Waldorf and Montessori here

Sorry for the lack of posting this week.  It has been a weird week, and I lack time to post.

I still have not yet received my copy of the child in the family for the read along, it is coming from England, and I am starting to wonder if it is swimming to get here...
So hang on everybody, as soon as I receive it, we'll get going :)
On to our main topic!
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I was asked, a few weeks ago, by the lovely Kylie, how we mixed Waldorf and Montessori here.  Since there is quite a lot to say on the topic, I said that I would do a post on that.  So Kylie, this one is for you, and anybody else interested in knowing if Waldorf and Montessori can live together under a same roof.

My little story:
I came across Montessori a long time ago.  In fact, as a child, I was almost sent to a Montessori school, but life choose differently.  Somehow, I stayed fascinated with what I knew of this pedagogy, which was at the time, not much.

Montessori resurfaced for me (or dare I say I resurfaced to the world after my numerous years of school) after my first child was born in the form of a book, one that is still a fav of mine:  Tim Seldin's how to raise an amazing child the montessori way

While reading this, I immediately started to apply principles here, and was also amazed at how many of them were so in tune with our parenting philosophy.  So integrating Montessori here was effortless really.

A couple of years later, I came across Waldorf while researching about toy simplification.  I entered the Waldorf door through one that is commonly used: the wooden Waldorf toys.  At the time, my main source of information was the Waldorf forums at Mothering.com.  And although these moms are all, I am sure, amazing moms trying to make a difference for their children, I felt the emphasis was too much on materialism, and that threw me off.  And so, Waldorf was set aside for a while.  I came back to it while reading on nightime routine and stumbled upon Carrie's blog: the parenting passageway.  And there, I learning truly what Waldorf and what it is all about. (I love her blog, it is a great inspiration, and a wealth of wisdom!  go check it out!)

That concludes my little story :)

**

We are not a true Waldorf family, as you have noticed, and we will never be.  We have picked out what is "us" in Waldorf, and got inspired by many ideas, but we left the rest out.

Ressemblance and differences:

By Waldorfers, Montessorians are miles away from them in terms of philosophy.  In regards to antrhoposophy, that might be true.  But as far as how they see the child and how to help them grow, I have seen many resemblance actually!

Waldorfers strongly believe that the lost of the teeth is the one important factor in readiness to learn, and mark an important period in one's life.  Well, I was surprised to read that Montessori too considered the loss of tooth to be an important transition in the life of the child.  (I have come across this in the book from childhood to adolescence, first chapter).  They just have not interpreted this the same way.

Where Waldorf states that the senses should be protected, Montessori believed that they should be educated.  But isn't educating protecting them someway?  Montessori stressed that the things we give to children hould be beautiful, of good quality, made of natural material and sized for the hand that used them.  he music we have them hear should be beautiful and quality music, and she insisted that parents should sing to their children starting right at birth.

Waldorf parents believe that the first plane of development (birth to about age 7) is one of movement, the senses (balance) and doing rather then thinking.
The same principles applies to Montessori.  Movement is a staple in children houses, through their work and their activities.  They are learning to refine their movement, until the second plane of development of age 6-7 to 12.  (IN the book childhood to adolescence, Montessori really see the 7th year (between 6 and 7 year of age) as a transition year.   She speaks more of the 7-12 year span that she defines as being the thinking plane.)
DOing is also very important.  Isn't practical life learning to cook wash dishes and do handwork in the home?

Montessori do start academic before Waldorf does.  But the learning is not a thinking sort of.  It is done through the senses.  Maths with beads to manipulate, language with sand paper letters...The kids don't use their logical brain, they just learn through their senses until...7 (6 being a transition)

So again, interpretation is different, but the facts remain quite similar.
THere is only one aspect that I have not, following my reading, find any closeness to.  It is the concept of imagination.
This is where  I think Montessori truly differs from Waldorf.  Where Waldorf thinks it is best to leave the child in a dreamy state as long as possible, Montessori believes that imagination is built upon reality.  You have to know the facts before being able to imaginate, to abstract.

I believe a bit of both.  I remember loving to imagine stories, to love to create things.  But I can only remember as far as 6-7 yo, an age when both M and W thinks imagination is fine.  I think you have to go for what you believe.

