Friday, January 15, 2021

My First Lazure Project aka Selling Extra Curriculum Materials on eBay

This slow-paced background story takes place over a span of fifteen years!


2006

    January - February
    long discussion in our Yahoo group about lazure how-to & links
    (Yahoo has now closed all groups but the notes are on my website)

    I'm determined to learn lazure so that I can be a real Waldorf mom



2018 (twelve years later)

    March
    do-it-yourself lazure kit from Charles & Karen Andrade is at my door

    ok! now I can check something off of my Waldorf bucket list!

    March - November
    I procrastinate because I'm scared I will mess it up

    in fact, for months I don't even open the box

    this turns out to be a big problem because packed in the little box the brushes are not being stored correctly and so the bristles get warped
    (they should be stored standing up on the bristles, not lying down)

    November
    I buy Dick Bruin and Attie Lichthart's new book, Painting at School: A Handbook for Elementary and Secondary Education in Waldorf Schools and discover that it has information about lazure in it, which gets me excited again. "Rudolf Steiner's color recommendations for school buildings," pp.67-71, explains how to do the technique and gives the color schemes recommended by Steiner for the Goethe School in Hamburg (1925), the Stuttgart barracks (1922-1923), and the London school (1925).


    Painting at School
    by Dick Bruin & Attie Lichthart


    I finally decide to move Zac out of his bedroom and lazure it
    (this is a safe project because it's the smallest room in the house; also it's my Winter Break so I have two weeks off from teaching and I'm confident I can get it done)

    Thursday, December 27
    patch hole in wall

    Saturday, December 28
    sand patch, wash walls, tape around windows, doors, and trim


2019

    for the month of January
    prime Zac's walls and the black marker scribbles... over and over

    lazure must be done on a background of ABSOLUTELY PURE white

    I'm frustrated because I'm not getting it done very swiftly and, meanwhile, Zac has no bedroom

    Thursday, January 31
    ultimately I take off painter's tape and just move Zac back into his pure white bedroom

    February - August
    Zac, who is three years old, writes on the walls of his primed pure white bedroom, so we paint it Orchid House (from Valspar) and turn it into the Science Room for our homeschool co-op, Little Bluestem. I move Zac into my bedroom so that I can monitor him. When he stops writing on the walls of rooms, he can have his own bedroom again!

    One day while I'm teaching, Zac (still three years old) gets into the lazure supplies, because I left them out in the hallway, and opens the little bottles. Much of the paint ends up on the floor and is wasted.

    Sunday, September 1
    I decide that a bedroom, even a tiny one, is too ambitious of a project since I'm apparently terrified of lazure. I go looking for something smaller. I choose the one odd partial wall in our downstairs stairwell. This will be easy to get to and needs painting anyway, since it is currently covered with muddy fingerprints.


2021

    Monday, January 4
    I decide that I am probably never going to lazure anything, so I add the paint (which is almost exactly like Stockmar concentrated watercolor paint) to the art room shelves and I put the brushes away in the attic. Just on the off chance that I will want them someday...



So, much of my life goes like this. I collect things eagerly -- like any other teacher and homeschooling mom -- and then there is a large discrepancy between what I own and what I actually use. Yet, many of the things I have would be useful to someone else! Lazure brushes are expensive and beautiful. They are not ever going in the trash. I feel the same way about the rest of my curriculum things, but there's a lot I don't use that I either bought, or someone donated to me, or I got several copies of it from back when the Lending Library was going strong (I have lots of duplicate books).

And therefore my New Year's Resolution is to spend January and February deep cleaning and organizing ALL of my teaching things and selling on eBay what I do not need. This includes my Library, all of my file cabinets, and my Art Room, Handwork Room, and Science Room.

It's a big job but COVID is the perfect time to do it. And, since I fall in the category of people who buy everything online that they possibly can, only pick up their groceries at the curb, and have not seen their family or had a haircut since last February, I will be shipping everything USPS Priority Mail in Flat Rate Shipping boxes that do not need to be weighed.

I can pack it all up neatly and carefully, pay for the shipping and schedule a pickup online, and set it out on my doorstep. Easy!

So my plan is to NOT write any blog posts until this job is done and to use this post as a place to update what I have listed on eBay in case anyone is interested in any of the auctions. I will put things together into lots, bundles, and kits, so even if you get a book you'll get a few bonus things with it that may be useful for a lesson. I will keep this list strictly up to date and if I know where something came from -- and it's still available -- I'll include the link to it. That way if you miss out on an auction you still know where to find it. And if I change my mind later and want to buy it again, I can! Enjoy!



My goal is to tidy & organize for 3 hours a day and list 3 auctions a day.
I used to be able to sell things on my Yahoo group but time marches on...


UPDATE:

After doing the math I have realized that because I was selling things so reasonably and because eBay's fees are so high, I have actually been losing money on these auctions the entire time. So, with deepest regret, I am no longer using eBay as a way to pass my teaching items on to other families.


