SPACE to SOW and GROW - Compassion

I read Seraphina the story of The Little Match Girl today, written by Hans Christian Anderson.   If you are familiar with his original stories you will know that they are deep and thought provoking and often sad and heartbreaking.

Something I used to do with the older kids was read them a passage or chapter of a story and then have them draw a picture afterwards. It might be of a favourite character or scene, whatever connected with them at the time. I loved seeing what they would come up with and how although they both heard the same story, they would each create a different picture and in their own unique way.

I could see that Seraphina was really feeling the tragedy of the story and kept asking a lot of questions.   Like, why was the little match girl so poor? and Why would her father beat her if she couldn't sell any matches? This was a great opportunity for us to discuss these issues and to feel gratitude for our fortunate lives. We talked about homeless people and how they would feel when the cold winter rolls in.

Seraphina chose to draw the Christmas tree that the little match girl saw in the story and then drew the girl smiling. Unfortunately, without thinking, I said, "She wasn't very happy in the story was she" and Sera said "No" and rubbed out her mouth and drew a sad face.

I regret to have interfered with her creative expression. It was more me thinking out loud but Sera quickly took that as me telling her that her picture was wrong.  Such a shame on my part but another lessoned learned. I will not say a word next time.

Seraphina explained to me that she drew the happy face because she hoped that the little girl would feel the happiness that SHE feels at Christmas time. What a sweet gesture xx

The story of The Little Match Girl inspired us to make some precious candle holders. This Autumn we have been having fun making beeswax candles to connect with the shorter days and longer nights of the season.

I found a sweet tutorial on felt tealight candle holders in Amber Schmida Green's new book "Parenting Fun Everyday". Amber's book is full of useful information on keeping a natural rhythm flowing in the home while parenting small children. I've only read a handful of chapters so far but can highly recommend her work.

Here are the candle holders we made..

While we were sewing we made up a little song to honour the Little Match Girl. We felt her sadness and her pain and it was our way of sending a prayer out to all of the less fortunate people in the world. 

Sera would like to do some knitting so perhaps we could work together on a project to donate to charity and homeless people. Do you know of any such charities?

Here's our song..

"Little Match Girl we light a candle for you, Little Match Girl we light a candle for you, To warm your fingers, your hands, your toes and feet, Little Match Girl we pray your life will be sweet."

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SPACE to SOW and GROW - Waldorf Alphabet (B)

Our 'B' page was inspired by a classic Winnie The Pooh story. Here you can see the bear in the 'B' and if you look closely you will see the wings of the bees are 'B' shaped too.

Seraphina decided to draw a home for her bear too. So sweet x

Earlier in the week we did some traditional butterfly paintings where you fold a sheet of paper in half and put blobs of paint on one side only. Then you fold the paper closed and smooth over the top, spreading and mixing the paint underneath. The girls really enjoyed this activity and they couldn't stop at one or two. They made sooo many.. My logical brain kicked in and I started thinking, "time to wrap this up, they've experienced the concept.. Seriously, how many butterfly prints do you really need?" (I have a thing about "wasting" paper) but then I relaxed and went with the flow letting them get what ever they needed from the moment. The result was lots and lots and LOTS of gorgeous, colourful pieces of paper.

I knew that they would come in handy one day for decorating gifts or being a gift in itself or even perhaps morph into some other fabulous crafty creation... I was right :)

Going with our 'B' theme, I folded the prints in half again and cut an outline of half a butterfly. I let the girls open them and to their delight they saw beautiful colourful butterflies appearing before their eyes. They also commented on how each side was exactly the same. There's our lesson on symmetry!!

Lucy helped punch holes in the top of each butterfly and with the help of a dear friend, we made a garland of butterflies to decorate our living room.

We made Honey Bee muffins and played the Bongos and I finished our 'B' week with a tale from The Brother's Grimm - Snow White and Rose Red...

 

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SPACE to SOW and GROW - Low Limit Learning

Ok, so here's my first official post on our unschooling days and I am actually finding it a lot more challenging to write than I thought.

Partly because I imagined I would sit here, bursting with memories as I sat and reflected on our weekly activities, effortlessly articulating the wonderful things we got up to.. and the other part due to staying up to the wee hours of this morning, YouTubing with my big kids and crocheting a gift for a friend.

 One made, One to go :)

It was raining this morning, so with 4 1/2 hrs sleep under my belt, I drove Steve up the road to meet the bus and returned back home for a cuddle with the little one.  I'm a tad tired..  Can't blame the baby for this one!  It was all me and my desire to stay in the moment, enjoying my children and my handiwork <3  That's Unschooling right there!!

Children and adults alike are often shorthanded for time and space. With school, work or household commitments, it isn't always possible to sit uninterrupted for any extended period of time, completely engrossed in a subject or hobby to the absolute point of saturation.  I am grateful that this life of ours is supportive in that aspect.  There are no set curriculum and no time frames.  Sure, we still have "work" that we need to do to ensure a happy, relaxing atmosphere at home, but for the most part we are free to come and go as we please with our various pursuits and interests.

There aren't many, but two limitations for us at the moment are...  1.  Wade and I share a computer (which I am cool with, not so much Wade) and 2.  At times I need to drag the kids away from what they are doing to come and run errands with me.. Usually everybody is ok with this though sometimes, understandably, they are annoyed that they have to stop right in the middle of whatever it is they are doing.  I try not to interfere with their "business" to maintain the integrity of their creative flow, so mostly I time our outings when there is a natural break in the day.

So what have the big kids been up to this week?  Here's a snippet...

Lani's scarf she's working on

 

Wade's amazing Smurf Movies

Ipods, Hair and "the host".. What else is there :D

MATHOMAT Artwork

A Common View

Wade's Lego Spacecraft

 













It has never been my intention to record every little thing my children "learn" or do.  That would be way too exhausting and quite frankly, would take the fun out of actually LIVING.

Some words to ponder on...

Do I assess my children to see if they are up to speed with every other child their age?
Absolutely not.  Why would I encourage them to be like every other child their age?  We are all different and that's what makes the World so interesting. 

Why do I let my kids choose how they spend their time?

Because it is THEIR time :) 

 

How do I know my children are learning? 

Because they are ALIVE!!

Thankyou for your lovely comments people.  I appreciate them all so much.

Love and Sprinkles

Angel xx