In the morning, Miriam heard the fable of "The Mouse and the Weasel." We read about the weasel in The Burgess Animal Book for Children. For this new fable we made a little mouse out of beeswax.
We also remembered yesterday's fable by dissolving salt in water and weighing a dry and a wet sponge.
Charlotte was going to make a recipe with arame for supper, but the weather was so nice in the afternoon that we went for a long walk and had no time for fancy recipes. So we'll need to try to cook with arame tomorrow. Today we studied the mosses. We used a new book today which describes plants according to their habitat. The mosses can be found especially in the taiga. So we read about what the taiga is like and what the mosses in the taiga are like in Birken, Mohn und Baobab. Charlotte also drew a red seaweed and finished her text on algae.
Jonathan finished his work about the early Roman government.
Veronika helped me peel many apples to make apple crisp. We used a great tool that peels, cores, and slices the apples -- all at the same time!
All afternoon we soaked in the sunshine and hunted for mushrooms and chestnuts. We also found a caterpillar.
Hickory tussock moth/Raupe der Hickory Tussock Motte
Puff ball/Bauchpilz
Shaggy ink cap mushroom with ink/Schopftintling mit Tinte
Shaggy ink cap mushroom/Schopftintling
?
Am Morgen hat Miriam die Fabel "Die Maus und das Wiesel" gehört. Zuvor haben wir in The Burgess Animal Book for Children etwas über Wiesel gelernt. Für diese neue Fabel haben wir eine kleine Maus aus Bienenwachs geknetet. Um die Fabel von gestern nicht zu vergessen, haben wir zwei Experimente durchgeführt: Wir haben Salz in Wasser aufgelöst und einen trockenen und einen nassen Schwamm gewogen.
Charlotte wollte heute mit Arame etwas fürs Abendbrot kochen, doch hat uns das gute Wetter einen Strich durch die Rechnung gemacht. Es war nach einer langen Regenzeit endlich mal wieder sonnig und so sind wir nach dem Mittagessen auf einen lange Pilz- und Kastanienjagd gegangen. Also müssen wir nun morgen mit Arame kochen. Heute haben wir uns mit den Moosen beschäftigt, die u.a. in dem schöne Buch Birken, Mohn und Baobab im Rahmen der Taiga beschrieben werden. Charlotte hat auch rotes Seegras gemalt und ihren Text über die Algen zu Ende geschrieben.
Jonathan hat seine Beschreibung über die Regierung der frühen römischen Republik fertig bekommen.
Veronika hat mir beim Äpfelschälen für einen
"Apple Crisp" geholfen. Wir haben dafür ein tolles Gerät, welches die Äpfel schält, entkernt und in Scheiben schneidet. Den Nachmittag haben wir, wie schon erwähnt, im Sonnenschein verbracht.
what a beautiful day! the sun feels so special after days of grey sky (and vice versa). i love your mushroom pictures, and the apple peeler gadget! is it the pinzon that sticks onto the counter with a suction cup? the johannes brakel book is also lovely. i wished he published in english :)
ReplyDeleteLooks like you had a great time. Thanks for your encouraging words regarding our new rhythm I was getting pretty desperate trying to sort something that would work.
ReplyDeleteJust out of interest how do you keep Flora entertained whilst the others are working? I know she's a little older than Pip but it would be useful to know what you do. At the moment Dave has Pip whilst I work with Benedict or we swap round so that I take her out.
Have a good weekend
San x
Hello San, I know how it is to find a good rhythm for teaching. I write a new schedule for the whole family almost every school year and adjust it several times during the year.
ReplyDeleteMy husband is gone most of the time when we do school (he's here early morning, at dinner time, at supper time, and most evenings). So I have to entertain the little ones. Flora is mostly with me. When I read to the older ones, she sits in my lap, when they start drawing or writing I give her her own book to draw in. She also loves to do watercolor and play with beeswax although she can't really do very much with it. I sometimes let her play at the sink with water while I explain some subject to her siblings. She also likes to play with math manipulatives. She still takes a nap after lunch when we do foreign languages and religion. When the weather is nice she goes outside with Veronika (5). So basically I try to involve her in everything I do -- although it's hard sometimes and she gets frustrated because she can't have my complete attention. Do you know Holly Pierlot? She has a great list of activities to keep little hands busy: Activities for Little Ones.
Dorina, I really like Johannes Brakel. He has also written a book on animals, and one on peoples in Asia and Africa. His botany book is based on Gerbert Grohmann's book "Lesebuch der Pflanzenkunde" (English title is "The Living World of Plants"). It has some color photographs and nice short descriptions of important and typical plants of different climatic zones all over the world. I also like the Grohmann book, but the English translation is no translation at all, just a loose interpretation of the original book. So much has been taken out and rearranged that it's hard to see the German book anymore.
ReplyDeleteYes, our apple peeler is a Pinzon peeler and works very well. My son gave it to me on my last birthday.
By the way, my husband was just in New York City flying to California from there. He only saw the airport, though. He came back tonight.
thanks for the information about brakel and the grohmann book. it's too bad the english version is so different. i'll keep my eyes open for both, though. it'd be nice to look through them.
ReplyDeletei hope your husband had a good trip to CA! it's so pretty there . . and i love the aroma of the jasmine and pepper trees. also, i hope the view of nyc from the plane was a good one :). flying can be very exciting, though tiring.
I miss collecting chestnuts! We don't have them done here in my area of Virginia. Those Waldorf learning items are wonderful. My daughter would love that scale...will have to look for this.
ReplyDeleteThis is the first place in the U.S. where we've had chestnuts. There is just one lonely tree here and it doesn't look that great anymore. I hope they won't cut it down. My secondary school in Germany (grade 5 and up) was on a steep hill. The road up to the school was lined with chestnut trees. I loved collecting the chestnuts in the fall. They are so nice and shiny and feel great in your coat pocket. Is Virginia too hot for chestnut trees?
ReplyDeleteAlexandra, I don't think our scale is sold here anymore. It was from Magic Cabin. Rosy Hippo sells a similar one, and there is also one by the German manufacturer Haba.
ReplyDeleteDorina, do you know that you can check out books from the Rudolf Steiner Library? It used to be just $25 a year, now it's much more. I love their services and use them a lot.
ReplyDeleteMy husband had a great time in Oakland, CA. He attended a German conference and gave a paper. He just said that this morning he was looking at palm trees! I was in CA in 1986 and was very much stunned by the beautiful bougainvillea. I had only seen them in France and Italy before. And yes, he had a good view of New York City! Now he is very tired but needs to get up and teach at 7:45.
hello eva, california is very beautiful. when i think of the fruit trees . . on my! but i do like living on the east coast. i love the seasons. i love the snow.
ReplyDeletethanks for reminding me about the steiner library. i used to belong a number of years ago. perhaps it would be good for me to join again. there are many books i would like to look at, but i certainly don't want to own all of them! and though the nyc library has many of them, often the older ones are only for use in the library.
Dorina, are you originally from California? It almost sounds like it.
ReplyDelete