lemonade stand from last weekend- the girls made $34 with 2 gallons of fresh-squeezed lemonade. They're asking to do it again this weekend.

weekend of celebrations

2009-06-21T22:17:00.003-04:00

I've got to find a way to take pictures again. I've gotten out of the habit and it seems I never pull my camera out anymore. But we had a flurry of celebrations this weekend-

Friday was Grammy's (my mom) birthday, so we had a yummy dinner and key lime cheesecake followed by the girls' production of Paddy's Picnic. Paddy's Picnic is a math story/play we worked with in learning addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. They were so proud of their work on the play. Alybug and Em learned their lines, we all worked on making props and choosing costumes, and they just loved the production experience. This marked the end of our first grade school year. We have our evaluation this coming week. I need to spend some time reflecting on our 1st grade experience. A post on that is coming soon.

On Saturday we picked blueberries. It's a Father's Day weekend tradition for us. Summer weekend evenings find us outside in the cool part of the day. Rob and I get to catch up while the girls play in the fading light. Last night it was water chase freeze tag, sometimes involving scooters!

Today we began the day with gifts for Daddy, and, of course, blueberry muffins for breakfast. Then a picnic and swimming at the city pool. Then a trip to a farm with a few friends to see some foals- one was two days old- she looked like a deer. Back home for our solstice celebration- a scavenger hunt, dinner and catching fireflies at dusk, with blueberry cobbler in there, too. This year we had a sweet solstice story about King Summer calling Sun to wake earlier and stay up longer so the children could play. My girls loved the story- thanks, Jennifer, for sharing it. Whew, it was a weekend of big fabulous fun.

horses, horses, horses

2009-06-20T11:50:00.004-04:00

Today I read a story to the girls from one of their new birthday books, Horse Tales. It was about a boy who wanted a pony for Christmas and all he wanted was a pony. Of course, in the end, he got his pony. Upon closing the book,
Em: I really want a horse.
Alybug: Me, too.
Me: Yes, that would be fun to have a horse.
Pumpkin: Let's get one.
Me: Well, we don't have anywhere for a horse to live. Our yard isn't big enough. There's a lot involved in getting a horse. We can't get one now.
Em: Well, I won't grow up properly unless I have a horse.

ETA: I learned this saying of Em's was something Ma said to Pa in a Little House on the Prairie movie- that the girls won't grow up properly unless they go to church.

end of first grade

2009-06-17T22:18:00.005-04:00

We are ending our first grade work this week. We bound the girls' good books, seen here. Em's is the red and blue one- she said her painting became a dragon. Alybug's is the softer colored one. She said it is a bird's egg in the middle. They both painted rainbows for their back covers. We've been talking about rainbows- 7 colors in a rainbow and they're now 7 years old. The girls are both so proud of these books, which contain all their lesson work from this past year. They had great fun labeling all the dividing pages- language arts, math, and form drawing, and decorating their title pages, writing their names and "first grade." These are thick books and it's been good for me and them to see all we've done this year. As we've been flipping through the books, the girls remember the stories better than I do.

This next page is Em's last language arts page. I got the chart idea from Harvest Mom. The girls have both made lots of progress in their handwriting skills. At the beginning of the year, they often turned letters around and their spacing was inconsistent. They do work very hard when they're writing- it is definitely a contracting activity for them, and they rarely choose to write on their own. It is an activity predominantly initiated by me. Still, they've come a long way.

I am just beginning to look at Enki's 2nd grade curriculum. Second grade has lots of trickster stories in it, mirroring the trickster energy of 2nd graders. I see this in Alybug, not so much in Em. I'm not sure where that leaves me. I'm contemplating sticking with 1st grade stories (fairy tales) a little longer and working more on 1st grade language arts skills. The girls are still not reading, and they're not making connections with vowel sounds at all. I wonder if repeating the language arts vowel stories would be helpful... or frustrating? It's hard to know. I'm anxious about the not reading thing. I know we have delayed academic instruction intentionally, but we read so very much, I just expected them to pick it up naturally. I was sure that they would have it figured out by now, and they don't.

horses for birthday gifts

2009-06-09T21:15:00.006-04:00

When Pumpkin and I talked a couple weeks ago about what she wanted to give the big girls for birthday gifts, she said 2 horses. I realized she meant real horses. This was my alternative. We put the finishing touches on these little horses today while Em and Alybug were watching Little House on the Prairie. I knitted the horses over the past couple weeks and sewed them up. Pumpkin helped with the manes and tails today, which really brought them to life. The pattern came from Toymaking with Children. Their necks didn't turn out as upright as I'd hoped, but I'm generally pleased with them. I expect Alybug and Em will love them, even though it's not exactly what Pumpkin had in mind for a gift.

