Just so's you know...

This is what my living room looks like when Martin works a long shift.

Yeah.  Welcome to my world.

Seven Days

1. Little one, all ready for bed.
2. Jenna and Morgan gaze longingly at a case of expensive plastic junk on our way back home after story time.
3. Under the willow trees on the park.
4. Delicious chocolate nest cakes to share with new friends.
5. New yarn, always exciting.
6. Melty bead bowl; reluctance over buying plastic beads notwithstanding this was a FUN craft!
7. Those morning smiles.  Even out of focus, they make my world *shine*.

I'll take it!

We have had some funny comments this week when out and about.  And some lovely ones too.  The lifeguard at the pool who said, "I don't mean this to be patronising, but I don't know how you do it, I'd go crazy!"  (My husband's response was, "Well, it helps that we were crazy to begin with, then...")  Later the same day another guy struck up conversation with us both, started looking around, and said, "Oh, blimey, are they all yours?"

(Maybe I'm stuck in the past a little, but four doesn't seem that many to me.)

In town on Monday we were stopped in a shop and complimented on our "lovely joyful" children, in the chocolate shop they gave Jenna a bag of free chocolates and said our three are some of the best behaved children who go in there, and in the library a lady we have known for years now told me she rarely meets such polite, kind children.

She told me she had seen a little boy kicking Morgan in the back, and poking her, and she had turned around and said, "Ow, that hurts me, I don't like to be kicked,"  and when that didn't put him off, she whipped back around and said, "I will not sit with people who hurt me," and moved herself away!  (Yay, Morgan!)

I have had a couple of weeks of feeling just that teeny bit negative about how Wild my three big girls are, especially the toddler amongst them.  It seems silly to take to heart so much the idea of what other people may think.  But gosh, it's such a boost when people can find nice things to say on days I'm feeling a bit down.  :)

Usual Goings On

Jenna enjoyed playing with quilling papers right up until Rowan got hold of them and scrunched them all up. Jenna took it in better-than-usual humour. Rowan is full of tricks like that at the moment.

My biggest girly made her own land art on the park, too.

She is super-creative at the moment. It's lovely to see. So many ideas, all off the top of her head.
Like the granny-square bonnet? *grin*



This pixie-witch wears us all out. And herself, too. Well. We are just taking deep breaths, keeping a sense of humour, and reminding ourselves that all these phases come and go so quickly.  Sometimes I have to hide in the kitchen to stop myself losing it with her.  I can't remember what to do, when something she says or does is like fingernails on a blackboard to me, and I am panicking and walking away fairly often.  And also making stupid threats.  I can do better than this.  Kick up backside for mama!

Something amazing has been happening to us recently. We have gone from barely knowing any local home-ed families, to finding them everywhere! When we found the museum we wanted to visit all shut up earlier this week, we decided to just go find pizza for dinner instead. We sat next to a mama with her little girl, and the children got chatting (shy reserved unsociable home-schoolers who are practically kept in a box don't you know?) and now we have each others' details to meet up another time because *they* are educating otherwise too.

We spent half of yesterday on the park by the swimming baths with the family we met last week at the pool! It's wonderful, bumping into unschoolers and home educators everywhere we go. The mama we spent the afternoon on the play area with has links with a local Waldorf school, too.

It was sunny but bitterly cold. Rowan ended up wrapped up in my coat, eating a crispie cake and telling me her ears hurt. (Rowan quote of the week, swimming up to a stranger in the pool clutching a water toy, "Hello, I am called Rowan, and this is a whale!")

The doll house has a new kitchen, and all three of those little wild things have been playing for hours. I love finding their little set-ups. Here you can see Jenna has "borrowed" a glass candle holder of mine as a baby bath!


Rowan found a packet of biscuits in Martin's work bag and came downstairs covered in chocolate.
Me: "Rowan, Daddy would have liked some of those biscuits, you know?"
Rowan: "I didn't have any biscuits at all.  And I am still your baby, anyway."

Today is one of those really lovely days when everyone is just doing their own thing.  Jenna has voluntarily done handwriting sheets, and watched Narnia, and made her own fishing rod from a bent paperclip.  Morgan has made sand-pies and mud-pies in the garden for hours and hours.  Rowan has emptied out every jigsaw we own and tried to put them together in the wrong order, and played on the swing dressed as a fairy.  Martin and I have even managed to put away a bit of laundry, though he's now on a looong shift followed by a meeting so won't be home until 10pm.

I made a huge batch of peanut butter bars, which are delicious (something about salt and sugar together, haha) and I have already eaten several.  (I don't like things *very* sweet, so I substituted one cup of sugar for an extra cup of biscuit crumbs, and it worked fine.)

While I was looking up the recipe, I saw a link to some really gorgeous puzzle pieces.  So I searched for them in the UK and found this shop.  I am a little bit in love.  They sell white wooden geometry solids, and wooden atom sets.  It's a good job I don't have any money, or I would just have wasted every penny on retro school supplies...

