Delphiniums (blue)

The Dormouse and the Doctor

There once was a Dormouse who lived in a bed
Of delphiniums (blue) and geraniums (red)
And all the day long he'd a wonderful view
Of geraniums (red) and delphiniums (blue).

A Doctor came hurrying round, and he said:
"Tut-tut, I am sorry to find you in bed.
Just say 'Ninety-nine' while I look at your chest....
Don't you find that chrysanthemums answer the best?"

The Dormouse looked round at the view and replied
(When he'd said "Ninety-Nine") that he'd tried and he'd tried,
And much the most answering things that he knew
Were geraniums (red) and delphiniums (blue).

The Doctor stood frowning and shaking his head,
And he took up his shiny silk hat as he said:
"What the patient requires is a change," and he went
To see some chrysanthemum people in Kent.

The Dormouse lay there, and he gazed at the view
 Of geraniums (red) and delphiniums (blue),
And he knew there was nothing he wanted instead
Of delphiniums (blue) and geraniums (red).

The Doctor came back and, to show what he meant,
He had brought some chrysanthemum cuttings from Kent.
"Now these," he remarked, "give a much better view
Than geraniums (red) and delphiniums (blue)."

They took out their spades and they dug up the bed
Of delphiniums (blue) and geraniums (red)
And they planted chrysanthemums (yellow and white).
"And now," said the Doctor, "we'll soon have you right."

The Dormouse looked out, and he said with a sigh:
"I suppose all these people know better than I.
It was silly, perhaps, but I did like the view
Of geraniums (red) and delphiniums (blue).

The Doctor came round and examined his chest,
And ordered him Nourishment, Tonics, and Rest.
"How very effective," he said as he shook
The thermometer, "all these chrysanthemums look!"

The Dormouse turned over to shut out the sight
Of the endless chrysanthemums (yellow and white)
"How lovely," he thought, "to be back in a bed
Of delphiniums (blue) and geraniums (red)."

The Doctor said, "Tut! It's another attack!"
And ordered him Milk and Massage-of-the-back,
And Freedom-from-worry and Drives-in-a-car,"
And murmured, "How sweet your chrysanthemums are!"

The Dormouse lay there with his paws to his eyes,
And imagined himself such a pleasant surprise:
"I'll pretend the chrysanthemums turn to a bed
Of delphiniums (blue) and geraniums (red)!"

The Doctor next morning was rubbing his hands,
And saying, "There's nobody quite understands
These cases as I do! The cure has begun!
How fresh the chrysanthemums look in the sun!"

The Dormouse lay happy, his eyes were so tight
He could see no chrysanthemums, yellow or white.
And all that he felt at the back of his head
Were delphiniums (blue) and geraniums (red).

And that is the reason (Aunt Emily said)
If a Dormouse gets in a chrysanthemum bed,
You will find (so Aunt Emily says) that he lies
Fast asleep on his front with his paws to his eyes.

-A.A. Milne

Books Through the Seasons

I recently framed these pages from the book Chicken Soup With Rice by Maurice Sendak, which got me thinking that it might be fun to follow up my post about spring books with one about books that cover all the seasons. This is one of our favorites (seriously, can you tell I love it? We don't even eat chicken!) for reading at the start of each month. Our original paperback copy was falling apart, so when I found a hardcover in nice condition, I grabbed it. Of course, it has taken me months to get a frame, but I think it turned out well. I love the illustrations, and I thought it would be nice to have each poem on display during its month.

Here are some of our favorite seasonal books that we keep on the bookshelves all the time. Some, like Chicken Soup With Rice and A Time to Keep, we read from at the beginning of each month. Some, like The Barefoot Book of Blessings, A Child's Calendar, and A Child's Garden of Verses, I use as sources for seasonal poems (as well as poems and blessings that fit in with our daily routines). Linnea's Almanac is a fairly recent addition to our library, but is I think it is going to be a great resource. The rest are just good stories that go through the seasons. Maxine is particularly enamored with The Flower Fairies Changing Seasons. I always thought the Flower Fairies books were commercial and gimmicky, but I kept seeing the alphabet book referenced on Waldorf blogs, so I finally checked them out and they're quite lovely (although this one has tabs you pull to change the pictures, so it is a little gimmicky). 

