Virtual Reality

"Advent is the perfect time to clear and prepare the Way. Advent is a winter training camp for those who desire peace. By reflection and prayer, by reading and meditation, we can make our hearts a place where a blessing of peace would desire to abide and where the birth of the Prince of Peace might take place.
Edward Hays

I've come to the sad conclusion lately that the internet is interfering with my life. Not blogging, mind you. The internet at large is also interfering with my blogging. But the countless message board entanglements are really getting to me, as well as the endless surfing (I still haven't reached the end of the internet!) and I think it's time to let some stuff go.

There are so many wonderful ideas to try, so many projects to make, so many tips to test, but if you just collect them and print them out, and are too busy to every actually try them, what good does it do?

And then there's the problem of trying to live someone else's life and the frustration of measuring up to people who don't even know you exist. Peeking in to a very filtered window to someone's life gives you such a narrow picture of how things are.

I've seen a lot of mommy bloggers burn out. Many of them have walked about from the internet for a while or forever when they've realized that their virtual information gathering and sharing was getting in the way of real life.

I want to grow my blog. Not because I want it to be a money maker--let's face it, that's pretty impossible--but because I want to be a blessing to others. But in order to do that, I need to let go of some of my online entanglements and figure out my priorities. There's some real life stuff that needs taken care of as well.

I want to work on making my house a home. For six years, I've been living in a state of perpetual transition, waiting to see if our circumstances would change. They haven't, and they won't be. It's time to step up.

Most of all, I want to work on bringing peace to my family. This is a time of year when, unfortunately, things tend to spiral out of control. I'd like this to be the year we reign everything back in.

I'm hoping to use this season of Advent to prune the things that aren't working. I'm letting go of some things that aren't working for me and my family anymore, and taking on some things that I've been wanting to do.

Peace to you, as well, as you begin your Advent journey.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thankful for the food
Thankful for the company
Thankful for the things
That we do and say
Thankful for the friends
Thankful for the family
Glad to be together
On Thanksgiving Day

May the ways that we treat others
Be the measure of our worth
May our memory be a blessing
On the future of this earth

From my notebook...

The Giant and the Gnome

There walked a giant big and bold
Whose feet were getting very cold.
He came long to our town
And walked the streets all up and down
Calling, "Is no one hearing me?
My toes are freezing bitterly!
No single shop that I could tell
Has stockings giant-sized to sell."

A little gnome both old and wise,
He gave him very good advice.
He brought two pretty bits of stuff.
The giant thought them good enough.
He wrapped him feet, his pain was eased,
And home he walked, content and pleased.

From my notebook...

Happy Rolls

Measure 1 cup warm water into a bowl and sprinkle 1 package of fast-rising yeast onto the top of the water. Let it settle into the water.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, mix 1/3 cup sugar, 1/3 cup of cooking oil, 3 cups of flour, and a dash of salt. Add the yeast and water mixture and place the dough on a floured board. Show your children how to knead the dough, and allow them to take turns.

After kneading the dough for about 10 minutes, place the ball of dough into a greased bowl. Cover, and let rise in a warm place for about an hour or until doubled. Take the dough out of the bowl and punch down. Knead for several more minutes and then divide into 12 to 15 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and place on a greased cookie sheet. Let the dough rise again until doubled. Bake at 450 for 10 to 12 minutes.

Thanksgiving Vacation

I made the impromptu decision that we're going to mostly take this week off school. We have 90 of our 180 days, so we can afford it.

Today we got the living room clean... mostly. You'd never know it to look at it now, though. We also had homeschool book club--Sarah Plain and Tall--and some friends came over to watch a movie this afternoon.

So, for the rest of the week, a to-do list:
1. Catch Michael up on math
2. Catch Katie Grace up on math
3. Do planning for December main lesson blocks
4. Clean kitchen
5. Clean bathroom
6. Clean bedrooms
7. Vacuum halls and stairs
8. Clear porch
9. Take stuff to the Rescue Workers
10. Mop kitchen and bathroom floors
11. Stuff for sale
12. Change signature on MDC
13. Call library about missing books
14. Make shopping plan DONE
15. Make menu plan
16. Make wood cleaner
17. Make other cleaners with Katie Grace for scout badge
18. Call Katie Grace's Brownie leader
19. Call about twin mattress
20. Clean wood in kitchen and living room
21. Black Friday plan
22. Send packages
23. Research window blankets
24. Sewing
25. Catch up on emails.
26. Finish cleaning out mudroom.
27. Paint kitchen trim. Or at least start.
28. Bathroom floor mat.
29. Kitchen curtains
30. Christmas planning
31. Clean out and document PM box DONE
32. Cut Katie Grace's bangs
33. Christmas crafting and cooking planning
34. Ebay
35. Trip to Amish store and thrift shop

OK, 35 things by Monday. That's doable, right?

