Welcome to A Little Garden Flower & Waldorf Essentials

Math and punctuation gnomes!

We just love gnomes (big secret!) my mother in law was being silly the other day and made the comment that she bet we had fairy blood in us somewhere - I countered with "Speak for yourself, I think I might have gnome blood!" I fell in love with gnomes years ago and when I created the first math gnomes (back when I owned The Spiral Garden) I knew they would be a hit - I think the first month we sold about 200 sets.  They were so easy and now I look back and have the mind set that I would love parents to make these on their own - they are so much fun and can be a great handwork project for moms beginning to knit or needle felt. We put together a few kits that we thought our readers would enjoy.  The great thing about math gnomes is that they can also double as punctuation gnomes and we have a great little story we are including in the kit that will show you just how much fun it is to stretch this set. These are cute little kits and ready to ship now.  

The knitted set includes: 4 mini skeins of wool Peace Fleece yarn in red, yellow, green and blue, 4 natural cherry wood buttons, knitting instructions and two stories, one for math gnomes and one for punctuation.  You will need, stuffing and knitting needles in a size 8 or 9 (we carry them in our store) $18.50

Prefer to needle felt them? This kit includes: 5 colors of wool roving (red, blue, green, yellow and cream for the face), our DVD Needle Felting Fun, 2 felting needles, a sponge, instructions for putting them together and two stories - one for math and one for punctuation. $8.50

If you are using our math book then these will be a perfect addition to your grade one or grade two math stories. These are also available in our store along with our other handwork products, including gnomes in many colors.

Enjoy your journey!

Melisa Nielsen

Healing stitches

I had to giggle at something posted on our yahoo group this week... something about Waldorf being about more than just unschooling with gnomes... that really made me laugh.  It really is more than that.  It is more than handwork too - but when you understand handwork from the Waldorf perspective then it opens the world up to healing capacities you may never have imagined before. 

In the weeks since my accident, I have struggled about being frustrated with my recovery - I know head injuries are tricky and for some can heal very fast and others it takes weeks or months.  Well of course I wanted mine to heal NOW.  I kept telling myself that I couldn't take the down time - there's that will development rearing its ugly head!  God and I sorta had words about it - He won.  I surrendered.  I got out my knitting and began to work on a project I have been trying to finish since last year.  I noticed my head wasn't hurting so much and Erik noticed that after knitting for a few hours my speech was even getting better. 

This morning I was meditating on it and was reminded when our oldest was going through some of his hardest transitions with ASD a few years ago (from about age 8-10) knitting really soothed the savage beast inside him.  When I could get him to knit, he would calm and the wheels would begin to turn again making him open to direction. I recalled a passage from the book Teaching Handwork on page 17, where Steiner's discusses the curative affect knitting had on a child that had both mental and physical disabilities.

This is Waldorf - understand the curative aspects of this education for us all - not just gnomes and wax crayons - the message behind the man, behind the method, behind the wisdom.  Take it, make it your own.

Blessings in health,

Melisa Nielsen

Before the Journey - On Your Journey!

So, I have this head injury.  I wish I could say I was in some exotic international incident, but really it was a nasty fall that resulted in an equally nasty concussion.  I feel a bit like I am thinking through Marshmallow Fluff!  During my down time, Ire-read some posts from our email list and put a few topics to meditation.  It seems that one common frustration or concern moms have (whether new or veteran Waldorfers) is religion.  Where does it belong in our lives?  How do we integrate it with Waldorf homeschooling?  The non-Christian moms often shy away from the festivals that seem overly Christian while the Christian moms seem to shy away from the ones that seem overly Pagan or other faith based.  This practice tends to create a lot of fear and misunderstanding among ourselves and often each other.  This is compounded by well-meaning clergy (on all sides) telling us to not learn about other faiths.  

One thing that I have learned on this path is to trust in myself and to always be connected to Spirit.  It is this trust that spoke to me when I sat down last year to write Before the Journey.  I see Waldorf as a means to bring people together and the first step is understanding one another.  While we initially wrote the book as a resource for moms with preschoolers that wanted activities to do with their young ones, it has much farther reaching meaning.  The book is filled with seasonal stories, patterns and recipes, as well as, perspectives from different religions on approaching the seasons, Waldorf, and the festivals.

About the book:

Journey through the seasons with four different Waldorf families in "Before the Journey".  In journal-like entries, each mother explores a season based on her family's spiritual, economic and parenting background.  Interspersed with the journals are recipes, stories, songs, verses, festival/seasonal background, handwork projects, practical activities, and resource recommendations.  Following that, is an in-depth explanation of rhythm and the festivals.  This book shows how those of different faiths can bring Waldorf ideals into their lives in a harmonious way and in a simple format.  

