I'm going to try to update more tomorrow. I did just realize that I still don't know how to reply to comments. Any pointers?

Sigh. I feel like we are continually starting over.

Michael is back home for school and, God willing, will stay home. Third grade was less than satisfactory.

I've been MIA because first my husband lost the cable that connects our camera to our computer, and then we've just been crazy getting ready for Michael to come home.

Anyway, we'll hopefully be back on track soon. The plan is to sort of "deschool" in December and work on finding our groove, and having a pretty decent rhythm going by January.

Soft Pretzels

We made yummy soft pretzels this week. Our favorite part (next to eating them, of course!) was singing to "wake up" Brother Yeast:
Are you sleeping,
Are you sleeping,
Brother Yeast?
Brother Yeast?
Time to wake now,
Pretzels we will bake now.
Yum, yum, yum!
Yum, yum, yum!

We used Martha Stewart's recipe. Today I'm planning on making some high-protein peanut butter cookies, if His Royal Majesty King Daniel will sleep long enough to let us.

Quality of Numbers

One thing I love about the Waldorf approach to mathematics is that in first grade, a child isn't learning just how to write a numeral or what exactly makes up the quantity of a number, but is introduced to the qualities of that number as well--one is for unity, two for duality, etc.

I'm going to post the little number poems we used with each number. She didn't copy them all in her lesson book. Sometimes she wrote the whole poem, other times just a couplet, and still other times, nothing at all.

One
One is the sun.
One is the tree.
One is the earth,
And one is me.

Two
Two ears to hear,
Two eyes to see,
Two hands to help
Those all 'round me.

I didn't like this one, and I think in her lesson book, she wrote "One, two, me and you!" instead.


Three
The world is three-
Beast, plant, and stone.
God is three-
Father, Spirit, Son.

Four
Summer and autumn, winter and spring--
Through four seasons passes the year;
Fire and air, water and earth-
Out of these four does the whole world appear.

Five
Five are the fingers on each hand,
Each foot has five toes.
Five rays has the star shining o'er the land,
Five petals has the rose.

Six
Wherever light would find its home,
In storm or cave or honeycomb,
Six is its chosen number and form.

Seven
Seven colors in a row
In a shining rainbow.

Eight
Wriggling spiders on eight legs crawl,
Spinning webs on every wall.

Nine
Nine is a mystery, hidden away,
A secret to be revealed one day.

Ten
Ten fingers have we on our two hands.
Ten toes, as on two feet we stand.
For ten contains within two fives,
Which we'll remember all our lives.

SOURCES:
Some came from Eugene Schwartz's number poems, which are floating around all over the place but, I believe, came from A Child's Seasonal Treasury. They're also here. I also found some other poems here. Some I just made up.

Have a wonderful day!

We're still here...

I don't know why I didn't blog for two weeks. Lots going on, plus I'm a little embarrassed that I still haven't figured out how to reply to comments. But we're still here. I'll post our "Quality of Numbers" rhymes this week, as well as some info from the Butterfly Unit Study we're wrapping up. This week we're going to do a Middle Lesson with origami and other paper folding, and work on some scissors work as well. I've been poring over the Rainbow Resources catalog, because we're pretty sure we're going to bring Michael home around Thanksgiving break. Well, I'm sure. Chip is less convinced.

Field Trip to the Creamery and Math Musings

We decided to chuck the schedule and run to the creamery. We are really blessed by being able to get raw, whole milk from a local Amish farm.






And now, math chat. (Cross-posted on MDC)
So, we're about a month into it and I'm just not digging Miquon Math. I feel like she's not learning anything, and she doesn't seem particularly "Rah! Rah!" about it either. Not that she needs to be, but it would be nice if one of us sort of liked it.

OK, what I like:
- the playfulness
- the fact that it goes whole to part
- the fact that it teaches all 4 operations together
- the fact that it uses manipulatives
- it seems to fit in somewhat with Waldorf philosophy
- the cost
- it isn't just memorization and drill, but teaches mathematical thinking

What I don't like:
- lack of practice/drill--this may be why it feels like she isn't learning anything
- it takes a huge amount of time, and I just don't have it, with a baby and a preschooler and a third grader who might be coming home. I don't have endless amounts of time to watch her free-play with materials and then handcraft lessons for her
- the Cuisenaire rods annoy the snot out of me
- so do the workbooks
- the first grade diary and lab annotations just aren't all that helpful to me, and they seem to end come January. The directions are all very nebulous, and I don't deal well with nebulosity.

In our brief foray into k12, we used Sadlier. I'm looking for something sort of like that, I guess. Something where I can teach a brief lesson and she can then work on her own with me nearby. I wish there was a stand-alone Waldorf math curriculum. I'm so conflicted.

That said, I did feel like we did something today. We played the yellow rod game, where Katie Grace had to find various ways to make 5:
Then, I diverted from Miquon and did a Waldorf thing. She wrote down different ways to make 5 in her main lesson book. I also showed her how her body makes five-head, arms, and legs:


So, I don't know what to do with math. I don't want to quit something before I really give it a chance, but I don't want to dig in my heels and be stubborn about sticking with something that doesn't seem to be working.

Also on the math front, we finished our qualities of numbers unit through ten:

Lullaby

For some strange reason, Katie Grace and Daniel are both digging this lullaby lately:
Arrorro, my baby,
Arrorro my own.
Arrorro my baby,
Sunshine of our home.
Sleep will not come to you,
Always runs away.
Lovely little baby
Wants the sleep to stay.

I've been looking all over the internet for a place that plays the tune, but no luck.

Maple Leaf Roses

I have a migraine for the second night in a row, but stumbled upon this on another blog:
How to Make Maple Leaf Roses

I thought this could be sweet on a nature table!

The Sea Is So Wide, and My Boat Is So Small

One of the things that has always fascinated me about my children is how they manipulate language to fit their meaning. Nicholas, for example, has foregone words like "yesterday," "today," and "tomorrow" and instead uses "last day," "this day," and "next day." They suit him better, and more fully express his meaning. I've noticed he has other ways of labeling his days, as well. Sundays are "Church Day." When Pastor DH has lots of events that necessitate us being at church a lot on a weekday, Nicholas is confused. Weekdays aren't Church Days.

Long ago, families could number their days by what chores were done--wash on Monday, etc, etc. Nowadays, we can wash or sew or bake any day of the week and make an easy job of it. And yet, I know my children still crave that weekly, daily, monthly, yearly rhythm. I picture those routines as a boat that carries us through our lives. Especially for a small child, the world is so wild, so unpredictable, so changeable, and they are so small and helpless in the face of it all--a rhythm and routine anchors them, and gives them a predictable fixed point to guide them safely from the unknown to the known.

And so, instead of the abstract Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc, we have Church Day and Painting Day and Muffin Day. We even have Crazy Day--Tuesdays, when soccer and ballet and Brownies causes us to bump into each other around 7:30 rather than sitting down for a meal together as we usually do. By naming our days in a more concrete way, the children are better able to understand what is happening, and what will happen next. Having a predictable routine and rhythm helps them feel safe and secure.

So teach us to number our days, That we may present to You a heart of wisdom.
Psalm 90:12

Dear Lord, be good to me, for the sea is so wide, and my boat is so small.
Prayer of a Breton Fisherman

Autumn Nature Table and Some Math

It's a bit more cluttered than I generally like, but the kids really got into it this time around. We made the forest fairies today.




Gnome treasure--we matched numerals to number words, and then gave each gnome his due.


A Cuisenaire rod step ladder. I did one side, and Katie Grace did the other.