August 3 1/2 YO tribe - Page 9

[majazama]

Originally Posted by tea olive

hey!
me birthday is september 17th. 1970. am i SOOO virgo after all? i certainly dint mean to interfere with all the birthday party! :

no, your not sooooo virgo, but you are a virgo too, so I thought it would be a good conversation peice. I don't know what you mean about interefering with the birthday party. I didn't think that.

[Pookietooth]

I didn't get AF back until ds was 20 months. And that was just before I turned 40. So jealous of you moms of more than one, mine will be an only.

[Pookietooth]

Leah, swimmer's ear can be helped by using a hair dryer to dry out the ears. Also, garlic/mullein drops can help. Also, taking 1-2 grams of vitamin C (sodium ascorbate) every two hours.

[eilonwy]

What's Bean up to? Hm. He's a wild one. He's "doing kindergarten," and being a sweetheart, and cutting things up, and writing on walls, and loving on his sisters, and snugglebugging. He does lots and lots of things, I think he's the best little boy ever! I can hardly believe that he's going to be four years old. : Oh, he's nursing once or twice a week now. I don't really feel like he's a nursing child, it's more like he hasn't realized yet that he's finished.

Cyberschool is a public charter school that you do at home, on and off of a computer. My neices are in elementary (1st and 4th grades), so most of their work is still offline. Their school is pretty much a curriculum in a box kind of deal, except:

a) there's an attendance requirement (I have to log on and enter the numbers into a record keeping program)

b) we have teachers available to us as well as other resources i.e. special ed (one of the girls needs speech therapy, and she'll get that)

c) the girls get loaner computers

d) there's an internet reimbursment program-- $33/month from September to June

e) everything is free.

In other words, if I was going to homeschool with the K12 Independance curriculum anyway, this would be almost exactly the same, but I wouldn't have to pay for it-- in fact, they'd pay me to have a high speed connection. So it's a pretty good deal all around. There are a few drawbacks; the attendance thing is a little strange to me (although in PA, you have to keep track of hours or days anyhow, so having the computer do it for me is nice), and the girls are technically public school students (they're not covered under the homeschooling laws) which is a problem for some people.

This is the first thing that I've ever considered doing that wasn't *homeschool*. The degree of differentiation that they're willing to do is really amazing; BizzyBug is doing kindergarten handwriting, first grade science, third grade language arts and fourth grade reading. I don't think that *all* of the cyberschools are willing to differentiate so far, but this one is and it's perfect for a child like BizzyBug. It's really making me reconsider homeschooling.

[eilonwy]

: Oh, and I'm a libra-- I've never understood the virgo tendancy to worry about things forever and ever, but I've appreciated the virgos that I've known because they are neat and tidy (I'm not). I like things to be beautiful, but if they can't be beautiful then I don't generally bother with them (the reason that my house is forever messy, perhaps). I do not worry constantly for no apparent reason, the way every virgo I've ever met in real life does, but I do think things through, balancing both sides of any equation forever and ever. Once I've made my decision, though, it's made for good (unless someone has a very, VERY compelling argument to the contrary); so, the first time I visit a restaurant, I might think for 45 minutes about what I want to order, but after that I'll always order the same thing (or I'll order the next thing on the list).

[abranger]

I've been away from the computer for a few days. Thanks for all of the PL advice. She is most definately peeing all night long. Some mornings she has soaked a huge puddle in our bed. Jaz that's interesting about the allergies. She is allergic to dairy and hyper sensitive to red-40. We don't give her those things though but would just being allergic effect the nighttime peeing you think? HMMMM

GA is into all kinds of pretend play these days. Shopping, kitchen, airplane, baby. We've also spent a ton of time at the beach this summer. For a fair toe headed girl she is soooooo tan.

Happy birthday Jaz .......

Casina I am also a virgo although on the cusp I am VERY virgo. (9-21) I am also married to a virgo YIKES!


Amy

[Daffodil]

Originally Posted by saritasmile

So what's everyone else's dc really into right now?

