Social Justice

Social justice. What does it mean for our children? In a world in which injustice can no longer be ignored, how do we teach them to deal with it?

In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day today, Oak Meadow is offering their Foundations in Social Justice course for Parents & Teachers FREE! What a wonderful resource as we guide our children in today's  world!

Get your copy HERE and use the code JUSTICE4ALL2018.

Our Home Learning: Rhythm and Atmosphere

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about our transition from using the Charlotte Mason method of homeschooling with living books to using Oak Meadow and implementing Charlotte Mason techniques. In this change, I took a closer look at the foundations of our home learning. Two of the most basic foundations that are most essential are the rhythm of our day and week and our atmosphere.

I learned the importance of a daily rhythm early on when my oldest son at age two would ask, "Mama, what are we doing today?" every morning. The more I have read, especially when doing research on Waldorf education, I can see how a daily rhythm, as well as a weekly one, sets our children up for positive learning by providing consistency so vital to keep a relaxed environment.

One of the most effective ways we keep our weekly rhythm is to have a calendar in our "learning room." Both of my sons, ages 6 and 9, can read, so if they ever wonder what is coming up in the next few days or weeks, all they have to do is look on the wall. For our daily rhythm, I refer to my lesson planner and our days pretty much play out the same each week. If there is something special coming up, it goes on our calendar.

 

We also keep a nature table that begins with a lovely purposeful nature scene that reflects the season. During the next few weeks, it transforms into a gathering of found treasures (feathers, leaves, acorns, pebbles, and the occasional nest) from our walks in the woodlands. (My youngest son becomes so attached to his natural treasures, that now we keep some of them in seasonal boxes. As the season progresses, we clean off the nature table, pull out our seasonal box, and he mingles his beloved treasures from years past with new found fancies.)

 



 

When we have cultivated a good rhythm to our days, we are able to focus more on a purposeful atmosphere that encourages organic learning. Oak meadow fits right in to this by often allowing children to pic from a variety of activities based on their interest. Part of our atmosphere is visual, so we provide an enriching learning space which includes:

 

a big view of the world,

 

 

a place to hang their artwork and lovely pictures,

 

a good collection of living books and ones that spark creative ideas,

 

learning resources we made ourselves,

 

and quality school supplies.

 

 

Now don't get me wrong, our home has its share of clutter, electronics, plastic toys, and less-than-ideal books, but we are a constant work in progress and growth. 

 

I have also come to realize that "atmosphere" also includes the unseen, as in the way we treat each other, how we carry ourselves, and what I model for my children. Do they see me on my computer? Yes, and I am mindful that it would be best for them to see me reading or doing hand work. Again a work in progress.  Charlotte Mason, in her book Parents and Children,  put it this way, "The child breathes the atmosphere emanating from his parents; that of the ideas which rule their own lives." This leads me to ask myself, how am I showing my children how to love learning? Learning creative thinking. Learning how to reason. Learning enquiry and evaluation. Learning empathy. Learning social skills. 

 

In the big picture, it all comes down to being purposeful, and keeping in mind the best piece of advice I have received on parenting. It came from my older sister who said, "Remember, you are not only raising sons, you are raising future husbands and fathers." 

 

Who are you raising?



Our New Homeschool Rhythm

Back in July I knew I needed to work more throughout the academic year than in years past. I also knew that my oldest son was ready to do more self-guided learning so I decided to get a computer-based curriculum.  It did not fit in with my attempts at a flowing rhythm nor my love for the Charlotte Mason method, but I really needed to be free of the stress of daily self-planning as my oldest entered fourth grade and my youngest began a mix of kindergarten and first grade and I thought it would be the solution.  I was so wrong.  After only two weeks, we were all bored with the repetition and computer-based learning was not enriching my son's life. The next week we made a big change and began using Oak Meadow, a Waldorf-inspired curriculum. What a difference!

Now into week 4 of using Oak Meadow curriculum, we have found a steady rhythm and managed to implement some Charlotte Mason techniques. (If you recall in previous posts, I wrote about how we used the Charlotte Mason method and implemented Waldorf techniques, so this isn't too much of a stretch from the past two years.)

Over the next several weeks, I will expand on some of the foundations of our learning and how we use Oak Meadow curriculum and some of the foundations of our learning.