And, three exciting parcels arrived.  Playsilks from Beneath the Rowan Tree (which I dare not open with the children around!) and some deliciously coloured yarn and fibres for meee!  :)

How Circle Works (for us)

So, as a sort-of kind-of Waldorf-inspired family, I have been asked to share some verse for Circle. :) Provisos: don't take me too seriously, take this merely as my personal interpretation of Circle, I am NOT some Waldorf guru, and claim only to be an expert on my own children. Also, I apologise for the more twee elements and assure you that whatever misgivings you (and I) may have as adults, children *adore* those precise things we find embarrassing and/or cutesy. ;)

Clark family Spring Circle example 
(singing as I walk around, gathering children from whatever they're up to by lightly touching a shoulder)

Come to the Circle, let's gather round
Come to the Circle, where dreams are found [repeat]

(seated in a circle)

The light opens up and I walk in
The day invites me to begin
I ask the day, "How should I start?"
The day replies, "With a wish upon your heart."

(making wishes)

Dip Dip Dip, my little blue ship Sails across the water, like a cup and saucer
Dip Dip Steady, I am ready
[For this verse, put your fingertips together in front of you, making the prow of your ship which can dip and raise - "I am ready" bring your hands up and together in front of your heart like in a yoga prayer position.] 

(we get to our feet now and do some movement verses)

Here I stand strong (I)
Safe and secure (A)
Surrounded by love (O)
Open to inspiration (U)
[the vowel shapes are positions in Eurythmy, but having zero experience, we use our own movements]

(and/or)

I have ten little fingers, they all belong to me
I can make them do things, do you want to see?
I can open them wide, I can shut them up tight
I can put them both togather, I can put them out of sight
I can hold them up high, I can put them down low
I can fold them together and sit just so
[actions as traditional!]

(then we get a bit more seasonal - it's officially Spring now!)

Down in the Earth, dark warm and deep
The bulbs are fast asleep
Safe in their winter beds
Under blankets of soil
As we return to the light
The sun is growing bright
The bulb children feel his touch
It warms the soil
Soft rains refreshingly fall
The bulbs drink it all
They start to stir and push
Their roots out into the soil
They grow, and grow, and grow
Breaking into the light
They dance in the breeze
Spring is here!
[this is sung, however it is different every time as I made it up - the children are bulbs covered with a playsilk, and they wake up during the third verse and slowly stand on "grow"!]

The fuzzy caterpillar curled upon a leaf.
[finger "crawls up arm]
Spun her little chrysalis and then fell asleep.
["spun" is one finger rotating in the air]
While she was sleeping,
[fist is the cocoon "hanging" under the branch/arm]
She dreamed that she could fly.
And later when she woke up,
[open fist and bring to sit open hand on the branch]
She was a butterfly!
[make butterfly with both hands linked at thumb, and fly away!]

I have a little nest, look inside, look inside
[hands together with fingers linked to the inside]
Ten little birdies with beaks open wide, open wide
[open palms to reveal fingers]
And they grow day by day, day by day
[bring backs of hands together and raise to make "birds" grow]
Til they spread their wings and fly away
[turn hands palm together, link thumbs, "fly" away]

(at this time of year we ALWAYS have to sing Tweedle Dee Dee, too) 

(time for prayers, down we sit!)

God be in my mind, and in my understanding
God be in my mouth, and in my speaking
God be in my hands, and in my actions
God be at my end, at my beginning, and all through each day

(often the Lord's Prayer too)

[singing]
Peace be with you, peace be with you
The peace of the Lord be with you
Peace be with you, in all that you do
The Peace of the Lord be with you

Some notes on Circle time :)
For us, Circle is that time in the morning where we gather after breakfast, before we start any activity.  It help me gather the children together to transition into a story time or a group activity, it helps me get them together to give instructions about getting ready or to discuss plans for the day or week.  Sometimes, for those latter reasons, it is really the most shortened form of what is above.  For me, it isn't about Perfect, or learning by rote a set of poems and songs, it's about gathering - and transitioning.

I'm relaxed about things being changed or missed out, too.

Generally I bring new things to Circle with new seasons or festivals we are celebrating, and I try to repeat the same Circle more or less for a couple of weeks - but I really don't plan.  Learning a few initial verses and songs was work, for me, and something I felt I never got the hang of in that Waldorf Perfect sense.  But now I find we have a framework of daily verses we all know, and messing with that is no longer stressful - and always fun and exiting for the children.

I don't bother about whether the children are all joining in, or even engaged.  If they wander off and play, I don't mention it, and ignore anything happening outside of Circle (I bring baby in with me, before anyone worries about what on Earth poor little Tali is meant to do while we're doing this)!  Rowan sometimes wanders about or does helpful things like sitting there saying "poo poo and wee wee" while we're in Circle: I pretend she is joining in nicely.  ;)  Jenna is a fidget, too, so I keep it active and I keep it short!  :)

I would urge anyone wanting to implement something strongly Waldorf inspired to start small, and be gentle to yourself and your children.  It may help you learn the verses if you forget Circle for now and start with just using a song or verse at transition times until you have a few already memorised.  What I do looks very little like a Waldorf school,  as I understand it, and that's OK too.  It's meant to serve you, not you it.

