SFC #6 Hand Knitting

 When I attended the VA Homeschoolers Convention in March, it was my first face-to-face introduction to the varied world of homeschooling.  I attended as many sessions as I could that told about different methods and styles, to get a feel for what's out there.  One of my favorite sessions was an introduction to the Waldorf method.  I walked away wishing I was sending my kids to a Waldorf school instead of homeschooling.  One of the things that especially caught my interest is the emphasis on art - drawing, painting, metal works, sculpture, pottery, and handwork, or fiber arts.  As part of the curriculum, all first graders learn to knit.

I just about died from swooning.  I learned to knit when I was about 10; I never got very good but I can follow a basic pattern, and I loved it (when I had time.)  The thought of teaching children very young how to do this sounded so right to me, I didn't need the justifications that often must accompany alternative education choices.  Here is a nice article about handwork in the Waldorf curriculum.

So I came home knowing I don't know enough about any homeschool approach to do it properly, but I know a little about a lot of things, so that's how we'll roll.  I definitely put knitting on my list of things to include. 

Then I remembered I'm an awkward knitter.  Somewhere along the way I adapted what I'd learned into a strange and inefficient style, and never knew it until my speed-Euro-knitter friend Kat pointed it out about 12 years ago.  I don't want to teach my kids a stupid way to knit!

So I did a quickie internet search on teaching knitting, and what I came across was even better - knitting progression!  Maggie's Rags suggested, first teach hand knitting, then loom/toddy knitting, then needles.  (Waldorf even has kids make their own needles!  Love that.)  Never heard of hand knitting, but nothing a quick YouTube search can't fix.  I made this green sample in a few minutes on Sunday:

Then Monday, for Summer Fun Club, we were off to the races.  A few minutes of instruction, a few more minutes of getting the hang, and voila, independent hand knitters.  

They each made a short scarf length, then we tied them off, and they played with them the rest of the afternoon.  Then today we went to Michael's and picked out a few more skeins of thick yarn so they can hand knit their hearts out on our drive to Massachusetts Friday (visiting my sister's family.)  Talk about a handy little skill, and they love it!

SFC #5 DOUBLE FUN (2013)

We had back-to-back fun planned today - a yard water play party in the morning our PeeWee friends had invited us to, followed by going to the pool in our friend Kate's neighborhood.

Unfortunately, we woke up this morning to 72 degrees and rain.  But we've got friends that roll with it.  Double water fun turned into double other fun. 

The morning party turned into an awesome creek walk, complete with popcorn, throwing rocks, and a hot dog lunch.  Awesome!

The afternoon pool party turned into bowling, what could be better?

As we rolled home at 4pm, happy but exhausted, I let the girls know Saturday would be a chore day.  It's sad, but amazingly the house doesn't clean itself in the same way it seems to dirty itself.  Bills, cleaning, and laundry must get done so we can rock another week of Summer Fun Club!

SFC #3 and #4 Letters and Parfaits (2013)

The plan for Wednesday this week was to go to swim lessons, haircuts, lunch, then write letters for Summer Fun Club.  However, our stylist called to change our hair appointment to 2pm, so we shuffled.  Luckily, amazingly, the activity was portable.  Before leaving for haircuts, I had the girls pack pens, crayons, paper, cards, envelopes, and clipboards in a tote bag, and we were off.  I was going to make them write to their missionary cousin and/or grandparents, but it was a bit...hectic, at the salon, so they could write to whomever they wanted.  It gave them something to do while waiting, was the main thing. 

 

Addresses and stamps when we got home, and bam, keeping the USPS in business.

Thursday was Ginger's cooking day, and she had placed pudding parfaits on the menu for dessert.  Perfect, ready-made SFC activity, that is.  I think they remembered it from last year. 

Ingredients: vanilla pudding (everyone gets to stir for 1 1/2 minutes), sliced bananas, Cool Whip, sliced strawberries, cookie crumbs for the top.  And of course the cool parfait cups I got on clearance at Crate & Barrel after Christmas last year.  

They were just the thing to finish Ginger's chicken taco dinner, and she was beaming with pride.  I myself have been so exhausted at the end of each day this week, it's lucky breathing is reflexive, or I might forget to make the effort.  But the girls are having a great time. 

SFC #2 Porcelain Owls (2013)

Summer Fun Club continues its riproaring 2013 season with cousin fun!  This is the first year our nearest cousins have not been in daycamp/childcare in the summer, so we can get together and play more often during weekdays.  In preparation, my sister-in-law Michelle broke out her laminator, with which she and her kids made their own SFC badges, and also placed a summer-sized order with Oriental Trading Company, ensuring fun to last all summer.

One of the things she got was a crate of porcelain owls.  A trip to the paint aisle at Michael's, and SFC is ready to launch.

...after which there was wrestling, outdoor play, and general cousin shenanigans. 

Summer Fun Club is BACK!

We've already been out of school for two weeks, but the first week I had the girls in a Girl Scout camp, and last week we were off on a fabulous family reunion vacation (which I will probably not blog about, but you can catch all the fun on Instagram @disco_mom.)  

So today was really our first official day of summer break as far as I'm concerned.  Meaning, the first day I had to take charge.  Last year, we had Summer Fun Club.  It worked so well, we are pretty much doing the same this year. 