best birthday party ever

2009-06-08T11:24:00.004-04:00

We celebrated Alybug and Em's 7th birthday on Saturday. Their actual birthday is this coming Thursday, and of course, we'll celebrate then too. For this year, we invited 4 friend families along with both my parents to come to the barn where the girls are taking horseback riding lessons for a Painted Pony Party. The kids got to ride horses, feed some barnyard animals, paint a pony with their handprints, play some rousing chase games with Rob, paint a crafty bag, and eat cake (chocolate chip for Em and carrot for Alybug). Alybug and Em were beaming the entire time. They loved every minute of the party (this is the first b-day party we can say that about). It was a perfectly magical day!

an almost 7 year old's take on justice

2009-06-02T21:59:00.005-04:00

Yesterday the girls and I went to the Museum of Florida History. We've been there before, but this day the girls were intrigued by the exhibit on the Civil War. They looked at the display replica of the soldier's campsite, the soldier's uniforms, the maps. Alybug asked lots of questions, and I answered them pretty vaguely. Last night after dinner, she started asking more questions about the Civil War. Why were we fighting against ourselves? What was the war about? Did people die? So we talked for a long time about it. Slavery is complicated, and even moreso for us living in the South- we go to festivals at South Georgia plantations, we stop to pick cotton growing near the roadside, we can often see the Confederate flag proudly displayed. The idea that a white person could own a black person baffled my girls, and then once they saw what that meant, it saddened them. They instantly connected this with the way the white people treated the Indians, as depicted in The Little House on the Prairie (a favorite book series and movie). I am so proud of how strong my girls are. They have a deep sense of justice and they are beginning to recognize injustice when they see it. I admire their compassionate hearts, but I stand in awe of their strength. When we talked about the North and the South, they wanted to know what we would have done if we were alive then. They want to take action. May this strength and determination stay with them always.

some creating and some swimming

2009-05-22T21:41:00.006-04:00

This morning found us inside creating. We are preparing a math story play to put on in a few weeks. The structure of this play is that each kid knows all the lines. It's pretty short, but it takes a while to learn it all. So today we made these popsicle stick puppets of each of the characters. We ran through the play a couple times using these puppets and a few simple props- small wooden and needlefelted animals, a pipecleaner twisted with felt tree, and some buttons for cherries. The girls loved playing the story this way and they were so proud of their puppet creations. They're big on bows- obviously. I made King Dominick; Alybug made Minnie Minus; Em made Paddy Plus; Pumpkin made Max Multiply (that's her character to play because she's the only one who can do cartwheels!). Pumpkin held her own with this craft. She's beginning to stick with us more on projects. Alybug walked around all day with her Minnie Minus.

This afternoon we headed out to Lake Hall for some swimming. It has been a cloudy, stormy week, and we were the only ones there today- seizing a break in the weather. This photo shows Pumpkin trying to get the big girls out of the water so we can head to the playground. Alybug and Em want to swim all the time. They love the water. Pumpkin is easily chilled and the lake water was a bit cold from all the rain. I imagine we'll spend many summer days at this lake this year. Today I even managed to knit a few rows on birthday gifts for the girls while they played. I have a few ambitious knitting projects lined up for this summer. We'll see.

writing

2009-05-21T20:36:00.002-04:00

Today Alybug and Em decided to make a book. They love to read Cynthia Rylant's Mudge series of books. Theirs was clearly inspired by her. Page 1- "This is Alybug, Em, and Pumpkin." Page 2- "This is their dog Toby." Page 3- "This is their puppy Belle." Page 4- "Toby and Belle love to run." Page 5- "Belle loves swimming at the beach." Page 6- "Toby loves going to the park." Page 7- "Toby loves chasing soccer balls." Page 8- "Toby and Belle finally rest." They're quite proud of their book and rushed to read it to Rob when he came home this evening. As they made it, they wanted my help all along the way. They wanted every word spelled out for them, and they often wanted my help with drawing the pictures. I wonder if I should be steering them toward independence. They write a lot, and they always ask for help. If I encourage them to sound out the words, they ask me for correctness. I remember spelling phonetically at their age (or younger perhaps), and they never do that. They really aren't perfectionists in other realms- I'm not sure where this comes from or what I should do about it- if anything.

last 1st grade block plan and update

2009-05-19T22:17:00.003-04:00

I'm glad to be back in our rhythms- it's been a long last month for our family. We're just beginning our last block for first grade. The past couple months have seen us spending less time on our lessons. Part of it was because the weather has been calling us outside. Part of it has been some health issues of mine which thankfully are in the process of healing. But skeletally, we did word families in January and March. We introduced the Four Processes (math) in February, reawakened in April/May and also worked with fact families then. That last block was my most slackest (is that a word?) of the year. Just this week we are picking up with our last block- Language Arts. We are continuing with fairy tales, working on summarizing and also doing some sight words. Alybug and Em are slowly and gradually making reading progress. It is moving s-l-o-w-l-y. I'm hoping gaining a sight word vocabulary this month will be a helpful hook for them. We are also planning to put on a play- Paddy's Picnic- from our Enki-math curriculum at the end of this block. We're making plans for designing costumes and props, and the girls are excited about this. Daddy and Grammy are going to be invited to the performance. We'll also bind our good books from this year. Alybug and Em will celebrate their 7th birthdays in a couple weeks too. We have our annual evaluation at the end of June. In Florida, homeschoolers need to meet with a certified teacher each year and have a letter for the school board verifying their progress. A friend from our co-op is a teacher, so it's an easy process for us. Whew, this sounds like a busy block for us!