From left to right:

1. Listen, Listen by Phillis Gershator

2. A Child's Calendar by John Updike

3. The Barefoot Book of Blessings by Sabrina Dearborn

4. A Time to Keep by Tasha Tudor

5. Chicken Soup with Rice by Maurice Sendak

6. The Story of the Root Children by Sibylle Von Olfers

7. A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson

8. The Flower Fairies Changing Seasons by Cicely Mary Barker

9. Linnea's Almanac by Cristina Bjork

10. Children of the Forest by Elsa Beskow

11. Stories Around the Year by Thornton Burgess (this one is not pictured, but I wanted to include it because it's one of Max's favorites right now--which probably explains why I couldn't find it. It looks like it might be out of print, but can be found used fairly inexpensively).

Friday Painting

Red + yellow = happy.

Spring Reads

We have far too many books, so it is necessary to rotate them from time to time to keep the girls from getting bored and/or overwhelmed with the selection. Besides, who wants to read The Grinch who Stole Christmas in July, or Peter in Blueberry Land when it's snowing? I feel like some rotating is probably necessary no matter how many books you have.

Our book rotation system goes something like this: we have three big plastic bins we keep in the basement (that's not entirely true. We have a lot more than three--that's just how many we have that are full of books), and whenever the seasons change, we bring out the books for that season and pack away the books from the season before. This still leaves us with too many books in our book room at any time, but the girls largely ignore what's on the bookshelves which makes it easy to rotate within the seasons as well. I have two file holders that I use to display books facing out. I like to display some of their favorite books along with some "new" ones I think they might enjoy. I'd like to find something a little less industrial looking sometime, but these work fine for now.

In addition to all things Wonder Woman (except when those things are Wonder Girl, Wonder Tot, or The Cheetah, of course), here are some of the books Lissie has been enjoying lately. The Starry Bird and Eggs for the Hunting are both technically Easter books, but we got a late start on the second one and are still enjoying it (Easter or not, I say you can never go wrong with Tiptoes Lightly. And even though Maxine is a bit young for these, she has much affection for Jeremy Mouse). Miss Rumphius is one of my all time favorite books, but for some reason, we only have one other book by that author. Raggedy Ann is more age appropriate for Lissie, but almost always read while sitting between two girls, each cuddling her own Raggedy Ann doll (one large and handmade by my grandmother, the other small and mass produced; both equally loved and disheveled).

From left to right:

1. The Starry Bird by Reg Down
2. Eggs for the Hunting by Reg Down
3. Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey
4. Fancy Nancy Explorer Extraordinaire! by Jane O'Connor
5. Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney
6. Flower Fairies of the Spring by Cicely Mary Barker
7. The Faerie's Gift by Tanya Robyn Batt
8. Raggedy Ann Stories by Johnny Gruelle
9. The Snail's Spell by Joanne Ryder
10. Listen to the Farm by Mrs. Silas Bowman (this last is very short, and Maxine enjoys having it read to her. By Lissie, who recently started reading all on her own.)

Maxine is currently loving Knock at the Door and Baby Animals by Kay Chorao. The first one is a great resource for simple finger plays (which Lissie really enjoys doing). The Princess in the Forest and The Sun Egg have been in constant rotation since the girls got them for Christmas. Starlight Sailor, Little Fur Family (Ariana's old copy! I can't believe we still have it) and There and Back Again, are all recently discovered favorites. The last one was grabbed from the free bin at a thrift store by one of the girls a while ago. I wasn't at all familiar with it, but it's a cute story about a toy rabbit, and I love the illustrations.

From left to right:

1. Knock at the Door by Kay Choraro
2. The Princess in the Forest by Sibylle Von Olfers
3. A Day in the Forest by Honey Bear Productions
4. There and Back Again by Harold Jones
5. Baby Animals by Kay Choraro
6. The Golden Egg Book by Margaret Wise Brown
7. The Sun Egg by Elsa Beskow
8. Starlight Sailor by James Mayhew
9. Good-night Owl! by Pat Hutchins
10. Never Say Boo to a Goose! by Jakki Wood
11. Spring by Gerda Muller
12. Little Fur Family by Margaret Wise Brown (not pictured is Goodnight Moon, which we have read almost every night since Maxine was old enough to express an opinion for a particular bedtime story. Runaway Bunny, however, is not nearly as popular around our house.)

Some of these are out of print, but available used for a few dollars on Amazon (or elsewhere, I am sure). The only exception would be A Day in the Forest which is, bizarrely, listed at $384.24 on Amazon. It's a fine book, but hardly worth that! I'd wait and see if it comes down $380 or so.

What about you? Do you rotate books? What are some of your spring favorites?

Beeswax: A Retrospective

I know I have been very lax in school related posting lately, but rest assured, we have been doing school related activities! I think I have mentioned before that a big part of what drew me to the Waldorf teaching style is the art. One thing the girls look forward to very much is our Monday circle time when we do a little beeswax sculpture to go along with the story for that week.