From my notebook...

Tree of Thanks

Cut open a large grocery bag so it lays flat. Cut out a tree trunk and branch shapes. Use colored paper and cut out leaf shapes. Have your children write what they are thankful for on the leaves and then add them to the tree.

A Thankfulness Circle

We start out by singing the chorus to one of my favorite John McCutcheon songs:
Thankful for the food,
Thankful for the company,
Thankful for the things that we do and say,
Thankful for the friends,
Thankful for the family,
Glad to be together on Thanksgiving Day!

And follow it up with a little Raffi:
Thanks a lot...
Thanks for the sun in the sky...
Thanks a lot...
Thanks for the clouds so high...
Thanks for the whispering wind...
Thanks for the birds in the spring...
Thanks for the moonlit night...
Thanks for the stars so bright...
Thanks for the wonder in me...
Thanks for the way I feel...
Thanks for the animals, thanks for the land, thanks for the people everywhere...
Thanks for all I’ve got.

Thanksgiving Time from A Child's Seasonal Treasury
When all the leaves are off the boughs,
And nuts and apples gathered in,
And cornstalks waiting for the cows
And pumpkins safe in barn and bin,
The Mother says, "My children dear,
The fields are brown and Autumn flies,
Thanksgiving Day is very near
And we must make Thanksgiving pies."

Next we sing "Over the River and Through the Woods." Since we actually are going to Grandmother's house for Thanksgiving (and cross a river as well!), this is a big hit.

Lovely Things by H. M. Sarson
Bread is a lovely thing to eat--
God bless the barley and the wheat!

A lovely thing to breathe is air--
God bless the sunshine everywhere!

The earth's a lovely place to know--
God bless the folks that come and go!

Alive's a lovely thing to be--
Giver of life--we say--Bless Thee!

During circle this week, we'll also add leaves to our Blessing Tree.

This week's feasts and festivals, plans and projects

Monday, November 24
I don't understand how November is over already. :(
Ah well. Monday brings our homeschool book club- we're reading Sarah Plain and Tall this month-- as well as a pack meeting for Michael and basketball practice for Katie Grace.

Tuesday, November 25
St. Catherine of Alexandria
I don't know if Katie Grace has ballet today or it's been canceled.

Wednesday, November 26
The children's choir sings at the Thanksgiving service today.

Thursday, November 27
Thanksgiving! We'll be leaving bright and early to travel to Lancaster, and then leaving around bedtime to come back home.

Friday, November 28
Black Friday! Also, Chip has a wedding rehearsal tonight, and a wedding tomorrow.
Today is also the day everyone starts on a course of echinacea. Every year we all get sick at Christmas. Maybe this will be the year we manage to stave it off!

Saturday, November 29
Nothing on the calendar.

Sunday, November 20
First Sunday of Advent-- "Stir Up" Sunday!
"Stir up Thy might, we beg Thee, and come."

One more reason beeswax crayons are the best...

Daniel has really been into coloring lately. So much so, that he's colored on the stove, and on the newel post, and on the laundry bins, and on the wall. Luckily, beeswax crayons wipe off almost anything with fairly little effort.

Messes aside, there's something very sweet about the way he comes and tugs on my skirt, asking me to get the crayons down (after the third episode of coloring on something that wasn't paper, we rearranged things to put the crayons, pencils, and colored pencils out of reach). The other day he sat in his booster and colored at the table for almost a half an hour while I made dinner!

Sweet little guy is getting all grown up. *sniff*

Weekend Round-Up!

Boy, the holidays come earlier and earlier each year! Even in the blogosphere, there's been tons of holiday posting already. Here are some of my favorite ideas from this week.