I think in the end, in both cases, these philosophy put focus on the child and make them grow surrounded with beauty, love, nature and help them become truly who they are.

So how do we do it?

As I said, we incorporated what was us.

1. Rhythm

Rhythm is a life saver here.  So me, AND for my kids.

We do have a rhythm, and we feel off balanced quite fast when we don't follow it.  I think my kids love to know what to expect, and it does facilitate changes, routines  and transitions a LOT.

I also have a rhythm for me.  One that helps me keep sane with 3 kids, and helps me stay balanced and focused.  There is so many things to do in a house with 3 children, that it is easy to run into 10 different directions at the same time.  It helped me priorize my time and allow it to the most important thing: my family











2. Telling stories.

My husband comes from a very rural part of the country where telling stories is still a big thing.  So needless to say, we are trying to pass this along to our children.  I think storytelling is an art that is passed on (or not) from generation, and it needs to be continued.  Here I can say that those stories, are the stories of our extended family.  When we tell them, we tell our children about their roots.  And knowing where you came from is really important.
The type of story we tell is indeed different then what Waldorf parents tell.  For younger children, they recommend stories about animals in the yards or the day of a little fairy, stories that are low key, and that just tell what is going on.  Although we don't talk about backyard animals, we tell things that have happened in DH's village when he was younger.  They are not stories with a moral, just just tales that showed how life was going around, and that are, most of the time funny.  The kids loves them, and they get to know a lot about life 30 or so years ago, and they get to know life before them.
Again, pick what you want, or get inspired by it...


3. Celebrating the seasons and living seasonally.

I think this is something that we, as a society, need to go back to.  We need to follow the rhythm of the world, of the earth, of our day, and stop artificially making up the world as we wish it was.  Most of the people in developed countries lack sleep (because we stay up later), lack meaningful connections to the seasons (how many people cans now?- they are not required anymore, we can eat fresh raspberries in december now ) and lose precious moment of rejoicing with families around celebrations time.
We try to incorporate more celebrations to our year, because that mean we have to take TIME to enjoy them together (another thing that we all lack).

There are many celebrations we don't know anymore about because they were left aside.  We'll be incorporating even more of them this year.  It is those celebrations, those rituals that makes life special, and that (in our case) makes us go through rougher winters.  It warms our hearts and our souls when we need to, and it helps us make meaningful connection between each one of us, and with our extended families that are just too far from us.  TIme to prepare for celebration, anticipating, and finally participating as the culminating point is just a joy that we are enjoying more and more

We try to show our kids that life has a rhythm, that the earth has one too, and you are better off following it.  I cannot wait for Amanda Soule's new book on the topic btw


4. Toys

As I have mentioned before, toys was our entryway to the Waldorf world.  We have done a lot of toy simplification, and cleaned out toys that just didn't work to make place for open ended toys of good quality.  My kids, they are builders.  Give them blocks, and they will do anything with them. (well, and a couple of good trucks for my son).  My daugther, she loves dolls.  Anything doll, she really has the mommy vibe into her.  Those are the toys that gets played with daily. Every  single day.  They are meaningful toys, and my children cherish them.  They rarely are just left around, they really take care of them.  As for the rest, a new toy will work for a couple of days, and then be left out.  SO really toys are not a big thing here.  May kids rather do activities then play with toys.  They do ask us for toys some time, (i.e., they see a kid playing with something and they want it too), but we have learned that most other toys (and moslty those that are not open ended) really just get their attention for more then 1 week (the novelty period) and we usually suggest we do an activity instead, and the idea of the toy is forgotten quite quickly.

I have to admit that I am quite a minimalist also.  The amount of material needed to homeschool using Montessori always made me cringe.  I think this is the only downside I find to Montessori at home, and I have yet found a solution to it.

A Thomas the train found in our backyard

5. Nature/ movement:

wow, that really bring me down memory lane!

We try to spend loads of time outside, and move our bodies as much as we can.  Granted, this one is not difficult with a son like my oldest who NEEDS to move to remain calm.
Being outside also helps him, so we try to allow him that as much as possible, and enjoy it too.
Nature is a staple here also.














