Winter Festivals

Did you know that Advent starts this Sunday? The winter festival season will be in full swing in just days. Are you prepared?  Thinking back over the past few years, I have learned so much about the true meaning of this "season". This is what I love about Waldorf, it has turned out 1-day big-bang into 6 weeks of gentle, thoughtful giving, celebrating and creating.

We start by making our Advent wreath. I use the same grapevine wreath each yr and we add greenery from around the yard. I found a 5-candle holder in black iron that we will slip into the center and add candles. Each week we add the corresponding mineral, plant, animal, etc.. and lit the 1st, 2nd, third candle counting down to Christmas Eve.

My favorite part of this breathing in season, is the Winter Solstice. We do our spiral on that night complete with greenery, apples and candles. We have dinner by candlelight and the kids adore it! They talk about it all year..
To hear more about these wonderful festivals and to get stories, ideas, verses and more check out my newly released workshop & guide- "Winter Festivals Made Easy"
It includes history and ideas about:  Advent, St. Nicholas, St. Lucia, Hanukkah, Winter Solstice and Christmas. Waldorf teacher Anne Cleveland from the Santa Cruz Waldorf School is gracious enough to share her wonderful experiences with us!  If you are unsure of what to do or how to do it, she will ease your mind and give you the best tip- creating an inner experience for you and your family.

Blessings to all!

Geometric Math

We spent the last 2 weeks following part of Eric Fairman's Path of Discovery 2nd grade guide. I loved the concept of Geometric Math and since this was our first Math block this year, it was a gentle interactive way to re-introduce.

Here are some of the pictures and drawing we did.  The girls really enjoyed this and I did too. It was amazing the "feel" they got from walking and drawing these designs.

The last part was to tell the story of the Circle & the Square and then free hand draw a square within a circle. However, there was no story given in the guide. So, I made one up I thought you may enjoy it and feel free to adapt it for your lessons.

The Circle and The Square:

Once there was a circle laying flat on the ground. He didn't mind looking up at the clouds going by during the day and the twinkling stars at night. But, one day he heard a lot of noise and fun coming from down the street. The more he listened, the more he wished he could go see what was happening that seemed like so much fun! If only he could life himself up, maybe he could see. He struggled, and struggled and then- he was up! Wow, he looked around by turning himself this way and that. He could see all around and he heard the commotion coming from the next block. The circle started rolling down the hill! When he got to top of the next hill, he spied a square, laying around as he used to be. He told the square his tale of lifting himself up and heading toward the fun sounds. the square wanted to join him. He lifted himself up and looked around. But when he tried to "roll" he just kept falling down. The circle got an idea and asked the square to jump up into him and hang on. Then away they went!
They found a carnival at the end of street and what fun they had rolling around checking out all the sites.
(I used a lid from a jelly jar as the circle and a square post-it note to demonstrate while I told the story)

Enjoy!

The Spiritual Side of my Life

With my interview with Neale Donald Walsch, author of "Conversations with God" today, I have been looking at the spiritual side of my life. I have also taken a look over the past year of my business and seen the way source has weaved its energy into my success. This amazing little book has introduced me to a new concept which I have just implemented called, tithing.  It is something I heard about years ago but didn't understand until I read the chapter in this book. It is: giving back to a place or person of inspiration. This is much different from my visions of donating weekly at a place of worship.

If I hear a piece of music that inspires me, read a book that uplifts me or just get some advice from a friend that offers me hope. That all counts! She calls it "spiritual food" and it is what makes you remember who you are, feel joy, get inspiration or know everything is going to be alright.

I am in my second week of tithing 10% of what I earn through The Waldorf Connection. At first, I felt hesitant, but after sending someone that first check, I felt great! And now I am on the "look out" for more inspirations. This is how it works. You will start to see the good out there. And the universe always gives back to you what you are giving to others.  Check out the book, it could change your whole perceptions around money & abundance and giving.

Toothless!

My "baby" finally lost that big front tooth this weekend. I say "baby", but as you know I have twins, so that is impossible. But, she is my smaller less-tooth-loosing sweetie. In fact, her sister lost her front tooth almost 1 1/2 yrs ago!
But, here we are and it was nice to have that time in between, so this seemed like a big deal again.

We had a very busy weekend with visits from the ToothFairy and the Sugar Sprites (did you leave out your candy??) As well as Halloween activities and it is also mu husbands Birthday!  Yikes!

A Fortune Teller and a Fairy set out on the candy hunt.

"Mrs. Applebee"  made an appearance and went trick-or-treating last night at the girls requests. She brought her pencil and ruler and used her "school marm" charm to keep the kids in line. LOL


 Happy Birthday sweetie!