Thrifty Thursday

Since we're out of school (Daddy and I) I have more time to scour the thrift stores.  And since I gave away almost all our baby things, there are quite a few things I'm hunting!

Last week I went to the Goodwill, the Recycling Center Thrift Store, and a single garage sale.  Here are a few of the highlights...

This lovely glass canister was $3 and is currently housing dried herbs.  The stainless steel watering can was $1.50 and the books total less than $2.  I found one I was really hoping for The New Baby!  (Anything to help us transition to a family of five).  And a Laura Ingalls Wilder lift the flap book!

In addition to these finds there was a $1 wicker basket that is currently holding puppets, two Halloween costumes (should work for this year)$2 (total), and a couple new baby outfits.  If I haven't mentioned it yet, the new baby is another GIRL!!!  Too bad I didn't save any of S's baby clothes.

What have you found thrifting lately?

The letter "C"

This last week we covered the letters:

We read the fairy tale, then worked on writing some C's.  I served chicken noodle soup and carrots for lunch.  Then we talked about every word that started with the letter "C" we possibly could.

Then we made caterpillars.

Handwork consisted of making a cat toy (another great C word).  One of our favorite activities 'round these parts.  And we have two lovely kitties who really enjoy them.

We start with a square piece of felt, some embroidery floss, a needle, a bell, and a pinch of catnip.

R sews these together any way he sees fit and I tie it off.  They end up round-ish, but the cats don't mind.

The letter "B"

Once again, we read the fairy tale and practiced writing upper and lower case "B's".  Since S is only three, I don't make her participate if she doesn't want to.  She's discovered that she likes to color or draw on her own while R practices writing the letters.

So while R decided to draw a bumble bee (which is amazing because he really dislikes drawing), S worked on a coloring sheet I had printed out.

The two books above are what we've used to introduce the letters.  The one on the right is the book of Fairy Tales and the one on the left is the Waldorf Alphabet Book which shows the letter in pictorial form (so "B" looks like a baby on a blanket) and other words that start with that letter.  Excellent drawings/depictions for visual learners like R!

Here's the man with his proud bumble bee!

And here's a little girl who looks as if she may need to take up the "nap habit" again.

"A" in review

For the letters, we've been reading the fairy tale in the Oak Meadow book, then drawing a couple examples.  The following day we do a craft or drawing inspired by the letter.

So here's A:
After the drawings, R wanted to try watercolor painting the letter.

Then we collected acorn caps while discussing the long "A" sound in "acorn" and the short "a" sound in "cap".  Setting the acorn caps aside, they cut out large letter A's (they each did this) and then glued them to construction paper.  The final step was gluing the caps onto the A's.  (Cutting, squeezing the glue, and placing caps are all good fine motor work for 3 year olds).  

While not "Waldorf", I still think I did a good job of getting us outdoors and using nature for crafts.  

The doll quilt

R's quilt is turning out to be a challenge.  While I have most of it pieced together, the actual logistics of putting together a full size quilt elude me.  So I decided a mini-version would be a good way to test the techniques.  Enter S's doll quilt.

She picked out the fabrics (and they match the bedding Grammy made for her doll bed) and I began to cut and sew them together.

Here's how the final project turned out (sorry for the dark photos, it's been rainy and overcast here):

Overall, not perfect, but not bad for my first try.  And please don't judge that poor baby doll.  She has something on her face and I can not for the life of me get it off.  I've tried everything I can think of.  So if you know how to clean Waldorf Doll skin, please let me know!!!

Homeschoolers to Afterschoolers

This has been a difficult year.  With both of us grown-ups working and going to school we've had to make some tough decisions and I don't just mean financially.  We pulled R out of preschool in the winter as we knew we'd need the nanny more to cover my ours teaching and working.  R didn't love his preschool, but I was sad to see him leave.  So for the entire Spring semester we just "maintained".  The kids played together and very little learning occurred.  When N got the full time instructor position, it was a huge relief to us.  Our savings were pretty much as depleted as our home rhythm.  Not to mention the exhaustion I've felt by being 34 and pregnant, taking care of the entire family, graduate school, working, etc.  Too much!

So when I brought up the idea of homeschooling the kids, N was not crazy about it.  We did a lot of talking and I even purchased some super cheap (used) homeschool curriculum.  But N couldn't be convinced.  So I reluctantly took my baby to Kindergarten Roundup in April.

Up to this point, I intended to homeschool in a Waldorf-inspired manner.  Saving intense academia for another year or two and just focusing on childhood and fostering creativity.  So starting in August we'll be Waldorf-inspired Afterschoolers instead of homeschoolers.

Then I started to have some anxiety.  With sending him to public school Kindy in the fall, it's become more clear to me that I need to "bring him up to date" so to speak with expected academics.  Here's where that used homeschool curriculum comes into play.

We are loosely following the Oak Meadow First Grade program.  And this week we started with "A" and will soon move on to "B".

As you can see in this last picture, R is distracted by something happening in the backyard.  That's because Daddy is doing a bit of his own learning.  He's attempting to filter rocks out of our soil with one of the trays from my worm bin (what? doesn't everyone vermicompost?).  This is only the beginning.  Huge muddy mess ensues...

And I'm okay with this sort of lesson too.  We still have another activity planned for when they get cleaned up and come inside.