6. Fairy tales:

Most people are put off by Waldorf when it comes to grade scholing.  Kindergarden and under seems like every parent's dream, but the way education is done in Waldorf school isn't as pleasing to many.
In a society where culture is being pushed aside to leave more time for the more mainstream topics like math and language (well, that is the reality here anyways), I personally find important to tell our children about it.  And fairy tales, the ones that have been round for generations are part of that.  I want my kids to learn about the Grimm's bro, and Hans Christain Anserssen.  I want them to learn and read about greek mythology, and roman one.  I want them to learn the tales of other countries, and about Hercules, Cesar, knights about religion.
I feel many more recent fairy tales are so deprived of inner meaning, it does not make them as interesting as those older fairy tales that have come through time.  And so we will be working with those in the next few years.

7. Handwork:



I sew, knit and do other handwork because I saw my mother and grand mother do it, and she taught me at the time.  I am now so happy to have learn those handwork, because I feel they are meaningful to me and my family.  I hope to be able to pass them along, and change the image that sewing is for wimps ;)

8. Arts:

I am always wowed by all the crafts and art made by Waldorf families.  Although I am not a crafter just for the sake of crafting, I try to give art time to my children as much as I can.  I know that my daughter could take 1000 more hours of this, but sometimes, it just doesn't fit in our schedules.
I try to have them work with high quality material: lyra, stockmar...because they really rock!













9. Simplicity

Waldorf truly is about simplicity. And this is something I crave and we need as a family.  Simplifying clothing, toys, possessions life.  It really makes things easier, and let us really enjoy what is important rather then dealing with too much.

10.And the last one I think is one of the most important: TIME

Waldorf stresses about the importance of time.  We take time.  We give our children time.
We let them take the time to be kids.  We don't rush them around to errands or unnecessary things.  We have not put their name up for sports or other activities so that they have free time to do whatever they want. TIme to not do anything.  My kids sometimes sit on the couch and don't do anything.  Just because they need it.  And I respect that.
Time is rare and precious, and we want them to have the luxury to enjoy it.  Time with us also.
We always have dinner togheter, and all other meals if we can.  We take the time to fix something from scratch, and eat it seated to enjoy each other's compagny.
Time.

I am scared and anxious as how we will be able to protect that next year as we will have loads of commuting to do.  But we are keeping it as a priority, and we'll try to fit things around that.

Fête de Mai

Je ne suis pas disparue, mais nous avons traversé quelques semaines difficiles. E a fait une crise de Faux croup que nous sommes toujours en train de combattre dans la famille. Il est difficile de faire les choses hors norme dans nos sociétés moderne, et traiter les enfants de façon naturelle en fait partie. Parfois, c'est facile de marcher à contre courant, et faire confiance à la nature, mais d'autres situations, ou maladie demande plus de foi que d'autre, ce fut définitivement le cas ici. Plusieurs fois, j'ai bloqué le reflexe de me rendre à l'hôpital, et je me suis rappelée de croire en mon fils, a la force de guérison à l'intérieur de lui, et que je suis capable de l'aider sans avoir recours à la médecine allopathique (pour ce genre de maladie là.) Nous y sommes presque. Il est sur le chemin de la guérison!

I have not disapeared, but we have had some challenging weeks. E has been down with a case of false croup. It was a scary experience for us, and it was definetly challenging to help him go through this without the help of allopathic medecine (and dare I say despite). We had to remind ourselves many time that allopathic medecine is not the only way, and that our bodies have the abilities to heal themselves(in those types of diseases) if given the rest, food and care necessary. We are well on the road to recovery, and I am so glad to have believed in him and in our abilities to help him out differently.

Alors après 3 semaines de disparitions me revoilà avec les images de la fête de Mai organisée par l'école locale Waldorf. Belle façon de célébrer mon retour ;)

So after 3 weeks of being away from the blogosphere, I am back to show you the pictures of the May fair that we attended about 3 weeks ago.

Nous avons été accueillis par cette dame qui offrait aux enfants des cadeaux: un emballage de coquillage et pierres de toutes sortes

We were welcomed by this lady who was offering presents to the kids present: seashells and various stones.