You will also learn how to create seasonal circles and celebrations quickly and easily with many ideas provided as a starting point.  This book can be used alone or in conjunction with other festival books.  The companion DVDs and CD contain tutorials on needlefelting, bookbinding, lantern-making, silk dyeing, cookie decorating, creating a nature table, and more.

The book is available in e-book and printed format.  Print copies are in-stock and ready to ship on Monday, October 19th.  

Before the Journey - Print Version:

Print copy USA $35.00 Print copy nonUSA $40.00

Before the Journey - E-Book Version:

If you have more shopping to do with us, the book is available in our store.

Enjoy the journey!

Getting Started #1

This is the first in a series of blog posts about getting started - some moms come to Waldorf at the beginning when their little ones are not yet in first grade and others come along later, forever feeling like they are catching up.  I think it is important for moms at all stages to know that you will never know it all!  Just when you think you have read every lecture of Steiner's on education or know every resource... well, a new one comes to greet you and you might change how you are doing things!

This post will focus on the new mom that has young children - children younger than grade one.

When you have little ones and you come to Waldorf either through a friend, article, or even a mom-and-tot class in a Waldorf setting, what at first seems like this world of wonder, can quickly turn into a world of fear!  It is my hope that through this post we can dispel that a bit.  Yes, there is so much to learn... often, I refer people to the wonderful resource "You are Your Child's First Teacher" by Rahima Baldwin which is a great resource for those very early years or even before a new baby is born, and is my most oft-given shower gift!  Once moms read this wonderful work though they want to know where to go next.  The questions of "what" and "how" begin to emerge and sometimes panic sets in!  Panic isn't allowed!  Remember that this child/these children have a Divine purpose - they are here for OUR learning as much as we are here for THEIRS. Take your time, read, pray, meditate and reflect.  Ask questions.  Remember this time with them is golden and you will never get it back so enjoy every second that you can. 

So, what can you do?  Well many would have you believe that you need a curriculum for the early years, something to follow, something to teach you about rhythm.  You don't need anything - just love, lol... sing the song to yourself a bit... all you need is love... it comes down to just that - but not just love of your child, love of yourself.  Taking care of you in these early years through inner work will get you in the habit so that you can continue it through the years; continue to take moments alone each day, moments that are yours.  Make your needs known to your partner, friend, whoever you can and if you have no one then work to use nap times to your advanage.  You are the beacon and no one else can do what you do so you must take care of yourself.

After you get a handle on inner work (see our other posts about this topic if you need help) then begin to look at your skills.  Waldorf will be the most fun for you if you feel confident teaching your child and that starts with learning yourself.  Find someone to teach you to knit; if you don't think you have anyone, then think about a nursing home where there are many elderly women there that would love visitors and would be happy to teach you.  Not to mention, what an excellent fellow-shipping opportunity that is for you!  Start with great wool yarn and wooden needles. 

Other areas to begin working in are your drawing and painting skills.  Waldorf approaches these much differently than mainstream sources.  We offer a useful DVD-set that can help you understand the Waldorf way of drawing with young children - Coloring with Block Crayons, presented by Sigi - a wonderful Waldorf teacher. It is so much fun to watch your talents (that you may not have known existed!) come to life.  Watercolor painting is also a key component of teaching.  Learning this will be loads of fun and just think about how great you'll be by the time you have to teach it!  We have some fun tutorials on this and many other things on our video channel.

We also have a book that can help you begin to establish rhythms for your family in these early years.  "Before the Journey" is a great little guide to get you started.  It is not a curriculum for young children - they don't need one - moms on the other hand need something to sort of get them moving in the direction of learning and being comfortable with these concepts.  We also have a few great CD sets that may help you get your feet wet and understand how all the pieces of this Waldorf puzzle fit together. 

When your child gets to be kindergarten age, you may want to begin strengthening your rhythm even more - a curriculum isn't needed, but if you feel like it is something you want then don't go all out.  If you have explored the resources above then you will have much of what you need at your finger tips but, if you want more ideas on day-to-day with a 5-7 year-old, then I suggest our kindergarten curriculum.

Above all - ENJOY this time.  Learn about your child and yourself, and decide how you want to take this journey.  You are awesome!  Many blessings.

Celebrate handwork!

