Saint Lucia * Evergreen tree

This week started off as the third week of Advent

We lit our candles and I told some of week threes stories.

Monday was Saint Lucy day. 

We celebrated by telling lots of Saint Lucy stories.  

Since it was too cold and record snow we didn't make it up to Scandia.  They have a very authentic celebration and candle light service with procession.  We watched a lot of processions on youtube so they could see what we were missing.  This was one of their favorites.

We made cinnamon cookies instead of saffron buns.
I knew cookies would go over a lot better.

Since my little girl is too young to wear the traditional garb, the boys became star boys.

Saint Lucia day is the start of the Christmas season in Sweden and it generally celebrates Swedish culture.

Of course we had Swedish meatballs for dinner! :)
Delicious!

We also spent time this week on the evergreen tree, conifer if you will.

We read many stories from the library about trees.  We learned why they are evergreen.  I told one of their favorite stories about the little bird with the broken wing needing shelter in the winter and only the pine tree could provide.  So, king winter and jack frost let them retain their needles to always shelter weary birds. 

 We finally got around to getting our Christmas tree.  which actually worked out great for our theme this week.  They went to the tree farm to see all the trees.  

We had a lot of fun decorating too.

We decided to help out all the birds that find shelter in our pine trees. 

We made them feeders

Painting and drawing pictures of pine trees and of course Christmas trees is always fun!

Next week is about the Winter solstice and of course

CHRISTMAS!

Happy Holidays everyone

Until then

~Blessings

Change of teeth!

My eldest lost his first tooth.

This is an ordinary occurrence, I know.  But, to a Waldorf educator wannabe it is monumental!  Please allow me to explain a bit about this form of education.  This is an entirely different way of learning from what I was brought up knowing.  I have been studying the fundamentals for four years now and still am only scratching the surface of its depths.  Waldorf strives to meet the child's needs at precisely the moment that they need to be met.  I look at it like a developmental education.  All milestones are intricately accounted for and fulfilled.  This I know.  That being said, baby teeth falling out is a big one.  This is a whole new era.  From the time of birth until teeth changing children are perfect mimics.  So much so that is has been said that if you never reprimanded once from age 0-to change of teeth your children would be perfectly modeled to you.  With no other direction what so ever.  The only guidance they need in this time is example.  Until the change of teeth, then there are a new set of rules.  The beginnings of formal education can slowly begin.  I am nervous because soon it is my time to begin.
I am not nearly as eloquent or articulate as the many others who have studied before me.  So, please read the following article for a clear understanding to the development of the child a la Waldorf...

Change of teeth article

Second week of Advent

On Monday this week it was Saint Nicholas day.  All the build up last week brought us to the actual day.  The children awoke with chocolate coins from around the world in their shoes.  Then, we went to the Saint Nicholas exhibit at the landmark center in St. Paul.  

 They did craft projects of the life of St.Nick

and  puzzles

We saw works from all around the world.

Of course I came home with two fabulous Saint Nicholas's :)

We also did our gingerbread house this week.

We added it to our nature table. 

Slowly we will have it be complete to reflect the goings on we see out our door :)

Matthew was sick again on Wednesday.  

So, trying to appease the natives we made our living room into forts

We told stories with coordinating attire...

Generally anything to try and keep them a little quiet.

Mostly, this week was devoted to colds and making things more festive.

We made a very easy snow man out of cotton balls.

we dressed him out of felt pieces.

The boys put ice skates on him. :)

Of course, like really being outside it turned into ....

A SNOWBALL FIGHT!!!

Next week we will hopefully all be healthy and learning about

Saint Lucia and Swedish tradition. 

along with the evergreen tree. 

until then...

~Blessings

First week of Advent

Advent began this week and this made for a more reverent time at our school.
We started sharing a lot of stories about Mary and Joseph.  I have a wonderful book that a dear friend got for us.  Everyday of Advent there is a story to share about the miracles of Mary and Joseph's travels to Bethlehem. Matthew loves the stories and it has been a really beautiful introduction to the advent season.

We made our Advent wreath and lit our first candle

On Baking day we made dozens of sugar cookie cutouts.
We made them for our holiday party this weekend with plenty of taste testing!

On painting day we made and painted the stars.

I made the largest star of Bethlehem out of tissue paper.

On Wednesday, December 1st we began the count down to Christmas with our Advent calendar.

I spent the last part of the week really focusing on Saint Nicholas.  The are so many great stories and I think I told them all.  Saint Nicholas day is December 6th and I wanted them to really understand him before I ask them to put their shoes outside of their door on Sunday night :)  I found an excellent resource online with stories and ideas for celebrating Saint Nick. 

Here they colored Saint Nicholas figures for the nature table. 




 Friday is chore day with our rhythm and we had plenty to do!  On Saturday we are having our annual party and the kids just love to help get everything ready.  So, I'm off we have work to do!!!



Have a great weekend everyone!

Until next week...

~Blessings

Gratitude and Thanksgiving

What is it to be thankful?


I tried to convey the answer to this deeper question this week.
Sort of tricky with such youngin's:)

Although, they had the sweetest responses.  We made a thankful tree.  First, we collected a lot of sticks from our nature hikes.  Then, we put them together and cut out leaves to hang from our "tree".  On the leaves we wrote what we were most thankful for.

Matthew said,  "the way my sister smells so sweet and she is so cute" and "for our home" and "candy"

Wesley said, "light" and "food"and "candy"

We used the tree for the center piece of our thanksgiving table.

Cranberries,
cranberry sauce,
quintessential holiday food.



on baking day we made cranberry sauce to share on Thursday.
  We also, made a loaf of cranberry bread.

On painting day we used Indian corn to create a colorful mosaic

Matthew chose just to paint the corn itself.

We also crafted a turkey using traces of their hands and feet.

They turned out pretty cute.

On Wednesday we made these hats to share on our Thanksgiving day

Grandfather turkey

Grandmother turkey

Happy 
Thanksgiving! 




Friday is chore day with our curriculum. 
We spent the day cleaning and replacing all the autumn with our winter.
Welcoming in the winter was easy with all the snow and cold temps!



I hope everyone had a good holiday.


we will see you next week.

until then...
~Blessings