Muddling Through--with Precision!

Three days 'til moving day....

2008-06-28T09:38:00.000-07:00

....and man am I tired. I've been trying to keep up raw until dinner, but I'll tell you it has been a challenge. I'm definitely an emotional eater.
We're moving about an hour from where we currently live. It will be only about a ten minute drive for my husband to get to work which will be a nice change, but honestly I'm going to miss our little farm here, our simple life.
I've been enjoying this vlog, she's inspiring, funny and REAL--check it out:
www.bunnyberry.blogspot.com

WE'RE MOVING--YAHHHHH!

2008-06-12T13:25:00.000-07:00

D Day

2008-05-16T12:09:00.000-07:00

Carmella at The Sunny Raw Kitchen and Heathy at Adventures of Raw Goddess Heathy in their blogs talk about having a D Day. Now this may sound very ominous, but really is a happy thing--Dehydrator Day. You can go savory or sweet or like me, do both! I'm kicking my butt into gear and getting my RAW "pantry" full of goodness so it is easier to resist temptation.
So today I've soaked and dehydrated a bunch of different nuts and seeds, I've made enchiladas, and am soaking buckwheat now to dehydrate for cereal or I think I'm going to try making gRAWnola bars and/or snickerdoodles from Gone Raw (I'm going to substitute the buckwheat for the oat groats). I've also made Carmella's Ranch Dressing (am eating an awesome salad with this as I type). Next to go into the D--corn chips, sweet potato chips and pumpkin seed sausages from Gone Raw.

Happy D Day!!!

Unconscious Mutterings

2008-05-15T05:51:00.000-07:00

Track :: meet

Snake :: grass

Assignment :: book

Blockbuster :: video

Bombastic :: fantastic

Adventure :: choose your own

First time :: out

Aged :: cheese

Grip :: tight

Shortcut :: to the shortcut

Blueberry Spice!

2008-05-15T05:38:00.000-07:00

Here's my current favorite green smoothie:

Two large handfuls of spinach

3 large leaves of kale

tablespoon each of flax seeds and goji berries (optional)

1 cup of frozen mango

1 cup or to taste frozen blueberries

couple dashes of cinnamon

1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon of ground cardamom (I just eyeball it)

I LOVE cardamom and I love the way it combines with the flavor of the blueberries, yum yum!

Oh, and it is LILAC blooming time--ohh, the smell is heavenly.

Unconcious Mutterings

2008-04-29T10:16:00.000-07:00

Thug :: slug

Slurp :: burp

Alley :: cat

Sweater vest :: yikes

Targeted :: position

Snazzy :: lookin'

Oy! :: vay

Jury duty :: snooze

Low fat :: healthy

Responsibility :: over rated

I love free association! Over here you can find a new list posted weekly. Maybe this will help me post more often (she says sheepishly). We've been outside more now that spring has finally sprung and I've been trying to spend less time online too.

Challenge "Results"

2008-03-29T04:09:00.000-07:00

I have completed the Happy Foody thirty day Green Smoothie Challenge and the 7 day Raw Challenge. Sara wrote a wrap up here. She will be leaving the groups open and keep the challenge rolling so if you're feeling inspired, jump in!!
I started the smoothie challenge in February and only missed two days due to illness (didn't eat anything those days). I have been very conscious about NOT forcing any diet changes on my family. I do control the food that comes in for the most part as I do the majority of the shopping, but the raw/smoothie thing is only about me right now. Victoria Boutenko's book 12 Steps to Raw she has a whole chapter called, "I Love You No Matter What You Eat". She talks about not trying to convince other people to change, but rather letting the changes we make in ourselves speak for themselves. This is how I approached the smoothies. My children became curious and each tried them at different times. All but my oldest daughter love them. My four year old begs me to make him green "smoogies" Next my husband asked me to make him one. He noticed how much my mood has been affected by more greens, I am so much less cranky! Now he is drinking one a day as well. Hooray!
The raw challenge was just that, a challenge. The first few days went well, but I really had trouble finding raw dinner recipes that worked for me. I really wanted something "hearty" as it is STILL snow covered here. I made several failed recipes, but I am keeping on! I realized that just like when I started cooking it took me time to figure out the "alchemy" of cooking, the same will be true with un-cooking. I've discovered lots of things I'm not crazy about, LOL. But that's good because I'm gaining information and learning the ropes! I am not 100% raw and may never be, but I'm raw until dinner and probably eating raw all day 2-3 days a week right now. I definitely feel the difference in my body. I have not been a good steward of my temple and am trying to remedy that now. I have lost some weight and feel "lighter and brighter".
Check out this great video on transitioning to raw--this is exactly where I'm at!
I'll leave you with a link to this FABULOUS Raw Strawberry Swirl Cheesecake. Enjoy!

