spring celebration

Yesterday we celebrated the festival of Eostar (the Spring Equinox). Ok, so we were a day late -- the Equinox was technically on Thursday. But since I had to work on Thursday evening, we pushed our all-day-and-night festivities off to Friday.

We had our friends T and B over during the afternoon, and I told a story about the goddess Ostara (and the magic rabbit that lays colorful eggs). Then we had an egg hunt, and dyed eggs as well. In the evening, T and B headed for home, and The Map Man joined us for a wonderfully festive time around the fire (indoors, as the North Wind hasn't quite given up yet, and the weather was just brutal outdoors), eating, playing games, singing songs, and telling stories, including a recitation of the Enki Seasonal Poem, "Princess Spring". We then climbed into sleeping bags and nodded off by the dying fire.

I didn't get any pictures of the evening activities, as it was pretty dark due to a timely power-outage, but here's some pics of the afternoon festivities. We dyed the eggs with tissue paper -- first we ripped colorful tissue paper into small bits and soaked it in water. Then (as the kids demonstrate above) we wrapped hard-boiled eggs tightly with the soaked tissue paper.

We then let the eggs rest for an hour while the dye transferred from the tissue paper to the egg shells. I actually liked the tissue-paper wrapped eggs the best, and we discuss doing this as a paper-mache project next year instead.

An hour later, here's the finished eggs (they looked better than this, the camera washed out a lot of the color). Some of the colors transferred better than others, so I feel a science experiment coming on.... we also discovered that pieces of crepe paper transferred the dye better than the tissue paper did.

The kids on their chilly egg hunt. Brrrr, but it was cold! It may officially be spring now, but our weather just doesn't seem to know that!




The boys explore (and sample) the contents of their eggs.

It was a very lovely festival, given that it was sort of thrown together at the last minute. See Wednesday's post about why it's hard for me to just declare it "Spring" and really "feel" it. But there is something very reassuring to me about the fact that, even totally lacking in organizational motivation, I can still manage to pull something nurturing together! Reminds me that my kids are getting everything they need even if I can't always be "on my game".

a trio of museums

I haven't had enough time to blog all of our adventures this week, so I'm going to have to compact some of them! (Otherwise I'll be sitting here typing all day, and you'll be reading all night!)

On Tuesday we went to our local children's museum for the afternoon. Both kids attended a short program on rabbits (where they of course got to pet one of the resident rabbits), and Zoo Boy hung out with The Map Man (who often meets us at the museum on his way home from work) while J was in his class.

And here's J in class -- entitled "Lucky You", which was about the legend of St. Patrick. They created family crests, made snake traps, and decorated butter cookies. (Here they are working on icing their cookies - J is in the middle in an olive colored shirt.) It was a really fun, hands-on class, and Zoo Boy was pretty sad that I didn't sign him up for it, too. (I suppose I could have, he's right at the lower age range, but I'm trying to let the kids have a couple of separate activities too, and for right now I think The Boy is better off in classes where he's at the upper end of the age range.) The instructor let him do some of the activities after the class was over, though, and he gets to have her as the teacher in his own class next week, so he got over the disappointment of not having class that day. I still can't believe how much he LOVES taking classes!

On Thursday we hooked up with some fellow homeschooled friends at the Springfield Science Museum. Here the kids explore the space display outside the planetarium. They love looking at the pieces of meteors and such under magnification.

We also visited the Connecticut Valley Historical Museum, which is next door to the Science Museum. It was small and a little beyond them at this point, but they enjoyed looking at the displays, and enjoyed checking out the Dr. Seuss-themed exhibit halls.

But the best part of the day was getting to run around and play in the Dr. Seuss National Memorial Sculpture Garden on the same grounds. They played tag and hide-and-seek amongst the sculptures, and my friend L and I got some rare visiting time in. (Her Little J is only 2, so often times L is busy chasing after him when we get together -- this set-up was just perfect for visiting, as there just wasn't much trouble the kids could get into, and the outdoor space was just wonderful, although it was QUITE cold with a biting wind.)

m is for.....

M is for Me. I've been trying to find a rhythm to my blogging, and I find on Wednesday I get a bit introspective anyway, so I figured I would continue to try sharing my thoughts on Wednesdays. But while I do that, I'll entertain you with some photos of the kids, like this one of them painting this past week.

M is for March. A traditionally Miserable Month for Me, Mostly because of all the Mud (and I hate hate hate Mud!). It's not really winter, it's not really Spring. For some reason I've been feeling external pressure to embrace the rebirth of Spring this year, but it's just not real for me right now. The fact is, Spring doesn't just HAPPEN. It's a slow re-awakening, not a jumping into life. Recognizing that is My key to surviving the Month and trying to find a way to bridge effectively from Winter to Spring. I've been struggling these past two weeks -- the kids are not transitioning well to story after our Adventure Circle -- J is lying there acting exhausted and disconnected, while I lose Zoo Boy altogether (he actually leaves the room). I don't think it's the stories I'm choosing, I honestly just think it's this Month.

