I’ve been doing quite a bit of writing and crafting for Little Acorn Learning these last few months, which has taken me away from blogging some. (Or maybe that was the nine weeks and counting of summer vacation.) Still, it’s been a fun challenge to be creative, learn new skills, and write tutorials and know someone might read it, might even try an activity inspired by my creation. I hope that’s happening somewhere …

I’ve gathered herbs, felted, sewed, made soap, folded and cut paper designs, made banners and wreaths for decorating a home or classroom for the changing seasons. I’m channeling my best Waldorf mama self for this and I hope I am being a good role model for my kids in the process. I’ve written poetry and even a song—like with music! These things are stretching me and fulfilling me in some exciting new ways. I never dreamed I could write a song, even one so simple as I wrote for May Day. (I’ll tell ya, that software was challenging!) I’ve tackled thorny themes such as solitude, sacrifice, optimism, and letting go. In my career as a magazine writer, I was rarely asked for my own opinion on anything; rather the focus was on finding an expert to voice their opinion and then writing it up all spiffy. This work is different and difficult and feels grand.

(These photos are ones that didn’t make the cut for my recent articles.)

The August Enrichment Guide can be purchased here. There’s tons of great stuff for families and homeschoolers, and I’m honored to be featured alongside some really amazing, creative contributors. If you buy one, please let me know what you think of my work.

What I haven’t managed to do much this summer is sew for my kiddos. My mother has made four or five pairs of shorts and pants for my boys during her summer break. I managed to sew only one pair of shorts for Lucas, but I did them all myself (with her advice and supervision). They have dragons. They even have pockets, which I’ve never done before. And he wears them. Win!

I have another pair cut out and ready to sew. I am hoping to work on those a bit this coming week. Fortunately here in California, we have a very long shorts season. Maybe I’ll even manage to finish those skirts I started for myself last summer. I hope so.

Oh, and there’s the next round of crafting and writing articles for September.  🙂

I’m excited to be taking this ecourse on Waldorf education for the next five weeks, and I thought I’d mention it here since it’s not too late to sign up! Dr. Rick Tan teaches at nearby Davis Waldorf School and I’ve had the pleasure of meeting him. I’ve also taken several handwork classes from his talented wife Jennifer Tan over the years, and I have to say, these two are a dynamic and creative force for good in the world. Dr. Tan’s artwork is out of this world. I’m hoping this will help me to understand more of what’s going on in my son’s Waldorf classroom. Lucas is entering fourth grade in just a few weeks!

Five Spheres of Waldorf Education ECourse

through Little Acorn Learning
Instructor: Dr. Rick Tan
Five Week ECourse Begins August 15th and Runs for 5 Weeks

~NOW ENROLLING~
5 Full Weeks of lessons, videos and assignments!

The Five Spheres of Waldorf education encapsulates the sweeping themes of this educational movement: Self, Relationships, Balance, Rhythm, and Course. In the five-week seminar offered at Little Acorn Learning, Dr. Rick Tan will discuss one sphere per week and the relevant topics in anthroposophy and Waldorf that are connected with the sphere.

Dr. Rick Tan is an artist, musician, and graphic designer. He was a homeschooling parent and currently is the seventh grade teacher at Davis Waldorf  School.

Week 1
The Self Sphere:
The topic of Anthroposophy as the human being’s inner striving to understand oneself will be reviewed. Here, the many natures of the Self: ego, astral, etheric, and physical bodies will be discussed

Week 2
The Relationships Sphere:
We will touch on the synergy of our connections with each other.

Week 3:
The Balance Sphere:
This week will present us with a foundation for the threefold social order, and the threefold human being as thinker, feeler, doer.

Week 4:
The Rhythm Sphere:
We will cover the four-part main lesson, and the four temperaments: choleric, sanguine, phlegmatic, and melancholic.

Week 5:
The Course Sphere:
This lesson will touch on the curriculum of Waldorf education.

To enroll in this exciting ecourse, visit Little Acorn Learning HERE for more details.

I’ve already written about how my gorgeous, generous friends gave me oil painting classes for my birthday here and here. I figured I’d better report on how things are going.

I LOVE IT.

This was my first setup, in a too-dark shot taken by my cell phone, which doesn’t capture even half the necessary composition, beauty, perspective, color, or light that made up these sunflowers.

This is my finished painting (and a detail is at the very top). See how I avoided those wicked stripes? Too hard!

In class, my makeshift palette box (glass from my fridge shelf that broke in a pizza box) stands near my borrowed easel. I try really hard not to knock stuff onto the floor. I have a new brush cleaning jar with a fancy coil thingy that’s supposed to keep my brushes in good shape. I used some old cadmium yellow light paint that my Nana had; I had to squeeze hard to get it out of the tube, then it squirted everywhere. So far, there’s little grace involved. Still, painting is challenging and thought-provoking in the most delicious way.

Here is my second painting in progress; the photo was taken at the end of the third class. I had too much solvent on my canvas by the middle of this class, so my paint wouldn’t stick properly, especially on the vase. I was still working out my background color. During the second session working on this painting (fourth class), that wasn’t the case and I was able to finish it.

