B, B and B

Bouncy Ball
Today I am writing at a new computer set-up, having taken the machine off the dining room table (more family friendly) and put it downstairs at my new desk. Oh, yes, we've been moving things around again! Natalie, Leah and Rebecca all in new bedrooms... furniture moving all over the place. Our lives went from horrific to peaceful in one fell swoop, it was amazing. Natalie and Leah used to spend all their naptime and bedtime (until late in the night, around 11 pm) playing around in their bedrooms, sneaking out into the hallway, tapping messages to each other through the wall, talking to each other, on and on... naptime and bedtimes were nothing but me stopping what I was doing every 2 minutes -- literally -- to go ask them to be quiet and please go to sleep. HOURS and HOURS every day of fighting with my kids. Oh, I was beyond miserable. And you can't force someone to go to sleep, so it pretty much puts you in a losing position. Ditto with not being able to force someone to be quiet. You are either pleading with them or threatening them but you can't actually make them do it. So we backed ourselves into quite a corner and everyone was very unhappy. We were actually considering turning their bedroom doorknobs around so we could lock them in (which is an idea that makes me sick to my stomach, but we were desperate) but, of course, that wouldn't stop them from talking to each other. And I'm going, okay, Waldorf says they don't have willpower at this age and they are living in the moment, can't stop themselves. But I don't know what that means... I'm still supposed to parent them. They are not wild animals, they are able to be taught to be human. (Sometimes my ideas about children being in the will stage confuse me. I think I have some things wrong when it comes to parenting in a Waldorf way... I can't wait to see Barbara Dewey and ask her some of the questions I have about this stage).

Seeking help, I asked my mom and she said, when we told you to go to bed, you went to bed. Not helpful! And, thinking about this some more, my kids have never acted like this in any other sleeping arrangement we've ever had... so I don't think they are bad children, it must just be that they simply desperately wanted to be together. So Friday night I get an epiphany and go to Steve and say, maybe we are tackling this the wrong way and we should just let them be together, instead of expending tremendous amounts of energy keeping them apart (they'd never been in back-to-back bedrooms before, usually they were on separate floors). So we moved N and L together to the downstairs room where they have their own bathroom and can run around and whoop and holler without bothering a single soul. There's a concrete floor (carpeted of course) in their room so it's much better than little feet on a wooden floor making me nuts. No one is stuck down in the downstairs room alone (a reason why they each didn't like being there) and Becca is back upstairs (and she couldn't care less). That leaves us with an empty room... a guest room! We moved the TV from the downstairs living room, which had been slowly turning me into a vegetable, and put it in the guest room. No cable access, no eternal TV watching. We have movies in case Jenn wants to watch some. But no more TV for me (the kids are already off it but, in my case, we set it up so I could do exercise videos and it was slowly sucking me in). Now the kids are behaving like perfect angels. No one is getting in trouble anymore! I have a desk downstairs where my TV used to be and I am sitting on my gigantic red bouncy ball (which the physical therapist told me to sit on as much as possible -- apparently bouncing on this thing actually helps to rebuild cartilage in your back!) and blogging away. It's so strange how parenting can be... One minute you're sitting staring down the throat of a huge black monster of despair, thinking "I have no idea what to do in this situation, I am ruining my children for life, I am so miserable" and then you fix the thing that is wrong and suddenly you're relaxed and parenting is fun and easy again. Strange.


Bag Lunch
Natalie headed off this morning for her first-ever day of summer camp. Steve took her so that he can also get new tires put on the van. I got her all packed up this morning and she was soooo excited to take a bag lunch (also a first for her). She was so excited about her lunch that she could hardly eat her breakfast! It was adorable. I hope she has a really good time and I can't wait to see her at 12:30 and hear all about it.


Bean Art
Meanwhile, back in the jungle, Leah and Rebecca and I are hanging out this morning sans Natalie and I decided to get out the bag of dried beans I had been saving and have us do a dried bean collage. This is really inexpensive and super-simple. A piece of construction paper, a variety of dried beans (just get a bagged bean mix), and glue are all you need. To make it easier, I gave the kids a small paintbrush each and put the glue in an old ashtray. They had the glue between them and dipped the brushes in, put it on the paper, and chose a bean (they each had their own tray of beans -- just put the beans into an old cookie tin and pour out a selection onto the lid, when you are done, pour all the beans back into the tin and pack it away). I like to use an ashtray instead of another kind of small dish because 1) I don't care if it gets ruined and 2) they have little dips in the sides where the cigarettes used to go and those dips are perfect to rest your paintbrush in when you are not using it. The brush isn't dripping on the table and it isn't swimming in the water or paint or glue or whatever. Rebecca loved this project -- she had an absolute blast.

