Tuesday - Form Drawing

Baby was a little under the weather when we went to Grandma's party last night, but he was still in good spirits. Over night he came down with a fever. My Mommy Kiss Thermometer estimates 101 degrees. So, we were up really late this morning and didn't take our walk until around 11 am. Wow! That is so late. I did manage to get everything in, but we ran late.

Since Brother is complaining that things are changing too quickly, I read the "Star Frog" story again today instead of doing recall. This is really what Brother wanted and he led the way over to the Fairy Tale Telling area.

After the story, I gave him a large casserole pan with brown rice flour in it for him to use as his "sand tray". He was very curious. I told him to draw out what we had been walking in the driveway and he did with no problems. Since it was a straight line, I really didn't expect any. Then I let him play in the flour for a while. I gave Baby a pie plate with flour in it as well so that he was included.

Brother seems to be going through a lot right now. He is often out of control and is very emotional. He openly expresses that he doesn't want things to change and wants to know everything that is going to happen. It makes a lot of sense to me that he is really clinging to our daily and weekly rhythm with both hands since the insides of him seem to be changing so much. He turns 6.5 on Feb 2nd. I wonder if that is when he will be ready for First Grade.

Older Kindergarten Week #1 Thursday

We were supposed to have plans at the park today, but the family has some vomiting going on, so we did not meet up. Brother was pretty disappointed, but he didn't actually come out and say so. Instead he melted down all morning. He seemed fine when I told him we couldn't go. Hmm, I didn't actually put 2 and 2 together until now. Poor kid bottled it all up. It would have been much better had I addressed it. In the past, I have not told him when we have plans because I don't want him to be disappointed when the plans fall through. With one of his best friends plans are often cancelled because the oldest son has a compromised immune system. However, with Brother's newfound sense of needing to be in control - and thus going over the plans for the day the night before, and then the morning of, I can't get away with hiding things like that any more. We will both have to learn new coping skills!

So, he melted down all morning until I pretty much said "We are taking our walk now and then we are having circle!" and I put us all outside crying. Once our feet were moving on our walk everything calmed down and he was very happy! He participated in circle, then made his own circle and I forced us all to play outside. This really showed me the healing qualities of rhythm.

Brother also worked on his tooth fairy pillow today and his needlepoint art project. We have not started on our Autumnal equinox lanterns yet, because our new Stokke highchair arrived. We put it together and then dinner ran late. I really love the highchair. It allows Baby to participate fully at the table without him having to stand on a chair. We gave up the "real" highchair ages ago because he felt so separated having to eat on his own tray. I am saving up to buy a chair for Brother as well. Next year when we start first grade I want him to be sitting ergonomically correct when we teach him to write. The sooner we have the chair the better. I have $75.00 so far! I thought I could buy one chair and just adjust it for each kid, but it doesn't work that way. Darn it!

Sunday was supposed to be our Waldorf inspired Autumn festival. As of 2 weeks ago it was happening, so I wrote it on my calendar. On Tuesday I realized that I was over-stretched and couldn't handle having our piano tuned, going to Bellingham and going to the Harvest Festival. After much thought, I cancelled our trip to Bellingham only to be told today that the Harvest Festival is not occurring. I am not a very happy camper. I am not... I am not... I am not....

Ok, venting over and moving on. Brother is 6 and in older Kindergarten. He is needing more contraction. The Enki curriculum suggests adding some keywords for these older kids. So after the third time of telling the story, he can chose one word that he would like me to write down on a note card for him. I gave him a Wells Fargo check book box (he likes the stage coach) to put them in. He really didn't seem that jazzed at the time, and he was not receptive the first couple time I mentioned it to him, but now he has been carrying that box around all day! Obviously it meant a lot to him. Husband has been told to read the word to him in entirety, (concept of whole to parts).

Older Kindergarten week 1 Tuesday

Today was an interesting day. I can see Brother maturing. It is a pretty uncomfortable process for him, poor kid. He feels like "everything is changing, Nothing is the same." I know it is internal changes, but if I can find a way to make the days easier for him I will. So , I posed the idea of a daily schedule listed on the wall. He is pre-reading, so it has to be pictorial, but he is showing an increased interest in words, so I am also writing out the words. I had him start looking through magazines for pictures of pertinent activities for him to cut out today. Hopefully he will feel more comfortable, he seems happy.

We were able to complete all of our regular homeschooling today, for the kids anyway. Circle was a little rough. As it is Autumn, my circle was based on squirrels and Brother wants to be a duck right now. Oops. We went to the local homeschool park day and then Baby missed nap, so although I laid down with him for a while, and we all had "quiet time" I didn't get to meditate.

Park Day went really well except that Brother accidentally ran into another kid. He was sent down on the zip line at the same time a boy ran right in front of the path. There was nothing he could do, but it was sure an intense and traumatic event. It didn't help that the first time we went to park day, the injured kid was crying "I'm never going to play with him, etc." when it was more his fault than anything. Oh well, Brother seemed to bounce back and enjoy more play.