Lily started drawing portraits of me and mom and taping them up all over the house. Luke caught on and I just thought this self portrait was priceless. Totally captures his inner Lukiness.
Luke
Post 291: Mini Pier
We went to the Santa Monica pier and the next day Luke built one out of plasticine.
That’s the ferris wheel at the end and middle is the bridge and the little things are all the people.
Post 290: Little House Grill
Luke has been working on this for awhile, he finally asked me for some help getting one of the screws in and I asked a few questions.
How did you get the screws in?
He screwed them directly into the 2×4, I imagined it was in partnership with a hammer, but he basically muscled the screw through the would, do you understand how difficult that is?
What is it?
It is a grilling device based on one that he heard about in “Little House in the Big Woods“. One of the Laura Ingalls Wilder books that we have read many times. When I told mom about it her only comment was, “I can’t wait to use it”
Post 288: Waldorf
I was invited into Luke’s class today to help the kids with blowing eggs for easter. A few things emerged.
- The fact that they blow eggs at all is remarkable.
- The teacher calmly reminded me that it is OK if the kids struggle a bit to finish blowing there egg. Some kids were done in a minute and some in twenty minutes, no judgement, no difference, just support and calm encouragement.
I don’t know a lot about Waldorf Education, but the more I learn the more I appreciate it. It fits well with our past play friendly, confidence developing classes and books that speak to us.
Like many alternative: schooling techniques it is met with a certain amount of head scratching, the comment that sticks out in my head is “Oh, there is no structure in those types of schooling”
Perhaps nothing could be further from the truth.
In Luke’s Kindergarten class it is quiet and calm all day long . Twenty seven 5-7 year olds and they play focused and are at ease. The teacher is not commanding any of this, it just seems to be a natural by product of the Waldorf belief system.
I so enjoyed this quote from Rudolf Steiner, (an Austrian philosopher, author, social reformer, architect and esotericist) and man responsible for Waldorf schooling, I put a copy on our refrigerator.
May there reign here spirit-strength in love;
May there work here spirit-light in goodness;
Born from certainty of heart,
And from steadfastness of soul,
So that we may bring to young human beings
Bodily strength for work, inwardness of soul, and clarity of spirit.
Post 287: Odds and Ends
Trip to my optometrist
Diaperhead
Trip to the Doctor. Lily has had herpagina (hoof and mouth disease) as well as rotavirus (stomach flu) in the last two months. It often feels like I cannot keep the kids sick-free for more than a day or two before something comes up.
Luke loves to have the the windows washed at the gas station. He finally had his chance to do it himself. I remember how much I loved going to a gas station when I was young.