ho ho ho...Merry Christmas!

Like many people our Christmas consisted mostly of family, food, and presents. Since we are already blessed with many toys we did our best not to go overboard with the gift-giving. I wish I could say the same about the food.

Christmas Eve
(note the army of action figures in battle)

Christmas morning

...half an hour later when they finally realized that those shiny wrapped things under the tree were presents too...

Medium snuggles his niners football/bear

Small appreciating his new yoga videos

Small with his new train and Medium with "the puppets that Santa got from Costco!" Oops.

I'll leave you to decide which gifts Mommy picked out and which gifts Daddy purchased...

We had a homemade pot pie for lunch then spent the afternoon preparing some yummies to bring with us to Christmas dinner before Uncle Dylan and Uncle John came by with a tire swing! Later we headed up to Grandma Tutie's new house for more gifts and food and came home with a Big Wheel and a trampoline.

Grandma Tutie and all her boys

solstice celebration

So it's not the end of the world but it is the winter solstice. 

We've been reading solstice themed books and stories this week and finally the day is here. Since we learned about structures that showcase the winter sun in the Shortest Day we checked out the goings-on at Newgrange, Stonehenge and Knockroe.

For our own celebration we made aromatic pomanders from cloves and oranges and a special solstice stew which we ate by the light of our super duper yule candle (for lack of anywhere to burn a yule log indoors).

Medium was extremely disappointed that even though winter is here, we won't be snowed in like Little Bear in the solstice episode. It's not easy to explain to such tiny people why it's still a balmy 75 degrees in December when it's supposed to snow in winter so I'll have to find out if it ever snows far enough down Mauna Kea for us to take him. Luckily, I believe Uncle Christopher is just the man to ask. (Here I'm realizing for the first time that these boys have three Uncle Christophers...and Large has one on his mom's side too!) At least kids are easily distracted because this it what his face looked like all throughout dinner:

We had planned to end the evening outside with the telescope and some spiced tea but the weather was uncooperative. Instead, we put our feet up in front of our Hawaiian-style fireplace (thank you Netflix!) and took turns reading the Hobbit.

homeschooling so far

As I mentioned yesterday, we've been at this Waldorf-inspired homeschooling for a few weeks now. Our first week was focused on the letter A. We read the Tale of Peter Rabbit which introduced the A sound (focusing on the "gAte" in the story). We drew pictures depicting the story, made homemade playdough for forming A's, said A tongue-twisters and looked for A's in nature on our walks. For science we talked about summer and how he remembered it in preparation for making our fall nature table. Then we used Waldorf wet-on-wet watercolor technique to draw a summer picture and told rhymes and stories about the color yellow. You get the idea.

On a side note: ridiculously, these weren't even taken the same day. I guess he just likes that shirt.


Our second week focused on the letter B which was introduced by reading "Goldilocks and the Three Bears. We drew pictures of B's and turned them into butterflies and bumblebees and told a butterfly story, we sang a B song and worked on some blue watercolors while we said blue rhymes and listened to a story about blue.

Last week focused on the letter C and the Tale of Benjamin Bunny, Peter Rabbit's cousin. We also read the Story of One Big Sun and drew a picture to illustrate how even though the sun is only one sun, it has many rays, enough for everybody in the whole world. My favorite thing so far was baking crescent rolls, one of my guilty pleasures, in the shape of C's. For our beginning handwork we learn very basic finger knitting which we are using to weave into a comfy rug.

This week is a review of the letters we have learned so far, an introduction to the number 2 and my personal favorite, the winter solstice on Friday. I see lots of holiday songs and crafts in our future!

homeschooling

Without really having much idea about homeschooling methods I just cobbled together some Montessori activities and pages from several prek workbooks on whatever I thought was timely or important. Medium loved the workbooks we've used and the activities we've done but for a million reasons it wasn't practical to do lots of those things. Still, it seemed like he needed a bit more focus than the free-for-all that was going on around here while I was too sick to do anything but turn on the TV to babysit them. And I felt I needed more structure to help me make sure I was including all the things he should be doing. Luckily, one of my favorite things is research which is easy to do from the sickbed.

I spent weeks combing through articles, reviews, studies, and blogs trying to work out the very best homeschooling plan. I priced packages, online schools, software, individual unit studies, and books and then threw it all out the window because the kid isn't even 5 yet, for goodness' sake! He should be building forts and making mudpies.

Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes (on brother)

Since Dad and I both agree that kids his age don't need to be inundated with academics (but like I said, we really needed some structure) I was happy to stumble upon a used Oak Meadow kindergarten and 1st grade lot curriculum on eBay. Oak Meadow is great because it's a very gentle, Waldorf-inspired curriculum that is nature, art, and play-centered, but it leaves the religion and some of the more out-there pedagogy and anthroposophy that I don't necessarily agree with about Waldorf.