String Art

Today was Spiders Spin Webs and making our nail boards for our string art pieces. I thought that instead of making the boards up in advance I'd give the kids the opportunity to help. They loved hammering the nails in (with help). This was Natalie and Leah only -- Becca I think is too little for a hammer and real nails and too young also to manipulate the ball of yarn to make patterns. After making our nail boards I gave Natalie a small ball of yellow yarn and Leah a small ball of orange yarn and sent them off to make designs while I made lunch. Leah's string art turned out to be really beautiful, I was somewhat surprised. We kept it simple -- and really cheap. The frames were old picture frames that Steve found on freecycle, the finishing nails and hammer we already owned, and ditto with the yarn (another example of the usefulness of my stash of odds and ends of craft stuff). If you're making this at home, I recommend a picture frame that is at least 1 1/2 inches thick so that it doesn't split when you put the nails in. Keep them spaced pretty far apart also. We used three nails each for the long sides of the frames and two nails on each short side for a total of 10. If the children were older I'd probably have us do more nails to allow for more complicated patterns.

This afternoon is a special Spider Snack. I had planned to use MaryAnn Kohl's recipe but decided instead to make No-Bake Fudgy Oat Cookies with chow mein noodle legs and a web drawn on the plate with chocolate syrup. Should be fun!

Tonight my prep for tomorrow's lesson is to make Little Miss Muffet, her bowl of curds and whey, and a spider. I can't wait to sink my hands into wool again. I love love love needle felting and it's been a while since I've done a project... not since Little Bo Peep.

The organizational streak continues. I washed all my handwash-only dishes (a HUGE feat) last night, and have been sorting through misc. boxes again today. I found two boxes of shells, which I consolidated into one, and went through and organized all my vintage sewing stuff, as well as my quilting supplies. Hurrah! I bet that right at the time that the garage is all cleaned out and everything has a home, I'll be moving again. Oh well. It's still worth it to try, I guess. :-)

Ticket System

This has been our most successful week ever of homeschooling. I don't know why, perhaps it's because of being more organized (and having a better idea of what we can realistically do in a day), perhaps it's because I am leaving the house every evening to prepare for the next day's work instead of assuming I'll have time the next morning, or perhaps something clicked over in my head. We've done everything on the list for three straight days which has NEVER happened before. And the kids are having a great time! I am too, actually. Today's branch web project came out beautifully. I used a ball of yarn I had rewound from a partially done knitting project that my Aunt Betty left behind... waste not, want not. It's a nice multicolored rainbow yarn and looked beautiful on the branches. We went over to Jefferson Patterson Park and the kids collected clover flowers, fallen leaves, and small sticks to add to their branches. Then they ran around in the field by the visitor's center for a while.

I have been on a real cleaning and organizing streak this week... today I went through three more boxes (still didn't find my passport) and I've been restlessly walking around the house picking things up and putting them away. Never stop moving, that's the secret. I am having to wear shoes in the house because my feet hurt.

We also implemented a new discipline strategy today. Previously it was a behavior chart on the white board by the front door consisting of three signs for each child. Every morning we replenished the signs which, throughout the day, got erased for bad behavior (after a warning was given). Then, at the end of the day, each sign equaled a bedtime story. This is because Steve wanted something concrete he could do when redirecting didn't work (and we are trying to avoid spanking at all costs) and the main reward we wanted to give them was extra time with Mom and Dad. The signs worked for a while but we found some problems. First, once you've lost all three there are no more consequences for the rest of the day. Second, once you've gotten your bedtime stories, there's no reason anymore to be good. We had lots of problems after they went down to bed!!! So Steve came to me asking for a change and now we are trying that age-old classroom standard: the ticket system. He came home with a big roll of tickets last night (you can get them at WalMart, Office Depot, etc) and I went to Michael's and bought three quart jars and three sheets of stickers (heart, fish, butterfly). We hashed out the whole thing in a long phone conversation and came up with exactly how we wanted it to work. This morning I made a chart with drawings of three tickets on the left hand side (all the kids can already count to three, since there are three children, so I don't think it's too much math) and all the things you can "buy" with 3 tickets. An extra story, a special food, one-on-one time with Mama or Papa, and a bubble bath. The other column shows a full jar. If you save up until your jar is full, you get to go to the Zoo! We wanted, in part, to see if they would learn the value of saving to get something you want (something I've never seemed to manage). This morning when I introduced the system, Natalie immediately started talking about which treats she wanted to buy as soon as she got three tickets and Leah stated quite emphatically that she was saving for a full jar so she could go to the Zoo. :-)

Anyway, the idea is a steady stream of positive reinforcement and we'll see how it goes. I'll keep you posted!

