Pumpkin-ing

Sunday we went out into the country to Joan's Farm and Pumpkin Patch to pick our perfect pumpkins.  As soon as we got home we were able to start carving.  This is a very exciting aspect of living in the bay area, back in Phoenix we had to wait until the day of, or night before Halloween to carve.  It was a good, silly (very silly) day.

I love these days.  I'm so grateful for blogging that I can record, and remember these days.

Wanderers Way

Recently we took our family to the East Bay Waldorf School for their annual Wanderer's Way event.  It was magical.  We left our house after dark, something that Cyrus was sure he's never done before.  With our pumpkin tea in our travel cups, and our babies dressed in their Halloween best, we were ready.  

The school grounds are nestled into the top of a hill surrounded by forests.  The Wanderers Way event is a night time walk, guided by an angel we were lead on a path lit by jack o lanterns and luminaries. This is essentially the Waldorf alternative to a scary Halloween event.  We traveled in small groups and stoped at special vignettes to watch a play unfold.  The stories were each a different blend of magic, music, dance, mystery, and comedy.  At the end of each story the children received a special token, a small treasure to take on their way.  

One of the things that the Waldorf tradition excels at (in my opinion) is story telling.   Each little play absolutely captivated their audience.  It was a fantastic evening, one I'm looking forward to repeating again next year.

 

Gratitude Monday

Some Things That I'm Loving Today...

~My super ridiculous children and their jack-o-lantern designs.  Love them.

~A little girl who almost carved a pumpkin with a pumpkin image, then in the end went with "silly smile, moon nose guy"

~A boy who designed his pumpkin to have "spooky teeth that want to eat you" .  I love that his skull has ears, and an elaborate design.  I think he may be picturing sugar skulls.  And that's adorable.

~A partner who can make the weekend magical for your babies, even when your sick

~Living near a Waldorf School, and going to the great festivals

~Finding this year's perfect pumpkin patch

~Pumpkin waffles, with fresh whipped cream and maple syrup

~Watching Netflix on my tablet in bed.  (if your sick in bed, this is pretty amazing)

~A baby who tells stories.  And you can almost understand all of it!

Alright.  Here's to a new week.  And a lot a lot of laundry!

Week in Homeschool #11

The theme of the week :

 

 Pumpkins. 
~We read:
The Pumpkin Patch: A nonfiction photographic journey of a pumpkin patch
Pumpkin Butterfly, Poems from the other side of nature: Poems for all seasons.  We read just the selection that applies to Autumn.
Apples and Pumpkins: We've read this book before.  It's sweet, and it's simple.  I like it.
The Biggest Pumpkin Ever: A sweet little story of two mice trying to grow the biggest pumpkin ever.
The Pumpkin Book: A typical Gail Gibbons book.  Full of colorful illustrations depicting the life cycle, the history, and the celebrations with pumpkins.

Our Letter of the week:
G

 

~Snack: Pumpkin tea,pumpkin bread, and pumpkin waffles
~Flower Fairy Poem: Song of the Gorse Fairy
~Book : A Good Brown Earth

Art Study:
  we examined Baseball Players by Elaine De Kooning

Cyrus:  I would not put splashes of color here and everywhere.  I would paint more slowly and let other people see the baseball that the players are about to smack.  I like the colors.  I like the reds, whites, blues, and green.

Ava:  This picture is kinda aggressive, showing lots of movements, and the way everything is blurry shows what just happened.  I don't like the theme very much but I like some of the colors.

In Math:

 

Ava:
*charted the daily weather highs
*continued taking practice tests

Cyrus:

*played with counting coins

 Just Because:

Field Trip:  
This weekend we headed out to a pumpkin patch!  There was so many different things to do at Joan's Farm & Pumpkin Patch but we kept it pretty simple.  Choosing our perfect pumpkin, and running, and dancing, and climbing trees, and posing for many silly pictures.  I'd definitely like to go back to Joan's farm to experience the gem panning.

This week was our big return to school after our week off.  Unfortunately, at the beginning of the week I had three sick kids, and by the end of the week I had a minor cold, and a huge case of apathy.

We accomplished so very little of our core subjects this week, and I just couldn't find it in me to care.   We got through the week.  We read books about pumpkins, we made and ate pumpkin foods.  Ava did some spelling, Cyrus did some phonics, and they both did a tiny bit of math.

So next week we'll start fresh.

That's just the way it goes some times.

And honestly, once I let go of any expectations, the week wasn't so bad. I kinda liked it. Illness and all. 

Halloween Sneak Peek #3

She turns 8

We gathered together for a special day filled with traditions.  

The crown

The birthday ring (now only four candles left!)

The banners (her brothers diligently kept in place through wind and rain)

The cupcakes

The special request dinner

The homemade birthday cards

Little details that layer themselves into the quilt of our memories

And with those details, large and small, she turns Eight.

A trip around the bay

 

 

 

For Ava's 8th birthday we took a boat tour of the bay.  We set off on the Kitty Kat for a 90 minute guided tour of the native wildlife of the San Fransisco Bay.  We spotted porpoises, harbor seals, sea lions, brown pelicans, and loads of other water fowl.  I just can't get over how pretty it all is.  It's still so unimaginable that we live here. 

Gratitidue Mondays

Here are somethings that I love today:

~ My phone changed my current town name into "Eek Adorable" during a text

~A forecast of almost a week of rain

~Planning fall dinners (lunches, and tea)

~The late night serenade of my local, unidentified,  hooting owl

~Holiday crafting.  I'm super in the spirit right now.

~Watching silly tv on my computer while I embroider.

~Cats in their winter coats

~A baby who loves his new use of pronouns

~A boy who is magical wizard, and uses his magic frequently

~A girl who is as excited about the holidays as I am.

~A partner who goes on 20 mile bike rides in the morning.  (what?)

Here's to a new week.  I've got three sick little ones, so let's see how we do.  We've got tea, and each other.  I'm sure we'll do great.

Halloween Sneek Peak #2

Here's our second sneak peek...