Happy spring!
Homeschool Teacher Trainings this August
For more details and registration, click on the links below. These trainings are already filling up!
Homeschool Teacher Training, Grades 1–8, August 2–5
http://www.waldorfwithoutwalls.com/seminars/2012/august-teacher-training/
Homeschool Kindergarten Training, August 10-12
http://www.waldorfwithoutwalls.com/seminars/2012/august-kindergarten-training/
Taproot Farm Progress
Our indoor vegetables were a mixed success this winter. We have been getting tomatoes since early March. Next year I will start the plants earlier! We did get herbs and some peppers all winter in addition to lots of blooming flowers. The first cucumber plants got eaten by aphids. We got some lacewings and planted more cucumbers which are finally blooming now in April!
Spring came early this year, and so all the bulbs and trees bloomed very early. Of course then the deep frost came. We covered our small trees, so we think we have saved the fruit, but time will tell! We have lettuce thinnings to eat, and some wintered over Swiss chard, as well as lots of violets. The garlic and onions and peas are coming along nicely so we should be able to eat some of those soon.
We painted and glazed 165 six inch tiles to put on the concrete block chimney of the cottage in the form of a mural of a big tree and a hillside orchard. It was a fun exercise, filling the ceramic kiln three times to get them all fired! We can put a wood cook stove or heating stove there if we want, although the solar windows and the stove downstairs keep the place pretty warm.
The cows are coming!
As you can see from the picture at the top, the pasture is fenced in! Soon we will be getting our Scottish Highlander cows or Muckle Coos as they are called. This is what they look like. A majority of them are this red color, but they also come in silver, blonde and black. Both sexes have horns, but they are of a different shape. They are known to do well in harsh climates, thrive on grass and provide tender, lean, grass fed beef.
Waldorf Publications Now as E-books!
Now you can order books and have them come as e-books; save shipping!
Just click here to order: http://www.waldorfwithoutwalls.com/books/ebooks
Music Through the Grades
by Diane Ingraham Barnes, Adonis Press, $30.
This lovely book provides a great number of songs for each grade, incorporating main lesson topics. It includes CDs for grades 1, 2 and 3, so that the teacher can learn the songs while reading the music. It includes, dance, rod and pentatonic flute exercises. Peppered with beautiful pen and ink drawings, it is a must have for all Waldorf teachers and homeschooling parents.
Make Way for Reading
by Latimer and Fenner, $17.95
This book contains reviews and descriptions for literally all suitable books for children of various ages up through grade 8. It is indexed by subject, special subject, author, title, Waldorf School Main lessons, anthologies and collections, series and sequels, and illustrators.
There is a chapter on appropriate fairy tales for various ages, one on celebrations, games, music, crafts and other activities, mythology, legends and folklore, and biographies.
Best of all, it contains a chapter called, "There's more to reading than meets the eye," in which Barbara Sokolov explains how real reading involves a well developed imagination, as well as an appreciation for living speech, both skills that are only obtained through play and hearing stories and poems, told and read in childhood. If these skills have not been developed in early childhood, reading is purely mechanical and little or no comprehension takes place.
This is a book that every teacher, parent, and grandparent should have!
Why the Ritalin Debate is Asking the Wrong Questions: Healing Our Kids’ Soul Fever With Simplicity
by Kim John Payne
Article in Huffington Post http://www.huffingtonpost.com/authorarchive/?kim-john-payne/2012/03/
And Waldorf Today http://www.waldorftoday.com/2012/03/why-the-ritalin-debate-is-asking-the-wrong-question-healing-our-kids-soul-fever-with-simplicity-by-kim-john-payne/