Homeschool Mo

Hive Talking

2013-06-17T23:58:00.001-07:00

On Saturday, Gohan came and told me that he had broken out in a rash. As there was nothing on his face at the time, I didn’t expect much. Then he lifted his pants leg and I was amazed to see raised, red splotches all over it. The rash was also on his arms, chest, and back. I had never seen a rash like this before! It was late at night and I had to put Dora to bed, so Mr. Mo had to take Gohan to Urgent Care. I don’t know if all moms are like this, but I just don’t like it when I am not there to talk to the doctor myself. It always seems that important things don’t get relayed to me, our household doctor, or the professional doctors, if I don’t go to an appointment. The urgent care doctors diagnosed the rash as hives. We have no idea what caused them, as he had not eaten anything new, we had not changed any detergents, etc. Not to mention that Gohan has never had allergies before, though they certainly run on all sides of our families. He was given prednisone and told to take Benadryl at maximum strength every six hours.These photos don’t even do the hives justice, as I took these them early in the outbreak. Things would get much, much worse, to the point that no part of his body was spared. He even had hives in his ears and they caused him to run a fever, which I didn’t even know could happen! It would be a full 24 hours before he started to experience any relief, at which point, he fell fast asleep on the couch! We will be seeing the pediatrician tomorrow for a follow-up appointment. I don’t know if they are going to want him to be tested for allergies or just wait and see if this ever happens again or what. He never had any trouble breathing, thank goodness. Needless to say, this kind of threw things out of whack this week. He is still exhausted and itchy, even tonight and I am still on edge, for fear that they will come back or his breathing will get bad.

I hope this post finds you all feeling well and allergy-free!

Maureen

Gratitude Sunday–June 16

2013-06-15T23:10:00.001-07:00

Sunday – Eating my first strawberries of the season from our garden. They were tender, sweet, and warm! Now I’m really looking forward to next year when the plants have a chance to mature even more.

Monday – Watching “The Red Balloon” with Dora after she got a balloon today. She was so entranced by this movie, though it is more violent than I remembered it being and that upset her some. Still,s he laughed so much at the antics of the balloon, I couldn’t help but laugh until my stomach hurt!

Tuesday – Receiving a very strange card from Dora, who picked it out, though Secunda was with her and paid for it. Dora had no idea what it said, but liked the picture (note top of post). The inside saying just cracked me up though (note photo below). It is definitely the strangest card that I have ever received!

Wednesday – Being almost 100% recovered from yesterday’s migraine! I forgot how bad those can be, given that I so rarely get them.

Thursday – Attending Primo’s end-of-year presentation for the special-needs college program that he is enrolled in (he is learning life skills, in addition to an associate’s degree). He has come so far and I am so proud of him!

Friday – Listening to Dora’s happy humming while she was coloring.

Saturday – So very grateful that Gohan’s all-over body rash was just hives and not more serious!

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Maureen

Glitter Putty On the Light Box

2013-06-13T22:28:00.001-07:00

I’m not sure why making putty seems to be a summer activity for us, but last week once again found us playing with putty on our light box. This time we made a slight modification to the putty recipe by using glitter glue instead of clear glue. We found this putty to be a bit more firm than the clear glue putty. Dora was even able to mold the putty into a short-lived snowman!We also blew putty bubbles with straws, which Dora just had to pop, of course!

Please note my sidebar for all the awesome link-ups that I participate in!

Maureen

Health Update and Dry Skin Brushing

2013-06-12T01:25:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, I should have been posting my Crunchy Tuesday link-up post, but was unable to, as I was feeling quite unwell. It made me realize that I am still not well enough to commit to running a weekly link-up. In fact, I still hadn’t found the energy to properly promote the Crunchy Tuesday link-up, by inviting others to link up and so forth. So I am going to discontinue the link-up, after only two weeks, which is lame, I know.

It saddens me, as I had been feeling soooo much better since starting the meds for my connective tissue disease. Alas, “better” is not fully recovered. As an example, I have been trying to start walking and was really happy and encouraged that I had been able to do this. I even secretly daydreamed that I might be able to start running again, some day. Then I had an appointment with the rheumatologist yesterday and she pointed out that while my joint pain had improved, several of my other, more serious symptoms had actually gotten worse. Connective tissue diseases can be weird that way, the symptoms that feel the worst are not per se the ones that are the most serious. My diagnosis is still undifferentiated connective tissue disorder, but things are pointing more towards a diagnosis of scleroderma. It was the one connective tissue disease that I thought I did not have, but that was because I did not know what thickened skin looked like. Now I know that I have had it for some time, just no doctor noticed it, even though it is on my hands. Also, my kidneys may not be doing as well as I had been lead to believe by my nephrologist. So it was a a bit of a depressing appointment, all around, and normally my rheumatologist is quite optimistic. Though she was very encouraging of me continuing to walk every day, just no more than three miles a day. So, no marathons in my near future….

With, scleroderma in mind, I now having even more of a reason to have concern for taking care of my skin, so I thought I would post about dry brushing. I use dry brushing in addition to my homemade body custard tin an attempt to keep my skin as supple and non-itchy as possible. I am not going to make any claims about dry brushing removing cellulite or detoxing your body, as some people do, but it certainly helps to keep my skin looking and feeling much healthier.