This is what the studio looks like. There’s my second (silk flower) setup in the lower middle.

My teacher and my classmates are very supportive and said kind things. I’m very happy with this painting, all things considered! Can’t wait to do more. I think my brain is growing and my eyes are seeing more.

Breakfast dishes, with two small helpers.

Putting away laundry, also with help. Halleluia!

Chicken care and feeding.

Kitchen science, on the cheap.

Safetytown USA, where we learned about fire safety, bike safety (“Wear your helmets, kids,” says Uncle Mario), and how to be safe near electrical wires and power stations, stray animals, strangers, and assorted other dangerous things. Safetytown is a mini town, with scaled-down buildings, working traffic lights, and a little pretend railroad crossing. We practiced crossing the street a lot.

Ours was a self-guided tour, which gave us some map-reading and reading practice. Lucas did a great job!

It also gave us lots of opportunities to sit and watch DVD presentations play. :-/  Still, the kids were mostly engaged.

We learned about not playing with matches or lighters, about “Don’t Hide! Get Outside!”, about crawling on the ground if there’s a fire, and having a family fire escape plan and meeting place. Although Lucas already knew a lot of this stuff, I think it was Asher’s first introduction to “Stop! Drop! Roll!”

There was a boring trip to the grocery store, made somewhat less boring by buying crummy Chinese potstickers, chow mein, and egg rolls for lunch.

We watered the garden where it was looking thirsty.

We watered the boys, who raced through the hose spray.

I fetched 17 glasses of ice water for thirsty humans. That water cooler idea is looking really good in the heat of summer.

We made mango, orange, yogurt pops.

The 4 p.m. tantrum came right on schedule.

Two storybooks.

Some math and language arts practice.

Piano practice.

Lucas tried on his new gi to show me. He looks so handsome and grown up.

Quite a day, no?

I’m a bit behind on sharing all the things we’ve been up to. Here are some shots of our summer nature table this year, all of which were taken in June. (It’s the end of July now! Holy moly!)

My new favorite easy-peasey craft is to create these watercolor circles. I wrote a tutorial about this for Earth Day here. Of course, you can have fun creating these using all kinds of colors. Since I had these lovely tie-dyed-looking circles, I decided to incorporate them into our nature table.

I had a wreath from the dollar store on hand, and I taped on our painted circles to make a kind of large flower. I’m used to having a wreath up above this piano top nature table of ours, so this seemed to fit the bill.

As usual, I have some of Lucas’s watercolor paintings framed in black frames on the wall. These can easily be changed out for something new, but so far I haven’t done it. I’m very fond of these three paintings. I’m 39 and I’m still a sucker for rainbows. The kids love them, too, so we’ll just go with it. (Daddy’s penchant for modern art is indulged at his office.)

I also framed this beautiful painting Lucas made in third grade. It gives me a lazy, summery, contented feeling to see it there in the center. I kind of want to fall asleep on a picnic blanket in the middle of that lovely meadow and wake up with just the mildest of sunburns.

On the right is another painting by Lucas, which he made at grandma and papa’s house.  I like its tropical paradise imagery that certainly matches our temperatures, if not our actual proximity to the ocean.  And it seemed to go nicely with a beach and ocean made of playsilks and this lovely wooden tall ship model, which is still “in progress” I am told.

We’ve added other objet d’art, such as a pretty ceramic fish, some seashells, an orchid plant (to go with the island feel), a sailor puppet Lucas made in kindergarten, a particolored goat from Mexico that was a gift from GG and Mimi, and a wooden horse we made for Asher. Now that we’ve been to the woods a few times this summer, we have some pinecones and moss and other goodies to add.

And here’s my secret: I create levels by wadding up scrap paper and placing it underneath the silks. This gives the look of rolling hills or sand dunes, and can even help create wintery gnome caves when the season is right.

Finally, we had to add a second summer nature table for a while because this mermaid aquarium we made was just so darn cool. We created this for a Little Acorn Learning ebook and it graced our home beautifully for weeks this summer.

Lucas was playing the other day and made Star Wars figures out of modeling clay. That’s R2-D2, Luke, and Yoda (left to right), with “Yay!” underneath them. The figure on the right is Darth Vader, and his clay text said “Bad Guy!” I moved the figures together for the photo. Lucas definitely wouldn’t want anyone to think he was rooting for Vader.

Which brings me to realize I never wrote about one of the things we did to celebrate Lucas’s 9th birthday. At our request, our dear friends hosted a surprise party for him on May 6th—a Star Wars: A New Hope viewing party. Prior to that, he had not been allowed to see any Star Wars film. For a young boy with an instinctual and cultural understanding that Star Wars is the quintessential hero movie, friends his age who have already seen it, and a blooming fascination with all things sci-fi, nine years is a long time to wait! (And waiting was totally the right thing to do, too. I have no regrets. We got babysitting for Asher that night.)

When we arrived at our friends’ house for the party and finally told Lucas what this was all about, this was his reaction. Yep, over the moon!

We invited grown-up friends to come and watch the film with us, and I was amazed at the turnout. Everyone wanted to be a part of Lucas’s first Star Wars experience. (Thank you, darlings.)