Homemade Holidays
Children's Clothing Tutorials collected by Starry Sky Ranch
Homemade Bread Recipes from Tipnut
Holiday Baking and Food Storage from Food Storage Made Easy
Gifts from the Hearth from Frugal Village
Gifts for the Eco-Conscious from Sew, Mama, Sew!
Simplifying Christmas and Building Traditions from Passionate Homemaking

And Saying Goodbye to Autumn
A Late Autumn Verse from Journey through Waldorf Homeschooling
It's Not Too Late to Decorate! from Keeping the Castle
Turkey Finger Puppets from Skip to My Lou
Window Blankets from Naturally Simple
Crockpot Peppermint Hot Chocolate from A Year of Crockpotting

Have a great week!

The gnomes are here!

Nicholas has been enjoying all sorts of little gnome stories and projects. We added a little beeswax gnome to our nature table last week:
And this week we made gnome treasure:
Nicholas drew a Mama Gnome and a Kid Gnome. I try to model the "waldorf-style" of drawing for him, but he just learned to draw stick figures and is way into it:
Today we painted gnome treasure--gold in a blue sack, hiding in the green grass:
The gnome color hunt was fun, too!






We're still doing the gnome circle time from Autumn Seasons of Joy. Daniel's been joining in, which is very sweet. His favorite part?

There was a little gnome
Who had a little crumb,
And over the mountain he did run
With a belly full of fat
And a tall pointy hat
And a pancake stuck to his bum, bum, bum!

Picasso: Mains Aux Fleurs

The kids really enjoyed the simplicity of Picasso's Main Aux Fleur. We discussed ink and paint, as well as primary and secondary colors.

When it came time to try our hand--no pun intended--at art, we first traced our arms. I'm not sure why they all went for gray, but they did.

The glued the hand on the paper, and then the fun began.

Michael's flower was very creative. He just sort of went crazy.

Nicholas got a little gory. See that red patch on the hand? It's blood.

At first I was concerned because Katie Grace was only using the bottom third of her paper. Then she added the sky and the buzzy bee!

St. Elizabeth of Hungary

The Charity of St. Elizabeth of Hungary
by Edmund Blair Leighton (1895)

St. Elizabeth of Hungary is just a lovely saint.

We're learning about good stewardship this week, and I can't think of a better saint to guide us than St. Elizabeth.

She built hospitals for the poor, and cared for them herself.

During a famine, she took bread to the poor. At one point, when her husband asked to see what was in her apron, she found the bread had turned to roses. It is said that her husband carried one of these roses with him for the rest of his short life.

As a young woman, she was so moved at Mass by the sight of Christ on the cross wearing a crown of thorns, that she took off her own crown and laid it at His feet. Chastised by her mother-in-law, she responded that it seemed a mockery to her to wear so rich a crown when all Christ had was a crown of thorns.

She was a wife and mother, and when her husband died she and her children were treated poorly by the royal family. Instead of complaining, she continued to serve God and the poor, and died at the age of 24.

Father, you helped Elizabeth of Hungary to recognize and honor Christ in the poor of this world. Let her prayers help us to serve our brothers and sisters in time of trouble and need. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

So sweet

Last night, as the sun was setting, Nicholas sang this song:

Goodbye, goodbye sun.
I will miss you.
I wish I could touch you
And sink down with you.

From my notebook...

Paper Collage Turkeys
Cut turkey shapes out of brown construction paper. Give your child the shape and scraps of colorful construction paper. Let your child tear the paper into small pieces. Glue the torn pieces on the turkey's hindquarters to make colored feathers. Add eyes and other features with a marker.

Gnome's Bonfire Autumn Nature Table

Main Lesson Block: Money!

This week was my first try at a math main lesson block. *gulp*

First we made the Accountant Gnome.

Here he is attached to a pencil:

And here he is hanging out with Katie Grace's money bag:

And here he is helping Katie Grace with her very un-Waldorf workbook:

And here they are with our typical supplies for the week: a main lesson book, crayons, a bag of money, and our gnomies:
Oh, and an eraser, because Accountant Gnome is covering the pencil eraser.

Pennies, nickles, and dimes are great for reinforcing counting by 1s, 5s, and 10s.

We also enjoyed this poem by Shel Silverstein:
My dad gave me one dollar bill
'Cause I'm his smartest son,
And I swapped it for two shiny quarters
'Cause two is mroe than one!