I didn't plan it so each item we've made so far used a different color, but it worked out that way. Maybe because that's just how things happen sometimes, or maybe because that's just how things happen when it's always 9:45 Monday morning and you are standing in the craft room frantically trying to think of a simple clay sculpture to go with that week's story before the girls start fighting over who sits where and you lose the whole peaceful circle time vibe, and you are faced with a box of neat rectangles of clay or a plastic bag full of prior weeks' projects. At any rate, we've cycled through all the colors now, and I thought it would be fun to do a post about the things we've made before I reshape them all so they can be reused.

First were the balls moons, of course. These went along with the story "Harvest Moon Magic" by Suzanne Down.

Then, the week of the autumn equinox, we made pomegranates to go with the story of Demeter and Persephone.  

Then we read "Michaelmas Story of the Star Children" by Corinne Batzell. I printed it out from somewhere, but I can't seem to find it again. It's a great story though, and if you aren't as lazy as me, you could probably spend ten seconds Googling it. We made sprouts to go with the story. They're kind of springish, but the tube shape was a nice change from what we'd been doing.  

Next, we made leaves to go with the story "The Elder Brother" from here.  

I guess we lost a stem from one of our leaves.  I can't find the other picture I took before I threw these in a plastic bag and jumbled them around the craft bin though, so this one will have to do.

For Martinmas, we made flames. They look a lot like the sprouts, actually, except yellow. This was the Monday I forgot to get out the wax, and after the girls sat down, Max kept saying "day, day, day, no day" with a sullen look on her face. I had no idea what she was talking about until Lissie said "Oh, I know, you forgot the clay!" I find it interesting how quickly Maxine adapted to the weekly rhythm.  

Our story that week was "Saint Martin's Light" by Reg Down, who has kindly made a number of his stories available for download on his site. It's a wonderful resource and a great way to sample his work if your local library doesn't carry his books (as ours doesn't) and you are on a budget (like we are). This was actually my first introduction to his stories, but I loved everything I read, so I "liked" Tiptoes Lightly on Facebook and then won a copy of The Cricket and The Shepherd Boy in a giveaway that he did. How cool is that? Reg Down seems like a really nice guy too, which makes me want to buy all of the rest of his books immediately, but alas, that budget! We are building our collection slowly though.  

And for our last project, I thought we'd branch (hah!) out a bit from the tube shape. Lissie and I made trees (Maxine made a tree stump), which went along nicely with the story "Autumn Bear" by Suzanne Down.  

In Feingold related news, I recently learned about a product called Gloves in a Bottle which prevents things from being absorbed into the skin. I can't wait to try it out with Lissie. I am hoping it will allow her to use markers, beeswax crayons and paint again (although she has been doing well with her Artemis watercolors). I haven't decided yet if we'll try the Stockmar modeling beeswax, or stick with Artemis if the "gloves" work. Maybe we'll use a combination of both.  I do like the muted colors and variations in the kind we've been using, but I have a feeling the girls would enjoy the brighter Stockmar colors too.

Ribbon Streamers

This week we're reading "How Witchamaroo Became the Pocket Witch" from Autumn Tales. I was planning to make pocket witches for our craft today, but I realized early on that it wasn't happening.

Instead, we made ribbon streamers. I may make pocket witches for the girls for their "Halloween Fairy" baskets. You might be wondering what is a pocket witch? Yes, so am I. That was part of the problem today; I probably could have planned a little better.

For our ribbon streamers, we used ribbon and these cool wooden circles I found at Michael's. I can't remember what they are called, but they had a strange name and were with the knitting supplies. I think they were cheap. Actually, who am I kidding?  I bought them, so they must have been cheap.

I had visions of lovely reds and golds, and some vague idea of the girls dancing and pretending the ribbons were autumn leaves swirling around in the breeze. But then reality set in and I was at the dollar store with two kids, so we ended up with pink, lavender, mint, pink and lavender.

These were very easy to make. I got the idea from somewhere a while ago, but I can't remember where.  It seems like they might have used small grapevine wreaths, which would certainly work well too, if you can't find round wooden things in the knitting section of your Michael's. We measured a piece of ribbon from each girl's shoulders to the floor, and then doubled it--you can go a little longer, but you don't want them too long, or they'll be a tripping hazard. We did some a little shorter too, so the streamers would be different lengths.

Then, you knot the ribbon around the wood, somewhere near the middle of the piece of ribbon.

Repeat.

Repeat again:

We ended up with three ribbons on each one. I was thinking we'd do more, but three is a good amount.

