Growing Notes: Cotton, Flax, Indigo

Today is Tuesday, April 1st and we are putting something in the ground!

For convenience, I'm going to keep the growing notes for all three plants in one blog post, but the flax goes in first.

The children have worked hard on their plant research for several days.

And many thanks to LR and SW -- the Geometry folks -- for measuring the diameter and calculating the area of our circular garden bed! We are reusing the area fenced off for our Three Sisters Garden last year.

Cotton

seeds harvested from whole plants brought in last year by Ms. Grace

Sep 25, 2024

Mar 24, 2025

Booklist: Cotton, Flax, Indigo

In part II of Fibers & Clothing (part I was Natural Dyes), we will be planning and planting a garden!

Fibers & Clothing 2024

Dye Recipes 2024

Our fiber garden will consist of stinging nettle (already planted), cotton, and flax. We will have our own little flax patch here and will also be helping with the flax section of the demonstration garden at the One-Room Schoolhouse.

Our color garden will focus solely on planting and caring for just one plant... indigo.

A Weaver's Garden: Growing Plants for Natural Dyes and Fibers
by Rita Buchanan

This little book is amazing! It has everything we're planting, plus

1 - Plant Fibers for Spinning and Stuffing

2 - Dyes from Plants

3 - Soap Plants for Cleaning Textiles

4 - Fragrant Plants to Scent and Protect Textiles

5 - Plant Materials Used to Make Textile Tools

6 - Creating a Garden

The two oldest students are doing Geometry this month, so that leaves 9 children. I can have them break into teams of 3 and each "adopt" a plant. First step, make a list of questions to research about your adopted plant. What do we need to know in order to grow it?

So it's back to using the index, which we practiced in our Geography reports! I should make a list of the additional books I have about each plant.

Cotton

blog posts

Cotton
Oct 2024

books

Cotton
by Millicent E. Selsam

The Story-Book of Science, chapter XVII "Cotton"
by Jean-Henri Fabre (FREE at Project Gutenberg)

Eli Whitney
by Jean Lee Latham

Where Did My Clothes Come From?
by Christine Butterworth

Roses Love Garlic: Companion Planting and Other Secrets of Flowers
by Louise Riotte

A Beetle Is Shy
by Dianna Hutts Aston

articles

Plan for Cotton and Flax in Your Garden
Homeplace Earth

Cotton Seed Growing Instructions
Thunder Acres

When to Plant Cotton
LSU Ag Center

Cotton Companion Plants
Savvy Garden

How to Grow Heirloom Arkansas Green Cotton from Seed
Running Bug Farm

Flax

blog posts

Picnic & Play: How a Shirt Grew in the Field
Sep 2019

books

How a Shirt Grew in the Field
trans. by Marguerita Rudolph

The Story-Book of Science by Jean-Henri Fabre, chapter XVI "Flax & Hemp"
(FREE at Project Gutenberg)

Linen: From Flax Seed to Woven Cloth
by Linda Heinrich

The Big Book of Flax: A Compendium of Facts, Art, Lore, Projects, and Song
by Christian and Johannes Zinzendorf

articles

How to Grow and Care for Flax Plants
The Spruce

Flax Companion Plants
Greg

Plan for Cotton and Flax in Your Garden
Homeplace Earth

Grow Flax for Linen in Your Garden
Homeplace Earth

Indigo

blog posts

Indigo

books

A Dyer's Garden: From Plant to Pot, Growing Dyes for Natural Fibers
by Rita Buchanan

articles

Stirring Up an Indigo Revival Where Slave Cabins Still Stand
The New York Times - Sep 19, 2024

Growing Japanese Indigo
Cedar Dell Designs

This post contains affiliate links to materials I truly use for homeschooling. Qualifying purchases provide me with revenue. Thank you for your support!

Make More Mistakes (Measurement Edition)

Measurement is a big focus of Waldorf Third Grade Math, and I've been thinking a lot about it. I try to put plenty of opportunities to practice measurement in our school year! As part of Algae Academy, the children had to measure their algae culture and media in milliliters, and read their Secchi stick in millimeters. We've been practicing reading a thermometer each day for our Weather Tree. This year in Science Club we made Secret Book Boxes. Last year in Science Club we built and raced Cardboard Boats.

This spring, we will be building a PVC Pipe Loom and planting a garden of flax, cotton, and indigo for part II of the Fibers & Clothing block, and designing and building a Tree Squirrel Playground to learn Simple Machines.

However, something is missing from our measurement projects, and that's Mistakes. To be more specific, the Consequences of Mistakes.

