Pay it Forward Gifts On Their Way!

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Spring Cleaning in the Craft/Homeschooling Room

I am SOOOO excited about our new craft and homeschooling space! It has been clean all year - keeping my office, kitchen and homeschooling room clean are top priorities around here (although the rest of the house may not look so good sometimes and don't even look in the garage). However, I don't think we realize how "bogged down" a place can get - even if it is clean and organized. Even the most organized spaces need a spring cleaning.

It was not intentional. I started because I had purchased some new crafting supplies - terra cotta clay, some more beeswax, etc...and I didn't have anywhere to fit them. One thing led to another and two days later we had completely re-arranged the rooms, we steam cleaned the carpets (I can't even believe it went THAT far LOL) for the first time in two years, we organized everything again, cleaned everything, sorted, etc....

The results are amazing! The kids have already spent much more time in the room than they usually do and their self-initiated activities have increased significantly (now that they can find everything and know where it is again). Even I am more inspired in my lesson planning. I think we have gotten more done this week than we did in the past month. WOW!

So I took some pictures to share with you all. I am just so excited. I have to share!

I posted a slide show at the NING. I didn't want to have to edit the pictures down but there are too many for the BLOG.

Also, if you are interested, I have a few videos and downloads about organization at http://www.thewaldorfchannel.com/ - if you can't find them and are interested I can send you a direct link. They are really helpful videos! Especially the E-book/Video combo of "Organizing for the Temperaments"

Enjoy the photos at:
http://earthschooling.ning.com/photo/albums/craft-homeschooling-area

PS: Someone mentioned the white walls - sigh! Don't remind me - LOL :) I have moved so many times in the past twenty years & each time I repaint the walls and create a wonderful garden and then we move. I'm sorta on a "break" waiting to see if this house "sticks" - but this does remind me of two tricks I want to share if you have white walls - drape scarves on your walls. We have one that looks like the sunset in the livingroom (see pictures) and another that looks like a rainbow in the art room (no picture, sorry). We also have one small wall that I made (just last week) into a blackboard and I will be posting some fun we are having with that. Another wall is dedicated to the children's art so that brightens up things a bit too. These things really help if you are "stuck" with white walls!

Blessings & Health,
Kristie

Fairytales and Language

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A Special Birthday Cake

Abby leave the frosting alone!

Note: For a weekly peek into our Waldorf day (including pictures of lesson plans and lessons) I invite you to join us at www.herbnhome.com for the member's BLOG :)

Last week Sunii, age 12, and I did something very special. Or, to put it more accurately, Sunii did something very special and I was his assistant! He was very specific about what I could and could not do so mostly he had me go "fetch" things - LOL - while he made his sister a three-tier birthday cake. The most amazing thing for me was that we used the same cake set that my mom and I used to use when I was 10-years-old! My mom actually had it in her basement years ago and gave it to me when I was first married. I have kept it since then but had only used it before with my eldest daughter. The pan was then lost for some time so I had to wait until Sunii was older to use it with him. My favorite quote was when Sunii said, "Make sure everyone knows I made the cake" before 12 of Sofi's friends came over for the party!

For a weekly peek into our Waldorf day (including pictures of lesson plans and lessons) I invite you to join us at www.herbnhome.com for the member's BLOG :)

March Lesson Plans 2009 Version

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A Winter Walk

We had a gift this week - a day of 60-degree weather sandwiched bewteen endless days of below-zero chilling winds and today's raging blizzard. Sofi didn't waste a minute of that day. The minute she discovered it was warm she grabbed me and said, "let's go for a walk". I had not heard those words for so long! It seemed like forever since she had said that. "Mama, let's go for a walk."

Sometimes the winters can seem like forever here - it makes me so thankful for the spring and summer! This walk was particularly magical because there was still (rapidly melting) snow on the ground, puddles of ice and snow and all sorts of wonderful things you usually don't see on a spring walk - and yet it was warm! Additionally, we were warm enough to be able to enjoy all the bare winter trees and bushes - their wonderful shapes and features. On any normal winter day we would have just rushed by them and not noticed how beautiful they were.

My favorite part was telling Sofi - "Sofi! Make sure you walk in the puddles!"
LOL. Usually we tell the kids to make sure they stay out of the puddles if they don't have boots on and we are going somewhere (Sofi and I were headed to a Mexican restaurant) but this day it was actually dangerous to stay out of the puddles because everything else was still ice. Sofi thought it was so funny that I kept saying "Sofi - be sure to walk in the puddles!"

We have been on this walk so many times, but it was never like today. I don't know if we will ever have a walk like this again. It was such a rare moment I wanted to share it with everyone.

Can a Non-Waldorf Toy Become REAL Like the Velveteen Rabbit?

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