Life's good when you're Nicholas...

I cannot begin to tell you how thankful and blessed I am to be able to homeschool, especially when it comes to Nicholas. He's simply not ready for an academic kindergarten. In the shelter of our home, however, he's free to explore and learn at his own pace, which is alternately slow and completely frenetic.

Some themes this week were the fairy tale Needle, Shuttle, and Spindle, the letter N, heavy and light and long and short, and winter.

Sewing a little pillow for one of his animal friends...

Making beeswax icicles to decorate the sleepy bears' cave on the nature table...

Making a letter N from pieces of yarn...

Building a home for winter animals from blocks...

Making long and short playdough worms...

Red wet-on-wet watercolor paintings after a story about little red berries who were born to decorate a bare winter garden...

Begging everyone in the house who can read to read another chapter... another page... another paragraph of Harry Potter.


Exploring heavy and light with the balance...

I hope you had a happy week full of playful explorations as well!

Nicholas: The letter L, The Elves and the Shoemaker, and The Mitten

Nicholas has been busy this week!
For circle, we've been exploring how the animals care for themselves during the winter. We've been using the "Winter Woods" circle from Winter Seasons of Joy. Nicholas's favorite animals are the bunny and Mr. Squirrel.


As a tie-in to the story, we're also telling the story of The Mitten.

Bunny ears and bear ears, hiding in a blanket "mitten".

A mousie mask too!

Acting out the mitten with a story basket.

We're working on recognizing the letter L.
Nicholas practicing L. We haven't done a whole lot of writing, but since L is basically 2 straight lines, we gave it a shot. As Nicholas said, "HEY! I can do that one!"

What starts with L?

We've told the fairy tale The Elves and the Shoemaker alongside it.

After hearing the story several days in a row, Nicholas dictated a summary to me, which I wrote down. He then illustrated with a pair of shoes.

Building a letter L from blocks to make a ledge, and then placing shoes on it just like the elves!

Cobbling shoes, just like the elves!

A natural "tie in" (pardon the pun!) was beginning to learn to tie shoes. We started with the knot at the beginning.
Tying is easy,
It's kind of teasy,
You start by taking each end.
Cross one over,
Send it through.
Pull it tightly-
That will do!

You can tell he's my melancholic child!

As a very pre-pre-pre-pre-reading exercise, we've talked about beginning, middle, and end using objects from nature.

An early addition math game

He doesn't look happy, but he really enjoyed this game!

I drew a rainbow arc and divided it into 11 sections. I numbered them 2 through 12.

Nicholas rolled the dice and added the two together. He them colored that section of the rainbow.

D, E, F, Gee!

A continuation of our alphabet journey, begun here. Again, these are just things that caught my fancy or inspired me.

Dd
Fairy Tale: Hansel and Gretel
Book: Hansel and Gretel
The D is the door of the oven. Later, the letter H can be seen in the house.
I love this little wooden play set.
Little play dolls
A Hansel and Gretel paper craft-- definitely needs a good deal of adult help, but it could be fun!
Lots of gingerbread ideas here.
And how cute is this Hansel and Gretel fabric?

Ee
Fairy Tale: The Magic Key
While this is definitely one of the lesser known Grimm's fairy tales, I love the openendedness of this story.
The E is found at the end of the key. We see "Wheeee! A key!"
Check out this Waldorf-inspired treasure ball! Very cute. It reminded me of the ball of yarn with surprises wrapped up inside described in The Children's Year.
And here is a treasure box felting kit.

Ff
Fairy Tale: The Magic Fish
Book: The Magic Goldfish, a Russian Tale by Demi
The F is found in the shape of the fish's body.
I love this fishing game from Whip Up! It would be great on a blue play silk pond.
Another great fishing game is here-- what a great way to recycle old paint brush handles!
Of course, if you didn't feel like making one, you could always just buy one from Sarah's Silks.
These color scratch fishbowls could be fun as well.
Wrap it all up with these homemade goldfish crackers!

