Katie Grace's Main Lesson: Astronomy

We're starting Astronomy!

Next week I'll share some activities, but I thought I would start by sharing some resources. I'd love to hear your ideas for great sun, moon, stars, and planet resources as well!

The Science Explorer Out and About from The Exploratorium has some great ideas. We enjoyed the shadow tracing yesterday!

Sunshine Makes the Seasons is a great early reader for primary grade kids. It also includes the awesome orange experiment you see pictured at the beginning of this post.

I adore our old Childcraft annuals I was lucky enough to purchase at a thrift store. The World and Space book is definitely getting good use!

Exploring Space: Using Seymore Simon's Astronomy Books in the Classroom is a great accompaniment to all the Seymore Simon books we have. There are some really unique ideas in this book.

We've actually collected quite a few picture books on space over the year, and it would take me all night to list them all. We have some great picture books as well, including Sun Bread, Arrow to the Sun, If You Decide to Go to the Moon, Papa Please Get the Moon for Me, Owl Moon, and The Sea of Tranquility.

And of course, there are stories to tell "from the heart" as well. So far, we've enjoyed Aesop's fable about the sun and the wind and some made up stories about sunbeams.

Watercolor... erm... WORDLESS Wednesday

An owl sat alone

An owl sat alone
Hold up one finger.
On the branch of a tree.
He was as quiet
Hold finger to lips.
As quiet could be.
It was night
And his eyes were round like this.
Make circles over eyes with thumbs and index fingers.
And when he looked around
Not a thing did he miss.
Look from side to side.

Minestrone: Italian minestra (soup) + -one

"The Big Soup"

According to Wiki, minestrone is "the name for a variety of thick Italian soups made with vegetables, often with the addition of pasta or rice. Common ingredients include beans, onions, celery, carrots, stock and tomatoes." There is no set recipe; rather, it uses whatever is in season... or, in our case, whatever is in the fridge.

I did use a recipe as a base and tossed in homemade chicken stock, carrots, green pepper, celery, onions, beans, tomatoes, spinach and some elbows. Then I just let it stew all morning as we did school.

If only the clean up was as easy!
This is part of our attempt to cook our way through John McCutcheon's song "Soup." You can read more here.

A Day in the Life

Happy Tuesday and Happy Candlemas!

As usual, our Tuesday started with oatmeal. Following some laundry, we began our school day with the story of the Presentation. After, we worked together on a cooperative junk sculpture to go with our art this week, Louise Nevelson's Sky Cathedral.

Michael and Katie Grace started on their independent work while Daniel, Nicholas, and I had circle. It was groundhog time!
We pretended to eat like groundhogs.
And use our claws like groundhogs.
We went back to the table and made a groundhog puppet.
And later we even made a groundhog cave! Not much hibernating happened though.

Nicholas worked through his boxes and Daniel puttered around while Katie Grace had her main lesson (Astronomy) and Michael had his (North American Geography and Mapmaking). In between, I started the potato bacon chowder for lunch and began a craft project-- beanbags representing the different moon phases.
These go great with our Winter Lights circle from Seasons of Joy!
Nicholas helped out with lunch (wearing a cape instead of an apron, of course!). We're still cooking our way through John McCutcheon's song "Soup" and are up to "potato soup".

After lunch we did our usual tidy and then had read aloud: The Sister's Grimm. The Katie Grace was off to orchestra and I finished up my beanbags and also whipped up this little gnomie finger puppet for Nicholas.
We had one more project to fit in before dinner-- under the bed storage for Nicholas.
Daniel helped when he wasn't dancing on the bubble wrap.
Now you see it!
Now you don't!
Ignore the yucky bunk bed top. Usually I have a piece of fabric up there covering the slats, but Mr. Deconstructionist decided to liberate it for some project or other.

Daddy took Katie Grace to ballet and we made dinner-- corn fritterish pancakes shaped like a big round sun for Candlemas!

Hope you had a wonderful day as well. I would love to hear about it! I'm thinking of doing a "Day in the Life" round up where people could document their days and post a link. Please let me know if you would be interested.

We, as persons, are not enlightened by means of multiple-choice tests or grades, but rather by the other people in our lives that we come to know, admire, and love. We are educated by our friendships and our intimacies... Whether it is gardening, keeping house, or governing a state, love of work-- like love of people-- teaches things that no school, no system can.
-- Karen Andreola

Happy St. Brigid's Day!