Lindy wants to learn how to whistle and can often be heard making high-pitched noises that sound kind of like whistling but aren't. For a while, she was listening obsessively to our Peter, Paul and Mommy CD, but fortunately she seems to have gotten over that. Her big thing is pretend play. She likes to pretend that she and I are tigers, or that she's Lassie, and she especially likes to pretend that our house is an abandoned house we moved into because we got lost and couldn't find our way back to our old home. We spend a lot of time checking out the new house and discovering that the lights and water still work and that the old owners left behind their toys and food, and even their baby!

[DecemberSun]

Casina, I love it when Z and J want to clean. They come out of the bathroom with wet wash cloths and proudly announce "We're cleaning!" I did have to get over the control issue at first- thinking they were making a bigger mess by "cleaning"- but I got over that real fast after they dusted the grate above the fireplace and it turned out pretty darn shiney.

Thanks for the info on swimmer's ear, Pookietooth. What should I put in their ears to remove/dissolve ear wax? They both have a big ball way deep down and it is driving me crazy. I am an obsessive ear cleaner, and it's hard to even see past the wax when looking in their ears with an otoscope. (Left one for both of them.) Olive oil, Debrox, peroxide, or what? I already used ear cones and the wax is still there!

Daffodil- Zachary wants to whistle too, and blow gum bubbles. He puts his fingers in his mouth and screeches loudly to pretend he's whistling, it's so cute! Lindy sounds like she has quite the imagination!

My kids love the Mary Had a Little Amp CD right now- tracks 1, 3 and 11 get put on "repeat". I want to buy them the Wee Sing Silly Songs CD because I had it when I was little!

[MamaFern]

Originally Posted by DecemberSun

Zachary wants to whistle too, and blow gum bubbles. He puts his fingers in his mouth and screeches loudly to pretend he's whistling, it's so cute!

elwynn does the exact same thing. its soooo funny. i always crack up when he does it. and he likes to immitate crows..he sounds just like one.

[Mona]

my dad's b'day is sept 17th. :P

so, what have we been up to. hrmmmm
let's see.

kathrynn likes to go out into the world a lot, so we go to the library a lot, or other playgroup kind of situations. she loves to eat out, but sometimes all we can afford is fries, so we'll do that sometimes. lol
we spent nearly every afternoon at the pool when it was hot, but since the move that has decreased since there is so much going on.
she loves to have hug parties w/ her stuffed animals, which is esp funny bc she will rarely hug living people.
she likes to play kitchen, going to the zoo, driving a car, and going to the store.
we got a ton of games from a woman on freecycle, and she loves to play with all the parts. she is a sorter and an organizer, but you'd never know this looking at the floor of her room. :
she loves to finger paint, play w/ stickers, read and play in the bathtub w/ food coloring.
her latest obsession still is chasing the cat around. poor jazmine.
she also loves to play w/ all her marvel super heros. hehe
oh, she also loves to go to parks, walk in the woods, and hug trees.
she has an assload of puzzles, but her obsession w/ that has slowed down w/ hat for somereason.


i've been on the fence on what to do with kathrynn and "school."
i love the unschooling modality and have been on an unschooling list since kathrynn was born. however i still have doubts about components of it- esp regarding that i think k will need more structure. my plan is to do a homechooling kind of thing, but leave it up to her as far as what we really do. we'll see.
this child sees the schools and the playgrounds, and asks when she can go to school. but, i guess if that is what she wants, then she will go to school.

i am enrolling her in a waldorf program one day a week (thursday) starting in sept. This is a pretty big step for us. We have been talking about it, and i told her that i could stay with her during it (its only 3 hours) but might need to leave sometimes to go to meetings, ect. She said she didnt' need me there as long as there were other kids there. I was pretty surprised, as this is coming from the kid who has never had a baby sitter. lol
so, we'll see. another friend is doing a waldorf inspired program out of her house on tuesdays, so if k really likes leslie's program, i might put her in heather's program too. leslie and heather are cohorts, so it would be pretty similar, and with some of the same kids too i think.
part of it is whether i can afford to do it, so we'll see

the other thing that came out of nowhere is a co-op'ing kind of preschool. some old casual friends i knew from way back have had one going for the last year. they had an opening and emailed me.
its only 2 hours every monday, and the parents stay there the whole time. there are 10 kids total, and the mothers rotate w/ being the "teacher".
my concern is that it would be too "schooly", but i have been told it isn't. i think most of them are homeschoolers.