Dry brushing, ironically, entails brushing your dry skin with a dry brush. There are a variety of brushes and loofahs out there that claim to be for dry brushing, but the first one I tried, hurt like “H” “E” “double hockey sticks”. Currently, I use the Yerba Prima Tampico Skin Brush, which has a nice long handle, which helps me reach all of my back, which tends to be really dry (have you ever tried moisturizing your back?!?!). I really recommend, however, that you look at a health food store, if possible, so you can test the brushes yourself to see which feels the best for your skin (do try for natural bristles though).

As this exfoliates a lot of skin, I dry brush in my shower (The first time I did this, the amount of skin that came off was just disgusting and I worried that I might be exfoliating off too much skin, but I was fine afterwards. Since then, I haven’t exfoliated anywhere near as much skin.)
I rub firmly, but not so hard that it causes pain, in a circular motion first, and then brush towards the heart afterwards
I usually start with my toes and work my way up. (If you vigorously brush your leg hair in an upwards direction and then shave right after you finish dry brushing, you will get an incredibly close shave.)
Then I move on to my fingers and work my way upward, towards my heart
Finally, I do my back.
I do try to brush of my front, which many healers recommend, but I find that most of my skin in that area is just too sensitive.
NEVER brush your face!
I shower or bathe to remove any remaining loose skin.
Afterwards, I apply a good moisturizer afterwards to protect the newly revealed layers of skin.

The one thing that happened to me after dry brushing that I had not expected is that it is incredibly invigorating. I guess it’s because it stimulates the circulation or something, but I feel so refreshed and alert after dry brushing.

I only do it once a week, any more frequently and I start to get eczema. I have heard of some people dry brushing every day though, so it is clearly a personal preference that one needs to experiment with to get just right.

Please note my sidebar for all the awesome link-ups that I participate in!

Disclosure: Some item links in this post are affiliate links. I will make a small amount of money if you click on them and make a purchase. All opinions expressed, however, are 100% my own.

Maureen

Gratitude Sunday–June 9

2013-06-09T03:25:00.001-07:00

Sunday – A garden visitor that likes to eat the clover in my yard, but doesn’t seem to notice my vegetable beds

Monday – Primo got his first job interview and Gohan cleaned out the disgusting compost drum for me!

Tuesday – having a picnic lunch at the park with Dora and Secunda (and seeing a little pileated woodpecker while we were there)Wednesday – My bluebells are blooming (three years after I planted them, go figure!)

Thursday – a coral-colored poppy blooming, I’m not sure if I actually have multiple Icelandic poppy plants (I bought it from a nursery) or if the plants just produce multiple colors…

Friday – Dora having a nice evening playing with the neighbors

Saturday – Figuring out that Dora’s headaches are being caused by Dora watching Netflix on my phone during the long drive home from vision therapy, not by the vision therapy itself

Please note my sidebar for all the awesome link-ups that I participate in!

Maureen

Our Fairy Garden

2013-06-07T01:11:00.001-07:00

As a Waldorf-inspired homeschooling mama, who loves to garden, it’s kind of amazing that I haven’t got around to creating a fairy garden any earlier than I did. We finally got around to it last month though.To house our garden, I used a large metal tub that I bought a long time ago. I drilled holes into the bottom of the tub, put a layer of rocks on the bottom of it, followed by a large layer of coconut coir, which is very light and bulky, followed by a layer of potting soil. I planted a couple of moneywort plants, a couple of thrift plants, some British soldiers (lichen), and lots of moss. We then decorated the garden with gems and fairy garden miniatures. Two items that I particularly love, are the adorable fairy house, which came from an Etsy store, called Gnome Sweet Gnome, and the wooden well, which came from another Etsy store, called Dragonfly Studio Arts.We really enjoyed building the garden and a couple of days after building it, I left a small bottle of “fairy dust” for Dora to find. She was so excited that the “fairies” would leave something for her. She was disappointed that it didn’t make her fly though. She even warned me that if she suddenly started floating in the air that evening, it would mean that the fairy dust had finally started working.

Maureen

My Garden’s New Friendenemy and New BFF

2013-06-04T01:43:00.001-07:00

Two seasons ago, a new plant showed up in our backyard. I was too busy dealing with Dora and my undiagnosed connective tissue disorder to do much weeding and the plant wasn’t that ugly, so I kind of ignored it. Last year, more of them showed up, but my health was even worse and nobody could see the backyard, but us, so I only made a half-hearted attempt to pull them up. This year, however, the plants took over our backyard. As soon as spring began, the plants were all over and new plants continue to show up every day. Also, they grow at a phenomenal rate. Nor do they seem to have much discernment when it comes to soil, they like the vegetable beds as well as the grass and the rocky/sandy rock wall area. I had no idea what they were and was too busy pulling them up to bother researching them. I nicknamed them “Devil’s Weed”, which I still think is a good name for them. I never saw them anywhere, but our backyard and wondered if they had been in one of the wild flower packs we had planted by our rock wall over the years, though couldn’t imagine anybody thinking they were pretty enough to intentionally grow. This weekend, though, I happened to mention my problem to a friend, who is very knowledgeable about all things botanical and herbal and who had me e-mail her a photo of them. At the time, none of the plants were flowering, but her best guess was that they were wild lettuce. The next day, one of the plants had grown several inches and bloomed, so I took this photo and then looked up wild lettuce. I had to agree that these plants do look a lot like the drawings of wild lettuce that I found. I also learned that wild lettuce is sometimes ingested for its psychotropic effects. Not exactly the type of plant I want growing in my yard! I have read that some people harvest wild lettuce for a variety of medicinal purposes, but I’m never going to allow another one of these plants grow in my yard again, if I can help it! I’ve read that it is a biennial, so I may be fighting a second invasion next year.On a positive note, my garden and I also have a new BFF. Last year, I read about something called a “garden knife”. I had never heard of such a thing and decided to purchase one this year. All I can say is that if I could only have one tool for my garden, this would be it! I don’t know how I have lived my whole life without one of these things. It works as a trowel, but also has a serrated edge, which is great for cutting open bags and for hacking out deep rooted weeds. The part of the knife that I have just recently started using and really love is the “dandelion popper”. It works very well for pulling dandelions out of grass.