M is for Morning Manure Meditation. I know that MOST people who Meditate do so in a quiet room without distraction so that they can focus on their breath and allow revelations to come to them, or focus on a problem, opening their Minds to allow it resolution. When I Meditate in that way, My Mind does not open, at least not in a way that is obvious to Me. I do think it helps to plant some seeds in My Mind, but those seeds don't seem to sprout until I'm out scooping horse poop. Something about the repetitive Motion allows My Mind to open, and I have the Most aMazing revelations. Like this morning, despite the 30 degrees and drizzle, I realized why I've been having such difficulties the past two weeks with trying to get our Spring Semester off the ground.

I've been simply doing too Much. With March being such a Miserable Month for Me, it was silly for Me to think that I could actually treat it like any other Month and just chug along with our rhythms. Since March is about transition, I need for our rhythms to reflect that. Since our Raven and River circle (details coming, I promise!) is so sensory intensive, and the kids are physically exhausted afterwards, I think I need to drop the additional curriculum story this Month, and just let the Adventure Circle BE our story. It's certainly story enough, and honors the process of the slow awakening and change of the seasons, the rebirth of the earth. And I don't want to lessen the intensity of the activities in the story, because we can't do a lot of outdoor exercising due to the Mud.

In April, when the Mud dries and we can get a lot of good, breath-awakening outdoor activity, I can switch to a less intense adventure circle, and bring the Enki stories back into our rhythms. But for now, we'll transition with what will nourish us Most -- lots of activity, held together by a grounding, natural-rhythm honoring story imbedded within.

M is for Marvelous!

fun day monday

Yesterday was the start of the spring semester of our Monday Homeschool classes. J was signed up for soccer, and Zoo Boy surprised me by asking if he could play too. (Having never shown any interest whatsoever in playing sports or anything even remotely athletic, like, you know, walking....) They were more than happy to include him, and he stuck it out for 45 minutes, until, while playing goalie, he got his fingers jammed on the ball when trying to stop it. Poor little guy was pretty freaked out by that -- and I agree, that HURTS! We'll see if he still wants to play next week. I'm not holding my breath....

After soccer, J went off to chorus, and Zoo Boy accompanied me to the preschool program I'm co-teaching. He had a blast, and was very pleased when informed that this class was for HIM, not for J. He even participated in the craft, creating this cool St Patrick's Day bookmark. (And crafts are not ordinarily his cup of tea.)

Then both kids had a really awesome class called Museum Explorers, which is a cooperative effort between the class co-op and the museum where we hold it. The kids are going to be learning all sorts of behind-the-scenes information and "secrets" from the museum staff. Here one of the instructors discusses some of the signs of wildlife we can find in our backyards and neighborhoods.

Here's the class (my two on the back left), totally engrossed in the program. They also got to meet some ring-necked doves, and learned how they trained the male to "wave goodbye".





As a project, they dipped rubber animal feet into paint and made track paintings. Zoo Boy was pretty excited about this project, and proudly filled his paper with crow prints.

It was a very busy, full day! And the kids loved every minute! (Well, the part where Zoo Boy got hurt wasn't a lot of fun for any of us, but we all recovered and went on to have a great afternoon.) It's going to be a great spring!

weekly summary, week #25, spring #1

Ok, so this may not look much like spring, but this is the reality of early spring in New England. And we're cheating a bit, given that spring doesn't really roll in until later this week. But this was our weather this week -- it would snow a little, the sun would come out and melt it, the clouds would roll in and snow a little more. On and off all week. "Sugar snow!" J claimed, quoting the Maple Sugaring books we read all week.

And, truly, it was. The cold nights and warm days of late winter/early spring in New England is the time for the gathering of sap and the boiling of syrup. Our curriculum story this week was the Enki Nature Story, "Sugaring Time", and our Family Story Time books supported it: Spring Thaw by Steven Schnur, illustrated by Stacey Schuett; Sugar Snow by Laura Ingalls Wilder, illustrated by Doris Ettlinger (yet another one of the My First Little House Book series that we so love); and the wonderful Sugarbush Spring by Marsha Wilson Chall, illustrated by Jim Daly (by far all of our favorite, although we love all 3 of these books). We also attended (as shown) a fabulous program on Maple Sugaring at our favorite park and nature center, which can be read about in detail here and here.

