2014! With plenty of preparation work for two years, life has been like a spool of neat thread unwinding itself and revealing what is being made. Cedar blessed us with his arrival last October 2013, and we settled deeply into dreaming and planning, as we do in winter. Slow. Winter. Good. We had enough inner light to burn our way through the darkness of the cold season until Spring. For most homeschooling families February is a transition month. Cabin fever. Spring wants so badly to arrive, but Jack Frost sometimes lingers and the roots are reluctant to send the energy upward. The Light is yearning to unite fires within us again encouraging springs in our step, curls at our mouth and early spring morns on the porch with breakfast.
Preparing for Third and First Grade has been a lot of fun. I have enjoyed deeper spiritual learning with our main lesson of the Old Testament and Grimm’s Fairy Tales, with the archetypes. I keep in mind specific goals set for each child. Movement is always at the top of the list, rhythm and anchor times equally important. I feel blessed to observe, pray and listen for each child. Listening to Creator brought me insight to adding more music this year assisting the nine year change and seven year change as well as transitioning our little nursling with us through the day.
For our Native American block the boys have deep roots and some live education with Elders from the Hopi and Choctaw people. As their parents we have spent time doing our inner work with the encouragement of these Elders, their ceremonies and wisdom. All of that has carried over into our daily work. We have some unique teachings to bring to them. We also provide Buddhist, Sufi and Christian teachings. I think it is important to recognize the Ascended and Holy Peoples and to make available a universal language. It’s all about communication and connection, whether you prefer psychic or prose.
Music. Our circle time music has been our own songs that inspire us, and the Summer Songs from Music Together, which is Cedar’s baby music class playlist. My big boys are helpers in the music class and I see them getting so much out of the experience. For one week we spent time at the lovely First Christian Church Music Camp, in my hometown. I adored the music teacher and the kids. They worked hard with a tight schedule to really learn alot. I am impressed at the growth and stretching they had to endure. I felt I could See the transformation of their hearts and throat chakras. Flowing. Singing is magical for many reasons. The breath of Creator is at work.
Movement. I have been spending time with the boys this year learning about stretching the body and becoming more aware of their spiritual vehicles. Everything is sensory. Stress can be useful but also dangerous, so we have spoke some about how important drinking water, taking salt baths, regular bedtimes, clean foods, and movement can help assist our sensory experiences. Creator wants to come through us and touch all the materially dense richness. The earth. The wind. The warmth of a hug. The cool water that flows down our throats. Thankfully we have added new elements to our movement apparatus, like a slackline and trampoline. Existing equipment includes a zip line, 4 acres to run and bike. Trees to climb. Porches to swing upon, especially when it rains. Wood to chop. Fires to jump. Critters to feed. Free play. My boys do not lack for play time and joint compression. They are very creative and I have always nurtured and assisted that play with props, dolls, action figures, furniture, lighting, wall paint color, board games and card games. Natural materials are preferred but we possess some vintage classic toys. I do see the difference in feeling the materials personally. Plastic is cold.
Handwork. Handwork is many things. A nine month old baby is handwork as a nursling. My handwork. Handwork to the boys is taking care of their room, arranging a shelf or an altar. Brushing their teeth. Learning to knit a row. Taking blocks out and putting blocks away. Chopping wood. Whittling a stick. Modeling with mud, clay or dough. Sanding or polishing. Sewing. Picking up baby brother and helping him explore.
Watercolors and Wet-on-wet. I’m trying. A couple years ago I presented the color wheel teachings to the boys. I am revisiting watercolors again, the brushes, the feel. I have Painting With Children by Brunhild Muller, and the Waldorf Painting Education binder. IT’S HUGE, and I haven’t made it all the way through. I struggle with building scenes and I always add too much water! I am a work in progress.
Drawing. Chalk drawings and practice drawing have become staples in our process. We ingest the stories of each grade that are developmentally appropriate, draw and retell the stories. Some we love and some we take in and think maybe work is being done on us in the night by the angels who know better than we do.
Angels. Archangels. Archai. This is truly a personal relationship. We each have one for ourselves, as a group, the community, the earth and so on. Many times I go to the angels when I am struggling. But I do see them in the everyday, like when Cedar discovers his own voice. Or when River smiles at me shyly, and how he always nurtures me. Wolfsion, he champions as a helper to me and the land. He’s a steward. A trailblazer.
Waldorf Essentails curriculum, Melisa Neilsen homeschool teacher trainer and consultant, the Thinking, Feeling, Willing group of women on Facebook and my own spiritual path have been critical. Aside from doing a lot of listening to my Maker I try to keep my influence minimal or I can easily get distracted. I find that continual purification of the mental, emotional, physical and spiritual intelligences are absolute for the path. Each of us have a process. Recently, I disconnected from the grid for a couple of months and the time away really energized me, renewed me and helped me ground into my present life. We discover this as our intuition, the angels, our children and our own paths merge. It is also when we decide to manifest and come in tune with our soul that our Path becomes clear.
Rhythm. I need structure, but love the permission to unfold freely within that structure. Like the earth and the water flowing through and around. I allow space for the kids to unschool themselves with my guidance also. There are some days where that is absolutely called for. At some point I may share a photo of our schedule, it comforts me and transforms through the year, as we school (a)round the wheel. In and out breaths as the masters speak of in early childhood with anchor times, sleep, play, handwork and meaningful work are so very important. They are important to me as the teacher and as a human in grounding to this earthly experience. Life is intensive, but it all depends on how committed one is to the process and the path chosen. I am working on my Calling and Mission and that changes as the faces and places change, but the sanctuary and the familiarity of home remains.
Farm and home. For us this block blends nicely with our geographic location of Kentucky. Bodies of water with as much shoreline as Alaska. Rolling hills and knobs. Bluegrass. Large and small scale agriculture. Farmer Boy, by Laura Ingalls Wilder is a good Wednesday read, coupled with our nature-farm jounral. The boys draw pictures, write summaries and include math measurements or calculations to describe their work. We raise a few chickens, a turkey and a rabbit with a cat and two dogs, along with a children’s garden. That proves to be plenty of work for us.
Cursive has been pleasant and enjoyable. I liken it to form drawing, so we do it two times a week. After bringing forth the letters, we are now practicing cursive words and seasonal verses.
Early childhood is surfacing again with Cedar on the scene. I am having things click for me that we did not have time for before. The stories are becoming a part of me. I have more of my planning together and props available. I am slower, more mature. Patient. I imagine this comes with any teacher or parent. The settling in. It is comfortable and exciting. The journey. The Great Mystery ahead. As time goes on I really note that honoring myself and honoring my family and friends is also loving myself. And there is nothing wrong with that. Most importantly my lessons have come from making mistakes or as the Elder’s say “learning.” I realize when I am having a hard time it is due to the level of love I have for myself. [HUGE!]
Admist the birth of our baby and a new school year we have also birthed our own family business that has grown over the last 12 years of hard work, and we will be celebrating our one year anniversary as Cedar turns one in October. I am so proud of my husband for his work ethic, his talent and his ability to (at least) appear like he has left his work stress at the door. When he enters the house, he gives us himself, which is a gift. Check out http://www.coydogstudios.com or visit us on Facebook at Coydog Studios. We are also on Instagram Coydog_Studios and Twitter.
Thank you for reading. There will be more to come, as I find time. Development, the grades and the spiritual nature of our process is important and it is yearning to find it’s way out of me and into words. In the meantime visit me over at Pinterest as Nurturing Spirit and on Instagram as Healingoneself
xoxo
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Nurturing Spirit 