To learn something, you have to practice it a lot. You have to get it wrong, see why getting it wrong matters, troubleshoot and figure out what went wrong, and learn how to not repeat that error again. Because all of these measurement activities are real-life and significant (which I chose deliberately, so that the skills would have an authentic context), mistakes would matter. Measurement mistakes that would have caused the project to fail (like with the book boxes or the cardboard boats) were fixed by adults before we cut the pieces.

The problem with adults being helpful in this way is that it short-circuits the learning.

If I want my son to learn to tie his shoes, I don't buy him Crocs. I buy him shoes with laces. And just having shoes with laces is NOT enough! If I tie his shoes for him every day because it's faster, he will not learn how.

So now I'm brainstorming Mini Measurement projects that aren't expensive and don't really matter. By which I mean, I won't be tempted to come along and remeasure and fix it and make it right. They can mis-measure and goof it, and then get more supplies from me and make another one until they get it measured correctly.

I have one idea right off the bat, which is a really cool activity where you make a tiny gift box from a greeting card.

Volume and Perimeter Greeting Card Box Activity - FREE on TpT

More ideas:

Cut a 10 inch length of ribbon to tie your bouquet for Daffodil Day!

If anyone has additional ideas for projects like this, please share!

This post contains affiliate links to materials I truly use for homeschooling. Qualifying purchases provide me with revenue. Thank you for your support!

2025-2026 Main Lesson Blocks

Very excited for all of my students who are returning next year, and I wanted to share my school year planning for 2025-2026!

We will be doing the classic Waldorf blocks for 4th grade (age 10).

Main Lesson Blocks

Sep
Landforms & Water Features

Oct
Zoology I

Nov & Dec
Norse Mythology (with Class Play)

Jan
Local Geography, History & Industry

Feb
The Timeline of Life (with History Fair)

Mar
Fractions

Apr
Personal Narratives

May
Zoology II

Jun
Tall Tales

Specials

Science Club: Human Anatomy & Physiology

Art History

Sep Giuseppe Arcimboldo
1526 - 1593

Oct Paul Klee
1879 - 1940

Nov Mark Rothko
1903 - 1970

Dec Nonny Hogrogian
1932 - 2024

Jan Yoko Ono
1933 -

Feb Eva Hesse
1936 - 1970

Mar Lita Albuquerque
1946 -

Apr Maurizio Cattelan
1960 -

May Kiyan Williams
1991 -

Algae Academy

We are very excited to be participating in Algae Academy, a STEM program funded by the Department of Energy which provides a FREE curriculum including scientific equipment and live algae for students to work with!

I'm not used to a curriculum that includes videos but I think it's important that we follow it as written, since we are required to give our honest feedback at the conclusion of the program. To help me keep track of all the links -- I'm doing the Elementary lesson plans for most of my class and the Middle School lesson plans for my oldest student -- I'm going to put them here! Feel free to watch them to see what your children are doing each day!

Algae Fun Facts (PDF)

Tue Mar 11 - Algae Delivery and Setup Instructions

Mon Mar 17 - DAY ONE
Introduction to Algae

Elementary Part One - AM
pre-test, slides 1-8, worksheet pp.1-2


Elementary Part One - PM
slides 9-18, worksheet pp.3-5

Phycologist Interview - Dr. Jake Nalley (2:30)

Phycologist Interview - Dr. Jesse Traller-Ojeda (1:11)

The Faces of Maine's Working Waterfront: Atlantic Sea Farms (3:20)



Middle School
pre-test, slides 1-37, worksheet pp.1-2

Why Demand For Seaweed Is About To Boom (15:21)

sailor's eyeball algae (0:55)

Is algae the food of the future? (5:48)

Algae Industry Highlight: Global Algae Innovations (5:12)

Tue Mar 18 - DAY TWO
Setting up your algae culture and sampling

Elementary
slides 23-29, worksheet pp.8-10

Day 2: Setting Up Your Algae Culture

Day 2: Using a Secchi Stick and Biomass Estimator



Middle School
do alongside Elementary students but use worksheet pp.3-5
do slide 46



my extra idea: Bernie Fowler!