And now for the action shots:

Wait, I don't have any action shots. The girls only danced with them for about ten seconds (to Willie Nelson's Rainbow Connection CD, if you were wondering) before declaring them "airplanes"and and throwing them at each other. I made them stop throwing, and that's when Lissie started using hers as a whip.

Maybe we'll try again tomorrow.

Elisa Kleven, Where Have You Been All My Life?

I admit to being a total book snob. In our house, we tend to think that children's books from days of yore are far superior to those of today. We're much more likely to read Goodnight Moon or Where the Wild Things Are than anything to do with llamas or pigeons.

I can't say why, exactly. There is nothing that says an older book is better than a new one, or that new books aren't good. I just think that the old ones have proven themselves. They've stood the test of time, and time has weeded out the bad ones.

Don't get me wrong, we do have plenty of recent books in our collection. I am just not as apt to buy one on a whim. That's why, when I found a copy of The Paper Princess Finds Her Way at the thrift store over the weekend, I picked it up and put it back no fewer than three times. My inner dialogue went something like "ooh, butterflies." "Glossy cover, ugh." "But I like the illustrations." "Not another princess book." "It's a paper princess." I flipped through it, and for ninety-nine cents, my curiosity got the better of me.

I got it home and read it. And I loved it.

I know Waldorf is supposed to be storytelling, but I bungle them every time. So for school, I've been using printed stories and reading from my binder to avoid illustrations, because that way I can just sort of glance down and pretend I am telling a story. I decided to go ahead use a book this week though. The timing was perfect, because the end of the book has the monarch butterflies migrating south.

I am not sure whether the book would be considered Waldorf. It fits with our philosophy toward toys though; when she encounters a group of noisy, plasticy toys, they end up in awe of the little paper princess. I was impressed with her too, actually. She understood that it was better to face the unknown than to stick around in a familiar situation you're not happy with.

So we read it today, and Lissie loved it too. I am not sure she spoke once through the entire book, and that never happens. It turns out this author has written a bunch of other books, with great reviews on Amazon, and yet I have somehow never heard of her before.

I guess that's what I get for being a book snob.

Meet the Elder Brothers

Yesterday we made "elder brothers" out of felt to go with our story, "The Elder Brother".

We gathered leaves on our walk earlier in the week, and used some of them as patterns.

I cut the leaves out ahead of time. I debated whether to have Lissie do some herself, but am glad I decided not to. She could have done it, but the felt was really fiddly to cut through and even with the leaves cut out, these took a long time to put together.

Loopy

Today was craft day.

Lissie seems to be reacting to something (Maxine too), but we aren't sure what. The only thing different is the new art supplies, and since we had some issues last week too, we're thinking one (or more) of them is the culprit. If you're not sure why that is a big deal, you may want to read this post: The Feingold Diet: One Year Later, part 1

Despite that, we managed to stick to routine and do a craft.

We started with these:

Fairies in the Ring

(a spontaneous poem, as spoken by Lissie)

The fairies dance in the moonlight
They give you wishes in the shine of the moon
Their silver cloaks show in the moonlight
The moon is guided into the fairy ring
The children sleep inside their beds, safe from harm
and giants, and monsters
The fairies dance until it's dawn
The day starts up, the fairies disappear
The fairies are in Fairy Land
Safe from harm in their fairy beds.

The Scene of the Crime

Don't be alarmed, it's only paint.

Rabbit vs. Turtle

This week we added something new to our school routine. I found this great curriculum by Stress Free Kids which helps kids learn how to reduce stress, anxiety and anger by using visualization and relaxation techniques.

Harvest Moon Magic

Last night was the Harvest Moon. The Harvest Moon is the name of the full moon that occurs closest to the Autumnal Equinox. Most years, the Harvest Moon comes in September, but every third year it comes in October. It is called the Harvest Moon, because on these nights it is bright enough that the farmers can work late to bring in the harvest.

This week, to celebrate the Harvest Moon, we are using a story from Suzanne Down's wonderful book Autumn Tales. Autumn Tales is a collection of short autumn themed stories and poems for young children. Since I didn't have any moon related stories in mind for this week, I was excited to see that this book contained the perfect story: "Harvest Moon Magic". While flipping through the book, I noticed a cute story called "Harvest Moon Magic". I had no idea what the Harvest Moon was, so I googled it.  Apparently God loves fools and unprepared mothers, because the Harvest Moon was that very night. Ooh, did you totally feel a shiver when you read that? 