We decided that June would be handwork month at A Little Garden Flower so we are doing some FUN stuff!  First, hop over to the The Gnomes Home and download last week's radio show and see the free pattern for a knitted gnome.  We also decided that June would kick off our new handwork products!  We are so proud to carry Peace Fleece products in our store.

Who is Peace Fleece?
Peace Fleece is a wonderful company dedicated to helping the world be a better place.  Their wool and supplies come from  Russian, Romanian, American, Israeli and Palestinian villages, cities and farms.

I love the motto from their website “A yarn company committed to helping historic enemies cooperate and prosper through trade.”  When I came across Peace Fleece (in a Waldorf shop in California) and I began to learn about them, I realized that this simple motto was just what we are trying to impart to our children with this method of education.  We are bringing up our children to be of this world but not worldly.  We are drawing forth from them what they already know – to help one another is to make the world a better place.  I can’t think of a better way (unless you are making your own!) to bring handwork into your home, your school and your community. 

We will be running a pre-order this week and then the store will be stocked. 

Blessings!

Schooling through the summer?

If you are like many homeschooling moms, you are looking at what you haven't finished yet for the year and starting to feel a bit frustrated... frustrated at yourself maybe for not staying disciplined enough or frustrated at the events that came up that took you off course or even just frustrated that you want to be done and don't feel like you can be... but that sun calls you to be outside... parks seem to be begging to your children... and popsicles sound much more fun than poetry!  I totally understand!  Sometimes life gets in the way...one thing I have realized is that even when I plan (and you all know how much I preach about planning!) it can be hard to take all scenarios into consideration!  We had a couple of those this year and so it has me standing at what is the end of the year for many of my homeschooling friends and pouting! lol.  After I decided pouting wouldn't get me very far, I decided to make a plan - something I am good at - a plan that would work for all of us and not having us feel like we were doing school the entire summer.  I thought about what we have left to finish - in our case, mostly math and also geology for my 6th grader and then math for the other two (2nd & 4th grades.)  I started to look at really what needed to be done and how we could fit in the pool, lake and movies around it!  Rather than our regular 4-5 day work week, I settled on 3 days - 3 mornings really... 3 mornings of getting up and hitting our lessons and then enjoying our day. 

So what can you do?  Really look at what things you can combine - if you missed a history block or portion of a block... is there a novel that your child can read and then discuss with you? Can you take your lessons with you to the park?  We do this often, I will pack us breakfast and lunch, get them up early, take some reading of my own and head to the park.  We are often there for hours and hours just having fun - oh and doing lessons too!  We will often have a relay with each of them getting more one on one time with me because their siblings are off playing.  This easily becomes wonderful bonding time - they will forget they are at the park and really start just enjoying the lesson time.  Again pack plenty of food, pick a park with a potty, take a blanket or table cloth and have fun!  While they are all playing together you can take mom time to read.

Another way I work in lessons or extra reading is in the car - of course you have to be able to read in the car without getting sick!  My in laws live 30 minutes away and the children each take their reading books with them in the car - with our library's summer reading program, they are eager to see who can read the most pages! This is a great way to get lesson work in.

Working on times tables?  Use hopscotch!  We are going to film this shortly so you can see just how fun it is.  If you missed measuring out the ark in the winter months then measure it out now - take the time to throw in fun with measurement through summer baking (or no-baking!)  Make sure you take full weeks off in between to rest too... be kind to yourself and let them run and play too.

My own summer work usually revolves around my relationship with practical arts that I may want to strengthen - like taking my knitting to the next step or making something new with felt that I can take to the children this next year.  Take the time to enjoy these tasks and have fun.  Also take the time to really meditate on who you are, how much fun you had this year, counting all your blessings.  Nothing makes a pity party go away quicker than an accounting of blessings.

Have fun Mamas!!  Enjoy this season.

Relationships, common ground & Steiner

One of my biggest aims in supporting homeschooling families is helping husbands and wives communicate and relate to each other.  By finding common ground, gaps can be bridged and partners can build some depth in their relationship - depth that meets the needs of both Mom and Dad.  Most of the time when a mom tells me that Dad isn't supportive of Steiner/Waldorf/homeschooling, it is just a symptom of a much larger problem.  There is a big hole in how they communicate and Steiner just makes that gap seem bigger than ever. 