And then i took the quarters
And traded them to Lou
For three dimes-i guess he don't know
that three is mroe than two!

Just them, along came old blind Bates
And just 'cause he can't see
He gave me four nickels for my three dimes,
And four is more than three!

And i took the nickels to Hiram Coombs
Down at the seed-feed store,
and the fool gave me five pennies for them,
And five is more than four!

And then i went and showed my dad,
and he go red in the cheeks
And closed his eyes and shook his head-
Too proud of me to speak!

I posted about this game we played earlier this week. The columns are labeled "pennies" "nickles" "dimes" and "total". She rolled a die and counted out that many coins, and then also drew them on the page. She then counted out the total.

Here is a main lesson book page, featuring Accountant Gnome!

Creating a candy shop was fun, as was having a gnome pay day.
But the most fun was decided what each gnome would buy, and how much change they got. See the orange gnome? He didn't have enough money for anything, so her bartered dusting the candy shop for a lolly.

We also visited the bank to get some half-dollars and a dollar coin (which she thinks must be fake!) and tomorrow we're opening a savings account. We also worked through some stuff in her Brownie book, and she will have earned her Penny Power Try-It when we're all through.

If we had tons of time, I would have done more. We'd talk about the history of money, and look at money from around the world. And who knows, maybe we can revisit it before the year is through. She's an excellent money counter though. Maybe she has a future in finance?

From my notebook...

Show your child how to choose a new screen saver to suit the season or a current interest. We like to put seasonal "Waldorf" pictures in a folder and choose that folder for the screen saver to cycle through. You can also choose the marquee option and type a message. We sometimes enter our Bible verse for the week.

Glueless Collages
When I was teaching toddler preschool, I loved doing this!

Tape a piece of clear contact paper, sticky side out, to a table or wall.

Set out bowls of "stickables"--felt scraps, tissue paper squares, crepe paper streamers, ribbon pieces, magazine pictures, foam pieces, feathers, etc.

Let your child explore the sticky paper and place the objects on the paper.

Preserve the collage with a second piece of contact paper on top of the first.

These make great suncatchers!

A Day in the Life...

We've had two lovely days in a row. To be honest, I'm almost afraid to blog about it, in case I jinx it or something.

We started the morning with devotions. Two weeks ago we talked about thankfulness. Last week we discussed contentedness. This week we're discussing generosity, which flows nicely from the previous two weeks.

After devotions, I got Michael set up with his independent work-- working a few math problems, reading some of Boy by Raold Dahl, Daily Geography, Handwriting, Calculadder, practicing spelling words, and working on this "Map in a Month" thing we're doing. It looks like a lot, but really, each thing there probably takes less than 5 minutes.

Nicholas meanwhile was playing with some farm animal manipulatives, and then moved on to the gnomes.

Katie Grace and I had her main lesson. We're doing a "time and money" block with a little accountant gnome we made. I'll share that later this week. Today, we practiced counting by ones (pennies), fives (nickels), and tens (dimes). Then the accountant gnome paid the other gnomes, and we had to decide if he was paying them the correct amount. We played a game with dice. We made a chart in her main lesson book:
PENNIES NICKELS DIMES TOTAL
She rolled the die, and put the correct amount of coins in each column, and then she added up the total. She's doing really well!

After Katie Grace's main lesson, we all went to the kitchen. I told the story of St. Martin while we made Martinmas horseshoe cookies. Yum!

Katie Grace went outside to practice her spelling words--she chose to bounce a ball while spelling her words. And Nicholas was cracking nuts. He's a very serious nutcracker.



It's actually pretty funny. Nicholas and Katie Grace both like to crack nuts, but not eat them. Michael likes to eat them, but not crack them. Everyone wins!

Meanwhile, Michael had his main lesson on long division. I will say it was interrupted by a very fussy baby, so there were little breaks and gaps where Michael went off and read while I nursed the baby. But that's life in a family, and one of the good parts of homeschooling, in my opinion. We are all learning together how to wait, how to be patient, how to bear one another's burdens in love.

