Getty Villa, Sea World and Grandparents!

Over the course of three days, we visited Grandma and Grandpa in Southern California, Sea World, and the Getty Villa.  We also got to squeeze in visits with friends and relatives.  Quite the homeschooling field trip!

After driving 500 miles, we got to swim in the pool, identify plants in Grandma's yard...

See polar bears, penguins, fish, otters, dolphins in San Diego...

See Ancient Greek, Etruscan, Roman architecture, sculpture and more in Pacific Palisades...

Have dinner at Pepperdine University overlooking the Pacific Ocean and Malibu...

As much as we love to travel, there's no place like home!

Summer Solstice

We celebrated Summer Solstice with a family bike ride, singing, drinking "vruit", eating a Solstice salad and listening to summer poems.  The next day, we made summer crowns, solstice tea and needlefelted butterflies with friends.

Solstice Salad
Mixed greens from a biodynamic farm and veggies from our own garden (green tomatoes, parsley, mint, green onions, zucchini, chives)

Vruit
Carrots and apples, plus biodynamic kale, and beet greens, spinach and parsley from the garden, all through the juicer.  Added a bit of orange juice to each glass.

Solstice (Sun) Tea
Joey and her friends went on a hunt through the yard for the ingredients, then placed them in a clear carafe with water and left it out in the sun for a few hours.  Yummy!

Summer Crowns
Ivy, rosemary, Japanese maple, roses and wire made beautiful crowns!

Butterflies
Needlefelting leftover bits of wool from other projects created pretty wings that were slid into painted wood clothespins.

Solstice Eve (Melody and piano by Rick Tan, lyrics and flute by Jennifer Tan, 2001)
Look out to the sea
On a solstice eve
Through the ancient trees
An isle with rocky lees

Bless all the spirits
Kiss their hearts divine
Sing to the angels
Play the flutist's line

We will eat with thee
Boil the herbal tea
Thank the blessed leaf
Honor the willow reed

Bless all the spirits
Kiss their hearts divine
Sing to the devas
Play the harpist's line

Dance in circles round
Feel the energy's sound
Share your dreams and love
Dance to the moon above

Bless all the spirits
Kiss their hearts divine
Sing to the dryads
Play the drummer's line

Handwork Teleseminar at The Waldorf Connection

Jennifer will be featured in an audio/visual teleseminar, "Handwork: Planning your Year" on Thursday 6/24 at 5pm PST/8pm EST at The Waldorf Connection.

Free to hear it live or replay within 48 hours, or purchase at a later date. Free registration: http://thewaldorfconnection.com/dap/a/?a=8.

Early Summer

It's starting to feel like summer around here!

The garden is growing. Wow! Look at the pumpkins leaves.

Time for walks (and dancing!) around the neighborhood.

Hiding out under the new bridge across the creek in the back yard.

Spinning yarn on the porch.

Playing guitar and weaving outside.

Card games in the garden (look at the squash!).

Floating sailboats (available on Etsy) down the creek.

Serenading Mommy on her birthday (poem blogged here).

Watching a dove through the front door window. 
--Happy Summer!

Mystery Trip!

This year, we started a new homeschooling tradition...going on a Mystery Trip! 

Mommy plans the trip with 3 destinations.  At least 2 of them are places that none of us have been to before.  Locations are selected so that they are not far from each other, and something about them relate to what we are currently learning (in parentheses, below).

The kids are told how to dress in the morning, but not where they are going!  We have a Mystery Trip song that we sing while we drive, too.

Our first Mystery Trip included:
* Eating a snack at a European Bakery. Yum! (German, French, Spanish, Italian)

* Visit to American River College and lunch on campus.  (We like to visit college campuses and eat there!)

* A stroll through the Jensen Botanical Gardens, including the new scented herb garden for the blind.  (Botany)

Our second Mystery Trip included:


* Attending the play "Much Ado about Nothing" (Reading Shakespeare).

* A walk through the downtown Cathedral in Sacramento (Ancient Greek, architecture, geometry and rose windows).

* Visit to University Art store -- what fun! (Picked up some citrus oil for wax painting project)

We plan to continue taking Mystery Trips this summer.

Handwork Workshop

On May 29, we hosted a Handwork in the Dell workshop in Fair Oaks.  What a beautiful day!  The sun was shining as a group of lovely, creative women entered our home.


 We started out with circle time singing "My Hands are Good" to warm up.

Spinning on spindles and carding up batts was great fun! Joey helped with the niddy noddy and demonstrated the spinning wheel.

Tunisian crocheting is quicker than knitting, uses less yarn than crocheting and is easy to learn.  We even made the "knit stitch" which looks just like stockinette.  After lunch, we did some knitting and verses.

Weaving on small cardboard looms with a naalbinding wood needle gave us a good start on making a simple pouch.  We also tried out the Ashford Knitter's loom.

Our next handwork workshop is in August!  Email us if you are interested in attending, or if you want a handwork workshop near you.