‘Sneaker index’ of 34 inches measured at Bernie Fowler Wade-In
chesapeakebay.net - Jun 17, 2021

'Sneaker index' of 41.5 inches measured at Bernie Fowler Wade-In
chesapeakebay.net - Jun 12, 2017

Wed Mar 19 - DAY THREE
Looking at algae under the microscope and dichotomous key activity

Elementary
do alongside Middle School student but use worksheet pp.11-13



Middle School
slides 47-64, worksheet pp.6-9

Glowing Beaches (3:01)

The mystery surrounding glacier ice worms (2:17)


have middle school student help prepare wet mounts in advance

Spirulina platensis

Isochrysis galbana

Micrasterias radiata

Nannochloropsis (the algae we are growing)

Thu Mar 20 - DAY FOUR
Sampling algae culture and measuring for growth

Elementary
slides 44-48, worksheet pp.14-15

Day 2: Using a Secchi Stick and Biomass Estimator



Middle School
do alongside Elementary students but use worksheet pp.10-11
do slide 68

Day 4: Calculating Growth Rate (Linear Growth)

Mon Mar 24 - DAY FIVE
Data Nugget

have everyone work together

read p.12 of Middle School packet

do pp.16-17 of Elementary packet

Tue Mar 25 & Wed Mar 26 - DAY SIX
Design Challenge

Elementary
worksheet p.18, post-test



Middle School
worksheet p.14
slides 75-76 (rubric), post-test



my extra idea:

An Ocean Garden: The Secret Life of Seaweed
by Josie Iselin

Macroalgae Fact Sheets, 2nd edition (PDF download)
Irish Seaweed Consultancy
www.irishseaweed.com

Thu Mar 27 - FIELD TRIP (AM) & PRESENTATIONS (PM)

Little Grassy Fish Hatchery
perfect tie-in to the Middle School Design Challenge!

This post contains affiliate links to materials I truly use for homeschooling. Qualifying purchases provide me with revenue. Thank you for your support!

Games to Play with a Deck of Cards

I have very fond memories of playing cards when I was a kid. Someone always had a deck of cards up at the pool, so that we could play Hearts while it was adult swim for 15 minutes at the top of the hour. Someone always had a deck of cards at the Community House, so that we could play Poker during boring parts of the play rehearsals (in fact, I remember when Frankie missed his cue during a production of Tom Sawyer because he was backstage deep in a hand of Poker). My parents and grandparents played Bridge every night when we were there for Christmas, and it was a big deal when the children were considered old enough to be initiated into the club and taught to play Bridge. I remember sitting on a trunk in the Amtrak station in Chicago playing Bridge while we waited for our train. My brother and I played War for hours. I played a million games of Solitaire by myself.

I still have my favorite most-played deck from childhood (bear in mind that I was at a very "I heart butterflies" age!)

I also have the double deck that I begged my mom to get me from the Metropolitan Museum of Art catalogue. At that point I had moved on to the "I heart Tiffany stained glass age"!

And I don't remember where this deck came from but I've had it since I was a little girl. It is soooo cool that I protected it fiercely and hardly ever played a game with it. It comes in a cool storage case, and the letters for the face cards are different because it's French! It also has "1" cards instead of Aces!

Fast-forward to a few weeks ago when I taught my after school Magic Class the Kid's Spelling Trick. Then I told Zac that he could keep the deck for his very own. It's an adorable set of Dog playing cards, with a different puppy on each card. (The Saluki is on the queen of hearts.) I thought he'd be thrilled! Instead he was baffled. He asked me why some of the cards had letters on them. What is A, K, Q, J?

It was then that I realized that my son is almost 10 and he had NEVER SEEN a deck of playing cards.

He explained to me later that he thought every card game had a specific deck of cards that went with it. Think Clumsy Thief, Check the Oven, Blink, Plop Trumps, Find My Behind, Rack-O, Rhyme Out, Ravine, None of a Kind, etc.

He never knew that there could be one deck of cards that you could play many games with!!!

So I promised Zac that I would spend some time over Spring Break teaching him card games, and now I'm looking up and making sure I know the rules for a few that are rusty. Since it has been many many years since I played with a deck of cards! If anyone has suggestions, I'd love to add to this list!!

search for more game rules at bicyclecards.com

Games for One Player

Solitaire

Games for Two Players

Cribbage *

Spit

Trash

War

Games for Four Players

Bridge

Group Games

Crazy Eights (2 or more)

Egyptian Rat Screw (2 or more)

Go Fish (2 or more)

Slapjack (2 or more)

Hearts (3 or more)

Old Maid (3 or more)

Spoons * (3 or more)

Pig (5 or more)

* requires additional equipment

This post contains affiliate links to materials I truly use for homeschooling. Qualifying purchases provide me with revenue. Thank you for your support!