Maureen

Gratitude Sunday–June 1

2013-06-02T03:09:00.001-07:00

Sunday – Having time to catch up on several household chores

Monday – Watching Epic with Dora, Secunda, and Mr. Mo

Tuesday – Washing my car mats at the car wash – they were sooooo yucky!Wednesday – The weather clearing up just enough for us to be able to go to the farmer’s market and Mr. Mo happened to be taking the day off, so he got to go too (and eat yummy Greek food!)Thursday – Blooming delphinium plants! I finally gave up on trying to grow them from seeds and they look lovely in our front yard.Friday – Now my peonies are blooming too! They smell wonderful!Saturday – Getting to enjoy the sunshine and a walk with a very dear and precious friend!!!!

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Maureen

Yarn Along Wednesday–It Actually Looks Like a Sweater

2013-05-29T00:56:00.001-07:00

I missed the last two Yarn Along Wednesdays again. As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, both Dora and I caught colds, which set me back a bit. Also, I had to start over yet again on Dora’s Sunday Sweater! My thwarted efforts have not had anything to do with the pattern, which is very easy to follow, but have been a direct result of my lack of knitting skills. I finally seem to have hit my stride though. I’m 3/4 of the way done with the body and then just need to do the sleeves, neck, and add the buttons. Dora is super excited and keeps trying to convince me that the sweater is finished enough and that she should be able to wear it now.With us being sick and staying home so much the last week, I have been getting in more reading time than usual. I finally just gave up on Becoming Jane Eyre. It has some really good reviews and at another time, I’d probably enjoy it. Right now, however, I found it to be far too depressing. Instead, I started reading about another Jane – Jane Austen! I’ve been reading Jane and the Madness of Lord Byron: Being A Jane Austen Mystery. This is the tenth book in this series, which I have been reading since day one. It is a historical-mystery series about Jane Austen. This book also stars Lord Byron, who I did not know much about. He has been such an intriguing character in this book, that I’ve done some extra research to learn more about him. He was such a cad, that after learning more about him, I had a nightmare that he had seduced Tertia! He definitely was the type of man that you didn’t want sniffing around your daughter!On a more serious note, I’ve also been working my way through American Horticultural Society Plant Propagation: The Fully Illustrated Plant-by-Plant Manual of Practical Techniques. I checked this out from the library, but it has been so helpful, I intend to purchase it. I am hoping that I can start collecting seeds or using other propagation methods to grow new plants from the plants that I am already growing. Not only will this save me money, but I will harvest seeds only from the hardiest plants, which did the best in my garden. My hope is that by using this method over the years, I will be able to grow continually hardier plants with a higher yield. In regards to this year’s vegetable garden, I actually do not intend to collect any of the seeds as I have been very unhappy with the seeds I purchased. They are producing an adequate amount now, but it took three times more seeds than it should have to get a good number of plants and the plants that have grown have not been very hardy. So I will begin harvesting my vegetable garden seeds next year, hopefully. This year, I may start to propagate some of my flowers, as more flowers means more pollinators to pollinate my fruit trees and flowering “vegetables”. Not to mention, Dora and I just adore flowers.

I'm linking this post to Ginny’s:

Disclosure: Some item links in this post are affiliate links. I will make a small amount of money if you click on them and make a purchase. All opinions expressed, however, are 100% my own.

Maureen

Body Custard Recipe

2013-05-28T01:10:00.001-07:00

What is “body custard” you ask? That is a really good question! I was originally trying to make a creamy body lotion recipe from the book Better Basics for the Home, by Annie Berthold-Bond. Unfortunately, Annie never clarifies in the book (that I could find anyway) whether or not to use fluid ounces or weight ounces in her recipes. I e-mailed her to ask for clarification, but never heard back. So I finally just opted to muddle through the recipe to the best of my abilities. My best abilities were apparently not good enough, but I ended up creating an interestingly textured product, though not something that was truly useable. Once I figured out how to make the original recipe from the book (all measurements are in weight ounces), I decided that what I really wanted was something that was in between the actual recipe and my goof-up recipe.The problems that I had with the original recipe and many other natural body lotions and butters is that my very dry skin doesn’t seem to absorb oil. So these products just sit on top of my skin until I brush up against something, at which point I have dry skin AND oil-stained clothing and furniture. After months and months of experimenting, I ended up with what I believe, is a perfect recipe (at least for my skin). The texture is very custardy, so if the thought of a custardy body lotion seems gross to you, then don’t even bother with this recipe. I use it twice a day and it keeps my skin perfectly moisturized with no lotion build-up, like I get from commercial products and no oily residue, like I get from other natural lotion recipes.

