Crafts

Well today I finally finished knitting my socks.



They are warm and comfy and my favourite pair already I think. And now next I need to do a pair for my brother, Justin.

Also I finishen my marionette this week.



I am also pretty happy with her. And Arden has fallen in love with her- so I think I may need to make him his own doll soon. We called my doll Ruby, due to the colour of her hair. Arden has been giving her lots of hugs and kisses, and spending time tucking her into bed and clipping her in the pram. Willow and Gabriel have also started their marionettes. Both have done the heads, and are onto the gowns- Willow has already decided to name hers Emerald. Gabriel, meanwhile, hasn't decided if his is a boy or girl.

As Willow pointed out, we also went to the woodwork expo yesterday. Very good value and very interesting- I'll soon be getting a lovely simple woodwork book from one of the stalls there. It's called Woodwork for Women but it's just really for anyone that knows very little about woodwork. We also watched quite a bit of woodturning.

We'll be starting Willow's Egyptian block this week- should be fun and interesting, and continuing on Gabriel's bible block.

Woodwork

Hello!
Just came back from a Woodwork show! We saw some people make Honey-Dippers. We tried to make Mum make one,but she didn't want to! oh well. There was also a another person making spoons!! after that we watched someone else make spinning tops! when he finished, it was beautiful! after that he made a spinning top Ballerina! Its the BEST! He makes them look GORGEOUS! I rate him 5 out of 5!

After that, we watched a lady called Pat,show us how to make a table and use a battery powered drill! Bit dull at first! I rate her 4 out of 5!

Willow

Why I Waldorf Homeschool and Don't Natural Learn

I have been pondering the topic of natural learning.

My local homeschooling community here seem to be enamoured by it. And I'm fine with that, in many ways natural learning appeals to me. But what was disconcerting, IMO, on first stepping into the local homeschool community was how many of the mothers went on about how they did nothing- as they were natural learners. Doing nothing has never appealed to me, so their excitement put me off. Why would I stay at home with my kids, to do nothing?

After that I read a John Holt book- 'How Children Learn' and I got the idea. It did appeal- but not in the way that I wanted to embrace it over everything. Also I didn't understand how these parents thought he meant to do nothing- I interpreted it as being an instigator in enabling my children to learn the things that they are interested in.

And so I've been talking to someone about it again, yesterday. She seemed very interested in it- but funnily when she was talking about wishing she'd learnt music when she was younger, she seemed like she couldn't do it now. And yet to me that's the perfect way to show natural learning to one's kids. She wants to know how to do it- she finds resources to do it. And indirectly, through her learning, she teaches her children how to natural learn.

And so I do Waldorf homeschool, and we natural learn all the time. Through doing Waldorf I expose them to things beyond myself or themselves that possibly we would never have examined. And I love that. My natural learning is the Waldorf thing. Gabriel's natural learning recently has been looking at Atlantis, because he found it interesting after a school block of Willow's. Willow loves making things (which is easier due to our craft sessions). But then my goal is not to encourage my children to be natural learners, mine is to have children that find the world an interesting and amazing place- and can be interested in anything.

And so I don't embrace natural learning as my mode of education. It's great to choose to learn what you want- but sometimes one has to learn and do things one doesn't want to. And sometimes those things are interesting, I find that usually they are. But then I must wonder, is it my view of the world that is different to the parents that embrace this? Particularly those who embrace it in the 'I can do nothing' kind of way. I loved primary school. I loved wondering what exciting things the teacher would reveal to me each day. It was high school that destroyed my passion, and homeschooling that returned it.

I think perhaps some of these parents need to find their passion and show their children how they find it- and maybe then their children will know how to love learning.

Recently (2015) I've been reconsidering my views on this, and why I still feel a balanced approach is best for our family.  Here's a link to the page "More thoughts on Natural Learning".

Kalangadoo Organic!

Hello There!
At the beginning of of summer, I started helping out at the Wayville Farmers Market. I was helping out Kalangadoo Organic, they sell Apples and Apple Juice. They got me a top with there logo on it, and gave me free Apples and Apple Juice as a pay! Wow! What an a MAZING day it was!!
Cya Later!
Willowunicorn

Rain, today and Books

Well it's been a nice stay indoors kind of day today, and since we had no plans that is what we did. I managed to get through a few things that had been waiting for me- phone calls and craft activities.

Willow and Gabriel spent some time on Scratch. We has some russian custard with lunch - very tasty and healthy too! Egg yolks and honey beaten til they are thick and almost white.

Here's the start of my marionette.



And here's my (finally) finished Christmas stocking for Arden.



And I've been reading some interesting maths history, recently in the evenings.

Marionettes and Buses

I'm currently attempting to make a marionette doll so I can help Willow and Gabriel make one in the coming weeks. So far I've done very little other than tie my ropes together, and then wonder if I have enough fabric for the head- and then discover that yes I do. So that's good. We all picked some lovely silk out for it's gown, so now I just hope that I can follow Mrs Marsha's instructions ok! I've found all of her other files, incredibly helpful, so I'm sure it will work out fine.

Over the weekend our local community free bus/ tindo drivers decided to have a community party. We had a great time. We've all gotten to know most of the bus drivers reasonably well over the last 18months, and the kids have particularly befriended two of them- John and Barry. John organised the party at Marcellinas, and Barry had kindly copied of some movies and music for the kids. Willow is now in Beatle heaven- in the last few months, she has become totally Beatles mad. Anyhow Willow briefly performed at the party, a couple of Suzuki tracks and one fiddle song that she's been learning with Damien. She did really well. Then the rest of our family also seemed to do well- Damien got a who am I? question right, and also won the Millionaire's Challenge, and Gabriel and Damien won the make a dog out of balloons contest. It was a great night- and lovely to head out to a local community event where we were all a bit connected.

Ancient Egypt

One of our next blocks, for Willow, is going to be Ancient Egypt, and so I decided that we would visit the museum today, and have a look at the exhibit there. Last time I went to look at the Egyptian exhibit, I was nine. The whole thing upset me immensely- people wrapped in cloth, etc, and I left crying.



Fortunately no-one did that today. Everyone thought the mummification was weird. But once they got over that, just enjoyed looking around at the artefacts. The details about the Rosetta stone was interesting, and both Willow and Gabriel enjoyed it.

Holidays

We are having our winter holiday break, and although it's only our second day I feel very pleased. The term has been busy and full of interesting occurrences. Plus, unusually this year, it really feels like winter. I think it's the first time it's felt wintery since we've been back from living in Scotland. Certainly other years it has been cold- but often not in the wintery kind of way, where it's cold at night as well as during the day. More in the Spring time kind of way, cold at night and gloriously sunny and mild during the day.

We went out for a walk to the shops on Wednesday, when it was rainy, it was great fun getting out in the wet. And there was an amazing hail storm, that gushed in. Plus we found a blue tongue lizard stuck in the gutter unable to move. I picked it up, and relocated him to a garden nearby. He was quite lucky- we moved just as the rain and hail storm came, I am sure he would have drowned otherwise.

I have to see about show entries this week. Willow and Gabriel have a few plans, but we may need to review them- depending on timing. Mostly I am not sure if Willow's socks will be able to be entered. One is done, but I am wondering if the other one can be completed in time.