Family-time ways to start the New Year right

Family- one of the greatest gifts of all. After the fun and frenzy of Christmas, we are going to refocus our energy on family as we move in to the New Year. Here are ideas to help you do the same:

 

Go on a hike & find a geocache

Just a few days ago we took the boys to a great park outside of Philadelphia where my husband and I used to hike long before kids. Geocaching will lead you to great out-of-the-way places that you never knew existed. Sign up at www.geocaching.com or download the app.

 

 

 

Play a new game

 Last week, thanks to my sis, we discovered the game Labyrinth.  It was so much fun requiring thought and planning. Here we have my 9 year old trying to outwit my 81 year old mom and my sis. Good luck, kid. :)

 

 

Start a nightly story time

We are fortunate that both of our sons are good readers, but I find they still enjoy being read to. It is calming and gives us something to talk about that is both entertaining and often filled with life lessons and deeper meaning. We are just about to finish the Seven-Year-Old-Wonder-Book and move on to the Bobsey Twins.

 

 

Visit a National or State Park

Grab a Junior Ranger booklet at the visitor center of any national park and start working on collecting badges for the kids. Some parks even have programs for adults. Click here to learn more about the Junior ranger program and download the booklets - you can even earn some without leaving your home.

 

However you choose to celebrate 2018 may it be full of fun, love and adventure!





Saint Patrick's Day Remembered

I have been so distracted by everything going on at work that I forgot to make a big to-do over Saint Patrick's Day.  Oh, well, the boys and I are wearing green, my mom is planning a wonderful meal for the weekend, and we have a lovely piece by Saint Patrick to read at bedtime:

    

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,

Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,

Christ on my right, Christ on my left,

Christ when I lie down,

Christ when I sit down,

Christ when I arise,

Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,

Christ in the mouth of every one who speaks of me,

Christ in the eye of every one who sees me,

Christ in every ear that hears me.

-Saint Patrick

Advent: A Time of Preparation

It is our tradition to enjoy the countdown to Christmas in small special ways.

This year is no exception.

 

 

May your Advent season be blessed.

Making Poppies

Over the last few years, we have purposefully taught our children about our cultural heritage.  We are pretty much straight across the board Scottish, Irish and English with a tad Welsh and French.  To help them learn, we have attended Celtic Festivals, listened to traditional music - the Tannahill Weavers being our favorite - and read folktales.  We also encourage our boys to appreciate the great melting pot of American culture.  There are so many opportunities to see our citizens as One instead of groups divided and many of our national holidays are no exception.  This upcoming Memorial Day covers generations,  races, and belief systems as we come as one people to honor the fallen.

For this upcoming Memorial Day, we have read books about the founding of the holiday, learned patriotic songs, and we will look at my father's photo album.  He was in the United States Marine Corps for over 20 years, joining during World War Two and retiring during the Vietnam War.  While we do not want to glorify war in itself, my boys are learning that they come from a long line of warriors who answered the call to defend freedom, which would require, in some cases, the sacrifice of their own life.

To help the make the emotions and actions of honoring those who gave their life for our freedom more tangible, we made tissue paper poppies for our family to wear on Memorial Day.  Wearing red poppies on Memorial Day was the idea of Moina Michael who, in response to World War I Colonel John McCrae's In Flanders Fields, wrote:

We cherish too, the Poppy red
That grows on fields where valor led,
It seems to signal to the skies
That blood of heroes never dies.

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. Trace 3 different sized circles on to red tissue paper - for little hands it is easiest to use 3 different sized jars or glasses - and cut them out

2. On a 3x5 card color a small black circle and cut it out.  This will be the center of the flower and will help it keep its shape. Poke 2 holes through the black circle.

3. Stack the 3 red circles with the largest on bottom and smallest on top & poke a hole through them with a pipe cleaner then thread on the black circle.

4. Pull the pipe cleaner through about  one inch then thread it back through the black circle and the red tissue paper and twist the end of the pipe cleaner around the stem.

You can wear your poppy in a button hole, around your wrist, in your hair, or pin it  to your lapel to show that you remember and honor the those who gave their lives.

Arbor Day Activities and Resources

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Tomorrow is Arbor Day and I thought I would share some of the wonderful activities and resources we are using this year, and in years to come, to commemorate the day as a family.

 

 

History:
Arbor Day, set aside to plant trees and educate people about the importance of trees, and was began by J. Sterling Morton in 1874.

Morton, the editor of Nebraska's first newspaper, wanted settlers to come to the state. But the lack of trees on the Nebraska prairie posed a challenge. Although the prairie had the makings of rich farmland, would-be settlers could not build or heat homes without timber. In 1872, Morton suggested that the Nebraska State Board of Agriculture enlist the help of the state's residents and businesses in remedying the tree shortage. He recommended that the state establish a special day for people to plant trees and offer prizes for those who planted the most. On April 10, 1874, Morton's idea became reality, and Nebraska became home to America's first Arbor Day observance.

Today, the United States observes National Arbor Day on the fourth Friday of April. All fifty U.S. states celebrate Arbor Day, although dates vary from state to state according to local planting season. 

