Bowl of Stones

Finally crafting again.

2012-02-07T21:14:00.000+11:00

What to do on a rainy day? Read blog posts, bake, run outside between rainfalls and try to get the laundry dry. After a few hours fingers were starting to get itchy, people were bickering, and then the smallest went to sleep. Quickly seizing inspiration from MamaMoontime we gathered supplies and sat ourselves down.

We had to improvise as the dolls we needed beds for were not little wire ones but fat bellied root babies. The Son took a look at the blog post and thought carefully about whether or not he had the patience for the whole project and ended up choosing to modify it.

The Son's tree design

Not a bed for a doll but a bag so he's finger knit a strap

All done, only one frustrated melt down over leaf placement. He's very proud.

While that hive of industry was busy at one end of the table I took advantage of a sleeping small to cut out the trees and the leaves...

The Elf astonished me with how engrossed in her crafting she was. Wobbly stitches don't distress her the way they do her brother, she was just absorbed in the process of creation without the internal critic sabotaging her stitching.

Each step was carefully done, she was happy to make the whole project.

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By day's end she and The Eldest still had to complete their projects so there will be a follow up blog later but the sense of achievement radiated around the house.

This is why The Eldest is still mid way through making her felted bed - tiny, perfect stitches

Once The Pixie woke I handed her a pair of scissors and a pile of felt scraps and she spent more than an hour and a half content by my side cutting away "doing craft like mama". By dinner time, while the table was being cleared of craft and then set I kept stitching, knowing full well the tasks of tomorrow are unlikely to leave me time to finish my own piece, The Husband cooked dinner, The Son did his jobs and the two girls worked away quietly trying to get as close to an end as they could.

After eight or more months of craft free, travel full life, today has been so much fun.

Just as dinner was laid on the table I completed my last few stitches and a sense of contentment fell over me. Thank you Amber - an afternoon well spent, a whole family happy at the end of a long wet day.

The Pixie's very happy little root baby, ready for bed.

A week to go

2012-02-05T20:14:00.000+11:00

and we begin a new year of well, not sure what you'd call it "Waldorf at home", "School free with lessons" ah labels, they'll be the death of me yet.

I have The Eldest poised for adolescence entering into a year of Romans, Geometry, Latin and Astronomy; The Son is heading for the Norse myths, local Geography and History (which will be a darn sight more fun now we're home), Zoology and building on the four processes. The Elf begins First Grade with fairytales, nature tales, the four processes and writing and reading.

So much form drawing, painting, ballet, circus, gym and eurythmy too. We'll be felting, actually starting and completing knitting projects (we have our first pattern already!), doing some weaving and indulging in lots of music. There are craft groups we can join, the spinners and weavers' guild has our membership. I have a spindle and carding paddles! There are home school groups aplenty to be involved in ranging the whole spectrum from specialist Steiner groups to unschooling ones.

The Pixie will potter along with us all and listen in my lap to the First Grade stories and get in the way of the physics experiments The Eldest and The Son are keen to do. Like the last three years I expect her siblings will, as usual, go out of their way to include her. To gently guide her hands.

When my son crossed the bridge into that 7 year change there was a huge celebration, staying at home offers a different way but I was still a little sad that my effervescent elf won't have that same bridge of hands, rose petals and silken cape. Until I woke up the other morning and realised, actually yes she could. We've scheduled our first morning, because we like pinpointing moments like these, for a day when The Father will be home and The Eldest and I will be out picking roses the night before. We've invited friends and we've squirrelled away little gifts for her and little gifts for them all. It's almost like a birthday or coming up on Christmas and whilst I'm just preparing for that first few minutes I'm also trying to keep my hands steadily weaving a gentle rhythm for the year for them all so we know what we're doing and when. We're being proactive this year and setting something in place whilst still making sure we're responsive to what is working and what is not. The two big ones are more sure of what they want and what school free means to them. I am too. After two years of plunging about in isolation, eking as much as I could from the internet without a peer group to seek clarity from, we are all feeling more grounded, more supported and so much more sure that this is the right path for our family. The suggested main lessons are ones I am both excited by and challenged by. I triumphed at physics at school and drew a blank in basic mathematics. I can story tell like a sage but struggle to manipulate tools whilst wrangling a toddler. In the midst of this year we'll also have a house move so I need to remain mindful of that strain as well. But for the very first time, instead of a thread of panic and worry tickling at the back of my throat and making me choke with fear, my overwhelming feelings are joy and focus. It's a good place to be. I hope when I re-read this post in six months, a year I'll feel a sense of contentment and satisfaction rather than rueful what ifs.

A little philosophical musing, Grade 5 Ancient Mythology/History block

2012-02-02T16:09:00.000+11:00

The more reading I do the more I can see the sense of the classically grounded curriculum provided by Mr Steiner's indications. I'm not an anthroposophist, I find myself well out of depth when I try to read some of the writings and there are a fair number of contentions that I find myself just shaking my head at ... but ... the curriculum that has sprung from all that makes such perfect sense to me. I've found Eugene Schwartz extremely helpful in breaking it all down, as well as the work of Donna Simmons, Marsha Johnson, Barbara Dewey, Melisa Neilsen and Eric Fairman. There are a wealth of resources available.

I work well in groups, sparking ideas from one another, puzzling through conundrums together. Which means the past two years in isolation have been extremely challenging for me. Just like writing my post graduate thesis in a different hemisphere to my subject matter, let alone a peer group, this journey to home school the way our family needs, the way we all respond well to, has been difficult.

Now we're home and I have access to resources, I'm connected to like-minded people, parents who are shepherding their children through Steiner/Waldorf schooling whether through school or at home. My enthusiasm has picked up a notch, I'm back into sponge mode, I'm reading late into the night and finding myself waking with a hundred questions.

I've discovered I work well one on one with my children and as we approach the start of the new school year I am feeling increasingly nervous juggling the needs of four children round the table. This week The Eldest and I have been working our way through Classical Antiquity, focussing on the Greeks but taking in the Olmecs, Persians, Judea and the Celts...

She's a very practical soul and well on her way into her "Roman" stage so working our way through ancient Greece had me worried that we wouldn't be able to connect or that I would offer material that was now irrelevant to her. I needed have fretted. The stars were aligned. We worked our way effortlessly through five centuries and at the end of it, as we closed our books, she looked at me, smiled and said, "that was great fun mama, I really enjoyed it". We practiced form drawing, we talked about Solon and Socrates. we found words common in English that are derived from Greek. She wrote a poem out (see below) and asked what virtuous really meant. We then spent some time discussing the difference between morals and ethics. The word must have really struck something deep inside her, resonated with her soul. She's been reading books which talk of chivalry and virtue, knights and their great works.

The next day we tackled the problem of myths over facts. I mean, it's a problem for her, not a general problem. So I worked around this "problem" by talking firstly about how myths were regarded as part of the historical lineage of the Greek people. In order to understand how people came up with their quite revolutionary ideas we need to look at the myths they believe created their world. So we wandered through the creation legends, touched on Demeter and Persephone and then onto Orpheus and Eurydice. My oak-named daughter was delighted to hear of the oak trees who uprooted themselves in a forest and followed the singing Orpheus down to the seashore where they replanted themselves as they listened to the end of his song.

Somehow Orpheus' experiences in the underworld led us onto a discussion of every day Classical Greece - how the people preferred chitons of bright saffron, indigo, scarlet and violet; how the women, including nobility, regarded weaving as the most noble of chores. Then last night, just at bed time we really got into the swing of things and instead of being sensible and brushing our teeth I started telling the tales of the 12 labours of Hercules. I got the same kind of buzz that I get when I'm teaching Celtic Studies to Adult Education students and the children were on the edge of their seats. Every time I tried to suggest leaving the rest till morning I was roundly shouted down and to be honest I was loving story telling so much that I didn't really want to stop.

Now we are embarking on some biographies, especially the son of a sculptor and a midwife who felt his work was the same as his mother's - midwifing the truth instead of a birth... A poet whose life is mostly lost in the veritable mists of time but whose fragments of poetry are divine... Maybe one more and then we paint, we argue about sentence and paragraph construction and hopefully mama gets her material record of what has been an absolutely fantastically stimulating couple of days. Tomorrow we visit the tiny Classics museum at the university and then we rest. For a day or two at least.

Nothing worth doing is completed in our lifetime, Therefore, we are saved by hope.

Nothing true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; Therefore, we are saved by faith.

Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone. Therefore, we are saved by love.

No virtuous act is quite as virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe as from our own; Therefore, we are saved by the final form of love which is forgiveness.

- Reinhold Niebuhr

Leaving the planning and getting spontaneous...

2012-01-26T19:04:00.000+11:00

All work and no play make me very dull but my dodgy back has been seriously impeding my adventures lately. This morning I enjoyed a lovely long massage by the bodyworker who kept me on my feet and happy throughout my last pregnancy. I left there, not feeling my usual dreaminess post massage but invigorated, euphoric and ready for fun. When I got home, the children had their chores done and The Husband was busy around the yard. After a quick lunch we all got into the van and headed out in search of whatever we could find...

Fruit was on the agenda. It's SUMMER, there is fruit dripping off the trees and brambles here. So first we stopped at the end of street we frequented when our eldest was very small. This time of the year the cherry plums are ripening and dropping to the ground in a great sweet carpet. We all got to picking and ended up with a basket full and all our mouths full - enough for a few days and then we can walk down and glean some more. The commentary that The Pixie kept up while we were picking had us all giggling. "I have never picked a basket of plums before, I like picking plums, I like my basket. I'm going to put plums in my basket all the day..." She was most indignant that the apple tree over the way wouldn't be ready for another month or so. She did try one apple - "it's small like me!" but spat the bitter flesh out almost immediately.

From there we meandered along side roads and back roads, taking one on a whim, skipping another. Then on the side of the road there was a most wonderful sight - two Pecheron mares and their three foals! Amiable great beasts, the foals all whiskery and skittish. The mama showed me how much she liked blackberries and fumbled through the thorns with her mouth. She was very pleased that I understood and even more so when I picked a whole handful to feed her. My small human fingers surely don't get pricked or pained like her gentle mouth. The children were absolutely enchanted, we ended up talking about battle horses in medieval times, plowing, cart pulling, different draught horse breeds, horse colouring. The foals stretched inquisitive heads over the fence and started away when The Pixie started capering in glee.

I even inadvertently demonstrated the best way to introduce yourself to a horse. Nope, not by kissing it warmly on the lips but by blowing through your nose into the horse's nose. It returns the favour by the way and it can get rather moist but I doubt anyone has ever died of horse spit.

From there we discovered where we were and found a cherry stand so added to our fruit hoard. At this point everyone was getting restless, hot and bothered so on a last whim I turned down a road, past a pub in the bush and found the waterhole friends mentioned this week. Remarkably, apart from one other family, we were the only people there. The big children took to the water immediately and retreated screaming when they realised the water was far chillier than tepid but inch by inch they squirmed in and at last were splashing about, doing leaps from the rocks and finding stone treasures that I had to add to our pile. The Pixie kept out of the water mostly for which I was thankful as she's now working her way through the cold that put both The Son and I to bed for most of last week.

We finally drove home, everyone relaxed and happy, the bored bickering that has been building to a crescendo over the past week while I've been immersed in school prep has vanished and they sit, bathed and waiting for dinner, singing and doing drawings. They've even finished their evening chores!

Planning...

2012-01-24T20:10:00.000+11:00

To begin, take one cup of tea...

Dig through all your baked on misconceptions and ideas...

Build up some structure until it forms a pleasing (to all participants) whole...

Examine it closely...

And do some more reading...

At some point, the finished plan may be ready to serve and hopefully enjoyed...

Happy planning! I know we're enjoying an incredible amount of prep this year and it seems all very positive. But the proof of the pudding as they say...

Facing our fears - in the water.

2012-01-20T12:07:00.004+11:00

The Elf has been terrified of the ocean. For the last two years we've lived close to a warm, sparkling, some what gentle ocean. The Husband, the two big ones and I have splashed, frolicked and delighted in the warmth, the sun and the waves. And I'm a big scaredy cat when it comes to waves that are much higher than two or three feet.

Like her big sister and big brother before her though, The Elf has been scared. Flat out screaming scared. Even on flat calm, warm sunny days when just the tiniest waves, small enough to delight a leprechaun, lap at the shore. There was NO way we were getting her in the water. Her fear in turn infected The Pixie who had previously been cheerful enough to enjoy being lifted and carried out into the water.

One way to combat this was to start swimming at the local university pool in January last year. The Elf was in heaven, she was swimming confidently and safely within a few weeks. But even a full year of that couldn't tempt her into the ocean. As we departed in October last year we had a fair few days enjoying the warmth, sunshine and champagne like water but she stayed resolute and over heated on the shore, as far from the water as possible whilst still keeping an eye on us.

Returning to our island home, bounded by less than tropical ocean waters, I resigned myself to having some non ocean swimming children and just figured we could deal with this should they suddenly take up an interest in boating. Just after New Year's we joined friends at a local beach. As usual The Elf and The Pixie took up stations well above the water line and happily built sand castles. The day drew on and I started to consider packing up. Then wonder of wonders, The Elf, with the gentle encouragement of her big brother, entered the ocean. Cautiously and carefully but with increasing glee. My heart stopped. Then I grinned and joined them. I'm not holding out any great hopes that it will be repeated but next week, with good health returning, and if it's sunny we have plans to join friends at one of the warmest, shallowest beaches in the area and I'm secretly hoping, with no overt expectations from me, that she'll join us in the water.

And while we wait for her to join us, I'm still preparing for this year of more table time and in re-reading my first blog post on swimming and water confidence, I've found the quote below:

"I've been doing some more reading to prepare for our plans this year for table time and come across stories and articles about the elementals, about the Undines and the water element... we have here our own Naiad domain - the ocean - to play in; the world of the Nereids - creeks, streams, the hose, the pools - where we delight in learning about ourselves and new ways to move; and many mornings in this hilly, river clad area the world of the Nixies - the fog and the morning mist - delight and soothe us."

Now we're home, we have found almost immediately the local domains - the ocean that surrounds our island home; there are tiny rivulets and streams all around our current home on the mountain and many days we wake in the morning mist that is breathed down the mountain.

Illness and healing

2012-01-18T19:21:00.000+11:00

Some of our overwhelm has been explained by yet another round of illness. I have been the hardest hit, followed by The Son who we are watching closely for signs of pneumonia. The girls are so far illness free but it seems to be a consecutive virus so I'm working slowly on boosting their immune systems.

A dozen years of parenting and a strong community of families who see nutrition as an essential part of healing have led me down a less than mainstream way of approaching illness. Our wonderful family doctor is more likely to suggest supplementing our diets with zinc, vitamin C, ginger and garlic; to ask us what our fruit and vegetable intake is like.

We've been blessed with good health for the most part, our children go down with a fever for 24 -72 hours and then spend a week negotiating a cold. There have been no ear infections, very few of the usual childhood illnesses.

Then over the last two years illness has preyed on our family. Our youngest was diagnosed with viral pneumonia at 4 months, hospitalised with bronchiolitis at 7 months, the Elf had transient viral synovitis in her hip. Since returning home a severe bout of gastroenteritis laid us all low and now several weeks later we are suffering the effects of a nasty viral chest infection.

On to the stove top goes the pot and into it we put slices of ginger, finely chopped garlic, fine miellerie honey and the juice of several lemons. Three cups of water and a pinch of cayenne pepper and it's set to simmer for a while.

I have cold and flu tea here, a mix of yarrow, elderflower and peppermint. A chest rub and some horehound cough mixture. We are using steam and sunshine to clear our heads and most importantly drinking lots more water and resting. I put myself to bed yesterday and the children joined me.

I've books aplenty and mothers whose advice I can trust, we number naturopaths and medical doctors among our friends.

What I've learned over this dozen years is that some old truisms are really true.

That illness is often a sign to slow down.

That we need to rest to heal.

Taking time to nurture and nourish myself is AS important as doing the same for my husband and my children.

I battle against that, convinced the house is going to fall down if I'm not upright and busy cleaning but this time around I had no choice. I absolutely had to go to bed or fall over. So I have. And the house is fine. The Husband has taken the week off work to care for us all and is not only doing all the cooking but the bulk of the cleaning. We generally co parent and co chore. Right now I feel triumphant if I can hang a load of laundry out.

It's been an important learning for me, to stop, to rest and for my children to watch as well. They're far wiser than I. They sleep when they're unwell and move more slowly. They reject carbohydrate rich foods and instead opt for water, juice, honeyed herb tea. They daydream and lie still. Which is what I have done this last day and whilst my training makes me itch to get busy I am making myself lie here, stare out the window, dream and plan. To close my eyes if I need to.

More creating, more rhythm, more clarity

2012-01-14T17:04:00.000+11:00

Gosh but I'm feeling both over and under whelmed by the responsibility of creating a smooth, flexible, achievable rhythm for my family. It's high summer, it's frolicking time. Visitors are here in numbers, epic music festivals occur every week. I love my little island in the summer, the vast cornucopia of life well lived is ours for the picking. Sometimes I just want to hide though.