Anyway, without further adieu, here is my recipe (and please be kind if something goes awry, this is the first recipe that I have ever written/made, even though it is actually a variation of someone else’s recipe).

Body Custard

4 ounces* Aloe Vera Gel**
4 ounces* Distilled Water
2 tablespoons of Glycerin**
1 teaspoon Grapefruit Seed Extract**
5 ounces* of Almond Oil**
3 ounces* Coconut Oil**
3/4 ounces* Beeswax Pellets** (or small chunks or shavings from larger pieces of beeswax)

* All measurements in ounces refer to weight, not volume

** Disclosure: I am providing Amazon affiliate links for all the ingredients to the exact brands of products that I personally use for your reference, but any brand should work just fine. If you click on these links and subsequently purchase from Amazon, I will earn a small percentage.

Mix aloe vera gel, distilled water, glycerin, and grapefruit seed extract in a medium-sized heatproof mixing bowl.
Melt the oils and beeswax in a pan over low heat.
As soon as the oils and beeswax are melted, pour them into the mixing bowl with the aloe vera mixture (do NOT allow the mixture to cool as the beeswax will begin to form into small bits if you do)
Mix with a hand mixer, working your way up to full speed setting (start on speed as it will splash at first, when it is very liquidy). Beat until the mixture is the texture of warm custard.
Store in a glass jar with top. The mixture will become even thicker as it cools.
Depending on the temperature and humidity, the mixture may begin to separate a bit, but it is still safe to use for 3 months (I go through a batch within 3 weeks, so I can’t verify this estimate, but the grapefruit seed extract acts as a preservative.) Obviously, if the “custard” begins to smell or you can see any mold, dispose of the product immediately.

Maureen

Gratitude Sunday–May 19

2013-05-18T22:07:00.001-07:00

Sunday – A wonderfully relaxing Mother’s Day, doing exactly what I wanted to!

Monday – Rain, at last! Ending the heat wave!

Tuesday – Setting up an obstacle course and competing with Dora to see who could complete it on her Purple Plasmacar the fastest (it can accommodate“children up to 220 pounds” – I’m interpreting the word “children” to mean “children at heart”, because I doubt you’ll find many children that weigh 220 pounds).Wednesday – Making homemade ice creamThursday – Dora doing really well with her new balance bike

Friday – Seeing an abundance of wildflowers and two baby deer at the parkSaturday – Enjoying the last Kindermusik/Seattle Symphony concert for the year and Dora getting to visit with the Story Fairy

Please note my left sidebar for all the awesome link-ups that I am participating in.

Maureen

DIY Vanilla Extract

2013-05-16T22:54:00.001-07:00

This week, our daily rhythm has been thrown all out of whack. Firstly, Dora has been tired and stressed out from doing vision therapy. I know that she needs it, as surgery is the only other option, but she is really having to work hard at it. Also, her balance bike finally arrived, so she’s wanted to be outside riding it every moment possible. Then, to top it all off, we bought her some of the Lego friends sets and now Dora is a Lego addict! None of our other kids have been interested in Legos, but Dora has been spending hours with them and they are the first toy that Dora will play with happily all by herself. So, though we’ve not been doing any Waldorf, I cannot complain about how we’ve been spending our days.
I also can’t complain about the weather. It’s been so warm that we decided to break out the ice cream maker. While making the ice cream, I suddenly realized that I have never posted about making homemade extract on this blog.
Several years ago, I went to buy some vanilla extract and it cost $15/bottle for non-organic extract! I just couldn’t bring myself to buy it at that price. I figured there had to be a cheaper way to make it myself. So I did some research and learned that it was very easy to make myself. I’ve been making it from scratch ever since. Here’s my “recipe”:
Supplies and Ingredients:

A clean amber colored bottle (I buy all my bottles from Specialty Bottle, with whom I have no affiliation)
3-4 vanilla beans (you can use lemon rind instead to make lemon extract, mint leaves to make mint extract, etc.)
Vodka (other types of alcohol can be used and will yield different results, but I have found that vodka renders the most traditional taste)

Directions

Slice the vanilla beans open lengthwise and place them in your bottle (you may need to cut them into smaller segments to fit them in your bottle)
Fill the rest of the bottle with vodka
Allow the bottle to sit in a cool, dark place for 3+ months, shaking the bottle up once a week (-ish)
After three months, you can use the bottle of extract just like you would any store-bought extract
I usually remove the beans after six months, if the bottle lasts that long. Some people like to use the soaked beans to make vanilla body scrubs or vanilla sugar with, though I usually dispose of mine.