Gg
Fairy Tale: The Goose Girl
The G is the goose's form
I love this little puzzle with gnomes riding a goose. This goose girl puzzle is sweet as well.
And Ostheimer sells a Goose Girl, geese included! You could also buy a handmade set here.
Check out this cute little goose hat on Etsy!
And this beautiful Goose Girl ornament would little pretty on a nature table as well as a Christmas tree.

And a cute project for the whole alphabet!
Soft Sculptured Letters

Workbox Wednesday

We've been having great success this year using Sue Patrick's Workbox system. It's modified to suit our own needs-- ah, the joys of homeschooling!--but it's really helped settled our days.

This is our set up.

The plastic boxes are for Nicholas. As he completes the activities, he takes the number off the box and places it on his number strip, which is sitting on top of the first box.

Katie Grace's box is the teal one, and Michael's is brown. They each have 12 folders. The first folder is always yesterday's marked work/work to be corrected. Their folders are pretty predictable. Michael generally has corrections, spelling, writing, Life of Fred, math review, literature (Fellowship of the Rings at present), grammar, Christian Ed, geography, science or social studies, cello practice, and scouts or co-op homework. Katie Grace has spelling, writing, corrections, math review, literature (Little House in the Green Grove), grammar, handwriting, Christian Ed or a seasonal project, some sort of geography, social studies, or science, violin practice. She enjoys art projects, so I try to throw those in there as well. It's actually less rigid than it sounds. I try to keep things fun and interesting, but they're older and don't need to be entertained quite as much as the six-year-old.

Today I was going to show all of Nicholas's workboxes, but it got to be too much to keep up with four children AND take pictures. Here are some of them though:
Sewing a gnome hat. Great for small motor skills, and he was so proud of himself! You can see him wearing the hat throughout the day.

Lego letters. He's a lego maniac, and really enjoyed this.
A worksheet. I hate worksheets, but I'm trying to work on Nicholas's small motor skills and try to hit it from every angle.
A shape matching memory game. Note the granola bar at his elbow.
A magic leaf picture-- it's super cyclops leaf! This is an activity from Autumn Seasons of Joy. Note the apple. Nicholas always has a snack!
Sorting nuts. He's been having tons of fun with these this week.

Well, that's 6 out of 12. I would post the rest of what he did, but I honestly don't remember, LOL! Ah, life with 4.

I'm hoping to make Workbox Wednesday a weekly thing. Next week I'll show what's in Katie Grace's "workfiles."

A B See!

I wanted to share some of links for inspiration I've found while Nicholas and I have been wending our way through Fairytale Land, learning the first three letters of the alphabet. They aren't even necessarily things I've made or done, just beautiful and inspiring!

Aa
Fairy Tale: Star Money
Book: The Falling Stars ill. by Eugene Sopko
The A is found in the star, and is also the sound we make when we see great beauty: "Ah!"
A Star Money transparency
Star Money beanbags on Etsy
Star Baby on Etsy
Felt Star Crown from BellaLuna Toys
Kinderkram Falling Stars mobile- We actually have this one. This is my favorite fairy tale in the world!

Bb
Fairy Tale: Goldilocks and the Three Bears
Book: Goldilocks and the Three Bears by Jan Brett
The B is the shape of the bear.
A wooden playset on Etsy
Another playset; this one is felt and wood.
Three Bears felted balls
Lots of ideas in this Goldilocks and the Three Bears unit
A lovely Three Bears party

Cc
Fairy Tale: Puss in Boots
The C is the curl of the cat's back.
An audio recording
Sweet little cat rattle
Cat and babies
Travel Kitties on Flickr!
Sleeping kitty from clay

Starcatching

This week we're focusing on the fairy tale Star Money. Nicholas went searching for the letter A among the stars.

And of course, Daniel wanted in on the action as well.

Planning Retreat: Getting Ready for Kindergarten

I'm not a Waldorf purist, something I think everyone who knows me well recognizes. But I do happen to think they do kindergarten very, very well and have all the right ideas. Here are some of my favorite resources for preparing for a Waldorf kindergarten year.