PREVIOUS AUCTIONS

Early Childhood



    SOLD


    Making Peg Dolls
    by Margaret Bloom
    plus The Gigantic Turnip by Aleksei Tolstoy, needle felted turnip, large felting sponge (8" x 10" x 2"), 2 felting needles, 3 packs of Ashford wool purchased from A Child's Dream: Corriedale Sliver Rainbow Brights, Corriedale Sliver Pastels, English Leicester Rainbow Brights


    SOLD


    Max Found Two Sticks
    by Brian Pinkney
    plus My Mama Had a Dancing Heart by Libba Moore Gray, a rainstick, three pairs of cymbals, three pairs of rhythm sticks, 12 pieces of driftwood and two pieces of sandpaper (100 and 220), a wood block, a train whistle, two flower whistles, a pair of Kindermusik shaker eggs, and four clean coconut shell halves for making horse sounds


    SOLD

    Allegro: Music for the Eurythmy Curriculum
    by Elisabeth Lebret
    plus Eurythmy: Balance of Body and Soul DVD, two pairs of Mercurius eurythmy slippers (white 27, black 40), and a hand-crocheted organic cotton eurythmy slipper bag






    SOLD


    250 mL bottles (half full) of Stockmar Circle Color watercolor paint (red, blue, yellow)
    plus cherry paint jar holder from Camden Rose (three small jars for paint, one large jar for rinse water) and 2 Mercurius brushes size 22


First Grade



First Grade and Higher
















Second Grade








    SOLD


    Trickiest! 19 Sneaky Animals
    by Steve Jenkins
    plus three more books of animal facts (Stinkiest!, Speediest!, Deadliest!), a 10-sided die, 100 glass gems in each Stamp Game color, 50 glass gems in each Decimal Stamp Game color, 9 peg dolls in each size (small, medium large) for Decurian and Centurian Division, silver Sharpie, and lots of math worksheets (Bead Stair, Teen Beads, Counting to 100, Place Value, Greater Than - Less Than)



Proof! The Fast Paced Game of Mental Math Magic!
plus Monster Sock Factory by Logic Roots, Square Up! The Fast and Furious Slide-Puzzle Game by Mindware, and a 10-sided die for playing the Dice Game


Third Grade








    SOLD


    A New Coat for Anna
    by Harrier Ziefert
    plus wool batting dyed with blueberries, four colors of wool roving, a drop spindle, alpaca/silk fiber, and a bag of raw wool for washing


    SOLD


    Vincent's Colors
    by Vincent van Gogh
    plus a wood Montessori Grammar Stencil from Waseca Biomes, 10 colored pencils from Nienhuis, Grammar nomenclature and Sentence Analysis materials printed from Montessori for Everyone, and two "Literature for Grammar" packets from Mandala Classroom Resources (Intermediate and Upper Level)




Fourth Grade




    SOLD


    Turtles
    by Wildrid Swancourt Bronson
    plus 10 fact cards about frogs & toads, and two sets each of 12 Montessori Animal Story cards -- full color and laminated -- for turtles & tortoises (Green Turtle Wood Turtle, Desert Tortoise, Western Pond Turtle, Spiny Softshell, Leatherback, Southern Painted Turtle, Spotted Turtle, Common Mud Turtle, Northern Diamondback Terrapin, Alligator Snapping Turtle, Yellow-blotched Sawback) and birds (Red-Tailed Hawk, Golden Eagle, Osprey, Northern Goshawk, Turkey Vulture, Bald Eagle, King Vulture, American Kestrel, Swallow-Tailed Kite, Crested Caracara, Peregrine Falcon, African Fish Eagle)




Fifth Grade







Sixth Grade









Seventh Grade

    SOLD


    Older Than the Stars
    by Karen C. Fox
    plus "Parts of the Atom" nomenclature, "First 20 Elements" three part cards, molecule kit, and assorted element cards for board games and classroom activities


Eighth Grade




High School



Montessori Only

    SOLD

    NAMC Upper Elementary Curriculum Montessori Checklists


    SOLD

    NAMC Botany, Matter & Astronomy, and Physical Geography binders Lower El (ages 6-9)



    SOLD

    NAMC Practical Life binder Lower El (ages 6-9) and homemade Practical Life binder for Upper El (ages 9-12)


    SOLD

    NAMC History and Cultural Geography binders Lower El (ages 6-9)


    SOLD

    NAMC Health Sciences, Art & Music binder Lower El (ages 6-9), homemade Music binder for Lower El (ages 6-9), and homemade Music and Art binders for Upper El (ages 9-12)


    SOLD

    NAMC Classroom Guide Elementary (ages 6-12), homemade Classroom Management binders for Lower El (ages 6-9) and Upper El (ages 9-12), articles and handouts for Montessori Philosophy and Educational Theory


    SOLD

    NAMC Zoology and Science Experiments binder Lower El (ages 6-9)



    SOLD

    NAMC Language Arts binder Lower El (ages 6-9) plus Grammar Stencil from Waseca Biomes, Sentence Analysis Stencil from Mandala Classroom Resources, 5 Sentence Analysis Charts from Mandala Classroom Resources, and some sample sentences for symbolizing


UPDATE:

As of March 1st, our homeschool co-op is resuming in-person school in our Outdoor Classroom. I have spent more time than I expected preparing for that transition and less time sorting through my rooms of teaching things... however, I will commit to posting new listings on eBay each Saturday. Please check back and see if there's something new that interests you! I'll keep this blog post always up to date.


