Handwork this past week. A beloved project learned at Taproot Teacher Training years ago. These little finger puppets are made by wet felting a base around your finger and needle felting the shell, then attaching by felting to the base. This was my first -ever wet felted attempt years ago, and it was so much fun to share and do it with the kids. A little hint of spring, and a cute tie-in to their sharing page. We've been coming up with some ideas on how to organize and display things there, and will be working on getting it up and running soon. It's going to be a very stormy St. Patrick's Day tomorrow. As we tuck in we're hoping to celebrate in some small ways and work on it. See you all soon! :)
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...We rise with the sun and welcome the day Today I thought I'd try to offer a glimpse at how our days and weeks turn- a small book of the hours we keep. We don't always wake quite early enough to watch the sun rising (especially not in winter), but we do try to catch those gentle sun streams that make tree shadows in the mornings before they disappear from the grass. At certain times of the year we can spend weeks awakening to the chorus of hungry birdlings nesting in the rafters of the front porch (it's almost that time). Over the winter, I've been making the bed to the songs Maya plays softly on the ukelele or pennywhistle upstairs, or the piano down the hall. It's a beautiful soundtrack for bumbling through the steps of waking and getting going. A wee, quick check from the porch each morning for any overnight fairy rings that may have popped up is often a necessity spring through fall. Coffee-making and breakfast generally follows, and then chores and lesson planning or tidying. It's the time of reading, pursuit of interests, music practice, and play indoors and out. At ten the tea or cocoa is made and poured, some snacks are found and we gather for morning lessons. Lately we've been beginning our day with circle and stories along with some handwork. and then moving onto our History/Geography loop, and afterwards our Natural History loop. What this looks like for the loops (some day we hope to be brave enough to film a lesson or two for you all ): on Mondays we might read a few pages of The Adventures of Nils and work on mapping. The following day we'd move onto the next thing we need to accomplish in that category-such as reading the Story of Britain. The next day, we dig into our local and state history resources (we're using a lot of virtual tours for this!), and so on. And then the same process with our Natural History loop resources. We have a time slot of about 20 minutes for each loop, and the same for our story and handwork in the beginning, too. Our timing isn't as precise as the timetables Charlotte Mason herself used, but we've found these time slots really works for us. The next hour is all about Dad. He's started taking his lunch break with the kids, and it's turned into such a cherished part of the day. They work on math and Korean as he makes a yummy lunch for us all. Cooking and math are totally his jam :) This would never have been possible before he started working from home, and we're so grateful for this opportunity, however long it lasts. Then, depending on the day, we either have Ukelele right after, (on Mondays from noon to 1) or a long break of play until French from 2-230 or so (Tuesdays and Thursdays). We end our lessons by coming together once more with tea and snacks for our afternoon loops of the arts and writing and some time dedicated to our nature calendar fun from 3-4ish. We've found over the years that this spreading of our lessons throughout the day offers us a more beloved experience. No rushed mornings, and plenty of time between gatherings to work on interests, play, and to have breathers as we need them. After school it's back on to hobbies, reading and play until dinner, followed by evening activities such as game night, pizza and movie night, book club night (this doesn't always happen, but we try). Fridays are our nature dedicated days, and we usually go out and hike or scooter at local parks, come back and have math and lunch with Dad, watch our nature class and do some journaling, and then get ready to head to Halmony and Halabaji's for dinner and a sleepover. This is another enchanting part of our week- the time that we get to spend with them is such a gift. Umma always has something marvelous to eat waiting, and Appa keeps the most beautiful garden, which the kids get to help out with. We spend the evening eating, catching up, and playing games like chess, baduk or five in a row over fruit and tea. On Saturday mornings Lucas and Maya have a special breakfast made by Appa, their Korean class with the local school (now zoomed), and lunch, then a fun activity like hiking before coming home. Weekends are our days of reading, resting, playing video games, riding bikes, having zoom meets with friends, and cleaning. And that's it. A week with us :) Something we've started celebrating with more intention this year is the full moons, and it's become such a little pocket of dear. A small, playful weaving of otherwise everyday things: a craft, a snack, a walk. The excitement leading up to it almost plays the biggest part. This was our second celebration on our own (we were introduced by dear friends a year ago this month!), and we had a good time.
It wasn't perfect. And yet, it still was. In our kind of way. There was some grumpiness, and the moon was tucked deeply behind clouds. The popcorn balls looked pretty on their plate, but slid apart in our hands. Maya's new crown came out a bit too small, and the play snow wasn't quite capable of making the wee snowmen we had hoped and planned for. But, we can pull out the telescope another day. The popcorn balls were tasty and golden-honeyed and blue-sparkle sprinkled. The crown fits their lovies adorably. And we're going to try making some animal tracks with the snow dough the rest of this week. :) We wish you all a very belated imperfectly perfect full moon, and that the thought of not-quites or wayward misses, never gathers your joy in any way that doesn't also offer you the after-adventures that imperfection always brings. |
AuthorsHello! We're Maya, Lucas, and Miri. Welcome to Whimsywhispered, where we share our days as a Charlotte Mason and Waldorf inspired homeschooling family living and growing in Alabama. We hope you enjoy your visit and return as often as you like :) Archives
January 2022
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