Circle Time: A Winter Movement Journey

In my pre-Waldorf, pre-Mama days, I was a preschool teacher and did graduate work in early childhood education. Back in the day, circle time was a pretty academic affair. We had a calendar, chose jobs, participated in show and tell, presented lessons, reviewed our ABCs and 123s, planned out how we would spend our mornings.

A Waldorf-inspired circle is quite a different proposition. Rather than dwelling in the head, its center in the child's body and heart. We move, we sing, we dance, we explore whole worlds in our imagination. It's not that learning doesn't happen-- when we sing songs that count down melting snowmen, for example, we are learning number concepts, and when we move to the beat of a song we are learning to control our bodies-- but it's not an "in your face" kind of experience. One of the things I love most about Waldorf is that it trusts the wisdom of a child to internalize concepts, even those not explicitly taught. Those ideas nestle deep in a child's imagination, seed-like, taking root and growing when the season in right.

For the last two weeks, we've been immersed in a Winter Woods circle. We got to know our animals friends, the bunnies and fishies and squirrels and bears, and how they prepared for the winter. We ice skated without ever leaving our living room, moving in straight lines and curves and spirals. We squirreled away beanbag nuts and found them again, and had a marvelous time.

This week, we left the woods and the animals and journeyed back to our warm homes. We put on pretend mittens and gloves and boots and went on a winter movement journey. We built snowmen and went sledding and had a snowball fight.

And, as always, we're learning too-- not only things like a song to help us put our mittens on and how to exercise inhibitory control over our bodies or how to count down from five as our jolly fat snowmen melt, but also things like how to take turns and how to exist and move without running into someone else's space. We're learning how to pause for a quiet moment of reverence and how to love one another by showing respect and gentleness and care.

Wishing you a peaceful week of winter joy...

Winter Seasons of Joy

We're having a giveaway for Winter Seasons of Joy over here, but I wanted to share a little more of what's included for the $15 price.

1. Circle Time
Winter gathering verse, winter candle lighting verse, winter end of circle verse
5 circle times: A Winter Adventure, Winter Woods, Winter Tea Time, Winter Light, and Jack Frost
Both traditional and original finger plays, songs, poems, and verses, and music is written out.

2. Fairy Tales
Five fairy tales with extension activities: The Candles, The Mitten, The Elves and the Shoemaker, Star Money, and The Boy Who Went to the West Wind. Original and traditional music is also included.

3. 10 additional finger plays, songs, and verses, including directions to make finger puppets and music written out.

4. Watercolor and Painting Stories and Activities
Detailed instructions on watercolor painting with your child, an original verse to set a tone of reverence, and 10 activities that include both painting with colors alone and mixing colors, as well as a few non-watercolor ideas.

5. Handwork
Two original verses to get you started, and over 10 activities, including dip dying silks, finger knitting, tissue paper stars, and a dear little felt mousie. Patterns included.

6. Modeling
Another verse for before you begin, and 10 modeling activities. Most involve modeling beeswax, but instructions for making snow dough and a clay lamp are also included.

7. Coloring
Again, two original verses to set the mood, and then 10 weeks worth of coloring activities that center around the winter theme.

8. Playtime
Many, many puppets, indoor games, ideas for exploring ice, tents and cubbies, caring for birds and squirrels, button games, and much more.

9. Nature Table
Make Jack Frost, King Winter, an icy background, snowflake accents, snow fairies and babies, and more to grace your nature table.

10. Cooking and Baking
Some old stand-bys like cocoa, soft pretzels, and a variety of muffins, as well as some seasonal ideas like snowmen you can eat, outdoor ice pops, and fireplace cooking.

11. Practical life
Read all about creating comfy, cozy indoor play spaces.

12. For Babies
Knit a cap, make a winter mobile or a pocket family or felt ball. Learn about the importance of winter warmth and make some yummy winter treats.

13. Outings and Group Activities
There's so much to do! Winter walks, snow days, felting parties, a teddy bear tea, first snowfall celebration, a taffy pull, sledding, a slumber party, tea time, and my personal favorite, candle time.

14. Rhythms and Routines
Morning verses, mealtime blessings, clean-up verses, and evening verses and lullabies.

15. And finally...
Two pages of online resources, three pages of patterns, a page of color pictures, and a planner you can reuse again and again.

