Nearing the End of the Year

 We all thoroughly enjoyed the Waldorf Faire this year at the end of November.  Rowan and I went three years ago when I was pregnant with Poppy and had fun but this time we were able to participate in almost all of the activities.  In these pictures Poppy and Rowan are at the Wishing Well.  The room was nearly dark except for the trees which were beautifully lit.  The child takes the basket and places it into the Wishing Well where a small but lovely gift is left for them.  Poppy was given a shell and Rowan a tiny boat made of paper, a stick, and a pit of some kind (like a peach pit but smaller).  The kids also chose decorated cookies to eat, decorates beeswax candles, had popcorn, and did a few other things as well.  I bought my first Christmas gift at the Artisans Fair.  If my children ever had to go to school, I would want them to be at the Waldorf School.

 Rowan wrote Santa quite a few letters on his own this year.  This one says "And my Mom would like snow shoes and I would like (turn over) a sled".  It's neat to watch his spelling emerge - it's coming along quite naturally other than the Electric Company shows he watches.  I just ordered All About Spelling which we'll check out after Christmas but so far I'm really happy with how Rowan is picking things up on his own.

 We went to two Christmas parties again this year - Rand had one at his work and my Mom had one with her company as well.  In these photos Poppy and Rowan are bowling and loving it!  When we went to this party when Rowan was 2 he fell on the floor at the bowling alley and had a bleeding nose for about a half an hour.  There were lots of crafts and activities at the party including an open gym where Rowan and I played basketball together for the first time!

 Rowan practiced really hard for the month of December as he had a solo to perform in front of the class.

 Rowan's final performance of Trois Petite Cochon was very fun to watch.  The kids did a great job (as did their teacher!) and seemed to enjoy the whole process from learning the script to designing and making the props.

 The final performance of Bugs are our Buddies at the Evergreen Theatre was hilarious.  Rowan's Great-Aunt, Grandma, and some friends came to watch.  When we watched the video after you could hear me giggling hard throughout.  Rowan really enjoyed this class and we would probably take it again except we need a bit of a break from all the organized activities and structured classes this session.

 Rowan was very confident as he played London Bridge and Good Morning with two hands in front of the class on the teacher's piano!  His Auntie Sanj came for the performance which totally made his night.  He was so excited that she was there he could hardly focus on the other kids and we had to shush him several times!  He had another concert with his Music School a week before Christmas where the students in the compositions class performed their own pieces of music.  The rest of the school was expected to come and watch and they all joined together on stage for a final song together.

 On the final day of Art we wandered down by the river to have a look at what was happening so far this winter.  Poppy and Rowan played hide and seek in the branches and bushes here while the sun started to slip down behind the houses.

 We wanted to capture a shot of Rowan's shadow.  On the day of the Winter Solstice we actually measured both Poppy and Rowan's shadows in front of the house and plan to do so again in the Summer Solstice and both equinoxes.  We talked a lot about Solstice and read several stories related.  We had a special celebration on Solstice Eve with some friends who came for dinner.  We kept the lights out the whole day and evening which was really fun.  It was our first real Solstice celebration and we will definitely be making it a future tradition!

 We took a little trip downtown away from the many things that needed to be done before Christmas at home and visited the Calgary Tower.  This was a first trip for both Rowan and Poppy.  Initially the kids wouldn't step out onto the glass floor but as you can see they overcame their concern very quickly!  We had a nice lunch in the dining room and back out to the floor again.  Poppy enjoyed walking on all the ledges and Rowan had to look out each telescope to see the different angles of the city.  Rowan is quite interested in tall buildings and in particular in Calgary, the Bow.  We will be taking a trip to the Bow this Spring or Summer some time.

 No, I did not walk out onto the floor.  Not even when I was being begged to!

We have a few more parties and fun things happening as we head to the end of 2011 and are looking forward to lots of time together.  Rand has three weeks of holidays and we plan to enjoy them!

Happy New Year!

More October and a little November!

 Some of the fun we had in November:

Rowan and I worked on some beeswax sculpting using Stockmar Beeswax.  It took quite a lot of pressure to get the shapes just the way we wanted them.  These little pumpkins looked perfect on our Nature Table.

 Rowan and I did a few activities from Peggy Kaye's Games for Reading.  Rowan LOVED the activities.  On our weekly schedule I wrote "Games with Mom" and he knew I would have something prepared from this book.  In the pictures shown I made a line at a time and he copied me without saying much to each other.  I didn't have anything specific in mind as I was making the shapes other than keeping his interest and providing a bit of a challenge.  When Rowan writes letters and numbers they are often backwards.  This activity helps the child observe the movement of the hand and the direction it is going in.

 We read a few more tales from the Brothers Grimm as recommended in the Waldorf curriculum for Grade One I got my hands on (for free!).  I quickly realized I need to screen these Fairy tales as many of them are quite violent and have extremely stereotypical roles for men and women.

