Anchor:  a person or thing that can be relied on for support, stability, or security; mainstay: Hope was his only anchor.

When we work to become the author of own family life, we take on the authority to provide our spouse and children and ourselves stability.  An effective way to do this is through the use of rhythm.  If you have small children, it takes time to build a family rhythm that encompasses the year.  If you are homeschooling older children and also have younger children not yet ready for formal learning, the cycle of the year through the seasons and through your religious year becomes the number one tool you have for family unity, for family identity, for stability.

I wrote about my homeschool planning method of marking seasonal and liturgical ideas down for each month in past posts.  I have written monthly anchor points posts for August, September and October and now would like to extend our mood of celebration into May!

 

May is such a beautiful month, beginning with May Day and the beautiful flower garlands worn by children dressed in white; the lively music and dancing around the May Pole. We went to a beautiful public May Day festival in a community the first weekend of May and it really set the tone for a month of beautiful wonder at spring!

 

The Deep South is already  hot and dry.  The pools are open and people are trying to keep cool.  We recently visited an amazing working biodynamic farm in North Georgia and the farmer there was talking about the strange weather patterns. She was trying to work with the contours of the land in order to not have to irrigate, but was saying how she would have her work cut out for her with this heat!  Most folks down here have have their gardens in, although a little behind than usual because we had unseasonably cold and rainy weather at the normal planting time.   I am behind in the planting department as well, but we hope to get something in before the end of  this month!

 

Festivities and flowers is May.  May is also a big religious month in our household.  We will be celebrating the following feast days and holidays:

May 1 – May Day

May 8- Dame Julian of Norwich

May 19- St. Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury, 988

May 25 – The Venerable Bede, Priest and Monk of Jarrow, 735

May 26 – St. Augustine, the First Archbishop of Canterbury, 605 and also Memorial Day!  There is actually very interesting history regarding Memorial Day that has to do with the South. You can read more about that here:  http://www.usmemorialday.org/backgrnd.html

May 29 – Feast of Ascension  (this is also my mother’s birthday, so it is a day of remembrance for me)

May 31- Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

 

Possibilities for Activities this Month:

Strawberry Picking

Camping

Gardening

Memorial Day Parade.  If you are an American reader, I strongly encourage you to take your children to a Memorial Day Parade.  If you are a Waldorf homeschooling family, you can see my thoughts about the place for American things within the Waldorf curriculum:  https://theparentingpassageway.com/2013/04/02/the-american-impulse-in-waldorf-homeschooling/

At 3 PM on Memorial Day observe the National Moment of Remembrance:  http://www.memorialdayfoundation.org/memorials/national-moment-of-remembrance.html

 

For Small Children:

Beautiful Spring Stories and puppetry!  Here is a list of spring tales:  https://theparentingpassageway.com/2010/03/17/favorite-spring-tales-for-the-waldorf-kindergarten/

Spring Kitchen fun with greens, berries, and other spring foods!

Sing beautiful spring music

 

For The Home:

Spring Cleaning

 

In Homeschooling:

Most Southerners are finishing up school this month and are ready to enjoy the summer fun!

 

Many blessings on your May,

Carrie