My husband, Erik, is a huge film buff.  He's your average man who loves to see things blowing up (that's the 10 year-old boy that lives inside most men), but he's also got a desire to understand where the filmmaker was coming from.  What we found is how Steiner's indications are alive and well in many of the films that he enjoys.  This morning I was relating to him an excerpt from "Handwork Indications" in the introduction written by Hedwig Hauck:

"Our age is a technological one, and grows ever more so as the years go by.  Machines now perform the work that was until recently done by the human being himself: he is obliged to serve the machine, although, in many cases, he is quite ignorant of its construction and of the force by which it is driven.  He can take little or no interest in an occupation of this kind, and weakness and emptiness in his soul-life is the inevitable result."

He grabbed his boxed set of "Matrix" and pulled out the second movie, "Reloaded".  We watched a portion of the movie in the first 30 minutes of the film where the star, Reeves, is talking to one of the older residents of the underground city.  The discussion is surprisingly similar to the quote above - learning to appreciate the technology but not becoming so removed from it that we allow it to overcome us.  We have become servants to our own conveniences.  Steiner warned of this which is one reason that he believed the curriculum needed the arts - handwork - keeping us out of our head, connected with our hands, and related to our hearts.   

Erik and I went to see the new "Terminator" movie this weekend... a franchise that pride's itself on destroying machines that took over the world.  The irony that our men would enjoy films like this when we are talking to them about limiting media in our homes!  MOMS!  Use this as common ground!  One thing that I know cements Erik and I is our ability to find ways to meet each other in the middle with regards to our passions.  In the last four years he's had a crash course in Steiner.  We have really enjoyed looking at some of Steiner's indications and how they are present in today's media.  

Taking the time to find ways to relate to your partner will benefit you as a couple - he will appreciate you for making the effort and will likely return the favor.  I use movies as an example, but there must be a way to your partner's heart...mind...both!  Is it books?  Movies?  Philosophy?  Gardening?  Rather than looking at how far apart your interests are, look at ways to come together to see the positive in it all.  How would Erik view me if I was always down on what he liked?  Does that mean I have to like all the movies he likes?  NO!  He's been to some where I just thought "hmmm...no thanks" just like there are some projects I undertake where he's not so sure he wants to jump in, but because we have common ground in other very important areas we can be happy for each other.

So with that... go hunt down your hubby and teach him to knit!  Blessings.

 

Fun embroidery...

I had a few over seas friends that I wanted to treat with something special, so while Erik and Harry (our oldest) were off at snow camp (scouting is crazy! lol) The younger ones and I set out on a weekend of handwork.  My wonderful artist for our business identity, Tricia Rennea, gave us some line drawings of our gnomes a while back and I was thinking how much fun it would be to turn one of them into a piece of embroidery so below is a picture of our creations! I made a tea towel from a simple flower sack blank towel, we also made some gnomes and a wallet.

 

Gads! I am frustrated at my camera selection!  I do hope you can see some of them - I will have to put them in the sun and take more, email me if you'd like to see them. I have included the line drawing for the gnome embroidery below.  I was thinking that perhaps it would encourage you to take those old coloring books or other line drawings and make useful creations from them!  Have fun!

Autumn showers... aka the last of the pumpkin gnome tales or Gnomes Thanksgiving

Ever wonder what the gnomes do for their Thanksgiving (or late harvest) festival?  Well they like to sneak out and find the last of the big orange pumpkins and drag them back to the mushroom doorway and down the steps to the grand hall and all the gnomes take pieces of it to cook.  Why do they cook it? because they love pumpkin pie.  So while some of the gnomes drag the pumpkin into the hall, others are out tracking down pasture cattle to milk them so they can have cream for whipping cream. (Mom do you see where this is going?)

Stories like these are easy kindergarten tales and also great filler stories during the holidays when perhaps your lessons are thin.  We have been blessed with beautiful autumn weather this year and it has been the palette for some great autumn gnome stories in our home (we usually have wet heavy snow by now.)  Like our giant turnip story we had this story covering many things - we of course did writing and drawing, we also painted pumpkins, made beeswax pumpkins for the nature table and will roast a pumpkin tomorrow to use for pumpkin pie, bread and cookies - unless of course I lose my nerve to break up this giant thing sitting in my living room and use the stuff from a can instead!  Don't forget that you can extend this lesson for anyone working on farming - get some cream, make some of it into whipped cream for your pie and the rest into butter for your pumpkin bread!

A few recipes:

Pumpkin bread (can be halved)~
2 cups pumpkin
3 cups sucanat (or nasty old table sugar will work too!)
1 cup of water
1 cup of oil
3 eggs or egg replacer
3 1/3 cups flour
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. ground cloves

Preheat oven to 350.  Mix wet, combine dry.  Combine the two together.  Pour into loaf pans and bake 60-70 minutes.  Cool 10-15 min, then remove from pans.  Enjoy!