To stop and look inwards; to work my way methodically through main lesson indications, maths' texts, resource organising, linking up with other families and creating a day to day rhythm into which these main lessons will fit is so much more of a winter activity for me. Long, dark wintry evenings always inspired my writing before children. Long bright summery evenings forced me outside to play. Now I'm a grown up, with children who have requested more structure than before I can feel myself chafing. I'm hugely excited by the task but find myself silently begging the mountain for snow or a week of sleet.

Today we have a quiet day, and the children are busy at their own pursuits, culminating in watching a movie. They need this quiet in-breath, I enjoy watching them view the screen - many pauses for food or drink or toilet, more still to run outside when the sun emerges bright from behind the clouds, another pause to feed the rabbit or change seats or grab cushions. An hour and a half movie often takes two hours and at the end they'll race outside to play act the scenes they've viewed, work out the plot to their satisfaction, argue alternate endings and move onto more stories.

While they're busy in the world of manufactured make believe, I have, in the midst of sorting and tidying, been working my way through my bookmarks' list, discovering chance articles and blogposts I'd bookmarked intending to return to later, categorising the main lesson plans, finding new ones for my soon to be new little Class One Elf. Examining what we have done over the past two years, what requires revisiting, what we can discard. I now have a list of books to order - particularly from this site and this one. I have main lesson books and new crayons arriving from Spiral Garden shortly and this week I'll begin the hard work of returning our home school space to something resembling an ordered space than the "toss pile" it's become over the Christmas period. I feel like I've broken through some sort of barrier I'd unconsciously created. Now, when we sit down this evening, the beloved and I, we have some structure to work through. Then tomorrow our hot chocolate high meeting with all the "stakeholders" will give us all a bit more clarity about what's expected for this year, what we're all hoping for and what we feel is helpful for us as a family.

It's always hard to create a jigsaw when you don't have a photograph of the finished product to work from but that's what a life is. What sort of life will our children lead we can't really know. All we can do from this side of the jigsaw is to provide the sort of base that makes the jiggles and bumps of life survivable. The puzzle of each of their lives will be complete long after I'm gone but hopefully the base we are setting up for them will sustain them as they create their own picture.

Everyday Care

2012-01-06T14:09:00.000+11:00

We've got a chores' list finally written. Except I don't want to call it "chores" because I feel rather uninspired and like I should dress like Caroline Ingalls to do said chores. So it's called "Everyday Care" and the children are taking that title in the spirit with which it was written whilst grinning hugely at me. They find their mother's 'peace love and mung beans' attitude towards life really amusing at times.

So far, with the external cues from this, the menu planner on the refrigerator and the date for a family meeting involving hot chocolates with exotic marshmallow varieties (Thank you Susie!) set, we seem (she said cautiously and very quietly in case the trickster gods of all varieties are listening) to doing it.

This bodes well for all of us. Like most humans we are exceptionally tidal, lunar, rhythmic. Without being conscious of it. So our enthusiasm waxes and wanes, it washes in and washes out. Right now we're enthusiastic so we're not letting it go till we've got a rhythm happening that is becoming the familiar way to do things.

We've started heading upstairs to bed at 9pm rather than 10.30 and reading stories, the laptops are banished from the bedroom now I've got a reading lamp. There will be nights this summer when bed time will be delayed but self determined bed times have had a massively negative impact on our family's members. People have been over tired, carb loading, bickering, our mornings have been hugely delayed or non existent. We find it hard to get out of the house and our physical movement has been curtailed because we're so tired.

In the last few days we've had more energy, more enthusiasm, more focus. Jobs that need doing get done instead of shuffled side ways. The children's food choices have been healthier. The Eldest has suddenly taken on dishes and lunch time meal prep, found ways to positively express her hunger or frustration. This is rubbing off on the other children who imitate her moods and behaviours so closely. Sibling relationships have become less conflict focussed and people are working more on communicating.

It's not peachy keen perfect, there is still lots of shouting, poor food choices, frustrations with choices BUT there has been an astonishing, now I sit here quietly and think about it, seismic shift. It gives me hope that this year will be one of our best yet.

Our Everyday Caring list runs thusly (at the moment, I wrote it in lead pencil, anticipating changes as we change):

Breakfast - see menu plan, Ma&Pa
Put clean dishes away, breakfast things tidied, make beds, get dressed, pyjamas on hooks - children
Breakfast dishes Ma (M - F), Pa (W'ends, Public Holidays).
Laundry Ma (my favourite job of all)
Morning tea prep Ma and children
Table Time/Free Time/Out
Clear up - children
Table Time/Free Time/Out
Lunch (see menu plan), clear away, dishes, dinner prep (see menu plan)
Rest/Reading/Craft
Laundry in and away, toy pick up, pack up
Cook dinner Ma 2 days, Pa 2 days, The Eldest once and The Son once, Sundays is Common Meal.
Walk - forest, beach, just walk
Set table, eat dinner, "school" review, clear up
Baths, stories, bed.

Sounds busy but it's not, it's just a very detailed list of what suits us for everyday.

Up on the wall, near the menu plan, it makes life so much easier for us. We've had two years of little planning and whilst we needed that to relax from the external cues of school and extra curricular activities we are finding, especially with such a diverse range of personalities, that a group plan, discussed by all of us seems to suit us.

Changing how we do things...

2012-01-03T15:14:00.000+11:00

We began our school free journey as a reaction to an untenable situation at a school. The Husband and I had discussed home schooling in the context of travelling or just doing our own thing for many years but we were mostly happy with the school we'd chosen for our children. The community we found there, the life long friendships with other families we formed, the aesthetic, the response of our children to most of the daily rhythms there all worked well for our family. We incorporated practices and traditions into our lives that have become part of our identities. My frustrated artist soul was soothed and challenged by all sorts of opportunities. So... two years of school free life later, here we are. On the cusp of something different. Not returning to school, but perhaps doing something a little different at home.

We threw out the schedules and the daily rhythm sheets, then the chores' list and finally the free flowing "sit down" times as might be evidenced from the increasingly sporadic blog posts last year... Neither the children nor I wanted to recreate school at home, we wanted something different while we changed how we lived.

Now we're home and this year it's all about rhythm. For New Year's we wrote out a detailed chores' list that everyone contributed to, how much I did was remarked upon and we've redefined household tasks and responsibilities.

Come mid February we will be doing things very differently to how we've been going and I have to admit, instead of feeling utterly overwhelmed I'm tremendously excited, there is an energy to this year that has been missing so far as we've stumbled our way though.

The two eldest have requested firstly regular maths' times and secondly regular sit down times. Working with other families who walk a similar path means we've laid hands on some excellent maths' resources and the big two have decided that two sessions a day will be excellent. They want to start with their now big enough for "school" sister and refresh their maths' skills to start with and I'm absolutely loving how they are planning how she is going to "learn". They both spend time telling her about the things they loved in their first year of "formal school" and she is ridiculously excited. She's already working her way through small books and I suspect that she and I will have a far easier road to reading than her brother and I did.

Apart from maths and following the general main lesson blocks as outlined in Steiner pedagogy as a stepping off point for our rhythmic sit down days we're still going to be free flowing, following the children's interests and passions as they come and go.

So for the next month, mama's job is to assemble the resources, papa's is to print said resources off and then we will make the "home school desk" rather more usable than the current catch all from our recent move; sharpen pencils, clean crayons, find the main lesson books and sort the story books. We're all feeling excited and enthused. It's a new year, we're home where we're meant to be and there are wonderful activities planned and booked in for.

To have, to hold and to lose... an interesting Christmas

2012-01-02T10:13:00.000+11:00

All over the internet this season, as 2011 came to a close, I saw so many stories of hard times, family issues, sadness and relief that the year was nearly done. We had more to celebrate than many having finally returned home after two long years...

We had hoped to add a seventh member to our family at the end of 2011, not a human baby, but a dog to join us in our adventuring. This wish was most surprisingly started and engineered by our Eldest. Surprising to us because she's been frightened of dogs most of her life and we spent a fair portion of her childhood concerned that her reaction to canines was going to result in her being bitten. She's go frantic, squealing and flapping her hands, down at dog face level. But she grew out of her toddler years unscathed and moved into sturdy childhood still unhappy with dogs being anywhere near her. This was a huge learning curve for me as I'd been one of those children that could be found in campgrounds snuggled up with the biggest, scariest looking dog I could find. I was one of those children that brought home injured birds, bewildered lizards and raised a variety of pets and native wildlife right up until I finally left home and met my beloved.

I found it very hard to meet her fear with love and understanding because I am built differently to her, animals hold very little fear for me. To be honest sometimes I'd much rather be bedded down in a stable with the farm animals than having to deal with humans and their perpetual oddities. Animals are far more soothing. They'll bite you if they're mad and they'll love you if you're kind. But enough digression...

The Eldest is negotiating those stormy waters of leaving childhood, entering adolescence and learning to rely on herself. She was very clear that a companion on this journey, that she could care for and nurture was important to her. She worked hard, spending hours researching appropriate dog breeds, writing letters to dog shelters, divvying up the poop/walking/feeding/grooming roster with her siblings. She stepped into this resolutely and clear eyed.

On Christmas Eve, after a great deal of shall we say character building challenges, Bobby briefly entered our lives. Except his owner, having chosen us to care for him, rang tearfully several hours later to request him back as she wasn't quite ready to let him go.

So after our Christmas Eve meal, one which we share with the same beloved family year after year, except those two fractured years away, we took deep breaths and returned this utterly confused little dog to his owner. Perhaps he'll rejoin us later but never did we expect our journey to seven to be this challenging.

Christmas morning came and the season had one more hard lesson for our Eldest, she succumbed to a particularly virulent gastro virus and as we celebrated she spent the entire day on the couch or the bathroom. It was her worst Christmas ever and there is nothing we can do to repair it. Over the next few days we all succumbed bar The Husband and it took nearly a week for us to regroup and recover. The grace with which our Eldest had willingly given back the dog she'd been so hoping for, will forever remain splintered in my heart. Faced with a deciding between a stranger's emotional needs and those of my children, we had made a hard choice. We talked about Bobby and how perhaps the woman who needed to give him away might be able to find him a home with her friends when she finally moved overseas so that Bobby at least had some familiar scents and people around. The Eldest was sad, she cried but much to our astonishment she had nothing but kindness for the owner. She showed an emotional maturity that I'm not always capable of and once again astounded me with her compassion.

In the midst of the Eldest's grief and illness it was the three youngest that carried the day, who provided opportunities to glimpse that festive spirit our family usually indulges whole heartedly in. On writing the annual letter to Father Christmas The Son announced "well I have nothing in particular I want this year, and I'd be grateful for anything so I've really got nothing to say"... The now renamed Pixie (formerly TMT but she's not been a toddler for so long and mischievous pixie certainly sums up her behaviour because goblin is probably not very nice at all) kept us all well entertained that morning, even our poor unwell Eldest. She carefully examined each gift in its paper, told us "This is a present for me because it is a present for me and I can unwrap it, see I am unwrapping it, I am taking the paper off and oh look mama it is a skirt for me WITH FLOWERS" and each gift was thus described and named and exclaimed over. For months, since our trip to north Queensland and the discovery of a book on the care and raising of your pet rabbit in the Gin Gin op shop, she has been insistent that this year she would have a tiny floppy eared rabbit. She told us the different names she'd picked out, told us how she would feed it and would demonstrate how she would GENTLY cuddle her rabbit.

Flopsy rabbit has settled in well and after a day or two of scurrying down to the end of his hutch where no one could pick him up, now comes to the door and climbs into the children's hands or laps.

Ballet costumes and purple cord trousers delight The Elf and The Son respectively and we settled in to feast with dear friends and play charades which has become a Christmas tradition that is continued through our twelve days of Christmas. The reading of Wenceslas opens St Stephen's Day and the opening of the pot for the first of the adventures to be had enlivened our breakfast. This week we have eaten dinner under our table, we have collected items from our forest and yard for each colour of the rainbow, we have spent a day in our poshest clothes and recited poems to one another. Today we conclude our rather truncated 12 days with a visit to the Botanical Gardens as tomorrow the Husband returns to work and Wednesday we have the first of our visitors coming to stay. Tonight we feast as a family and take down our tree and decorations, changing the home from that out of time festive place into a home ready for summer delights and festivities.

2011 was a whirlwind with travel aplenty, illness, tremendous change and home coming. We are looking outward, at what we can offer our community and finding great learning opportunities. 2012, the year of the dragon, holds great hope and promise for our family and indeed I hope it does for yours.

The ebb and flow of the season

2011-12-19T13:24:00.000+11:00

Our traditions have grown over the years, but generally we follow the advent progression as outlined in Steiner philosophy, then the twelve days of Christmas and end the season with another small celebration as the decorations are returned to their boxes and the stories read for a last time.

When we're into the full swing there seems to be an expectation, particularly on my part, that the seasonal joys will gradually swell like a wave building in momentum, looming over us on that most glorious of days, the Eve of Christmas, wash down over us on the day itself and gradually wash back out again till it's quiet and we return from that special festive place apart and emerge, blinking and a little dazed into the real world with its summer festivals and parties.

But it's not quite like that. In our modern world we don't have the opportunity to slow down quite the way you might expect for a seasonal festival; add to that we are celebrating what is essentially a winter festival in the middle of summer - the dark nights and inward contemplation are missing. These combined mean that I find myself standing with a piece of crafting in hand or staring at a shelf on a store wondering what I'm doing. I'll add the consumer industry into this feeling of dislocation. I understand they have product to move and profits to make but with decorations in-store from October there is an added social pressure to "get into" and remain in that festive mode for months rather than the few weeks that is actually sustainable and pleasant.

I've started to realise that for me, a busy mama with four busy youngsters with the added insanity of a recent interstate move... this season is more tidal or more like a puzzle being pieced together. There are sparks and suggestions and hints of the season that bubble up, a song heard, the perfect gift to celebrate your love for someone found, the slow journey of the little family across the living room. I'm learning to drop my expectations, it's not a month and more of tinsel and mince pies, carols sung round the table and the furtive rustling of wrapping paper complete with slammed doors and shouts of "go away, I'm making something here!". We're all tired by this time of the year, looking forward to some extended daddy time, feeling keyed up by the social and familial expectations and as parents of course worried about money, of balancing children's needs with what society is telling them they WANT. Modelling festive traditions works far better with my family. I ask the children to create gifts for me, provide craft tutorials now the Eldest is big enough to follow them, previously I talked through my wishes with The Husband and he would reciprocate. A stocking full of gifts and something big for everyone to share is more than enough. We visit the Giving Tree and take gifts there. We buy second hand blankets and a bag of food and take it out to the Dog's Home.

The puzzle pieces or the ebb and flow meant that last week was a whirlwind of catch ups with friends now we've moved home punctuated with a Christmas market at the children's old school followed by carols, it means a movie with a friend with a plot line that couldn't be further from "festive" if it tried, after which I read stories to the children which were dripping with angels, stars and anticipation.

My puzzle pieces are remembering to slip cinnamon and nutmeg into the hot chocolates after dinner because those spices not only bring winter memories to mind but also this festive season. To plan one activity a day which might inspire some quiet flow towards the peak of the festival but also making sure there is plenty of down time. Most importantly it means me not getting despondent because some random moment 16 days out from Christmas Eve I'm feeling grumpy and mundane and rushed around by the everyday humdrum. Of indulging my children's need for special festive clothing and every year buying more of those dreadful, polyester $1 santa hats from the dollar shop because my children love them and they invariably disintegrate by the end of the season. Making sure I've got enough batteries to hand. Adding a $20 gift card to each grocery purchase through the year and accumulating enough to make the Christmas supplies a joy rather than a stretch. Carol singing in the car, finding a new craft to create for friends and family. Writing cards and finding the letters we've sent since we've been married and reading back through years to when we were just a couple...

My wish for all of you this season is to find those bright sparks, for just one dream in a hundred to come true, for you to be given enough space to breath out and rest. That you have the chance to honour your own traditions and create new ones. That you have the chance to offer comfort to a stranger and find joy in the smile of a little child.

Things I know - Settling in.

2011-11-25T21:09:00.000+11:00

Joining in with Shae over at Yay for Home...

We fit our whole lives in a material sense in one container.

Deciding where everything should go should NEVER be by committee.

At some point in the process the house will look like it's at the tail end of a party.

Houses should always come with two special things - hooks in the ceiling and...

A Pantry, oh happy day. I have always wanted a pantry and now I have one.

What I know we need to settle in is a space to "live" in, the kitchen sorted - it's always the first place after the children's beds and calm parents, some special stories and towels. Towels are always handy. Thank heavens I dumped the beach towels into a basket in the laundry the day the packers were there and it was one of the first things unpacked. Otherwise we'd have been using bed linen after showers for at least a week.

Check out more things people know over at Shae's!

Item One for the festive season...

2011-11-24T15:01:00.000+11:00

*The baking of the fruit cakes.

When we really got into the swing of seasonal activities and celebrations a few years ago we were comprehensively gluten free. I have a particular love of rich, decadent fruit cakes and was initially stymied but then launched myself in to bake my very first ever proper fruit cake and used my standard gluten free flour blend and it was fantastic. A little crumbly compared to conventional ones but delicious and moreish and all those other words that make you salivate.

