the day before the day

I just can't believe that after 7 months of being a stay at home mom, tomorrow, I return to work.  I am a mix of emotions.  I like work, being with others, accomplishing something, earning money...and, I love staying at home, cleaning and organizing, quiet, cooking and baking, my own schedule.

sunlight streaming in the bedroom window

sunlight in the kitchen window

Chance in the sunlight

Atticus and Chance, good friends

Right now, I have the feeling that it will be good to be back to a schedule, good to walk my children into their classrooms where they so want to be, where they are so loved and taken care of by their teachers and classmates.

The boys made these photo collages of themselves

view from Elias's bedroom window

Dash and Atticus sitting by the fire 

So, today I will spend getting ready for tomorrow.  And hopefully the effects will be long-lasting.

Sewing with the boy

We have been playing a lot of bean bag games to learn numbers, and with the older kids to learn multiplication tables.  We needed more, so Atticus and I decided to make some.  He loves helping with the sewing machine, he presses the pedal while I guide the fabric through.  We filled the bags with lavender and rice.  

cute little foot

lavender 

filling the bag

my helper, proud of his work

three down

Atticus loves to play with these more than I ever imagined he would.  We toss them all the time.  Sometimes, we say the alphabet while we toss, sometimes numbers, sometimes we just giggle and toss.  With Elias and Dash, we stand in a circle and throw to each other, and with each throw, we say a multiplication problem and answer.  This movement with memorization can really help the kinetic learners, or just provide a different way to learn math than worksheets.  For me, movement helps my brain work, and for my boys, movement helps make it fun.  

Friday Foto

Playroom Re-purposed

Recently I did something that made my husband nervous...I changed our dining room into a playroom/classroom.  You see, he is the designer in our household.  When we decorate our home, he is the one who has a strong feeling for how things should look and where things should go, and the purpose of a room.  But, one day while he was at work, I moved the dining room table out, and changed the purpose of the room.  We never used the dining room anyway, we ALWAYS eat in the kitchen.  I cant stand a room that is never used.  And now, it is always used. Plus, it cost no money, everything here we already owned.

science study

 People talk a lot about re-purposing things; clothing, furniture, yarn; I re-purposed a room.

easel for painting

In the Montessori and Reggio classroom, the environment is set up for the children to be able to chose what they want to do.  All the materials they need are there, and they are taught how to get things out, and put the materials away when they are done.   I cannot always be right there to help pour the paint or get the box down from a shelf for building blocks etc.  So, everything that is out in this room is ready for use.  My children know where the paint is, and how to carefully pour it- and how to clean it up (they hate dirty brushes, and love to clean them and watch the water turn colors...)

colorful blocks, play silks

 In the Waldorf classroom, open-ended toys are stressed, allowing the child to use their imagination to create the experience.  These toys are about the child, not about the toy...

crystals, rocks, and bones for studying

What to do with all the treasures we bring home from nature walks?  Admire them, catagorize them, learn their names and features, draw them in our nature study books.

reading space

Everyone likes to sit here and listen to the fish tank purr while they look at books borrowed from the library.  The children are in charge of the fish too, they feed them and clean the tank.

writing letters

Thanks to the awesome Playful Learning Blog and book, I created a letter writing box for my kids.  They always want to send letters to friends, but we never have everything together.  Well, now we do!

Of course, we need a yoga mat and a few yoga book and games because I love yoga, and so do my kids!

art/writing table

This is an old table I hacked the legs off of and it became a desk.  In the drawers are art supplies, so it works nicely to hide what otherwise looks like clutter.

In the end, my husband was not very upset, and even liked my re-purposing!

Harvest Moon

I put some beautiful herbs (rose petals, rose hips, sage, lemon balm) into a large glass jar, filled it with water, 

And let it sit out in the moon light.

In the morning, it looked like this...

We added some honey, and sipped it all day, drinking in the tea that was made while we were sleeping, brewed by the light of the harvest moon.

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The Harvest moon was Sept. 12, which means the Sept. equinox is almost here.  This is taken from another web site (see link), and I am using it to help explain the equinox to my kids.  They find it so interesting (and so do I)

The September Equinox Explained

The September equinox occurs at 09:04 (or 9:04am) Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) on September 23, 2011. It is also referred to as the autumnal or fall equinox in the northern hemisphere, as well as the spring or vernal equinox in the southern hemisphere (not to be confused with the March equinox). This is due to the seasonal contrasts between both hemispheres throughout the year.

The equinox will occur in the evening of September 22, 2010, for locations on US Eastern Daylight Time or further west. To find the September equinox date in other time zones or other years, please use the Seasons Calculator.

This illustration, which shows an example of the September equinox, is not to scale.

What happens during the September equinox?

The sun crosses the celestial equator and moves southward in the northern hemisphere during the September equinox. The location on the earth where the sun is directly overhead at solar noon is known as the subsolar point. The subsolar point occurs on the equator during the September equinox and March equinox. At that time, the earth’s axis of rotation is perpendicular to the line connecting the centers of the earth and the sun. This is the time when many people believe that the earth experiences 12 hours of day and night. However, this is not exactly the case.

Quiet Moments

It rained and rained.  I love the rain, unless it means flooding and schools closing, which it did. Bless all those who's houses and farms have been flooded.

   I suggested to Atticus we make some boats and float them, but he said he already has the perfect boat; his crocks!

They really do float nicely, and Atticus raced them down the gutter over and over.

I finished these socks today.  They were made for feet Dash's size, but i squeezed into them like Cinderellas' step-sister for the photo.  I just might open an Etsy shop and sell them there. 

We saw a rainbow in the house. Of course, I turned it into a teaching moment, instead of just letting it be beautiful.  "This is light broken up into all it's colors...blah blah blah" The children didn't hear me.  They just played in the beautiful light.

my rainbow child