however, i found out the other day that they are writing letters. i was like, 3 year olds writing letters? i dunno, that seems kind of young. i have no problem teaching whatever a kid wants to learn, so if k asked me to help her write her letters (bean bean did this right eilonwy?) then no problem. but to intentionally set out to teach them, it seems to young. i remember reading from Magical Child that teaching them super linear things, like reading, at too an early age can really disrupt their creative mechanism. So i have some hesitancy, but i think i'll try it and see how it goes.
I'm really pretty far out there, as far as how i view the world, ect, and i think i'd fit in much better w/ the hippy waldorf folks, but i'll give it a try.
i want kathrynn to have opportunities to grow and expand as she needs to, so am hesitant to refrain from doing things out of my own personal issues, ect.

well shit, i think i have babbled on love enuf. kathrynn is watching shrek, so i guess i should really be upacking while she is preoccupied. :P

hugs and love!
lisa

omg edited bc i butchered rynna's name. :/

[eilonwy]

Bean's a big fan of letters and numbers. He's very frustrated with his own inability to write legibly, actually. I've promised him some formal handwriting work, but we never seem to get around to it... Anyway, he gets a kick out of tracing, and he's tickled pink when he writes a letter all by himself. It's fun to watch, but I have to say that I think he's working ridiculously hard to overcome his natural nearly-four-year-old-boy coordination. I would never have suggested writing to him at all at this point; I taught myself to read at two, but I couldn't write legibly until I was nearly seven (even then, my handwriting *sucked*). If he wasn't so desperate to do it and frustrated by being unable to write, I would never have brought it up at all. Writing requires an entirely different set of skills than reading, or math, or really anything. Anyway, my own inclination is not to even attempt handwriting with a child until they're 6 or 7, unless they drag you into it sooner or show a remarkable aptitude (like BooBah).

That said, ( : )I'm not a big supporter of the Waldorf philosophies (that's what Magical Child is, right?); they don't seem to be based on anything other than one man's personal ideology, and the more I read about it, the more screwy it appears to me.

Leah-- depending on how far in the wax is, I'd probably just pull it out with a pair of tweezers. The kind that look like mini-scissors don't go in too far, and as long as you've got the kid holding still you can just reach in there and pull it out. It's a lot easier than dripping stuff into their ears which can actually push it further in, you know? It sounds scary, but my mom used to do it with my brother all the time (he'd get these big, corn-flake looking sheets of wax in his ears).

[MamaFern]

lisa: my plan this year is also to put elwynn into the waldorf preeschool one or maybe 2 days a week.. mornings or afternoon.. its only a few hours, like you said. i feel torn as well because i really want to homeschool/unschool him but i dont feel like i have the energy or the focus right now, especially because im going to be doing childcare for babies smaller than ngaio soon. i hope we can talk about the experiences our kids are having there..i think im ore aprehensive than elwynn is at this point..he sounds a lot like kathrynn in that he doesnt mind if im not there, or so he says, but im scared to leave him. my little guy!

[Mona]

Originally Posted by eilonwy

:
That said, ( : )I'm not a big supporter of the Waldorf philosophies (that's what Magical Child is, right?); they don't seem to be based on anything other than one man's personal ideology, and the more I read about it, the more screwy it appears to me.
.