Then we moved to warmer climes and the idea of baking for hours in temperatures oven-like OUTSIDE the oven horrified me but we were gifted with a single perfect cool dry day in late November and we raced out, bought the ingredients and got the cakes done before the weather turned.

Last year La Nina made the cake baking a little more challenging and I have to say one of the best things about moving south in time for the festive season meant we had far more opportunities for comfy baking.

The baking day has become such a vital part of our season, with its own rituals and elements that apparently need to be adhered to people can be quite put out if it's not all quite right. Today was a good day to bake but it was sunny and someone commented part way through well it's not really a proper baking day because it's not raining and foggy and grey... Nevertheless we turned Classic FM on, put on our aprons and started mixing.

Several hours later our home is being deliciously scented as three cakes achieve that magical alchemy in the oven and the first tentative steps towards the start of the season have begun.

Little sisters carefully mixing, I was blown away with the care taken.

The mixing done, the pans ready for the oven and everyone gets a bowl and a spoon.

A morning of busy work, mental arithmetic, careful measuring, serious egg breaking (we can't have a single rotten egg in the mix) and travels to and from the pantry for extra items. Once they're out of the oven they'll be marinated in sherry, wrapped and left to mature in the pantry. One will go in the freezer to be brought out at midwinter as we do each year.

All done.

Preparing for the coming season.

2011-11-21T10:43:00.000+11:00

If you follow this blog... then you'll have figured out that this coming festive season is a substantially important time for our little family.We've successfully negotiated past the single morning of present opening and over eating and now celebrate a time stretching from the beginning of December until around the 6th of January. It's become a full, rich time of slowly building up and slowly building down. Many out breaths of foraging online, in the shops and markets as well as parades, concerts, carolling. Huge inbreaths of cake baking and marinating, creating gifts for one another and family and friends, writing letters and cards, menu creating. In our family we call this the festival of the family and that works beautifully for us, evolving into a bedrock tradition that nourishes each of us whilst still having the flexibility to accommodate change.

One our first expedition to the op shops here when we returned The Eldest discovered a copy of this book which she and her brother were introduced to in kindergarten. We're not a Christian family, some of us identify as atheists, others are still too small to have their own individual belief system and still more of us follow the wheel of the year. But this little book resonated with us all, being both familiar and a little chain linking us to some of the season's origins. We bought a copy a few years ago and it is read a chapter or two each night through the season, along with a host of other illustrated books. Now we have a copy to share and we're trying to work out which family we know might like it.

Our most recent expedition has been to the tiny bulk foods store just down the road to purchase the ingredients for the fruitcakes. Hopefully this week will see the baking happening and our whole home will be scented with the first sweet flavours of the season. We've also bought some fresh flour from a local mill for the first time. So far we've sampled it in biscuits and waffles and everyone has noticed a difference in the flavour.

I've also quietly bought all our book gifts, even one for me, online and am looking forward to the parcels trickling in over the next few weeks. Jutta Ash's brand new Rapunzel for The Elf, some more Tamora Pierce for The Eldest, Around the Year for TMT (who needs a new acronym given she's not really a toddler any longer) and two quite different titles for The Son - a Neil Gaiman and Leonardo and the Flying Boy. The Husband Father has chosen the inaugural Inky Fool publication. I'd really like an Andy Goldsworthy pictorial book but I ended up choosing a reprint of The Moosewood Cookbook because I've always wanted a copy.

So the season begins to stir and excitement begins to grow...

Things I know... homecoming

2011-11-20T08:32:00.000+11:00

Joining in with Shae over at Yay for Home, particularly this week because it's good to stop unpacking and reflect on what we've learned in this particular move.

*Decluttering is good for our souls.

*You can't pack with a ricked back, you really can't and if you do your back will end up worse.

*The move will happen whether you believe you've done every job you need to do to move or not.

*A new home will be furnished with boxes for a very long time, especially if the mother isn't allowed to unpack and her children hover solicitously around and tell the mother off for unpacking and threaten to tell on her.

*Launching immediately into activities upon arrival is also detrimental to unpacking plans.

*And ah, how good is it to come HOME, the walls and things are immaterial. It's where your soul sings that is important and bad backs, endless boxes marked "misc" and no storage matter not a wit when you are finally home!

Journey...

2011-11-19T15:07:00.000+11:00

We left our Northern Rivers town at the end of October and spent a week slowly driving down the eastern seaboard home... School in the accepted sense wasn't on the agenda, but as usual our children's learning continued at its usual pace - acceleration and then rest, and again. The iPad came in extremely handy to help The Husband and I answer the many and varied questions that came out of the back seats. Which is not to say this doesn't happen in families that school conventionally or however, this is more just a reflection on the concentrated time together that we experienced, along with the excitement of the move and the delight of new places, hotel living, eating out and visiting museums, taking ferries, stopping in to visit friends.

Shortly before we departed a big green tree frog reappeared we guessed to say its goodbyes?

One last visit to Byron and the glorious warm sands and wonderful surf.

Moving day, we discover that we own 38 cubic metres of "stuff".

Getting a last little Vitamin D in Coffs Harbour.

Driving through Sydney, why use the freeway when we can drive into the middle of the city and ride round the harbour on a ferry enjoying ice creams.

The Father demonstrates free falling and safe landings at Questacon in Canberra.

View from the hotel room, so many landmarks to point out.

Hand built windmill in Nimitabel up in the mountains. Not just learning about building but also about civic responsibilities and nosy bureaucrats.

TMT checking the "lying down dog" at our B&B in Warragul.

Dream "units" at the Melbourne Museum. The children were very glad of a lie down.

On the ferry at Port Melbourne, finally heading homewards. The smiles say it all!

Icy cold year round in Tasmania? Certainly not. TMT shows us how to keep cool on one of the hottest spring days on record.

Now we're back and trying to come to terms with that 38 cubic metres of stuff and wondering why we need so much for a little family of six. Still living mostly out of our suitcases at times... We've already met up with local home schooling families and the sudden end to our social isolation is overwhelming.

Life changing, like turning a corner or meeting a turtle.

2011-10-26T08:31:00.000+11:00

In the lead up to our life changing move south we've been on the move a little more... travelling north to visit with beloved family and friends, going to places that have meaning for The Husband and I, to share them with our children. To create a sense of belonging that can come, in this transient lifestyle, with being in the places that are familiar in a bone deep kind of way. Creating the links between our own childhood and our children. Not epic scenery as such but down streets that their father cycled on, into parks that their mother ran in when she was their age.

Staying in "quaint" little caravan parks like the ones their parents stayed in many epochs ago. Finding out that journeys often need stops for repairs, that our chariot needs a little TLC. There are many ways parents can react to these unexpected catastrophes. The Husband decided it was time for a home school lesson in basic tyre changing and had them all involved, even the smallest got a chance to wield the tyre iron.

Visiting other people's homes means the luck of finding someone is growing vegetables in the same set up you know you are moving too. This enabled the adults to visualise what we'll be growing (some) of our food in and our children had lessons in "shut the door" "watch out for brush turkeys" "watering without icky spiders attacking you" and "picking tomatoes without crushing the other plants".

When I was much smaller and more romantic I often dreamed of box hedge mazes, watching films like Orlando sealed my fate. I'd always wanted the chance to run through one and then we remembered in the town we called home for many years up north there are box hedge mazes. So we spent a glorious afternoon running through them, getting lost and getting found again. Just the right height so children weren't worried about being permanently a'mazed (and neither was mama because she could see their heads over the shrubs).

Places like the GBRMPA aquarium are very precious to me. I was one of the first volunteers there. Watching my youngest spend almost an hour with her nose pressed against the glass watching the fresh water turtles brought back memories of me and my brothers, not only at this aquarium but also the Seattle Science Centre and the many other places of wonder that my parents took us to. Places where our imagination could run riot and we could drink up as much knowledge and learning as we could retain.

And then we were home again, blowing bubbles and playing... strengthening ourselves for this week and the next when everything that is familiar will change. We've reinforced how much our family thrives on travel and remembered how good it is to stop. In just under twenty four hours the moving truck will arrive and a day later we'll be on the road again for a last (for now) long road trip south. I'm hoping all the lessons learned over the last year of travel will stand us in good stead to pack thoughtfully, stock up on food that doesn't just comfort but also nourish and we continue to remember to be kind to each other.

Spring changes...

2011-10-06T08:48:00.000+11:00

Before Spring melts into Summer our entire lives will have changed...

After two years in the mid north of the Australian Eastern seaboard we are heading home to the far south. It's been an intense and character building time here, we've discovered a school free life, we've resumed the camping and road tripping delights that The Husband and I loved so much before children. All of our children have embraced long road journeys, visiting new places, different beds and the middle of the night confusion when they need the toilet.

Our journey back to our home in the south this year brought into sharp focus what we'd given up to try a new life. The Husband and I, with a great deal of input from the children, weighed up the positives and negatives of each place. When our southerly home won out the search for work there started. Our search has been rewarded and in three short weeks the removalists will arrive to pack up our belongings and we will embark on one last (for the time being) long road trip. We will arrive back home in time for the end of spring and delights of long summer days, berry picking, camping and reconnecting with our friends.

Regardless of the information provided/facilitated/laid out for children in whichever "educational" modality you choose there is always so much more to growing up. For us a particularly important part of our children's path through life is a strong community. In our nearly 11 years in our southerly home we created strong connections with women and men whom we love not only for themselves but also because their strengths and weaknesses and core values are those that we seek for our own children. Mentors without the label who, despite the distance now, still seek to support our family and in their own lives provide contrasts and learning to our own. That time spent driving long distances helped us articulate what it was we were missing here, visualise how we could create it here and the sad realisation that we simply did not have the time to recreate a vibrant, viable, safe community within which we could all grow and flourish.

I want strong women, from all walks of life, who hold the same core values as us to be present for my daughters as they grow to womanhood. Not simply to emulate or hold in high esteem but also to be women they can turn to as we negotiate the rocky shores of adolescence. I want my son as well as my daughters to see real women, spend time with them, learn respect and partnership, not just from watching their father and I together but from other women and their partnerships.

I want strong men to mentor my son as he grows, to provide him with the scaffolding into adulthood which means he is secure and confident in his masculinity and himself. Men who have different skills and outlooks in life to his own father, to provide balance and options. Men who don't rely on crude put downs, "sledging" or woman hating to bolster their own fragile selves. Men like his father who choose healthy stress release - playing music with friends, mountain walking, swimming. Men who don't need to drink to express themselves emotionally. I want my daughters to learn what strong safe men are as they grow towards adulthood, to understand that fitting in with media propelled norms of body shape and relationship behaviour is damaging and unhealthy.

We have all that in our southerly home. Nearly eleven years of community building and connection. People missing us and waiting for us to come home. It's not that we couldn't create that here. It's that we simply don't have the time. In another decade our two eldest children will be at the end of their adolescence. So home we go, to continue our school free life, to rebuild our community and to create something new from the what we already have.

Spring!

2011-09-07T12:34:00.000+10:00

Here we are plunging madly into spring. Everywhere around us new life is bursting out, the rosellas and lorikeets are going crazy over the flowering grevillea outside our back door. There is real heat in the sun now but with the blessed welcome cool of evening and morning.

Our life is changing too. We will be moving sometime in the next few months. Whether it's home or to somewhere else here - hopefully much closer to the coast - we don't know yet. But that frisson of change and transition is affecting us all. We are spring cleaning with joyful abandon, freeing ourselves from years of clutter. We've been travelling so much over winter and that travelling is continuing right through spring.

Tomorrow we head to an island to celebrate my father's 70th birthday with my whole family... there are whales travelling up the east coast of Australia and we're all looking forward to seeing them as much as each other!

Then a week back here, then back north to visit with The Husband's family, then a camping trip, then possibly another trip to Sydney for a Celtic Studies Symposium...

How on earth do we find any time for learning? Well that's the thing. We still gather most mornings for our circle, we sing songs, we review our main lesson blocks. The son is still enjoying his farming block and he and I return to it - through reading, through sitting and talking, through actually stopping on the road and looking at farms. We also discuss them whilst we're in the supermarket - where do we think the corn came from, how do we get wheat. I worry because we can't see the process from land and seed to product but he "gets" it. He'll make a connection and tell me... in the meantime, his penmanship has gone from wonky huge letters to neat and clear characters, almost overnight. He'll sit and do a page of sums in under ten minutes but still his immense need is to move. I'll see him outside sitting quietly with a book in hand and then five minutes later the book is laid down and he is practicing a complex series of moves gracefully across the yard.

The Eldest finished up her botany block by drawing the life cycle of a plant in small squares, gorgeous soft floating colours and glued it into her MLB. Utterly unprompted. She continues to read voraciously, often two or three books on the go... she's remarkably eclectic too. Mixing up Harry Potter re-reads with What Katy Did for the fourth time, The Third Eye, The Would-Be Witch, The Seventh Pebble... the three last were all devoured yesterday after emerging from the very last box of books to be unpacked. She also decided that she was doing all the dishes for the day as well as cleaning her room at long last.

The Elf has lost her third tooth, almost a year after losing her first two so we had special stories to read, the tooth bag to find and something to discover in the bag the next morning. Our tooth fairy brings beautiful polished stones in return for teeth and each child now has a small bowl of special tooth stones; miniature versions of the bowl that inspired this blog.

The Mighty Toddler has begun to draw recognisable faces in the midst of her almost constant scribbling. She's also making enormous leaps in her verbal learning - entire clear sentences, shape recognition, colours, arguments! She'll kick a soccer ball with unerring accuracy and she'll confidently throw an entire bowl of peas around the kitchen if she's being thwarted. It's interesting to watch her come even more into the world, examining different ways of conflict and negotiation and trying them out. She's even learned not to be afraid of baths which is a huge relief after a year of tears.

Even in the midst of all the change though, some things remain constant... stories at bed time, lego, baking, craft, evening run arounds on the nearby oval and most importantly of all shared mealtimes with candle and song. We have a small rhythm running through our lives and it knits us all together.

Book Week happens when we want it to.

2011-08-13T20:40:00.001+10:00

Freshly back from our city trip and gearing up for two more journeys to come in September I did have some fond and obviously misplaced belief that the children would need a quiet week at home to recover. An inbreath as I am so fond of saying...

Which meant that Tuesday morning (bearing in mind that we arrived home late on Sunday night) The Eldest announced that she wanted to celebrate book week... I was bemused to say the least but if the spirit moves the school free ones who am I to argue? Of course we could unpack, regroup and organise an impromptu book week celebration. Why not?

First things first I was directed to google what Book Week was and we also reminisced about the fantastic Book Week celebrations that the children's school put on back in our old home. Then we spent some agonised hours deciding which character each of us could dress up as. The Eldest constructed gorgeous posters and when we had unexpected visitors we decided to invite the other two home schooling families we know who live nearby.

The next morning we remembered an osteo appointment for the eldest so we had to hustle to be ready for our visitors by late morning. On the spur of the moment I decided to bake a cake for the end of the bookish bits...

The Eldest introduced the visitors to one of her favourite books, one she picked up after careful consideration when we were visiting one of those big department stores on a rainy afternoon. Titled "The Keepers" it seems to have really taken her fancy, even while she is working her way back through the Harry Potter™ series, whilst also deep in a first reading of the sequel to Flitterwig, Clearheart, and something else I have only noted in passing. The oldest visitor chose a character from the Key To Rondo; The Son was Professor Moody from the Harry Potter series. Two of our visitors were pirates, another was Lola from the Charlie and Lola™ series, the other mother, the author of a brand new blog on her own family's home schooling adventures and the person responsible for the gorgeous photos in this blogpost was suitably frilly and fluffy as Sybil Trelawney.

The Elf surprised none of us and chose Cinderella as her character but acquitted herself very well by telling the story of Cinderella briefly. Then it was time for cake, some lunch and lots of playing until it was time to go home... I'm not sure I quite get the appeal of Book Week to be honest. Books form part of the fabric of our lives, our family gathers together for the reading of a chapter book, fights break out over who gets to open the latest deliveries from Book Depository. The Eldest considers it her duty to read chapter books to her younger siblings. Perhaps it is just nice to take such an facet of our lives and actually look at it and give thanks for the fact that we are privileged to have the opportunity to read freely and without fear.

You may wonder who I ended up dressing up as? In honour of one of the nicest compliments I've received in ages, from Cybele's son, I put on my best black, my spectacles and a cape and went as Molly Weasley. I took great delight in reading out one of my favourite episodes too...

Many thanks to Cybele for her wonderful photography; and for joining us in a brilliant day celebrating something that is such an essential part of our lives.

Revisiting the museum Part 2

2011-08-11T16:03:00.000+10:00

With The Husband Father by our sides we ventured back into the incredible world that is the Powerhouse under major construction. Requiring tricky navigation and road running to get into the building in the first place and then heading to see exhibitions which were already packed up meant that we needed to be well fortified. So firstly we found the ground floor toilets and then departed out into the awesome playground to run off some steam. I'm finding that some whole body movement on the part of all of us (including me who is most prone to sitting and sipping a coffee and reading) means that we all get so much more from exhibits static and otherwise.

