Week In Review

The February Sunshine steeps your boughs and tints the buds and swells the leaves within.

William C. Bryant

To Brother's disappointment, we didn't celebrate groundhog's day last week and he found out about it from a friend. So, we celebrated this week. On Tuesday I drew a little groundhog and with his shadow sitting outside of the den. Baby swiped it with the cloth though before I could get a picture. We were all disappointed, so hopefully he doesn't do that again.

I also added a little groundhog song to the circle and made up motions. Brother loved it.

Brother's weekly fairy tale was called "Mud Pony". It is an older kindergartner story, which he totally loved. He actually helped recall the story when I told it to his friend on Thursday. Which is a major improvement.

Then on Wednesday Baby became sick with the flu. He had fevers for 5 days and threw up. Yippee! Fortunately, no one else got sick, but Baby being sick was enough to derail us. So, this week we have been making up for last week. Today we drew our picture for the story, and tomorrow we will draw the form. Meanwhile, we are on Mid-winter break because I babysit on Thursday and Friday morning this week.

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.

Friday

Today we went outside for our regular walk/form walk/circle and out door playtime. There has been a lot of digging in the digging spot lately! After snack I read the weekly selection to Baby and then read the Enki Nature Story "Busy Bears" to Brother. We were a little disrupted when Daddy came in for lunch. I think I am going to read this one again next week.

We baked muffins today. The kids are getting really good at it! They are taking turns between wet and dry ingredients much more patiently now. Baby really loved stirring and Brother is measuring much more accurately.

After rest time, we went to a games day in a local park. We hadn't been in a long time, and only one other family showed up. Hopefully it was just an off week. For some reason, Baby is really sensitive to Winter Weather. He stays really close to me and tends to whine a lot. My goal is to stay comfortably for one hour. Baby was pretty comfortable for almost an hour. Since the other family had left, I called it good and we went home too. It would have been pretty strange to make him stay for another five minutes when he really wanted to leave! He is dressed appropriately, so I am hoping he will outgrow this sensitivity.

When we got home, I gave the kids quiet time. While Baby napped, Brother and I painted.



This is a wet on wet using red and blue. To set the mood I sang "Winter White" while I began painting. He said this is "King Winter.



This is his second painting. There is a little bit of unpainted paper on it. When I suggested that he paint his whole page, he informed me that this was his painting, he had already covered the whole page on the first one and that this one was his free painting page. It is so fun to see him excercise his personal power.

Thursday

Since this is the first week of this new Older Kindergarten/Light First Grade blend, I am really feeling my way. We had our morning walk/form walk/circle -outside play like usual, then after snack I read the weekly selection to Baby while Brother listened in. I really didn't feel prepared to read a whole new Fairy Tale and do another lead drawing. I think once a week is currently fine for that activity. So I read the poem "Old Man Winter" from Enki Nature Tales. I know people usually read it on the solstice, but with all of the illnesses this year, our Winter started late. And the weather here is so mild, it already feels like Spring from time to time. Brother loved the poem! He's heard it before, but this time it really struck a cord within him. I kept finding him burrowing under blankets and pretending to be covered by King Winter with a blanket of snow. It was really cute!

For our craft we cut out paper snowflakes while Baby took another unwanted nap. ;) Brother really became absorbed with the process of cutting the snowflakes and seeing what the results were when he opened the paper. I figured he would cut out a couple, but he kept asking for more and more!

Wednesday

Today we started off with our walk/form walk/circle. After snack, I read Baby's Pre-K booklist to him while Brother listened. Then I took Brother into the other room where I proceeded to do laundry. Brother and I recalled "Masha and The Bear" together. We took turns recalling parts of the story. I see this as another First Grade Readiness test. I feel like when he recalls the whole story himself, then he will be more ready for first grade. To be fair, this was the first time he has recalled a story. I tried it with him last summer to no avail. So, we shall she how this progresses over the next few months.