As you can see, you get a lot for your $15! And the activities are such that you can do them year after year.

To order, visit the Seasons of Joy website here.

Circle Time: Winter Woods

Our winter woods animals surrounding our Circle Time candle
and Angel of the Forest on the mantle

We had a wonderful time today doing the "Winter Woods" movement journey from Winter Seasons of Joy. While it's not practical for us to go out into the woods for real right now-- it's bitterly cold here!-- I really do feel like we've created a feeling of reverence for Mother Nature and her winter animals during this circle.

Favorite activities include moving like some of our favorite animals, pretending to ice skate on a frozen pond with fishies swimming deep underneath, and playing "Gray Squirrel" by hiding a beanbag "seed" somewhere and finding it again.

And the song that ties the whole thing together:

Winter's coming, winter's coming,
How do the creatures get ready?
Winter's coming, winter's coming,
Time to get ready for snow!

Even my two-year-old caught on and was singing along by the end of circle.

And we have a final moment of reverence before we blow the circle time candle out:

My heart swells in joyfulness.
(Hands crossed over heart)
My spirit dwells in peace.
(Hands upraised over head)
My body rests in quietness.
(Hands down at side)
Our circle time has ended.
(Hold hands and be still for a moment)

It's another giveaway! Winter Seasons of Joy

Winter nature table: felt mitten made by my kindergartener with small animals, and beeswax icicles on the bear cave,
all ideas from Seasons of Joy Winter

We had so much fun with the last giveaway, we decided to do it again!

Winter Seasons of Joy is a Waldorf-inspired activity guide featuring ten weeks of circle times, fairy tales and story extensions, handwork projects, nature tables, watercolor stories, coloring and modeling activities, playtime ideas, outings and group activities, ideas for you and your baby, and much more. Aimed at families in the early childhood years, I can honestly say that my older children still enjoy many of the activities.

Winter Seasons of Joy features color nature table pictures, many original songs, stories, verses, and fingerplays, as well as some old favorites, music and stories written out for ease of use, and many patterns and drawings to assist you.

It is my heartfelt desire that using these books will help you put into place rhythms and routines to carry you through your day and create many joyful memories with your family. That is why I have priced all my seasonal ebooks at the reasonable price of $15 each. You can also by all 4 books for only $50.

Or, of course, you can enter to win one here! Simply leave a comment sharing a favorite wintertime activity. Want extra chances to win? Do any or all of the following and leave an extra comment for each one: become a follower of my blog; become a Facebook fan; Tweet, blog, or Facebook about the giveaway. That's five extra chances to be entered!

The winner will be chosen randomly Friday afternoon (1/8/09). Just a reminder-- if there isn't a way to contact you through your profile, you'll need to leave an email address where you can be reached.

Wishing you a peaceful winter...

January Plans and Projects

Bare branches of each tree
on this chilly January morn
look so cold so forlorn.
Gray skies dip ever so low
left from yesterday's dusting of snow.
Yet in the heart of each tree
waiting for each who wait to see
new life as warm sun and breeze will blow,
like magic, unlock springs sap to flow,
buds, new leaves, then blooms will grow.
- Nelda Hartmann, January Morn

I've always loved the monthly plans and themes over at By Sun and Candlelight, and one of my new year's goals is to find a way to make this work in my own life. Mostly, I'll be jotting down my ideas for homeschooling, but of course, it's impossible to segment out our homeschooling life from the rest of our lives-- it's one of the things I love best about homeschooling!

January is named after Janus, the two-faced god, the god of doorways and choices. It's the "month of the heart of winter," a sentiment that rings very true here in the heart of Pennsylvania,

Faith, Feast Days and Festivals
The entire month of January is devoted to the Holy Name of Jesus. For devotions, I'd like to look at the different names of Jesus with the children.

January 1 is both the Solemnity of Mary and the World Day of Peace. It's also New Year's Day, of course! The perfect day to update calendars and birthday lists.
January 3: Holy Name of Jesus
January 4: St. Elizabeth Ann Seton (one of my favorites)
January 6: Epiphany. We'll celebrate with a Kings' Cake!
January 10: Baptism of Our Lord, and a chance to remember our own baptisms.
January 11: Nicholas's Baptismal Anniversary
January 24: Our Lady of Peace

Hearth and Home
We've challenged ourselves to cook our way through John McCutcheon's song "Soup", from his Wintersongs album.