Article: The Waldorf Kindergarten: The World of the Young Child

If one observes children who, through proper upbringing, have developed a natural reverence for the adults around them, and if one follows them through their various phases of life, one may discover that their feelings for reverence and devotion in childhood gradually transform during the years leading to old age. As adults, such persons may have a healing effect on others, so that through their mere presence, tone of voice, or perhaps a single glance they spread inner peace to others. Their presence can be a blessing, because as children they have learned to venerate and to pray in the right way. No hands can bless in old age, unless in childhood they have been folded in prayer.

Book: The Waldorf Kindergarten Snack Book
This is a great book with wonderful recipes to make with your child. It also has some beautiful insights into the kindy years.

Blog Entry: More Thoughts on the Waldorf Kindergarten

Online Store for Materials: A Toy Garden
Be sure to join her mailing list, as she often has special coupon codes!

Book: Kindergarten with Your Three to Six Year Old
Excellent resource. If you only buy this book, I would recommend this one.

Website: Waldorf Clearinghouse Newsletter
Tons of free resources not only for the kindergarten years, but for older children as well.

Website: Waldorf Early Childhood Association of North America, or WECAN
I know I linked to a specific article earlier, but their whole website is a great resource. I have many old copies of Gateways that have been a great help to me.

Book: Let Us Form a Ring
Anthology of kindergarten songs and stories from the Acorn Hill Children’s Center in Maryland. Celebrations of the rhythm of the day and of the year as well as birthdays are included. An excellent resource book for parents and teachers.

Ebook: Before the Journey and A Journey Through Waldorf Homeschooling Kindergarten
Melissa over at A Little Garden Family provides these resources for the early childhood years. You can also check out her blog for more inspiration.

Website: The Baldwin Project
This is my go-to site for fairy tales and other stories for all levels of homeschooling. It's a tremendous resource. You may also want to check out Selecting Fairy Tales, an article from Waldorf in the Home.

Books: Wynstones Press series, A Child's Seasonal Treasury, and A Journey Through Time in Verse and Rhyme
These are some other resources that help me get through my days.

And finally, at the risk of tooting my own horn, I do use my own Seasons of Joy books quite a lot.

I'm in a unique situation this year. Nicholas actually turned five at the end of last September, and will be turning six this autumn. We held off on any sort of "formal" kindergarten time. I still don't feel that he's ready for anything too academic, but I will be introducing him to the letters this year. I won't expect him to write them, unless that's something he initiates, but we will be using fairy tales as a gateway to the alphabet. So, several more alphabet resources:
LMNOP and all the Letters A to Z
A Spirited Alphabet
Waldorf Alphabet Book
The Wise Enchanter: A Journey Through the Alphabet

Planning Retreat: Main Lesson Blocks

Tonight was step one of planning for next year-- figure out main lessons. I mostly went by standard Waldorf main lessons, but looked at some Charlotte Mason syllabi as well. The verdict is:

Kindergarten
Easy peasy. We'll just work our way through the alphabet with fairy tales and do crafting, cooking, etc. that fits in with the story.

Third Grade
Multiplication Tables
Farming and Gardening
Housebuilding and Shelters (including building scale models)
Old Testament Stories and History
Native American Stories
Flood Stories
Life of Jesus
Astronomy
Telling Time

Fifth Grade
Decimals
Geometric Forms
Botany, including fungi, ferns, algae, conifers, monocotyledons and dicotyledons
North American Geography
Mapmaking
The Book of Acts
Shakespeare
Fractions

I do plan on doing math consistently throughout the year--as a matter of fact, my next step is to go through both of their math books so I can try to line up like chapters, so we're all doing weights and measures at the same time, etc--but there were certain topics I wanted to turn into a main lesson block/unit study. Some of these will probably be stretched into two or even three main lessons, spaced throughout the year.

Typically, Michael would be studying Ancient Cultures in the fifth grade, but since we already covered a lot of that with Story of the Word and because we're focusing on Ancient Cultures with our Olympian Camp this summer, I don't feel the need to plan main lesson blocks this school year.