For our crafting this spring, Alybug and Em continue to knit in spurts. Toymaking with Children by Freya Jaffke has been a helpful resource, and also Kids Knitting by Melanie Falick. They have also begun to have an interest in machine sewing. I sewed myself a purse (the pleated beauty bag from Bend the Rules Sewing by Amy Karol), and they have been all about sewing ever since. I have a lot to learn about sewing, so we've been winging it making clothes for baby dolls and teddy bears with varied success. I'd like to take a basic sewing class sometime soon. Our garden is going great. We enjoyed an abundance of sugar snap peas and all sorts of greens this spring as well as strawberries. We are currently nurturing young squash, zucchini, peppers, eggplant, and tomatoes. Alybug has a green thumb and spends lots of time watering, weeding, and learning about growing vegetables. The girls regularly harvest herbs for snacking (chives- they all love chives!) and cooking.

Horseback riding lessons are still going great. The girls are all learning a lot and having a blast. Alybug and Em have learned to post and they are all smiles about it. Pumpkin calls it "coasting" and she hasn't yet found the rhythm, but she's close. Pumpkin is still loving her gymnastics class and Alybug and Em plan to take a ballet and tap class this summer.

hiatus

2009-05-15T20:47:00.005-04:00

I've been on blogging break- lots of stuff going on with me and I needed a rest from just about everything. Sorry to have disappeared for a while.

Last weekend we went to Cape San Blas for a weekend getaway. Great times there. I realized on the drive there that I forgot to pack our camera. The girls cheered about that. They wanted a weekend to just make memories that will live on in our minds. Stopping to take photos often interrupts the moment for them. Maybe I need to be a more sly photographer. But I relate to that feeling they're describing- that there are times when you just need to live and that's it. Stopping to document takes too much energy. That's me right now. But I'll be back- soon, I think.

horseback riding lessons

2009-04-08T22:23:00.005-04:00

Today the girls had their first horseback riding lesson and they LOVED it. I thought Alybug was going to float away-she was beaming as she sat on her pony. All 3 girls did great with their first lesson. They learned how to hold the reins properly, how to tell their horse to stop (an important skill!), and a little bit on turning the horse. Em watched Miss Bob show Alybug how to hold the reins, and she copied with her hands, and sat there ready to go. Pumpkin did great too, and she said at the end of the lesson that she thinks it will be a while before she jumps over fences! They worked in a small fenced area and each took a turn riding her horse, following Miss Bob's directions on where to tell the horse to go. They can hardly wait until next Wednesday, when we go back for another lesson. The girls were talking about their horses all evening, and how much they love them.

knitting photos

2009-03-25T22:07:00.005-04:00

Alybug and Em have been all about knitting for the past week. They knitted and sewed together these little teddy bears and they are oh so proud. I provided occasional help for a dropped stitch and some guidance on the sewing process, but these are *their* creations. Alybug's is the reddish one on the left and Em's is the pink and brown. I knitted one for Pumpkin too, but her bear is hiding somewhere right now. This was a perfect project for the girls- small so they got some satisfaction pretty quickly, but with enough steps and complexity for them. I wish I took photos of the process- it began as 5 rectangles of knitting- a large one for the body and 4 small ones for the arms and legs.

And, ta-da. My sock. I took a sock class at Wooly Bully and here is my sock. I learned lots of new skills in this class and am ready to tackle some new knitting projects. My Mr. GreenJeans sweater of a year ago ruined me on knitting for a while (months knitting and an end result that doesn't fit anywhere near right- that link shows you what it should look like- there is no photo of mine with the cables starting way too low and the super baggy arms), but I'm back with new knitting energy! I'm ready to move beyond scarves and hats. Now I'm off to get going on my second sock.

Little House

2009-03-21T21:44:00.002-04:00

Alybug and Em have been captured by the story Little House in the Big Woods. We picked it up at the library a few days ago and we're nearly finished with the book. They ask me to read it to them all throughout the day. Usually chapter books are a nighttime routine for us. They are smitten with the story of Pa, Ma, Laura, Mary, and baby Carrie.

We're finishing up a Language Arts block now (word families and sight words) and are set to move on to a Math block the week after next, working more with the 4 Processes. But I'm thinking about taking a break from our regular morning lesson plan to delve into life on the froniter. I can think of lots of activities to pull out of Little House. Maybe we'll do that for a few weeks and then get back to 4 Process Math for the end of April and into May. I hesitate a little because I've already got my plan all laid out, and math should come next. But I know flexibility is one of the benefits of homeschooling. Up until now, it has felt like the right thing to do to stick with our Enki calendar. But spring fever is in the air right now, and some deviation might be the best thing for us.

