Three Books of Import–Christian Book Reviews

Posted on by
8

 

I am back doing less work and projects right now, and more reading.  I recently finished “Making God Real in the Orthodox Christian Home” by Fr. Anthony Coniaris, which was lent to me by a dear local friend.    Thank you, dear friend.

 

There is something so peaceful and soothing about this book.  When I get bogged down in “what is this all about – parenting, homeschooling, juggling all these balls in the air” – this book reminds me:  “the primary lesson for children is to know the eternal God, the One Who gives everlasting life” (St. Clement).  A balm for the mothering soul, and such a great simplifying thought. Continue reading →

Angry- Yell- Cry-Repeat

Posted on by
20

Have you all ever been in that sort of cycle with a child?  Maybe the child gets really angry, you get angry and  yell, the child yells, it all comes to a head, you both cry, but the cycle repeats.  So many mothers I talk to feel sad, feel guilty, and can’t understand why things have to “come to that “ in order to really communicate with their child.  Mothers also feel most guilty when they have things going on within their families, adult things, and the stress of what is going on comes out in the way they deal with their child’s behavior. Continue reading →

Gaining Clarity

Posted on by
34

I am back from vacation.  Did you all miss me?  I am feeling grateful and gracious these days (more about that in a later post), but I wanted to talk about what I did on my vacation:  I kept silent quite a bit, I prayed, and I thought.

It doesn’t sound super exciting, does it?  But it was, to me, a time and a moment to gain clarity over several issues that I have been wrestling with this summer.  In some ways, this summer has been a Summer of Muddled Thought, of transformation and growth to be sure,  but at times perplexing and challenging and just muddy.  I guess it really has just been an extension of “The Overwhelming  Year”, if you all remember that post and its follow-up post.

I had two things that really came together this past week and juxtaposed themselves on top of each other. I love it when life does that, don’t  you?

The first thing  was regarding this practice of silence.  Continue reading →

This Blog Is On Vacation…

Posted on by
6

 

Or will be as soon as this is published.  Smile  I hope you all have a blessed and wonderful week of summer, and I will see you back soon!

In the meantime, if you would like to drop me a comment as to things you would like to see addressed in future posts, please feel free to do so.

Many blessings,

Carrie

This Could Be My Favorite Post

Posted on by
4

…. ( A reader alerted me on 11/7/2012 that this link didn’t work and she couldn’t find the original post.  On quick search I couldn’t either, but this post is similar: http://www.elizabethfoss.com/reallearning/2012/08/lets-talk-about-learning-with-little-ones.html   Enjoy!)

,,,,of all the things Elizabeth Foss has written.  Go and check it out!

http://www.elizabethfoss.com/reallearning/2011/07/lets-talk-about-learning-with-little-ones.html

 

How is that for lovely heading into the weekend?

Many blessings,
Carrie

The Foreword of “The Well Balanced Child: Movement and Early Learning”

Posted on by
2

Our new book study is here!  We will be going through Sally Goddard Blythe’s “The Well Balanced Child: Movement and Early Learning”

The foreword to the book begins by stating this book is written by a therapist (Goddard Blythe is a physiological psychologist), and is an exploration of the “age-old truth “Sound body, sound mind”, and explains why early movement is vital for developing sound balance as well as the interrelated and dependent foundations for normal or sound language, learning, cognition, and affect.”

Harold Levinson, the MD who wrote this foreword, states that his research in 1973 was the first to understand “that the many and diverse symptoms characterizing dyslexia and related learning, sensory-motor, attention deficit, and anxiety or phobic disorders were caused by medically diagnosable and treatable  signal –scrambling dysfunction within the inner ear and its “super-computer”, the cerebellum…” and states that this book will be helpful to parents and professionals interested in children.

The guest introduction by Ewout Van-Manen talks about how difficult parenting is these days due to a lack of community, the lack of practical task for children to participate in, and how mothers today are divided between working and motherhood..and not to mention those conflicting books, articles and media reports of “how-to” parent.

“How do we sort through, and make sense of, this information in order to be in a position to make informed decisions as to what is best for our children?  Clearly, the best way to begin is to look at these issues is by looking at general child development.  It is only by understanding child development and by observing the children in our care that we can begin to be in a position to make appropriate, informed judgements and decisions”  .

