Late Summer Circle

light the candle...

Rise up O Flame, by thy light shining, bring to us beauty, vision, and joy! (sung as we rise, from curled on the floor to standing, arms stretched up and out, then crossed on chest, then hands over eyes, then stretched back up and out)

There's the firm earth under me, the blue skies over me. So I stride, so I stand, And I see you too
With the blue sky over you, The firm earth under you. (marching in place, hands down, then to the sky. Standing still, hands to eyes then out to our brothers, then up, then marching in place again)

Smile awhile and give your face a rest, stretch awhile, and ease your manly chest,
Reach your fingers to the sky, while you watch them with your eye,
Jump awhile, shake a leg there sir, Now step forward, backward, as you were,
Then reach out to someone near, Shake his hand and smile. (sung cheerfully!)

When I was a young man, a young man, a young man,
When I was a young man a young man was I.
And I walked this way and that way and this way, and that way.
When I was a young man, a young man was I.
(sung several times, as different characters and animals "when I was a rabbit" etc. and always ending with "when I was a student I sat very still, and everyone sitting down in circle)

~Teach us O Lord, To serve as you deserve, To give and not to count the cost, To fight and not to heed the wounds, To toil and not to seek for rest, To labour and not to ask for any reward, Save that of knowing that we do your will~ (prayer of St. Ignatius Loyola)

One potato, two potato, three potato, four. Five potato, six potato, seven potato, more. Eight potato, nine potato, ten potato, hot! (standing, tossing a ball or beanbag to self, then quickly to a friend at hot!)

We're following the leader, the leader, the leader. We're following the leader, wherever he may go. (following the leader, along a rope on the floor, walking different ways- heels, toes, etc.)

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, jack jump over the candlestick. (our rope on the floor turns into a jump rope waving back and forth, and we take turns jumping over it at different heights/speeds)

Dulce, dulce, dulce Mama, dulce, dulce, dulce, Papa, dulce, dulce, dulce Cheeky-cha, cheeky-cha.
(drum-tempo)

Uno, dos, tres, CHO, uno, dos, tres, CO, uno dos, tres, LATE (la-tay), chocolate, chocolate, bate, bate, chocolate! (drum-tempo)

Week 1) Who saw the petals drop from the rose?
I said the spider, but nobody knows.
Who saw the sunset flash on a bird?
I said the fish, but nobody heard.
Week 2) Who saw the fog come over the sea?
I said the sea pigeon, only me.
Who saw the first green light of the sun?
I said the night owl, the only one.
Week 3) Who saw the moss creep over the stone?
I said the grey fox, all alone.
(The Secret Song by Margaret Wise Brown)

The lone wild bird in lofty flight Is still with Thee, nor leaves thy sight.
And I am Thine! I rest in Thee. Holy Spirit come rest in me.
The ends of earth are in Thy hand, The seas dark deep and far off land.
And I am Thine! I rest in Thee. Holy Spirit come rest in me. (sung with simple motions)

Brave and true I will be, Each good deed sets me free, Each kind word makes me strong, I will fight for the right, I will conquer the wrong. (again, marching in place)

I can turn myself and turn myself and curl up as I will. I can stand on tiptoe reaching high, I can hold myself quite still. I can be as small as a small seed, I can be as tall as a tall tall tree. I can be as wide as the wide wide world, I can just be me. (spinning, curl up, stretch up tall, stand still. curl up small, stretch up tall, stretch out wide, stand still arms at sides. We do this regular tempo, fast, faster, faster, regular.)

Blow out the candle.

-Three days a week we do hand bells, and don't blow out the candle til after that.

Every year I try to switch out our closing verse to something else and am faced with anguish and tears. They love this verse. So, it stays. Maybe I'll be saying it as Avery goes off to college.

Lessons Learned on Vacation

1) When your Mom says "Don't lean over the railing" she actually means "Don't go anywhere near the steep side of the road, no matter what." In fact, don't even undo your seat belt. Let's just get down the mountain, really, really slowly. 'Cause, you know, she's trying to be cool, and let everyone enjoy this amazing adventure, but really, she keeps having flashes of children falling off cliffs and being devoured by wild animals.... Well, at least she's trying, right?
2) Mountain goats, big horn sheep, black bears, black back woodpeckers, deer, elk, even the antelope and bison, bears, turtles, and elk at the National Bison Refuge, are all really interesting and fun to watch. But getting to hold a little slug, watch it for hours, and take pictures of it close up? Well, that, apparently, is worth going on vacation and camping out for.

3)This is close enough to a black bear for your mother's comfort. Especially since there were three, and we can only see two. And there might be rustling in those bushes right behind us....

4)Bison don't care about the rules of the road as they apply to automobiles. And we're not arguing with them. We don't mind sitting still, right here. No sir.

5) A carousel ride (or maybe three) is a great way to end a vacation. Riding with your brother is even nicer.

6) We love going on vacation. We love each other, and we love visiting our friends. We love camping, but maybe we can love a newer, bigger, more weather-proof tent next time. We love being away, seeing new things and having adventures, but we really love coming home again.

Construction 4: Almost Done!

Avery's third grade culminating project- build a structure- is nearly done. He's done every aspect of the construction, from drawing to sawing, measuring to tightening screws.

Our wonderful friend Bob took this project on himself- perhaps Avery's parents were moving too slowly?- from showing up with a truckload of posts and a post hole digger, to buying supplies and making sure Avery learns each step. It's been a tremendous blessing, for I'm sure if it were left up to us, we'd still be in the making excuses for not starting the project phase. Having a friend with the time and generosity to make sure this project happens has been wonderful.