Il y avait plusieurs stations d'activitées:

Many activities were set up for the kids to participate to:

Après avoir fait des courrones, des épées, des bracelets de cuir, nous avons emprunté ce chemin qui nous a mené à un gazébo juste au moment ou la pluie s'est mise à tombée. Et comme par magie, nous sommes arrivés en plein milieu d'un jam de tambour

After making flower crowns, wooden swords, leather band ... wer decided to take this path that brought us to a gazebo just in time before the rain started to pour. And we arrived in the middle of a public tam tam jam!

Alors nous avons tous pris un Tam tam, et nous nous sommes join au concert Quel plaisir!

So we all took a tamtam, E included, and joined in with the rhythm. What fun!

Goddies on the way out:

Superbe journée, même si Dame Nature n'a pas coopéré tout le long. Nous continuons de parler du jam de tamtam, et je crois bien que lorsque tout le monde sera remis sur pied, ça restera une activité familiale. Ne manque que quelques tam tam!

Magnificent day, even if the weather didn't cooperate as much as we hoped. The tamtam jam is something we keep thinking and talking about, I can see how this will evoluate as a family activity soon (once everybody is back on track!)

The joy of toymaking

Once you get the taste of the rewarding feeling of handmade, you can get easily hooked. And toymaking is no exceptions. I can spend hours looking at the most beautiful toys made by the Europeean compagnies, and truly they are absolutely magnificent and are a joy to own. But they are also quite spendy, and truth be told, no matter how beautiful they are, they take space, and having too much is no better then having too much of something else, it does become clutter! (Yes, you can clutter your house with beautiful Waldorf type toys!)

Peanut is really playing with her doll lately. It is part of every day for her. And she has been sleeping her in the most unsual little corner of our house: the laundry basket, a bookshelf, in the pot cupboard...so it made me think that this wonderful doll of hers had no spaces of her own to sleep. I pondered over getting a wooden bed, but finally choose to make something for her: it would cost less, and take less space, and well, would be made with mommy love.

I tried to get the best idea for this bed, and finally came up with something amazing! A hammock. We love hammocks here, and try to enjoy them as much as possible when the hotter seasons are around. But why not treat her doll for an all year round hammock bed?

And so DD's doll's bed was created:



I made the hammock with some cascade yarn and gigantic needles (broomstick knitting anyone?).

I hung the hammock with a tree branch that we found in our yard. Pea and I sanded it as a surprise for Peanut.

then a little rainbow of silk is in order to keep Doll warm



and some birds to lull her into sleep;



and that was all Peanut needed for some more magical playtime.

Review: Living simply with children and some thoughts

I have just finished to read this book:



It has been on my amazon wish list for such a long time, and for some reason, I kept putting off buying it.

I read Simplicity parenting before, a super interesting book by Kim John Payne, and loved it. ( and highly recommend it)



It discusses simplicity with young children, with a Waldorf point of view, so I was not convinced that I would be able to really find something different enough to justify buying it. Well, I finally took the plunge, and I am SO glad that I did.

I feel like this book tackles a bit more topics then Simplicity parenting. Or should I say complement. There are so many valuable advises that I took from SP, but I was able to add or reinforce some other topics with Living simply with children. The topic of school, money, environement, things that I don't recall reading in SP. There is also a wealth of informations, links, ressources and all at the end of each chapters so if you feel the need to deepen your knowledge on one topic, it is rather easy to do.

The author really loves the book "your money or your life" and mentionnes it many times through out the book. I might give it a look eventually.

I love how she stresses that simple living is not something you do because you are poor or can make it, but because you make a choice. Or should I say CHOICES. You have to decide what are your priorities, where do you want to go, and what is the best route to get there. If things are for you, you need to work, and thus get less time. But if you rather time and relationships, then forget the things, and get the time.