8 Recommendations for Teenagers

2009-03-20T22:38:00.004-04:00

I have been reading Magpie Girl's blog for a few years. I found her as urban abbess when I was beginning my journey away from Christianity as I had always understood it. Her story inspired me and paralleled mine on some levels. She has a recent post where she describes her struggle with regrets of her youth and she decides that rather than regret, she will choose to "mine her past for wisdom." Thinking that way is transformative for me. I tend toward regret, so I decided to seize the opportunity and instead of regret, I will mine my past for wisdom and make my own list of recommendations for teenagers.

1. Ask lots of questions. Open your mind to the possibility that you're wrong, or conversely that someone else is wrong, or that you're both right.

2. Just because someone is an authority, that doesn't make him/her an expert and worthy of your respect. I thought about splitting this one into two because those last clauses are distinctly different.

3. Find an outlet for creativity. Knit, Sew, Work with wood, Garden, Draw, Paint, or Sing, this list goes on.

4. Break the rules sometimes. There may be consequences, but sometimes they're worth it. The trick is knowing those sometimes.

5. Know about your body. Yeah, this could mean lots of things. I think I mean them all.

6. Trust your inner voice. Your intuition will serve you well if you trust yourself and the wisdom you have within.

7. Diversify the crowd you usually hang with. You can learn a lot about yourself and about the world when you seek out others who are different from you.

8. Take risks. You'll feel better if you try and fail than if you never try because you're afraid you'll fail.

spring play

2009-03-19T21:58:00.004-04:00

We are loving these longer days and warmer weather. This is definitely my favorite time of year. Dinner on the back deck is great fun. We're outside all the time, coming in only when absolutely necessary. The girls are playing and playing. We're relaxing our school rhythms and we're spending time noticing the azaleas and dogwoods, the bees, the many shades of green around us, and we're welcoming birds to our yard. Our well-loved cardinals, Ken and Louisa, are spotted all the time and our red-headed woodpeckers are active in some dead trees in our backyard. The geese are flying overhead and we'll bid them goodbye until the fall. Em is ready to plant some tomatoes tomorrow and Alybug continues to take good care of her peas and greens.

Backyard play is all about mud these days, which Belle, the puppy, finds to be great fun. The girls cleared the dirt box (it used to be sand!) of all toys, so they could get busy working in it. I'm noticing that many of our toys serve to get in the way of the girls' play. They really only play with their baby dolls and baby doll stuff and few other real toys. But our stack of blankets and twine and clothespins provide hours of entertainment. The tupperware cabinet in the kitchen is constantly being raided. We could declutter and no one would miss the stuff. Sounds like a good way to kick off spring...

reading progress

2009-03-15T20:59:00.004-04:00

Alybug and Em are moving into reading. They have enjoyed our word family work with the town board and the stories of the town of Conso Nant. We've worked with the eep/eap family, the ail/ale family, the ight/ite family, the oat/ote family, and the ool/ule family. They like playing with and reading flip word cards (my camera is MIA since our trip to Sea World last weekend, so I can't post photos) which I have made with lots of different families. We play rhyming games with words, sometimes writing and sometimes speaking. I say a word (and write it on a chalkboard when we're writing), then they speak or write a word that rhymes with that one. And they've just begun to read pre-level 1 books to me, to one another, to their baby dolls.

It's a slow and gradual process, this reading thing. Alybug is hooked on to the rules. She's often frustrated by words which don't follow the "rules", like when two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking. But then she'll come to the word great and she says greet. When I correct her, she reminds me of the rule. I smile and tell her the rules have lots of exceptions. She then will say she's afraid she'll never read. But she's getting it, and she recognizes her own progress. Em is a little slower on her reading. She sounds out every word every time. The level 1 easy readers have lots of repetition, and she sounds out all the words every time. By the 4th or 5th time, she's quicker, but she's still sounding them out. I'm not sure how to move her into sight word recognition. Maybe just time and practice.

Miss Rumphius

2009-03-09T21:40:00.004-04:00

Today at Children's Garden, another mommy read this story to all the children. I loved it. It tells the story of a woman who lived an adventure-filled life and often remembered her grandfather's words to her as a young child- "Do something to make the world more beautiful." Eventually this woman moved back to the place of her childhood and she scattered lupine seeds everywhere, filling her town with flowers. She had found a way to follow her grandfather's instruction. The story is told from the perspective of a child (the great niece of the woman) and it ends with her saying she's still figuring out how she'll make the world more beautiful.

I love this story for so many reasons. I love that it offers answers to some deep questions about the meaning of life. I love that it encourages intentional living. I love that it tells the story of a wise woman. I love that it connects generations.