Please note my left sidebar for all the awesome link-ups that I am participating in.
Maureen

Pumpkin Jack Gets Carried Away

2013-05-14T00:33:00.001-07:00

I posted back in November that we decided to grow a pumpkin from Dora’s Halloween pumpkin, just like the boy in Pumpkin Jack did. In February, our Pumpkin Jack was just starting to decay, but by March, he was just a shell of himself. Jack started growing a new plant recently, but in the last two weeks, our first, albeit minor, complication to the Pumpkin Jack experiment has arisen. He never stunk or attracted pests, as I had worried he might, but he did start growing a bazillion plants! This picture was taken last week. Right after taking it, I pulled up all, but two, of the seedlings. Today, there was a whole new batch of seedlings, just as many as before! To give you perspective as to how many seedlings they are, you can see the stem from the original Pumpkin Jack off in the left hand corner of this photo (I must admit that I’ve also grown a bit curious as to how long it will take for the stem to decay). So all these seedlings are growing in about a 3” x 3” space!

One really interesting footnote is how healthy the soil is where Jack decayed. Every time I pull up some seedlings, I unearth about a dozen worms! The worms and other bugs (which I try very hard to ignore) are very clearly concentrated in that specific area. I guess Jack has provided a yummy feast of decay for them!

I also recently read that if you harvest seeds from your plants to grow the next year and continue to do this year after year, the plants will start to adapt to your specific soil and climate. Though, in reality, what is actually happening is that as you will most likely keep the seeds from the healthiest plants of each crop each year, you will be using an unnatural form of natural selection to grow healthier and stronger plants in each subsequent generation (clear as mud, eh?).

How is your garden doing? Though Jack is doing well, our other crops are only doing okay. I’m not happy with the brand of seeds we bough this year. I bought heirloom seeds (specifically to avoid seeds that were genetically modified), but I don’t think that should account for the exceptionally pour turnout that I’ve had. I’d say that only 1/5 of the seeds have grown. In fact, over the weekend, I planted a second crop of some vegetables. Next year, I’m going to try a different brand of seeds, as our weather most certainly cannot be blamed this year. I also may try to start my plants a bit earlier in some sort of mini-greenhouse type of arrangement.

Please note my left sidebar for all the awesome link-ups that I am participating in.

Disclosure: Some item links in this post are affiliate links. I will make a small amount of money if you click on them and make a purchase. All opinions expressed, however, are 100% my own.

Maureen

Gratitude Sunday–May 12

2013-05-11T22:36:00.001-07:00

Sunday – Finding Waldorf again in time for Dora to benefit from it. She absolutely thrives on the rhythm, so much so, that she has been trying to get us even more into a rhythm!

Monday – My Icelandic poppy has white flowers too!

Tuesday – Being able to go for a walk while Dora rode her scooter

Wednesday – Being able to help Gohan work through some extreme anxiety (it pains me that he and Dora inherited my anxiety issues, so I’m especially grateful when I can help them work through an anxiety episode)Thursday – Toadflax is a new plant for my garden and I’ve decided that I love it!

Friday – Dora’s new vision therapy went so well. She is doing it in hopes of correcting an outwardly wandering eye (exotropia) without surgery.Saturday – Finally attracting pollinators to our yard this year!

Please note my left sidebar for all the awesome link-ups that I am participating in.

Maureen

Yarn Along Wednesday–May 8

2013-05-07T21:36:00.001-07:00

I missed the last two weeks of Yarn Along Wednesday, because I was very busy finishing photo albums, which I made for Mother’s Day presents. Also, I hadn’t made a lot of progress on Dora’s Sunday Sweater, since I realized I had made a mistake early on and had a perfectly curved line of purl stitches on my stockinette side of the sweater. I have no idea what I did, the curve was so perfect that at first, I thought it was supposed to be there. At this point, I’m 35 rows into the sweater. I do have a few messed up stitches, because I didn’t know that there was a right and a wrong to switch from knit to purl and vice-versa. So when I was incorrectly switching between the two, I was ending up creating extra stitches. I corrected this as well as I could and caught it early, so hopefully it will be okay. I am very nervous now as I am going to be doing the sleeves soon and I’m worried that if I mess up, I’ll lose everything I’ve already done. I did buy a new Bolga Basket for carrying my knitting supplies, which was a relief, as the sweater was getting to be too big for my old basket.

Reading-wise, I’m reading this month’s Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, as always. I also just started reading Becoming Jane Eyre: A Novel, which I'm not far enough into to give an opinion on yet. Finally, I’m reading The Art of Feltmaking, because, even though I can needle felt very elaborate projects, I’m a complete failure at wet felting. I really don’t like working with wet wool anyway, but Dora wants to learn how to felt, so I need to figure out what I’m doing wrong with my wet felting so that I can teach her how to do it.

Please note my left sidebar for all the awesome link-ups that I am participating in.

Disclosure: Some item links in this post are affiliate links. I will make a small amount of money if you click on them and make a purchase. All opinions expressed, however, are 100% my own.

Maureen

Exploring the Four Elements: Water

2013-05-07T02:06:00.001-07:00

Recently I’ve become intrigued with role that the four elements play in Waldorf education. Like many families, we have the Grimms Spiel & Holz four elements stackers. We also have some framed postcards of “elements fairies”. I’ve also known of some Waldorf homeschoolers who put elemental pieces on their nature table, based on a four-week cycle. I don’t quite understand how they know which week is which, so I just try to include items that represent the four elements at all times.