After this weekend, life gets very busy. The first three days of next week are Natalie's first summer camp (mornings only, at Kings Landing Park). I think I'll do a "Recycling" theme with the two who are home and I'll plan those activities in a minute. Gini Newcomb suggests topics of Food Chains, We Can Help Animals, We Can Help the Earth, Endangered Species of North America, and Endangered Animals of the World for this week. We'll just do "We Can Help the Earth." Then some time off from school for the 4th of July festivities, which go from June 29th through July 4th. We'll head over to the little cabin to be closer to the action. (That means no internet connection, no blogging.) On July 5th Jenn arrives and she leaves the morning of the 8th. So after the early part of next week, I don't anticipate writing school plans until the week of July 9th. In that week is Leah's summer camp (also mornings only, this one at Battle Creek Cypress Swamp -- it's a Hand in Hand camp and she'll go with my mom and my Aunt Janet) and so I'll have to have fun plans for the kids who are remaining at home. Our curric. states that Australia is the theme for the early part of July (which is nice since we were planning on going to the National Aquarium in Baltimore when Jenn is here -- a field trip where I definitely need an extra pair of hands -- and they have a new exhibit on Australia) and Oceans for the latter part. Really nice! Lots of time at the beach. Hurrah! August is Antarctica and the Arctic Circle. I don't know if that is going to happen. At some point I'd like to move back into being more Waldorf-y. Maybe August is the time for that. I'm going to Barbara Dewey's Early Childhood teacher training which should prove super-inspirational.

Marine Museum Visit

We had a very nice field trip to the Calvert Marine Museum this morning. First we visited the paleontology section and got to touch lots of sediment and fossils close up. The children weren't at all afraid of the giant Carcharodon Megalodon skeleton. Here's a photo with the lead paleontologist standing in front of it:


Oddly enough, this photo (which is of the exhibit we went to) is one of the top three links that came up when I searched for the correct spelling of the scientific name for the extinct Great White Shark (much bigger than his modern-time cousin). I guess this museum is pretty well known. It's hard when a museum is right in your backyard (and you've worked at it, your mom has worked at it, and your brother has worked at it) to realize that it could be famous.

After paleo we went through the series of estuary aquarium tanks, starting from most salty (the Ches. Bay) and progressing to least salty (freshwater marsh). The children liked the blue crabs, hermit crabs, jellyfish, and seahorses the best.

Next the outdoor exhibits. We saw the river otters and then did the marsh walk. It was a really really high tide so we didn't see much -- just the periwinkle snails and a red-winged blackbird. At the gift shop I sprung for two more Folkmanis puppets (our collection now numbers six): the crab and the octopus.

When Natalie wakes up from her nap we'll do the Carnival of the Animals: Aquarium piece. I went out to the car to preview it. I really love the piano "waves" and the glockenspiel "sunlight" shining on the water. So cool. I don't know much about music but I try to expose my kids to a bunch of stuff. Maybe someday they'll have a real music teacher.

Today I've been on a bit of an organizing streak. I typed up a list of all the foods in my fridge, freezer, and pantry, grouped by theme (such as "Dried Fruit and Nuts"). Then when the kids went down for their naps, I started searching through boxes labeled RNM SORT hunting for my passport, which I think is about to expire. I found plenty of stuff but not that. My college acceptance letters and SAT scores, as well as commencement programs, Leah's sonogram pictures, a photo of my belly when I was pregnant with Natalie, lots of old photos, letters (including all of the monthly letters my mom sent me when I was in college), my box of screwdrivers (?), my plane tickets to different places I've traveled to out of the country, and so on. Lots of stuff from when I was a kid, like little sketches I made that came out really well so I saved them, favorite quotes, letters that I wrote from summer camp but never mailed because I thought they were dorky... Plus my wedding photos! Haven't seen those in a while. I was really worried about losing the children's sonogram pictures so I'm glad those turned up. Wish I could find my passport though. Gotta have it, you know. Maybe someday someone will surprise me and take me to the South of France. :-)

