I am so happy to see June arriving! June, the month of beautiful blue skies, time at the lake, popsicle-making, and fun.
Here are the festivals and feast days we are celebrating this month:
June 9 Feast Day of Saint Columba of Iona
June 10 Feast Day of Saint Ephrem of Syria
June 11 Feast Day of Saint Barnabas the Apostle
June 19 Father’s Day
June 22 Saint Alban
June 24 Feast of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist (St. John’s Tide)
Some of you may also be celebrating:
June 14 Flag Day
June 20 Summer Solstice
Here are a few of my favorite things for small children:
Circle and Activities for St. John’s Tide
Telling a summer story
Creating a summer nature table
Creating delicious memories for summer
Crafting a new seasonal rhythm
Here are a few of my favorite things for grades-aged children and teens:
For some photo inspiration, you can see pictures of our children doing our favorite summer activity here
Also, try the inspiration over at my Summer Pinterest board – I also have boards specifically for June, July and August.
Summer doesn’t have to be expensive or crazy for older children – try backyard camping, catching fireflies, hiking, swimming, kayaking, stand up paddleboarding for older children and teens, bowling, mini golf, and free community opportunities!
Here are a few ways I prepare for summer:
5 Ways to Have A Calm Family Life
And because it seems to naturally occur in summer, I always try to think ahead about summertime bickering
I like to think about ways to increase the serenity in my family as I wrote about in this four-part series starting here
For myself:
Summer feels like such a great time to me to go through the closets and drawers in the whole house. I love to get organized over the summer. However, this summer I am also focusing on my own clothes and shoes that I might need, as I usually tend to focus on everyone else.
Exercise and drinking water also are at the top of my list
Homeschool Planning:
Yup, that is there too…For sixth grade, I think I can finish in June. For ninth grade, since there will be three “track” classes (Spanish, Algebra I and Living Biology – but I am only teaching one of these myself), I talked with some other mothers and have decided to cut our blocks down to five blocks this year with the option to add on more at the end if we get those done. These are blocks that can combine with other blocks to make credit hours over the next year (or this current school year) and will hopefully give me time to work with our sixth and first grader. First grade and ninth grade planning are coming next, as soon as I am done with sixth grade.
How is summer going for you all? Would also love to hear from my Down Under folks – how is it heading into winter?
Lots of love,
Carrie
The Parenting Passageway 
Hi Carrie, I found your writings last night when looking for something to help redirect my younger two children. We started off with a strong Waldorf foundation/home life 17 years ago when my eldest was a toddler but with needing to go back to work and now juggling full-time work, sole parenting and homeschooling, I haven’t kept us on track. Thank-you for your site – already I am focusing on returning to celebrate some of the festivals and we will build a big bonfire for the coming Winter Solstice, living in a rural area in the Southern Hemisphere. I will also keep looking for some kind of blog/resources, specifically directed to working with teenagers. They have some lovely friends and spend time doing some constructive activities and playing board games but ipods and other gadgets, and cool clothing and fitting in seem to have become so much a part of their culture that I want to work to keep some balance while not alienating them from their peers at their important time in forming self-image and struggling with new phases of life. Thank-you.
HI Julie!
I am so glad you are here – I have a lot of Down Under readers! 🙂 And yes, I totally understand that transition to the older teen years..My oldest is close to 15, but some of her friends are 16 and 17, and I can see it coming. That 15/16 change is also an area that is not often talked about in Waldorf Education – lots more focus on the 6/7 transition, the 9 year change and the 12 year change. I hope to keep writing into the teen years through all three of my children and also will be writing posts as we tackle ninth grade in August. I am so glad you are here. I don’t find much in the way of resources for Waldorf homeschooling teens, although my friend Lisa may be starting a Facebook group soon for Waldorf homeschooling teens..will keep you posted.
So nice to have you, will be thinking of you and your beautiful bonfire for the Winter Solstice!
Blessings and love from across the ocean,
Carrie
Hi Carrie! May I ask how you observe some of the saints’ days you list here? I would love some simple ideas, so we can add in more of those commemmorations. Our son’s name’s day is St. Alban’s day, and I still haven’t figured out a family tradition for it. My daughters are named for St. Lucia and St. Bridget, and there are plenty of built-in traditions for those, so I didn’t have to come up with anything on my own! Happy summer to you and yours. My kids finished school last week and we are looking forward to a summer of laid-back fun, with some swim lessons thrown in. So glad to be done with the morning rush for a while!
Hi Lydia!
Happy Summer to you! Yes, for St. Alban’s in particular, there is not much established is there? If we were in England, we could go to St. Alban’s and I there is a processional with giant puppets acting out the story of St. Alban. Here is a you tube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maf0QcRgAt4 of the procession and giant puppets.
Alas, we don’t have that here. We are at the beginning of celebrating the early British and Celtic Saints in our family, so the plan I have for this year includes going to a river (since St. Alban dried up the river to hasten his martyrdom) and having a picnic there. I also was thinking of something we could regarding hospitality since he sheltered the priest and cloaked himself in the priest’s clothing- since it is headed toward Midsummer, I thought maybe something with little flower arrangements to share with neighbors.
Happy Namesday to your little one,
Carrie
Lydia,
Also, here is a little story about St. Columba: http://www.mainlesson.com/display.php?author=marshall&book=scotland&story=columba
I was thinking of making a moving watercolor picture to go with that story. A boat, the water, a dove that follows them.
Blessings,
Carrie