Pondering

Lately, I've been spending lots of time pondering all sorts of things but one of the things that's been most on my mind is the notion that I think we need to get back to our Waldorf roots.  Over the last year we seem to have drifted away from it and it seems that in that drifting that something has been missing from our days.  Sure, we still have our nature table and our daily rhythms and our verses and our lovely open ended toys and sweet cooperative games but something just seems....off.  Something seems to be missing.  I don't know if it's just the time of year (autumn although a wonderful season always seems to be a time of change for me) or if there is something more to it, but the one thing I keep coming back to is that the major thing that's different from last year to this year is that we have left behind our connection to the Waldorf world.  We've never been truly Waldorf.  We have allowed media in our days and home (where many pure Waldorf families don't) but we've never been purely radical unschoolers either.  I have often said that we are unschoolers with a Waldorf flavor to us, though in the last year it seems that our Waldorf flavor has lessened considerably.  Perhapse getting reconnected with the Waldorf homeschooling community will help.  Perhapse returning to the way our days flowed before will help.  Perhapse it's just one of those things that will figure itself out.  Regardless, if any other mamas have wrestled with something like this I would love to hear your stories/wisdom/advice. And if not, no worries, I am sure one of these days I will have clarity on this topic of "who we are". 

And Really It's *All* Learning

The following is the status update I posted on Facebook this afternoon about the pictures above.  Since it summed up my thoughts perfectly I thought I'd share them here as well: The girls have gathered all the magnetic letters we own and are sitting in a nest (that they made out of our curvy boards and pillows the bear) sounding words out and spelling them, creating new ones and asking for my help only when they are their most stuck. I love how they come up with these things all on their own. I love how they will try and try and try and then find me when they have tried everything and need help. I love how learning is so interwoven into our days that it's hard to tell what's learning and what's not (and really it's*all* learning)! I love all our days (even the crummy ones) and living this incredible life with these amazing people. What a gift! ♥



Spiffy Letters

A, B, and C never looked so good!



Building

Since last Saturday it has been all about building around here.  The girls have always loved building with the Duplo's.  Earlier last week Grace found some small Lego's and had shown a real interest in building with them.  So much so that David took her out on a special trip just to go buy a set of small Legos all her own!  From that point on, not a day has gone by where she has not created something with them.

And today it has been all about Connectagons!  The Fairy Connectagons have definitely been a favorite since Grace recieved them as one of her Christmas gifts.  And of course, if you are going to build with fairy themed connectagons you must be dressed up as a fairy (or at the very least, a princess)!



Oh, how we love toys that allow the imagination to soar!

The Adventures of Grace, Emma and Flat Stanley

My friend Sarah from college contacted me last week and asked if we would like to have Flat Stanley come our way.  I wrote back a resounding "yes!" and she promptly put him in the mail.  He arrived over the weekend but since it was busy he remained in his envelope until today. 

"Mama! Look, it's Flat Stanley!"

He helped Grace and Emma return their books.

And he loved reading with them.

He approved of all our book choices.  Miss Rumphius is his favorite!

Then it was off to the food store!

He's a big fan of the produce section (especially the organic choices).

But most of all he loved playing Angry Birds!

We had a most lovely visit with Flat Stanley and will be sad to see him go.  He'll be heading off in the mail tomorrow.  Next stop:  New York! 

Marble Run Fun

The learning that occured during simply playing with these marbles was fabulous!  They needed a wee bit of help to build the run, but once it was up they learned all sorts of amazing things.  Cause and effect was experienced each time part of the run was out of its place.  Basic physics was experienced in the simple act of releasing the marble into the first hole.  The lessons were as endless as the fun that was had!  The six marbles that came with the run were just not nearly enough, so we dug out the jar of marbles that we have (for fresh flowers or any other thing that one can imagine using marbles for) and even more fun was had.  They sent marbles through the run until the jar was empty and the pool at the bottom of the run was full.  The three of us had a blast!

Our Day

Today there was:

finding,

learning,

mailing,

dreaming,

decorating,

folding,

playing,

fort building,

and jumping.

Another fabulous day in this incredible life we live!