Once we were "rested" it was back inside for some percussive fun for The Elf who found a nest of musical mushrooms and spent a concentrated twenty minutes coaxing interesting rhythms from them. She usually more of a flute or strings kind of person so to see her so engaged with these was fascinating. They're part of a permanent exhibit for the under 8s which ALL my children regardless of age find quite intriguing.

Wandering back down to the Experimentation section we found ourselves entangled in the brand new and still evolving Knitted and Looped exhibition and used our finger knitting and twisty making skills to add to this incredible floor to ceiling net which was being overseen by the museum's artist in residence. People were encouraged to come in and participate, there were crochet hooks and knitting needles available for those who wanted them. Yarn seems to encroaching on my life in a big way these days and I'm keen to see what direction we take in the next few months.

The giant net that was the "Knitted and Looped" exhibit... I hope it'll be detailed online, I'd love to see what happens to it.

Once we'd finished tangling ourselves up it was time to take on the Experimentation exhibits again. This time it was the smallest TMT who was the most intrigued with the Plasma Globe. She had to stand on tippy toes to reach up and the look on her face when the electricity seemed to reach down to her. She held her hand there for ages watching the leaping and dancing of the blue cord. Her fingers wriggled and squirmed but there she stood, deep in contemplation that she will never be able to articulate to me. I felt privileged to watch her. After she left the globe she trotted over to a number of the other electricity exhibits clearly following her own train of thought and I needed to lift, hoist, pull and carry her or the exhibit to her satisfaction.

After a while I discovered the two middles busy with the fireworks - the build your own fireworks (cheerfully for me it was all computer generated) - where you discover whether or not your choice of firework ingredients will actually work - it's much harder than it appears to on first glance. The Eldest was nowhere to be seen and then I discovered her with her hands and face apparently glued to this unfathomable device. Inside it on the screen she was learning all about atoms, how they split, what they're made of, each of the names of the bits. She was fascinated and gave us the crib notes lecture as we continued our way round the museum.

For the end of our visit The Husband and I demonstrated our outstanding prowess on ancient video games from our far off youth. The Husband was the king of Galaga™ but I blew them all out of the water with Pacman ™and in the midst of it realised that I was playing with my right hand. I'm left handed and one of those left handers who is almost crippled if I have to use my right hand but with anything computer related - using a mouse, a joystick - I am a confirmed right hander. Weird the moments of Oh My Gosh that pop up. Then it was the end of the day and time to leave, with just a few short days left of our great month long Sydney adventure. We added one more bit of fun to the day by leaving the museum at peak hour and driving all the way back to the house we were staying at. The children were amazed by the level of road traffic, The Husband and I relieved that we haven't chosen city life permanently for our family. Though given the amount of public transport we've delightedly utilised over the past month perhaps transit wouldn't be so difficult after all.

Back to the Museum Pt 1

2011-08-05T08:22:00.000+10:00

With The Husband joining us for a last, action packed week in Sydney the children opted to revisit some of the places they'd really enjoyed, like the Australian Museum. We'd missed a chunk of the dinosaur exhibition due to the presence of a life size, attack mode, extremely realistic velociraptor and this time daddy was there to provide extra protection to get past it and into the fun. We easily spent more than an hour in this one section.

TMT was delighted to show her father around the excavation exhibit, pointing out shovels and buckets for him to use.

Having physical measures of size was incredible. To be able to see a footprint and compare how tiny we are in relation to some of the sauropods made my son's Dinotopian imaginative games bloom even further.

And like Lolly over at Memo to Self my children all found the excavating completely absorbing.

After all of these excursions I've noticed each of my children choose to spend some time alone, often just staring off into space, working their way through their experiences which are then expressed as intensive games and multiple drawings. The in-breaths and the out-breaths have swung sharply into focus for me and our days have taken on an unconscious rhythm. If I can't manage to get them home and relaxing before evening then we invariably we need a home day after two days of exploring. Apart from a family tidy up of our space I schedule nothing whatsoever and just make sure that there is lots of easy food and quiet time. Often they need nothing more than to run around but they also need to work out any conflict or fear from the busy days which requires some tender negotiations and loving care on my part.

How this will pan out when we're back in the rhythm of our home I've no idea. Without the constant feeder of activities and adventures it will all be very different. I do suspect a week or two or in-breath will be very obvious. There are much loved toys and books to reconnect with and friends to see. And as ever, there are many more adventures booked and planned for the rest of the year.

A month of adventures, photo essay.

2011-08-01T07:58:00.000+10:00

We've been having the most gorgeous few weeks in the grand old city of Sydney. Taking public transport every day has been a revelation. Condensing our daily needs to a couple of easy to carry bags and buying a pram from a second hand store has freed us up tremendously. My children have chosen to spend several train rides deep in mathematical ponderings, other times reading and mostly looking out the window and asking vast swathes of questions that I am hard pressed to answer or practicing their incipient gymnastic prowess. What follows is a small taste of the fun we've had. One more week and then we return to our current home in the north.

Exploring the tunnels of Cockatoo Island.

Being a dolphin on the benches of a Sydney ferry. This involves singing, waving one's arms and legs as if they were seaweed and scooching up and down on the benches on one's stomach.

A sudden desire to work out all the prime numbers between one and a hundred - this took them nearly an entire forty minute train ride and we discovered they'd only missed one number.

Cuddling an anklyosaur at the Australian Museum. We spent almost six hours here on the wettest July day since 1954. We're going back today. I think I'll need to do an entire blog post just on my children's reactions to the treasures on offer here.

Then we took on the Powerhouse Museum and many more hours were spent soaking up so much information, doing experiments, climbing on anything that was available. Watching what each child took in and how they worked together was absorbing to me as their mother and simply as an onlooker. I could finally see concrete outcomes from my task as a facilitator. As the adult I can offer the information and then step back and watch them inhale, watch them actively learn. Answer questions, model problem solving, they imitated and then carried activities more steps forward. Such an incredible demonstration for me of natural learning, one that is far more diffuse in the everyday world we move in.

Busy with their own projects, every stance is different.

Gymnasium train... this helpfully occupied a good two thirds of that trip. Glad it was a quiet transit time and there was no one to squash their joie de vivre.

A long held dream - The Son has deep and abiding love of cuttlefish. To discover them at the Manly Aquarium almost made me cry to see how happy he was. Quite content to spend a great swathe of time simply watching.

Before Daddy arrived the children spent some quiet time reading at the home we are staying in. An inbreath after all the activity.

And then it was back to the water and more adventuring. With just this one short week left and a car available now for travelling further afield I do believe we'll need a whole week of rest when we get back.

The Elf turns Six.

2011-07-26T22:32:00.000+10:00

The Elf celebrated her long awaited SIXTH birthday just before we came away for our month long adventure.

All the siblings gathered round to enjoy the excitement of parcels big and small. Our family tradition has evolved to include hand made cards from each member of the family, one gift from each member, no more.

Susie, from Sleepless in Babyland, had created a gorgeous summery outfit, fit for a birthday princess which arrived right on time for her party! The Elf was delighted!

As the party got underway children were zipping about swinging, dancing and running. Dear friends came from everywhere - two hours north, half an hour east, an hour and half south...

There was cake! A gluten free chocolate chestnut cake, iced white, with my wobbly hand drawn designs on it and gorgeous handmade beeswax candles from Happy Flame.

Pass the parcel was one of two simple games played and we kept the gifts small, noisy and fun.

The next game was a treasure hunt. One thing I've noticed in my long years at the parenting front line - treasure hunts often end in tears when one child finds not a single treasure while other lucky little tykes end up with pocketfuls. I've created pathways round that over time by putting all the treasure in one spot and appointing an older child as guardian of the treasure. This year with lots of still learning to read children I drew a picture of where the treasure was (the oven) and The Eldest cut into puzzle pieces - one for each child. Every child came to the big trestle table when they'd found an envelope hidden in the yard and once everyone was circled round they opened them. Much discussion and puzzling and fitting and turning ensued and then when the pieces made sense...

... there was a dash to the oven to find the treasure box! The Son was in charge of extraction and distribution and had very kindly given over one of his precious boxes for the treasure.

After cake and a wind down The Elf spent the afternoon dressing up and covering herself in butterfly stickers. She was very relaxed and delighted to discover she now has two loose teeth!

Things I know - or - Kids in the City

2011-07-24T16:03:00.000+10:00

We've been in the big old city for two weeks now. Away from The Husband and familiar toys and spaces. He'll join us in a week's time and then we'll have a week in the city before heading back to the place we live. So here's what I NOW know having spent two weeks herding my offspring around this huge messy chaotic noisy smelly city.

* My children are definitely being raised to speak their minds and mostly that is good. Perhaps not quite so good on a rain soaked peak hour train right next to the slightly inebriated man who had his trial adjourned for a couple of months but believes that "Woody" will come up with the goods to get him off.

* Packing a picnic lunch to avoid the astronomical costs of eating out with a family of locusts is a sure fire way to kick start the wettest July since 1954.

* If I am intrepid so too will my children be. If I approach a half kilometre walk (in the drenching rain through a park which no longer has footpaths but running streams) with verve and delight so too will my children.

* Having lived in the city in your previous life as a young, single, university student actually puts you in good stead to a) impress your children with your apparently psychic knowledge of how to go places and b) keeps you safer because you know where you're going, you're not wandering about looking like a lost and vulnerable tourist.

* The city is where The Mighty Toddler will decide that she does not need to hold hands to cross the road.

* Op shops (thrift shops) are everywhere, full of fabulous bargains including $5 strollers which are a total godsend after schlepping through said city with large toddler firmly strapped to my back. I'm all for weight training but this was ridiculous.

* Having a home base, rather than staying WITH people is wonderful. Our own space, in a home rather than rented apartment, easy access to public transport.

* When I figure out how to download photographs I will be able to blog with pictures! And captions! and of course those kinds of posts are the most fun of all!

For more "Things I Know" go check out Shae's blog - NOW!

Sit down time

2011-07-03T13:33:00.000+10:00

What with road trips and holidays and birthdays and just the simple day to day-ness we don't seem to be making much time for "sit down" or "table time". A year ago I would have been beside myself with worry. Seriously terrified. Analysing in my head how far behind my children might be falling in comparison to the mythical hyper achievers sitting behind a desk at a mythical super school.

Luckily I've worked my way through that. I've managed either through sheer laziness or rather learning to trust to actually de-blinker myself and really see how my children are learning. To respond to information requests (today we have discovered how pollen is transformed into honey), to urge when the ability to self motivate gets lost, to facilitate some new ways of looking at the world. Between our children's natural, innate and unchecked curiosity and (ahem, a little prideful lack of modesty here) their parents' polymath tendencies we seem to be able to cover most bases.

We do have sit down time but here in the middle of coming back and getting ready to leave again it's been easier to notice the self regulated sit down time rather than impose a gentle rhythm on it. When we get to Sydney and have four weeks of adventuring ahead of us then we will decide whether or not to impose that gentle rhythm on our days or just move forward as the impulse takes us. Learning will occur whether it's directed or not. We'll be in a new environment, we'll have far more hands on resources than we have here. My main teacherly task will be to caretake the overwhelm for four children of different ages and different needs. The Eldest can filter and tune out when it's all getting too busy; she'll retreat into her books or stare out the window. The Son needs help when we've had a big day and will often need a day of quiet to recover from a day of busy-ness. The Elf needs generous helpings of dipping out of activities or busy times and TMT will need to sleep nestled on my back in the Ergo ™ and likewise space to run in a park or a beach after a morning of intense sensory overload in a museum or activity centre.

Right now, in the between time the children's self regulated sit down time is thus: The Eldest is creating some tiny needle felted creatures for The Elf's birthday as inspired by The Felt Farm. She is also working her way through the first volume of Penrose the Mathematical Cat. The Son is deep in Dinotopia still and working out how to read very long and involved dinosaur names and their families and genus and species. The Elf is pulling TMT in and the two of them are drawing or doing puzzles.

In this in between time I am utterly surprised at how mellow and harmonious our life is. Perhaps because we've found a gentle rhythm that is internally directed, because we are carrying the joy of a visit home, we have actual concrete work to do now we're back and we've got the excitement of another journey to look forward too. Whatever it is, it's working and as The Husband and I check in with each other we are noticing, in our weekly "report cards", how much happier and more in tune the entire family is.

I feel very blessed.

Things I know

2011-07-01T10:37:00.000+10:00

1. That in any situation which involves posed photos for grandparents there needs to be one that makes us look like the 21st century Addams Family ™. This photo is for me. I sent a smiley happy grandparent worthy one to my father in law for his birthday.

2. That one birthday party is good BUT two are even better. We held a birthday party for The Elf in Hobart before we left to return to the north at my mother's urging and it was a wonderful idea. We'll hold another on her actual birthday next week. She's very excited. Two cakes, two lots of party games, two collections of friends. What could be better? Especially as this is The Elf's very favourite number and she's been waiting to turn six since she was about three.

3. I always forget how intent a two year old can be. How minute objects can occupy her for such a long time. As an adult I may be captured by words or a landscape but here in front of me the minutiae of life is intently examined and the conclusions drawn from the investigations are never told to me.

4. FEET are absolutely amazing. For Christmas last year I presented my mother a little photo album comprised entirely of pictures of my children's feet. She loved it. I have taken my love of feet from her. She told me she knew I should marry my husband because of his feet. She was right. He has strong sturdy hobbit like feet (though considerably less hairy). How could I resist? For those wondering these are The Elf's feet when she was still new to walking. That brick like baby shape delights me.

For more "Things I know" visit Shae over on her blog.

Down Time

2011-06-22T13:09:00.000+10:00

Right now there is a slightly sticky toddler cocooned in my bed, snoring softly through her midday nap. The Eldest is deeply involved in an online game that is directly related to the maths she's been cautiously picking her way through on our trip. The Son, who we must remember neither reads nor writes, has presented me with detailed drawings of his favourite pokemon™ complete with neatly written titles and explained each power and attack they have though how he's intuited any of this without reading is beyond me.. The Elf has drawn a playbill for the theatre performance she wanted to do and stuck it the wall near the living room cum theatre.

I continue with the mothering - the chores (ably assisted by all), the planning for our next trip, the grocery buying (We're venturing into a modified vegetarian paleo diet), and my own book writing.

Outside the sun is shining and we are about to enjoy some winter verses and some winter craft. All is peaceful and harmonious.

Reading.

2011-06-13T08:44:00.000+10:00

Ah, reading. It's such an emotionally charged word at some points in your life isn't it!?! Especially learning to read. Especially emotional for parents who have chosen to step outside the mainstream and choose a different pace of learning.

IF you go to school you just read, no one really comments about where you are in your reading journey, it's as natural as the seasons. You got to school = you read.

But, if your parents send you to a school where reading is seen as a process different to the standard then it becomes a topic of discussion, of concern. We chose a Steiner inspired path for learning initially and so our eldest was not "reading" until she was nearly 9&1/2. This was not a good thing. Family members were concerned. Comments were made. The fact that we'd read up on the pedagogy and the journey to reading made rational, evidence based sense to us cut no ice. Children MUST read before nine and if they are not then they obviously require special help.

Our now 11 year old daughter effortlessly reads books that take some adults weeks to plow through also cuts no ice. The opinion is now firmly of the "she learned to read IN SPITE of the weird schooling, not as part of it".

Then we chose to home school. There was some relief. Reading was brought up again. Our daughter's reading had been so catastrophically delayed she now obviously had years less to read than anyone else, we would be implementing a firm, strong reading program at home with our son, right? Um, erm, no. Actually we'd continue the Steiner inspired reading at home.

Remarkably, without the distractions of school and to be perfectly honest without the distractions of a mother still having moments of "chalk and talk" curriculum panics The Son now reads. Earlier than his big sister who, on top of the whole school thing, had eyesight problems that required glasses to assist her for two years.

He and I worked through some readers last year, which I documented here. I forgot one of the clearest indications in Steiner pedagogy, that of resting. Once a thing is learned, it rests within the child. Then unfolds or blossoms later. So I thought last year he was cracking the code, he was pointing out individual words and puzzling through things. Then it stopped. He moved on to other interests. Pokemon and Dinotopia mostly. I panicked, tried to bring him back to the table. This caused enormous amounts of conflict and stress between us in particular but was also disruptive and miserable for the girls too.

Then life intervened and I had too many other things to do without trying to gaffer tape him to a chair to assuage my mother guilt.

Eventually Christmas, visitors, buying a goat, guinea pig births were all over and I noticed him reading. Puzzling his way through books. Small books, mostly his Pokemon index... but other things, sides of cereal packets (he's also very interested in ingredients and nutrition). Then we got in the car for our drive south. I filled the car with books. Not just story books but maths' fiction, word search puzzlers, a few comics.

Then comes the voice from the back of the car "Ma, I'm up to page 19 in Sir Cumfrence". "I thought you didn't read" I reply. The grinning voice "I'm NOT reading, I'm not sounding out the words, I'm just figuring out the difficult words by the words that are around them". "Um, that's reading..." Much laughter ensues from the back seat.