Beeswax Modelling and A Giveaway

One of the things I like most about using the Charlotte Mason method in our homeschooling, is how well it trains my sons to focus through narration.  For our narration, I read a chapter from a classic book, right now it is Treasure Island, and Aidan, who is seven, tells me back what he can remember.  When we first began narration, I would have to stop at the end of a couple of paragraphs and have him narrate because he couldn't focus long enough to tell back an entire chapter.  I find, however, that he will focus best if his hands have something to do, so we began using beeswax modelling to compliment our read-aloud time. Shortly after I read, the boys will use the colorful beeswax to model something from the book and use it to retell the story. (For Robin Hood, it was a bow and arrow, and for The Tales of Mr. Pengachoosa, it was a little hamster.)  We use it to enhance our nature study as well, shaping the beeswax into flowers, butterflies, rainbows, etc.  The children are so proud of their creations.

 

 

 

 

I learned about beeswax modelling through my research into Waldorf education, where it is often used in the lower grades to supplement main lessons. Initially, I was hesitant to spend the money on the beeswax when play-doh was so inexpensive. But after I purchased some from an area Waldorf school, we were hooked.

The beeswax is a small hard strip, but becomes pliable with the warmth of your hand and is wonderful for fine motor skills. To keep it warm you can set it in a sunny spot or in warm water. As it cools, your creation will harden, but can be remolded easily. The beeswax strips have vibrant colors, are clean to handle, and have a lovely scent - a multi-sensory medium.

 

Are you ready to try beeswax modelling?  A Toy Garden is generously offering one of my readers a 12-piece set of Stockmar Modelling Beeswax.

To enter, leave a comment telling what will be the inspiration for beewax creations in your home, and follow A Toy Garden via email or facebook. (I would be glad for you to follow How the Sun Rose, but it is not a requirement.)  On Tuesday evening, April 9th, we will pick a winner. 

Thank you all for participating.  Congratulations to, Patti, who has been notified and is looking forward to many creative times using the modeling beeswax. 

My next giveaway, also from A Toy Garden, is coming soon...

  





Shared at:

Charlotte Mason Says: Copywork - Spring Poetry

One of the fundamentals of using the Charlotte Mason method for homeschooling is relying on your child's ability to absorb knowledge through observation.  This proves true especially in copywork, in which a child will observe how the letter looks as well as spelling and punctuation.  For us, copywork is essential.  The reason we pulled our son out of public schools, was to help him develop skills to cope with add (primarily inattentive) and having him meticulously copy short passages, facts or poem stanzas, has certainly helped him improve his ability to focus.  We usually do copywork three times per week.  He especially enjoys copying poems, which fits right in with our poetry / poets study.  

It is especially important to use proper printing or cursive when presenting these poems for copywork.  Like Miss Mason wrote: "Set good copies before him, and see that he imitates his model dutifully: the writing lesson being not so many lines, or 'a copy'––that is, a page of writing––but a single line which is as exactly as possible a copy of the characters set. The child may have to write several lines before he succeeds in producing this.  A certain sense of possession and delight may be added to this exercise if children are allowed to choose for transcription their favourite verse in one poem and another."

 Below, you will find some poems especially suited for spring. The Notebooking Nook offers some lovely bird notebook pages Here. Enjoy!

THE BUILDING OF THE NEST

 

They’ll come again to the apple-tree -

Robin and all the rest -

When the orchard branches are fair to see,

In the snow of the blossom drest;

And the prettiest thing in' the world will be

The building of the nest.

 

Weaving it well, so round and trim,

Hollowing it with care,

Nothing too far away for him,

Nothing for her too fair,

Hanging it safe on the topmost limb,

Their castle in the air.

Ah ! Mother-bird, you’ll have weary days

When the eggs are under your breast,

And shadow may darken the dancing rays

When the wee ones leave the nest;

But they’ll find their wings in a glad amaze,

And God will see to the rest.

So come to the trees with all your train

When the apple blossoms blow;

Through the April shimmer of sun and rain,

Go flying to and fro;

And sing to our hearts as we watch again

Your fairy building grow.

 

Margaret Sangster

 

The Wind

I saw you toss the kites on high

 

And blow the birds about the sky;
 

And all around I heard you pass,

 

Like ladies' skirts across the grass--

     O wind, a-blowing all day long,
 

     O wind, that sings so loud a song!

 

I saw the different things you did,

But always you yourself you hid.

I felt you push, I heard you call,

I could not see yourself at all--

     O wind, a-blowing all day long,

     O wind, that sings so loud a song!