 

On page xv:  “A society that does not promote the sensory development of its younger generation is at the same time diminishing its overall intellectual capacity.”

On to the author’s introduction to the book and Chapter One in our next book post!  Is everyone excited?

Many blessings,
Carrie

How To Grow A Homeschool Group

Posted on by
13

Mothers tell me all the time that they wish they had a homeschooling group that met their needs.Sometimes what forms as a loose group in the beginning really doesn’t hold as the years progress because I often find around the age of five or six, families get really antsy if this child is their oldest.  They may to decide to put their children in school or they may change homeschooling methods, and then you have to start all over again!

It is worth it though to have this structure in place.  A homeschooling group of friends is so important to the grades child.  They may have other friends who go to public or private school, but to have a group of friends who are being schooled in the same way, and even in the same method can be invaluable.

Continue reading →

Linky Love for July!

Posted on by
3

I am liking these links currently:

Erin’s post about mothering through breastfeeding:  http://mommyerin.blogspot.com/2009/08/our-lady-of-la-leche-patron-for.html

I don’t go too many days without checking Eva’s Untrodden Paths:  http://untroddenpaths.blogspot.com/

Meredith’s North American Geography Guide could be valuable to work in conjunction with whatever curriculum you have.  I would suggest for fourth or fifth graders, depending upon the progression of geography you are following in your homeschool:  http://www.awaldorfjourney.com/2011/07/north-american-geography-curriculum-guide-now-available/

For those of you planning, here is a planning post from the Seasons of Joy website:  http://ourseasonsofjoy.com/plans-and-projects/so-you-want-to-put-together-a-main-lesson-blockunit-study/  and here is a post from Rockin’ Granola about a file planning system:  http://www.rockingranola.com/2011/07/my-simplified-file-crate-system.html

Melisa Nielsen wrote a post here about dogma and tradition in Waldorf Education:  http://waldorfjourney.typepad.com/a_journey_through_waldorf/2011/07/dogma-or-tradition-or-steiner.html

Hope you enjoy those links.

Many blessings,

Carrie

What Stories Should I Use In The Six-Year Old Kindergarten Year?

Posted on by
9

I would love to hear your favorite stories that you tell to six year olds during the six year old Kindergarten year; leave your picks in the comment boxes.

I love those  repetitive stories such as The Gingerbread Man, Chicken Licken, etc, but not to reach the heart and soul of  the six year old.  I truly think that for most six year olds, these tales are enjoyable (just as they are for we the adults!)  but I am not certain these will  meet the child’s needs if  for he or she really is  in the throes of real and distinct developmental change.  If he or she is changing, really what is needed are stories with a little more “meat”, a little more good versus evil where good wins.

I hear about children who cannot handle fairy tales well; this does happen.   I wrote about that here in 2009: https://theparentingpassageway.com/2009/08/16/what-do-i-do-my-child-cant-handle-fairy-tales/  You really CANNOT bring a tale to your child that does not resonate with you or that makes you uncomfortable, so do NOT pick that one.  However, you can read a tale for two or three days, and really sleep on it and see what comes to you before you just dismiss it as well.   I  personally love nearly all the Grimms Tales, and am very comfortable with them, and I think that completely comes out in my storytelling.

So, without further ado, here are some stories we have enjoyed in my family in the past, or I have known families whose children enjoyed these tales; this list has my detailed notes as to each story: Continue reading →

Mural-Sized Moving Pictures

Posted on by
8

IMG_8311 (2)

 

 

Moving pictures are a beautiful way to illustrate the action of a story or verse.  Some resources, such as this little book from Bob and Nancy’s, “Making Picture Books With Moving Figures”  (http://www.waldorfbooks.com/teaching-resources/kindergarten-nursury/early-childhood-resources/storytime)  talk about drawing these pictures, but I like to wet on wet paint them.  One afternoon last week, I made these two scenes out of 9 pieces of watercolor paper (seven for the scenery,  plus two small pieces to make puppets of the boat, one Peter puppet and two puppets of Jesus) for a program at our church.  Continue reading →