Monday, September 28, 2009

Older Kindergarten Week #3 Monday

Michaelmas week! As a secular family, celebrating Michaelmas is kind of a touchy thing. It can be a very religious holiday. For us it is not religious, but it is spiritual. My story is about St George. I googled St George and the dragon, found a few different stories and went with the one that really felt right to me. I have been reading a lot about the meaning behind fairy tales as well. After much meditation, I did decide to kill the dragon even though Brother is only 6 years old. The King did send emissaries asking the dragon to leave and he said No. Also, I chose a story where St George had to overcome being tired, scared, burned, and temporarily blinded by the smoke. Fighting dragons is hard work!

In the past Fairy Tales have been really difficult for Brother. He took them literally and was totally frightened. So, I backed off and was only telling Folk Tales. However, I had noticed him becoming entranced during Folk Tales, so with great hope I told the more advanced St George story. We went to a different spot in the house, I closed the curtains, lit a candle, sang a different opening song and then hoped for the best. He was fine. He didn't get upset or anything and he was in the trance like state. He is maturing!

I am still separating Baby from Brother's story, so I spent a lot of time on the picture books with Baby before I left him to play and read to Brother. It went great, Baby isn't interested in being a part of it.

Another change is in circle. I am essentially doing two circles now, one for Brother followed by one for Baby. Obviously both are pretty short, but we do take an exercise walk before circle, so short is fine. I do cover all of the movements.

Today we baked muffins using some of the over grown yellow squash from my Mom's garden. Yummy!

1 comment:

  1. We tried fairy tales up until this year... In past years, there was no interest. This year, there was quite a bit of criticism from my son. He thought "Little Red Riding Hood" was absolutely horrifying.

    I've given up and, yeah, we're doing folk tales. I think we'll try fairy tales next year. But both fairy tales and stories about animals (Beatrix Potter, "Wind in the Willows", etc.) seem to be of no interest to my son. So, like you, I'm not pushing.

    So many things say what we "should" be teaching, but I definitely toss the ideas if they don't bring joy to my son!

    ReplyDelete