My thoughts and conclusion after ready this book:

It is crazy how the arrival of children in your life make you reconsider many things, your way of living, your values... I guess we call this grow. This is something that has happened with the arrival of both my child and is happenning again this time around. I feel like at every preparation for this new arrival, I did a step further in a direction, and I am realizing that this direction has not changed since the beginning of this. I am just walking deeper into a road that seem to uncover itself as I go, and as our lives changes. I don't think there is an ending destination, I think it is the journey that matters. But that journey really is rooted in simplicity for me. Everytime I started to feel overwhelemed or just bad (not being able to define what was going on), something happened that made me simplify more, and suddenly, things started to make sense again.

Simplicity comes easily, anytime, and just feel so good to me, to us...

I am realising, after putting down this book, that materialism is really something I am struggling with. I really feel a weight with material possessions, and feel just so much lighter when not in a" owning" state of mind. I was scared to have kids, because the vision I had of childhood is the one that is promoted by commercial and the materialistic world we live in. Comes with a child tons of stuff and that scared me. I didn't want to go through this. And yet, we had a kid, and entered this world of consumerism, and god did that not feel good. I hate that people around me would somehow decide how our lifes would be by getting us what they thought was useful for a baby: mobile with lights and music, plastic toys, musical toys and so on. But after some much soul searching, and reading, and surfing, I found that there is another way to live and there are other things that can be done then just stick to the images that we see everywhere of what life and childhood should be.

First thing to do: close the TV!

And then follow your heart and your soul.



Yes, I am currently in a journey of change, and our way of life has tremendously changed in the last five years. We have tried stuff, made mistake, tried other things, took some wrong turns, and now are trying to become what our family is by picking what resonates with us.

Although I have said not so long ago how Waldorf did not resonate all that much with us, I have to retract that. When I first started to research Waldorf, I read a lot, and was influenced by the forums at Mothering.com. So I was exposed to the outside world of Waldorf, the one that is being more and more popular right now: the beautiful toys notably. And while I DO NOT want to bash in any ways the wonderful posters over there, I feel like materialism is a common trend that kinda turned me off. We are, therefore, currently living deep into many of the Montessori principles since my son attend a Montessori preschool and is so happy in this environement, but there also, I felt the burden of materialism weighing on me when thinking about using this as homeschooling method.

But after the rain, the sun always comes out!

But recently, I have found something else. I was searching for a post by a wonderful mama about bedtime where she was linking me to her blog. And gosh did I love what I read. I wasn't aware at the time that she was Waldorf or anything, I just loved the ideas and the feel of that post. I went back to it about 2-3 weeks ago, and then my curiosity was piqued seing that she also had so many things to say about Waldorf, things that were way further from the best toys, the necessary items, basically, nothing that had to do with owning things, but rather living Waldorf. And in one of her post, I stumbled about a yahoo group adress: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/waldorfhomeeducators/?yguid=301863949 where she claimed there was many articles about Waldorf that were really a must to read. Being the curious person that I am, I HAd to go and see.

And I have to agree. I have found so many things that totally resonates with me. Many that adresses the dangers of materialism, of commercialism, of TV and everything that comes with it.

Yesterday, I was meditating on the topic of newborns. MY soon to be newborn. What does he really need? Does he really need "things"? And giving a quick look in the file section, I found an article written a couple of years ago by the owner of the list. I would love to share this part of the article with you:

"Soon, though, within perhaps minutes, the weight of materialism beings to exert itself into the realm of the child: possessions and objects. Humanity does bear the burden of both consumerism and clever mass production capacities. We overflow with things, we drown in stuff, we wade through our homes and garages and sheds and attics and basements and storage spaces and barns and warehouses and containers and malls and giant cargo ships, with closets, drawers, and shelves overflowing with physical matter."

...

"Well intended parents and relatives stock these rooms with every imaginable beautiful “natural” toys. Hand carved wooden animals fill barns, needle felted villagers populate oak-tree dwellings, handmade dolls with exquisite clothing lie in bunk beds, and china tea sets rest on hand spun plant dyed organic cotton placemats! Dozens of toys line the shelves and floor. Can the young spirit breathe in this space? What can unfold in the inner realms when surrounded by a plethora of objects, colors, shapes, forms, sensory impressions?

In this light, then, if you provide the child with hardened images, and objects, in your home or classroom, then you rob the child of this important venue of spiritual education, one that begins at birth...

...