The event was every bit as wonderful as we had hoped. Lucas felt honored and special. He wasn’t frightened by the film. Instead, he understood it and all its powerful themes: good versus bad, loyalty, honor, friendship, and coming of age.

It was a Big Deal and as you can see from the photos, he was THRILLED! Many, many thanks to our generous hosts.

Although I don’t think he has ever seen one, I can’t help but think of this as Asher’s iPad. He calls it his “video game board,” chooses games, and pushes buttons while wearing a serious game face.

Asher has copied Lucas in this practice of making up his own “video games” out of paper. Lucas recently made paper DS-style handheld game devices for both himself and Asher. They hold these and push buttons and make wicked-cool sound effects. Both are masters at leveling up in these games.

Some might say my kiddos are deprived since they don’t have real video games of any sort. I say they are creative.

Yep. Tonight I begin. I was delayed slightly in this, my most recent, foray into madness. But that was a temporary setback, a mere postponement. Tonight I step into my first oil painting class with a humble, fearful heart. Nevertheless I step because my friends believe in me—so much so, they’ve funded my class fee as a birthday gift.

Yesterday evening I went to the art store and bought $200 worth of oil paints and canvas, much of which was on clearance.

OMG. That’s a lot of money for a lark, a whim, a hobby!

Yep. The voices in my head are really loud about all this, and mostly they are unkind. The harpies are out in full flight, screeching about how ridiculous is it to start this. Who am I to think I might paint? They’re dive-bombing me with doubt and scornful comments. It’s too expensive. It’s impractical. I don’t have enough time to fold all the laundry or work to earn my living, so what in the world do I think I’m doing taking a painting class?

And yet, I’m going. I’m going to try this because I’ve always, always wanted to. And because if a girl cannot find a way to fulfill a dream once in a while, what’s the point?

Both art and living share this: they are a messy, dangerous process. Might as well get messy.

I love to paint. So far, I paint only wall murals and eggs and the occasional watercolor. But I have a dream …

My loves pooled resources recently to buy me a spot in an oil painting class for my birthday. I mentioned my desire to take this class a few weeks ago and, although I didn’t know I was doing it, in hindsight I realize I was saying out loud what I want—and doing so despite the considerable cost, or the impracticality of it, or all the million and one other reasons not to do it. It’s quite amazing and I am (repeatedly) blessed to find that often when I do that, someone is listening, and ultimately I somehow get what I want. I never dreamed that my darlings would do this for me and was/am totally awestruck by the thoughtfulness of the gift.

Me. Oil painting.

I have wanted to do this since I was 9. No kidding.

This week I popped over to the gallery/art studio and paid for my class. I have six evening sessions (6-9 p.m.) to use over the next four months. I have a materials list in hand, and some cash left over from my patrons to put toward the supplies I’ll need.

The painting teacher is on vacation now but will return at the end of June. So next month, I will be painting. With oils. On canvas. And if it is even half as sublime and satisfying as I’ve always imagined it to be, I will rejoice. Even if I suck.

Thank you.

Here are a few more ideas of how to celebrate the summer solstice. Please feel free to check out the first installment here. I guess perhaps it was the very cold, very wet spring we had this year; somehow this year I’m extra motivated to bask in the sunshine. I’m so looking forward to the summer solstice. It feels right to go big this year.

Make a Sun Mask

The mask you see above is one that Lucas made in summer camp a couple of years ago. It’s very simple—just doubled paper plates painted with copper and gold metalic paints and decorated with a few sequins. It’s iconic and it speaks to me, so it’s still on display in my home office. Your sun mask could be more elaborate, if you like, but a project like this could be enjoyed by even the smallest members of your family and for little investment in materials.

Make a Sunshine Banner

For me, Father’s Day and the summer solstice are two sides of the same coin. (That’s not the case for everyone; in China and Japan, the summer solstice is when the divine feminine forces are celebrated.) I guess I always think of Mother Earth and Father Sun (or Father Sky). Anyway, here is a project that Lucas made a number of years ago with his summer camp teachers. The kids and I are going to do this again for the solstice this year, only this time, we’ll have both Lucas’s and Asher’s handprints to make our sunshine. We’ll only need some fabric, twine or ribbon, a twig or dowel, and some washable tempera paint. And soap!

Crochet Sun Medallion Necklaces

I wish I was good enough at crochet to write a proper tutorial for this, but I fear I’d get the vocabulary wrong. I’m just a beginner, you see. But I managed to work out how to create a flat circle that looks sunshiny. I think I used single and double crochet stitches and just felt my way along, endeavoring to keep the sun round. When it was approximately 2 inches in diameter, I started chaining a chain. The acrylic yarn is leftover from another project, and it’s stretchy enough to just pull over the head to make a necklace. I’ve made two of these for my boys, and promised two more to some friends. This worked up in about 30 minutes, so someone who actually knows what they’re doing with a crochet hook could probably quickly pound out these sun medallion necklaces. Wear them at your solstice party!

Find more of my solstice ideas (and tons more) in Little Acorn Learning’s June Enrichment Guide. Click the button to go there.