We topped off our week of sugaring activities by making Maple Sugar Candy. I was dubious about boiling down syrup into sugar in my kitchen, but it came out REALLY wonderful! I think we'll make it a yearly tradition. On Saturday night, we had one final telling of "Sugaring Time" by the fireside, while munching on popcorn topped with Maple Syrup. We're looking forward to getting more of a jump on the sugaring season next year, and plan to tap our own trees and make our own syrup.

Here are this week's wet-on-wet watercolor paintings -- on top is J's creation, on the bottom is Zoo Boy's. They continue to really love the entire process of this painting technique, particularly Zoo Boy (which I find both surprising and delightful!). We also began our Raven and River Adventure Circle, based on the book Raven and River by Nancy White Carlstrom. (I will try to get some photos in the coming week and talk a bit more about the details.) It's an early spring adventure, where we take the role of various animals and try to wake the sleeping river from under its blanket of ice. GREAT fun, and a huge hit with the kids. In fact, we had a bit of a sick day on Thursday, due to J having a cold, and instead of the circle, I simply read the story to them. But the boys jumped in and did various parts of the circle as I was reading, and both of them have spent some time "practicing" pieces of the circle on their own throughout the week.

We also paid a visit to the "special" dinosaur exhibit at the Springfield Science Museum as a family this weekend, to mixed reviews. (Kids love it, adults were bored to tears.)

And just because I know everyone wants a Budgie update! The babies left the nest box this week, and are working on fledging, pumping their little wings and, so far, getting nowhere fast. They are now starting to eat on their own and are about 3/4 the size of their parents. They soon will be ready to go to their new homes (although Blueberry, shown here, is going nowhere -- we'll hang onto him ourselves). We (or should I say, I) also introduced two new Budgies to our fruity flock as well, Coconut and Blackberry. Have I mentioned that we love Budgies??

dinosaurs

OK, so it was billed as a "blockbuster exhibit", so we paid the $3 per person fee (in addition to our admission, which was covered by our membership), to go see the Animatronic Dinosaurs on display at the Springfield Science Museum. Take my advice -- SAVE YOUR MONEY. It was far less spectacular than even my meager handful of photos depict. The Map Man and I were less than impressed.

The kids, however, were enthralled. Not so much with the dinos themselves (which they liked well enough, but I gotta tell you, they were a little boring, even for a 7 and 5 year old), but with the things they found to do there. Like donning safety glasses and paint brushes to go on an archaeological dig.

And running the dinosaur robot from it's control panel.






And climbing through a volcano.







And studying the finer points of large reptilian carnivore/prey relationships.

But seriously, I'm making it look MUCH better than it actually was.

Kid's review: 4 1/2 stars out of 5 stars. (But these are MY kids -- they would have a blast all afternoon in an empty cardboard box.)

Parent's review: 1/2 star out of 5, and only because of that robot. We would have much rather been in the Planetarium (which WAS included in our membership admission!). If it was free, I wouldn't have whined. I'm just having a hard time trying to figure out what exactly we paid for. (The ridiculous electric bill those things must generate, I guess!)

I'm glad the kids had fun. But I warned them that this was the one and only time we were going to pay to see the dinosaurs. They took my warning to heart and visited the exhibit twice during our visit today. Meanwhile, The Map Man and I did our best to keep each other awake (not 100% successfully, either....).

maple sugaring, part 2

After we got done in the Sugar House (read part 1 of our maple sugaring story first!), we moved indoors to the nature center, where our teacher told us the Iroquois legend of how the Native Americans first learned to boil sap down to make syrup out of it. (It involved an 8 yr old boy -- I'm guessing the age was adjusted to fit the audience! -- and a happy accident while out on a water-gathering chore. I won't spoil the story, but J would be more than happy to tell it to you the next time you see him!)

Then the kids got to tap a tree. (Well, a log inside the nature center, anyway.) They each got a turn drilling a hole (here Zoo Boy takes his turn) with a hand-drill. The key for deciding where to drill is the "4 x 6 rule" -- you drill 4 inches higher or lower and 6 inches to the left or right of last year's tap hole.



Fluffy hammers in the spile (the tube that the sap runs out of). Each boy had their own job -- B removed the drill from the tree, Zoo Boy stuck the spile into the hole they drilled, Fluffy pounded in the spile, and then J hung the bucket on the spile, and placed the lid on it to keep out the rain and snow (seen below):

We then spent a bit of time talking about all the other types of syrups and sugars that are derived from various plant sources -- sugar beets, sugar cane, corn, and of course flower nectar (via bees -- i.e., honey!). It was an extremely educational program, and we all just ate up the information, the presentation, and the general positive learning atmosphere. We were flying high by the end, and of course signed up for a couple of more programs for our little group of home-learners!

And then afterwards, we took advantage of the glorious weather by spending an hour or two running around outdoors, playing on the playground, racing across the fields, and just soaking up the sunshine and each other's company.

Spring is HERE, I don't care what the calendar says!!