Eden Farm 3/30/2012

Waldorf with Academics

                                                                                                                                      3/27/2012
  Seneca worked on her phonics lessons.  Phonics lessons, for us, consist of  reading and sounding out words in the Starfall series.  The focus was on the short e vowel.  Phonics time is short and sweet and was done curled up together on my bed.
        Seneca played with her doll afterwards.   I love watching her care for and nurture her doll. She feeds her doll in a "highchair" then lays her down in a doll-cradle.  Seneca loves to cover her doll in the blanket that I had knitted.  The act of playing with the doll and her toys is just as important as her phonics lessons.
    Her imaginative play time is her sacred time to be in the world (or Kingdom) of childhood.  Rudolf Steiner lectured and wrote extensively on the Kingdom of Childhood.  Although we break with strict Waldorf education by doing phonics time at age five, I do try to keep much of the magic that Waldorf offers. Sometimes, it is as much for me as for her.  I can watch her play with her toys and have this deep sense of both reverence and joy.  Much of my joy comes from knowing the value of learning through play and being able to know to appreciate these times.



  

Homemade Detergent and Shampoo

One of the things that I try to do for the family is to encourage a more holistic lifestyle. I don't always succeed. However, I will consider last night a small victory. A new batch of laundry detergent was made. Seneca and her friend had their hair washed with homemade shampoo and conditioner. Now if I can just get around to buying and setting up a clothes line..............
Laundry Detergent Recipe
1 cup Borax
1 cup Arm and Hammer washing soda
1 bar of grated Kirk's Castille Soap
We made a batch of powdered soap this time around. I'm still working on perfecting the art of homemade liquid detergent. For one thing, I need a 5-gallon bucket.

Shampoo
2 tbs baking soda
2 cups of water
The actual recipe is 1 tbs of baking soda to 1 cup of water, but I feel that doubling the recipe is more effective. Of course, you can adjust this based on the length and volume of your, or your child's, hair.

Conditioner
1 tbs apple cider vinegar
1 cup water
I like to keep the water for both and shampoo and conditioner very warm, but not hot. Regular temperature water goes on the head feeling very cold. Just be very careful, especially with kids, to test the temperature of the warm water before applying it.

I haven't been successful in making dish detergent, so we will continue to use Seventh Generation Dish Detergent available in our supermarket. Yes, our corporate owned supermarket. I said I was trying friends, not always succeeding.

3/24/2012

        Fox in Socks by Dr. Seuss was read to Seneca. She then worked on a Fox in Socks 24 piece puzzle.  Playtime in the park and playtime at home with her friend Aiden.  We reviewed some phonics words together.  She was about to try to write some words, but the task of writing in lines is a bit daunting for her. She traced some three-letter words onto tracing paper.  She did write out "cat," but other words will wait for another time.  Painting today with homemade paint. This time the paint was from baking soda, vinegar, corn syrup and flour.  The recipe calls for cornstarch, not flour, but we just went with what we had in the house. Oh, and food coloring.
  At the park, Seneca climbed on some boulders and we felt the texture of the rocks together.  I showed her an embedded shell in one of the rocks.  I wish I knew more about identifying types of rocks.  For now, all I can give her is a sense of observation through sight and texture.  I think at this age this is appropriate, but I am unsure of how to guide her in nature observations as she gets older.  I can't tell what most trees, flowers, rocks, etc. are myself.
    Later in the evening, Seneca took apart and reassembled her puzzle. We also read Horton Hatches An Egg by Dr. Seuss, Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown, and Time For Bed Elmo. We read from our phonics books featuring the short vowel u.

Seneca at Manatee Village Historical Park

3/19/2012

For phonics tonight, we read letter u books from the Starfall series.  Tonight, we are roasting marshmallows!  And Seneca worked on her puzzle too.

Lowery Park Zoo

  Seneca and her siblings went to Lowery Park Zoo as part of a local homeschooling group.

Phonics

  I bought Seneca a new set of phonics reading books.  I saw Starfall books at Books-A-Million today.  Seneca loves to play the Starfall games online, so I thought she would like the books. She did. She did very well with the short a books, but struggled a bit with the other vowels. She does know her letters and her sounds, she just hasn't gotten the hang of letting it flow. When I read these books to hear, I slowly sound each letter.
                                                                                                                       3/17/2012
  Seneca, Lilly, and I read the first six books in the Starfall phonics series today.