Nourishing the Senses

"Physical environment" must be understood in the widest sense imaginable.
It includes not just what happens around the children in the material sense,
but everything that can be perceived by their senses,
that can work on the inner powers of the children from the surrounding physical space."
~ Steiner, The Education of the Child

As I struggle... again... with a resolution made and not even begun to declutter the house, I find myself pondering this quote. I know that a child, especially a young child, is strongly affected by their physical environment. I believe with my whole heart that this in turn effects every aspect of their lives, including learning. A child learns through their senses. One of my favorite Waldorf quotes is the one that refers to an infant as "one big sense organ". It makes sense that a cluttered, messy, noisy setting would have a negative influence, just as a clean, orderly, peaceful setting full of beauty has a positive one.

If we believe in the mandate to "do all things with love," it makes sense to bring that intention not only to our parenting but also to creating a gentle environment for our little ones. We can not only make their worlds physically neat and ordered, but also give them joy, peace, and a listening ear. By our example and planning, we can introduce them them to the idea of balance, of in-breathing and out-breathing.

I've often spoke of a strong daily, weekly, monthly, yearly rhythm as a foundation, and it's true. Rhythms that I thoughtfully laid in place almost eleven years ago when Michael was a baby still support and uphold and (I hope!) enrich our lives. They've evolved and in some cases when they no longer served us, they've been discarded, but for the most part they are still there, a solid underpinning as we go along.

But lately I've been thinking of these rhythms and routines in a more organic way. They're an ocean that carry our family along. Sometimes it gets a little rough and choppy, but for the most part, we can rest on the rhythms and be peacefully carried along, knowing that they'll eventually guide us home.

If rhythms and routines are the ocean, the home environment is the port. I would encourage you to be intentional about making your port a beautiful one. A peaceful one. A gentle one. Let those sensory connections your child makes in their early ones be connections that tell them the world is a great big beautiful loving place.

A little song for Groundhog's Day

Sung to the tune of I'm a Little Teapot

Here's a little groundhog, furry and brown.
He's popping up to look around.
If he sees his shadow, down he'll go.
It's six more weeks of winter-- oh no!

Meal Plan Monday: A two week plan!

WEEK ONE

MONDAY:
Breakfast: Omelets
Lunch: Bacon-Potato Chowder
Dinner: Sausage, colcannon, and Brigid's Bread
Snacks: Taffy Toast, Fruit

TUESDAY:
Breakfast: Oatmeal
Lunch: Tuna dip (tuna and cream cheese), crackers, veggies
Dinner: Pancakes for candlemas! with bacon
Snacks: Cheese and pretzels, One-Egg Cake

WEDNESDAY:
Breakfast: Pumpkin Oat Bread
Lunch: Cheese noodles and peas
Dinner: Noodle beef casserole and green beans
Snacks:Edible candles, veggies and dip

THURSDAY:
Breakfast: Smoothies
Lunch: Quesedillas
Dinner: Beans and cheese, salad
Snacks: Bread and the last of the homemade jelly, sugar cookies

FRIDAY:
Breakfast: Eggs made to order
Lunch: Tomato soup and grilled cheese
Dinner: Spinach pizza
Snacks: Brownies, St. Agatha Rolls

SATURDAY:
Breakfast: Corn meal waffles
Lunch: Leftovers
Dinner: Beef pot pie
Snacks: Fruit, cabinet snack

SUNDAY:
Breakfast: Cereal, fruit, toast
Lunch: Leftovers
Dinner: At church
Snacks: At Sunday School, cabinet snack

WEEK TWO
MONDAY:
Breakfast: Hard boiled eggs and toast
Lunch: Shells stuffed with tuna salad, ants on a log
Dinner: Sausage casserole, potatoes, veggies
Snacks: Fruit, cookies from the stockpile

TUESDAY:
Breakfast: Oatmeal
Lunch: Egg Salad
Dinner: Homemade baked beans, hot dogs, coleslaw
Snacks: Toll house cookies (homemade, not Nestle!), veggies with dip

WEDNESDAY:
Breakfast: Milk toast (when I was growing up, we called this "Pussycat Soup")
Lunch: Burgers and fried potatoes
Dinner: Clam chowder and popovers
Snacks: Cheese and crackers, gingerbread

THURSDAY:
Breakfast: Blueberry muffins
Lunch: French onion soup
Dinner: Roast, potatoes, veggies
Snacks: Bread spread with peanut butter, loaf cake

FRIDAY:
Breakfast: Cheesy scrambled eggs
Lunch: Leftovers
Dinner: Split pea with ham soup and homemade bread
Snacks: Valentine's pretzels, banana bread

SATURDAY:
Breakfast: Pancakes
Lunch: Leftovers
Dinner: Pizza with the babysitter
Snacks: Cabinet snack, fruit

SUNDAY:
Breakfast: Cereal, toast, fruit
Lunch: Leftovers
Dinner: At church
Snacks: At Sunday School, Cabinet snack