After recalling the story, we did our first lead drawing. Here is Brother's.



Here is mine.



I'll be learning to draw along with the kids. According to Melissa at A Little Garden Flower curriculum, I just need to be ahead of the kids. That brings me great comfort!

The rest of the day was spent with Oma, Opa, Aunt TiTi, Cousin Daniel and Cousin Lexi. We had a lot of fun playing with cousins!

Tuesday

Today we started off with our walk, form walk and circle. Brother is trying to be the leader and decided to add some Sally Goes Round The Sun. When his leadership turn was over, we continued on as planned.

For Baby's stories this week we read the January page from "Around the Year" by Elsa Beskow, "Winter" by Gerda Muller, "In the Land of Faries" by Daniela Drescher,"The Tomten" and "The Tomten and the Fox" by Astrid Lindgren, and "Gingerbread Baby" by Jan Brett. Brother always sits and listens. Then Brother and I went off for me to read for him "Masha and The Bear." This story is listed as a younger Kindergartener story in my Enki books. It seems as though Brother is still hearing the stories with his "literal ears" so I am still on the fence about offering first grade activities. Last year when I read this story for him the first time, Brother was very upset. This year he found it humorous when the bear was afraid of Masha. It's interesting the difference a year makes.



This afternoon Brother and I made pinecone bird feeders while Baby took a nap he insisted he didn't need. ;)





Here is the bird feeder in it's place.

Monday

We're back in the swing of things now that the holiday season is over!

We started off with our morning circle. Currently it is a .5 mile walk. We walk up the driveway doing our "form walk", followed by songs in the front yard. I am starting off with only one song this week - Winter White, from my Enki Kindergarten Movement book. We close with a spiral walk.

After this I spent the morning cleaning and then we had friends over to play. It was nice for the kids to play and great for us Moms to have some time together.

Older Kindergarten Week #3 Tuesday

We completed our regular homeschooling in the morning. In the afternoon we went to the local Park Day for the third week in a row. The kids seem to play by different rules than we do, so there was a lot of reporting going on by Brother. He accidentally poked a kid "in the eye" with a stick when he was trying to down the slide and the other was coming up. Everyone was fine, but it makes me nervous. It's because of the "bag of poop" I am still carrying around from a different group I was in this summer. I am doing really well at holding boundaries with the person who seems want to add their "poop" to my already full enough bag. Probably this is something I want to meditate on! Meanwhile, Brother left the park much more gracefully this week than last week. Which means he was feeling more comfortable and less stretched.

Tuesday is beeswax day, and I am finally getting that started up. I have some warming kinks to work out, especially since we are heading into the colder season! But, he was really interested in the project and the sensory stuff, how does it feel, how do you work with it, etc. This is also an improvement!

And our other major improvement was in leave taking from babysitting. He left without causing a running around ruckus! One of the reasons is because I am not allowing him to play with the trains anymore. That seems so harsh, but it was really tipping him over. He was melting down the entire time he was trying to play with them, so I called it. For the last two weeks he has found other things to focus on and his quality of play is really increasing again. He is also done irritating the little girl to get a reaction out of her and they are starting to play together well again. Phew!

Older Kindergarten Week #2 Monday

The week has started off well. We are celebrating the Autumnal Equinox, so we are reading the Enki story The Buried Treasure. I chose it because it is still a Folk Talk and we haven't started Fairy Tales yet and the story shows the whole process of farming (tilling, planting, tending, harvesting) and ends with a harvest festival! We are also reading Duchess Autumn, the Enki nature tale for the equinox. The circle is still focusing on squirrels because I am trying to keep the oldest at least a little involved and he loves squirrels.

For the preschooler, I am reading the book The Wild Child, The Big Red Barn, and Autumn. He can sit in for Brother's reading too if he wants.

For our project we cooked granola and harvest soup. I dropped the cleaning; it was essentially taking all day. I either need to lower my standard or do more of it on a daily basis!

