Circle Time: A Thankfulness Circle

This week we'll be doing a thankfulness/gratitude circle.

Generally, I like my circle times to last two to three weeks, perhaps adding something here or there or taking something away to keep it fresh. I'm hoping to show this to you next month with our four Advent circles.

November, however, was a bit of an odd month, with Martinmas the second week and Thanksgiving the last, so we ended up starting out with a Harvest Circle Time, then Martinmas, then the story of The Little Red Hen, which I felt went with the harvest mood of the month. And now we'll wrap things up, returning to the harvest and focusing on a spirit of gratitude. Unfortunately this isn't a terribly active circle, but it's also not terribly long.

Oats, Peas, Beans, and Barley Grow (Because Daniel REALLY likes this one!)

Sing and Do (A Child's Seasonal Treasury)
Sing, sing of the Harvest Wreath binding,
Sing, sing of the Harvest Wreath minding.
Sing of the wheat and the oats and the rye.
Sing of the ribbon to hang it up high.
Sing, sing of the Harvest Wreath.

Sing, sing of the threshing of the corn,
Sing, sing of the threshing of the corn.
Sing of the barley, the wheat and the rye.
Sing of the flail and the husks flying high.
Sing, sing of the threshing of the corn.

Sing, sing of the candle a-glowing.
Sing, sing of the candle a-glowing.
Sing of the fire, the wax, and the tin.
Sing of the wick and the dipping in.
Sing, sing of the candle glow.


We have a gratitude bowl, and at the time each day, we'll think of something for which we are thankful, write it on a piece of paper, and add it to the bowl. Some people also do a tree. There's a lovely one over on Zach Aboard. Then, we'll sing:
Let's give thanks for what we've got,
Whether it's a little or whether it's a lot.
It may be something simple or maybe not,
But we're thankful for all we've got!

And a small bit from a favorite John McCutcheon song:
Thankful for the food,
Thankful for the company,
Thankful for the things that we do and say.
Thankful for the friends,
Thankful for the family,
Glad to be together on Thanksgiving Day.

May the way that we treat others
Be the measure of our worth.
May our memory be a blessing
On the future of the earth.

Thankful... etc.

Thanksgiving Time (A Child's Seasonal Treasury)
When all the leaves are off the boughs
And nuts and apples gathered in,
And cornstalks waiting for the cows
And pumpkins safe in barn and bin,
Then Mother says, "My children dear,
The fields are brown and Autumn flies,
Thanksgiving Day is very near
And we must make Thanksgiving pies."

Table Stretches (A fingerplay)
Every day when we eat our dinner,
Our table is very small.
Show size with hands
There's room for Daddy
Hold up tall finger
And Mother
Hold up pointer finger
And Baby, that is all.
Hold up pinky.
But when Thanksgiving Day comes
You can't believe your eyes.
For the table stretches and stretches and stretches
Stretch out arms
To an enormous size.

This Is the Way...
This is the way we set the table,
Set the table, set the table,
This is the way we set the table
On Thanksgiving Day.

This is the way we...
(pass the food, eat the food, clear the table, wash the dishes, etc)

Hearth and Fire
Hearth and fire be ours tonight (today)
And all the dark outside.
Fair the night (day) and kind on you,
Wherever you may bide.

And I'd be the sun upon your head,
The wind about your face.
My love upon the path you tread
And upon your wanderings, peace.

Hearth and fire be ours tonight (today)
And the wind in branches bare.
O that the wind we hear tonight (today)
Would find you well and fair.

And I'd be... etc.

Seasons of Joy has a Facebook page!

Wow! That Advent book is almost finished. Almost, but not quite. There are still a lot of finishing touches to add on. Meanwhile, I've created a Facebook page for Seasons of Joy.

I have a lot of plans on the table. I don't know how many of them will come to fruition, but some of the things I'd like to do in the coming year include...

--completely redoing the web page and moving it to its own domain name (I think that's what you call it,LOL!)

--inviting readers of Seasons of Joy to share pictures of them doing the activities, which I will then post on the website

--writing an Advent saints book (the book I'm completing now does not include any of the saints' days celebrations)

--writing a 12 Days of Christmas book

--learning to use Twitter

--using social media like Facebook and Twitter to post links of interest, such as fun craft ideas from other sites

-- completely rewriting the Summer Seasons of Joy book

-- revising the other books to clean up any problems

-- creating a reader survey to help determine the direction Seasons of Joy goes

-- learning to add MP3 (??) files to the blog so readers can listen to the songs

Typing that out, it all seems rather ambitious!

I am also looking to create a logo for Seasons of Joy. I am not sure what the protocol is for this, but I'm willing to barter the complete $50 curriculum set, including the new summer book when it is complete, for a logo. I'd like something "waldorf-esque" that reflects the 4 seasons. Please comment or email me if you're interested!

Additionally, please be sure to check out my trade list on "yard sale" blog, The Gnomes' Home. I'm more than willing to barter Seasons of Joy for things on the list.

I think that's all the "business news" I have. Please do join me on Facebook. You can can always friend me on my personal page as well. I look forward to seeing you there!