What I didn’t know, and am still far from truly understanding is why Waldorf educators place so much emphasis on the four elements. After doing some research, I’ve concluded that the elements’ role in Waldorf education comes largely from anthroposophy, which I’ve promised not to spend too much time blogging about, and which I’m just in the infancy of my understanding of. Still, I feel compelled to post a quote from an interesting post:

In Steiner’s anthroposophical world-view, the whole world is a macrocosmic reflection of the human microcosm. From this perspective, each of man’s four bodies finds its echo in an “element” of nature. Thus, the physical body is of the nature of earth, the etheric body of the nature of water, the astral body of the nature of air and the ego is akin to fire. In terms of the “kingdoms of nature,” we share our physical body with the mineral kingdom, our etheric body with the plant world, and our astral body with the animals. The ego is shared with no other kingdom: only the human being carries this “divine spark” into earthly life. -

Schwartz Eugene. Anthroposophy and Waldorf Education: The Kindergarten Years [Internet]. Version 1. millennialchild. 2009 Mar 16. Available from: http://millennialchild.wordpress.com/article/anthroposophy-and-waldorf-education-the-110mw7eus832b-9/.

From a less “mumbo jumbo” point of view, each of the four temperaments is associated with one of the elements, with the melancholic temperament being associated with the element of air, the phlegmatic with water, the sanguine with air, and the choleric with fire. Furthermore, the four temperaments are associated with the various stages of human development, with childhood being associated with sanguine, adolescence associated with choleric, adulthood associated with melancholic, and old age with phlegmatic.With all of this in mind, I decided to purchase the book, Earth, Water, Fire, and Air. I was adequately forewarned by an Amazon reviewer that this book might be a bit out of my element (har, har, aren’t I so punny?), but I decided to give it a try anyway. When it arrived, sure enough, I could not begin to imagine doing most of the projects in the book, which required a lot of woodworking and craftsmanship skills. So I set the book aside for awhile. Then, I was recently browsing A Toy Garden’s website and I realized that they carry many of the toys covered in the book, either in kit or pre-built format, from a variety of boats and boat building kits, to a wind car building kit, to tops, to a climbing bear, to a hot air roundabout, to a whirly gig, and more. The cost of these products range from $5-$15-ish dollars, so are quite reasonably priced, if you don’t go overboard and order them all (no, I am not an affiliate for them). There are two major projects in the book that are not carried at A Toy Garden, the first being a marble maze, which we already own as I consider it an essential to own anyway, and the second is a waterwheel, which I’d love to make, but would probably cut off a finger if in the process of doing so. Other than that, most of the other projects in the book are doable for me, such as making pinwheels, kites, paper airplanes, etc.Ironically, Dora wanted to explore water first. I say “ironically”, because neither of us was even thinking about summer at the time and because Dora is terrified of water and currently I am trying really hard to find some sort of swim lesson arrangement that meets her needs (none of my other children were afraid of water, so this is all new to me). We had a nice water-exploration set up in our backyard, with a giant metal tub full of water (why I even own such a large metal tub is beyond me, but it did come in handy!). Then, over the weekend, Dora fell into the tub, soaking herself, and we had to put it back in storage, due to her subsequent refusal to go into the backyard again if it was out. So I am not sure how much more we will do with exploring water. So we may be moving onto another element very soon.So, if you’ve made it past all of my anthroposophical woo-woo-ness and are still reading this, what is your take on the role that the four elements play in Waldorf education? And how do you incorporate the four elements into your child’s life?

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Disclosure: Some item links in this post are affiliate links. I will make a small amount of money if you click on them and make a purchase. All opinions expressed, however, are 100% my own.

Maureen

Gratitude Sunday–May 5

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Sunday – Having time to scan all of our books into Goodreads (as I keep accidentally buying the same books over and over, because I don’t know which books we own and which we don’t!).

Monday – Peanut butter filled pretzels (though my waistline indicates that I’ve been a bit too grateful for them)

Tuesday – Today was full of things to be thankful for, here are just a few!

The view of Mt. Si while we were shoe shopping
Roses right after it rains, I love the way the water collects amongst their petals
Mr. Mo taking care of the tent caterpillars on our apple tree after a long day of work (I am not too much of a bug wimp, but tent caterpillars kind of freak me out)

Wednesday - Gohan being able to work through a stumbling block he had encountered in math. He stuck to it and spent over an hour solving the problem, but insisted he wanted to figure it out and he did!

Thursday – chai, it really helps to soothe my soul during times of stress

Friday – watching Gohan in his year-end homeschool production of Charlotte’s Web

Saturday – Getting the yard work and weekend errands done, despite Gohan having another play production, so that we can take it easy tomorrow. It is so nice when Sundays really can be a “day of rest”.

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Maureen

Happy May Day

2013-05-01T15:36:00.001-07:00

In keeping with the Waldorf tradition of celebrating a full year of seasons, festivals, and holidays, we decided to celebrate May Day this year. We have never celebrated the holiday and I really didn’t know much about it. So I referred to my handy, dandy copy of Festivals Family and Food. I was quite surprised to learn that Victoria Sponge Cake was a traditional May Day treat, as my blogging buddy, The Adventurer at Life’s Adventures, just posted a recipe for Victoria Sponge Cake. The recipe was easy to make and the cake was delicious!We had also hoped to make May Day crowns out of tree branches, but just learned yesterday that we have a bit of a tent caterpillar infestation. Yuck!

I hope you all had a wonderful May Day!

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Disclosure: Some item links in this post are affiliate links. I will make a small amount of money if you click on them and make a purchase. All opinions expressed, however, are 100% my own.

