orin's 4-H camp bunk mates...
our sweet baby girl (evyn, 4 mths)
aydin & an awesome sword made by papa...
teething already...
ehren & mama...
ehren...(now officially potty training!)Thursday, August 6, 2009
recent, but random photos of our brood...:)
orin's 4-H camp bunk mates... our sweet baby girl (evyn, 4 mths) aydin & an awesome sword made by papa... teething already... ehren & mama... ehren...(now officially potty training!)
updated chore charts...
as part of our recommitment to a realistic & workable rhythm, i have completely redone the boys chore charts. i took a page from mama-aya's book ( http://seedsofkindness.blogspot.com/2009/06/projectmagnetic-chore-chart.html ) & made them magnetc, which the boys are loving!
ehren, a bit too much...it appears to be his new favorite game...arranging & rearranging his lot. :)
out with the old...
(a work in progress...i laminated the cards w/packing tape)
in with the new!
ehren, a bit too much...it appears to be his new favorite game...arranging & rearranging his lot. :)
out with the old...
(a work in progress...i laminated the cards w/packing tape)
in with the new!
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
chillin' at the pool...:)
these photos are actually from july 25th, but i am a bit behind in my posting (shhh.... ;)
our daily rhythm (fall 2009)
i have spent the better part of the last few weeks really planning out our upcoming school year.
orin decided our start date is to be august 24th...so, the countdown has officially begun (18 days!)
i am determined to have our entire year planned out to the 'T', both grades 1 & 4...page numbers referenced, chalboard drawings sketched out, handwork projects decided, etc. with that all said & done, i will be free to live in the moment of where we 'are', to be present for each block. that being said, i am open to adding/tweaking our lessons when new opportunities arise. :)
we have begun slowly sinking back into our rhythm...so that once we do officially start back we will all be good to go...
DAILY RHYTHM
530 am mama rise; "my time"...crafting, prep lessons, crafting, & make dinner
730 get breakfast made & on table
800 boys rise, wash hands breakfast
830 clear dishes/wipe table, dress, brush teeth, etc
900 morning walk w/circle time (or yoga)
945 short break/settle
10oo orin 45 min read alone (thorkill)
aydin mail lesson
ehren play on own
1045 snack & play break
1115 orin mail lesson
aydin & ehren play outside/inside quietly
1215 pm play break...ALL!
1245 lunch prep
1oo lunch w/papa & "papa time"
2oo rest time
3oo handwork/lesson b
orin decided our start date is to be august 24th...so, the countdown has officially begun (18 days!)
i am determined to have our entire year planned out to the 'T', both grades 1 & 4...page numbers referenced, chalboard drawings sketched out, handwork projects decided, etc. with that all said & done, i will be free to live in the moment of where we 'are', to be present for each block. that being said, i am open to adding/tweaking our lessons when new opportunities arise. :)
we have begun slowly sinking back into our rhythm...so that once we do officially start back we will all be good to go...
DAILY RHYTHM
530 am mama rise; "my time"...crafting, prep lessons, crafting, & make dinner
730 get breakfast made & on table
800 boys rise, wash hands breakfast
830 clear dishes/wipe table, dress, brush teeth, etc
900 morning walk w/circle time (or yoga)
945 short break/settle
10oo orin 45 min read alone (thorkill)
aydin mail lesson
ehren play on own
1045 snack & play break
1115 orin mail lesson
aydin & ehren play outside/inside quietly
1215 pm play break...ALL!
1245 lunch prep
1oo lunch w/papa & "papa time"
2oo rest time
3oo handwork/lesson b
mon: form drawing
tues: handwork
wed: baking
thur: handwork
fri: cleaning day
4oo freetime/computer (30 min each)
6oo set table, dinner
645 clear dishes/wipe table
7oo bath (m, w, f) /30 min tidy (t, th, sat)
8oo get ready for bed (pj's, brush teeth, pick out clothes, etc)
830 story & blessings journal
9oo bedtime.
this is all in theory, of course...and the times are only there for reference (to keep me ontrack). they say it takes 21 days for a new habit to form, so after that this all will be second nature.
where have we been?? (part 2)
rhythm & the home...more thoughts from mrs marsha
"I would begin with this in preparation for the fall. I would rise early and begin to establish a rhythm for the home and the children if you have not held onto one at this time. I would gather in a family meeting and decide together, which day of the week will be cleaning day, laundry day, baking day, arts n crafts day (can be many things here) and go out and socialize day. Leave the weekend free to do family things and bigger projects.
Add in a very routinized and highly insisted upon daily schedule for the children: in bed at 8 pm, awake by 7 am, three meals and two snacks, healthy bath or shower each day, husband can help with all of this when not working, be present, be up on his feet, moving around, helping the children achieve these simple goals in a sweet way....two parents working together.