 

O you that are so strong and cold,

O blower, are you young or old?

Are you a beast of field and tree,

Or just a stronger child than me?

     O wind, a-blowing all day long,

     O wind, that sings so loud a song!

 

Robert Louis Stevenson

 

 

The Year’s at the Spring

The year's at the spring,

And day's at the morn;

Morning's at seven;

The hill-side's dew-pearled;

The lark's on the wing;

The snail's on the thorn;

God's in his Heaven—

All's right with the world!

Robert Browning

 

 

Midges Dance Aboon the Burn

 

 

The midges dance aboon the burn; 

  The dews begin to fa’; 

The pairtricks down the rushy holm 

  Set up their e’ening ca’. 

Now loud and clear the blackbird’s sang        

  Rings through the briery shaw, 

While, flitting gay, the swallows play 

  Around the castle wa’. 

 

Beneath the golden gloamin’ sky 

  The mavis mends her lay;        

The redbreast pours his sweetest strains 

  To charm the lingering day; 

While weary yeldrins seem to wail 

  Their little nestlings torn, 

The merry wren, frae den to den,         

  Gaes jinking through the thorn. 

 

The roses fauld their silken leaves, 

  The foxglove shuts its bell; 

The honeysuckle and the birk 

  Spread fragrance through the dell.        

Let others crowd the giddy court 

  Of mirth and revelry, 

The simple joys that nature yields 

  Are dearer far to me.

 
Robert Tannahill

 

(This last selection may seem rather difficult for children, but we use it because Robert Tannahill is a family ancestor from Scotland 1774-1810)

Main Lesson Books & Block Crayons Giveaway

  

 

In our homeschooling adventures, nature study has provided ample opportunity for my son to tap into his creative side and encourage his observation skills.  One of his favorite parts of nature study is drawing what he has observed, whether it is a butterfly, a tree, or a rainbow.  For detailed drawings he uses a small blank book that travels with us to museums and parks. However, often, he needs a larger space to draw an entire landscape or large, more pronounced aspect of nature.  For that, he uses his treasured main lesson book. 

Main lesson books are typically used in Waldorf education, but are gaining popularity in Charlotte Mason homeschool families for seasonal or nature studies.  Main lesson book can be used for every subject, and are especially useful when teaching in blocks or unit studies.

Aidan's tree drawings after a maple sugaring field trip where we
learned that sugar maples have symmetrical branches.
(Drawn with Stockmar beeswax block crayons.)

Having quality art supplies is an essential part of our homeschool plan.  My children know that they have nice supplies and therefor take better care of what they have. Our main lesson books come from Oak Meadow, are 31x24cm, and have onion skin between the pages so the crayon drawings do not rub off on to the next page. These main lesson books are such quality that we will keep them for years to come as reference guides. They will also be a treasured source of pride and a journal of our children's homeschool journey and discoveries. We currently use them for our nature studies, but next year we will use our main lesson books for creating a Book of Centuries for history lessons, and a separate one for form drawing and math lessons.

The shining rainbow shows us Seven
As it stretches down from Heaven.

For our crayons, Aidan, who is seven, uses both Stockmar Beeswax stick and block crayons, also from Oak Meadow.  When we switched from cheaper crayons to these high quality beeswax crayons, Aidan remarked about how much brighter his beeswax crayons are than the ones in a traditional coloring box. And he is right. They are truly vibrant.

He recently began using block crayons and is learning techniques that give a soft blending texture that he cannot get with stick crayons and uses the edge for sharp lines. (I am looking forward to using them myself.) For more inspiration on using block crayons visit Homeschool Mo where Maureen writes about the evolution of block crayon use in her own homeschool journey.

Block crayons are perfect for bark rubbings.

Would you like to discover the beauty of block crayons as an art medium for yourself? Oak Meadow is generously offering one reader a set of 3 Main Lesson Books and a set of Stockmar Block Crayons. 

There are two ways to enter. (You are welcome to do both.)

1.  Like Oak Meadow on facebook, where you will join over 7,000 fans who enjoy daily informative and inspiring posts. Leave a comment that you did so and tell how you or your child would use the main lesson book and block crayons.

2. Follow How the Sun Rose via GFC (found on the sidebar) or facebook and leave a comment letting me know you did so.  (I often draw inspiration form my readers, and welcome your comments on posts and fellow bloggers linking up to Creative Learning on Fridays.)