Even in the Waldorf world, materialism raises its head with the advent of professionally produced ‘toys’ and products, aimed at capturing the market share of the ‘natural market’. Homes and classes filled with ‘made’ objects or ‘made’ ideas, are offering hardened thinking to the children, no matter how beautiful or gloriously created these items are. These objects are designed to appeal to us, to the adults, who yearn for the days when a simple stick could be literally anything. We need and admire these beautiful creations, much more than the child under age seven does...

Nature tables are becoming filled with human-manufactured objects, pushing aside the plants, leaves, wood, and stones. ..."

Written by Marsha Johnson

And that. That article, really made me think through the night (while baby was obviously having a gymnastic class in there...) it lifted a veil over Waldorf, one that I was not fond of.

I am still unsure what route we'll be using when comes the "pedagogy" times. But I feel like I have seen something that I can really relate to. The more I am reading about the less known sides of waldorf, the more interested I am in reading some more. There are things that I don't relate to, and that don't resonate with me. But I am grateful to have the time to learn, and read and try! Isn't this fantastic to have the time to try, and to feel how this and that makes us feel? It is the best way to truly find what you are, to customize your life the way you want, and not being dictated what you should think and do and have!. Trying, making mistakes, trying again, and then knowing.

I will continue to make mistakes and learn, and while all that, I am confident that I will find my path, the one I am supposed to be on. And there is one thing I know, simplicity and simple living, is part of it.



Yes, I am nesting big time. But I think whoever is out there over us designed this period to give us the chance to change and find a new path, one we should be on. I am all ears!

Celebrations

We have been in a celebrating mode since the weekend. First, my nephew's christening, and today was DD's bday :)

It was a beautiful day full of activities and new and old traditions.

The new ones



Her crown that I managed to finish last night while listening to a Waldorf expo workshop!



She loved the crown, and waking up to this table. I loved how it unfolded the day, and for sure this will be carried on to the following years!

The old traditions...family times



She wanted to go pick strawberries!









And then some quiet snuggle time



And a time to remember that she is still so little



But yet growing up...



And what better way to celebrate then with chocolate cake...and freshly picked strawberries :)



as well as new slippers



We ended up the day with the story of the Princess and the pea. She was so tired that she almost fell asleep while I was reading.

I love how this day was a celebration, and yet at the same time a family time, and a peaceful time. I felt like this day was breathing in and out, following a pattern...moving, and slowing down. Nothing like the big birthday parties with favors and gift giving and overwhelming activities...and you know, I didn't miss it a second. And frankly, I don't think DD missed it either ;)

Homeschool or school at home

I have recently signed up for the Waldorf connection expo. They are speakers that speaks about a part of the Waldorf education/philosophy. I have hear some very interesting lectures on waldorf education, and I feel like I still, at this point, have some things to get from Waldorf to incorporate in our lives.

One of the speaker was Tammy Takahashi, author of the blog Just enough and nothing more, and of the book Deschooling gently. Her speach was not focus on Waldorf education, but rather on homeschooling. Wow, was this lecture interesting, and really made me think about HOW to homeschool. Many questions were arised, and answered, or at least direction were given to find your own answer. But one point was brought up that I am still chewing on right now:

Homeschooling, is not the same as having school at home

I have been repeating this many times a day since having heard this. Homeschooling is NOT the same as having school at home.

Tammy was saying how when she started to homeschool, she basically brought school at home. She had it all, letter on the wall, blackboards, and even a bell for recess! And one comment that arised from that was, "you might as well just let them go to school if you are to bring school at home"

And that has me thinking since.

We have the advantage of being in a house, and living in a home setting, why not use this to our advantage? Why try to creat a school within the house? I know Maria Montessori really described what are the actions that should be performed by a "teacher" and how to do, and react, and what the environement should be. But then, this was described with a school setting in mind, and not for a home. I wonder what she would have suggested for homeschooling parents. I was writing a little while ago about anxiety, how I felt when I went back to our school room because I felt like I was not up to the standards that were set by Dr Montessori. And this feeling of anxiety always passes upon me when I go to our school room, without me knowing exactly why I feel that way.