Today while we read our story during circle time, we used beeswax modelling clay to make moons. Aside from complimenting the theme of the story, I thought that a simple round ball would be an ideal first sculpture, because what could be easier than making a ball? Except you can't just say you're making a ball, because that would be so "mo-om, I've already done that a million times before" boring. Not moons though. Moons are fun to make.

Tonight we'll stay up late and look at the real moon. I know, yes, the Harvest Moon was technically last night, but this is close enough. It's not like we're bringing in the harvest. And even if we were, we'd have plenty of light from the streetlamps in front of our house.

(moon photo - jason.kaechler)

Yellow (sort of)

I think I mixed the paint too thin. Way too thin. I was trying to make three different shades of yellow, but it was more like one different shade of urine. Of course it was better smelling, but still, there was very little color left behind on the wet paper. Oh well, live and learn! The girls had fun anyway.

I don't think they fought over their painting supplies, which were as close to identical as I could get them, even one time. Amazing. Did I mention that in addition to excessively diluting the paint, I forgot all about the story to introduce the color and the contemplative music? So we skipped the story and listened to the Beatles sing about sun and submarines.

See what I mean about the color barely showing up? This was before Max poured half her rinse water out while trying to remove the sponge she stuck in the jar.

Ah yes, the sponges. Definitely the star accessory today. And the snowman dress. Because nothing says "back to school" like snowmen. Nothing.

Art Supplies!

We got our lovely, lovely art supplies from Mercurius today. The girls were so excited. I am glad they got here today so I have some time to read up on the wet-on-wet watercolor technique we'll be using tomorrow. It's probably one of those things that will be really simple once I do it, but seems overwhelming from the descriptions. You know, like, when you are dreading something and so you keep putting it off and putting it off and then you finally have to do it and it takes two seconds and leaves you wondering why you put it off and stressed about it for such a long time? Unless it's something I think will be a breeze, because those things never are. I always say there must be some sort of cosmic inverse ratio to how difficult or easy you think something will be to how easy or difficult it actually is.

The crayons and main lesson books are very nice. I knew the crayons would be, because we've had them before. The crayons are by Stockmar and are on the expensive side, but it's a case of getting what you pay for. The colors are vivid, but translucent, and the wax is blendable. Another nice thing is that they are made with beeswax instead of the petroleum that is used in most crayons. I got the largest size of main lesson books, in purple (as requested!) and they are quite substantial. For some reason I was expecting something flimsier. They are very large, too. I can't remember the exact dimensions (in fact, it's possible that I may not have even been aware of the actual dimensions when I ordered, due to them being listed on the site in cm. though if asked would swear that I do know the difference between inches and centimeters).

For the modeling wax and the watercolor paints, I chose the Artemis plant colors over Stockmar. The Stockmar wax and paints are non-toxic, but I was unable to find any information on the specific colorants used. I suspect they are FD&C colors, which may be non-toxic to most people, but are a big problem for my sensitive kids--whether ingested or absorbed through the skin. The plant colors were about twice as much as Stockmar, unfortunately, but worth it to not have to make Lissie paint in gloves and be constantly monitoring her. She loves making art and we're really hoping these will be a good solution for her.

Good and Bad Children

This marks our first week of officially home schooling, and so far things are going smoothly--yes, for the ENTIRE THREE DAYS we've been doing it now. We started a week earlier than I originally planned, because Lissie was impatient and I thought it would be fine to do a light week to get ourselves started with our new rhythms. Our "story" this week is a poem, "Good and Bad Children" by Robert Louis Stevenson. I am not sure where the Waldorf community stands on his works, but I love them and so I am using them. I have always said we are only Waldorf inspired anyway.

Circle time is something new to us, and with a just-turned-6-year-old and a not-quite-2-year-old, I like to keep it short and simple. We start with a poem from the excellent book Seven Times the Sun by Shea Darian, then move on to our story. After the story, if I still have the girls' attention, we do a finger play. This week we are doing Open, Shut Them.

Today seemed like a good day for a craft, so I think we'll make Wednesday our craft day and we'll start a new craft each week. This week, Lissie "sewed" together a cardstock picture of a house. I am not sure how this ties into the Waldorf philosophy of doing real work (although it's certainly not a fake picture!), but as she used a real needle and real thread and it was her first sewing project, I am fine with it.  I thought it would be a cute picture to hang in her bedroom too, but she was, for some reason, emphatically against the idea.

Tomorrow would be our coloring day, but we are still waiting for our beeswax crayons to arrive. I do have an old set, but it's the original Stockmar color assortment. I wanted to get the Waldorf assortment for school, and it's always nice to have fresh, new supplies at the beginning of the school year.