We've started the kindergarten and we're doing lots of drawing, painting, and singing as well as crafts, baking, and taking nature walks. The most important thing Oak Meadow is doing is helping us to establish a rhythm to our dasy. We would never get by with a rigid schedule but I believe that children are comforted by knowing what to expect next. In addition to Oak Meadow we're including some Earthschooling lessons, library books, and I invested in the Character First curriculum (hurray ebay!) since finding secular character education materials is difficult but it really seemed like something we needed to actively peruse. This sounds like quite a bit but it all feels like it fits naturally into the flow of our days and weeks and the lessons seem to compliment each other.

We've been at this for a few weeks now and my phone is filling up with tons of pictures documenting our activities and it only just today occurred to me that it might be nice to share them with our family. So prepare to be inundated with pictures of Medium :)

Hanukkah

Waldorf education is big on seasonal festivals and what better way to lead into celebrating the solstice than by ushering in the shortest day with a Festival of Lights! Although we are not Jewish, I thought Hanukkah would be a good excuse for a little social studies. Last week, on the first day of Hanukkah, we talked a bit about Jerusalem and Judaism then we read the story of Hanukkah. On our nature walk we gathered some sticks to fasten a makeshift Hanukkiyah (a Hanukkah menorah) then lit the first candle that evening to show how Hanukkah is usually observed. We also learned the dreidel song and spent a good long time playing the game (any excuse for songs and games!) just like I remember doing in elementary school.

Throughout the week we enjoyed some veganized traditional Jewish foods and did some Hanukkah related crafts.  FYI, if the toddler absconds with the rubber cement don't try to use a glue stick for the popsicle stick Star of David.

enjoying broccoli noodle kugel

playdough

I found a new recipe for playdough to try out today since our last batch only lasted a couple of days. The recipe involved mixing the dry ingredients then adding in boiling water and oil as opposed to cooking or salt dough. Medium had a blast taking care of mixing the dry ingredients for me. He played with it for at least half an hour then told me, "that was awesome. You don't need to make the regular playdough now."

yesterday evening

"Mom, let's go look at the sun and see if it's beautiful." 

-Medium, age 4.5

Magic Elf Seeds

Yesterday morning we woke up to find Six perched on the Christmas tree holding a little bag of Magic Elf Seeds (they looked an awful lot like broken candy canes so maybe Six had a rough time finding vegan sprinkles...I mean seeds). They came with a note that read "Plant in sugar, sprinkle with snow. Wait for the magic, and see what will grow" (thanks, East Coast Mommy). So we planted those suckers.

And look what grew!!!

I just have to say...

My beloved son just tuned the radio to Bob Marley and then came to tell me with a huge smile, "that's beautiful music." <3

what do kids and elves have in common?

Just this morning I was thinking about how lovely it is that my kids generally keep their drawing on paper (and maybe their bodies) as opposed to marring my freshly painted walls or lovely furniture. I should have known that just thinking this was asking for disaster. After all, Murphy's is the one law that governs my life.

Only hours later I was sitting on the couch with Medium while Small was set up at the kitchen table with some crayons and paper when it occurred to me that he had been at it for quite a while. Anybody with toddlers knows that an extended period of silence is the first sign that the kids are up to something but I dismissed the thought as I heard the crayon tapping the paper as he drew with his little fists. Unfortunately it took me another 5 minutes or so to realize that I cannot normally hear him coloring so loudly and that it may not just be furious art-making but mischief. As you may have guessed, I entered the kitchen to find that Picasso himself had graced me with some of his largest and blackest work. All over my wood floors and stainless refrigerator.

Six has also been up to some mischief in the kitchen. First, we awoke to find that she had helped herself to some breakfast. After which we found her hanging out in one of the cups in the kitchen cabinet. Having satisfied her thirst, she was apparently overcome by her sweet tooth and we were witness to Elf (near)Death-By-Chocolate. Then, fully sated, she was found perched atop the soy milk which had magically turned green. This morning we found her making snow angels on the kitchen table.

 
 

a crazy Christmas parade and a crazy elf

Last night was the Twilight Christmas Parade so we braved the masses (seriously, these people are crazy about parades here) and headed out to Waimea for the little ones' first Christmas parade. Large was there too but he headed across the street to hang out with his friends, in typical 13-year-old fashion.

Medium showing off his goodies (and first candy cane!)

Six the Elf has been up to her usual antics as well. Yesterday morning we found her reading the Elf on the Shelf (what else?) and last night she busted out the Jenga. She even signed her name with the blocks!