Category Archives: 3rd grade

Healing Herb Garden

Posted on April 23, 2012 | 2 Comments

Ishaan is, at the moment, very interested in learning about medicinal and edible herbs and plants. The other day he went out into the small woods behind our house and came back with a bag of what looked to me like grass, weeds, and dirt. He told me he had collected edible plants and asked if he could cook them up for his breakfast. Now, I must admit that I was a little bit distracted and just said sure. I realize that I probably should have investigated a little bit more, but really what do I know about edible plants. He has learned a lot in his wilderness class so I trusted him. He sautéed them in butter and sat down to a plate of who knows what for breakfast.

One of the things I love about homeschooling is that we can take these interests and ideas that the kids have and totally run with them.  It also works out very nicely because we are currently in the middle of his Farming and Gardening Block. I love it when things work out like that!

In our back yard we had a row of huge peonies. I love peonies, but we have them in the front of the house too and I’ve been wanting to do something else with that space in the back so we decided to turn it into a healing herb garden. I checked out a few books from the library and we did a little bit of research. The book I ended up liking most and getting the bulk of our information is called The Medicinal Herb Garden: How to Grow and Use your Own Medicinal Herbs by Anne McIntyre.  We looked through it for ideas and then decided to narrow it down to about 6 types of plants. We thought about what ailments we wanted to make remedies for and chose plants based on that. We are going to grow Echinacea, Feverfew, Marshmallow, Lemon Balm, Stinging Nettle, Calendula and a whole bunch of cooking herbs. We’ve got plenty of Plantain growing in the grass in the summer.

I had Ishaan look up each plant and write down what it is used for and draw a picture of it in his garden journal. We dug out the peonies and gave them away to several different friends. We certainly didn’t want to throw them out, so it is nice to know that they will be making other people’s gardens beautiful.

We weeded that area and sectioned it off using bricks from our chimney that were removed when it was rebuilt after the trees landed on the house. Now we have to spread some compost and natural fertilizer on it and it will be ready for planting.We ordered seeds from Bountiful Gardens and High Mowing.

The Bountiful Garden seeds came a couple of days ago and today we will plant them in small pots inside and them transplant them once they are a couple of inches tall.  Some of them we can sow directly in the ground, but I don’t like doing that because when they first come up they all look the same to me and look just like the weeds, so I’m afraid I will pull them out while on one of my weeding rampages.

While they are starting to grow we will research how to use them properly. Some, like plantain and nettle, you just mash up and apply directly to the skin. Some, like lemon balm are used to make tea, and others require more of a process to extract the good stuff so I’ve got a lot of learning to do.

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Posted in 3rd grade, family life, Gardening, Homeschooling, Kids, waldorf homeschooling

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Mondays revisited

Posted on April 3, 2012 | 1 Comment

You might remember my post a few weeks ago with a desperate plea for suggestions on how to make our Monday school days less painful, and even a little bit fun! Thank you to all of you who responded with great ideas. My hope is that this blog isn’t simply a way for me to post pictures of my kids and “our perfect life”, but to be part of a supportive community that shares ideas, so thank you!

Last Monday I was sort of off the hook because it was Ila’s birthday and we had a day off school.  Yesterday was my first Monday with my new approach. I have decided to not even attempt to sit down at the table for school first thing.  I asked that the kids be completely ready: dressed, breakfasted, beds made and rooms tidied, and chores done by the time I got home at 8:30.  To my surprise they were actually ready so I took them out to Five Rivers Nature Center. We go there often so it is a place they are all very familiar with.

It was chilly and I wanted all the kids, including Kairav to walk the whole time, so we chose the short 1/2 mile Beaver Trail, which is loop around a pond, and then headed into the education center to watch the birds and look at the owl and the turtles.

We headed home around 10:00 to start the “school” day. I had laid out all of their materials before we left so the transition would be smooth. They had a quick snack  and got down to work with no complaining.

I think the fresh air and running around was a great way for everyone, myself included, to start the week.  We had a great Monday which I think will set us up for a good school week. The kids are excited to have a good week and keep reminding each other about staying focused so that I don’t yell. Even the little ones amused themselves and stayed (mostly) out of trouble.

In addition to starting the morning differently, I also spent about 1.5 hours at the library on Sunday afternoon laying out the whole week. If I start the week off with a solid, yet flexible, plan everything goes much better. I know exactly what I want to cover and have realistic expectations of the kids.  I decided to have a week of some inside reading and writing work, but a lot of outside hands on stuff.  The kids haven’t had a break week since Christmas, and I think we are all feeling a little bit burned out and ready for a break- which comes next week!

