The girls saw this idea in the American Girl Magazine and had to give it a try.

they used whatever leftover junk cookies we had sitting around, chocolate pudding, whipped cream, and topped with sprinkles.

Allyson is halfway through the states.  My MIL gave us a workbook which I understand isn’t Waldorf at all,  But Allyson is enjoying it.  I am having Allyson use it as a supplement source for the answers she needs.  These are the books I’m having her get the info she needs.

Allyson’s assignment is to write down:

1.  the name of each state
2.  the state’s abbreviation
3. date it became a state
4. state bird
5. state flower
6. state capitol
7. and draw a picture of the flag.

here’s her work so far…

Alabama, Alaska

Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado

Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia

Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana

Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana

Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan

Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana

At least this is a start.  do any of you experienced Waldorf homeschool mamas have any good suggestions of what else I should be having her do? 

These little seed pods remind me of tiny lanterns.  I got them from an empty lot behind my sister’s house.  We went over to figure out some crafting projects and I left with this treasure.

Here’s the pods up close.  the picture is a little bigger than actual size.  I just love how this one seed is being exposed!

Allyson decided to cook her pumpkin seeds in cinnamon sugar.  yum!  We sprinkled it on the wet seeds but next time I’ll coat them by dumping all of it together in a bowl to get them really coated good. 

We only baked them for an hour at 200 degrees but they don’t seem crisp enough.

Can anybody tell me how to bake pumpkin seeds the right way (please!)???

Here’s my girls:  a pokemon trainer, candycorn witch, and 2 kitties.

Allyson made her own trick-r-treat bag and the candycorn skirt for her costume this year.   I’m so proud of her!  I’m so glad that she has an interest in sewing.

A few nights ago, Allyson came in to my room to tell me that she was scared of her stuffed bunny because it kept having scary sparkles on it.  She was genuinely terrified!

We went into her room to investigate, and when I sat down on her bed Allyson exclaimed “now it’s on mom!”

haha! it turned out to be STATIC!!!   so Shawn gave her a quick physics lesson on static! 

After that, the girls were facinated with the static and rubbed their stuffed animals to make sparkles over and over again untill we made them go to sleep.

I tried to take a picture of the static but my camera wouldn’t pick it up.

Every Fall,the week before Halloween, Montessori House (the girls’ Elementary Shool) has a program and potluck lunch to celebrate International Children’s Day.

The preschool-1st grade kids dress up in costumes of children around the world.  The elementary class usually wear their School t-shirts with jeans although this year they wore white graduation gowns.

They then parade around the parents while “it’s a Small World” is played. here’s some of the cute little kids in costumes…

here’s my Samantha

 after the parade, they all stand together and sing a few songs. (one of which is always “love grows round in a circle and comes back knocking on your front door.”

then the little kids sit with their families while the elementary class sings  a couple songs.

after the program we have a potluck feast of  food from around the world.   (sorry,  I forgot to take pictures of the food. )

We went to my sister’s  house so that us mommy-teachers could plan out our December activities together.  we are going to be studying Christmas around the world.  We each picked 3 countries to teach for a total of 6 countries.  this year I’m teaching about the Christmas traditions in The Netherlands, Australia, And Mexico.  it’s lucky that I have friends that live in each of these countries so I can get some firsthand stories and recipies!

the plan is to tell a little Christmas story, sing or listen to a song, talk about their Christmas traditions,   do a little native craft, eat lunch with food from that country (including dessert)

 This is a very helpful book:

can you believe I got it from Goodwill for 25¢?!

While we were doing our planning, Allyson made times clocks for 2, 3, 4, and 5.   I think they turned out pretty good   next I’ll have her make 6-9.

here’s something else I finally figured out.  Felicity should be doing Waldorf Kindergarten! 

here’s the guideline…

the child should be 6 for most of the year of Kindergarten,7 for most of 1st grade, etc…   since Felicity turned 6 in June, she’s considered Kindergarten. 

wow, that is quite a load lifted off my shoulders since I can now spend most of my planning time figuring out how to teach Allyson. I’ve been in such turmoil worring about how to get the girls to respect me as a teacher.  Allyson doesn’t want to learn History.  she pretty much shuts down when I try to get her to learn any history at all right now, especially when I try to get her to read anything about the ancient cultures which she needs to know before we start in on Rome.  eek!  and I feel like I need someone to hold my hand though this, to tell me exactly what I need to do.  certain grown-ups (whom I love and respect) are loosing patience with me and how it’s taking so long to get my act together with this homeschooling adventure.  I hate feeling like I’m dissapointing my loved ones. I hate feeling like I’m being watched every second and being judged.  I hate that I don’t have much of a clue what to what I’m doing.  I hate feeling like our financial stresses are my fault because I chose to teach my children instead of going back to work.  I hate that I try so hard to get anyone interested in purchasing sweet baby items from me with no luck.  I did sell my first item on ETSY but guess what it was… a set of Martha Stewart stamps!

Okay, now I’m rambling so I’ll stop. 

 Wednesday afternoon I loaded the kids up and we headed to my parent’s cabin for a fun filled weekend  at my parent’s cabin exploring nature all around us in the surrounding mountains.  Gathering pinecones, fall leaves, and  crystals for fall projects etc…

My gall bladder had other ideas and the stress that I was trying to escape from attacked me full force and I was in so much pain that I got no sleep that first night which meant that all I could do was sit in the Skyflier chair in pain (in the yard) yesterday, and doze off-and-on while the kids played. 

 Here’s a few pictures I took  from my seat.

During one of the moments where I was walking around the yard, I had the kids gather pinecones.

I was in so much pain that we came home last night.  on the way home we stopped and picked a couple of the branches from this bush.  it’s the only sign of fall that we were able to see on our trip.

when we got home I went right to bed and slept almost 12 hours.   When I got up, we put all of the nature we gathered from the trip together here.  apparently the kids made fairy houses yesterday!

last week we went to Samantha’s elementary school for a presentation about reptiles.

King Snake

Gopher Snake
eats rattle snakes! wonderful to have in your backyard.

Tortise  (has elephant legs)

Spiney Tail Iguana (banana iguana)

Aligator (3 yr old)

Bearded Dragon

comes from Australia, live to be about 13 years old, and make great pets.  they like to crawl onto your head. lol.

Rattle Snake

don’t worry, we didn’t get to pet this venomous snake. it was in a cage behind glass.

Felicity’s drawings.  the top is an unfinished picture of the tortise, King Snake, Spiney tail iguana, bearded iguana, and the alligator.  I told Felicity that all of these reptiles are born from an egg so she drew an egg next to them.   (the one next to the bearded dragon has beards on it… what an imagination!