Waldorf Connection telecasts – Foreign language

February 5th, 2010 . Posted in Homeschooling, Waldorf stuff | 1 Comment »

I’ve been listening to some really wonderful (and free) telecasts related to homeschooling.  Donna over at The Waldorf Connection has arranged for these free and informative sessions with people who have expertise in their specific topic areas.

The seminars are LIVE and interactive.  You can join in by phone or via computer.  And you can even ask on the spot questions.  The sessions range in topic, and they can be replayed for 48 hours after the live session, in case you have missed it.

The one from last night was on foreign language teaching.  Jennifer Tan from Syrendell delivered a wonderful 1 hour lecture and slide show offering tips to bring froeign language to your kids — and how to get started if you don’t already have a second language yourself.  Totally worth the hour of my time.

We’ve been doing German with Emerson, since she was very little…songs and picture books.  She loves the 2 German Muisic CDs we have: Alle Singen Mit! and Alle Voegel sind schon da… 

Alphabet Garten is a wonderful place to purchase books and music, and everything I have bought to date, save one, has been perfect!

I recommend these Waldorf Connection telecasts.  For more information head over to the website.

The schedule of remaining telecasts is as follows

2/11 Handwork

2/16 preschool aged kids

2/18 seasonal celebrations

2/23 and 25 2 night temperament intensive

right now, in ten

February 4th, 2010 . Posted in Family Life, Musings | No Comments »

I found this post via waldorfmama called right now, in ten, which she found on SouleMama

Here is what Amanda wrote on her blog concering the right now, in ten

“When life starts to pick up the pace, so to speak, I find it so necessary and comforting to pause for a moment and look around. Above is my little attempt at capturing our right now in a short ten words & photographs.

Do you know what your ten words would be?”

So, here are my ten words — admittedly, these aren’t as spontaneous.  I’m at work, so I had to use my musing power!

This weeks menu

February 2nd, 2010 . Posted in Cooking, Family Life | No Comments »

M- stirfry chicken, orange pepper, and peapods with soba noodles
I’m lucky I can get any peapods into the stirfry…Emerson is always trying to eat them.

T- greek salad

W- cheese quesedilla

th-Indian Chicken with rice

F – cod with winter veggies

S-penne with ricotta

the wood pile

February 1st, 2010 . Posted in Family Life, Homeschooling, Waldorf stuff | 1 Comment »

Every year, we get on the wood list for our town.  For a small fee, the town will drop a load of wood on our front law that we use for our wood stove.  We got the load today.

All the pieces looked so interesting.  I decided to build something for Emerson…nothing permanent…but this is fun.

My husband designed this wood snake.  She played on it for 1/2 an hour, but then it got really cold, and she wanted to come in.  At first she wouldn’t even go on it without holding on to me…but little by little, she got confident…then when my husband added the ramps…she went wild!  Climbed all over the thing.

I didn’t get any action shots.  I’ll try to get some tomorrow to update the blog.


Original Video

Gardening

January 26th, 2010 . Posted in Family Life, Handwork | No Comments »

I’m getting ready to begin garden planning.  Last year I got a late start, and I planted in pots.  That worked well.  I got a good yeild. 

This year, however, I’m going to try hay/straw bales — like this

haybale garden

I’ve started to research which plants I want to grow, and decided to place seed order from Seeds of Change which has organic seeds, seedlings, and (yum) heirloom tomatoes.

Some of the things I’m going to plant his year include Asparagus, beans, carrots, cucumbers, green onions, peas, sweet peppers (red, purple, yellow, orange), pumpkins, squash, and tomatoes.  I’m going to try a small strawberry patch as well and pick up a few blueberry bushes.  We’ll have a bale for the herbs too…we use a lot of basil, oregano, and parsley in our cooking.

Gardening will also fit in with the Handwork section of my preschool curriculum that we are going to use with our daughter.  I find it satisfying to cook/eat the things we’ve worked hard to grow ourselves, so gardening becomes a sort of medative for me.  Especially since with hale/straw bale, there won’t be much weeding.

Risotto and stock

January 24th, 2010 . Posted in Cooking | No Comments »

I made Risotto with carrots, celery, and peas last week.

Risotto with Veggies

Used Asiago instead of parmasan, but I actually like parmasan better.

Tonight, I made stock…i saved all the veggie ‘rests’ from my Ratatouille and added asparagus ends, carrot and parsnip peels from tonight’s supper.  I did neglect the garlic…just slipped my mind…Still…it looks great!

chicken stock

Simmering in the pot.

And DONE!

finished stock

The lovely color can be attributed to the neck and onion skins :)  

Package it up in tuppers, and freeze.  Then when I need to use it, i add 4 c water.  Perfect every time!

(thanks Matt!)

This weeks menu

January 23rd, 2010 . Posted in Cooking | No Comments »

sun-Roast Chicken (need to make stock)

Mon-veggie and tortellini soup (my own)

tues-Home made black olive pizza (my own)

wed-beef stew (Bittman)

thurs-black bean soup with avocado slices (Bittman)

fri-ziti with tomatoes and basil (my own)

Choices

January 21st, 2010 . Posted in Family Life, Homeschooling, Waldorf stuff | 1 Comment »

As my family moves closer to working on a plan for Emerson, we are deep in thought about how best to approach the “home schooling” aspect.  I found a lovely curriculum, which I wrote about here.  This seems promising.  And it is free, which is nice.

The point is to preserve the joy of childhood, so that imagination can root deeply and continue to nourish the person as they grow.  The imagination is the kingpin to all later academic learning.

The daily “school subjects” are Music & Movement, Art, Nature, Cooking, Play, Handwork, Helping, and Stories.  Each day includes outside play and indoor free play (free play is extremely important), art projects, storie books, preparing meals together and all of these things help to integrate our daughter into the daily rhythm of our home.

And I’m so excited that our friend, Miss Sue will be joining us.  She is knowledgable, kind, and fun, and Emerson loves her to death.  I’m really looking forward to getting our new schedules approved. 

However, there are several resources, which I would love to have.  I have about 200$ worth of books in my amazon cart just waiting for me to purchase.  But finances are tight.  I might have to do them 2 books at a time.  That’s not that bad since Amazon has the free shipping thing.  So all in all, it’s just the time, since I only get paid every 2 weeks.

Anyway…one door closes, and somewhere, a window cracks open.

mac and cheese

January 19th, 2010 . Posted in Cooking | No Comments »

Sometimes, the only thing that will do is comfort food.  Good ol’ fashioned “stick to your ribs” comfort food.

Tonight I made a family favorite…Mac and cheese.  Now unlike the boxed kind, this isn’t sweet.  The milk is warmed with bay leaves, so it has a slightly sophisticated flavor.  It’s really quite nice with a good sharp cheese.  Before it is put in the oven, it is tossed with 1/2 c of freshly grated parmesan Mac and Cheesecheese.  Add some steamed broccoli, and it’s a very nice supper for a cold, raw, and politically disappointing evening.

Quiet

January 19th, 2010 . Posted in Musings | No Comments »

The house is quiet.  There is the hum of the clothes dryer from down stairs and the fan from the wood stove.  Otherwise, blissfully quiet.

I’m thinking about the election, tonight, in Massachusetts.  I’m disapointed in the results.  I’m not sure Scott Brown will really represent the best interests of the commonwealth.  He is a party-liner sort of politician with no regard for what is right, moral, or just…only what will butter his political bread with his party. 

Unfortunate for us to be sure.

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