The Weather Tree

Yesterday evening we set up our weather tree (from All Year Round, page 122). Finally! This is something I've been wanting to do with the kids for a long time. I chose the color key in advance; I want the tree to develop from blue to green to yellow to orange to red to purple (clockwise from bottom left) when it is all done. So I chose colors to help make that happen and which represent the feelings of the seasons. I took a "before" photo and hopefully we will keep up with it and there will be an "after" photo in June of 2008 to compare it to! My color choices (in case you also have a box of Lyra Color Giants) are

Sun - Red - 90027

Rain - Green - 90070

Snow - Blue - 90051

Mist - Yellow - 90007

Wind - Orange - 90013

Frost - Purple - 90038

Birthday - Pink - 90032


And the border is green construction paper (90067). I would recommend if you're as anal retentive as I am that you sketch out your palette on some blank paper first to make sure that the colors are a pleasing combination, and then assign each color to its type of weather. I put a lot of effort into this -- sure hope it turns out great!

Today is our field trip to the Calvert Marine Museum to see some of the fish and other animals that live in the Bay. The kids have been asking me questions about what lives down at the beach, since we've been playing there so much, so I think this is the perfect way to answer them. It also goes well with our Summer theme.

Sun Prints

Today went swimmingly with all things proceeding as planned. We did a Nature walk to find Summer items, added a small vase of hydrangea blossoms to the Nature table, and the children set up their sun art pieces. Leah picked a large hydrangea blossom, Natalie chose a handful of small pebbles and some clover blossoms, and Rebecca went with a single large rock. We used regular construction paper but you can also buy special photosensitive paper. I had some when I was a kid. It makes beautiful crisp prints -- the construction paper ones are kind of blurry -- so if you're studying botany in depth (5th grade Waldorf) you should spring for the special paper. We're not that picky, obviously. :-)

Planning In Spite Of Myself

Well, here I am, planning ahead in spite of myself. (Those of you who know me know that I am always in this quandry... do I plan in advance and then be disappointed that we didn't do it all, or fly by the seat of my pants and know that I'm doing way less than I could and should be.)

Booklist for the Week:

Summer Is... by Charlotte Zolotow

The Nature Corner: Celebrating the Year's Cycle with a Seasonal Tableau by M v Leeuwen

All Year Round by Ann Druitt, et al.

Carnival of the Animals -- I like the version by Barrie Turner (comes with CD)

The Summerfolk by Doris Burn

"I Know An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly"

The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle

Good Earth Art: Environmental Art for Kids by MaryAnn Kohl

Charlotte's Web by E.B. White

Spiders Spin Webs by Yvonne Winer

Cooking Art: Easy Edible Art for Young Children by MaryAnn Kohl

"The Itsy Bitsy Spider"

Be Nice to Spiders by Margaret Bloy Graham

"Little Miss Muffet"


So, there you have it. Two days on Summer and three days on Spiders.

Day One: Read Summer Is..., do a sun print (you can use special paper for this or just place items on regular construction paper), set up the Nature table for Summer, begin the weather tree from All Year Round - page 122

Day Two: Field trip to Calvert Marine Museum, read Carnival of the Animals book, listen to "Aquarium" piece, read The Summerfolk

Day Three: Sing "I Know An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly", read The Very Busy Spider, branch weaving project from Good Earth Art - page 130, begin Charlotte's Web as nighttime read-aloud (Natalie only)

Day Four: Read Spiders Spin Webs, nail board with string project from Montessori curriculum, Sweet Spider Web snack from Cooking Art - page 140, "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" fingerplay

Day Five: Read Be Nice to Spiders, "Little Miss Muffet" puppetry, field trip to The Big Draw at the National Building Museum OR drawing with sidewalk chalk at home


I guess that's my guilt for being questioned about my methodology. :-)
It made me think about how school is going for me and what I want to change. Primarily I realized that, even more than I want to be Waldorf-y, I want to be more organized in advance of teaching. This is actually very logical since you must learn to be organized first and then work on being more in tune with your desired philosophy second. But you can't be a Waldorf teacher if you're in "fly by pantseat" mode. (Unschooler, yes. Waldorf, no.) So if that's the direction I want to head in, I have to kick the laziness out of me. And witness the effects of this introspection! It's good for everyone to be poked with a stick once in a while. Thanks, Robin.

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