So this week we started the farming and gardening block with both Ishaan and Ulka. Ishaan will do a more detailed study of seed development, plant and flower structures, and pollination and both kids will keep a gardening journal and help with the planning and preparing of the garden. We started some seeds inside yesterday. Today we will turn the compost and start getting the garden ready for planting the greens and peas.

I am hopeful that this new way of entering into the school week will continue to work well for us. I feel bad that it took me so long to recognize that Monday mornings were a problem, but at least now I know and we can try to fix it.

Happy Spring to all of you.  Go plant a garden- in your yard, on your fire escape, on your window sill- where ever you can!

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Posted in 1st grade, 3rd grade, family life, Gardening, Homeschooling, Kids, Me

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The trouble with Monday

Posted on March 19, 2012 | 2 Comments

Today was a rough school day. It was a very rough school day. It started badly, with me frustrated and yelling and only got worse.

Ila was being difficult and annoying, Kairav was being clingy and annoying, Ulka was being obstinate and annoying, and Ishaan was completely unmotivated and annoying. I was incredibly mean and annoying.  A rough day.

By 1:15  we had barely accomplished much more than a bit of reading and a bit of writing and a lot of yelling. I gave up and told everyone to pack up their stuff, the school day was over.  It is not unusual to be finished with lessons and work by 1:00, but we normally have a whole lot more to show for it. Today we just had a lot of hurt feelings.

I complained to Andy that I was cranky and that the kids were uninterested. I was feeling like no matter what I do I can’t seem to make school fun and exciting these days. It feels like we are plodding through work just to get it done. I was feeling like I might as well buy a pile of workbooks, circle “to do” pages everyday and leave it at that. But I know that is NOT the way I want to homeschool. One of the reasons we are homeschooling is because we want the kids to enjoy it and we want it to be fun and interesting. So when I feel like I am failing at that it all falls apart.

Then Andy calmly said “it’s Monday”. Every Monday is just like this. You need to change the way school happens on Mondays. And it suddenly dawned on me. It’s true, every Monday is like this, especially if it’s been a busy weekend and I haven’t done enough planning for the week.

Now my challenge is to re-think Monday morning school. Do any of you have this same Monday re-entry issue? How do you handle it? How are your Mondays different?

With the warmer spring weather quickly approaching I am considering starting the day outside, giving us all some space to get our heads in gear for the week. There is plenty of yard work to do and gardening to get started. We could also head out to the local nature preserve and take a hike. I’ve thought about walking to the library and looking at books, but I think that might be too controlled for what we need.

I’d love to hear your suggestions! Now, Monday is finally over. On to Tuesday which is bound to be better.

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Posted in 1st grade, 3rd grade, family life, Homeschooling

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Fibers Wrap Up

Posted on February 20, 2012 | Leave a comment

A couple of weeks ago we finished up our Third Grade Clothing and Fibers Block. It was one of our best blocks so far. Both Ishaan and I enjoyed it and maintained our momentum for the whole 6 weeks. I find that too often I am super gung-ho and organized at the beginning  of the block and we dive right in and get a lot done everyday. As the weeks go by my enthusiasm wanes a bit and sometimes it becomes just about getting through the material.  It can be disheartening because I really want all of our school days to be fun and exciting and full of learning. I realize that is completely unrealistic however.

These are the books I found most useful for this block. All were available at our local library.

Unraveling Fibers  by Paticia A. Keeler and Francis X. McCall, Jr.

Warm As Wool, Cool as Cotton: Natural Fibers and Fabrics and How to Work with Them by Carter Houck

Fibers by Irving and Ruth Adler

For each different fabric/fiber I had Ishaan read about the history and the process of making the fiber. He then had to write it out in his own words. This is still something he struggles with because he doesn’t like writing, but he is improving all the time. Once the tedious part of writing it all out was done, he got to do a hands on fun project.

We started with leather and I did a long post about our leather moccasin project. 

Next we learned about wool. We borrowed a drop spindle from a friend and Ishaan had a go at spinning pre-made wool roving into yarn. We have a sheep fleece that we skirted and washed, but it isn’t carded yet. I wanted to get some carders and make our own rolags, but carders are not in the budget right now so that will have to wait. It’s ok though because then we will have something new to do with Ulka in a couple of years.