 Rowan dressed up as a Viking this Halloween - I'm sure my Grandma would be mortified if she knew her Great Grandson wore her Fur Wrap as part of a costume.  I remember her telling me she really felt she was no longer poor when she bought that small piece of fur.  Rand made Rowan the wooden axe himself and the shield came from the SIKH warehouse run by Grandpa Singh.

At the end of October Rowan lost his first tooth!  It was a very exciting time for him leading up to the day as his tongue played around with the tooth and he had to eat differently to accommodate the loose teeth.  He lost the two front bottom teeth about two weeks apart.

 Our Nature Table - I made some new Autumn Gnomes to play with.  There was also some dried grass and Cat Tails from a small fishing hole we were fishing at in September.  The book in the background is a Barefoot Book called Skip Through the Seasons by Stella Blackstone and Maria Carluccio.  It includes a page for each month with pictures, words, and a description of highlights for the month.

 Interestingly, once Rowan started to lose his teeth I noticed a huge leap in his ability and interest in complex tasks such as playing music with two hands, printing, and reading.

 This is a sample page of Rowan's music workbook that he has to do at home once a week.  Most of the work so far has been note identification and some printing or copying of notes.  Rowan continues to practice his music once per day for about 20 minutes.  The more consistent out daily routine the more agreeable he is to practice.

 In November Rowan had his 6th birthday!  He had a small party with Rand's side of the family and another small party with friends and grandparents at the Hall near our house.  In the above picture Rowan is listening to his Auntie as she had designed a treasure hunt for him.  She had several clues that she had hidden around the house and once he found each one he moved on to the other.  Rowan's most desired gift for his birthday this year was a Metal Detector.  Knowing the one he wants is about $200 he requested money from his friends and family rather than several gifts.  His Aunt had a paper Metal Detector with money at the end of the hunt which thrilled Rowan.

I finally ordered the Waldorf Birthday Ring to use to celebrate the birthdays in our house.  The round shape signifies the child going around the sun another time.  There is a small wooden gnome carrying the number 6 on the ring.  I also hand sewed Rowan a felt Birthday crown this year.  We had a lovely time celebrating his birthday week this year with small outings and poems, gifts and cakes.

Rowan continued his French Play at our neighbour's house and performed Trois Petite Couchon with several of his friends.  He also continued the art class at 4 Cats and made several references to Tom Tompson and things he learned about his artistic style, interests, and preferences.  The month was busy with activities and getting ready for the upcoming holiday season!  More pictures and posts to come that will include our happy holidays!

October!

I might win an award for most neglectful blogger.  The end of October and the entire month of November whizzed by us without a post! Well, I'll try to catch up with one or two long ones.

 This was the final harvest from our garden this year.  The carrots and potatoes were fantastic.  We hope to expand the garden next year so we can plant more.  We seem to eat up what we've planted early on.  We did manage to save these till Thanksgiving Dinner.  The pink and red flowers are Double Shirley Poppies.  There are so many advantages to having a vegetable garden, especially while homeschooling.  Rowan and Poppy spent a lot of time helping catch worms and slugs along with other bugs who live there.

 Rowan, Poppy, and I took another spontaneous drive and found ourselves at Fish Creek Park just off Macleod Trail and Canyon Meadows Blvd.  This time we took our dog, Peggy, with us so we could give her some exercise and adventure as well.

 Peggy had a blast jumping into this little stretch of water to retrieve sticks for us.  It was a bit cool outside but still warm enough to wander without a jacket.  The Fall colours were beautiful.  Not long after this photo was taken a huge gust of wind came up so we walked back to the van which was a bit of a hike.  It started to rain as soon as we reached the van.

 The Fire Station in our community hosted an Open House in October.  Rowan wasn't as interested in the vehicles and the inside of the station as I thought he would be, although he did enjoy hanging off the pole for a while.

 Rand's sister and her partner invited us to their Annual Family Soccer Game and BBQ.  Rowan talked about the upcoming game constantly for days beforehand.  It was on the site where the General Hospital used to be.  Poppy and I played at the park while Rowan and Rand played soccer with the group.  They played right till dark and we enjoyed a fantastic steak BBQ under the moon and street lights.  It was great fun!

 Rowan and I spent a few afternoons playing his favorite game of the month - Totally Tut from Discovery Toys.  Here we were playing the first level which is addition and subtraction only.  Each player chooses an answer tile and 5 yellow tiles.  The yellow tiles are placed in a row anywhere on the pyramid but must add and subtract to equal the orange answer tile.

 With each turn the player takes a turn at the spinner to draw, steal, or trade a number.  The player then arranges tiles on the board if possible and if not waits until the following turn.