An apology... and an announcement!

Unfortunately, I will not get my post on evening routines up today. I had one of the days where my to-do list was a mile and a half long.

But fortunately (I hope!) one of the things I am working on is completing the new Advent Seasons of Joy book! It's a four-week journey through Advent, with stories, songs, traditions, rhythms and routines, crafts and handwork, nature tables, recipes, and more. It doesn't include the Advent saints, but does have plenty to keep you and your family focused on traveling the spiral Advent path. Crossing my fingers and saying a prayer, it will be finished next week. I hope to have a bit of a sampler up early next week as well.

Workbox Wednesday: Nicholas

Once again, it's Workbox Wednesday, and we're back to Nicholas!

Because Nicholas is my first one-on-one "date" I've the school day, I've been experimenting with making his first 4 boxes things he needs a little supervision with. We started out with a large map of a Pilgrim village from Let's Find Out. Nicholas enjoyed tracing a path from one spot to another. He even insisted we hang the map up so he could look at it again later!

Next was Speechersize. I had tried making this an independent activity, but he's been struggling with it lately, so today we did it together. Here is Nicholas, making "Silly Faces".

We worked some more on our Harvest Counting Book.


Next we made some autumn spice dough from the Autumn Seasons of Joy. It smelled so yummy, and everyone enjoyed it. Even Big Sister joined in!


Next, Nicholas took a ten minute break. I'm not exactly sure what he thinks he needs a break from, but he has decided that every four boxes, he needs a ten minute break.

The next box had this little tape-and-color kit that I picked up at the Dollar Tree. Nicholas had fun, and it was a good small motor skill activity.

And then he moved on to a cut and paste activity.


Next was a box with seashells.

After listening for the ocean, he sorted them into large and small.

By now it was snack time. Nick followed me into the kitchen and made a little walnut shell turtle.


Which later found its way to the top of the gnome cave on the nature table.

We were going to have the rest of the crown cake for snack, but Daniel got to it while we were working on boxes 5 through 7. Le sigh.
I suppose I should be happy he didn't get to the knife.

After snack, bristle blocks!

I had these little linky-doos I picked up at a yard sale. I believe they're meant to be a math manipulative. I put them in a workbox mostly to see what he would do with them. He used them to stage an over-the-sofa escape.


And then he helped his brother over the wall.

Another yard sale find, wipe off "finish the picture" boards.

And a repeat of "Clip the Feathers on the Turkey".

And that was Nick's morning!

More than one type of noise...

Today I caught myself being short with my children.

Now, don't get me wrong. This is by no means an isolated event. But today, the realization of what it all meant hit me hard.

I have a lot of irons in the fire right now. I'm frantically trying to finish up an Advent edition of Seasons of Joy. I'm homeschooling a kindergartener, a third grader, and a fifth grader. I have a toddler underfoot. I have a short story I'm working on. I'm trying to work out at home or get to the gym anyway. And it's the Week of the Kitchen, so I'm trying to scrub out the fridge and scour the sink and clean the woodwork and degrunge the floor.

So when I went down in the basement to switch the laundry and put in a new load, I actually took a deep breath and lingered for a moment, enjoying the quiet and peace of being in the only level of the house with no children.

"Mooooo--oooooooooommmmmmm!!!!!"

And I have to admit, my response was a not very nice, "WHAT?!?"

And right away, I felt ashamed.

You see, the other things are important. The new Advent guide will (hopefully!) help pay for Christmas. A clean kitchen will help us all feel more peaceful. And the pesky state likes to be assured that I am properly educating my children.

But the most important thing of all is that I love them.

If I speak in the languages of humans and angels but have no love, I have become a reverberating gong or a clashing cymbal.

In that moment, it hit me. Those other things are important, but they're only a means to an end. In the end, I'm not commanded to write or clean or even to educate, but to love. Sometimes, all this business and busyness is nothing more than another type of noise.

So I went upstairs, and tried to breathe the busyness out. I snuggled the baby, read to my kindergartener, kissed my daughter, and took the time to listen to my oldest. And somewhere deep inside, my soul breathed a sigh of relief, recognizing that this was what I was supposed to be doing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.

A Day in the Life

Good morning, and happy Tuesday! While the kids were waking up, I went downstairs and started the oatmeal.

Nicholas was the first one down. He likes to sit on the grate in the kitchen to warm himself.

Finally, almost everyone was down at the table and ready for breakfast.

Daniel was still in the living room, getting changed and dressed with Daddy.

Bowls were washed and stacked, and it was off to morning chores!

Katie Grace sorted some laundry, Michael took out the trash, and Nicholas worked on his room.

Next was devotions

Followed by circle time for the little ones.

Daniel enjoyed playing with the story basket after we'd moved on.

Michael and Katie Grace got started on their daily work.


And Nicholas and I did a little painting and some other work together.

As the older two continued, the littles and I made some flat bread rolls for snack, recipe from The Waldorf Kindergarten Snack Book.

While they were baking, Michael did an experiment with Newton's Law of Motion.

And by the time that was done, it was snack time!