Stories Told to Seneca

The Queen Bee
The Elves and the Shoemaker
Little Red Riding Hood
Snowdrop (aka Snow White)
Rosebud (aka Sleeping Beauty)
Jack and the Beanstalk
The Three Billy Goats Gruff
The Six Swans

Unplugged or at least trying to unplug

  After reading many blogs and articles on Waldorf education, I am trying to raise Seneca as less plugged in as possible.  I am not saying no tv or computers at all, but I make a conscious effort to provide non-electronic activities for her.  With my older children, we did have tv, but got rid of cable about ten years ago.  They were never plugged-in like most mainstream kids. I do allow my son to have video games, but the system is used and his games are all bought used.  My older children do watch tv, but much of what they watch are classic movies or historical fiction films.  When it comes to tv, I don't forbid, but I also don't offer.  (Unless, there is a special event or if the movie is educational.)
     Examples of movies/shows/miniseries that entertain while educating that my twelve and thirteen year old enjoy and appreciate are The Blue and The Gray, North and South, Iron Jawed Angels, Flyboys, Gettysburg, The Help, and more.  We also enjoy classic movies such as The Thin Man and Casablanca.
   For Seneca, at this age, I am trying to limit screen time.  She does enjoy Disney classics.  I do allow wholesome shows that many kids today sadly consider to be too corny.  I love that she loves to watch Annie (1982) and Sleeping Beauty.  It is important for her to be able to enjoy these movies while she is still young and the magic is still real for her.
  I think that today has been a great day for our non-electronic life.  Seneca and I played with playdough until her friend Lilly arrived at our house. The girls played with play dough together.   They then looked through books on the shelf and chose one out for me to read to them.  The girls painted with homemade paint, condensed milk and food coloring.  Their color today was red.
  For snack time, the girls ate lettuce with honey on it and strawberries.  The lettuce and strawberries were from the local farm that Seneca visited yesterday.  She picked the strawberries herself.
The girls swung from tree branches and ran around in the back yard.  They entertained themselves this whole day with no need for tv or other electronic devices.  The girls later went swimming at a pool.
  There is an education website which Seneca does enjoy very much. It is called Starfall. http://www.starfall.com/  I am very leery about learning being done on a computer and having a computer read to my child. I can certainly read to my child.  However, she does love the phonics and math games and does rather well with them.  I do, therefore, allow her to play on starfall, but I be sure to offer many other activities to balance out time spent on the computer.  My friend, Heather, once posted a link to an article which suggested that for every hour of electronic time, a person should spend an equal amount of time doing some sort of physical/outdoor activity.  Sometimes, my outdoor time is actually me watching the kids play at the park, but I'm going count it. :)
  As you can see, I have my ideals. I don't always meet them, but I'm going to keep making my effort.
  That evening, I took Seneca and Lilly to visit my grandma.  Grandma B is 92 years old and still lives alone!  The girls played with vintage cars that were my dad's when he was a little boy.  Then the girls played with a dollhouse.  Seneca loves visiting her great-grandma.
  Seneca told Grandma B about going to the strawberry farm and petting the goat and the pony.My grandma told Seneca that her family had a goat when she was a little girl.  My grandma had a sister with a lot of health concerns and it was felt that goat's milk would be better for her.  
 

Books Read to Seneca

Corduroy by Don Freeman
The Biggest Pumpkin Ever 
Corduroy Goes To The Library
The Very Lonely Firefly by Eric Carle
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss
Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
Time for Bed Elmo
The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss
Snow by Uri Shulevitz
Bob's Books http://www.amazon.com/Bob-Books-Set-Beginning-Readers/dp/0439845009/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1331907915&sr=1-1
Little Bear by Else Homelund Minarek and Maurice Sendak
Little's Bear's Visit (1961 hardcover edition  oh yeah!)
Fox in Socks by Dr. Seuss
Horton Hatches An Egg by Dr. Seuss
The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper.
Woolbur by Leslie Helakoski
I Know A Rhino by Charles Fuge

Strawberry Picking and Jam on 3/13/2012

Seneca and her cousins went strawberry picking at Eden Farms today.  She also pet a pony and fed a goat.  This was an outing from the Manatee/Sarasota Unschoolers.

We made strawberry jam the next day. It turned out too syrupy, but it was a first try.

Below are pictures from our family outing to Eden Farms on March 9 2012

Fairy Tale for 3/10/2012

Tonight's fairy tale was The Queen Bee.  Nursery Rhymes: Hey Diddle Diddle, Baa Baa Black Sheep, and The Itsy Bitsy Spider
She has heard all of these before and joined in on reciting the nursery rhymes. She requested The Queen Bee tonight.