Happy Birthday to Us!

2008-03-17T06:20:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we celebrated my husband's and my birthdays. His birthday was actually last week and mine isn't until the end of the month, but we celebrated with my mother, sister, grandfather and his wife all together. I've been eating raw, but yesterday my mother made me my favorite meal and I chose to eat it with thanksgiving and no guilt. It was delicious and today I am back to raw and feel fine.

My sister was very generous and gave me some fabulous gifts yesterday. Inspired by Happy Foody's blog here, I asked for a wooden bowl and chopsticks and my sis got me this gorgeous bowl from Green Mountain Trading and a set of Joyce Chen chopsticks with bamboo holders. I can't wait to eat my big salad this afternoon!
She also got me a Zyliss mandolin slicer!!!! Yaaahhhhhh! I made myself some rawvioli Friday night that did not work because I couldn't slice the parsnip thin enough. I'm really excited to make some raw lasagna tomorrow with my new slicer!!!! Thanks Pooh (that's what we call dear sis around here).
My dear mother got me a hefty gift certificate to Border's bookstore--like a kid in a candy shop I will be (sorry, must be channelling Yoda unknowingly). I plan to get some "mommy time" the end of this week and go to our BIG CITY here in Vermont and spend some gift certificates I've accumulated from various gifting holidays.

P.S. I'll be 34 at the end of the month. In my head I feel younger, in my body much, much older. Thus the reason for going raw, lose some excess baggage that is weighing me down and get some energy to keep up with my seven silly geese!

Please Spring Come Soon!

2008-03-09T20:01:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm getting over the worst flu I've had in recent history! Holy cow, I had a fever for four and half days--really I slept for two days straight. I had aches and chills and no appetitie (the upside to this is I lost a few pounds). I'm still sooooo tired. And now we have a couple of inches of ice outside, but it is supposed to warm up the next few days.
We are back to house hunting, no fabulous finds yet, a couple of promising places, but they all need work.

I'm still doing my smoothie, though I did miss a few days last week. I got a couple of raw "uncookbooks" in the mail the end of last week and have been reading those. I also signed up for the Happy Foody raw challenge so I'll keep you posted!

One week of Green Smoothies

2008-02-29T06:49:00.001-08:00

I could definitely do this long term. A few changes I've observed that may or may not be attributed to this new way of eating:

More energy, sleeping less. I woke up yesterday at 6:30am, but it "felt" like 8:30. I actually got up and then realized how early it was--Very unusual for me!
After the first two days I have not been hungry, at all. Typically in the evening is when I would binge on junk because I felt like I was starving no matter how much I had eaten during the day. This has not happened at all this week. I used to think it was related to watching a movie or show on the computer, but I've watched this week and still no cravings.
My hair is not snarly. I know weird, but I have pretty long hair because I'm too cheap to get it cut more often and I hate having to brush out the tangles everyday. This week no tangles--I think this one is strange, but I haven't done anything else differently with my hair so--go figure.
My mood is 100% improved. I feel happy. Little things that irritated me on a regular basis (which are there are plenty of around here) are not bothering me, I'm able to laugh, really laugh.
I feel "light". And I'm NOT. I don't know what I weigh because we don't have a scale, but I'm fat. But I don't feel like I am, somehow. I'm not hung up on how much I weigh at all, but rather how I feel, I want more energy to play with my kids and generally enjoy life more than I've been able to for the last five years or so.

Here's what I've been eating:

Breakfast: Green Smoothie
Lunch: Large green salad and a raw bar or other raw food (I'm aiming for only raw food until dinner)
Dinner: I'm eating with the family. Aiming for vegan, but we will continue to eat meat a couple times a week. My initial goal for now is to really cut down our dairy consumption. I'm aiming for no dairy for myself.

Why am I focusing on eliminating dairy instead of meat? We raised our own meat so I have a freezer full and I know what they were fed (grass) and feel they are healthy to eat, in moderation. On the other hand I do not have a local source for quality dairy products and I know from previous "experimentation" that some of us are definitely negatively effected when consuming cow's milk products.

