sistermama gets real

Kindergarten Planning

Waldorf inspired homeschool kindergarten is so easy, most of the time I say "We're just living our little lives, people!"  We do chores, cook, walk outside, read books, paint, draw, craft, sing songs and play, play, play.  Every month I try to have a set plan for a "circle."  This usually consists of a movement game, verses, a finger play and then a few songs. I pick a few that are nature/season based, one or two that are just goofy and fun and then I have a few that are traditional.  It is important to me that we don't lose the children's rhymes and poems that are part of our cultural heritage and I'm happy that Jack and Lu can each already recite several Mother Goose rhymes.  For each month I also pick a fairy tale (usually from Grimm's) and a nature story, plus at least 5 special seasonal activities.  Add in your festivals and you have a great kindergarten year.

February has been pretty much a wash for us.  I'm feeling the winter blues heavily so I'm loading us up in the car on Friday and driving to Florida.  Thank goodness for family and friends in sunny places!

In anticipation of feeling rejuvenated when we return, I started prepping the end of February, March and April. 

February

Nature Story - Shingebiss (changing weird old racist "Chief" language, good essay about Shingebiss here)

Fairy Tale - The House that Jack Built  (obviously not really a "fairy tale" but this is easy for me to tell in the car and, with its repetition, good for Lucy at 4 years old.)

Activities - valentines, heart felt mobile, finish cardboard weaving, candle making

March

Nature Story - not sure on this yet

Fairy Tale - The Wolf and the Seven Kids

Activities - Crayon resist watercolors,  Blow painting, forcing flower bulbs, plus some Easter prep activities like felting eggs and growing grass in our easter baskets.

April

Nature Story - Demeter and Persephone from Circle Round

Fairy Tale - The Queen Bee

Activities - Not sure on these yet.  Hopefully most will be outside and chicken related!

Daily Rhythm

I like Christmas a lot, but I think this year I might love how I'm feeling right now a little bit more.   I love the empty feeling in the house when the decorations start to come down.  (Hey, we celebrate the full 12 days, so no grief on them still being up!)  I love the in between feeling of January.  I love snuggling ourselves into our house, emerging only when it is sparkly and bright outside.  I love the feeling of a fresh start. 

Tomorrow we start the second part of our school year.   All of December was a whirl of holiday prep mixed with me working an unexpected full time.  We are all so ready and eager to be back to normal.  I find that when we fall out of our daily rhythms, it affects me as much as Jack and Lucy.  The rhythm holds me as well.  It makes just about everything I do in a day easier.  The house stays cleaner, we eat better with less stress and we all definitely get along better.  I thought I'd share our daily rhythm since I love to look at other peoples'.  I've been evolving this one for the last 3 years.  The mornings are by far the hardest for me.  Jack is, and always has been, raring to go the moment his feet touch the floor by 7 o'clock.   I need time.  I would love to be able to get up before they wake, just to have a few moments to myself, but the mind meld I share with them seems to prevent that.  If I'm up, they are up.  I try to remember that it all goes by so quickly and one day this too will pass, but still, I struggle.  I don't really worry about times too much during the day, I just try to hit a few key times.  We usually eat lunch right at noon.  We eat dinner by 5:30 and in bed starting the story at 6:30, asleep by 7:00.