Everyone got back to business. Things were going so well, I even had time to put in a load of laundry
and organize two drawers,

Meanwhile, Daniel was hanging with his gnomies.

And Katie Grace was chilling with a puzzle after her main lesson was finished,

And Michael beat it outside as soon as he possibly could.
Meanwhile, Nicholas did a little painting

And a little dino wrestling.

And after a three-boy pile-up

it was time for a lunch of homemade chicken soup!

Here's where it gets kind of dicey-- lunch was cleaned up, a ten-minute tidy was complete, and Charlotte's Web was read. We all piled in the car to take Katie Grace to the elementary school for orchestra, and the two middle boys stopped at Wendy's to get their free Frosty's from Halloween. After Katie Grace came home, we read Story of the World and they designed their own cities, just like Peter the Great. I also popped in a cake.


Then I took a nap, because let's face it, today was exhausting.

When I woke up, there was an Uno game afoot and Michael had gone to the corner store for some Doritos.

While they were playing, I iced the crown cake for St. Elizabeth of Hungary's feast day.
Chip took Katie Grace to ballet, and Daniel climbed Michael's desk and did a little shadow boxing. For real. I heard him saying "Left! Block!"

Michael decided he would try to pass the final bridge in his Life of Fred book-- and he did!

I fit in a workout while dinner finished up, but it's hard to do crunches with a toddler on my tummy!

The boys were hungry, so I went ahead and fed them. Katie Grace and Daddy wandered in a few minutes later.

Then it was crown cake for desert and some quiet play and listening to books on tape, bath, story, prayers, and bed.

Good night!

Circle Time: The Little Red Hen, a table play

We haven't had a table play during circle for a while, so this week I decided to tell the tale of The Little Red Hen. In our story, we have a horse, a cow, a sheep and a pig. I made up some little songs to go along with the story as well, and will try to get them up tomorrow.

I'm a little worried about Nicholas though. He gets very, very sad when the Little Red Hen won't share her bread with the other animals. I fear he sympathizes a little too much with the animals who refused to help, yet still wanted a share of the spoils. He thinks the Little Red Hen is "mean" and "selfish," and I suppose I can understand his point of view.

Story of the World: Ho, Hum.

I must say, Volume 3: Early Modern Times, isn't really doing it for me. Don't get me wrong. We do the reading, fill in our little maps, answer the review questions and do our narrations, but it's just not terribly exciting.

I did crack up at Katie Grace's narration today re: Peter the Great:
Peter the Great wanted to make Russia more Western, but not so Western that he was no longer czar.

We will be heading into Colonialism soon, and the the Revolutionary War, so I'm hoping things will get a little more exciting. Or at least interesting.

Book Review: Everything on a Waffle

Primrose Squarp's life changes the night her parents are lost at sea in a horrible storm. But, hoping against hope, she believes they are still alive. As she makes her way through life without her parents to guide her, she gets some help along the way from the elderly and confused Mrs. Perfidy, her reluctant guardian, Uncle Jack, Miss Bowzer, the proprietress of the local restaurant where everything-- and I mean EVERYTHING-- is served on a waffle, her foster parents, Bert and Evie, even the meddlesome Miss Honeycut.

Polly Havrath tells a great story, and it's no surprise Everything on a Waffle is a Newberry Honor Book. Haven't you ever known something deep in your heart without reason? This is the question Primrose asks over and over and over again, leading to some great conversations about faith and belief.

It was also wonderful to read a book where the adults were (for the most part!) the child heroine's accomplices rather than her antagonist. The grown-ups in this book are on Primrose's side, and they all work together. This is a nice change from the usual kid vs. adult model used in children's literature today.

We listened to the audio book, read by Kathleen McInerney. She does an excellent job, and you can hear the first chapter here. Books on CD are my secret to peaceful car rides, especially the half-hour trip each way to co-op on Fridays, and this book engaged my ten-, eight-, and six-year-olds. This is one of those great books that works equally well as an independent read or a read aloud.

And, as an added bonus, every chapter ends with a recipe! We're looking forward to extending our book experience by trying some of them out. Humor, a compelling story, and everything served on a waffle-- what more could we ask for?

Weekend Round-Up!

It's that time of the week again!

First off, I've added some lovely new blogs to my Reader. Gingerbread Snowflakes has some lovely handmade holiday ideas. I especially liked these star photo ornaments, and I think we're going to make some.

I also added Adventures in Living and Learning. It's always nice to read another Waldorf-inspired homeschooling blog for encouragement and ideas!

Finally, I added Light and Momentary, an always inspiring and often hilarious mama blog .

Onwards and upwards.

Besides the aforementioned wheat star photo ornament, I also found these lovely felt trees at Wee Folk Art. Wouldn't they be perfect on a winter forest nature table? She also posted this sweet little tea wallet of a birdie on a branch-- what a lovely little Christmas gift this would be!

I bought an acorn squash specifically so I could try this roast acorn squash recipe from Weelicious.

I've found inspiration of another kind online this week as well. So many good ideas, so many kind and thoughtful words and comments. I've truly been blessed by my internet friends and community. May you have a blessed week as well!