Yesterday morning he called me over to listen to a song - what he actually did was read me the words of the sheet music - with the words stretched and compressed to fit with the music. He read it clearly and fluently. He's cracked the code. He just reads now. What's even more intriguing to me is the shift he's gone through emotionally as well. It's harder to gauge because we're on the road and we're back in place where he has friends who love him dearly. But he seems to have settled, to have relaxed. Like reading was a birth of a kind and he had to force his way into it after the resting period and now he's born into a life of reading.

Reconnecting

2011-06-12T07:55:00.000+10:00

We're on a journey of rediscovery, reconnection and renewal. After twenty months away from the place where we lived for nearly 11 years, birthed all our babies here, grew up alongside our children... we left.

Our reasons were fairly clear. We loved our home, we love the land. But, we felt like we needed a change. The Husband was missing warm oceans to swim in and we felt isolated from our families. We also were thinking long term - when our children grow older, we wanted them to have more options for university and employment, we wanted them to come home!

We chose a place that wasn't in the tropics but was still warm enough for The Husband. It's been a mixed and varied adventure which has given us some great gifts. We've discovered that home schooling works beautifully for our family. It might not for other families and the way we home school might not work for any other family. We've also embarked on some glorious camping trips, started swimming regularly, reconnected with family we've otherwise seen only rarely in the last decade.

But it's not all be peaches and sunshine. We've had a hard time settling in; attempts to make new friends and find community have been repeatedly stymied. We're slowly finding friends now but it's been hard and lonely for a long time. Frustratingly well meaning family and friends have immediately assumed that all our issues would be solved if the children were to go to school. None of mine were ever solved by being sent to different schools so I'm unsure why this is perpetually presented as a simple option that I've just overlooked. Those of you reading who home school will be clear on all the reasons and evidence based data about why school isn't a simple option for finding friends so we'll leave it at that.

Twenty months after our move a sudden opportunity arose to visit for three weeks. I had less than three weeks to prepare and the time passed in an absolute whirlwind of preparation. New boots, coats, socks, gloves, sweaters, hats were purchased, Long sleeve shirts, long trousers for The Son. Food to prepare, the car to be serviced, pets to be rehomed while we were away.

Then we were away... and now we are here, two weeks in and one short week left. What's struck me most strongly about our time here is how conversations have been resumed. The children and their friends here have just continued their games and chatting, their play and fun as if no time has passed. I've found the same for my friends but I'd expected that having been in contact via email, skype and phone. But the children have astounded me.

There's so much more to be said but instead of spending today on the computer, trying to reconnect with people... we're off to spend the day with friends.

Rhythm and travelling.

2011-05-24T22:11:00.000+10:00

In less than 36 hours, we will be on the road and travelling.

That rhythm that we've finally re-established has stood us in good stead over the past few days. We've risen, breakfasted, done our chores and then gone about our jobs. Mine to make lists, sort clothing, games, books and rechargers. The Son and his two little sisters to continue the endless learning through play, drawings and books. The Eldest to surprise me some more with her initiative. She has baked biscuits, finished her room (with my help), is busy making a little winter gnome ring so we can take a small nature table display with us to keep that continuity going. She and I have been working in sync so astonishingly. There are the occasional mother daughter moments but generally we have just gotten on with the business of packing.

How do you maintain a rhythm while travelling? At the moment the plan is to focus on the daily meals, remembering to say a blessing before we eat. Finding some books to read each evening and a candle for the bedside to light our way to sleep. We'll get back into the "what happened in my day" conversations but not over the dinner table which we'll be sharing with many people but just before stories in bed.

Just some small, nurturing, encircling rhythms to keep us whole and centred as our wonderful but turbulent holiday comes upon us and will be gone too soon.

Rhythm

2011-05-18T07:09:00.000+10:00

It's working! We're refinding our rhythm and we're happy. Because we're deep in preparations for almost a month away I'm not expecting too much. But subtly steering the family back into a rhythm that has worked for us has meant that each person is just that little more relaxed, more likely to talk rather than shout.

Some things we have discussed then set into place (again, just differently - different time, different method):

*Morning chores that we all do to prepare for either table time or simply a morning circle on the days when we'll be learning on the "run".

Recently I've slipped into the "mama do the chores while the household of children vanish to play". It's had a twofold effect, I've built up resentment over the sheer amount of mess left for me to sort out as well as resentment on the part of children deep in play that I then interrupt post chores so we can get on with the day. Now we get up from breakfast and there are jobs for us all to do. Even TMT can join in taking things to the sink or handing the milk to big sister to put away. Her toddler enthusiasm also inspires the bigger ones too.

*An afternoon house tidy - this has evolved from a similar dynamic described above happening every afternoon. My own tension decreases when we can eat dinner, play board games, FIND important and precious books/toys/craft just before bed.

*Discovering chapter books that are just right for both The Son AND The Elf (Winnie The Pooh if anyone's interested). The Eldest is curled up in her bed reading away and occasionally joins us. I'm at loss as to what I'll be reading once the second book is finished. It's so rare to find a book that appeals to both of them. Pyjamas and teeth brushing are the prelude to this and if I'm brushing my teeth at the same time then the flow is even smoother.

*Reinstituting a "pick plate" from about 10am staves off the blood sugar drops, gets heaps of raw vegies and fruit, as well as nuts into them and if table time is on the menu the ability to sit there is enhanced.

*Reducing my computer time. I'm trying to schedule the time I'm behind a screen. Partly because I have realised what I'm modelling but also because it detaches me from our family and then there is the potential for all sorts of conflict, attention seeking, chaos. I make my time for me rather than just having the computer on and the potential to slip into internet land luring me from across a sink of soapy dishes. I eke it out now, pre breakfast, during the post lunch rest. The payoff is the children seem to be happier and more willing to play away and peacefully.

Our rhythm isn't perfect, it wouldn't suit every family, but it suits us and whilst it will continue to evolve we are very happy where we are.

Wordless Wednesday - co-operation.

2011-05-11T08:38:00.000+10:00

Unschooling Monday - Milestone

2011-05-09T07:32:00.000+10:00

Today there will be dancing - "balla" which is TMT's interpretative, roly poly version of The Elf's seriously practiced "ballet"... I suspect there will be a boy in the back yard, accompanied by the goat, with sticks and a cape and a large book on animals. If he's not outside he'll be inside finishing his viewing of The Human Planet. Meanwhile The Eldest and I will be rebolting the new bright green bed base together and moving acres of boxes and books, rugs and bedding, craft work, a desk, a chair between two rooms.

Today is a special day. Today is the first time The Eldest has ever slept in a room on her own. Yep, we're obviously mad hippies who are unable to disentangle ourselves from our children. We must be enmeshed or insert your choice of some other pseudo psychological complex. I tend to see it as listening to and then responding to my child's needs. To those who predicted she'd never leave our bed, well that's been years, she rarely even comes in to snuggle in of a morning. Now, at her own urging, she's moving into a room by herself. She's well into the throes of early adolescence, she needs a space where she can dream, think, create and just be on her own. Where the smallest of the family can't move things around, where she can say, this is my space, no one else's.

It's a milestone. Not one usually celebrated but she and I will have some special time together this week and pick out something for her room to mark this new transition.

Mothering Sunday

2011-05-08T07:40:00.000+10:00

As I write this I am in direct contravention of the mother-child treaty... I am out of bed, before my children and in possession of a large cup of tea that I made myself.

I expect, any moment now, to be discovered and chivvied back to my bed to await more tea and something interesting for breakfast.

There are spaces around the house that I have been forbidden from glancing at. This is as much fun as Christmas, and better even, as the treaty also contains sub clauses directly related to who does the cleaning up after the interesting breakfast. If I'm very well behaved I may be allowed to hang the laundry up.

Happy Mothering Sunday to all the mamas who read this blog, Happy Mothering Sunday to my own mama, and the mothers that have gone before her.

Things I know

2011-04-30T10:02:00.000+10:00

*The week the toddler fills more than her usual quota of nappies, the bathroom sink springs a leak, food and drink are mysteriously spilled on bedding and time is short is the week that it will rain non stop for days. But when you know where the laundromat is and it is conveniently located near a post office, a small grocers, a wonderful bakery it's not quite so bad - and there is a fantastic op shop (thrift store) selling tremendous books to while away our time waiting for warm, fluffy, dry laundry to emerge.

*A new car is going to more rapidly filled with rubbish than the old car. It just won't have that lived in car smell which will alleviate your mother stress about having at least one space that is clean and tidy.

*My children are far better at finding activities to occupy themselves than I give them credit for.

*The Mighty Toddler gives delightfully long and smoochsome cuddles and then comes back and tells you that "oo need more cuddle mama". And I could die of the cute and the loveliness.

*After a week of excitement over a new pet that requires round the clock bottle feeding the excitement will cool and ma and pa will be the ones doing the early and late feeds and wondering why we ever agreed to add another child, erm, kid (of the goat variety) to our family.

* When a friend says they have many LARGE book shelves to give away you MUST say yes, even if they are in another state and we are looking at one, possibly two five hour round trips to get them all home.

Many more things are known over at Shae's Yay for Home blog - go see!

And we're back.

2011-04-29T11:39:00.000+10:00

After months away we now have a family lap top again which has been in hot demand across the family. So good to be able to catch up on other bloggers, plan for years three and five, find astonishing crafting ideas...

Now I'm trying to slowly ease the children into the idea that this is mama's toy and not theirs. Our reliance on electronic media has become chronic and it disappoints and saddens me. There's not a lot to do in a rain drenched, community lacking small town. We've been camping, we have rediscovered many long lost books, brought out the lego, weathered severe illness and hospitalisation. We've had trips to the big city to visit the art galleries and museum; and to meet up with family. There have been visitors to stay and others passing through.

Through it all though, when it's wet and there are no friends to call on, books start to pall in this electronic age and the pleadings for some diversions like television, dvds, computer games begin.

I don't mind a little Poisson Rouge or National Geographic for kids; even a designated DVD night but the quantity has begun to overcome us. Which is where being mama is kind of challenging and actually very healing.

I am capable and happy to say no. I can see the bigger picture. I can see the energy fill my children as they sit transfixed in front of the screen. I can see the emotional explosions that take place after the screen fades to black. I watch their imagination truncate into playing out the story just seen. So I propose outings which here, invariably, become an emotional stopgap through purchasing more "things". Then I watch sadly as my children begin to equate happiness with acquisition and once again I am challenged to find balance.

Especially with my son who is travelling towards his nine year crossing and is struggling with his emotional outbursts.

Weirdly enough with the addition of the new laptop to our electronic repertoire I am able to find alternatives to media and purchasing, like more crafting, more outings, new places to explore. Balance is always a difficult thing to find but it's well worth the effort. Today we've had no media to entertain us, apart from me here online and the children have prepared for the royal wedding by dressing up and planning a menu that we will prepare later, now they are deeply involved in a story based on the lego they have set up on our huge coffee table. Inheriting my three brothers' lego haul has been wonderful. The rain continues down but we will go to the rural produce store and discuss foodstuffs for our new goat kid. More on that later when I get the chance to blog about The Son's Farming main lesson.

Things I know

2011-03-27T16:08:00.000+11:00

*The craft project that is not finished in a day will take months. Today the need for a new cage for the very pregnant guinea pig has become urgent. There are many other jobs which need doing but The Husband and The Eldest have been focussed and hard at work for a few hours. I am watching the sky anxiously as rain threatens then retreats. It is almost four p.m. IF it's finished by six p.m. all will be well, otherwise it will likely remain urgent and unfinished until the babies arrive and the male guinea pig is in peril of its life.

*The thing absolutely, positively NEEDED in order for an eight year old boy's happiness is not necessarily the same thing that was needed yesterday, this morning or later tonight. But nonetheless NOW it is needed and grief weather of the weeping, shouting, storming variety will occur until distraction, fulfilment or an accidental segue into sense occurs. Incautious parents who are sucked into the vortex and feeling residual guilt for moving children from all they know and love will relearn this periodically. This is how we ended up with a two week old billy kid yesterday. More of that in another post.

*It takes approximately eight years for a human to realise that the world is not ending, they are simply hungry and thirsty, and quite possibly tired. Even adult humans frequently forget this quite simple equation.

*Almond milk is not quite as bad as I thought it would be but close. Am considering making my own.

*Two year olds who say "Me Do It" will only get louder until they do it. They will also get violent with anyone, especially well meaning siblings, who try to do "it" for them.

If you'd like to discover more things mamas know - check out "Yay for Home".

Listening

2011-03-17T15:21:00.000+11:00

There is a school two blocks from our home, we can almost set our day's rhythm to its bells. I find that I am laying morning tea on the table just as the 11am bell rings. When the start of the day bell rings I am often checking that the morning chores are done.

This afternoon I looked at the clock as the bell rang and it was the end of school one. I could have been there, at the gate, with small children round my legs waiting for my two hot and tired older children. But I wasn't. I was sitting quietly at the table mediating on our lives and wondering if I should write a blog post. Then my attention and that of The Eldest was caught by a rainbow lorikeet feeding nectar from the grevillea blossoms to its fledged youngling who was gurgling and burbling away. Just outside our front door.

We're surrounded suddenly by wildlife, bird life in particular. Two families of magpies arrive about 6pm every evening - they want their cheese suppers. Somehow we've trained ourselves to take out handfuls of cheese and toss them, listening in gratitude to the songs they sing. Several times we've had bold babies hop right into the back door and the other night, thankfully the fans were off and the windows were open one came right inside and positioned itself in front of the refrigerator. A young butcherbird has joined them. TMT calls them the Butterbirds which is now our family name for them.

In the mornings, when we are quiet, a grey heron comes to hunt in the abundantly lush backyard. Not sure what it's catching but no matter - that elegant grey and white bird conjures up all kinds of ancestral magic memories. Even The Elf and TMT manage to be still when it arrives to stalk thoughtfully through the grass.

Beneath all the feathers and wings we also have two guinea pigs, bought on a whim when we went camping a few weeks ago. The seller assured us they were both males but one of them definitely isn't. She's taken on the "eggplant" shape wikipedia assures us is pregnant guinea pig shape and her nipples are distended. I've never palpated a guinea pig abdomen before and to feel kicks from an unborn guinea pig is incredible. Micalo Squeak bore all our attentions well, and her partner, Chimera Triskell (so named for his three colours, his three white feet) is enjoying helping himself to the treats the children are lavishing on the expectant mother.

Weather wearies

2011-02-18T07:13:00.000+11:00

The heat is taking its toll on us. Amazing lesson ideas or even simple plans to continue the rhythm that works so well for us melt in the face of late summer. The only truly cool times are early morning and when it rains. We did explore the idea of using the library facilities at the nearby university which, if I was a mother of three - the ten, eight and five year old - would no doubt be progressing splendidly. But there is only so much quiet amusement that can be had by a nearly two year old. She needs to run and climb and let her voice free.

There is an undercurrent of boredom in our home. The heat makes me supine, my mind work more slowly. What could be wrong with taking to our various beds with icy cold wheat packs and cold drinks day upon day? The ten year old is in her element, reading book after book. The eight year old explosive with energy that needs more than an hour three times a week in the pool. The five year old has projects and drawings and cutting out that require more than a little supervision unless I want to spend an hour each evening in our hot stuffy house simply cleaning the bits that she can't reach.

The boredom also manifests itself in a need to buy, to purchase unsuitable and unsustainable fripperies because one of the nearest cool places is the local shopping square. How easy it is to drive the three minutes down and spend an hour or two in the cool, purchasing some morning tea from the supermarket and eating it in the food court? Never mind that it's noisy and jangling and overwhelming with the people, the lights and the noise. I can see that my children are overwhelmed, I can feel it in me. So we drag ourselves home, into the heat, into the stuffy little house and snap and snarl. Until it's time to head to the pool or I give in and the television comes on. Lying in front of the brain sapper, noise maker, attention diverter with a cool icy pole in one hand, the wheat pack under your head seems to be the very picture of bliss. Yet the energy is unspent and an hour in front of the television means hours of explosive energy that I don't have the energy to facilitate.

I know that this heat hostility is driven by me. If I were more gracious about the heat and modelled accepatance and the energy to find some other ways we might all find it easier, the children would take their enthusiasm from me. When I can drag myself out of the coma that summer induces in me we do have adventures. We've been camping, the library beckons, I have ordered glorious books from Book Depository like Elsa Beskow's The Sun Egg and more Stockmar water colour paints which should arrive any day now.

We've canvassed the option of siestas, of air conditioning the entire house, of going to the library in the afternoon... some notions work, some days work. But ah, how I long for the irregular heat of our home and the regular coolness where my mind felt less like taffy and more human.

Naiads, Nereids and Nixies

2011-02-02T16:18:00.001+11:00

We've been exploring the water element this summer.

The further into our school free journey we step, the more The Husband and I learn to trust the process. To remember that humans are innately programmed to learn and to seek out assistance in their learning. If we present instruction or suggestions in a loving way they are taken on and applied when they're most needed.

Swimming is such a wonderful illustration of this. The Eldest and I partook of quite lovely, gentle swimming lessons when she was a toddler and then again when she was 5. When the instructors were motivated and positive The Eldest learned at a tremendous rate. When she had an instructor who was only there because it was their job, it was pure torture. Disengagement of the instructor led to disengagement of the students.