My girls love to hear stories of when Rob and I were younger. I love to tell them of relatives they barely know or don't know. I find myself making up stories to the tune of this one. Don't we all want to have a wise great aunt who sought to make the world a more beautiful place?

waking up

2009-03-04T19:57:00.006-05:00

I often find inspiration from other mommy bloggers. I read this at Soulemama's blog last night and tried it this morning. When the girls awoke, their morning activity was sitting out waiting for them. There is something about early morning energy which is fresh and alive- and, yes, calm. Today it was a new song to play with Daddy on their recorders. They were eager learners. I have noticed a desire within my girls to work on something soon after waking. For a season it was key word journals or cuisenaire workbooks, then we shifted to reading books together on the couch, and lately they've been all about fort building with sheets and blankets and clothespins and twine. I like SouleMama's idea of an open creative activity. Blank pages waiting to be filled with paint seem like a perfect start to a day. We'll try that soon.

Jack Frost story

2009-03-01T18:45:00.002-05:00

Well, right after I say that spring is here, Winter returns. It has been a cold and blustery day here today. There is a chance of snow flurries tonight. The girls keep looking out the windows hopefully. Darkness is coming, and no white stuff in sight. Here's a story I told them this morning. Em and Alybug loved the story- I am inspired to write more stories for them. The italicized parts are from a seasonal circle song we learned from a Waldorf group. The idea of Jack Frost and Mrs. Thaw came from another Enki mom.

Way up in the icy cold North lives a boy named Jack Frost. He lives in the land of the North with King Winter. Jack Frost is always bundled up with a warm coat, some mittens, a hat and a scarf. It is so cold up where he lives in the land of the North.

King Winter now is in the land
He rules with cold and freezing hand
He makes Jack Frost pinch nose and toe
And brings us white and shining snow.

Jack Frost is an adventurous boy who likes to explore. King Winter blows his gusty roars and sends Jack Frost traveling all over the land of the North. Wherever he goes, young Jack Frost leaves biting cold behind. The trees shiver, the small animals huddle and brace themselves against Jack’s cold. Day after day, Jack travels on King Winter’s roaring winds. Jack brings snow and ice and stillness to the North.

Jack Frost, Jack Frost, Jack Frost,
Jack Frost is very small
I’m sure he’s out today
And he is busy pinching me
When I go out to play.
He pinched my nose, he pinched my toes
So I ran into the house and shut the door
And that little Jack Frost couldn’t pinch me anymore.

Sometimes, when King Winter takes a big deep breath in before he blows his gusty roars to send Jack traveling, sometimes when his breath is deep enough and strong enough, sometimes King Winter will send Jack all the way down to the land where kind old Mrs. Thaw lives. It is a long journey from the North all the way down South. That is where Jack finds himself today. He looks around and sees unfamiliar things. Jack sees green leaves and he hears the scurrying of squirrels and the singing of birds. He notices kind old Mrs. Thaw in her garden, gathering up greens and cutting lettuce and spinach, and pulling up carrots, singing all the while. He spots daffoldils blooming and he sees the pink azaleas. But it’s winter, Jack thinks, what has happened? He has come down South to the land that doesn’t know snow or ice, to the land that rarely sees Jack Frost. And yet here he is. He thinks of King Winter up in the icy land of the North.

King Winter now is in the land
He rules with cold and freezing hand
He makes Jack Frost pinch nose and toe
And brings us white and shining snow.

And Jack Frost does his job. Here in the land of the South, where the geese come for a warm winter, where the live oak trees keep their leaves, where the children often play without coats or mittens, here to this land, Jack brings his cold. He sweeps across the land, riding on King Winter’s winds, rustling through leaves and over treetops, and between bushes. The people of the South light their fires and wear their coats and hats and mittens. The children jump on the crunchy grass, notice the frozen birdbaths, and look up in the sky, hoping Jack Frost will bring a flurry of snow with him.

Jack Frost, Jack Frost, Jack Frost,
Jack Frost is very small
I’m sure he’s out today
And he is busy pinching me
When I go out to play.
He pinched my nose, he pinched my toes
So I ran into the house and shut the door
And that little Jack Frost couldn’t pinch me anymore.

The children know that Mrs. Thaw will come with the morning, singing her song to the sun, and the sun will come with warmth and Jack Frost will return home to the North...until the day when King Winter takes another big deep strong breath and blows Jack past his home in the North, on that long journey down South to the land of Mrs. Thaw.

spring is here

2009-02-26T22:45:00.003-05:00

Last week I started to put away some of our winter things on the nature table and before I could put spring-y things out, I was distracted. I later walked by to find this scene. All 3 girls put it together and were playing a story out. This is definitely my favorite time of year- cool mornings, warm days and the world seems filled with color from azaleas. There are a few in a vase on the table. Our yard is all abloom.

