Thursday, January 12, 2017

MLB Pages - Norse Mythology I & II

This post contains affiliate links to the materials I actually use for homeschooling. I hope you find them helpful. Thank you for your support!

Norse Mythology was one of Leah's absolute favorite topics last year! Again, please note that I put it in her sixth grade year because she was new to Waldorf homeschooling, so her penmanship is that of an older child. She was initially really hesitant to do this block because she was overhelmed at the challenge of writing a short summary of such elaborate and interesting mythology. For a while we were completely at loggerheads. Then she had the idea to create a "graphic novel" of the Norse myths, which I agreed to, and she actually ended up writing plenty once she got past that initial resistance. And I think her pages turned out so beautifully! I am happy to share them. Enjoy!


Please also check out the Norse Mythology page on my website
It is full of a variety of resources and notes for these blocks!



My favorites?

I loved how she made a border of cut construction paper stone blocks around the story of "Odin's Eight-legged Steed," when the trickster jotun disguised himself as a mason and attempted to build an enormous wall around Asgard within the span of one winter. It was so creative and it beautifully echoed the story on the facing page, "Bragi, God of Poetry," where she painted the black border of the kettle of mead and used a toothbrush, paint, and an old piece of wire screen to make the texture of the magic herbs which were added to the brew!

We got HUGE main lesson books for this... 19 inches wide, 13 1/2 inches tall. Click on any picture to enlarge it and scroll through the pages with ease.




5 comments:

Kerri said...

Beautiful book!!!! Thank your daughter for allowing you to share it. I will be showing it to my 10 yr old twins (grade 4). We have been in public school. Between the ADHD and defiance to do school work, something needs to change.....Waldorf handwork is something I need to add to our lives instead of just thinking about. I have a child who is resistance to ANY pencil work, writing especially and even drawing. But making their own comic books is something both twins do... If I can harness that into this, and I take dictation, maybe they could get excited about it. I saw the myth story book you listed. Do you just have the child retell the story in their own words? Is there a necessary teachers manual that goes with this? Thank you for your patience, maybe you have it somewhere on your site and I have not read enough. If so, can you point me to those articles ? Thanks, Kerri

Renee said...

Hello! There’s a ton of information on my website, waldorfcurriculum.com, on Waldorf education. Carrie at The Parenting Passageway just posted a really nice post on her blog about the rhythm of teaching a main lesson. You might find that helpful. I also offer homeschool consulting, particularly for families who are new to Waldorf. If you’re interested I’d be happy to talk further!

http://waldorfcurriculum.com/new_website/contact.html

Cathy said...

Hi, Renee! I'm curious about the large MLBs you used for this. Where did you get them? I'm planning this block for my 4th grader and would be interested in using something larger. This looks like such a wonderful experience for learners!

Renee said...

Hi Cathy! I just looked my two remaining blank books over carefully... no identifying marks. I got them in as part of a lot of homeschooling stuff that someone on the Yahoo group was selling, so I don't know where she got them. :-(

It looks like Pamela at Meadowsweet Naturals has spiral bound books as big as 12.6 x 14.96 inches (portrait) and the biggest spiral bound book at Paper Scissors Stone is 13 5/8 x 11 inches (landscape).

Oh, wait! I just Googled "Waldorf main lesson book huge" and got Palumba. They aren't quite the same (they are staple bound, portrait orientation, with onion skin) but the size is really big... 12.6 inches x 18.9 inches. Palumba.com is the site and they are called "extra large main lesson books."

Cathy said...

Thank you so much, Renee!