Art History - Leonora Carrington

In my Art History 2024-2025 blog post, I decided March would be Leonora Carrington. Here are some resources and my planning notes:

Leonora Carrington
1917 - 2011

also

Art History Kids - October 2022

Week 1 Project
Surrealist Self Portrait Collage, p.20

Week 2 Project
Paint a Realm of Dreamy Details, p.21

Week 3 Project
Paint on Dark Colored Paper, p.22

Week 4 Project
A Literary Sculpture, p.23


Self-Portrait (Inn of the Dawn Horse), 1937-38

Green Tea (La Dame Ovale), 1942

Artes 110, 1944

The Giantess (The Guardian of the Egg), 1947

Ulu's Pants, 1952

And Then We Saw the Daughter of the Minotaur, 1953

How Doth the Little Crocodile, 1998 - painting

How Doth the Little Crocodile, 1998 - large sculpture

Leonora Carrington: The Celtic Surrealist
Exhibition Notes for Primary School Teachers (PDF)

Iguana and Fox, 1948-58 (tapestry)

LEONORA CARRINGTON by Pamela Robertson-Pearce
excerpt from the film GIFTED BEAUTY (Ragg Film, 2000)

The Surrealist Muses Who Roared
The women of the surrealist movement were often written off as silent and subservient. In fact, a group of them were creating extraordinary work – and lives – in Mexico
The Guardian - Jun 1, 2010

extra ideas I had that we didn't get to

look at Are You Really Syrious, 1953

Are You Really Sirius? lot essay from Christie's

The Story of Clocks and Calendars by Betsy Maestro, p.16



read excerpts from Egyptian Mythology for Kids by Morgan Moroney
"Neith: Goddess of Creation and War," pp.21-25
"Anubis: God of Mummification," pp.61-65



read Mummies Made in Egypt by Aliki



Geography activity, p.33 of Art History Kids

I recommend joining Lotus Stewart's Art History Kids website (The Studio) and getting access to her past lesson plans. I like her work, and find it's really helpful to have so many ideas that I can use as a jumping off point.

---

week of Mar 17:

Mon

read excerpts from The Milk of Dreams by Leonora Carrington

play WatchamaDrawit

look at Childhood Imaginations from The Celtic Surrealist PDF p.3 and do "create your own magical land" prompt

continue creative writing project begun last month

Thu

look at The Giantess (The Guardian of the Egg), 1947

discussion from The Celtic Surrealist PDF p.4

read Brigid's Cloak: An Ancient Irish Story retold by Bryce Milligan

week of Mar 24:

Mon

read Out of This World: The Surreal Art of Leonora Carrington by Michelle Markel

display examples of her artwork from Art History Kids

look at Green Tea (La Dame Ovale), 1942

discussion from The Celtic Surrealist PDF pp.4-5

do Week 2 Project from Art History Kids

Tue

look at And Then We Saw the Daughter of the Minotaur, 1953

read excerpt from "Theseus" chapter
from D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths



read "Minotaur" by X. J. Kennedy, p.13
from Eric Carle's Dragons, Dragons ed. by Laura Whipple

Wed

look at Iguana and Fox, 1948-58 (tapestry)

discussion from The Celtic Surrealist PDF p.7

read the Aztec legend The Princess and the Warrior: A Tale of Two Volcanoes retold by Duncan Tonatiuh



discuss modern English words of Nahuatl origin

week of Mar 31:

Mon

look at Artes 110, 1944

look at Ulu's Pants, 1952

look at How Doth the Little Crocodile, 1998

do Week 3 Project from Art History Kids

Tue

look at How Doth the Little Crocodile, 1988 (small sculpture)

look at Cocodrilo de Leonora Carrington (large sculpture)
Mexico City, Mexico

do Week 4 Project from Art History Kids

Wed

look at Self-Portrait (Inn of the Dawn Horse), 1937-38

Shadow Play activity, p.39 of Art History Kids (and video 5 in the list)
flashlight, bright lamp, large paper, charcoal, Q tips, various objects

Shadowgraphs Anyone Can Make by Phila H. Webb and Jane Corby

Thu

just for fun, watch an excerpt from Peter Pan (1924)
2:05 - 23:10

A Silent Movie That Is 101 Years Old blog post
Mar 1, 2025

I watched this movie, for completely different reasons, at the start of March... and then Peter Pan was mentioned in Lotus's video about shadows! So this will be the perfect chance for me to show my students a little bit of a silent movie. That's something I've always wanted to do in the classroom!!!

This post contains affiliate links to materials I truly use for homeschooling. Qualifying purchases provide me with revenue. Thank you for your support!