Pumpkin pie ~
1 1/4 cups pumpkin puree, canned or fresh
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice (or spices that make up pumpkin pie spice!)
1 tsp. flour
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup whipping cream
2 TBL water
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 pie shell

Combine pumpkin, sugar, salt, spices and flour in a medium mixing bowl. Add eggs, mix well.  Add cream, water, and vanilla, mix well.  Pour into pie shell, bake at 400 for 15 min. Then reduce heat to 350 and bake about 35 min. longer or until center is set.

This story worked out great for the handwork class I teach.  When using it for a painting story, layer the paper in circle yellow, then blue for the ground as it will turn to green, then circle red in a round shape to make the pumpkin, a little blue to make a green stem and voila!  An easy pumpkin for young ones (grade one-2) as it teaches blending.

Our beeswax pumpkins.  For more tips on beeswax, see the giant turnip story.

For writing practice, we adapted and borrowed a verse from Autumn by Wynstones Press -
"Autumn showers, autumn rain, wash the pumpkins clean again."

If you need more pumpkin action... listen to Jodie's great Pumpkin Pie song from Festivals, Family & Food.

Elleanor's lesson book.

 

Advent is coming... are you ready?

The Giant Turnip...

 

Most folks know this story... the story of a farmer who loved turnips, one year he cared for his crop with extra peace and love, he had a bumper crop, a field full of turnips!  He harvested them all but one... one that was so big he couldn't get it out of the ground, he yanked and pulled, yanked and pulled then he called his wife to help, she couldn't get it either so they called the boy who called the dog and the cat and then finally the mouse.  The story ends when the mouse helps and POP the turnip comes out of the ground!

We used this as an autumn story across all of the age of our children and then also to do some modeling with a kindy/grade one class in a Waldorf inspired school where I teach handwork each week. 

Ways we used it:
*My second grade daughter used it for her main lesson work as a seasonal transition between saints and fables. She did the picture and the printed writing in her lesson book and she participated in the story telling in my handwork class.

*My older boys(4th & 6th grade) used it as writing practice, writing both the print and the cursive.

*In my handwork class (4-6.5 yr olds) this was their first introduction to beeswax modeling so I took in a piece of honeycomb so they could see the bee's work, we smelled the beeswax and talked about how to make it warm in our hands.  Each child then was given a piece of wax to hold during the story.  Some children held white beeswax, some green and some red.  Before I started the story I showed them each what a turnip looked like so they had an idea (they didn't have my chalk board as a visual.)  I told the story and after we modeled little turnips for the nature table.

 

It was a good exercise for them to work with the beeswax and then also to blend the red and white together. 

Beeswax tips:
*People either love working with beeswax or they hate it!  Those who hate it generally don't like working with it because they have a difficult time getting it to be pliable.  I have found that this can be true of people who get cold easily and children who often have cold hands and feet.  There are many things you can do to work with warmth in the child but that's a different post!  For the purposes of beeswax, help the children warm it by putting it in a plastic bag and then in a bowl of hot water or lay it in the sun to warm... some use arm pits and I've even used my bra on the suggestion of another mom - it works wonders!
*Once you have it pliable, give it to them before the story, this will keep their hands busy and their mouths quiet.
*After your story then begin to model - it helps to have it planned out before hand as this builds confidence rather than having them just try to create something.  In our case we had a picture of a turnip so the children could have a visual.
*Once a season I collect all the creations and recycle them by pulling them apart (after discussing it with the children of course!)

Chalk board tips:
*don't worry too much about being really detailed, soft and flowing tends to be easier on the eyes.
*don't worry about your art skills, your children will love it and you will get better the more you work with the chalk.
*DO take the time to make a drawing regularly.  I try to have a new one each day for at least one of the children. I have gone through stages when I wasn't using it as much and our days seemed so flat, they really look forward to their school day when they think I've done something new.
*DO try to combine lessons when possible, for instance doing what I have done here where it is a main lesson for one child and writing practice for others.
*DO use good quality chalk.  We use (and sell) the chalk that comes from Mercurius.  It is creamy and flows nicely onto the board.  It seems to be a mix that is somewhere between regular chalk board chalk and pastels. 
*It is messy so be sure to have a rug or towel under your board if you have a carpeted floor.

Remember to have fun!  Homeschooling is about enjoying your children and having a good time.