1st grade update

2009-02-26T22:19:00.004-05:00

We're still rocking along with Enki 1st grade. I haven't posted in a while about our school stuff. February has been a math block- introducing the 4 processes (addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division). The girls have enjoyed the story of the characters representing each process- Minnie Minus, Paddy Plus, Max Multiply, and King Dominick Divide. We have played with shells, using the counting bags I knitted for them at the beginning of first grade. Both girls definitely have an intuitive understanding of numbers and their relationships.

Since our morning lessons have been so fun and light because of their ease, I've been adding some intensity and time to our afternoon practice time, working with reading and handwriting. The girls are reading easy level 1 readers to me- the Mudge series by Cynthia Rylant is a favorite. It's clearly a big stretch for Em and she struggles with frustration, but Alybug loves reading practice time. That's a tough line for me to walk, nourishing both of them in this time. Sometimes Em will leave and go play with Pumpkin (which I have told her is okay to do), but most often she trudges through it. We've also begun a new game which both girls like, where they have a blank handwriting practice paper and I write a short word on the board e.g. dog, and then they each write my word on their papers as well as a word that rhymes with that one. They like the game and I think they're gaining confidence in reading through playing it.

Next week we're back to word families, working with our town board. March is a beautiful month here, and I'm sure we'll spend lots of time outside.

farm girl

2009-02-26T22:14:00.005-05:00

Pumpkin loves chickens. Our friends have chickens and we get to visit them each week at Children's Garden co-op. Pumpkin spends all her time loving on the chickens. She would like to have some of her own. Last week she said for her birthday she wanted "a camera, a scooter and three chickens." She got the camera and the scooter. Perhaps someday we'll have some chickens of our own. For now she'll have to be content to visit these each week.

we're sewing

2009-02-26T22:10:00.003-05:00

Alybug, Em, and I sewed this little purse as a birthday gift for Pumpkin. We had lots of fun making it. I see many bags in our future.

Happy 4th Birthday to Pumpkin

2009-02-26T21:59:00.007-05:00

Today Pumpkin is 4 years old. We had a lovely birthday honoring her- cinnamon rolls for breakfast, the morning at a nearby park playing in the woods with our dogs, the afternoon at home playing soccer and riding bikes, and dinner (and cake- chocolate, of course) with Grammy. I made the crown, following a pattern from Living Crafts magazine- last fall's issue. I'm pleased with the way it turned out and I had fun making it. Pumpkin requested a fairy cake, just like Alybug and Em had for their last birthday.

origami

2009-02-02T22:23:00.005-05:00

We made some origami butterflies today at Children's Garden (our co-op). Em and Alybug loved it. They proudly hung their butterflies from their bedroom ceiling fan. I've had origami paper for a while and have been meaning to throw that into our craft rotation, but I just haven't done it. So we came home today and they made the puppy face. They've got their eye on some more complex projects. I need to practice on my own first. Anyone have a good origami instruction book or website? The one I have baffled me today.

Tonight when I took the origami photos to upload to the computer, I found these photos, and many others like them, on the camera. Looks like the girls and their babies had a photo shoot.

cold morning

2009-01-22T21:41:00.002-05:00

It has been oh so cold here the last week or so. Last night it was down in the teens, so we left a sprinkler on the front yard, and this is what we woke up to this morning. The girls were thrilled. They crunched around and sucked on icicles for a long time this morning- although they did come inside for coats and mittens. I am not used to days where the highs are in the 40s, and we've had quite a few of those. Warmer weather is returning this weekend and we are all happy to welcome it back.

our new president

2009-01-20T19:55:00.002-05:00

Today at noon the girls and I watched TV as Barack Obama took the oath of office. We listened to his speech. Alybug had lots of questions about what he was saying. Em and Pumpkin grew restless and disinterested and before long, they were chasing one another around the house.

Alybug is curious about the world. She often asks me to read her what I'm reading from the newspaper or Newsweek magazine. I usually simplify for her, summarizing or just flat out lying. There's a certain amount of harshness I just don't think a 6-year old is equipped to handle. The truth of our world is harsh. I seek to protect her from that until, well, I'm not sure exactly when, but some time when she's more mature. I could see her being really rattled by uncensored news. There's a stability and a security she possesses, in part, because her world is small and good. But lately I've found myself answering her with a little more honesty. She wanted to know why today was such a big deal. Why were Daddy and I talking so much about it with anticipation? Why were people crying? Why were so many people there to watch it? Is it like this every time there's a new President? So we told her and Em bits and pieces about civil rights and racism, and the significance of a black President. And they just didn't get it. We haven't really talked much about people's skin color. They don't see how that could possibly be a defining characteristic. They saw it as absurd that anyone would see skin color this way. I am both encouraged and saddened. I think we began to strip away their innocence. That has to happen sometime, but I'm not sure if this is the right time.

6 year old wisdom

2009-01-20T19:47:00.003-05:00

On the way to soccer practice today-
Alybug: Mommy, are all the people in the world one family?
Me: Yeah, I think so.
Alybug: Me too. I think eventually we're all related. You're my mommy, Grammy is your mommy, and Mom Mom was her mommy, and way back, there must have been a first mommy.
Me: hmm.
Alybug: We're all one really big family.