Maureen

Using a Worm Bin to Turn Ordinary Kitchen Scraps Into Awesome Compost

2013-04-29T22:33:00.001-07:00

Yum! That picture sure helps to build up an appetite! This year, I wanted to start using our kitchen scraps to make compost for us instead of putting the scraps into our yard waste barrel to make compost for the city (and subsequently having to buy compost for our garden every year). I decided to use a worm bin, thinking worms would break down material faster and that we’d get more worms for our yard once we did have compost. The last time we tried this, we ended up attracting drain flies, though I later learned that this was because Tertia was tossing fruit remnants in the bin and not covering them. It was a very big issue for us, since our yard is so small that the bin has to be right by our patio door. This time, I did a lot more research before purchasing a system. I purchased a Worm Factory 360 WF360B Worm Composter and Uncle Jim's Worm Farm 1,000 Count Red Wiggler Live Composting Worms. We've had the setup going since January and not had any problem with odors or drain flies, though the summer heat will be the true test for this.

Dora has vacillated between fascination and repulsion in regards to the worms (as have I, if the truth be told). She has been very involved, however, with helping to “feed” and “water” the worms, as well as helping with layering the compost materials. Overall, the worms have been very low maintenance. Once we had all the trays full, we have just had to water them once a week.

Unfortunately, this system is just too small for our family of seven people and three pets, even when I expanded it as much as possible. I even added another thousand worms, but the worms can only eat so many banana skins and apple peels a week. So I recently ordered a traditional composter. Based on it’s design, I’m hoping it can hold more. At the very least, we’ll have two systems going, so we’ll get twice the compost. I’m really hoping that I never need to buy compost again, as the first seven years that we lived here, I spent hundreds of dollars a year trying to rebuild that natural ecosystem in our soil that the builders destroyed when they built our house (this is a problem with all new housing, between scraping off the top soil when they clear the land and compacting the soil when they drive their heavy machinery on the land, construction crews wreak havoc on soil).

What about you? Do you have a worm bin or compost pile? If so, is it near your door? Does it attract flies or smell? Do you know any other secrets to controlling odors and flies (other than covering all “greens” with “browns”)?

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Maureen

Gratitude Sunday–April 28

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Sunday – Having a surprisingly relaxing and productive day after a rough morning. We even had time for me to cook split pea soup and cornbread for dinner. Yum!

Monday – A twofer day!

Secunda unexpectedly taking Dora out to the park and for a picnic for a couple of hours, giving me the gift of “me” time.
Tertia helping me solve the hair problem that I was having with my troll doll.

Tuesday – Dora’s rousing (and hysterical) rendition of Old McDonald Had a Farm!

Wednesday – Dora’s supposedly perplexed expression when I came into the backyard to find that in my one minute absence to retrieve her sunglasses, she had soaked herself and the house with the hose. She quickly dropped the hose and looked at me as if to say, “Gosh, I wonder how everything got so wet?” Thursday – Working in the garden with Dora, enjoying a lovely, mild spring day, planting roses while she studied the life and times of “Wormy the worm”. She later built a memorial for Wormy, who did not die, but went off to pursue darker and danker pastures, leaving Dora with only the memories of the good times they had.

Friday – Gohan watching Dora for an hour for me to take a badly needed nap.

Saturday – Mr. Mo being able to mow the lawn, which was really, really long, right before the downpour started.

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Maureen

Window Transparencies

2013-04-25T23:28:00.001-07:00

Last week, we decided to play with kite paper some more and made window transparencies. We used large sheets of kite paper, which are harder to find, though Palumba carries them (I’m not sure where I bought mine, but I only purchased one sheet of each color, so it was much cheaper). I’ve also read on other blogs that people have used tissue paper to do these. Dora found this activity to be extremely frustrating. Were I to do it again, I would cut out a variety of shapes ahead of time for her to use. She really had trouble grasping the idea of how shapes would go across the frame, so she’d cut giant pieces of paper and then not understand that she needed to trim the paper or she’d cut tiny pieces of paper and not be able to understand how to attach them to the frame, leaving gaps. So we ended up cutting the project short, with a much simpler design than I had hoped to do. To make the one that we did finish, I cut out a frame from black cardstock (I just made a random design).We then glued a piece of blue kite paper on the back of the frame for the background. I later read that it is best to start with a clear or light colored piece of paper. I will admit, that we had some trouble with trying to blend yellow and blue kite paper to yield green, so I would probably use a light colored paper for the background next time.We then glued on shapes to the back of the blue kite paper to make our design. This is where things fell apart, so we rushed the process. I would have liked to experiment with layering a bit more, but maybe next time….To attach the window transparency to our window, we used double-sided tape. I really like window transparencies and am looking forward to being able to create more elaborate designs.

If you’d like to see some other designs, which I have pinned on Pinterest, be sure to check out my Pinterest board.

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Maureen

Good Spring Books for Young Children

2013-04-22T21:11:00.001-07:00

I created a new page with our favorite books for spring and Easter on it, but thought I’d share the spring books as a post also, for those of you who read my blog via readers, Facebook, Twitter, etc.

What are your family’s favorite spring reads?

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Disclosure: Some item links in this post are affiliate links. I will make a small amount of money if you click on them and make a purchase. All opinions expressed, however, are 100% my own.