Criticisms and Praises for Unschooling

  Confession time. I'm not a huge fan of the unschooling goddesses - namely Sandra Dodd and Dayna Martin.  I'm sure that they're good people and very well-meaning.  I do prefer them and their ideas to most mainstream parenting ideas.  However, I don't quite click with them on their radical unschooling philosophies.
     I was not impressed with Sandra Dodd's daughter when I saw her on a youtube video.  In the video, Holly Dobbs states that she has no plans to go to college.  She says, "I'm not interested in college......I've never been to school.  I'm not that interested in going to school. College is school." What a sad statement!  I've never done it, so therefore, I'll never try to do it.  Imagine if everyone in this world felt this way.  This seems to me to be the antithesis of what unschooling should be about.  Isn't unschooling about discovering new things and trying new things?  Isn't the whole point of unschooling to help a person to love learning.  There is so much to learn in a college classroom.  Why dismiss it without even trying it?  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pLqYn1OYdU
   Now to my critique of Dayna Martin.  Many of you may have seen piece that was done on the Martin family on Nightline.  Dayna has since said that the piece was edited to fit ABC's agenda.  While I agree that that may be, I still take issue with one of her remarks.  When asked, "Doesn't a child need to know who George Washingon, and FDR, and JFK were?" Dayna Martin responds, "I don't know.  Do you think they do?  Do you think that's necessary?"   Ahem, Mrs. Martin, YES I DO!  I don't want my children to be idiots. I'm often amazed at how idiotic most mainstreamers are - even the college educated ones.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuhfhRLwTB0
   So, obviously I'm not a total unschooler.  I do believe that kids do need to learn and to know certain facts and certain skills.  I also believe that there are many ways  for a person to acquire these facts and skills.  One valid method is through self directed learning, or unschooling if you will.  Right now, my twelve year old son is being unschooled in the Civil War.  My mother took him to Gettysburg this past Fall.  Since then, he has become fascinated by the Civil War.  We went to a Civil War Re-enactment recently and he was thrilled with that.  http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=4541451443353029226#editor/target=post;postID=642644591855641  I have bought him books, movies, and documentaries on the Civil War.  He is practicing his writing skills by journaling what he has learned and writing essays on the Civil War.  This interest  in the Civil War did not come from any curriculum.  I believe that this is unschooling at its best.
     However, he also has been working from a Waldorf curriculum as well.  The topics for this year (Grade 6) were Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, and Ancient Rome.  We used our own resources for Egypt.  Waldorf educator Charles Kovacs's books were used for Greece and Rome.  The books are appropriately titled Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome.    We have also been using A Journey Through Waldorf Homeschooling Grade 6 by Melisa Nielsen of A Little Garden Flower () to guide us through the year.  I'm allowing Liam to break from the curriculum for now while he pursues his Civil War studies, but I do like having these resources.  http://www.waldorfjourney.typepad.com/

Puzzles

 A few months ago, Seneca was given a puzzle to work on. Much to my surprise, she sat and concentrated on it for over an hour.  She has been given more puzzles since then and she loves them.  She is now getting to where she can figure them out much faster, even brand new ones.  Once she has finished a puzzle, she breaks it apart and does it again.  I don't require her to sit until the puzzle is done. She does this on her own. If a puzzle is frustrating her, she is encouraged to take a break from it.  Sometimes I offer to help her with one or two pieces. She also enjoys doing floor puzzles with her 8 year old cousin.

  Here are some pictures of her with the most recent puzzle that I bought for her. It is a 24 piece puzzle. She figured it out in about ten minutes. Now, she loves to put together again and again.  In a world of hand held video games, I'm so glad that she loves this.  Funny thing is, I was never good at puzzles myself.

Seneca and I with the scarf I made

Emergent Curriculum

This is perhaps the best way to sum up our educational philosophy. We are more emergent learners than unschoolers.  Thanks to Rachael at http://gotkiddos.blogspot.com/ for sending the link below to me.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergent_curriculum

Seneca lost her tooth.

Seneca lost her second tooth last night.

Homemade Paint Day

Thanks to my friend Rachael at Gotkiddos.blogspot.com for showing me this link on how to make paint from condensed milk.  http://ecemadeeasy.com/posts/painting-with-condensed-milk/

We've been using an old egg carton to separate the colors. Tonight, we only painted in one color, green. It was Seneca's choice.  Waldorf education often has children at this age painting in only one color at a time.  However, it is usually one of the primary colors.  I did think it great that Seneca would choose green just over a week away from St. Patrick's Day.

Thoughts on Curriculum As An Unschooling Resource

 I'm not really hard core anything when it comes to education.  I recognize that what's good for one child isn't necessarily what's right for another one. Add to that, I believe in mixing it up a bit for the same kid sometimes.
   I understand that the ideal of unschooling is to let a child follow his or her own natural curiosity to the result of learning.  I do believe that this does allow a child - and an adult - to not only surface learn, to really inhale and take a topic to heart.
   Last year, my then seventh grade daughter unschooled herself in all things Tudor Era England.  And I do mean all things, not just Henry plus six.  She went into details on the extended Tudor family.  Another great example, I believe, of unschooling success.
  However,  my daughter's unschooled time was also supplemented by resources from a Waldorf publisher's site. http://www.steinerbooks.org/ Some of her Tudor Era interests were even covered in the history book The Age of Discovery by Charles Kovacs.
   This brings me to the title of this post.  I see that for many alternative homeschoolers the word curriculum has a bad rap.  Curriculum is often seen as "school in a can," to use Gregory and Martine Millman's expression.  A curriculum can also be a wonderful resource to a child pursuing his or her own interests.  Many curricula offer excellent project ideas. Perhaps while following a curriculum, a child may develop a real love for the topic being presented and then step outside of the curriculum to further explore the topic - unschooling at its best!  Maybe while learning about one topic, the child may become interested in a "brother-topic" that is introduced during the course of the study.  Many curricula also offer suggestions for further reading which an unschooled child may greatly appreciate.

At GWIZ Science Museum