Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Ancient History - Grade 5 Waldorf Homeschooling

We have been delving into the Ancient History blocks this year for homeschooling.  Grade 5 is rich with stories, mythology, geography, food and festivals from ancient cultures. We love reading stories from EarthschoolingStory of the World and other wonderful books.

Wilson is creating a main lesson book featuring the deities from each part of the world that he studies. He chooses two gods/goddesses, learns about them, and adds a simple poem to his drawings. Here are some samples from Egypt, Babylonia, and India.




Monday, November 17, 2014

Needlefelted Tapestry - Autumn Song

Jennifer had the pleasure of attending a felted fairytale tapestry workshop at Davis Waldorf School, taught by the wonderful Suzanne Down of Juniper Tree Puppets.  Jennifer decided to choose a scene that represents elements of a new pentatonic song that Rick wrote for his first graders.  Song words, below (and an audio clip coming, soon!).

 Inspiration from Suzanne included looking at felted scenes and also postcards of felted scenes.



After many layers and some extra work at home, the scene is finally finished!

Red, Orange, Yellow, Brown
Music and Lyrics by Rick Tan

Red, orange, yellow, brown
Leaves are tumbling down, down
Trees branches cold and bare
Signs of Autumn here and there, there

Summer's gone and Winter's near
Autumn season's here
Hard at work, the gnomes and fairies
Gathering acorns, seeds and berries

Apples and pumpkins it's harvest time
Scarves and mittens dear friends of mine

Red, orange, yellow, brown
Leaves are tumbling down, down
Trees branches cold and bare
Signs of Autumn here and there, there

Summer's gone and Winter's near
Autumn season's here!

Saturday, November 15, 2014

Linden's 3rd Birthday


Our baby Linden turned three in October! Seems like yesterday that she was born blissfully at home in the waterbirthing tub with family present.

We used cuttings from the yard for simple decorations.

Linden loves butterflies! We made a crown of butterflies out of plant-dyed felt and roving from Mama Judes on Etsy. Crocheted bunting was made by Jennifer, originally for our 20th anniversary celebration. The colors were perfect for the butterfly birthday!

Extended family came to celebrate.

Kids had handmade fairy bubble wands.

Kids and adults needlefelted butterflies and dragonflies.


Our oldest son and his girlfriend made a beautiful "3" cake.

Sweet Linden Faye. Crochet pattern for her top by Chez Plum. Silk Cape dyed with Logwood from Griffin Dyeworks.