A Good Week for Huts

We are changing our routine up a little this week to make things a little less stressful on little ol' me. For whatever reason, Grant has not wanted to be involved in circle time, and Johanna's interest in it come and goes. This left me doing it all by myself trying to get them involved. It was like pulling teeth sometimes! So, now we will be doing seasonal songs and verses while we are going on our morning walk. This week we started doing Halloween songs and verses. Once we get inside, Grant and I have been doing some fun bean bag games and movements to more verses. After that we do a hide and seek game with various objects and have fun with tongue twisters. Grant enjoys these activities much more! Johanna is happy right now re-arranging our Halloween window clings while Grant and I are doing that. I am also confining Julia, just for a short time, to a booster chair for a snack while I work with Grant. That way she is not trying to climb all over us, or the benches at our table. I sit her chair on the floor next to me and keep her happy with crackers. Mom is much happier, too! I will continue to tweak things as we go along. I want to find more ways to keep Johanna occupied while I am telling Grant his story for the lesson. She wants to be right there listening, but is never able to sit there quietly. I feel bad for Grant because of all the commotion, but a wise Waldorf homeschooling Mom told me not to apologize for a situation that will never be. She pointed out that Grant is used to all of this going on, and to him it is normal. If I let him see it bothers me, then he will think it should bother him, too. I must remember that nothing will ever be perfect!

This week we started with the letter F. Katie and her family took their canoe out for a fishing trip and a flying fish jumped right into their boat! I had to explain to Grant, that, no, they don't have wings. I told Grant the story of The Lambkin and the Little Fish, introduced the form for the week, and then Grant practiced drawing both the the form and the letter F in the air, on my back, and on his chalkboard. After that, we started working on our drawing for the story.

The Letter F Chalkboard Drawing

On Tuesday, Dad took Grant out to the lake to go fishing. He caught three fish while they were out there. They looked at the fish a little more closely this time and talked about what they saw. Dad joined us on our walk and once we were inside he led us in our prayer to start the school day. While Grant worked on making the form, and some letters, out of dragon tears, I read Johanna a book which was her "lesson". She enjoyed that, and I know she likes it because then I can give her a little one-on-one time.


Grant re-told me the story of The Lambkin and The Little Fish and we wrote the summary in his lesson book. We finished our drawings from the day before and he wrote the letter F in his book. He is becoming very proud of his lesson book, and loves to look back through the pages he's done.

Mom's The Lambkin and the Little Fish Block Crayon Drawing

Grant's The Lambkin and the Little Fish Block Crayon Drawing

Wednesday we learned about the the letter H as Joseph and the kids began building a hut for the coming winter months in our story, and I told Grant the story of The Little Hut in the Forest. He practiced drawing the letter H. It just so happens we have co-op this Friday and Grant has an assignment for his rain forest class to build a house (or a hut) out of items he can find in his yard. Talk about good timing!

The Letter H Chalkboard Drawing

On Thursday, we wrote our summary of The Little Hut in the Woods, the form for the week, and the letter H in Grant's book. We also reviewed F and H and talked about words that start with each letter. After lunch, Cory and Grant began working on his hut. They worked on it all afternoon. I thought it turned out pretty neat. We took it to co-op on Friday and Grant told me that his and another one won "first prize", but then he said more specifically that his came in second place because the other girl made people to go with hers, but that second place was really the same as first place, so they both won. For his Community Helpers class, he took a field trip to the local bakery. He really enjoyed that, and the donut samples they had out for them (eek!) He had a good co-op day!

Week 5 Form Drawing

Grant's "2nd Place" Hut