My Apple Juice

Friday, March 30, 2012

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

                                                                                                                                      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.

Saturday, March 24, 2012

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.