We kept up swimming over summer at a beach which we loved but the water was always challengingly chilly. When we travelled north to visit family we always included water time. Both The Husband and I love water. He was a surf life saver and I have many precious memories of spending entire evenings in different swimming pools, while my boring parents chatted with our dinner hosts.

I was dunked many times as a child and got into severe difficulties when I was about 5 and managed to get out of my depth in a river. I'm not sure what my parents were doing but I well remember the terror and the young man who dived in and pulled me out. It became part of our family mythology. My own terror was not acknowledged, it was another part of the angry me - "There she was, going under for the third time and still shouting that it was her brother's fault she was drowning, hahahaha". Sigh.

So I've finally acknowledged that I bring fear into my learning to swim journey with my children.

With The Son he would stay on the beach while we swam and reluctantly paddle round in the shallow ends of pools while The Husband, The Eldest and I would swim a little further out.

The Elf did likewise and like The Son I pushed them, I tried to reduce my subconscious childhood fears of being laughed at, of being a "wuss" by pushing them to swim. It backfired and thankfully I had enough inner knowledge to back off and leave them to it.

We come to this summer and a plan by The Husband and I to make use of the local pool at the university campus. We've gone three days a week for the last five weeks. The Elf swims! By herself! Underwater and above! Her strokes are not going to win her awards for technique or smoothness but she's confident without being overconfident, she's trying new things each time we go - now she goes underwater without goggles. The Son too is now swimming lengths of the pool, he's learned from The Eldest how to do underwater somersaults, they gleefully fish items off the bottom of the pool, he's teaching himself how to tread water. His confidence in the surf at the beach is astounding. Waves still terrify me but as long as his father is out there with him he's willing to give it a go. Because we've supported but not pushed he feels comfortable saying when he's had enough. He will never be worried that he's a "wuss" or a "chicken" for saying that the water is too rough and he's getting out.

I've been doing some more reading to prepare for our plans this year for table time and come across stories and articles about the elementals, about the Undines and the water element.

I realised we have here our own Naiad domain - the ocean - to play in; the world of the Nereids - creeks, streams, the hose, the pools - where we delight in learning about ourselves and new ways to move; and many mornings in this hilly, river clad area the world of the Nixies - the fog and the morning mist - delight and soothe us.

So much learning for me, let alone for my four beautiful souls that I've been privileged to bear.

Back to school

2011-01-20T22:52:00.000+11:00

Well, at the kitchen table at least. Our laptop issues are not resolved and I'm actually devastated to be blogging with no photographs. I shall have to paint pictures with words.

Boredom set in for the largest of my brood, dreary days of rain and so much rain that even our backyard, which slopes was awash. So, we sat down and tackled a main lesson block that we hadn't approached last year.

I am utterly astonished as this week hurtles past and the plans we have set in motion actually function and flourish. The Husband and I sat down between St Stephen's Day and New Year's and planned out the year. We sat down and talked with the children, about whether or not they wanted to continue school free life, what was good about last year, what didn't work. What emerged was a quite humbling but uplifting picture for me. The requests are: to continue at home, more rhythm and more certain structure - by that we all meant to have a daily rhythm so that I wasn't providing structure when the obvious boredom and frustration was overcoming my children's basic happy natures; that is reacting to their discomfort but rather acting and as the river letting my children be the leaves in the stream, flowing with me. We plan to puddle along in the shallows periodically and strike out of our comfort zone regularly.

Before I acquaint you with the basics of our week so far, a little more on our flexible, rhythmical plan. We have been and will continue to swim three times a week. This in itself is paying dividends and more about that in it's own blog post. We will overhaul our food choices and the children will take a greater role in the kitchen. Something that needs to happen but won't till The Husband's work load slows down (in a week or two) is a list of chores for the whole family. Not just what the children need to do, but in the interests of equity, what mama and papa already do. Regularly, without fail, just do.

I am trying to incorporate a little maths and a lot of reading into each day. The Eldest has gone from reading entire novels in a day to writing her own novel; whilst loudly claiming she doesn't write essays and how hard it is to write things down. Her brother, taking his cue from her, has rebelled against writing periodically but this week has settled into the idea of writing out sentences we brainstorm after each story and my how his penmanship has improved. His writing is gentler now, less hard marks, forcing the words out onto the paper but instead a gentle glide, footprints rather than ice skating grooves.

This week The Eldest and I have worked on the Grade 4 Zoology block and she decided to choose five animals to represent each of the five senses, reading about them, comparing them to humans. For her report (her idea, not mine, though I had thought it would make a good segue into Grade 5) she has chosen deer and today she and I found ourselves at an impasse as she felt reading a Wiki entry on deer in general and rewording it as a report would be enough whilst I had visions of sharing the legends of deer and how they and humans interacted. I told the story of Finn and Saba and Ossian, read about the healing properties the people of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland believed deer possessed. We own two deer antlers and we experimented with them. Discovered that we could turn them to shoveling, to cutting, hanging your coat on them, they could be used for jewellery and coshing your opponent on the head. Fish hooks and blades could be carved from them, their tines for hoeing the ground or plowing a furrow. All this without even turning your arrow to a live deer and seeing what else besides the meat might be useful. Tomorrow we head to the university library to see what else we can read about deer.

While the zoology was going on The Son and I approached the Fables. Much to my surprise as I was planning this block a simple version with pictures of each story to colour in turned up at the local op shop (thrift store). We worked our way through The Little Red Hen, The Fox and The Stork, The Crabs, The Ant and The Grasshopper. After each story we talked about how animals are used by story tellers to emphasis human tendencies. Then we worked out sentences about what each story might teach us. On Wednesday I also provided him with a small glass jug, with just a little water at the bottom and a pile of small polished jewels. In keeping with his crow status I also gave him a fine set of tweezers to improvise a beak. He was absolutely gloriously happy and puddled about for ages.

I'm glad we're back to school and have worked out a rhythm that suits us. Just in time for several groups of visitors to descend on us and disrupt it all. But such is life and with a plan in hand, we can make room for the delights of visitors without worrying that we will have catching up to do afterwards.

Once again

2010-12-27T21:36:00.000+11:00

Our dear little macbook has died and on Christmas Eve too. It'll be a little while till we're able to get a replacement and set it up so for now the blog will be having a holiday without me getting a chance to fill in on the fourth week of Advent, Christmas and gorgeous craft we've been doing.

So Season's Greetings to all of you in blogland and hopefully I'll be back and blogging soon.

A little seasonal Christmas craft

2010-12-23T07:56:00.000+11:00

When the days get too overwhelmingly full and my young people are mirroring that overwhelm back I'm finally learning to recognise the cues and facilitate an in breath or two. This past week, finally taking the time for this tutorial paid dividends for us. I kept it until a hot day, which only aggravates tempers if there are many jobs to do. I've also learned that setting up expectations when tempers are fraying often leads to difficulties. So on days like this, with a craft activity in hand and having done a quiet reconnoitre of supplies, I can gently set out newspaper on the table, if a child passes by and shows and interest, then giving them a simple job to do - getting the jar of paintbrushes, filling beakers with clean, cool water, setting out the paints brings us all to an in breath. I learned a long while ago to light a candle once we are all sitting down too. Like a meditative focal point, the candle lit, the tools set out, a sudden peace will invariably descend.

Twig and Toadstool's project was exactly the right level of difficulty, ease and creativity for the ages of my children. People could do the hard bits (gluing), the middling bits (cutting) and the easy, cool bits (painting). Because the children were SO overwhelmed by it all (we had visitors arriving, too much rain and then a very warm, humid day, jobs out and about to do without anyone to stay in with the children so they were pitched headfirst into the maelstrom that is a town ten days before Christmas), coming back in to themselves was difficult. The child who is invariably precise was suddenly teary about the problems of mixing shades to achieve the correct purple, children who are challenged by scissors needed to be able to show how good they are at cutting, normally careful children knocked over jars of water. With patience the right shade could be achieved, we had an absolute stockpile of raw materials so cutting issues were easily resolved and on a hot day a jar or three of spilt water is a blessing rather than a catastrophe!

I am so thankful for the blogs I've found that inspire me and my children, that provide us with hours of creative outlets. I am also, at this time of the year, especially grateful for craft that reflects both the festive season that is upon us as well as the summer season that we are in.

Advent - Third Week

2010-12-22T07:17:00.000+11:00

The time of the animals. We remember the great gifts we have been given and the animals in our lives, both past and present.

Not having any pets in our lives these days is for me, kind of odd, but kind of relieving. I understand now, as a mother of four, why my mother was often reluctant to allow me to extend my menagerie.

This week we have read Rudyard Kipling's "Just So" stories again, played Guess Who (with the proviso that the person in chose an animal), we booked our trip to Mon Repos and we said farewell to the rabbit that has been visiting with us for a fair few months. A young green tree frog decided to hop in for a visit and all of the children (even the grown up ones!) were delighted. We've also been reading some of the Christmas books like Mem Fox's "Wombat Divine ". Moderating the pace of "Mary's Little Donkey " takes some tricky planning so that the chapter when the baby is born is read on Christmas Eve. This year I will be reading the remaining chapters on a beach further north, hopefully while we watch turtles lay their eggs and continue the great wheel of life.

Unschool Monday

2010-12-20T21:41:00.000+11:00

It's been a seasonal unschool day - we've made mince pies and rum (sherry) balls; my youngest brother arrived yesterday and today my parents drove in.

And of course when it's Unschool Monday there seems to be so much more visible learning going on. The children got out their huge map of the world and with their uncle invented a geography game where someone had to call out a country and someone else needed to name the capital and so on and so forth.

There were impromptu word searches and lots of curling up reading. Family history was a big part of today too - asking questions of my parents and my brother and me too and then comparing the stories of my childhood with their papa's.

We're rolling gently towards the peak of the season and tomorrow we have a lunar eclipse to celebrate solstice with so we will be travelling to the easternmost point of Australia and watching the moonrise.

More Unschool Monday fun over at Owlet

Advent - Second Week

2010-12-15T14:56:00.000+11:00

The second week, the week of the plants... the lungs of our planet, the tiny seed, the vast Eucalyptus Regnans . From lichen to rainforest, from epiphyte to rose. This is the week that we bring in our tree and decorate our home. Ripe and ready for the festival of the child. It's almost like the second trimester - the anticipation is swelling and so clearly visible now. The scents in our home change, more cinnamon, more pine. Our soundscape now includes sweet caroling, tinsel susurrations, the parcel delivery van arriving regularly.

This year our beloved spruce, the tree that has filled our children's lives for the past years, died. Apparently the climate is inimical to spruce and so it died, slowly as we tried to save it. Without a tree and faced with mere Norfolk pines we decided to go on a clandestine tree getting adventure. In the midst of pouring rain, steaming roads and armed with a hatchet, saw and thermos of strong tea we set out and found a perfect little radiata pine and drove home like triumphant hunters with it tied firmly to the roof of the car.

The second light of Advent is the light of plants. Roots, stem, leaf, flower and fruit by whom we live and grow.

Apologia

2010-12-14T18:39:00.000+11:00

Our little lap top was the epicentre of a sarsaparilla disaster mid last week so blogging has been non existent. Now that it's back and safe and sound I'm downloading photos and all will be back to normal within the next 24 hours.

I've missed blogland!

First week of Advent

2010-12-06T09:08:00.000+11:00

The raw materials for little Christmas trees on this blog.

Maths in the kitchen - tripling our gingerbread recipe!

Some of our trees, The Eldest made the one with the star!

We've had a wonderful week of being mostly house bound by mizzling rain and lots of crafting. The week ended with our second Sunday of Advent and the shoe polishing for St Nicholas. The stirrings are slow and gentle, there is a definite rhythm that we follow and as the years progress, the frantic busy-ness of the season seems to pass us by. The tempo picks up but as long as mama and papa remain mindful then we have a whole season to celebrate rather than a furious race to a single day, which in some cases further narrows its focus to that intense period of paper tearing and gift grabbing. The conversations my children have with one another and with me revolve not only around what possible mysteries might appear in their stockings but also what they can create for one another, what they love about the season, what songs we can sing, when the carols by candlelight will happen, stories that are much loved and re-read, the delectable dishes we concoct only during this season.

Mineral kingdom, Earth elements

2010-11-30T14:41:00.000+11:00

Week one of advent is a time to pause and celebrate the earth that sustains us all. Not the whole, not Gaia but simply the earth, the dirt, the rocks and the sand. Unless you have geologic leanings you are unlikely to spend much time voluntarily in contemplation of this bit of our world, let alone give thanks for it. Think about it, without the actual dirty stuff we wouldn't have any of the rest of the earth. We were given a fantastic hard back book and it's what we've been looking at this week, as well as playing with clay and talking about mining, underground homes, crystals and jewels. In the past I have left little crystals for the children to find in this first week, I've also had grand plans to create advent strings for each of them with tiny gifts for each day of advent - these are yet to eventuate. I have a fervent dislike of chocolate filled advent calendars and am the person making strange noises of irritation in the department stores when she discovers "advent calendars" featuring different cartoon characters...

What has evolved for us is a weekly gift, either one for each child, or a shared gift. The gifts are ones that we would give on Christmas day, they are not lesser gifts. They are simply created or bought in tune with the week. In traditional Steiner philosophy the gnomes are earth elementals, small beings for children to follow in stories and in lessons and song. Our house seems to be overrun with them at times! My husband occasionally jokes that he is forming SAGA (the Secret Anti Gnome Alliance). I've noticed that gnome stories, their hard working protagonists, strike a real chord with my children when they're small.

As the children opened the stable for the very first time on Sunday night, they not only found the donkey, Mary and Joseph to set on their journey, they also found a gift waiting to be opened. This year we chose to give the children A Donsy of Gnomes . Tonight we will read the first story as Sunday night we had to read the very first chapter of Mary's Little Donkey which is a much loved tradition from the two eldest children's time in kindergarten. With only nine chapters to read in the 28 days before Christmas I am having to work our way through it very slowly...

And we're singing this song as well as many others!

(Donkey sewn using the pattern from Stofftiere but with my own alterations of needle felted mane, tail and eyes).

Unschool Monday

2010-11-29T10:30:00.000+11:00

Inspired by Owlet ...

Yesterday was the first day of Advent... which for our family is a time to gently (my hope) and excitedly (the children's reality) spend a whole four weeks, then twelve days celebrating the festival of the family and children. From our very first season as a family of three to now when there are six our traditions have evolved and grown. What is most important to us though is that the the focus is on celebrating, not gifting. On giving rather than receiving. Of course, there is the inevitable excitement about what might or might not appear under the tree or in their stockings but that occupies as much if not less conversation as feasting, making and giving. The children want to each pick a tag on the giving tree, they want to make gingerbread cookies for the road workers who are still in our street.

As the children grow older, they are all enjoying the traditions that have grown with us, that are embedded in their memories and they are also delighted to extend their skills - their crafting, their stitching, their plans for one another.

To my great joy, this year, like a natural progression, the emphasis is upon what they each can make for one another and for friends; it is upon the food we can make; the rituals of the candle lighting, moving the family and donkey around the room until they arrive at the stable. Poor Mary is in for some abseiling and flying fox riding this year.

What does this have to do with Unschool Monday? I'll tell you dear reader. today I am choosing to remain child impelled. I'll get the chores done and so will they but the directions for creativity and activities are coming from them. I've set out a craft project that I plan to do today but if the children have other ideas I'll be happy to craft away on my own. There is no formal table time and yet The Son has been reading aloud, The Eldest is stitching a new matchbox cover, The Elf and TMT are dressing up, keen for me to stop blogging and make coloured sugars for the biscuits we'll bake this evening when it cools down.

One hundredth post.

2010-11-27T18:10:00.000+11:00

I've been a little stymied by this post. Wanted it to be something momentous, astonishing in its content. But it won't be. Because life is proceeding as usual. We are learning every day, though we don't sit down to formal lessons every day. The Eldest has taken to writing a novel and is discovering that her spelling is more accurate than she thought. The Son is following suit and is laboriously penciling word after word. And this, after weeks and months of anguished groans when I presented them with lessons, suggestions, ideas, plans for writing and all its kindred - grammar, comprehension, spelling, punctuation, capitalising.

This past week we've been revisiting the four processes and finding positive, fun ways to learn the mystery patterns. The Son has employed a toy raccoon, some red kidney beans and pencils and paper. The Eldest has experimented with blackboard sums and those in her books. She loves number problems and not just in digit form but also word form - I ask her to triple or quadruple recipes and she accomplishes this with ease. Robinsunne's clock , which we created a while ago has been in heavy demand as we figured out that it is not only a multiplication clock but also a division clock! What a revelation!

The Elf, not wanting to be left out, colonises her father's lap, again with Robinsunne's multiplication clock in hand and shows him how she can do her ten times tables.

TMT follows The Elf intently, mimicking her movements and "draw draw draw" "cribble cribble cribble". I can see the urge to learn, the urge to absorb information and sensations, to move "with" us.