Then the conversation shifted to soccer.

home videos

2009-01-16T19:53:00.002-05:00

The girls and I were looking at old videos of them this week. I don't think we've ever watched a lot of what we've seen this week. It's surprising how little I remember of it. I know I was there when the videos were taken, but my memories are fleeting. It may have to do with my sleep deprivation. I think Alybug and Em were near 5 before they consistently slept all night long- really.

Watching the movies, I was struck by how silly Alybug was as a toddler. She was a goofy little one, and she still has a really silly sense of humor. We have lots of video of toddler Em and Alybug interacting and it's so sweet and funny to watch. Their interdependence is evident. Em loved loving on baby Pumpkin- sometimes gently, sometimes not so gently. For the first 2 years of Pumpkin's life, she and Em seemed to have a special bond and I think they formed that early on. Alybug wasn't so sure about little Pumpkin- I remember one afternoon we were getting ready to go to the park and the girls were waiting for me to ready Pumpkin and Alybug said, "Let's leave that baby at home." Ugh. They're all 3 the best of pals now! On the video toddler Pumpkin was just as demanding as almost 4-year old Pumpkin. She's a fiery one, and we've always known that.

I think the whole country is freezing this weekend (14 degrees here tomorrow- in Florida!), so it's a good time to bust out the home movies.

simple joys

2009-01-13T15:28:00.004-05:00

It's a gray dreary cold day here and we had a slow morning. The girls all began playing with baby dolls- inside and outside, and before we knew it, it was lunchtime. Oops- we missed our usual morning lesson and all. I said to the girls, "Let's have pancakes with strawberries for lunch." Hurrahs and yippees abounded. How blessed I am to have girls who find much joy in pancakes for lunch!

alybug

2009-01-12T20:13:00.004-05:00

This morning at Children's Garden (our co-op group) I was leading the games after circle. We played Enki's version of Mother May I, which has a singing verse at the beginning where the Mother sings to tell everyone how many steps. I played the mother first. A few kids reached me at the same time, and I asked who wanted to be the mother this time. Alybug enthusiastically said, "I do!" I waited a second for her to ask me to stand beside her, but she didn't ask. I returned with the rest of the group and took a deep breath to help her sing the song, but then she belted it out. I was shocked. There was my oh so shy little girl singing all by herself. The rest of the day today she played and talked with other kids and I was rarely nearby (when I was Em asked for my presence). She's coming out of her shell and it's a transformation.

Oh, and tonight, at bedtime, Rob put on the CD soundtrack to Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? The girls love the song "You Are my Sunshine." The CD continued to play and this song by Alison Krauss came on. I know, I know, I've pronounced myself not a Christian. Many times. But I love this song. It gives me goosebumps every time I hear it. Tonight my little Alybug sang along. She is a singer. I remember being a singer too at 6 years old.

town board

2009-01-11T23:09:00.003-05:00

This is the town board I made- with some help from the little people- for us to use with word families. Here it is with some words from the eep/eap family. The girls have had lots of fun playing with the board, building words. I have anticipated that this will be a big hook for them with reading, and these first few days of working with them have shown that already. They are so proud of their ability to read the word cards.

The consonants are velcroed on to the roof of the house and there is a pocket to slide in the ending. As in everything with Enki, there are stories for the word families. The stories involve the town of Conso Nant, and that is what the board depicts. We have a few more activities to do with the eeps before we move on to the ail family.

Sunday morning radio

2009-01-11T22:41:00.005-05:00

This morning while I was in the shower, the girls were playing with the clock radio in my room and it ended up on high volume and they then moved on to some other play. In the few minutes I dried before turning the radio off, I listened to a pop contemporary Christian song play. There was a repetitive verse about emptying oneself of all self-ness so there's space for God. I can add that to my list of damaging messages of evangelical Christianity. When I identified in this brand of Christianity, the idea of self being wrong or shameful impacted me deeply. I second guessed myself because I always wondered if my thoughts or ideas were born from my pride and my sinful nature. How could I know that anything in me was from God, who was the only good? Now that I left that worldview and those values, songs such as the one I heard today remind me of where I once was. To believe that there is goodness within me because of who I am brings about a confidence and a surety that is amazing. Joy comes easily and I can stand strong, and for that, I am thankful.

