Monthly Guides are Back!

I am so very excited to share with you the news of the return of the Celebrating the Rhythm of Life in Caring for Children through the Year materials. I have read all of your very kind, honest and thorough comments in the feedback and taken them to heart. The new format retains all of the elements you love with some expansion in a few areas. I've been striving to keep it all very simple, easy for you to read and digest. I have also made it more process and community oriented this time around.

The material will be available in a packet (pdf) and online along with the rest of the program. Participants may sign up for the month or for the school year, from September to July

Each month the material for The Celebrating the Rhythm of Life in Caring for Children Program includes:

• Materials packet with verse, song, circle, finger play, story, activities
• Daily and Weekly rhythm plan (if you want it sketched out ~ it's here)
• Menus with recipes based on Steiner's grains (breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea)
• Handwork for each month with hands on tutorial
• Artistic Activity for each month
• Festival life ~ background and celebration ideas
• Seasonal foods to plant, harvest and prepare with children
• My favorite book suggestions
• In the Morning Garden ( a tip each month for group programs)
• After school (Activities, Recipes, Stories for the grade school child)
• Focus topic for each month
• Pedagogy behind the topic
•  Practical activity with monthly topic
• Exercise to do with the topic ~ practice
• Reflection ~ questions for nurturing the inner life
• Partners to support each other
• Private online discussion group
• Occasional blog posts throughout the month
• Ideas for creating community where you live

Come join in, create community, find support, receive encouragement!

Often the artistic, handwork and practical activity with overlap with each other so you will not have a huge number of projects each month.

After many years of giving freely to help others along the Waldorf Way, I have made the decision to charge a fee for this material to help me continue to do this work and support my family. The Wonder of Childhood will continue to be free of a subscription charge.

Cost:

By the month $45 per month
From September until July (with July as bonus) $45


Go here to enroll.

Cookie Making for Beach Going

We had a big chunk of time alone together on a beautiful, warm, sunny, summer morning.

I gave it up to my little one, "whatever you want to do, I'm game."

Can you guess what he chose....

We put on our aprons and let the mixer do its magic with butter and sugar...

we whisked  flour, salt and baling powder...

added  eggs and vanilla.

Then I realized, we had no chips. So I raided the S'mores stash and he chopped up some Hershey bars.

We packed it up and rambled down to the beach for a swim.

Oh please, just one more minute in the water....one more swim to the rocks?

Who could say no?

{this moment}

{this moment}

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

inspired by SouleMama

It's Calling Me

I'm trying so hard to get here.
I am supposed to be working this week: writing, editing, washing, ironing, cooking, painting and planning.

Big brother is off on a Kroka expedition and little brother and his dad are off having adventures together. This is my time to work through the "to do" list.

The first articles of August are up on the Magazine and looking good. I love bringing together the work that expresses the passion of so many gifted people. I have more ideas and visions than I have time to put together in a day or a week, maybe in a lifetime. So I keep at it, "inch by inch and step by step," as my dear friend Aaiyn says. But after a while my thoughts get frazzled.

And you know how it goes when your brain is so scrambled from trying to think too much, in too many directions at the same moment? I usually  try to step out of my life without going too far away, a walk in the woods helps, so does a movie. So the other night I watched a movie, a really good movie, one of those movies with beautiful lingering images and the reminder that even though life is hard, life is beautiful.

Have you seen it? It's A Sunshine of Rainbows? It takes place on the rugged coast of Ireland. It's a timeless movie with simple, natural, beauty. So much beauty, the rugged coast, the simple life, the kindness and goodness of people. The clothing of the characters is so lovely, all of it,  handmade and surely full of love, knit sweaters, crochet scarves and wraps, hand made socks, woven fabrics, all gorgeous and beautiful in their simplicity and connection to the land and animals. Chickens, sheep and the garden supply food and wool. So simple. Such beauty and loss and grief. It's not all happy happy you know.

Back to work for me. Have you seen the movie? Did you like it? Any not- to- miss movies you might recommend? I need more movies.