So, a century of posts later, we are where we started and yet so different. We are refining all the time the way our family learns, together and individually. I am learning all the time - how to fine tune lessons to meet each child's particular personality and interests, to not be frightened of subjects that challenged and bewildered me as a child, how to communicate my intent for each lesson more clearly.

Tomorrow is the first day of Advent and so the posts of the next few weeks will take a different path. Here is a moment to celebrate the ordinary, the every day.

Maths in November Part 1

2010-11-24T07:49:00.000+11:00

We've been working our way through some Maths recently, having received Melisa Nielsen's curriculum book. I've also had the children do Math Paths from Marsha Johnson's lesson plans . I've blogged before about my fears of division and I realised that I just haven't been working through this process with the children. So this week and last we've really gotten into it. And you know what? It's not so scary! It's fun and it's something that we do all the time. Pizza, change, feeding imaginary animals, scheduling... division really is an evening up, a stabilising process.

The Eldest set up a general store in the back room, it's been extremely popular and she's had to work hard on all the processes to keep her customers happy and her kitty accurate.

After we cooked the dinner and passed it through the window we had to go outside and buy from the saloon keeper. He had excellent drinks too.

The Eldest's Math Paths for Portly Plus and Raggedy Blue Minus

The Multiplication Clock we made earlier this year came in handy for The Son to make his Math Paths.

We've also taken maths outside onto the new blackboard and come up with fun bean counting games. The plan was to conclude the maths this Friday and move onto Humans and Animals for The Eldest and Fables for The Son but we'll see how we're travelling by the end of tomorrow. It may be that maths continues apace. We also have the added distraction of Advent beginning on Sunday...

Building Main Lesson - closure.

2010-11-23T09:15:00.000+11:00

The Eldest has been the subject of several posts as we have worked out way through a Local Geography main lesson that has been complicated not only by her deep grief about leaving her birthplace but also because her Year 3 lessons were not completed. When we left Tasmania she was mid way through a building main lesson, one of the crucial points in growing from a child where shelter, food, and care is all provided towards adulthood where you need to know that you can provide these things for yourself. As we stop -started with local geography I had a lightbulb moment about the lack of closure with that main lesson and suggested it to her . As always time and many distractions danced joyfully over our best laid plans. Luckily we are learning focus and planning in all this not in school learning as we reset our internal clocks to our own rhythm instead of the one imposed by external sources.

With Advent upon us, the festival of the child and of the family, that building component came to the fore front. Wood was selected, designs created and discarded, boisterous arguments over roof pitch and the placement of windows were had. Then out came the hammer, the nails, the saws, the sandpaper and the builder's pencils. A day of focussed, creative joy was had. There was dissent about the involvement of other people, about whether or not the goat could stand on the roof, where it has always stood, and if a door was necessary.

Our garage sale trestle table find is so incredibly useful!

Building requires not just a lot of tools but also a great deal of negotiation.

Making a window without a jigsaw provided a few challenges but everyone was very happy with the result.

Nailing the walls on requires a great deal of careful concentration.

The finished stable with one very happy 10 year old. She and her father are still discussing modifications and the problems with the goat on the roof are still under negotiation. Staining the wood is one idea, and possibly a door on one side. Come Sunday we will be lovingly retiring the stable that has served us so long and so well and unveiling the new. In the meantime, despite my plans for it to rest quietly for a week, it has already been called in to play as a bus stop, a train station and very nearly a carriage for a toddler.

The Eldest has been delighted to complete a building project, working on it from sketching plans and looking at other people's creations, to choosing the wood, buying the nails and wielding a hammer and a saw with no injury. What I have learnt from this project is that we need to do more wood craft and I've been busy looking at other ideas - I don't want us to clutter up our home with half finished objects but a few choice, craft items would provide hours of building experience and after play. The next project is the tree house doll house. As that slowly takes shape I'll be blogging about that too. The one improvement we could make is for me to remember that I also love building and despite wanting to step back so that The Husband can have some time with the children, building together as a family is wonderful.

Unschool Monday

2010-11-22T14:51:00.000+11:00

Inspired by Owlet ...

We had a busy weekend, full of building, driving, barge going, beach walking, cleaning. We woke today feeling clear and focussed and I actually had plans for some sit down table work as requested by the two eldest. But instead, I watched the energy ebb and flow as we did our morning chores and observed the children creating activities and games with no input from me. So I left well enough alone and go on with my own chores. I have watched Melisa Nielsen's excellent series of videos on planning and painting ; I have read book lists of other parents and added more books to my ever expanding Book Depository wishlist. When boredom set in I went out quietly to the huge blackboard we have in the backyard as of Sunday morning and wrote up a series of maths problems. The Eldest is working her way through basic division at present and The Son is beginning his experimentation with the same. Division is the same at Times, just in a different direction. I didn't mind if the problems got done or not, they were simply there if people wished to sit down and puzzle them out.

On the other half of the board the two little girls scribbled and drew stars. Then we made lunch. This afternoon there will be more finishing of play, i.e. cleaning up and there will be more stories read. The coolness of the weather, compared to this time last year and the extra sleep I am ensuring I get means that we all have more reserves to deal with frustrations like rain falling just as an elaborate blanket cubby is built on the front porch.

At the end of this in breath day I will have rested children and they will have a rested mama. I will have had some time to create and prepare and perhaps feel finally ready to begin the Advent donkey I have been putting off stitching due to nerves about my crafting abilities for some weeks now...

A doll tutorial.

2010-11-18T15:31:00.000+11:00

I'm not particularly tech savvy so this tutorial is basically a long line of photographs accompanied by a little text. I've been making these dolls in various sizes for the past four years. Periodically I consider making them for sale but then retreat because a) I love making them and I suspect if money were exchanged then it would become a chore and b) right now I make them for people I love, or like and again, I don't want to feel like they're only being made for commercial reasons. I think a doll made for money is different to a doll made with love. This is just me and I must say I adore being able to purchase WAHM items over pretty much anything else. This is just where I AM at with my creations. Perhaps one day I'll dip my toe into the world of making and selling but for now I am content to create lovelies for my children and others. You will need: a cushion or block of foam, a selection of dry felting needles (I generally use sizes 34 - 40), pipe cleaners, wool roving in a number of colours - some natural for skin tones and hair and whatever colours you like.

Take a length of camel or beige shaded merino fleece, about the length of your forearm or shorter.

Tie a knot firmly in the centre

Fold the fleece from the left over the knot

Using a small wisp of fleece wind it firmly around the "neck" of the knot. This will create a head.

Fold the fleece over the knot front and back and gently pull on the fleece to encircle the knot.

Using another wisp of fleece wind it firmly around the base of the knot and now you have a little head.

Lay the head aside and take up a pipe cleaner, I use a cotton covered one, not polyester.

Bend the pipe cleaner in half and then bend the arms-to-be outwards.

Bend the tips of arms upwards.

Taking another wisp of the camel/beige coloured merino start to wind it around the bent tip of the pipecleaner. When it's well covered then bend the tip back down and continue to gentle wind the spread out fleece wisp across it.

Now it should look like this, gently and well wrapped down to where the tip of the bend touches the pipe cleaner.

Now choose a colour for the sleeves and bodice of the doll (romney or corriedale roving is easier to use than merino and start to wind it gently, spread out, not in thread-like pieces, along the arm of the doll.

Once the arms are done then insert the pipecleaner with the large bend downwards into the fleece head and body.

Gently wind the roving diagonally and across the bodice area of the doll until you have a "shirt".

Side view for the start of the winding.

Firmly winding round the bodice.

The bodice wound round, it still needs needle felting to firm and shape.

Take a good handful of the roving for the skirt and fasten it to the body fleece upside down so that the skirt is flying up over her head. Needle it firmly in place front and back. You'll need fleece for front and back.

Fold the skirt back down and begin felting it together.

The sides will need especial care so that the joins are smoothed away. You will need to keep rotating the doll, as you felt, in order to ensure the skirt is rounded rather than flat, the same goes with the bodice.

Another view of her as she's being needle felted.

As you felt the skirt you will also need to upend her and needle felt the base as well until she stands steadily upright. You can also keep felting to shorten her or gently felt along the sides to stretch her out. Be careful that you do firm her up - the firmer she is, the sturdier she is.

You can add a bonnet, flowers, details on the skirt. It's endless fun but often, for children, the simpler the better.

For hair, choose a roving and take as much as you need. I tend to add enough to make long hair for braiding but you can also just needle on enough to provide a fringe under a bonnet.

Lay her down and needle the hair VERY gently to her head in the same manner that the skirt was initially attached, so she looks like she had a bad fright when you stand her up.

Once she's looking frightened, turn her over and start to gently needle the hairline in and then down the back of her head, keeping the hair looking as natural as possible.

The roving works well like hair to separate and braid, a small piece of contrasting roving makes a lovely ribbon. Notice that the roving above the braid is gently needle felted down on the head.

Done and ready for their new home. Little details like flowers, a basket etc are fun experiments to play with once your doll is done.

Wordless Wednesday - the illusions in nature

2010-11-17T20:12:00.000+11:00

Unschool Monday

2010-11-15T11:24:00.000+11:00

Inspired by Owlet ...

We are not unschoolers particularly, we do follow a gentle Steiner rhythm, but I also have noticed that we ebb and flow with our "table time" and that pushing often results in little or no joy, and reluctance the next time lessons are broached. My children are keen learners, finding topics of fascination and learning everything they possibly can about a topic before moving on.

After twelve months of deschooling and learning our own rhythm, this mama is setting days aside for just being and trusting that learning, albeit unquantifiable in a formal institutional setting, is happening.

Will he ever learn to read? Well yes, he's sitting opposite me at the table, once again immersed in a Wild West book, painstakingly working his way through something designed for high school students. He's not fluent but he's getting there and what's more, he's taking joy in it. The more words he can puzzle out, the more he can independently learn. This will come as no surprise to the long term home schoolers out there but of course, as I continue my own deschooling process, never fails to delight and astonish me.

I realised the other day, due to the wonderful modelling by my parents, that I am a confirmed life long learner. I have my own passions - I taught myself the Greek Alphabet when I was 12, pick up languages with alacrity, suck information in like a sponge. I can only hope that my own modelling is paying dividends. Because I am a bit of a butterfly when it comes to information gathering and having been told that is 'wrong' to absorb information like that, it's not practical, it's not how it's done. Now I am confronted by children who seek information in the same way - lighting on a topic, being fascinated by it and then moving on to another topic. I have to most strongly stamp on my worry that they are learning the wrong way, because of my own childhood experiences.

So, with that introduction, I am joining Owlet in the Unschool Monday... because after a busy weekend with papa home and projects going on, often it seems that Monday comes around and the children rest - this morning, with NO formal learning taking place we have sung songs, read up on quarter horses, clothing of the first settlers to America, made sheriff badges, been astonished at how BIG long horn cattle's horns are, decorated the living room for a royal ball, discussed how the first people came to the Americas and the Bering Land Bridge which in turn led to getting the maps out, touching on the idea of an "Ice Age" and then gone right back to the start and using the map, walking the first humans out of Africa and across the world. We are hoping for a globe for Christmas and that will make our explorations even more fun.

No, no formal sit down lesson learning happening here but plenty of learning nonetheless.

Local Geography - Year 4 Main Lesson "finis"

2010-11-14T23:05:00.000+11:00

As mentioned previously here and here and particularly here , we've had a bit of a struggle with this lesson. The Eldest and I ended up having a long walk in the rain and talking it through; me explaining the pedagogy behind the idea of the lesson block and a detente being once more achieved. The Husband and The Eldest will continue with their building project, she will continue to wander round the real estate sites online and I will read her poetry about the world around us. The centering in the world that was the focus of this main lesson block continues without formal lesson blocks as we have chosen to embrace our current home as a grand, extended holiday for the time being which has lightened all our hearts. Instead of struggling over paper and pen we are getting out and DOING - visiting art galleries, walking the paths in this town we've not yet walked, going each weekend to the beach which is where we feel most at home. Knowing that this is not forever has encouraged her particularly, to embrace the good things more and let go of what makes her sad.

What this lesson has really brought home to me the beauty around us. While it's still not home, it's certainly been a blessing to live here.

Stylish? Huh, me!?!

2010-11-11T08:31:00.000+11:00

I've just discovered that Mummy Snow over at Snowflakes in the Valley has e-presented me with a "Stylish Blogger Award". Currently I'm in the grips of some serious frumpy mummy feelings so I'm very touched. She's one of those bloggers who I always check in with because her calm, relaxed approach to home schooling is something I aspire to and I always gain a sense of all being well in the world when I read her posts.

There are some rules* that go with this.

Utterly Random Facts About The Blogger You Read Before You:

1. I was born on the south rim of the Grand Canyon in a small hospital.

2. I have seen both the Aurora Borealis and the Aurora Australis.

3. At age 16 I caught a two metre long carpet snake whilst I was on crutches (I took it outside and let it go again).

4. I have a post graduate degree in Celtic Studies.

5. I didn't learn to drive until I was 37.

6. I have a well attested to dislike of Disney's "absent or dead mothers" theme.

7. I think the human capacity for humour will be our saving grace.

Now, in no particular order, blogs that inspire, delight, astonish and awe me and to which I hereby, with the power invested in me, I award the "Stylish Blogger Award" to:

Our Little Nature Nest

Cooking Is My Therapy

A Little Flower Garden

Arromyf's Adventures

Down In The Meadow

Ancient Hearth

Inky Fool

Live Dreaming, Forego Reality

Love to Learn Homeschool

Monster Knits

Natural Suburbia

Primal Home

Family From The Fringes

Grit's Day

The Dirigibles and Dreams of A Garden Pheenix

*The Rules for accepting the award are:

Thank and link back to the person who gave you the award
Share 7 things about yourself.
Pass this on to 15 other great bloggers you recently discovered.
Contact the selected bloggers and tell them about their awards.

Play scapes continue as does everyday life.

2010-11-08T22:17:00.000+11:00

There is table work going on, I'd just like to reassure the orderly, organised side of me... it's just, these play scapes are so fantastically fascinating and not only are they extending my creative impulses but they're a beautiful way to reconnect with my feisty and hormonal ten year old.

I've been doing a bit of reading about "when" to start needle felting with your children as I have a five year old bursting to not only needle felt, but do any and all main lessons that her older siblings are doing... I think for now though, we will wait and find other craft for her. Melisa Neilsen's vlog of working with several children of different ages made perfect sense to myself and The Eldest today so hopefully our table time will reflect her suggestions in the coming weeks. Today's attempt at table time was an almost complete disaster because of unrequited needs, The Mighty Toddler needing all sorts of things, The Elf's utter frustration... I could feel myself starting to crack and swing but managed to gather the time and the process gently back together.

So after lunch, The Son, The Elf and TMT played and The Eldest and I felted. The photos are of TMT's as it was extremely difficult to do the others whilst the future recipients were whizzing around and The Eldest is grievously concerned that they will figure out what she is up to.

The fuzzy brown and white on the left is a cave which will have a fire out the front.

This is how I leave it this evening. I am very proud of my first play scape attempt.

The Eldest and I will swing back in to action tomorrow and as for table time, the "head" time, well we've started using our Maths book and our wonderful form drawing book arrived today so the children are very excited.

Starting on the Christmas gifts

2010-11-05T12:35:00.000+11:00

The Eldest and I, inspired by some awesome sites and flickr albums have started creating the first round of Christmas gifts. Between now and December 25th we'll post pictures and notes about what we're doing. We're making mini playscapes to use on long journeys, and, I suspect, just around the place when some diversion is required.

While they will be 3 dimensional they won't be quite as big as the ones we've seen. Our plan is for them to roll up and be tied shut. We're also contemplating sewing bags to keep them and the little felted dolls and animals that we make to go with them. I am also making one for The Eldest, because, despite being almost too grown up for such things, she agreed with me that she probably would love sitting and playing with one. They're very meditative I find and viewed from above are almost mandala like.

TMT and I making the base for TMT's playscape

The Eldest felting away with boiling water and thick rubber gloves.

I love the sensory delight of felting, we had many pauses to contemplate our hands.

Wordless Wednesday

2010-11-03T15:15:00.000+11:00

What does mama do?

2010-10-29T15:27:00.000+11:00

While all the table work is going on? and the playing outside?

I'm learning to turn off the computer unless possessed by a vibrant urge to write and teach myself to craft. New spectacles are making tiny stitches easier and I'm finding that with a little determination and concentration I can follow a pattern and create something that is loved and used.

The Son and The Elf are both proud possessors of small pink felt mice, and The Eldest keenly felt the lack. I have been trying to come up with small, useful, soft gifts for the Yuletide stocking and thought of stitching something for TMT. My good friend Karin, over at Lyrebird in Hobart sent me beautiful felt and a hand written guide to sewing a mouse. So I seized courage in hand the other day and worked away.

First I drew the pattern pieces on the felt.

Then cut all the pieces out and started sewing.

After an hour of cutting and sewing, voila, one small pink mouse. So much fun, I let the dinner burn in the oven while I made a second.

It's a whole new world for me now, but I'm still working my head around the donkey pattern I have lurking on the sideboard.

Working with different ages.