After wool we went onto linen. Coming up with a linen project was a little more difficult. My friend suggested a simple embroidery project. I found white linen napkin so he is embroidering a little heart design on it to give away as a gift.

Finally we learned all about silk. I knew the least about how silk is made so it was really interesting for me. Last October I got a silkworm cocoon at the Sheep and Wool Festival in Rhinebeck. We boiled it to see how the fibers unravel. The silk fibers are so very thin and delicate that we didn’t have a lot of success unraveling a very long length, but it was still pretty neat. Once we got sick of pulling apart the fibers we cut open the cocoon to see the dead silk worm inside. Ishaan wanted to eat it, but I convinced him that was probably not a great idea.

dead silkworm

After a week of block crayon drawing as a little breather we are starting our much-anticipated Native American History and Folktales Block. Ishaan is very much looking forward to it and I have some fun ideas planned so hopefully it will go well.

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Clothing and Fibers Block- Leather Moccasins

Posted on January 24, 2012 | 2 Comments
The fibers and clothing block that Ishaan and I are working on is by far my favorite so far. It probably has a lot to do with how much I love making things and exploring new fibers and fabrics. The fact that we took a much needed long Christmas break must also play into it. Although it took a week to get out routine back, we came back to school refreshed and excited. Ishaan also enjoys making things so this is a perfect hands on block.

We’ve decided to study leather, flax/linen, wool, cotton and silk. In addition to learning about each fiber and how they are made, we also plan to do a “making” project for each of them. The first one we have completed is a pair of leather moccasins. We looked at many pattern and kits online but ended up choosing a pair of one-peice soft sole moccassins which we found the instructions for on a website called Native American Technology and Art. It is a great site which I am sure we will refer back to when we do our Native American block this spring.

Above is an example of the instructions that we followed. I traced around Ishaan’s feet and then measured and drew out all those complicated looking lines. Really they are not complicated once you read the instructions all the way through.

making the paper pattern

paper pattern

After we made and cut out the paper pattern, we made a mock up out of a piece of scrap fabric. I HIGHLY recommend that you do this as we had to make some adjustments to make the pattern work. We added about 1/2″ to the width of the flaps to make them a little bit longer when folded down. We also had to add a bit to the length and make them a bit narrower across the foot. The photo show the mock up just pinned, but I had Ishaan sew it up to practice his stitching. Also, it gave him something to do while he waited for his leather needle to arrive.

mock up out of scrap fabric

Once we were happy with our pattern adjustments, Ishaan traced the pattern onto his piece of suede and cut it out.

cutting the leather

cutting leather

tool to mark the holes or stitches
We didn’t end up using this nifty little tool. I think it is for softer, thinner leather and couldn’t make a deep enough mark with it. I just marked the leather with a sharpie every 3/16″. We also did not end up using the glovers needle I got.  I could barely get it through one layer of leather and I knew that Ishaan trying to force it through two layers would likely end in disaster. I just punched the holes with a leather punch that my mom had left over from her den-mother days. It made the sewing for Ishaan much easier and he just used thick waxed thread and a darning needle.

Leather punch

sewing up the moccasin

 Ishaan sewed up the moccasin almost entirely on his own. According to the instructions he used a whip stitch from the underneath to about the end where the big toe would end. He did the rest using a running stitch so he could gather the stitches giving a puckering effect. He did a similar thing in the back. The tab in the back was a bit tricky and I helped a lot with that.

finished!

boy in moccasins

It was a super fun and less complicated than i originally throughout project for the clothing and fibers block. Ishaan is proud of himself  and pleased as punch with his new moccasins!

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Posted in 3rd grade, Crafting, Homeschooling, Kids, Sewing, waldorf homeschooling

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A (new) New Year

Posted on January 9, 2012 | Leave a comment

I look forward to a new year with eager anticipation. A new leaf, a fresh start, a new beginning- it all seems so hopeful to me. All the bad behaviors and habits from the past year somehow get erased, we get to go back to go. But this year didn’t start off like that for me, and  maybe I am finally catching on and realizing that it is idealistic and unrealistic to think that miraculously, overnight everything is going to be new and different and somehow better. The kids still misbehave, I still yell too much, the house still gets messy, and I still love sweets.