Maureen

Gratitude Sunday–April 21

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Sunday – Reading the comics for the first time in years and years!

Monday – Grateful that everyone in my family is safe and accounted for. Feeling deep sorrow for all those who cannot say the same on this truly horrific day.

Tuesday – Cutting the last of the daffodils for one final vase for the house. Their sweet fragrance fills the whole downstairs.

Wednesday – Violas, now that I figured out that the slugs won’t gobble them up if they are in planters!

Thursday – “2-for-1” sales on outdoor containers! Score!

Friday – I am very grateful that the Boston Marathon suspects are no longer at large.

Saturday – Mr. Mo bringing a nice warm chai to me before I even got out of bed.

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Maureen

Making Window Stars

2013-04-18T23:26:00.001-07:00

Last week, I was going to tell a story to Dora that involved star flowers. So I thought it would be fun to make some window stars. I’d never made window stars before. The only thing that challenged me was my own mentality that paper folding crafts should stay together by themselves, as with origami. It really bugged my OCD-ish senses to use glue and tape! Otherwise, the process was pretty straightforward. I used this video from Sarah from Bella Luna Toys to get us going.

To make a basic window star, start with a piece of Kite Paper. Fold the paper in half length-wise and width-wise. Then open the paper back up.Bring the corners in to the center lines, like this.Fold two of the sides towards the middle like I did in the photo below (I only show one side folded, so that you can see the difference, but you would fold both sides).You will end up with a kite-like shape. Fold eight of these shapes and then join them with a little bit of glue (that dries clear), applied to the center line, as seen below. When you come to the last “kite” you will need to tuck it under the first “kite” so that it layers properly.You will end up with an eight-pointed star that looks something like the star in the picture at the top of this post. You can attach your stars to your window using small pieces of double-sided taper. I then decided to experiment and made an extra fold for each star point. I ended up with some rhombas-like shapes.This small adjustment meant that I needed 16 star points for my star! Window stars are a great way to learn about geometry by the way. I messed up a little on this star, in that my folds don’t all go the same way. This did not become apparent until I hung the star on our window and I could see the gaps in the inner shadowy circle. With window stars, the inner shapes that are made by overlapping pieces of paper are almost as important as the outer shape, so I will need to pay more attention to that the next time we try this.

If you are interested in trying to make window stars and want to take things a bit farther, there are two good books that can provide ideas and inspiration. They are both available through Amazon. If you know of any other good sources for window star designs, please mention them in the comments below. I am totally in love with making these and though Dora can’t fold the paper quite right yet, she loves helping to pick out the color schemes.

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Disclosure: Some item links in this post are affiliate links. I will make a small amount of money if you click on them and make a purchase. All opinions expressed, however, are 100% my own.

Maureen

Yarn Along–Sunday Sweater

2013-04-17T00:42:00.001-07:00

I’ve been totally bitten by the knitting bug! I’ve been learning lots from fellow knitters and various knitting blogs. As I’ve integrated more into the knitting community (as a stalker, not as a contributor of knowledge, mind you), I’ve decided to start joining the weekly Yarn Along link up with Ginny at Small Things. The link up’s description is:

~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading, and the evidence of this often shows up in my photographs. I love seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well. So, what are you knitting or crocheting right now? What are you reading? Take a photo and share it either on your blog or on Flickr.

After my success with the knitted horse, I had thought that I might move on to something a little more complicated, like, oh I don’t know, a hat or a scarf! Dora, however, had other ideas. She happened to see me reading Nicole’s post about the Sunday Sweaters that she made for her daughters and Dora begged me to make the same sweater as Nicole’s older daughter is wearing. Dora wanted the same EXACT yarn and everything. So I am now knitting my 2nd real project ever, a sweater. So far it is going fairly well, though I’m not very far into it. I had to restart once already, because my “center pull” ball of yarn that I wound “jammed” and no more yarn would come out. In the process of trying to “unjam” it, I ended up tangling it and making a big ‘ol mess of everything. I then wound the yarn without a center pull, for fear of repeating this incident, but it is driving me crazy having the yarn roll all over the place. So I need to bite the bullet and learn how to roll a center pull ball of yarn. I’m also new to the whole Ravelry thing, but I am attempting to post notes for this project, which include the yarn color and sweater pattern link.I’m currently working my way through two books, plus the latest edition of Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. I’m slowly, but surely, trying to absorb a portion of the information from Vogue Knitting: The Ultimate Knitting Book. I personally think this a book that would benefit every knitter (or at least every beginning knitter). It is a very large book that covers types of yarns, various ways to cast on and bind off, increasing, decreasing, types of stitches, reading patterns, etc. It also has a few patterns at the back of the book. In all honesty, when I am first learning a stitch, I usually turn to The Knit Witch over at YouTube, but this book is easier to reference when I just need to jog my memory.I also just started reading Painting in Waldorf Education. The book looks promising, but I’ve not gotten far enough into it to say more than that. I hope it is helpful, as we are really struggling with watercolor painting here and thus far, I’ve yet to find a book that is much help.

Please note my left sidebar for all the awesome link-ups that I am participating in.

Disclosure: Some item links in this post are affiliate links. I will make a small amount of money if you click on them and make a purchase. All opinions expressed, however, are 100% my own.

Maureen