2010-10-27T11:27:00.000+11:00

This week and last have been a study in "duelling" age needs. Coming hard on the heels of several trips away and a number of visitors we sat down to table work with some definite plans in mind but this mama has learned this year to be a willow rather than an oak. The Son and The Elf have been unwell, as has The Mighty Toddler (TMT if you like). As blogged previously The Eldest and I have finally begun her Local Geography main lesson block, and we have agreed to revisit the Building main lesson from Year Three. While sketching was all very well we needed a concrete plan for building. The Husband came up with a brilliant notion that has been seized on and is now in its infancy. He and The Eldest are building us a new stable for our nativity. To date we've had a shoebox pasted over with bark which the two of them whipped up several years ago, now, with new tools and some plans that are being painstakingly hand drawn we will have a new stable in a couple of weeks, possibly even this weekend. A practical creation, for a festival of families that is our own family's most important festival of the year.

While she is hard at work at one side of the table, The Son has been cheerfully sitting down to read - he is particularly enjoying the Mouse Tales. I expected him to resist at the suggestion of sitting down to read as he's been so unwell, but to my quiet surprise he has been asking to read. As his reading improves so does his comprehension of the actual story and after his story yesterday, he asked if he could do some word families. Rhyme delights him so word families make him giggle. Next we may take some of the words in each word family and make up some rhyming sentences, some poetry in a way. The stories are perfect for him, gently humourous, repetitive word use, compact and plot driven.

Down the end of the table The Elf is drawing pictures from the stories I've been telling and I've been digging deep for some finger songs and verses to enliven our morning circle. TMT adores the singing time, attempts the hand gestures and manages to make it clear which song she'd like repeated. Her drawing has evolved from watching her arm move across the page to quite deliberate circular motions. The pages are filling with a riot of colour, she is astonished and delighted with what unfolds under her busy hands.

Today, in an effort to mix it up, we will go out and take in some local geography by being in the midst of it. I haven't called it a lesson, we're going on a plant and flower hunting expedition - we have a flower press we'd like to fill and this is a gentle way of encouraging some positive observations of our local area. We have a basket and scissors at the ready and children bubbling over with energy now we've had our quiet in breath.

Layering the learning.

2010-10-25T15:08:00.000+11:00

This is my divinely delightful eldest daughter. The one who has had the most formal schooling, the one who we rely on to lead us in song and to know the way forward when it comes to main lessons. The Eldest knows her own mind and has been very clear that she wished to be at home to learn, not in a school setting.

She is the one who, when I had my lightbulb about head, heart and hands learning said "Why yes, that's what we always did when I was at school".

We've been muddling our way through our local geography main lesson which keeps getting sidetracked, derailed, conflicted. The morning circle is mellow, the hand work in the afternoons inspiring, she sings around the house and draws and paints. BUT getting on topic is still a struggle. Then The Husband mentions a couple of towns where there may be teaching work. She is SO excited, she begs to be allowed to look at potential homes in these towns via the internet. From there she segues into house plans. She would spend hours poring over them, deciding which room is hers, the home school room, who gets the ensuite. I was baffled.

I sought support and inspiration from blogs like this one and that one . I also sought and received support form the outstanding online communities of Melisa Neilsen and Marsha Johnson's yahoo groups.

Then I remembered. When we left last year, she was mid way through her Year 3 building main lesson block. She never finished it, there was never closure, never affirmation that she could shelter herself. She was left hanging, bewildered and grieving the loss of her home, her community. Moved to a place she very much did not want to be, to a school which was vastly different to her own. With different lessons, different stages.

So now, we are beginning again, with her bedroom, with her dream bedroom. We are going to gently revisit that abandoned midway main lesson block and draw out what she needs then go back to local geography. Work out ways to shelter her and then stand with her out in the world. We'll go to the beach this weekend and build cities from the sand and watch the contours of the coast.

Silent Sunday - because learning happens all the time, not just around the table.

2010-10-24T14:14:00.000+11:00

Year Two - Reading block

2010-10-22T11:09:00.000+11:00

The Son is coming to end of his second year of formal schooling. He is endlessly imaginative, an eager sketcher, quite typically "boyish" in the games he chooses to play. He gets frustrated with potential playmates' choice of computer or screen time and would much rather be outside with a sword or cuddly toy in hand conquering the world.

Sitting still on these warm spring mornings has been an anathaema to him. So rather than trying to work through a main lesson block (unless it's the Celts but we've gone over them ad infinitum) we decided that he would work on his reading and penmanship. This seems to be a good compromise - he will sit still and read a chapter of his book and then we do a page of word families or simple spelling.

I have been lucky enough to find a few gorgeous vintage readers over the past year or two and they are at exactly the right level for him now. Before we started this block the frustration at not being able to read versus the frustration at having to sit and learn to read warred with one another on a daily basis. So we did a deal, when he can read a book from start to finish he and I will go book shopping and I will buy him the book of his choice. His eyes grew very wide at that. Big sister told him quite matter of factly that reading is not just recognising letters and words but also guessing from where the word is (I'd call that context but I love big words) what it might be. He was delighted. I could almost hear his mind turning over - he doesn't have to understand every arcane twist and turn of the English language to read!

His reading is growing more fluent by the day. This morning he exclaimed in astonishment "Mama! You're reading without making noise! How do you do that!?!" Then he sat down and worked his way through a natural history book reading each of the names of the animals.

His penmanship depends on how much more energy he has for sitting still. Many days it looks like this:

Other days it's barely legible, mostly because he is so keen to escape. The word families intrigue him and that's always a good thing. We're going to work our way through those tricky words that look the same but are said different and the other tricky ones that are spelt differently but sound the same. I've also finally found a form drawing book that I feel confident I can work from and he and I will take a journey through that with The Eldest.

Hand Work - the third space in the day.

2010-10-21T22:03:00.000+11:00

We've had a bit of a run with our hand work time lately; all sorts of creations have been bobbing up. We've been lucky to spend some time with some artists - here's looking at you Cousin Catherine and also the lovely Domi who visited this afternoon with her giant bag of clay. Many days of rain have meant that the odd day of sunshine has been met by a need to be outside whether crafting or gardening or just running around.

Our daily main lesson block, our head time, is spinning along nicely, it's the heart time that's still a little tricky to facilitate as it generally comes at the perfectly natural moment for The Little One's nap.

What follows is a little of what we've been up to recently for our Hand Work:

What mama has been doing while the children work and play - a chair bag for The Elf.

Making more gnomes for our maths' process work; and also for games and pockets and little hands.

Learning the ancient art of mosaic creating with Cousin Catherine.

A sudden whim for wet felting - this was to be a vaguely Tashi shaped hat but has become a parchment roll instead.

That afternoon time is also time for sitting and contemplating the world with daddy nearby.

I've tried planning different activities for our afternoons but the children have taken this notion and run with it, not consciously, just instinctively and I find them outside in the garden, or clustered round the door to the room where their little sister lies sleeping "Mama can we felt?" "Mama I want to do some sewing." "Can we plant sunflowers?"

To think I spent months worrying that I wasn't crafty enough and that I couldn't think of enough appropriate activities that I had the skills to facilitate...

Local Geography - Year 4 Main Lesson

2010-10-13T15:56:00.000+11:00

I've been at a standstill with this particular Main Lesson all year. The Eldest has resisted any and all attempts and I've been curiously reluctant to push it. But I haven't known why.

After our whirlwind week away I cracked the code, puzzled out the whys and suddenly it started to flow. Right now we are not living where we have always lived, we are no longer living where our children were born and we're finding it hard to figure out how we fit in our new location, this vastly different climate, from a mostly dry, mountainous, chilly land to a warm, humid place, criss-crossed by water ways. It's hard to begin a block with a ten year old finding their place in the world when they're not even sure "where" they are. It's all very well to look at an atlas and say "We are HERE!" but when your spirit and mind are saying "But I want to be THERE" it's difficult to figure out how to sit down and learn about here, especially when you are hoping and wishing your parents would find the family's way home or to elsewhere.

So we began small, we've talked about our yard, about paths to the post office and to daddy's work. Then, one very wet day this week, I was desperate to extract the children from the house, the lure of television, the boredom of being stuck inside for ten days (mostly) and we went out to do some jobs. Then we drove aimlessly around this little town and parked and walked down to bridges in the rain and watched the fat brown serpentine swollen rivers writhe beneath our feet. All sorts of possible worlds were conjured up in my children's fertile imaginations. Eventually we were as damp as we wanted to be but not ready to leave and in a moment of inspiration we drove to another bridge and found the story boards about the area. The resistance by The Eldest increased but as we read the story of the area, mostly out loud to The Son and The Elf I noticed that she was becoming absorbed in the stories.

Then, last night, I found this incredible article by David Sobel and I was away. Reading about the Cartography of Childhood astonished me, brought back my own childhood memories and inspired new approaches to this tricky, thorny main lesson block. As The Eldest bedded down I suggested the main lesson in a different way and she was intrigued and enthusiastic; this morning when we began our table time she was content to puzzle out her own maps of here while I spent time with The Son. I remembered, at long last, to make it small, to start simply. My propensity for excessive verbosity gets me into trouble time and time again with my children. A blog post I read this week about "Talking in Pictures to Small Children" struck me as quite useful generally. I'm not about to suggest to my 10 year old that a pixie might be watching but I can tone down how MUCH I talk to her about suggested activities.

Right now we will draw maps of here and perhaps maps of there, we will plot paths to our favourite places and try and locate ourselves in this vast world, bringing it down to what we can see with our eyes before navigating to places we cannot.

White Space - dedicated to Janet.

2010-10-08T16:13:00.000+11:00

Inspired by this and this.

According to these sites -

Using white space creates:

greater legibility
feeling of luxury
breathing room & balance
more emphasis

This utterly resonated with me as a home schooling mama.

I'm already the non hoarder of the family and I often look at our main table space and surrounds feeling utterly dismayed by the clutter and the chaos.

Our Steiner led approach to "formal" learning both encourages the presence of white space in our life and is enhanced by the effort to keep that white space foremost. There is only so much you need. Too many options causes overload, in my little family at least. A simple approach to the table work, the main lessons always ends for us in a peaceful day, a sense of achievement and feeling that good work has been done. When I offer many options the children are overwhelmed, my energies are scattered.

Finding blog posts like these provide gentle and simple guides that I can put into practice in our family and in our learning spaces.

*Greater Legibility - simple approaches, working on the main lessons, one thing at a time makes the end result something tangible.

* Feeling of luxury - I purchase good quality materials for the children in their play spaces, sleeping spaces and to clothe them - I use op shops, online purchasing and occasionally real live stores. It makes sense to extend that to the school materials. We don't need three thousand textas, crayons, pencils, paints. We use one kind of pencil, one kind of paint. They're expensive but that in itself enourages me to treat the materials with respect and I model that to my children. It doesn't mean that pencils don't end up on the floor or sheets of watercolour paper used for other things but what it does mean is that we tidy them away at the end of each session, that we take care of them. The children see me sharpening the pencils, sorting the modelling wax and carefully preserving the paints. With a little of each we have more room for space and other things of beauty. That's that plan at least.

*Breathing room and balance - For us, this comes in a variety of forms. Space from one another, space as a family: getting out on the weekends to beautiful spaces like the beach, mountains, clear spaces to run and play in, ones that aren't filled with buildings and people and mess. But also the breathing space within us: our mental health, our physical health. Not trying to do it all or burn the candle at both ends. We can't balance our needs if we're exhausted or unhealthy or have white noise instead of white space.

*More Emphasis - for me, as a Steiner inspired home schooling mama, this speaks to me in the sense of our main lessons rather than our decor or my needs as a parent. Each day we work on our main lesson block, we end up doing maths and grammar and geography and PE and just life skills while concentrating on a single main lesson, that is age appropriate and we've negotiated approaches that work for my very individual children. Emphasising different aspects of the blocks in such a way that it fits within my children in a long term positive way.

This is probably my first foray into the world of zen, those who know me, know that zen and me are possibly utterly incompatible but perhaps not.

Baking and Making

2010-09-21T15:14:00.001+10:00

Our kitchen table is the centre of our family life in many ways. We eat nearly every meal together there, we "do school" there, visitors cram round it, children hide under it. Right now The Grandfather is visiting, our house is small and it's been constant pouring rain for the past few days. Possibly a recipe for noise overload or people tripping over each other. So we got busy.

First up was baking. We discovered that the story of fruit cake improving with keeping (particularly in the freezer) was true after one of our Christmas fruit cakes last year somehow escaped being eaten and lurked in the freezer for six months. Plus, not having to bake when it's 35 degrees outside, as the month or so leading up to Christmas last year was, is an absolute bonus. Our recipe is from Rose Elliot's Complete Vegetarian Cook Book ; despite diligently measuring and weighing we always seem to end up with far more mixture than will fit in the tin so our fruit cakes, like so much of our lives, are abundantly overflowing. There were a few grumps and cranky moments from people overloaded by too much indoor time but by the time we were pouring the fruit in every one was cheery and involved. So good to have The Husband home as well!

Each child had a turn with the bowl.

We stirred and mixed and ended up churning it by hand because there was far too much to push with a spoon, without snapping the handle. We even had to use one of our five litre milk buckets in the end; all of us had a turn, smooshing our hands into the delicious spicy, lumpy, doughy goodness.

We now had four cakes ready to put in the oven and for the next four hours the delicious scents flowed through the house and brought a little early Christmas magic to our home.

Then to the making and again our kitchen table was the focal point, the flour swept up, the last few escaped sultanas and cherries nibbled by little "mice" and now The Grandfather, a Radio Technician in World War Two, took centre stage with an electronics' kit we had found months ago. Attaching wires to terminals and creating sounds and movement. He patiently took the children through the easy attachments and with the reward of almost immediate results the children were bouncing with delight.

With sirens sounded and other noises and movements made then we were on to making of another kind. The two eldest children brought home chair bags as a practical legacy of their time at school and they have proved so useful that it was soon obvious that chair bags for the other two were needed. Yesterday they arrived in the post from a dear friend who actually has access to a sewing machine.

So I donned spectacles and sat, starting the embroidery for the smallest. Giving thanks for my dear Mother In Law who died five years ago: The Grandfather's wonderful wife and The Husband's beautiful mother. The embroidery thread cards were made by her, with The Eldest helping, many years ago one Christmas, tidying up another area of my life that was tangled and overflowing. Every time I pull out those simple pieces of re-purposed cardboard I think of her, and miss her in our lives.

For my children, once again, mama sitting quietly inspires the children to find quiet craft or drawing to do and join me. A lesson I require over and over again and which is always gratefully received.

Another week of learning... but isn't every day?

2010-09-19T16:51:00.000+10:00

We rounded out our Maths main lessons with some stories. The Sir Enufstuff story I told using needle felted gnomes and dolls as well as wooden blocks. The more illustrative, the more we retain I've noticed. The Son was completely entranced by the stories. The Eldest was trying, but failing, to pretend she was a little too grown up for stories like that. I'm figuring out notions about mathematics that I hadn't considered before. We took the time to work through some problems and I also lit upon some excellent suggestions on another blog for looking at what makes a number - going through, just from 1 - 10 - what makes each number so 4 = 0 + 4 , 1 + 3 and so on. This really tickled The Son's fancy and I can see I'll be checking in there frequently for more ideas about Grade 2. We'll revisit maths at least once if not twice before the end of our academic year; and intersperse it with more reading and writing using Aesop's fables and Celtic culture for The Son and "local geography" and Norse life for The Eldest.

Just as we were tidying the lesson books, pencils, crayons, scraps, blocks and gnomes away Grandfather arrived. So now the children are on "holidays" and so have learned to drill, sand down boards, fix a leaking faucet (tap), visited the giant hardware warehouse and are now sitting down creating lists for our upcoming train journey. I can see from the intricate columns and arrows and drawings and different colours for different items this is going to be extremely well organised. Just so long as I remember that this IS NOT LEARNING! Ahem. On their request The Husband is putting together work books for the two big ones and a smaller, mostly blank book for The Elf to colour and paste in.

Whilst there will not be any real sit down lesson times this week I am aware that I need to keep a rhythm happening, that if we just bubble about the house each day there will be the snaps and snarls of people unravelling. There has been a little parenting by television these past few days and it means that people are not sleeping as well as they can. Last night, with the prospect of another movie viewing, I took mother charge and put The Elf and The Youngest into a warm lavender scented bath, made The Elf a hot honey milk and we read some stories. Slowly with long pauses to drink in the pictures. Stories that were about everyday things, going to the market , playing in the bush. The Elf warmed her hands on her cup and we talked quietly and softly. She told me "mama, I need to just look at little kids' books right now". Her initial resistance faded quickly away and the tension in her face melted away.

So, even with a visitor and the start of a few days of rain, I will endeavour to keep mindful about breakfast, some time to play, chores and morning tea. Then I'll encourage outside adventures, lunch and then some quiet rest. Afternoon tea, some more outside play and then dinner and bed. We don't need to have the television on and if The Grandfather wants to watch something we will be mindful that the children have other things they can do instead. Otherwise their energy builds up inside and comes flying out in a huge burst of confused and crabby tension.