{this moment}

{this moment}

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Right now, I am:

:: Excited to go the the Vermont Cheese makers Festival

:: Grateful to live by the lake and have cool water for respite from the sweltering heat

:: Savoring summer reads with my feet in the lake

:: Contemplating fresh green peas, fresh ricotta and pasta
:: Noticing the shift from humid hot to brisk cool air that takes place each morning
:: Listening to Ella
:: Writing a piece on a topic that is dear to my heart
:: Grateful for boys, mud fights and lakes to have them in
:: Struggling to find the words to express my understanding for the above mentioned piece
:: Wanting to make ice cream everyday, maybe this one today!
:: Striving to spend more time here

What's happening with you?

(this moment)

{this moment}

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Inspired by SouleMama

Summer Dreaming

The days of summer are upon us, long, warm and sticky. The school children are out and the neighborhood is alive with children's voices during the week. The hose comes out and drenches everyone and it's all okay because it's summer. The evenings are so long and pleasant that we often find ourselves astonished by how late it is yet how high the sun is.

The strawberries are here, sweet and ripe for eating, the raspberries are coming. Blueberries are not too far off. The Farmer's Market is gorgeous with greens, lettuce, spinach, kale, spring onions with red bulbs. The garden is finally dry and beckoning, "plant me now before it's too late!"

Musing now, over the days and weeks  to come, full of summer's warmth, light and goodness, on what I want to accomplish, notice, savor, support, nourish, release. Right now I am:

::  wanting to return to blogging here yet finding my energy directed here
::  savoring the flavor, texture and relationship with the ingredients of homemade ice cream
;;  amused by the simple happiness our chicks seem to have in pecking and scratching and eating slugs
::  working hard to get the July Issue of the The Wonder of Childhood Magazine up 
::  grateful to have a new fully functioning computer to work on!
::  waiting for blueberries to ripen so I can bake this
::  bemused by little boys' fascination with fireworks and smoke bombs
::  wondering what it must be like to be a large wooly dog in this heat
::  enjoying meals outdoors as often as possible
::  discovering the yumminess and simplicity of cedar plank grilling
::  loving summer walks on a nearby farm
::  remembering how pleasant it is to stretch out and have a restful read in the heat of the afternoon 
::  looking forward to some lazy days of catching up with old friends
::  exploring plans to build a movable chicken run this summer
::  baking strawberry muffins today
::  heading out to the garden before the rain to plant some potatoes
::  considering a commitment to blogging here daily, to get into the swing of it
::  hoping you'll have patience and bear with me on that
:: thankful for the inspiration!
:: grateful for this most amazing online community!
:: giving up the search for my camera to add photos to this post!


Happy Summer!

{this moment}

{this moment}

A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember, inspired by Amanda Soule

 

 

Finally ~ Knitting project and Article Complete

Joining in with Ginny's Yarn Along over at Small Things.

It's done, finally, with a great big ta da! The four part series on Knitting and the First Grader for the Magazine begins here, if you are interested. It includes a piece on Introducing Children to Knitting with a Visit to the Farm, Make Your Own Knitting Needles, an article by Angela Mobley on How to Teach Children Knitting, handwork verses and instructions for how to make the simple spring chick, above.

The book on my night stand remains Anita Shreve's, The Last Time They Met. I am still greatly enjoying it and slowly plodding through it.

Spring cheer to all! and Autumn cheer to you down under!

{this moment}

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Inspired by Soule Mama

Earth Day and Easter

I have been so busy with The Wonder of Childhood, trying to get the Easter articles up and on the site as well as post all of The First Grader articles there that I have spent little time here.

My article Every Day is Earth Day is up on the magazine.

Today my parents are celebrating their sixty first wedding anniversary! Sixty one years of getting used to each other. I just have to share that. Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!

Before we get to May and look at May Day, I am going to share with you links to some of my favorite places for Celebrating the Rhythm of Life this week:

• To explore the inner year with Lynn Jericho with Inner Easter from the festival celebration of esoteric Christianity, click here: Inner Easter This is a free series of writings and audio talks on Inner Easter.
• For beautiful, natural eggs with leaf impressions: Click here, Ithaca Handwork
• For beautiful eggs from beets, onion skins and blueberries: Click here,  Mother Earth News
• Very simple and direct instructions for marblized eggs: Click here, DLTK Growing Together
• For speckled eggs: Click here, Southern Living
• Lovely results with stickers and dye bath eggs: Click here, Better Homes and Garden
• For gorgeous eggs with magical patterns though not edible: Click here, Most Beautiful Eggs!