On the evening of Monday, March 11, my 4 year old son will pick a random number out of our math river rocks and I will reveal the winner.

Our next giveaway is from A Toy Garden.  It is sure to inspire creativity!

Creative Learning Link Up #4

Welcome to Creative Learning on Friday.  Last week we had some wonderful posts linked up, including A Tribute to Charlotte Mason, the founder of the homeschool method we follow, amazing Little House on the Prairie paper craft, and a Burgess Bird Book Study Guide perfect for studying our feathered friends coming back north. We look forward to the creative learning you share with us today.


Please post the Creative Learning button on you blog so others can share in the inspiration.

Watercolor Number Cards

When my sons were little and just learning their colors, we would often paint with only one  color on wet paper, often called the wet-on-wet technique, which allowed the color to range from strong and bold to soft and light all in one  stroke. After many, many of such paintings, we found ourselves with a lot of pretty paper.  It became too much of a good thing, so I set out to think of other uses for the colorful paper. I found several ways to reuse the paper and one of our favorites is making number cards.

 

 

 

I cut up the watercolor papers into 3" x 4" then wrote 3 inch tall numbers on each card.  Next came the challenging part; using my very limited artistic skills, I drew plant, birds, stars, etc. to correspond to the number.  Soy & beeswax crayons, like the ones pictured from A Toy Garden, are bold enough to stand out on the watercolor paper.  In the end I also did a sign for each of the four processes (+ - x  ÷ ), = and an extra #1.

 

 

 

   



 

 

 

Little Shane likes to count the objects on the card to make sure they match the number, while Aidan practices his math facts with the cards.  We can also use them as story prompts for Aidan who is learning creative narration. For example: On a clear sunny day (card #1) I went walking in a forest (#3) and saw birds hopping all around (#8).  When I went to investigate...



 

 

 

 

 



Creative Learning on Friday Link Up #3

Welcome to Creative Learning on Friday.  We had some great ideas shared last weeks, from a beautiful Starry Night artist study, to a fun Word-a-Pillar for early readers, to imaginative Peg Dolls perfect for storytelling, and so much more.  I look forward to what creative learning you share with us today.

Please post the Creative Learning button on you blog so others can share in the inspiration.

Creative Learning Link Party #2

Welcome to Creative Learning on Friday. Our first link party was a great success and I look forward to reading your creative ideas and applying them to our own learning adventure.

Creative Learning on Friday Link Party

Welcome to our very first Creative Learning on Friday linky party!  I am thrilled to host a gathering of bloggers who are finding creative ways to help children learn. I look forward to being inspired by what you all have to share.

This is a case of the more, the merrier, so please add the "Creative Learning on Friday" link party button to your blog and invite your blogging friends to participate.

Skip Counting Number Wheel - Waldorf Math

I could see early on in our homeschool journey that math was going to be a challenge for our son who was fine with 2+2=3. Fortunately, I knew a bit about how math is taught in Waldorf schools and it has saved us from many possible frustrating math moments.  One of our biggest successes with Waldorf math is skip counting, which will make multiplication so much easier.  One technique we us is saying the numbers as we wrap yarn on a ring board that has 10 pegs numbered 0-9. (It is a great fine motor exercise as well.)



skip counting the 1's  (1, 2, 3, etc.)

2's (2, 4, 6, 8, etc.)

 

3's (3, 6, 9, 12, up to 30) -to wrap for 12 & up use
the single digit number (i.e. 12 wraps on the 2,
15 wraps on the 5, etc)



4's (4, 8 12, etc)



5's (5,10, etc.)

Beyond 5 the numbers become mirror images of earlier numbers (6 wraps around the same numbers as 4, 7 matches 3, 8 matches 2, and 9 matches 1.)

To make your own number wheel, purchase a round wood disc, and a dowel rod, both of which can be found at craft stores  (Ours has a 5" diameter.) To figure out where to drill the holes, wrap a piece of string around the outside diameter of the disc & cut it where the ends meet.  Measure the string and divide it by 10 & you will know how far apart to drill the holes. Drill 10 small holes, glue in 1/2 inch dowel rods, write on the numbers and you are ready to go.

Our kids are fascinated as they wind the yarn around the pegs to find that simple math can lead to beautiful design.

We have several other ways we practice Waldorf math and skip counting that I will be sharing in future posts.