Learn more through the Arbor Day Foundation's Interactive History Book.

Resources:

Nature Rocks
Handbook of Nature Study
Arbor Day Foundation
Woodland Trust


Activities:
Bark Rubbing
Create an Indoor Tree
Make a Tree Centerpiece
Make a Leaf Matching Game
Arbor Day Lesson Plans
Find Your State's Arbor Day
Paint Leaf Print Trees
Memorize Jeremiah 17:8


More Ideas:
Plant a tree
Make a collage out of tree leaves
Copy poems about trees
Draw a family tree & explain to your children the strength in trees
Draw the shadows of trees you observe
Count the trees in your neighborhood & tally the different kinds
List or draw all of the different kinds of fruit we get from trees
Draw your state tree
Visit a local forest or arboretum
Grow a ficus tree inside your home (They look lovely at night with twinkling lights.)
Make sculptures out of fallen limbs
Read books about trees - we especially like The Giving Tree (See more suggestions below)

Waldorf School Winter Faire

A few weeks ago we attended the Susquehanna Waldorf School's Winter Festival where we found...

 



The winter nature table welcomes all at the main entrance



School hallways cheery and bright



A little shop for children to purchase gifts for friends and family

Fun games and prizes for children.



The upper grades made special tree decorations



Sweet needle felted hedgehog ornaments

Ornaments that encouraged our wanderlust

Made by an 8th grade student



A tree decorated by the parents who made colorful paper ornaments

 
 




A shop with tempting toys for girls...

and boys of all ages.

Instruments waiting for little hands to make music

And a very happy boy enjoying the open-ended playground.

Christmas Copywork - I Heard the Bells...

I want to share quickly what we are doing for copywork right now.  We started copying and discussing the poem last Thursday.   Little did we know how appropriate it would be for events to follow.

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day

I heard the bells on Christmas day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

I thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along th'unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

And in despair I bowed my head:
'There is no peace on earth, ' I said
'For hate is strong, and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.'

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
'God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With peace on earth, good will to men.'

Till, ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime,
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow-

May you have peace, hope, and joy this Christmas season.

Love

Love is the master key which opens the gate to happiness.

-Oliver Wendell Holmes-

More Valentine Crafts

While my boys were not too interested in decorating for Valentine's Day this past weekend, I was. (Of course, if Star Wars legos had been thrown in the mix, I am sure they would have been more involved, but I have my lego limits.) However, I managed to get them to help with a few crafts for our home and to send to loved ones.

First up is a fun way to use up all of those broken crayons that collect throughout the months. These translucent hearts add a cheery dash of color during these blanched February days.

Begin by making 1/8 cup of wax crayon  shavings using a handheld pencil sharpener.

Second, fold a 12x12 inch sheet of wax paper in half, pour on the shavings, making sure they are evenly distributed, and crimp the 3 open sides closed so the wax does not melt out the edges.

Put craft paper under the wax paper and craft paper on top of the wax paper, iron lightly using the medium heat setting. After the paper cools, draw, or trace using cookie cutters, hearts on to the paper.

Cut out the hearts and string them up on a window where the sun shines in and Enjoy.

Our next craft was to make heart decorations using beeswax and candle molds.

Simply melt the beeswax, lay in the string to hang the ornament and pour in the melted beeswax half way up to the top. If you make it too thick, the sun light will not shine through the beeswax.

Your home will smell lovely as the wax melts and the sweet smell will linger on the ornament for weeks to come.

Using the soap molds once again, I made scented soap hearts with a hidden treasure inside. Most of them hold shells from our summer trip to the shore, but two special ones for the boys hold a lego man. (It will be many baths before those lego men can come out of the soap, so I am guarenteed to have very cleen children for several weeks. tee hee)

I thought of the last craft when I was pondering how to use my youngest son's watercolor paintings (During these colder days, when long hours of outside play is not always possible, painting keeps little hands busy.)

First, have your little one paint both sides of heavy paper. We use watercolors on 140 lb watercolor paper. When both sides are dry, cut it into 1 inch wide strips.

Fold the two ends in and staple the first strip to itself, forming a heart.

Linking the next strip inside the one before, fold it inward, forming a heart, and staple it. Repeat again and agian to make a heart chain that can decorate a mantle, cupboards or hang from a door.

Have fun crafting!

Valentine Crafts

Looking to do some crafting this weekend? Here is the link to Last Year's Valentine Crafts.

To "Embrace" 2012

Each morn is New Year’s morn come true,
Morn of a festival to keep.
All nights are sacred nights to make
Confession and resolve and prayer;
All days are sacred days to wake
New gladness in the sunny air.
Only a night from old to new;
Only a sleep from night to morn.
The new is but the old come true;
Each sunrise sees a new year born.

-excerpt from New Year's Morning
by Helen Hunt Jackson (1892)

Saying goodbye to 2011 and hello to 2012 is a slow process in our home. Although 2011 held its share of sadness, we are a sentimental bunch and tend to hold on to the joyful moments, especially the wonders of the last few week.