Is Cleanlinest Next to Godliness?

2008-02-26T07:23:00.000-08:00

We live in a 1300sq. ranch style mobile home. When we bought it six years ago, we had four children and planned to build a new home on this beautiful piece of land (10 acres with gorgeous views of the Adirondack mountains). But as the saying goes "Man makes his plans and God laughs". So now we are nine people living in this little, falling apart house and we have alot of stuff (plus a few pets). We've done several declutterings and yet it still feels messy all the time. At some point I've had to accept that there is not much more that can be done--we just don't have enough space.
Preschoolers and Peace had a blog recently titled, "Where's the Line?" I often struggle with the balance--I'd like a cleaner house, but we LIVE here and LEARN here and that can't happen if we can never move or touch anything (which is what it would take to keep it clean around here).
So today we are house cleaning and my goal is to stay cheerful and have realistic expectations as to what "clean" means for our family in this home.

Green Smoothie Challenge

2008-02-24T15:06:00.000-08:00

Soooooooo, in an effort get rid of some excess baggage (wink, wink) I'm making a concerted effort to eat less and eat more nutrient dense, healthful foods. I've been a Happy Foody reader for sometime now and have joined her challenge that starts tomorrow (though I started yesterday).Check it out here:

http://happyfoody.wordpress.com/2008/02/13/the-happy-foody-green-smoothie-challenge/

or here:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/greensmoothie/

So far I've tried three different smoothies combos and my favorite was the following:

2 cups of water
3 handfuls of spinach
handful of frozen blueberries
about two peaches worth of frozen peach slices
one whole lime, peeled
one large nub of ginger

Reminded me of my favorite summer time drink, ginger lemonade! Yum.

Changes in the New Year

2008-02-23T19:56:00.000-08:00

So I'm going to keep blogging about homeschooling...but I'm also going to start blogging about other things too. Like? Well, large family living, philosophy of life, health and healing, current events, I don't know whatever.....
So that explains the name change and the other posts.

Rhythm

2008-02-11T11:57:00.000-08:00

What attracts me to Waldorf is the rhythm, beauty and spirit. We NEED rhythm, we tend naturally toward a kind of unschool-y approach, but I feel when we do this we drift and not in a good way. The big challenge for me is working out rhythm to accommodate the whole family. My husband has a crazy schedule, he is schooling full time (working on his RN), working part time and does some volunteer work with the local EMS service. And the rest of us includes myself, StoryGirl (d10), Noonie (d8.75), Bubby (s7), Jeeves-ey(s6), Yummy (s4) and 2.5 year old dynamic duo, Beezer and Gooey (daughters). So, I am a busy mama. I've been pondering how to form our days for awhile and I'm pondering still..........
I implemented a new rhythm last week and so far it is working out okay, but I feel I need some space for myself and time to prepare for each day. I am NOT good at rising early and by evening I'm out of steam. So I pray some more and hope to find a way soon.
I would love to hear from anyone dealing with many kidlets about striking balance and such.

School in December

2007-12-17T05:51:00.000-08:00

Though we've only been doing Waldorf inspired learning since the spring, we have homeschooled from the beginning, about four years or so. Every year December comes and the "schedule" gets totally out of whack and I get anxious because we are behind and I'm stressed trying to get all the Christmas stuff together and ready and feel guilty we didn't do more fun projects and pheww.
Well this year I said-"NO MORE"! When I blocked out our lessons in the fall I drew a big X over the month of December. No "lessons", just festivals and holiday prep. We have "studied" a few things: Family, Traditions, Giving.
And guess what, we are not behind, I am not anxious, we are laughing and having fun and creating and wondering.
We are ready for the Light of Christmas, the Christ child is welcome here.

First Sunday of Advent

2007-12-05T03:54:00.000-08:00

We are celebrating advent up to Christmas. We keep it very simple with so many little ones. We have a small advent ring that I decorated with evergreen sprigs that the children collected from the yard. At dinner we gathered around the table, dad had a candle that he used to light the first candle on the wreath. He read a verse/prayer and we sang a carol, then we lit the rest of our holiday candles and ate by candle light and soft music.

We have a couple of advent calendars that we use each day. One is a felt nativity scene with pockets, each day you add a new piece to the picture. The other I just got this year on sale. It is a "stain glass" looking kind. We have it on the mantle with an electric candle behind so we can see the lovely pictures.

