We celebrated Candlemas and Groundhog's Day today! We discussed the origins of the holidays and read a verse from Earthschooling's 1st grade curriculum about Candlemas from the Middle Ages.
We sang our own song that we like to sing during circle time, "Little Candle".
Little candle burning bright
You are such a pretty sight
Show us all your shining light
Little candle burning bright
We drew candles with oil pastels.
Then, we played a round of Groundhog's Day "shadow tag" (also from Earthschooling).
12 comments:
Beautiful day. :) Shadow tag looks like fun. How do you play?
Blessings,
Val
Hi Val! You play tag, but without touching bodies. Instead, you jump onto others' shadows! It's a lot of fun and quite a workout. Also brings up great conversations about why the shadows look the way they do at that time of the day, etc.
Oh, I love your oil pastel candles-- very beautiful! My daughter is learning about the sun as part of her astronomy unit (don't you love when everything is so synchronized, LOL!) and did "shadow drawings" today where she traced the shadow of a toy at several different times of day. I'll have to tell her and her brothers about shadow tag!
Thanks, Annette! I agree that it's amazing how things synchronize with homeschooling. We've been doing astronomy, too. Our youngest did some charcoal drawings to show an eclipse (talk about shadow!). We went to the planetarium this past weekend. Then, last night, I was at my weekly Steiner study group and the book we are reading talked about the stars!
The candle drawings are beautiful. I wish I had thought of that... we had no beeswax to make candles, but we did enjoy a fire outside in the snow.
Sweet candle verse too.
Renee :)
those candles drawings are lovely. We are hoping to do some this weekend as we are belatedly celebrating Candlemas on Saturday as everyone had other commitments on Tuesday. Sounds like you had a lovely day, and I've found it full of good ideas for what we shall do too!
Love the candle drawings---and the white paper star is so pretty!
Such a lovely window star. And the shadow tag sounds fun. What a delightful day! Your family activities are very inspiring.
I am grateful for all the sharing and the work of you all and the waldorf homeschooling community online. We have 3 children one in a WAldorf school 4th grade, one kindergarten 6 years old at home and on 3.5 year old . I also teach from home Village Playgarden a cottage preschool and kindergarten. WE are contemplating taking the 4th grader out and homeschooling them all. Be we are a bit fearful that we can't match what he is getting from the school community and main lesson teacher. You are right there near the Sacramento WAldorf school. Why did you decide to home school? Did you always? Or did you start in a Waldorf school?
Thank you and Blessings on you,
Kikanza
Hello Geoff, and thank you for the nice comment! We have homeschooled and attended public schools (I was a school principal for 9 years) in the past. We cannot afford tuition at the Waldorf schools, so we elect to homeschool with a Waldorf approach.
It can seem daunting to take a child out of school and homeschool, especially when the school is wonderful! You as the parents know your child best, and I have no doubt that you will make the bet decision. There is a lot of support online if you decide to homeschool. Good luck!
Thank you for your insight. Your beautiful family seems to be really living in the bliss of the moment fully embraced.
I signed up for Waldorfconnection teleconferences, as a second language spanish speaker I am very interested in your work on teaching foreign language in the Waldorf tradition. will there be a rebroadcast? It's not quite clear on the Waldorf connection how to get the broadcast if one missed the call.
By the way I am also a student of Waldorf teachers preparation, I attend WISC Waldorf Institute of Southern California. Mostly focusing on early childhood education.
Thanks
Hi Geoff! The seminars at www.thewaldorfconnection.com are available for free up to 48 hours after the initial broadcast. After that, you may purchase the seminars for a fee. Donna runs a yahoogroup for The Waldorf Connection. If you join the yahoogroup, you will get automatic updates regarding when seminars are available. Feel free to follow our blog, Twitter (Syrendell) and Facebook page (Syrendell) for updates on all of our upcoming seminars, workshops and more. Feel free to email us at info@syrendell.com. We'd love to hear your impressions on how best to teach children, especially with your background as a second language learner and a student in WISC! :)
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