A welcome scene

A moving live nativity at a local farm

Anticipating the celebration to come the next morning.

A few homemade gifts (mint lip balm, felted soap, star ornaments)

(More on that in a future post.)

As the decorations come down, I look forward to the renewed hope, growth, and adventures that 2012 holds. What does it hold exactly? I do not know, but I do know that I can live purposefully. With that in mind, Jessica, from the blog Bohemian Bowmans, encourages her readers to pick one purposeful word for 2012. This year, my word is "Embrace." I will allow myself to embrace my life for what it is and not regret what it is not. I will embrace my family for who they are. I will embrace the day that is given to me, not just set back and watch, although I tend to be a wallflower.

I am not the resolution type, but I do have goals for the year. I am going to try new crafts in these cooler months. I am in the process of making a Waldorf Doll, and look forward to making wool roving scapes, people, and animls. As the months move on, I hope to relearn the piano and teach my oldest son how to read music, I might even break open my cello and our dulcimers. I will teach my children about cooking and in a perfect world, will learn to enjoy hours in the kitchen. We will see. Regardless of it all, I will Embrace what comes.

Merry Christmas

The Light of the World has come.

Wishing you and yours a very merry Christmas.

Fostering Reverence

With the holidays approaching, I have tried to be more purposeful in how we respond to the season. We naturally withdraw from distractions outside our home as we seek to establish traditions and memories within our family. My eldest son, Aidan, talk excitedly about family being important during this season and even that Christmas isn't all about presents, but that it is Jesus' birthday. He is growing in understanding about ideas and qualities such a courage and hope, so quickly. (In Waldorf education, child development is viewed in 3 distinct cycles and Aidan is entering what is often called the Seven Year Change. Here is an excellent explanation of the 3 cycles.)

In a hurried world that seeks instant gratification, I want to teach my sons to hold reverence for the sacred. When they are grown, I do not want reverence to be new to them, but to be familiar. As I write, I am reminded of my older sister who has 4 sons and a daughter and lovingly reminds me that I am raising future husbands and fathers.

To help me foster reverence for Christmas with both boys, 6 and 3 years old, I have used a 24-day countdown tree my mother made for my sister and I when we were young. It is a simple and clever design in which we as children reached into the pocket of the corresponding day, pulled out a little felt ornament and hung it on the felt tree. What a delight to know Christmas is getting closer. This year, I added a little slip of paper in each pocket. On one side of the paper is a Biblical truth or verse, i.e. "God loves you" or "Let your light shine" and on the other is a clue to a waiting surprise. Every evening, after the boys blow out the dinner candles, young Shane puts the felt ornament on the tree and Aidan reads the paper and off they go to hunt for their surprise which ranges from a tasty treat to a shiny rock for the nature table.

Later in the evening, Aidan and I read from Family Devotions for the Advent Season, further encouraging both of us to look inward at how we will respond to the sacred season, now and in the future.

'Tis the gift to be simple...

'Tis the gift to be simple,
'tis the gift to be free,
'tis the gift to come down where you ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
It will be in the valley of love and delight.

When true simplicity is gained,
To bow and to bend we shan't be ashamed.
To turn, turn will be our delight,
'Til by turning, turning we come round right.

(Shaker hymn)

Wishing you and yours a simply blessed Thanksgiving.

Michaelmas: A Time For Bravery and Growth

Like many other Waldorf-inspired families, we celebrated Michaelmas yesterday, and throughout the week building up to the day.


There are many ways to teach and commemorate the day.


A popular tradition is to make "Dragon Bread." We used a recipe found in The Waldorf Kindergarten Snack Book.

Because the boys are still quite young, we focused on the theme of bravery by simply talking about times that call for bravery and, with Aidan, who is 6 year-old, reading about Saint George who slew the dragon in: Saint George and the Dragon by Margaret Hodges.

In the book, Princess Una prays for St. George the knight to heal from the dragon's fiery assault, which he does. Aidan and I discussed the power of prayer and why it is important to pray for other people.


Shane, who is just 3, played and slept with his toy dragons, one of which resides at our nature table.

While he claims dragons are "bad" he is ready to offer them love in the same breath. Forgiveness comes so easily to my little squire. (Later he defeated many dragons with his sword.)

Throughout the next week we will talk about archangel Michael (Revelation chapter 12), explore the Armor of God (Ephesians 13), and read The Squire and the Scroll by Jennie Bishop. A tale of the rewards of a pure heart.



And hopefully attend a Michaelmas play hosted by the Corps de Michael.


While "slaying dragons" is a metaphor for bravery and Spirit-filled boldness in every-day life for my children, it is also true for me. As I look to the upcoming Autumn, nature is moving toward a state of decay with the promise of a new day and new growth in the spring. In a way, that is how life is. As the weather cools and we are drawn indoors, I will take time in to wrestle with my own challenges, dragon's if you will, and look forward to a time of renewal and growth. Just as Rudolph Steiner said of Autumn, "Nature-consciousness must be transformed into self-consciousness." so the rhythm of the seasons encourage me to look inward and then outward.