• Wake up, dress, I shower if it is early enough, Lucy bathes if needed.
• Breakfast, everyone cleans own dishes, wipe table, etc.
• Brush teeth
• Morning chores - I try not to get carried away here, just making beds, dishwasher, etc.  Kids help with this stuff.  I sing really loud if they aren't offering to help, and try to make what I'm doing look REALLY fun.
• Quick walk - we tend to walk more at this time in the summer.  A couple of times a week, J and L will go out back themselves now while I finish up inside.  (I LOVE having kids old enough to send outside by themselves!)
• Circle time then snack
• Morning activity (this is usually when we do our set thing for the day like baking, cleaning, painting, etc.)
• Kids go outside while I prep lunch.  If they have already been outside in the morning, they go to the playroom.
• Lunch/cleanup
• Story time - right after lunch.  Every month I tell a Grimm's fairy tale for two weeks and then a nature story for two weeks.
• Rest time - on bed with a few books allowed for 30 minutes.  Then 30 minutes of quiet play in the play room.  This gets me a break of about an hour.  I really enforce myself doing something restful during this time, no work allowed.  I usually sit on the couch and knit or read.
• Afternoon activity - this is usually something that relates to our current story - drawing, painting, modeling, acting it out with puppets, etc.
• Outside play - If we haven't walked in the morning, we all go out now.  If we have all been out together once, the kids go out and I work on something inside.
• When they come back in, we sit on the couch and read a few books together.
• Dinner prep - kids either help me prep dinner or get to have one of the toys saved on top of the fridge just for this time.
• Dinner/cleanup
• PJs on, etc.
• Story, fluting, bed!

January Circle

I just put together my January Circle, so I figured I would share it.  Keeping with my good enough goal for the year, I planned it based all on songs/verses I already knew. We usually do a brief circle time in the morning, after we have finished our morning chores.  Most of the time "circle" works for us, but on occasion Jack and Lucy go through periods of intense goofiness that just doesn't mesh with a circle of only three people.  When circle time isn't working for us, I just weave the songs and finger plays through the day.  Car rides are also a great time to fit in some circle time activities.

When it is time for circle, I grab a few instruments (usually shakers of some kind) and start marching through the house with them singing the following song.

Circle Calling Song
It's circle time, it's circle time
Come on let's make a circle
It's circle time, its circle time
What will we do today.
Shake them high.
Shake them low.
Shake the all around.
Then put them away without a sound.

We'll still be standing up when we do this next activity.  I have a really large hula hoop and I lay it in the middle of the floor when we do songs/chants that have us marching in a circle.  It makes the circle shape a little easier to achieve when there are only three of us.

Mark Your Steps
Mark your steps
With your feet
On the white snow
Little holes
Big holes
Look where you go

Mark your steps
With your feet
On the white snow
Tiptoe, tiptoe (or hop, walk backwards, gallop, etc.)
Look where you go

The next one I originally made up for leaves, but snowflakes work just as well.  It is sung to a dreamy made up tune.  After we slowly whirl and twirl we will gently fall to the ground and end up in a seated position for the next verse.

Snowflakes
Snowflakes are twirling
Snowflakes are whirling
All around, all around
They are falling softly
Very, very softly
To the ground

The following is originally a finger play, but we use it for hand clapping or tossing bean bags.  We usually do it a few times in a row.  The first with clapping our own knees and then our own hands, the clapping with another person, then tossing the bean bag.

The Snowman
A chubby little snowman with a carrot nose
Along came a rabbit and what do you suppose
That hungry little bunny, looking for her lunch
Ate the snowman's nose
Nibble, nibble, crunch

I always try to include one oldie but goody that I remember from my childhood.  It is really important to me that our children not lose their rich heritage of nursery rhymes.  This is a finger play and it starts out with your fists together in front of you with the thumbs sticking up (to make Jack and Jill).  Each thumb flies away behind your back and then comes out again.

Two Little Blackbirds
Two little blackbirds
Sitting on a hill
One named Jack and one named Jill
Fly away Jack
Fly away Jill
Come back Jack
Come back Jill

We love this next song.  Our favorite recorded version of it is on Elizabeth Mitchell's You Are My Little Bird. 

The North Wind
The North wind doth blow
And we shall have snow
And what will poor robin to then?
He'll sit in the barn
To keep himself warm
And hide his head under his wing
Poor thing, poor thing

We always close our circle with the next song.   We clap on the together part and gesture on the friends parts.

The more we get together, together, together
The more we get together, the happier we'll be.
For your friends are my friends and my friends are your friends
The more we get together, the happier we'll be. 
(J and L also like to substitute sillier for happier)

BTW, my camera has been disappeared but I'm cleaning tomorrow so hopefully I'll get some pics up at some point.