parent/child class & autumn thoughts

[dogretro]

I AM LOVING IT! This was week two out of ten weeks & I am just loving it so much! I wish it were twice a week!

It is so nice to see how our home atmosphere and rhythm fit so well in w/ how the teachers run this class. It is also helping to keep me focused on what I want for our home life & definitely reaffirming the choices we have made w/ regards to how we are raising our children. My time as a daycare teacher is also popping back up & I have been thinking of so many good craft & decoration ideas to do w/ dd1. It helps that I always used apples as my Sept theme & that is the Morning Garden theme right now.

I switched the kids' clothes over from summer to fall/winter (that only took four days. Dang two-kid system ) & that inspired me to start clearing junk out of our house. I kind of work backwards like that, doing fall cleaning instead of spring cleaning. I really really want to have more time to just hang w/ my kids, making things, playing, daydreaming, reading, pretending, storytelling, etc. DD1 LOVES the way the teacher tells a story using the little felt animals on a felt playscene. I want to be able to do that w/ her at home (I was also thinking of your cute video, Nicole) & stuff like that, not have to clean so much. Not that I really clean all that much anyway, haha, but.. It really is time to get rid of so much of our stuff, so I started by cleaning out the girls' closet. I also put all of dd1's baby books away and brought some older books down from the attic. I'm really working on making our house a more lovely space so that we have more time to just be together. Got the playroom cleaned out a bit & the fall nature table all set up. It looks great, but I don't think dd1 even noticed it, little bugger.

What are you all up to??? The fall and spring each fight fiercely to be my favourite season & I have always gotten super energized & excited during the fall! So nice after the heat-induced lethargy of the summer, BLAH. And my best friend is getting more and more into Waldorf living, too, so things are just popping around here!

[zoebird]

we are heading into spring, and we are nearly at our holiday break from our playgroup. I think we have only one playgroup left for this session, and then two weeks off, and then back on until the christmas holiday.

so, i'm setting up a new rhythm with a friend, where we will get the kids together and do some crafting time one day a week, and then on another day do some gardening (crafting here, gardening there). we want to make crafts that we can send back as christmas gifts, so i have a little list of things that i want to make (and of course, have little hands helping), and my friend has a garden, so we'll go over there and do our thing in the dirt.

the next big task (other than work tasks) is to plan our family holiday which will run from Dec 18 to Jan 3 or 4. figure out where we are going, what we are doing. i'm excited about it. i have a rough idea, but i'm going to sit down with my friend and really hammer out an itinerary and start to get reservations in order. it's cool because you can pay before you arrive in installments, which is great for us. for example, the ferry allows you to make weekly or monthly payments, so long as you pay it in full by the day that you are leaving! great for us!

so, that's me right now.

[counterGOPI]

Awww It felt funny taking that video (I have never done it with the girls before) but I am glad I did
We LOVE LOVE LOVE Autumn, too. Right now apples seem to be everywhere in our home and will continue to be for K's birthday this weekend. We are picking leaves for beeswaxing and lots of acorns right now... oops laundry done, be back in a bit

[dogretro]

Zoe, I always feel for you now when we post about the seasons b/c I think you are the only one who is totally opposite of the rest of us! Does that get weird when you read here?

Oh, yes, we are Christians, so I am excited to really dive into Advent this year. As you all know, festivals are where I really struggle w/ "walking the talk" & I am making a true effort to celebrate as many Waldorf festivals as possible now. I got a book about dragons from the library so I could read St. George & the Dragon. That is a long story! I will need to condense it down & I will hopefully act it out for dd1.

There is an entire basket full of acorns and caps on a shelf in the playroom, but dd1 has not noticed this, most likely b/c she has hardly been going in there to play lately. I am def struggling right now w/ trying to pull her out of her head as all she wants to do is have us read books to her all day long. She is infatuated w/ books even to the point of looking at her friends' books at their houses instead of playing w/ the friends. Normally I know this type of behaviour is looked at as positive & we should encourage our kids' interests bla bla bla, but I do agree w/ Steiner that the focus of little kids should be on body development, not intellectual development. I am going to have to come up w/ more projects for her to do & lead her in more imaginative play. When left to her own devices these days, she fixates on books ~ reading them to herself & reciting them out loud if she is not near them. I know, what parent complains b/c their kid reads too much, right? But it is becoming a real hassle as she will also follow dh and I around the house saying "Read!" over and over until we do. She throws a fit if we don't. I don't want to discourage her from reading or learning how to read early (b/c she most likely will), but sheesh! I think I'm going to have to do like you, Zoe, and have set reading times during the day where I will read out loud & that is IT.

Going to have to get off my lazy bum and actually play and craft more. Now that I've got the hang of a weekly rhythm down, I should start working on a daily one. I think that will help w/ a lot of my frustration.

[jbailey313]

We did the parent/child class last year with both of our children and it was amazing! We are not able to do it with my oldest b/c she just turned 4 and the class has an age limit (once they hit 4 they can not come back for the next school year).

We are starting homeschooling this year, implementing a lot of waldorf techniques as well as character building qualities. It has been so much fun! We have been able to do nature hikes, go apple picking, I got some waldorf water paints and stockmar crayons, wax etc... The kids just love!!

I read the book simplicity parenting and it opened up my eyes in a big way!!! This past summer I cleaned out my WHOLE house and kept very few natural toys and the kids are now playing beautifully!! I cannot tell you what a difference this has made in our lives!

I love hearing about the different things everyone is doing on here! It is so nice to find a forum of like mindedness!

[annettemarie]

I only got to do a parent-child class with my first, nine years ago, and I still remember how wonderful it was.

[Melaniee]

Originally Posted by dogretro

I AM LOVING IT! This was week two out of ten weeks & I am just loving it so much! I wish it were twice a week!

I remember feeling that way. It was like I could finally breathe (after trying other groups/classes).