I'm also going to continue with our pantry challenge. My other goal this month, foodwise, is to start making our own pizza for pizza night instead of buying frozen pizzas. We should be able to find lots of fresh broccoli and cauliflower, lemons and oranges to munch on.

We'll celebrate Christmas through the 12 days, right up to Epiphany when the Three Kings leave one last gift for the children. Then we'll take down the tree, strip down the decorations, and pack up the ornaments. I'm really helping to cull through some of them this year before we put them away. Then we'll change the mantle from a Christmas theme to one featuring snowflakes and icicles. Since it's inevitable, we may as well celebrate it!

I'm hoping to do a minor update in the bathroom. Six people in one bathroom means we need to do some planning, and I have some ideas to help make it work. I'll also be doing a fair bit of decluttering in the children's rooms.

We'll order some seed catalogs and start dreaming of our summer garden. We're also aiming to get our tax return in early this year.

Homeschooling
Nicholas: We'll be working on recognizing letters L, M, and N as well as making sure he knows all his shapes. I'm also thinking of starting with some very basic reading readiness skills-- understanding beginning, middle, and end and listening for sounds at the beginning, middle, and end of words. We'll continue on with fingerknitting, wet-on-wet watercolor painting, beeswax modeling, and coloring. We've started some very beginner form drawing as well.

Katie Grace: My planned main lesson for Katie Grace this month is the life of Jesus. Additionally, we'll work on some geometry concepts and making sure she really has her basic math facts under her belt. We'll work some more on knitting and painting as well.

Michael: Michael starts his botany unit this month and will also be focusing on geometry. He's enjoying Life of Fred: Decimals and Percents, and will continue to work through that independently. We'll continue learning about verbs and tenses as well.

Field Trips and Outings: I don't imagine we'll be out and about too much this month-- it's cold and miserable and co-op doesn't start up again until February. But hopefully, we'll be able to get in at least one snow walk and a chance to go sledding. There's also a performance of Strega Nona at the Community Art Center this month.

Art and Music: Katie Grace will carry on with violin and Michael with cello. Both will (hopefully) start piano lessons this month as well. All three are in choir and will be singing Epiphany songs. We'll also be listening to Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition.

For art, we'll be looking at works by Albrecht Durer ("The Young Hare"), Marc Chagall ("I and the Village") and Georgia O' Keefe ("Rancho Church"). There's really no rhyme or reason to it; we're working our way slowly through a book called Masterpiece of the Month.



Story of the World: This month, we're really going to take some time to focus on the American Revolution. My mother-in-law got us a great book for Christmas called The American Revolution for Kids.

Stories and Circles and Signs of the Season
We'll definitely be telling the story The Mitten. There are so many neat ways to extend the story, and some beautiful picture books out there as well. From there, we'll move on to The Elves and the Shoemaker.

For read aloud, we need to wrap up The Silver Chair and then we'll be moving on to The Boxcar Children, a classic I've read for each of my children. Now it's Nicholas's turn!

For circle, we'll go on a Winter Movement Journey from Winter Seasons of Joy. We'll probably weave that circle for two weeks and then move on to a winter trip to the woods to see what animals and other creatures live there.

Our January nature table will feature many of the animals from our stories and circle time, and I wouldn't be surprised if Jack Frost makes an appearance there as well.

Things to Make and Do

Well, paper snowflakes, of course! And sewing some itty bitty felt animals for the nature table. Maybe I'll finally get brave enough to needle felt some as well.

As a family, we'll try our hand at some puppetry. We have a lovely shadow puppet kit hiding downstairs somewhere, and I've been wanting to make a doorway puppet stage for a while now.

I'm also planning to get out my sewing machine, go through all the fabric I've been stashing, and actually making something. I'm not sure what-- pants for the little boys? a jumper for Katie Grace? We shall see.

I don't have a wall/schoolroom calendar yet, and I may just have to make one if I can't find one that suits.

We'll be updating our healing basket as well, seeing what we need to replenish or replace.

So what do you have planned in January?

Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow...

Another blustery day yesterday! No public school, so no orchestra. Michael was upset we couldn't have the day off. To be honest, we've been slacking off all week because I'm trying to get my bearings back, so I don't feel a whole lot of sympathy.