It is even less of a big deal than it sounds.  We stay busy in the morning - errands, swim lessons, playdates, etc.  Then we have lunch, and Poppy goes down for a nap.  We all have quiet time for 1-2 hours - I go in my room and close the door (today I read until I fell asleep for a quick nap), Hazel and Ginger are free to play quietly, read, do art, etc. - anything but TV.  Then I emerge, supposedly refreshed, and we do an activity together.  I keep a notebook with activity ideas, and plan them a week at a time to make sure I have the things we need.  These are very simple.  They mostly require little to no prep work and little to no cost.  Just something for us to do together for a bit of fun to pass the afternoon and not turn our tempers sour or our brains to mush.

The most important thing about Summer Fun Club is presentation.  We have our badges that we made last year; we make putting them on a bit ceremonious, to mark the start of our FUN.  If someone gets upset or ceases to have fun, I will commence in tickling or other silliness until fun is restored.  This is not my general parenting personality, so it's a treat for them to have me act this way.  And finally, it's always a surprise, what we're doing.  I never tell them ahead of time - that would give them time for the novelty to wear off, or for them to consider it might not be that fun.  It's not the activities that make SFC a success; it's presentation and the element of surprise. 

Most of what I have planned for the first few weeks are things I've been accumulating in the storage closet.  Birthday gifts the girls received and haven't used yet (we get so many craft kits.)  Games or activities I got for this or that occasion and we never used, or only used once.  And then there are some favorites from last year they've requested.  I will hardly have to come up with any new ideas for SFC 2013.  But I will.  One or two, at least. 

So today, to start off our SFC season, we gathered at 3:30 (I'd fallen asleep so we didn't really get going until Poppy and I were both up), donned our badges, and headed out to the deck to do Moon Sand.

I'd gotten this months ago, with the thought to use it for a PeeWee lesson, but then I changed my mind, so I'd never opened it.  My girls had never done Moon Sand before, so this was a perfect SFC thing to do.  Luckily, I'd been warned it makes a fantastic mess, so we did it outside.

Moon Sand is like a hybrid of sand and play-doh.  It's crumbly, but moldable.  Reminded me of an eggless cookie dough - you can press it together, but it also crumbles apart.  At first, the girls weren't sure what to make of it; neither was I.  We made a lot of mountains.

 
Poppy got bored smashing it. 

Then we started coming up with challenges, and made some fun stuff. 

Poppy started treating the big tub of it like a garden, pretending to plant seeds, pat it down, and water it. 

It gave us a good 1.5 hours of fun.  And it did make a big mess, so clean-up followed. 

Then it was off to make dinner.  Summer has finally begun!

Summer Fun Club 17: End of Summer

Last Tuesday was a slow, sad day for me.  It was our last day of summer break.  I tried, I really kind of did, to make it a happy, or at least exciting, occasion.  But inside I was slowly disintegrating.

It has been the BEST summer EVER.  Me and my girls, my girls and me.  Poppy's not too young, Hazel's not too old.  We did a TON of fun stuff, illnesses and power outages aside.  You know some of it from the Summer Fun Club posts, but we did so much more.  Hazel and Ginger both rounded corners in their swimming skills, and we spent a lot of time at the pool.  The TV was off almost all summer, with the exception of a few DVD's from the library, including when we ordered pizza and ate it picnic-style in the family room and watched "The Secret World of Arrietty"...twice.  (We are now reading "The Borrowers.")  All three girls rediscovered the dollhouse.  And the box of ponies.  And the blocks.  And combined all three into an imaginary world that lasted for weeks...and is still going.

I fell behind on my housework - the laundry, cleaning, bills, etc.  Blogs, obviously.  Dinners were quick and simple.  We kept our schedule stacked with activities, not wanting to waste a day.  It felt idyllic to me.  Even when I saw the end nearing, I ignored it.  No new clothes, shoes, or backpacks - we had all we needed.  School supplies had been ordered through the PTA last spring.  Teacher letters came, and I set them aside, to be given a quick glance the morning of the first day.

But last Tuesday, we slowed down.  We went to the library in the morning, to return our summer books, and turn in our reading logs for the library Summer Reading Program; they each earned a free book.  We also revamped our breakfast chart for the new school year, and illustrated it:

 

In the afternoon, for Summer Fun Club, I took about 10 minutes with Ginger and Hazel, separately, to write in the journals I keep for them, and have them tell me some of the things they most want to remember about this summer.  I wrote what they said word for word - love my language samples!  It was so fun to hear what, in their minds in that moment, was most memorable.  And while they both mentioned different things, see if you can pick up on a theme.

  

Ginger's list:

• Family vacay to Massanutten with "the cousins" in June 

• Atlantis water park with "the cousins" one Saturday in July
• SFC paper snowflakes
• Utah trip - Ed's grandfather passed away so he and Ginger went to Utah for the funeral - an alone trip with Dad = BIG DEAL
• Receiving her first chain letter

Hazel's list:

• Going to the beach at Assateague with "the cousins"

• Running in the sprinklers at Grandma's house
• "Cousin" birthday dinner at IHOP
• Another "cousin" birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese's
• Open house at school to meet her teacher

When Poppy woke up, we went out to the party store and bought balloons for our Back-to-School dinner. 

 Miraculously, they agreed on their favorite meal - spaghetti with homemade sauce, Parmesan breadsticks, and salad with only the things they like (lettuce, cucumbers, carrots).

AND of course dessert - banana splits with Magic Shell and marshmallow sauce.

Next I'll post "first day" pictures.  They were cute.  And they were ready.  But I wasn't either of those.