And then I got it with the rest of the presentation that Tammy gave. She wrote a book on Descholing gently. And at first, I was not sure how this would be relevent for me since my kids have not really been schooled, aside from the experience Pea has with Montessori. And so I wasn't sure how I could help with by "deschooling" him. But honnestly, the deschooling program is more for me, for us, parents, that have been living in the standard schooling systems for too long. We are used to seeing school and learning as being done in a setting, with a blackboard, chalk, bells, and everything that comes with it. We have been brainwashed that way. But looking at both my children, they have both learned to walk, talk, count, and do oh so many other things without the use of a blackboard, and a classroom. They did it on their own, with the influence of us, parents, in an environement that promoted that. For everything else that needs to be learned, do I really need a school room?

Do I really want a school within my house, or a house where my child learn?

I stumbled on a great post by Meg at Sewliberated where she was presenting her house, and all the nooks and crannies that she created for her son. What better environment to learn? Learning then takes place everywhere, not only in a confined place, learning just become what it is supposed to be, integrated in one's life, and not a special activity that needs a room and a blackboard.

After hearing this conference, I admitted to myself that I am still strongly influenced by my experience of being in a compulsory school environment. And my mind is still not free from this brainwashing that I went though. I still realize that eventhough I want to provide my kids with another type of education, I am still roaming in my thoughts within the boundary of my imagination as they were defined and set by the constrictive school system that states: "School should be that way, and you have to learn that way' I need to let go of all this, and just expend my imagination, broaden my horizons and see all the potential that learning in the home can allow.

Imagination

I had a chance to go thrifting last week. And although the thrifting fairies were definetly not with me that day, I still managed to find a few books for Pea and Peanut. One of them was Rumplestiltskin, a fairy tale that *gasp* I didn't even know about!

Once arriving from the thrift store, they both saw that small pile of book I had brought home, and Pea immidiatly asked me to read this particular story. I even read it twice, he was really interested in this story.

A few days later, we were all sitting in the living room, and Pea got the interlocking blocks out. He asked me to help him build a house, and he really looked like he had an idea of what he wanted to do, but didn't know how to do it. He asked me to do a circle with the block, but with only one row of blocks. And then he proceeded to add some blocks in the middle. I had no clue where he was going with that, until he told me, "I am done" and he got up, went to the book shelve, got Rumplestiltskin out, and turned to the last page.



the image he had in his head and was trying to make real was the one that really had struck him the most in the story. The fact that Rumplestiltskin had broken the floor by being mad, and falling in the hole he made for himself.

They always find a way to amaze me. But never the way I would have thought!

reaching a little balance

which was much needed.

I have been very busy trying to get ready for homeschooling, and preparing everything for the olders once the baby gets here.  I can feel a shift in my mood recently where I feel like it is time to plan and get ready for the newer...  I think this shift is happening all by itself while I find myself being more and more ready as far as work and projects for DD and DS.

I can certainly feel the nesting effect slowly starting to make it's way in my daily activity.  I have been cleaning, and rearranging, and sorting, and purging...although maybe the arrival of spring has something to do with it...

A quick trip to Ikea really helped to ease the effect for a few days, but really that is it.  I can feel it coming full force again today



I am also feeling strongly drawn back to my first loves as far as creating (although making Montessori material is fun, I still have a deeper love for knitting and sewing...).  I got out the scarf I have been working on for a while, that was *almost* forgotten in my WIP drawer.



And while that, the kids have the time to rediscover their barn and have a few minutes to just let their imagination run wild.



But I can see that toys is not their thing.  They like the real world, learning about everything, touching everything, making art projects.  Untoys are still much more interesting to them, and have always been. And I don't have to look very far to find them some material.  They find it by themselves, and create whatever they want to with it.

They have a sweet spot for this farm, but I think they do because they have been on a farm a couple of time, able to help, touch, see, and this is what makes it interesting.  In fact, DS was commenting this morning that there are no farm persons to go with the farm...  Good things his b-day is comming.



Unfortunatly though, the end of semester is almost here.  And I can see that the next few weeks will be really crazy with corrections mostly.  So this pause in time before the end rush is a necessary balance, and I plan to enjoy it as much as I can until I no longer can...