Today was Brother's second swimming lesson. He did not get in the water again, but at least he sat on the side of the pool with his feet in the water for the whole lesson. It doesn't sound like he is planning on getting into the water any time soon. He thinks it is over his head, although I know for sure it is not. The water level is only 3 feet, and he is taller than that. We have 3 weeks off for pool maintenance. I told him that I thought he would probably grow during that time, so hopefully if I talk about him growing, and I measure his height a few days before swim class maybe he'll try to get in. I'll pull my husband on board. I think it will be more powerful coming from him.

Tomorrow is the Luminata, a local equinox celebration. People meet at Greenlake Park at 7pm for singing and merrymaking. After dark we walk part way around the lake with our lanterns. We started our lanterns on Friday and will finish them up tomorrow just in time to take to the festival. This is our third year, and I really love it. I'll bring pictures!

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 Wednesday

It's Wandering Wednesday. I forgot my camera, but we went to Franklin Falls at Snoqualmie Pass. We played in the spray at the base of the waterfall, lifted and carried heavy rocks and climbed over rocks to get from one side of the river to the other.

This morning I showed Brother the poster of the day's activities again. We read it together. After breakfast he just unloaded the dishwasher all by himself! I didn't remind him or anything. It was amazing. I don't expect to see it again for a long time, but it was really interesting. I read that the Older Kindergartener wants meaningful work, but it was amazing to actually see it in action.

At park day yesterday, we left early because he and some other children told me that they would stay in this one area (that I could not see them in) and play. I had a suspicion that something was going on, and when I went to find him, they had left the area. He complained that we did not agree on the exact lines of the boundary. So today, when he went to the other side of the river, I showed him the exact boundary he could play in and he agreed. Even though I was across the river from him, He stayed in the agreed upon area with no problems. It just feels like he is maturing and becoming more responsible.

Tonight I made Thursday's poster and we went over our plans for the day. We talked about it, and he is feeling more heard and cared for since we have started this practice.

Older Kindergarten Week #1

Well, this is the first full week of homeschooling for us with our full weekly rhythm. The last couple weeks were catch as catch can to slowly get us up and running.

Circle:

20 minute walk then, Opening verse, Green Orchard, Kooka burra (in the apple tree), Trees in the wind, Mouse Fingerplay, closing verse.

This is the same circle I used last week with great success. Today I tried to embellish with transitions regarding squirrels and lost Brother. He did watch from the chair though, instead of causing problems. That is a huge improvement from last year! I'll try again tomorrow. Maybe I'll change the Kooka burra into a squirrel and add a squirrel poem.

Story:

I read "The Runaway Bunny" to baby and brother, leaving a farm and woodland scene out for Baby to play with while I read Brother's story. Unfortunately, Brother wanted to stay and play too. He did come while I read "Fill Up The House", which is another Dumbling folk tale from my Enki Folk and Fairy Tales book. Brother did stay and listen, but as soon as I was done reading, he was up and in playing with the toys.

For handwork, Brother continued sewing his tooth fairy pillow. He hates to sew, so we are working on a little bit at a time. I have to set the sewing goal for him as he resists. I am hoping that he will eventually start to love it.

This quarter's enrichment is swimming lessons. There were so many kids in the pool and the water was up to his neck. It was very overwhelming for him and he ended up crying for me to get him out and saying "Cancel it! Cancel it!" So, I pulled him out and he came and sat by me until the last 5 minutes. At that point he was able to sit by the side of the pool with his feet dangling into the water. I figure that since he was so upset, the fact that he was eventually willing to put his feet in and sit there was fabulous. I am hoping that by the end of the quarter he will at least be comfortable enough to get back in the pool. We shall see!

Monday is cleaning and baking day. I didn't get all of the cleaning done, nor the baking. I'll finish cleaning tonight and make granola. Hopefully on Wednesday we can bake muffins. Today we also had a piano delivered! Yeah!