Here's the last little bit they need to finish- the railings in the one back section, and trap door. But they can play up there, now. I think we'll attach the rope ladder for now.

Construction 3

Here is the structure now. Phase three- floor attached with hole for trap door.

Looking up through the trap door from below.

Oregon Trail Curriculum

Week 1:
How did our country grow?
Why did people go west?
make walking sticks

Week 2:
What do we need and want?
Preparing to go- procuring supplies.
flower-leaf print painted tshirts

Week 3:
Famous Pioneers
make personal flags, have a parade around our cul-de-sac

Week 4:
Dangers on the trail.
drama camp this week- no big craft day

Week 5:
Frontier forts, pony express, and communication along the trail.
make wooden flower presses or marbled paper journals

Week 6:
Native Americans and Westward Expansion
bamboo lanterns?

Week 7:
Day in the Life of a Wagon Train.
Children and children's chores.
make whirligigs, pioneers toys

Week 8:
The Gold Rush
paint silk sun catchers or plant dye play silks?

Week 9:
The Mormon Trail
make soap or candles?

Week 10:
Life in a new land.
prepare for the show on Friday, no big craft day

Summer 2008 Circle

Our Circle verses this summer:

Morning is come, night is away, rise with the sun and welcome the day. (The children start out lying on the floor in a ring and slowly awaken and rise with the song)

There's the firm earth under me,
The blue sky over me,
So I stride,
So I stand,
And I see You too,
With the blue sky above you
And the firm earth under you.

Be you to others kind and true, and always unto others do, as you'd have others do to you. (Sung all together then in a round- challenging and fun for 8 yos.)

Whether the weather be fine,
Or whether the weather be not,
Whether the weather be cold,
Or whether the weather be hot,
We'll weather the weather,
Whatever the weather,
Whether we like it or not!
(which just cracks everyone up and they say it over and over)

Pioneers all work as one as one- work as one all pioneers
Pioneers all work as one- work as one all pioneers
Pioneers all work as one- work as one all pioneers
Peace shall be for all the world- all the world shall be for peace
From the dawn til setting sun- everyone finds work to be done
From the dawn til night does come- there's a task for everyone
Pioneers all work hard on the land- men and women hand in hand
As they labor all day long- they lift their voices in song
Let us work, my friends as one
Let us work til the task is done
(This is an old Israeli song "Zum Gali Gali", but we're just doing the English translation, sung as a call and response type, each child leading a different verse- lovely!)

Stillness soars as a mountain peak, seeking greatness in eagle's beak, striving lifting, reaching, climbing, gentle reason in numbers finding (They're hand in hand from "Pioneers" and join in a circle, crouch down then rise, then split into a line, marching. One child starts quietly counting the steps "1, 2, 3, 4....", the next child chimes in on the 2's, and the third child chants the 4's. In Time. We're challenged by this, but working on it! I got this from Miss Marsha's resources at waldorf home educators)

The coach is at the door at last;
The eager children mounting fast
And kissing hands in chorus sing:
Goodbye, goodbye, to everything!
To house and garden, field and lawn,
To meadow gates we swung upon,
To pump and stable, tree and swing,
Goodbye, goodbye to everything!
And fare you well for evermore,
O ladder at the hayloft door,
O hayloft where the cobwebs cling,
Goodbye, goodbye to everything!
Crack goes the whip, and off we go;
The trees and houses smaller grow;
Last, round the woody turn we sing:
Goodbye, goodbye to everything!
(Farewell To The Farm by Robert Louis Stevenson)

I can turn myself and turn myself and curl up as I will,
I can stand on tiptoe, reaching high,
I can hold myself quite still.
I can be as small as a small, small seed,
I can be as tall as a tall, tall tree!
I can be as wide as the wide, wide world,
I can just be ME!
(I wasn't going to include this one, we used it last year, and ABCD has used it since preschool, but the children begged and begged and so I included it)

Now the day is over, night is drawing nigh, shadows of the evening steal across the sky.
Father give the weary calm and sweet repose, with thy tend'rest blessing may our eyelids close.
(Sung softer and softer, as the children fall asleep, curling down to the ground.)

This circle will start each day, and also start the show we're planning for the last day of camp, at the end of August.

Oregon Trail Summer

This summer at our little "day camp" the kids and I are studying the Oregon Trail. Last week they made up "families" for themselves, took a period occupational interest test to find out what job their OT "Dads" would have. ABCD, in a stunning turn of events, ended up with an Industrial Technologies job, and decided that Blacksmith would be a terrific job no matter what the century. Foal and Sunny both ended up as Baker.
They also started their lesson books, colored in maps of the US to show the stages of our country's growth, and learned about some of the reasons why Oregon Fever hit so hard. Friends came over one afternoon and we made walking sticks- ABCD and Papa had previously drilled holes in dowels, and he and I sanded them ahead of time. On the big weekly Craft Day we threaded string through the holes to make a good hand grip, and all the kids decorated their walking sticks with stain pens and sharpies. Strongmom and I helped the kids mark inches on their sticks, for measuring puddles and things.
This week will be our first real week, with both Foal and Sunny starting Tuesday. We'll purchase wagons and supplies and pack up to leave. I've got lists of costs from the time, and weights, and we'll start out by measuring out a 4x10' rectangle to get an idea of what moving your whole life and family with really only necessities meant. This will lend itself to lots of math this week, as they spend their money and prepare their wagons. Oregon or Bust!
The kids all decided that instead of starting tennis right away, as usual, they'd rather ease into summer a little and have more relaxing and playing time and start tennis in mid July. Its fine with me- they're all getting along really well and having fun.