S is for The Six Swans

This week Grant is learning about the letters S and T. We started off Monday with our usual walk, circle and penny whistle lesson. The penny whistle lesson was different today. We basically stay with the same lesson for 2 weeks (which would be 8 lessons) and then we move on to something new. Grant was pleasantly surprised with the new change.

Next, we moved on to the main lesson. First, I told Grant the next part of our container story about Katie and her family and how they were setting up a temporary home by a nearby stream where Katie would hear many stories from her father. After that I told him the Grimm's fairytale, The Six Swans. I introduced this week's form and the letter S. He easily found the two S's and this week's form in my chalkboard drawing. We practiced drawing the form on his chalkboard and he also traced it with his finger in some flour. We talked about the sound that S makes and made a list of "S" words as Grant was practicing writing the letter S. After that we drew a picture (with our 3 block crayons) in our main lesson books from the story.

Mom's Swan Drawing

Grant's Swan Drawing

Before starting our walk on Tuesday, we walked out the form and the letter S on the driveway. Once inside, he practiced writing the letter S on his chalkboard (this is a hard one for him) and we used dragon tears to make an S and this week's form. Next, Grant re-told me the story of the six swans and we wrote a summary of it in his book. Dad interrupted our lesson at one point so he could show us a turtle he found in the backyard. We all enjoyed watching it, and while we were out there we picked two small red tomatoes off one of our tomato plants. This will be good conversation for tomorrow when we learn about the letter T.

On Wednesday, we learned that Katie's father also set up their camp near a grove of coconut trees and they enjoyed a treat of fresh coconut and coconut milk. After their meal, Katie's father told her about the letter T and the story of The Three Little Men in The Forest. Grant practiced writing the letter T, but he was feeling a little under the weather so we called it a day.

Julia and I left on Thursday morning to take a trip to Toronto, Canada to visit a friend of mine. As luck would have it, Thursday is Dad's day off, so he finished up with Grant's lessons for the week. They talked about the story and wrote a summary of it in his book. Grant also drew this week's form and the letter T in his book. They had fun reviewing all the letters that he has learned so far with a bean bag toss game. I was also able to find a whole coconut at the grocery store, so they had to figure out how to open it and then talked about it and ate the coconut out of the inside. The decided to use a sharp rock to open it, just as those who first discovered them probably did. They said it worked really well. While Grant didn't care much for the coconut, Dad and Johanna liked it.

First Week of School

We have finished our first week back in school. We start each day off with a walk to get the wiggles out, though I don't think you can get all the wiggles out of Grant! Then we go into the school room and come together for "circle time". In circle time we enjoy seasonal songs and verses complete with movement and props. There is also a lot of counting in the verses and songs to start introducing it to Johanna in a fun way, and re-enforcing what Grant already knows. I made some beanbag "apples" and hobby horses. When Grant saw me making the bean bags, he wanted to make one too. He wanted his to be blue. It is his special "apple" during circle time. Our circle theme is a trip to the orchard. We end our circle time with a blessing on our day and then we move into Penny Whistle lessons. I have had fun learning to play this, so I can teach Grant.

After the lesson, I sit down and read a book, mostly for Johanna, Grant likes to listen too, and Julia tries to wreck the whole thing by crawling all over us and grabbing for the book. After the book, I move into telling the story that starts off Grant's lesson for the day. We are starting first grade with Language Arts lessons, the Waldorf way. Grant will learn to read and write as the letters come alive for him through stories, drawing, and painting.


We started our first week off with form drawing and the introduction to the story which will take us through the whole year. Form drawing is a precursor to writing and will help Grant learn how to control the crayon (and eventually his pencil) when writing/drawing, and is the beginning of nice penmanship down the road. I introduce the form by drawing it in the air, drawing it on his back with my finger, having him do the same, and then moving on to the chalkboard where he can practice drawing it before he draws it in his main lesson book. Grant will be making this main lesson book which will serve as a first reader for him, as well as a record of his school work. On Wednesday, we broke out the play dough we made in Kindergarten (infused with the nice, calming scent of lavender, aah..) and used it to make the 3 forms. The wavy line made a good snake!

Form Drawing 1

Form Drawing 2

From Drawing 3

Our story started with the introduction of Dad Joseph, son Ben (10 years old) and almost 7 year old daughter Katie who start out on a quest to find the Wise Old Sophia who is a magical enchantress who lives in the mountains and will give the "gift of knowledge" to Katie. On their journey, Katie will learn many things to prepare her for her meeting with Sophia, including the letters through Grimm's fairy tales (this will make more sense as we go along). I am also going to use some Hans Christian Anderson tales to honor our Scandinavian heritage.



I drew a drawing on the chalkboard that represented the first part of our story for the week, and I also included the forms in the drawing. Can you find them?





The first three days of the week he learned a new form and heard another part of Katie's story. On Thursday, we summarized the story so far and I wrote it in his main lesson book, and then we drew a picture of the family with block crayons. Yes, as you may be wondering, these are rectangular shaped crayons that we will use to draw pictures throughout the year. We will only use red, yellow and blue, and Grant (and me too) will learn to blend those 3 colors to make all the rest.

Mom's Block Crayon Drawing

Grant's Block Crayon Drawing

Julia was very insistent all week on getting up on the benches at the table and doing what we were doing. She liked the coloring, and the taste of the crayons, too.


When we are done with lesson time, the kids have some free indoor play time, and then we head outside to play before heading in for lunch. While we were outside on Thursday, I drew the 3 forms in chalk on the driveway and Grant and Johanna walked them frontwards and backwards, shoes on and shoes off. Then I challenged Grant by having him do the straight line with his eyes closed. He did a pretty good job!

We all enjoyed the first week, and look forward to next week when we start having fun with letters!