Take it easy this summer, we will have about 9 weeks before school begins and do one room per week.......if you have 9 rooms! If you have 5 rooms, you will have 4 weeks 'off' to play, then! If you can organize the home, de-clutter the spaces (look to reduce, recycle, remove by about 50 percent of each room) then you can really begin to prepare for Fall 2009 lessons for the older children."
it really is common sense that the more clutter we have, the more piles & mounds of material objects we have surrounding us, the more cluttered out lives & rhythms, even our minds will be.
we did this once before, when orin was 6 & we had just begun our waldorf journey. it was amazingly liberating! and yet, over the past 3 years, we have had 2 more children & have slacked off a bit on what we would/wouldn't allow into our home.
we worked on that this past month...really letting go. lance was brilliant...he is really good at looking around & seeing what "needs to go", where i tend to have an emotional, packrat-ish attachment to things. :) i let go of my own inhibitions & followed his lead & our house is now much more the peaceful, loving home that it should be.
"I would begin with this in preparation for the fall. I would rise early and begin to establish a rhythm for the home and the children if you have not held onto one at this time. I would gather in a family meeting and decide together, which day of the week will be cleaning day, laundry day, baking day, arts n crafts day (can be many things here) and go out and socialize day. Leave the weekend free to do family things and bigger projects.
Add in a very routinized and highly insisted upon daily schedule for the children: in bed at 8 pm, awake by 7 am, three meals and two snacks, healthy bath or shower each day, husband can help with all of this when not working, be present, be up on his feet, moving around, helping the children achieve these simple goals in a sweet way....two parents working together.
Take it easy this summer, we will have about 9 weeks before school begins and do one room per week.......if you have 9 rooms! If you have 5 rooms, you will have 4 weeks 'off' to play, then! If you can organize the home, de-clutter the spaces (look to reduce, recycle, remove by about 50 percent of each room) then you can really begin to prepare for Fall 2009 lessons for the older children."
it really is common sense that the more clutter we have, the more piles & mounds of material objects we have surrounding us, the more cluttered out lives & rhythms, even our minds will be.
we did this once before, when orin was 6 & we had just begun our waldorf journey. it was amazingly liberating! and yet, over the past 3 years, we have had 2 more children & have slacked off a bit on what we would/wouldn't allow into our home.
we worked on that this past month...really letting go. lance was brilliant...he is really good at looking around & seeing what "needs to go", where i tend to have an emotional, packrat-ish attachment to things. :) i let go of my own inhibitions & followed his lead & our house is now much more the peaceful, loving home that it should be.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
where have we been?? hmmm...
that is a good question, and a relevant one indeed since i haven't posted for nearly a month! :) the truth is that i took july to do some much needed soul searching...
soul searching & meditating are a few of those things that we all NEED, but tend to find other (easier) things to do in lieu of, am i right??
homeschooling was rough last year, and i think that a large part of it was me...plain and simple. i needed to reconcile with my own short comings, my own (perhaps unrealistic) expectations, and make peace with the fact that i am only one person & that i can't do everything that i may want/need to do & THAT IS OK. (this, of course, all on top of having a somewhat difficult pregnancy with our 4th child :)
i have never considered myself a perfectionist, until recently...and oddly enough, i don't hold anyone else to those standards aside from myself.
we live a good distance from all of our extended family, and that can be hard. i have some very loving & supportive friends locally, but they all tend to have 2, 3, 4 or more children of their own...the "i-am-free & can-actually-have-a-real/meaningful-conversation" times are few and far between, and rarely align with one another.
so, i turned my online friends...the mamas who are in the same homeschooling/waldorf yahoo groups that i am on & really poured my heart out. the response was amazing! although i don't actually know these women, the love & support was truly inspiring! and they are all homeshooling mamas, like me! with 3, 4, or more children, like me! others who have been where i am/was & have made it through...
although several mamas reached out ot me, there is one in particuluar who seemed to say just what i needed...
here are a few inspiring lines from her response...
"Life demands. And one of life's greatest priorities is the new baby. Children learn every day even if they just play in the shadows and sunshine outside..they cannot help learning....unless of course we plug them into the electronic world too much...then their minds do become like shallow spaces.
Life revolves. New seasons arrive subtly and yet persistently, the year rolls around from start to finish and each day is indeed a blessing....
The Sun With Loving Light,
Makes Bright For Me Each Day!
Take heart from this verse: each day we can rise with the sun and find a brand new day, a brand new possibility, we can re-invent ourselves and re-create ourselves anew, breathe in fresh morning air and begin to take hold of ourselves, our families, our lives, and our learning, too. Every single day is a a new opportunity to find healthy healing ways."
-mrs marsha johnson, waldorf home eduacators yahoo group owner/moderator
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