We took a long break from school and I was excited about starting new blocks with both the kids. I had planned out what I thought were fun and exciting projects for both Ishaan and Ulka. I was looking forward to getting back into a routine and rhythm of school, chores, and activities. Boy, what a rude wake up call I got- the first week of school kicked my butt.  Everyday felt like a battle between me and the kids, and they won EVERY SINGLE time. But wait, there is a small army of them and only one of me. I guess I should be thankful that at least they were teaming up and coming together in their quest to wear me down, but 4 against 1 seems unfair.  Fortunately on Friday we went over to our favorite family’s house for the afternoon and I could vent and have someone else around to see just how awful my kids are and stand with me in solidarity.  Instead, Sarah reminded me of how great our kids are, even on the tough days. She is right, my kids are awesome and I need to remember that every moment, even when they are making me insane.

So, I’ve decided to let myself have  new, new year. A fresh start, a new leaf but with realistic expectations of both me and the kids. Today we started a new week of school and I modified my lesson plans to make them more hands-on and hopefully more interesting. Ishaan will start his mornings as he always does- with math facts, spelling words, and main lesson work. Ulka will start her morning with math, reading, and cello practice.  In the afternoon we will catch up on things we didn’t finish in the morning and do art and handwork.

Ishaan is currently doing a Fibers and Clothing block, and for obvious reasons I am really excited about it.  There are so many opportunities for really great hands on projects.  We started with leather and Ishaan is learning about the different kinds of leather and about the tanning process.  Last week he made a knife case from a leather kit he got for Christmas, and this week we will start making a pair of leather moccasins. We don’t have a kit or a pattern for these, so it will be a much more challenging project that might take much longer than I planned, but the “new-beginnings-fresh start me” says “I’m okay with that.”

Now, off I go to plan our new, new year’s celebration. I think champagne might be  in order.  So Happy New Year everyone!

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Posted in 1st grade, 3rd grade, Homeschooling, Kids, Me

First week a success

Posted on September 18, 2011 | 2 Comments

The first week of school could not have been better.  Admittedly we only had two and a half days of ‘real’ school work and I kept my expectations pretty low, but still, we had a great week.

We started the week and the year off with a trip to Old Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts.  It is set up  like a village from the 1880′s which I thought was very nicely done and authentic feeling. The buildings are old buildings that have been transplanted from other sites. There is a potter’s studio, a blacksmith shop, a school-house, a church etc.  A couple of times a year they hold a home school day and there are workshops for the kids to do. Ish did a workshop on textiles and one on herbal remedies. Ulka did cooking and farm life. They were pretty neat classes, at least the kids seemed to enjoy them.  Andy generously offered to keep Ila and Kairav so that we could drive out with our friends Sarah, Jack and Lucy and have a day with the big kids.

This one just cracks me up

Goofy fun at the museum

Learning about training oxen

On Tuesday we jumped right into our school routine.  I was skeptical about circle time, but to my surprise everyone, including Ishaan, loves it. Kairav is hilarious to watch as he marches around trying to keep up with the finger plays and movements. Pretty cute.

Ishaan’s first big project is to make a clay oven that we will use to bake bread outside. I found the idea on this fantastic website called Pyrites.org. There are all kinds of super great ideas and some fascinating articles on the value of handwork and crafts in education. A few weeks ago  Irene took down many trees in our neighborhood (including 5 on our property 2 of which landed on our house, but that’s another story). One of the trees that came down just down the street was a large willow. The kids and I collected lots of branches to make the basket which is to be the dome part of the oven.  The basket will get covered in many layers of leaves and clay to make the clay oven.  This week we got to work on the basket.  Once we assembled the framework, which was very frustrating, the weaving went quickly and was rewarding. We used forsythia for the frame because it was straight and easier to work with and used willow for the weaving. The next step is to located some clay and to get some straw from a farmer we know.

Beginning the weaving on the framework.

The finished basket

As part of Ishaan’s math review I want him to master his times tables, so I had him make a multiplication wheel. It was a fun project for him, especially since he doesn’t love math. I think it is really pretty and we can hang it on the wall where it is easy for him to see all the multiplication tables.