no, magical child was writen by joseph chilton pearce. he was amazing- a true advocate for babies and children, talking about AP before it was ever a true concept.
Waldorf is pretty simple, based on using nature to learn. lol, that is really a silly way to shorten it. and to be honest, i don't know enough about it to tell someone else what it is. but there are lots of sites to read up on it. the thing about waldorf, which is true w/ montessori or any school, is that each individual school is different based on who is running it, ect. So i have heard some horror stories from some ppl, and TBH the true die hard Waldorf people give me the creeps- ie, the ones taht say absolutely no plastic or no tv is allowed. sorry, i am not an extremist, or that extreme anyway.
but yeah, this woman is really amazing and i am really excited for kathrynn to be exposed to the magical ways she is able to work with kids.

fern- yeah! we'll compare notes for sure.

hugs mamas

[MamaFern]

waldorf is about th sacredness of nature and magical things and imagination and art. i think it is a beautifl way to teach kids!!! i think that all walforf schools are VERY diferent as well. the philosophy is the same, but the way people teach that varries. ive been a part of the local school for a long time.. as a friend of people who went and part of the community choir and then a caregiver to kids who went.. i feel like the school is exactly want i want in a school for my kids.. except for the religious stuff, which i feel like i can safely say wont hurt my kids.. they will still grow up knowing that christianity is one of many religions.. we plan to join the local unitarian church this fall..where ill be helping a good freind of mine to teach 3-6 year olds RE(religious education) i guess i worrymore about how he interacts with other kids and stuff.. he is such a sensitive little guy and he kinda freaks out easily and i worry about that i guess.

[Mona]

fern, does your waldorf have a christian leaning?
if anything, mine has a pagan leaning i think. its very focused on the season of nature/ the pagan cycle.
i had a jewish friend that was put off by that a bit, as their tradition does not focus on these holidays.
the other thing, which is kinda tricky, is taht the pagan holiday's often overlap w/ the xian holidays, as the christians attemped to "steal" them and make them their own so as to draw those nasty pagans to christianity. :P

[MamaFern]

well the steiner philosophy is BASED on christianity.. but i wouldnt say it has a christian slant.. its just part of it. id say waldorf is more pagan as well..but it is borh, you know?

[Unreal]

uummmm
Steiner branched off from Theosophy....I thought?

and that is not a Christian religion (that part I know for sure--many big long papers written on Theosophy in grad school....pure drivel, but it got me through the classes )


eta: I love a lot of the Waldorf theory with kids....but I'm not a big fan of what I've read of Steiner's beliefs and WHY he encouraged certain things for kids.
But I can happily ignore that

[eilonwy]

Originally Posted by Unreal

uummmm
Steiner branched off from Theosophy....I thought?

: There's actually a whole religious thing going on with Waldorf called anthroposophy. I understand that most people love the crunchier, more "natural" aspects of Waldorf, but it's the fundamental philosophy with which I have the problems. I'm all in favor of kids taking nature walks, and if they want to look for elves and gnomes that's fine, but if they want to sit quietly and read a book before they start losing their baby teeth, I don't have a problem with that either.

eta: I love a lot of the Waldorf theory with kids....but I'm not a big fan of what I've read of Steiner's beliefs and WHY he encouraged certain things for kids.
But I can happily ignore that

I can't, but maybe that's because I'm Jewish. I can see that it's a great choice for many families, but overall I'm unimpressed.

A Safe, Healthy Haven?-- a thread here at MDC about Waldorf.

Anthroposophy & religion

[MamaFern]

i think waldorf is one of those subjects that you can go on and on about and never really have a clear understanding of it because its ethereal..

[Mona]

Originally Posted by MamaFern

i think waldorf is one of those subjects that you can go on and on about and never really have a clear understanding of it because its ethereal..

yeah, i'd say that is a good point. that is why i'd say it is the particular people that run it, and the energy they bring thu, rather then the institution itself, that i like. over all, i am pretty anti- establishment, bc they have been used throughtout time to squash and demoralize. however, there is no way i can disavow all ideas that have been come from various institutions. so i guess i'd say i am still learning, but will see how i like it all after a "semester." Again, this is not a school i'm enrolling kathrynn in, but one woman (with an assistant) who has about 8 kids. I know she does a kindergarten class, and i think 1st and second grade. but omg that is far away for me, thank goddess. :P

thanks for the links rynna- i have a lot of reading to do.