I don't mean to suggest that there aren't joyful strong Christians- I'm sure there are, and I think some of you reading this would describe yourselves that way. For me, I couldn't carry on as a joyful strong Christian.

semester plans

2009-01-05T12:44:00.007-05:00

I have done some reflecting on our first semester of first grade and generally I feel good about what we accomplished. I definitely feel good about the girls' health and contentment. They are loving just about everything we do. All 3 girls, but especially Pumpkin, are very in their bodies. I have heard this description for a while- about kids being in their bodies or in their minds- and I never really understood it, but I have come to see my girls as being very physical. They are particularly skilled in their balance and agility. They love to move, and they really connect with physical learning. The eurythmy-inspired gestures for letter sounds have been a big connector for Alybug and Em. Alybug and Em's naval radiation skills and midline crossing skills have taken off this past semester. I have noticed a recent stronger focus in the big girls and a readiness for longer periods of fine motor skill work and more focused work in general. That's a bit tricky with Pumpkin, but I'm confident we'll figure it out.

Our general lesson plan for this semester-
January:
Morning- Vowel Secrets and Vowel Friends and the first 3 word family stories
Practice- Math games- Number dice, Cuisenaire spinner trade, Number Bingo, Dominoes, Tan Grams, More/Less Spinner, Pattern Blocks, and handwriting practice sheets
February:
Morning- Four Process Math work
Practice- Sight reader coloring book (Four Friends, which was a favorite kindy story) and handwriting practice sheets with their struggling letters
March:
Morning- Finish word families
Practice- Four Process practice
April:
Morning- Fact Families Math work
Practice- Writing and reading skills
May:
Morning- Back to Language Arts- I need to see where the girls are with their reading skills before I plan this month
Practice- all math

I am tweaking our daily rhythm a little bit to try and meet the big girls' desires for more focus. I think if we do it in short bursts, it will be easier on Pumpkin. I have noticed that I can get them started on something and they will work independently for a while. I am also working more to get some of Pumpkin's needs met early in the morning when she is awake and the big girls are sleeping (she is up at 7:00 and the big girls are up at 8:45ish). My inclination is to read the newspaper and drink my coffee interspersed with reading her a book or playing some Jenga (her new favorite game), but I think if she gets more of my attention then, it will make our later mornings smoother. So, here's our general schedule-

Wake-up table work (they are loving worksheets, so i think we'll work on cuisenaire workbooks here as well as key word journals, which is another favorite activity of all 3) I have noticed that the big girls wake up with energy for this kind of work, so this is an addition to our schedule. After this we'll have a little snack and read a picture book.

Morning Exercise (walk, scooter, bike ride, trampoline, or soccer)

Form walk (with form drawing on Sundays)- this is something we dropped back in October because I was a bit confused with how to do it and the girls were often frustrated, but I feel ready for another try

Breakfast

Brush teeth, make beds, put away laundry

Circle- we'll add some Spanish songs and games to our circle next month I have Hop, Skip, Sing Spanish right now and am checking out a couple other resources

Morning Lesson

Playtime- usually outside

Lunch

Rest Time, ending with me reading an easy, rhythmic book to them and the big girls reading along with me as they can. I point to the words here when I read, but sometimes Pumpkin pushes my finger away- I think it distracts her from the pictures.

Practice Time

Crafting- the big girls are currently into knitting- I plan to add some woodworking in this semester as well. We'll continue with beeswax sculpting and wool board work. Pumpkin and I often bake together during this time. I am also hoping to get Alybug and Em into free drawing and painting here. Currently they want me to lead them in all their artistic activities. They are creative kids in their play, but they rely on me heavily in their art.

Play/Afternoon Adventures

Bath and Dinner Prep with quieter inside play

Dinner

Evening focus time a few nights a week- this will be recorder practice or math games as a family. Then we'll do our usual chapter book reading before bed time.

That's my plan. I feel good about it. I'm sure it will get tweaked here and there as we go. We still have our co-op group on Monday mornings, so we don't do lessons on Mondays, but we pick up after lunch with the regular routines.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T10:47:00.004-05:00

As a teenager, I often made lists of resolutions for the new year. The first day of a new year feels like a fresh beginning, an opportunity to recreate oneself. That's how I saw it. But, despite my attempts at recreation, I remained the same person. Maybe I had a new fitness routine or a regimented savings plan or a disciplined Bible reading time, but I was still the same Stacey. My resolutions occasionally stuck with me, but usually didn't.

Over the last few years, I've been undergoing deep re-creation. I feel like a totally different person than the one I was three years ago. My values and priorities stand in stark contrast to the ones I used to have. I feel light and free and strong and sure of myself. I didn't know I was missing those things until I stumbled upon them. There are goals I have now and ways I want to improve myself. But New Year's resolutions feel contrived and, perhaps because of my history with them, they feel sure to fail. So, today, I am thankful for who I am now and where I am now on my journey. Some of my current sources of joy:
- Three girls singing The Twelve Days of Christmas with loud voices- oh, how I love to hear them sing without inhibition
- Watching my girls love one another and figure out how to be sisters and friends
- Complete trust in Rob and his love for me and mine for him
- A budding creativity within me, coming out in my knitting projects
- My body (body image has been a struggle for me for as long as I can remember, and I'm making progress here)
- A cool sunny day which is perfect for a picnic and a walk in the woods
Here's to a happy and healthy 2009!