Working on the multiplication wheel

Finished wheel

We spent a lot of time coloring with block crayons and doing wet on wet water-color. I want to focus on art this year with the kids. I’ve always left this to Andy since he is an actual artist and I can barely draw a stick figure, but honestly after he is finished working all day he is not really up for an art class and I’m really bad about making that happen.  So, I figured I would teach the kids and myself as well.  It’s been neat experimenting with crayon drawing and am beginning to see how those beautiful waldorfy crayon drawings are done.  We are still working on blending clouds of color, but it’s still pretty cool.  I’m using a great book  by  Sieglinde De Francesca. It’s hard to believe that her pictures are done entirely with block crayons. Check them out at Coloring with Block Crayons  if you get a chance.

watercolors

We’ve been trying to get all the lessons done in the morning and saving the afternoons for art and handwork. So far it’s been working out. Our general schedule goes something like this:

9:00 circle time

9:30-12:00 main lessons, spelling, math, and music practice

12-1:30 lunch and outside time

1:30-2:30 art and handwork

2:30 day ends.

We don’t do school on Wednesday because Ishaan has his wilderness class and on Fridays we just do a half day and save the afternoon of outings and getting together with friends. This Friday was a perfect day for apple picking- the Honeycrisps are amazing!

Ila enjoying a honeycrisp

Kairav meeting the goat.

As I said, this was a short week and everyone was fresh and excited but hopefully that excitement will carry us through for at least a few weeks while we get a rhythm.

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Posted in 1st grade, 3rd grade, Homeschooling, Kids, Summer

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School Planning

Posted on September 14, 2011 | 4 Comments

My school planning is all done, finally. It’s a good thing too since we started school this week.  I finished up on Friday, and while I am sure it will be a constant adjusting and tweaking process, the whole year is laid out. Planning school is such an overwhelming task for me.  I think this year  having to plan in 15-20 minute chunks over the whole summer was good for me. It gave me a chance to really think about ideas, mull them over, talk to people, and finally decide what I wanted to do with the children.

I went through so many different ideas and methods in my head.  Charlotte Mason inspired, Waldorf inspired, my own mish-mash of things, 4th grade or 3rd grade for Ishaan, 2nd grade or 1st grade for Ulka? So many questions to work out. In the end, I came back to what always feels right and what resonates best with the children and our family life, and that is a pretty straight up Waldorf style home school.  We all love the rhythm, pace and beauty of it. I haven’t read a ton of Steiner and sometimes I think he’s kind of wacko, but a lot of what I’ve read makes a lot of sense for us and I like how it plays out in the way we do school.

Technically Ishaan is in 4th grade and Ulka is in 2nd grade. By technically I mean that according to their age those are the grades they would be in if they went to traditional school and that is what they are registered as with the school system.  However we believe in “delayed” academics, or letting the kids be kids and just play for as long as possible, so we wait an extra year before starting “real school”.  The whole grade level thing seems arbitrary to me anyway. If I teach Ishaan about Native Americans and shelters around the world instead of Norse mythology and map making,  his year is he not learning what he should be? So in the end, Ishaan is doing 3rd grade and Ulka is doing 1st grade, for whatever that even means.

Making Math Meaningful 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For Ishaan I’ve broken down the year into 4-week blocks with a few 1 or 2-week blocks thrown in to break things up a bit. We are going to focus on Hebrew stories, Native Americans, Fibers and Textiles, Shelters and homes, and Farming and Gardening.  Math and poetry are ongoing and don’t get dedicated blocks. Our main focus will be on hands on projects done outside as much as possible and writing fluency.  This seems reasonable since the projects bit is what Ishaan loves best and is good at and the writing bit is what he hates, struggles with and needs to work on most.

Last year Ulka sat down and the table with us for a short time in the morning  and did some work, but mostly just to get into the routine and rhythm of doing school. When Ishaan first started we found the transition to school a bit difficult so I wanted Ulka to get a taste of it before she really had to. So since it is her first real school year and it is hard to know what will work best for her, Ulka’s blocks are much more loosely planned and will be solidified as we go along.  What I do know is that it will entail lots of fairy tales and animal stories including the Burgess Animal Book for Children which I love for this age. Our focus for her this year is definitely reading and she is super excited about it.

Burgess Animal Book for Children 

 

 

 

The trickiest part of school for me really, is figuring out what to do with the little guys. Kairav naps in the morning so I just have Ila to keep busy. Our afternoon session is fairly short and mostly handwork and art so it is easy for them to participate and for me to be with them. I think it will actually be easier when they are all  in school doing their own work, but that is a long time from now- and it will probably be Ishaan teaching Kairav to read!

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Posted in 1st grade, 3rd grade, Art, Homeschooling, Kids