Thanksgiving Traditions

2007-11-24T13:19:00.001-08:00

One of our family traditions is to make gingerbread houses while we wait for our turkey to cook. These are some of our masterpieces from this year.

Kindergarten

2007-11-18T11:15:00.000-08:00

I'll be honest, I'm not a big proponent of kindergarten. I don't think it is necessary and I think parents, especially with the first child, tend to go WAY overboard. Kids at this age need to play and help you clean up the house, bake, work on craft projects--that they have the ideas for.

My little boys want "school" because they see the big kids working on things so I've been telling one fairy tale a week. I found a great list of stories appropriate for younger children in Beyond the Rainbow Bridge by Barbara Patterson. So I tell the story (I've picked shorter ones so learning them has been very easy). I draw a chalkboard picture of the story:

This is Star Money, a Grimm's fairytale. Chalk is very forgiving and so are small children so it is really not too difficult and if you don't like it erase it and try again. For this story the boys drew their own picture the next day while they helped me retell the story and then two days later we made a lantern for our project:

Again this was pretty basic: a small glass jar, a tea light, black construction paper, glue, paper and crayons. Jeeves drew the girl and we cut her out. We used a pencil and poked holes in the black paper for the "starlight" to shine through and glued the girl on the paper. Finally we wrapped the jar and lit the candle and for a five year old you have MAGIC!

We've also told The Turnip and Billy Goats Gruff, but instead of a project day, we acted out the stories. We even convinced Daddyman to get involved. We all had fun and the big kids are "catching up" on the fairy tales they didn't hear when they were younger!

Seriously?

2007-10-26T12:31:00.000-07:00

My daughter, Noonie, age eight is a pig lover. We've raised pigs a couple of times in the past and she is currently saving money to buy her own breeding sow when she is older. Yesterday I bought a ten pound pork loin. It was good price and in a family our size, it will get used up. Noonie saw the pork loin when I came home and announced it was "Fatso, my piglet that I love."
Okay, whatever, I put the groceries away and asked her to bring "Fatso" to the outdoors freezer. She went outside and Gooey and Beezer followed her. I heard some screaming a few minutes later and asked my son why Gooey (age 2) was upset.
"She wants to hug the meat and Noonie won't let her"

Now honestly, has anything like this ever happened at your house? I'm starting to feel my sanity slipping through my fingers..............................

Our Michaelmas Celebration

2007-09-29T05:51:00.000-07:00

A couple of my kiddos are going to visit Grammy today so we celebrated yesterday. We made a dragon earlier in the week and I decided to make dragon pizzas instead of bread for our meal. I didn't get a picture of our dragon pizzas and have been chastised by my husband already:) But we just made a batch of pizza dough and had a bag of frozen gluten free pizza dough (I think Gillians) for the two GFGs (gluten free guys). We spread out the dough, tried to make sort of a head part and a tail part, but weren't too particular. Then the fun part, we painted pesto on for dragon color, slopped some tomato sauce on for fire breath, black olive rings for eyes and half onion rings for wings. Finally we added cheese for scales, then popped them in the oven. Before the went in the oven they were naughty and breathed fire all over the kitchen which resulted in "burnt ashes" that we had for dessert--brownies and GF chocolate donuts (this part I just explained to the children at the table, ie. "We had a problem in the kitchen before the dragons went in the oven...). We were also sure to drink plenty of water to put out any flames that might pop up in our tummies from eating dragons.

We battled the paper bag dragon in our playroom. I had a special crown and cape and named one of my sons Michael the arch angel and he led the other angels in battle. We subdued the dragon and cast him from heaven--threw him out a window down into some thorny rose bushes we have growing in the front yard.

All in all a huge success and everyone is looking forward to celebrating again next year!

Some days work.....

2007-09-10T09:58:00.000-07:00

You know, when the barometric pressure is just right, everyone had a good nights sleep, everyone is present--in the moment I mean.

Today was one of those days.

StoryGirl is doing a Man and Animal block and today she was "researching" eagles. Noonie has been doing eagles and I was able to find a fable with an eagle in it and then Screenguy was doing the letter "M" which what do you know looks like a bird in the sky!

Gotta love it when it all falls together.

Great first day!

