craft, class 4, music and new books

In preparation for our woodwork this term, I decided that now Arden is bigger I could sit down and do some woodworking myself. And so I've made a start on carving a wooden egg using a rasp and pocket knife. So far it's coming along nicely.

My plans for class 4 have also been completed. There's little variation from the first time around with Willow, but there are a few new things, and slight variations where I've found some better sources of information, in time for my planning.

Classes this terms include suzuki flute for Willow, singing in the second concert choir for Young Adelaide voices and suzuki violin lessons for Gabriel. Both of them will also be doing a bow making workshop, which sound very exciting IMO.

I headed to our local anthroposophical store recently and picked up a couple of good books, and am awaiting a third. So far I've found the first one very helpful for craft.

Will Developed Intelligence.

The next one I bought with some of the geometric drawing in mind.

Making Maths Meaningful


Lot's of interesting reading.

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2025

The long bows that they made.

https://unicorn-pegasus.blogspot.com/2011/04/onto-block-two-and-recent-activities.html

Class 6 Plan

Happily my class 6 plan is now more or less complete.

So far it looks like we'll be doing geometry, geology, Ancient Rome, the Australian govt, Business Maths, Medieval history, Physics- acoustics, light, optics and heat, english, Asian geography, and Astronomy as our main blocks.

Texts that I'm looking at using include- Beowulf, stories of King Arthur and Robin Hood, the Aeneid, Faerie Queen, Arabian Nights, Boy Apprenticed to An Enchanter and The Story of Rome.

Craft wise will be a project involving making a proportional stuffed animal- a year long project involving drawing and modelling and then creating a stuffed toy. Possibly there will also be an embroidery project, since Gabriel will be doing one for class 4.

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2025

For more on planning.

https://unicorn-pegasus.blogspot.com/2011/01/grade-6.html

Grade 6

Sitting down this evening I am focusing on putting some sense of order to my vague plans for class 6 this year. I have lots of incidental notes, and as seems to be usual with me, feeling a little overwhelmed with all that I would like us to get through.

I am also missing some of the extra advice that Mrs Marsha off the yahoo waldorf board has offered for the years 1-5, and am looking at all the amazing things to do, and just really attempting to start to bring order to some of it.

So far the order is coming through with the handiwork- making a 3d animal this year....but I am sure over the next day or so, there will be more clarification some sense of completion.

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2025

I used to find planning like working out an enormous jigsaw puzzle and wondering how to put everything- quite literally into it.  One day, when Willow and Gabriel, were older, I realised that we didn't have to do *all* the cool things, that we just had to do what the kids needed, and what I felt was important for them.  So I continued on the Steiner home ed theme the whole way through, but it became a bit lighter, because as we moved into the teenage years, the priority shifted more and more to the kids goals rather than my own.

The early years education using the Steiner model, was to give them a good foundation for functioning in the world.  They can cook, the can clean, they can create all manner of artistic things, they can make music, they can repair things (or work out how), they can garden, they understand science, they understand maths, they perceive history as a story of time.  All in a all I feel this being a priority in the early years has given them a holistic education.  

The high school time by contrast is encouraging them to step into their own power, their own interests, whilst still balancing their education with the structure to give them the freedom to choose where they would like to go next in their educational journey.  (A great read at this time is "The Teenage Liberation Handbook" by Grace Llewellyn Jones.)

Now that I have a full sense of this journey I don't take much time with the planning at all.  I quite often write a heading, with about how much time we have for it, and that's it.  When we start, I may find a few resources,  either online, at home, at the library, etc, etc and then I ask my child what it is they'd like to know about the topic, or I suggest somewhere to start.  As an example last year we did Ancient Greece, and I decided we should learn a little Ancient Greek, and Irving enjoyed it so much, that we have gone way beyond what my original idea was, which was to learn the alphabet.

Getting started on our Ancient Greek journey last year.
https://unicorn-pegasus.blogspot.com/2024/12/closing-on-another-year.html

Cakes and food- Willow's 11

Birthday time has just been for Willow, and there has been much fun with the making and decorating of cakes. The first cake to be completed was a chocolate goldfish cake, that was a bit of a challenge to get the gold leaf onto.



Cake no 2, the main birthday cake was more successful, a lovely fruity fish. Looked very nice IMO.

Backlog of Reading!!!!! Agggh!

Well I've just finished this, and enjoyed it immensely. I've really enjoyed doing the handsewing projects over the last few years, and found that this added to my understanding of this style of work in general. Plus it's very entertaining.

(2025- I did have a link here that no longer worked, and tbh I have no idea what I was referring to anymore, some of my early handsewing  experiences included Waldorf doll making but I'm not sure that's what I was referring to!)

For our final blocks for last year we used these two books.

This one for class 3 work

Celtic Wonder Tales

Everyone particularly loved the horse stories at the end.

And this for class 5

Tales of the Greek Heroes
The Greek Mythology was enjoyed by all- and the plan is to read some more of it. Likely we'll read some of Paudric Colum's versions.

Anyhow it seems there'll be some planning to do soon- class 6, which Willow will help me organise this year, and class 4 for Gabriel.

2011

We've welcomed in the New Year, and had a fairly quiet start all round, visiting family and going shopping seems to be the order of the day so far. Adelaide has been very quiet with all the public holidays, and I rather like it. The media here, likes to make a fuss about Adelaide being in the dark ages- but after travelling it seems to me that the media is very good at illustrating their own ignorance. Paris was dead all weekend almost everywhere come Saturday afternoon, as was all of Germany that we visited. Why shops need to be available 24/7 is beyond me.

Activity wise Gabriel and I did some work on make a gourd bowl each- his for a friend, and mine for fun, and our own lacquer to go with it. Not sure on the success of the lacquer yet, but the bowls look quite nice.


Gabriel's bowl


Christmas time involved us making a Christmas log, which we were quite happy with. The recipe was varied to accommodate Gabriel- no flour- but instead chestnut and coconut flour, and our WAP principles- coconut sugar and rapunzel chocolate. It was a great success.



Under construction


Christmas log recipe from Poh's kitchen can be found here!


For this same lunch Willow made roast chicken, and a lovely table setting to decorate the table with. All in all it was a lovely meal.

We have a few projects around here still waiting to be finished. I've started knitting a jumper for Arden, but have been a bit sidetracked by a major clear out, some reading, and christmas time. Willow has not finished her second sock yet- but is getting closer, and we only just made a start at our woodwork project- largely due to lack of tools. Our collection of wood is sitting very neatly at the back door waiting for some love! On a more positive note Gabriel did manage to finish crocheting his hat!