 Rowan won 2 out of 3 games on this particular afternoon.  I think he will be up for the next level of the game which is to use the multiplication and division tiles.  The final level includes using all tiles together.

Rowan has expressed a lot of interest in Brazil lately.  He took out a cookbook with recipes from Brazil from the library and a book about Flags of the World.  The Brazilian Festival took place in October so we went down to the Chinese Cultural Centre where it was held.  We had some great food and there was  entertainment as well.  We felt a bit misled as the advertisements said the festival was free and then listed the food items available.  We took this to mean it was all free as there were no prices listed for the food.  However, the food and drinks were rather pricey so it was a much more expensive event than we expected.  Here Rowan is eating a cheese and artichoke pizza.  The food was authentic and we did enjoy it.

Quite a variety of activities up to the end of October!  Some days it feels like perhaps we should plan our life a little more.  But most days it feels like we're just enjoying each day and we do have a regular rhythm.  Rowan loves his Drama class and seems to be building some new relationships through it.   He is not enjoying his music practice very much but we're going to stick with it as we have committed until June.  Hopefully he will find it more interesting as time goes on.  Rowan completed his first art class at 4Cats Art Studio with a marvelous self-portrait in the style of Tamara deLempica.  He was very eager to take art again even though I was hoping to slow the classes down a bit.  SO he will be taking another session studying the work of Tom Thompson (who happens to be one of my favorite artists so I am excited to see what they tackle in this class!).

Feelin' Fall

We have been spending as much time as we can outdoors so far this Fall.  We have been known to experience all four seasons in one day in our fair city, but so far Fall has been mild and lovely.  Yesterday I noticed my children singing, giggling, and playing cheerily much more than usual and wondered to myself what might be different for things to feel so light.  I think the combination of being outside a lot, spending quiet time at home, and planning a few challenging activities for Rowan have contributed to the atmosphere.

We went to the Bird Sanctuary with some friends and had a leisurely walk.  We stopped along the bank of the Bow River for lunch and to play.

Building an Inuksuk along the bank of the Bow River (Bird Sanctuary)

At the Bird Sanctuary 

 The following week I decided to pack the kids up with some lunch and drive somewhere we have never been.  Anytime we're driving in the country or toward the mountains I see places and think we should plan to stop there some time so this day I thought we'd just head out and see where we ended up.  We ended up in Priddis, a hamlet about 10 - 15 minutes outside of the city.  It's a beautiful little spot with lots of trees and the colurs were beautiful.  We stopped at the playground beside the community centre then walked accross the main road to the tiny church to go on a Crunchy Walk (stepping on crunchy fallen leaves).  To Poppy's delight there were many ladybugs to hold and examine.

Painting in the kitchen

 We joined several homeschooling friends for a trip to the Corn Maze, also about 10 minutes outside of the city.  Rowan had been there last Fall with his Beavers group and was excited to show Poppy and I around.  The maze itself was great fun although I was a bit nervous of losing the kids in there as they would run ahead or take a different turn and giggle hysterically.

 There were lots of other activities at the Corn Maze - a huge bouncing area with a large piece of rubber blown up to jump on, farm animals to feed and pet, a great playground, huge slide, bike racing track, and much more.  I think we were there for nearly 3 hours.

 My brother has been a Truck Driver for many years and recently bought his own truck.  Our family is very excited for him and we enjoyed getting to sit in the truck.  He even took the kids around the block in the cab - very exciting for them!  It reminded me of one of our first activities with a home school group when Rowan was just over 2 - we went to a local trucking dealership and the kids were able to go inside the trucks and learn all about them.

 Poppy has been enjoying the Playful Patterns (tangram) set a lot.  Rowan enjoyed something similar I made out of felt pieces when he was about the same age. as long as he could make truck pictures with it.

 I picked a bunch of flowers and leaves from the garden and yard to make scenes and pictures with.  One of my older daughters who no longer lives at home was visiting and decided to join in - hers was very elaborate and she spent at least an hour on it (see the dragon above).

 This past week we again took a drive to Somewhere New to explore Fall, and ended up at Glenfield in Fish Creek Park.  This time we took the dog with us and played fetch in a bit of water.  She was in heaven.  The kids enjoyed finding sticks and rocks of all kinds.

Those are some of our October adventures.  Rowan is still in his Art class studying Tamara de Lempica and is nearly finished painting his own portrait in her style.  His piano playing is really coming along and he's getting more confident all the time (also grumbling about practice less since we have a new daily rhythm that includes practice every week day at a certain time).   Rowan started a french class at my homeschooling neighbour's house with about 6 other children (the moms and younger siblings come here while the class is in).  This coming week we have a few new activities starting - Poppy starts her OWN music class (as she likes to remind us!) and a library story time class.  Rowan starts Drama as well and I'm excited to see how he likes it.  That's all for now!