And if you just read all of this from pure curiosity, now you know what I'm on about when I say we did such-and-such in Circle!  You never know, one day I might manage pictures - I always intend to take some for posterity...

Weekending

Book Sharing Monday

Library day again, already! We found two fabulous new books I just have to share. :) This is Morgan's new favourite thing: Me, by Emma Dodd. It's just too cute!

 "The stars stretch far... and I am small."

 Foil on every page, simple loving gentle text, and a baby penguin. Just about everything Morgan wants in a book! And, frankly, what's not to love?

And for Jenna, already a fan of Jabberwocky:

Illustrated simply and beautifully by Joel Stewart, it's surprisingly soft; the Jabberwocky is clockwork, so no gore! I wouldn't want to give this book to a child who didn't already know the poem though, it would seem a shame to forgo their own mental images. But for Jenna, this is a really lovely reading book (and has given her some practice at reading upper-case!)

Good children's books are SUCH a joy. :)

Seven Days

Baby and mama in Sunday sun.


Roo having stories with Jenna in the usual living room chaos.


More big-sister-ing, outside Ikea on Tuesday (in desperation for clothes storage shelves for the girls). :)


Mama's first "proper" hair cut in years. Somewhat messed up by going swimming right afterwards.


Trains.


Two big girls all dressed up for the Spring Ball at my mum's school.


Yet more cuddles with sweet babyness. Another week. One filled with relationship and quiet daily ordinary miracles. I have been getting to bed a little earlier, and getting up a little earlier too. Circle time has once more slipped back into being daily routine rather than weekly. And Tali is definitely getting less colicky. :)

Saturday Unschooling

Constantly on holiday, or constantly at school?  I really can't tell which it is!

Today we have played with:

- the shopping list and later the till receipt from the supermarket

- cuisenaire rods (measuring things)

- squared paper (multiplication boxes)

- a calculator ("magic" sums)

- glass beakers, pennies, an egg, water, paper, and salt (lots of water related experiments)

- Main Lesson Books and crayons

- cartoons for over half an hour

- building blocks (making structures behind a screen to describe to each other)

- Ponyo on DVD

- Sylvanian families and the dolls house

- oranges (olive oil lamps with pith as the wick)

- lots of books including the Storyteller Bible, Blueberry Girl by Neil Gaiman, some Dr Seuss, and an illustrated 1001 Arabian Nights

- a pentatonic whistle

- watercolour paints and a big shared piece of paper

- a piece of dowel (making our own knitting needles)

- a recipe and some cupcake ingredients

(and it's only 3pm!)

Have we been messing about all day, or educating ourselves?

On the other hand, the carnations are stubbornly refusing to change colour after THREE days standing in their brightly coloured waters...

Compromises

There are Slyvanian families taking over! They adore them. And they do have a certain charm.

Plastic is back in my house, and in their toy baskets!

(Don't they "look" right, in that handmade wooden house?  I'm surprised how content I am with the decision, given how very right the decision felt, at the time, to not own plastic.)

Very Ordinary

Another normal morning. The older children all head downstairs with Daddy and everyone else has eaten by the time Talia has had a bit of milk and been taken to the bathroom. I try not to drop my breakfast on her head while she stays attached, enjoying greeting the world from the warm familiarity of the breast. Occasionally she unlatches to make a funny little baby noise or to grin at me, dimply and perfect.
It's another nothing kind of day as far as our plans go, so I tell the girls they are free to stay in their pyjamas if they like, and we bring percussion instruments to Circle just to ring the changes.
We get books out, as we feel like it, and tell stories in one format or another. Morgan makes an E for Elf, and Jenna works on her handwork project from Tuesday - a chain of flowers. Jenna measures ingredients for bread and Morgan mixes.

We do a bit of playing with building planks, a bit of measuring with cusinaire rods, a bit of mandala puzzle and a bit more reading of picture books.

Jenna and Morgan play at being spies. They all drink another jug of nursery tea between them (cordial made up with chamomile tea). They have sandwiches for lunch, and watch the animated Where the Wild Things Are afterwards. The bread gets a good knead, and the children take turns, standing on a stool to reach.

I get treated to a puppet show.

They eat a bowl of pasta and half a grapefruit for snack, and then sort all their laundry with a promise that I'll put the baby down to dig out a packet of pistachios when they're done: what a treat!

Two big girls play Lego StarWars while two little ones have a nap.  Mummy gets to do washing and clean the oven.  Fun.  ;)

They only play for about fifteen minutes, unusually, before they run off to play spies again... and a while later they come back downstairs playing princesses instead!

Now Rowan is awake again; and I am about to start making tea with three helpers to hold the baby, chop vegetables, and stir the soup, rotating tasks every few minutes. :)

This is about as typical a day as we ever have. As I said to Ashleigh on the phone last night, it's very rock and roll isn't it? ;) I'm not complaining, though. Glamorous? Not so much. Precious, oh yes, it certainly is that. (And it is roughly a billion times easier to be content with after a couple of nights' sleep!)