Daniel loves to crawl into the kitchen. I don't get the appeal, unless it's the all-you-can-eat baby buffet that inevitably ends up on the floor. And it has to be cold, especially since I often forget to put his pants on after a change. I think it's a subconscious plot so I can kiss and squeeze those fat little baby things, LOL! He actually cries if we close the door from the living room to the kitchen. Yesterday, he found a box of SIGG lids, straps, and other sundry cup paraphernalia.

That's one happy baby!

I took this photo last night when I was feeling confident in my caramel-making prowess.

Note the awesome vintage candy thermometer I scored at Goodwill for a buck!

But today, I must confess that my caramels didn't set. The butter all rose to the top like a crust, and underneath was a grainy, soupy mess. So for snack, we had apple slices dipped in caramels.

Happy Valentine's Day!

A Week in Review

Three posts today, and no posts last week. It was a rough week, but we did get lots done.

Sunday was Michael's First Communion. Except it wasn't, because in the ELCA, children can technically receive Communion from the time their baptized, so Michael has been receiving since he was around a year old. This was a hard day for me actually, one of the hardest parts of raising Little Lutherans.

This is Michael and his buddy Lukey.


And cake! Everybody loves cake!


Monday was Rosa Parks birthday, and we talked about the life of this wonderful woman.

On Shrove Tuesday, we had pancakes for dinner.

Ash Wednesday was spent getting the house ready for Lent.

It was a rainy, dreary, cold day, and my four little ones and I went to Mater Delarosa to receive ashes at noon. When Father blessed Daniel, Daniel gave him the biggest baby grin, and both Father and Monsignor couldn't help but laugh out loud. By the time we got to the car, Daniel's ashes were pretty much gone. Michael said, "I guess Dust doesn't really stick to babies."

On Thursday, we changed out the Nature Table.

We'll definitely have fun adding more to King Winter's kingdom!

I also couldn't help but notice I had three matching children on Thursday, and I couldn't resist a picture.


On Friday, we traveled about three hours to stay with some college friends. They're also homeschoolers, as you may be able to tell by the great bookshelves. Here are their three girls with our crew.


We spent the night and made our way to our main destination on Saturday- the Benadum theater in Pittsburgh to see The Lion King. I'll blog a little about that separately, I think, but here are some pictures.

The opening curtain and beautiful stage.


And two happy children before the curtain went up. Daniel and Nicholas went with Daddy to the Pittsburgh Children's Museum.


And Katie Grace wanted me to take a picture of the chandelier, because it was pretty.

After the play, we stopped for dinner. A lady came up to us and said, "When I saw them seat a family with four little kids next to us, I almost cried. But your children are very well behaved!" I didn't quite know how to take that!

We left the restaurant around 7 and pulled up in front of our house at 11. We would have gotten home sooner, but we hit horrible fog. I prayed for the last hour of the trip!

The today, I caught Daniel doing this:


Time to dig out the baby gates!

Candlemas, but not candle-less

Our Brigid's Bread was yummy! And yes, all the best bakers wear tutus.


We didn't get to read Brigid's Cloak until today--the roads were a sheet of ice and I couldn't get to the library to pick up my holds--but we read it tonight, and it was beautiful. I definitely need to score my own copy.

Tonight was our Candlemas-Africa feast. We learned about Ancient Africa in Story of the World, and for dinner we had chicken with figs, rice (it was going to be papaya rice, but the papaya went over and I didn't know in time to get a new one), peas, and fried plantains.


After dinner, we talked about the Presentation and had some snow-white meringues for desert. They were definitely a hit!

We ended our day with a lovely story and prayer time.


Good night, and have a blessed Sunday!

No two days are alike

This morning we had popcorn for snack. This air popper is one of the best thrift store finds ever. We don't have a microwave, but even if we did, I think I would prefer our old-fashioned-ish popcorn.




Nicholas is still not feeling great, and he fell asleep in the chair. Poor little guy.


Today we had our own "Tea and a Craft," inspired by Dawn. We read Snowflake Bentley and then just had to make our own snowflakes.






Daniel, who is crawling like crazy, enjoyed hiding out under the table.


The snowflakes were beautiful in our window.




And Daniel, just because he is so stinking sweet.

Three snowy children and one happy teething baby!









Another icy snowy day.