2007-08-27T09:52:00.000-07:00

Today was a gift from God. We had our "official" first day of school and it went sooooo smoothly. I wanted to blog to have a reminder for myself when we have a day where we "hit the wall" so to speak--hopefully this post will inspire me!

The secret to our success was me rising early--it really is the key! I got a shower and read the Bible, prayed and meditated and looked over my plan for the day. We ate breakfast, did our chores and then did our morning circle.

Then as this is our first year doing "Waldorf" we're starting with a week of form drawing. We started with the usual straight line curve line. I am telling a story based on the story Barbara Dewey has in her Form Drawing book about an old woman who walks with a cane and live deep in the forest. All my children are doing this basic first week as this is our first year and the older children need an intro as well.

Grade 2 Resource list

2007-08-25T10:50:00.000-07:00

A Journey Through Waldorf Homeschooling Grade Two Melisa Nielson

The Wise Enchanter Shelley Davidow

OM Word Families Book

A Path of Discovery Grade 2 Eric Fairman

Francis, The Poor Man of Assisi Tomie dePaola

Stories of the Saints retold by Siegwart Knijpenga

Hit the Ground Running

2007-08-25T10:46:00.000-07:00

We will be starting our fall rhythm this week, starting "school". We learn all the time, everyday, but we will begin lessons this Monday. I'm going to list resources and plans for the different grades we're working with this fall, hopefully this will keep me accountable and inspired. I'm also consulting with Melisa Nielson from A Little Garden Flower for the same reasons:)
And away we go!!!!

Donna Simmons' Audio Downloads

2007-07-27T09:26:00.000-07:00

I've been listening to these great downloads from Donna Simmons this summer. I have Kindergarten through Grade 4 that I've purchased to download. You can listen to them again and again and her tone makes me feel as though we sitting together at my kitchen table having a chat. I don't necessarily think I'll do or follow all her suggestions, but these talks are a great starting place for a newby like me. She not only gives the "curriculum suggestions", but backs them with a bit of the WHY behind what is appropriate for a child at different stages and ages in their development. She is also speaking directly to homeschooling families as opposed to the classroom setting, making her suggestions applicable to my real life.
I'm in a corner of the country where Waldorf conferences are not regularly available and for $12 these were an affordable option for me. Oh, but heads up the price will be going up to $14 sometime in August.

Lazy, Hazy, Crazy Days

2007-07-26T10:16:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, I've not posted in a LONG time. Summer is here and we've maintained some rhythm to our days, but mostly just enjoying the outside and sunshine.
I've been doing a lot of reading, let's see I've read:

Donna Simmons' Joyful Movement, Waldorf Curriculum Overview and am currently working on From Nature Stories to Natural Science
Melisa Nielson's series of books A Journey Through Waldorf Homeschooling through grade 2 (I am anxiously awaiting grade 4 release for StoryGirl),
Beyond the Rainbow Bridge by Barbara Patterson (by the way I want to second the review and sentiments concerning this book found at A Taste of Waldorf)
Path of Discovery Grade 1 & 2 by Eric Fairman
Math Lessons of Elementary Grades by Dorothy Harrer
The Wise Enchanter by Shelley Davidow

I'm currently reading Storytelling with Children by Nancy Mellon and Teaching As a Lively Art by Marjorie Spock. Almost all of these I got used from the yahoo group waldorfcurriculum-supplies, if you're not a member you may want to check it out, I've gotten some good deals.

I've also watched a couple of DVD's from Informed Family Life: Create Your Own Family Celebrations with Esther Leisher and Form Drawing in the Early Years with Kelly Morrow. Oh yes, and I've listened to Donna Simmons' audio downloads for grades kindy through fourth. Phew, saturating my thoughts with good stuff!!

This year I am preparing for StoryGirl (Gr. 4), Noonie (Gr. 2) and Screenguy (Gr. 1) with a little kindy activity for Jeeves while keeping YumSquares and Beezer & Gooey engaged in home life and out of the emergency room;)

I'll write more (Lord willin' 'n the crick don't rise) about all these books in the next week or so.

Hope you're enjoying your summer!

8 Things

2007-06-08T09:10:00.000-07:00

I've been tagged by Sara--I've never been blog tagged before, how exciting!