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

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7 comments:

Renee said...

Zac asked me not to sell the stink bug book, so that auction is now withdrawn. :-)

February 2, 2021 at 8:17 PM
Moon-Shadows said...

Hello, Do you know of a place to find the book Breathing Circle? Its out of stock or not available, all the places I checked.
Thank you for sharing, your wealth of information is truely inspiring!
On your wood cutter circle time do you do all 17 verses everyday or a few at a time building up?

February 11, 2021 at 10:00 PM
Renee said...

Hello! I hope it's not out of print already... it's a great book. One of the VERY best for early childhood. I'll see if I can find a copy for sale somewhere.

Regarding the Early Childhood circles, those are bilt up slowly over time, so that the chidlren have learned them by heart at the end of one month. We just finished doing the Honeybee in Winter circle and I introduced two finger plays one day, then added in a song the next day, then a circle game the next day, and after a few weeks we started to do the whole story and movement sequence from start to end. But it takes a while.

February 11, 2021 at 11:36 PM
Renee said...

I just checked the Hawthorn Press website and it is not on their page of titles currently out of print. Perhaps COVID has interrupted shipments to book stores?

https://www.hawthornpress.com/titles-currently-out-of-print/

February 11, 2021 at 11:56 PM
Moon-Shadows said...

Renee thank you for your reply. Will keep looking for the book! Circle time is so challenging for me! All the singing and story telling just doesnt come naturally, I feel so well...silly.. Cant remember the words, lyrics..etc..
Wish you had video's! For now though I am following your blog post, thanks again!

February 12, 2021 at 2:08 AM
Renee said...

Hello! I am always available for a Zoom or phone consult; visit waldorfcurriculum.com and click Consulting from the options at the top. But I would say first that it helped me SO MUCH to buy books that came with CDs, since I can't read sheet music. The two books by Candy Verney, The Singing Day and the Singing Year, are both excellent and have CDs.

https://amzn.to/37bpNP4

https://amzn.to/2OxEMwt

Youtube is also really helpful for many Waldorf songs and finger plays.

Second, I would say that it is all about finding a supportive rhythm for your family and, yes, it does usually feel like a bit of a tug to get into it -- because you're having everyone stop what they're doing and shift with you -- but when you're in it, circle time should feel really wonderful. Like it's finally giving you time in your day to breathe. It is about slowing down and enjoying the moment, like a meditation. So find a song to start Circle Time that you really like, that immediately gives you joy. I would sing Ram Sam Sam as I spread out a small quilt that we always used for that time. I am not a good singer but that is not what matters. You just have to go for it. The kids would hear the song, come and help me smooth out the quilt, and by the end of the song we were all sitting together.

It helps to practice the verses and finger plays in advance, both the night before and the morning of. I keep the words by me at the circle sometimes when I'm learning something and I'm unsure, and I think that's fine. You need to model being a learner as well as being the adult who knows things (in my opinion). But ultimately you and they will memeorize them. It's fine to do verses for weeks and weeks, as long as they are still seasonally appropriate and your family isn't tired of them. And don't do too much. It should feel fun, not heavy. If you are tense and worried you're going to forget something, you're likely doing too much.

It's not about doing a lot, it's about feeling connected. Like one good moment that feels real, not checking off a list of things to do.

The thing that touches the heart of children is not that we have memorized a new verse but that we are pausing our day for them, that we are making an effort to be connected and to be consistent. Consistency makes kids feel safe and it works for adults too! While they play after breakfast I prep the activity and I refresh myself on my songs and verses and movements. I do Circle Time mid-morning before whatever craft we are going to do. I don't strive for a certain time for the circle but it tends to be between 10 and 10:30 am. So it's breakfast, free play, and then the circle and the "activity of the day" and then lunch. After lunch, rest time, more free play, and then onward to baths and dinner.

February 12, 2021 at 12:14 PM
Moon-Shadows said...

Wow! Thank you! Much to learn!!!! Im also craving that connection, slow down, intentional time to connect and explore and the little bit I have done does feel so good in that respect so thats what keeps me plugging along and learning how.
Thank you for your wonderful suggestions and encouragement!

February 12, 2021 at 12:24 PM

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