We reviewed long division, both with and without remainders. Up until now, we had only done problems like 4 into 35, 8 into 66. Today we moved on to 2 in 45, etc. Divide, multiply, subtract, bring down... it's amazing how quickly it comes back. We worked some problems on the board and then on the dry erase. In his math journal--he doesn't like "main lesson books" so much anymore; big boys of nine apparently have journals-- he explained the concept of a remainder, and write a few real-life examples of when you would have a remainder. This was a jumping-off point for a writing idea, and he wrote a story about how the inventor of football used math to work out the logistics of planning the first game.

Throughout this, Katie Grace came in and did her handwriting and geography.

When Michael was done, we had a little art mini-lesson and drew fall trees. Art Projects for Kids is a great blog for these little projects!

Michael was done for the morning, and so was Katie Grace, and now it was time for Nicholas (and Daniel!). First we had circle time. We're doing the Gnome Circle from Autumn Seasons of Joy. It's so sweet to see Daniel starting to participate. He especially loves blowing out the candle! We said our nursery rhyme together (see sidebar) and acted it out.

At the table, Nicholas did a page in his math book. Not Waldorf or even Waldorf-inspired, I know, but he wants to be like his big brother and sister! Then we warmed some beeswax while we read a story--The Apple Cake. We modeled beeswax gnomes for the nature table, and then played Dwarves and Dice, and then it was noon.

My mornings are crazy packed. Sometimes I feel like a ball in a pinball machine, bouncing from kid to kid. It seems to be working though.

Lunch, and then I had some Mothering stuff to take care of. Then we read a chapter of The Indian in the Cupboard, and followed this up with Latin. I drew a picture, and they told me the noun and adjective that described it. We also sang "Mica, Mica"-- Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.

We read the beginning of the next chapter of Story of the World, and I decided the world wouldn't end if we skipped science for the day. Daddy came home and Katie Grace and Nicholas had screen time (Webkinz for Kate, Little Bill for Nick) and I took Michael to orchestra.

In the afternoon we made cookies for the church ladies to pack up and send to college students, tieing in nicely with Martinmas and our study of generosity. We also changed the nature table and made a lantern.

All in all, a lovely day. I hope yours was lovely as well!

Blessed Martinmas!

The sunlight now is dwindling.
My little lamp needs kindling.
Its beams shine far in darkest night,
Dear lantern, guard me with your light.

Thrift Store Motherlode

Last Saturday, I hit the jackpot. Look at what I got for $3.45.

A place value abacus, an insect science kit, a wooden paddle boar, two picture books, alphabet (jello mold? ice cube tray? playdough toy?), three educational bingo games (US, fractions, and decimals), counting chip manipulatives, a farm animal manipulative game, transportation magnets, a Lauri crepe puzzle, a US Map rug...

Oh, and a bouncy ball!

Stripes and plaid. This is what happens when you let your five-year-old dress himself.

From my notebook...

Vibrant Play Dough
Combine
1 c. flour
1/2 c. salt
2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 c. water
4 tsp. baby oil

Cook over medium hear, stirring constantly until the mixture forms a ball and pulls away from the sides of the pan. Cool and then knead until smooth. Divide the dough into 4 portions. Put on rubber gloves and then pour about 2 tsp of liquid watercolor into each ball. Knead until the color is evenly distributed. Store in an airtight container and put in the fridge for extended storage.

From my notebook...

Five little chickadees sitting on the door.
Hold up hand.
One flew away and then there were four.
Put down one finger at a time.
Four little chickadees sitting on a tree.
One flew away and then there were three.
Three little chickadees looking at you.
One flew away and then there were two.
Two little chickadees sitting in the sun.
One flew away and then there was one.
One little chickadee sitting all alone.
He flew away and then there was none!

Weekend Round-Up!

Whoops! Missed the weekend again!

Here are some blog entries that caught my eye this week.

Sew, Mama, Sew! has some great entries for homemade holiday gifts. I especially liked the gifts for babies and toddlers, holidays at home, and gifts for music lovers.

Tomie dePaola made me smile as he answered some school kids' questions.

Zen Habits had 7 keys for turning bad habits into good ones as well as 7 fail-proof ways to rev up your fat burning and get lean. Apparently 7 is very Zen.

I discovered a great new-to-me blog, A Year of Crockpotting. Yum!

WeeFolkArt has the sweetest little gnomes in sleeping bags here.

Have a wonderful week!