The rules are simple…Each player lists 8 facts/habits about themselves. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning before those facts/habits are listed. At the end of the post, the player then tags 8 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

1. I'm not a "baby person". This is quite shocking considering I've had seven:) I love my babies, but love them more as they get older. Though I must admit of all my babies, this last time around with the twins I enjoyed the baby phase more than I ever have..........maybe we should keep going(?) or not:)

2. I'm a piler--piles all over the place, well actually I've gotten much better (as piles are a disaster waiting to happen in a small house full of little ones), but I still always have at least two piles going --usually the kitchen counter and the computer table.

3. My children think I am embarrassing---and I LOVE THIS! I totally get now why my father enjoyed this so much when I was a child, such fun;)

4. My "babies", Gooey and Beezer will be TWO in July and I am not pregnant. This is the longest I've not been pregnant in ten years (DH and I celebrated our tenth anniversary this year).

5. I'm working on getting into a healthier eating and exercise routine. All these babies have taken a toll on my body and I've not been good about taking care of it--and it shows! Now don't get me wrong, I expect to a bit baggy and saggy from all the expansion projects, but I need to lose some extra baggage, if you know what I mean.

6. I was a Philosophy major in college.

7. I have no depth perception. Makes parallel parking an adventure! I found this out because I failed the vision portion of my driving test and had to get a note from my optometrist. Also I can't "do" those 3-D pictures that my husband thinks are so cool.

8. If I don't write things down I forget them. Case in point, at one o' clock this afternoon people showed up at my house--people I know and had arranged to come to my home at one o'clock this afternoon, but because I did not write it down, was totally unprepared for. I was still in my pajamas, though thankfully did have a bra on. (blush)

And now that you know way more about me than you would ever want to... I tag:

Camian Acadamy, Sara, Melody, Jen, PreschoolersandPeace

(I know I'm breaking the rules as I'm only tagging five, but I think these folks might play and I wasn't sure about others.)

Our Morning Routine

2007-06-07T07:04:00.000-07:00

So I am not a morning person, not even close. If I go to bed at a decent time, I can drag myself out of bed by 6:30 or 7AM, but more often than not I'm up at night until 11:30 or 12.

My children on the other hand rise between 5:30 and 6:30am--UGHH! So this part we are still working out the kinks on, however, we try to eat breakfast between 7:30/8:00am and we all eat the same thing, whatever it is, take it or leave it. There are just too many people for short order cooking!

After we eat I call "Fall in", think The Sound of Music and Cheaper by the Dozen (the older version). Here's a picture from a couple years ago (no the babies were generally not required to get in line LOL).

Now this was originally StoryGirl's idea (incidentally she would like there to be twelve children in our family, jury's still out on this one) as she thought it was "neat". Over time we've come to find this ritual very helpful for making announcements and disseminating information in an efficient manner in our home.

We line up and then sing a hymn and work on a poem, currently we are singing "For the Beauty of the Earth" and reciting "Key of the Kingdom" (I found this in Lifeways by Davy & Voors). I also like the poems in A Journey through Time in Verse and Rhyme by Thomas for poems and recitation. We do some counting games or movement songs and verses. I've found some great ideas at Sunshower Kisses and we are currently using the strawberry themed verses from the files section. We also are doing some music, currently clapping out rhythms.

The children like to play a guessing game, I describe a character (currently from the Bible) and they guess "Who Am I?" This has been fun.

We close with prayer and another hymn.

In the future I'd like to add more math games (with beanbags), recorder and also lighting a candle.

We then all work together to do our morning chore work, which takes about a half hour and then we are on our way!

The Philosophy of Education, not the Astoria

2007-06-02T15:12:00.000-07:00

We are a homeschooling family of nine, including: Dad and Mom, StoryGirl age 9, Noonie age 7 (almost eight in nine days), Screenguy age 6, Jeeves-y Monkey age 5, Yum Squares age 3 (almost 4 in a month) and Beezer and Gooey who will be 2 in a little over a month.
We've been humming along in a pretty unschool like pattern, though StoryGirl has been doing a computer generated curriculum this year which she likes because it is quick and predictable. Dad wanted her to use something more "standardized" to make sure she was keeping up (with whom I'm unsure, but it made him feel better so we gave it a try). I'm not a big fan, though I will admit it is convenient, but convenience shouldn't be the ultimate goal.
So I've been feeling the need to bring more RHYTHM to our lives and I keep coming back to Waldorf-inspired ideas. So this blog is to chronicle our journey. We are certainly not the poster children for all things Waldorf, but hopefully we can inspire others to take one step at a time as we work to move to a better place!