Happy Thursday!
So, I was looking online for some Waldorf-style wooden toys. My jaw nearly dropped at how expensive they can be. The more I looked at some of the toys, the more I began to say to myself "I bet I could make something similar!". So, this afternoon I decided to go rummage through our pile of scrap wood from various projects we've done around the house. I came across this somewhat old, weather tested board (ie. has been left outside through at least 1 winter under a tarp and in the rain
without a tarp).
I dusted it off (chasing away an ant) and brought it inside. I grabbed a ruler to find a middle line for each piece. I made both pieces approximately 7 inches tall and divided each arch or flame into about 1-2 inch thicknesses. I did some of it just freehand with the drill. After each one was all cut out, I sanded down the rough edges with a small hand sander. Next, I'll consider coloring and conditioning the wood.
For now, my kids are busy playing with these at our kitchen table as though they were the best thing since sliced bread! My son hasn't wanted to use his ipad since early this afternoon, which is a testament to the fact that I have reorganized their toyroom and really whittled it down quite a bit. As I mentioned in my last post (I think?), I filled 3 large trash bags full of books and toys to be donated - all just from the toyroom/classroom. I want to slowly get rid of the plastic toys in favor of wood, felt and other natural materials.
I am just doing this one step at a time. I am really excited with the relative ease of creating these arches and flames, and now am thinking about doing gnomes, angels, people, animals...the list of ideas is increasing with each passing moment. I am totally up for the challenge of creating even more homemade wooden toys for the kids and getting rid of the plastic ones. If my kids are going to play like this for hours on end with these great toys, then it is definitely worth every moment behind a jigsaw and sander!
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Today was a pretty decent day all the way around. We started the day with a leisurely wake up (for the kids, that is. I have to wake up early because I have before/after school kids that I care for....gotta help bring in the bacon!). I do my inner work during those quiet hours while I wait for my own kids to awaken. After some breakfast, we had circle time, movement, singing and stories. I retold the Lion and the Mouse story with a stuffed cat as the lion and one of the cat toys as the mouse. It was a huge hit with both kids! I could then tell that the kids had some energy they wanted to burn off, so I let them go into the toyroom to play for a while as I cleaned up breakfast and got my son's lesson bucket out.
We then worked on lessons for about an hour, and then my son needed another play break. After he and his sister bounded back into the playroom for about 20 minutes, I managed to get him to come to the table to finish off his lesson work, which took about a half an hour to complete - and then he was totally done for the day with homeschooling. I break up each subject into 15-20 minute spurts, which helps keep him focused without being overwhelmed. Since we only do 4 subjects a day, then we end up spending about an hour to an hour-and-a-half on lessons. Circle time (including the songs and such) takes approximately 45 minutes depending on how many stories I decide to read.
This all means that we tend to be done with our lessons by lunch. Of course, there are days when we have to be somewhere in the morning, so that means lessons get done later in the day.
I am definitely enjoying the homeschooling piece even more this year than last year. I truly attribute it to the addition of the Waldorf inspired items into the day. The long morning rituals, lengthy and animated stories and fables, and breaks for the kids to have imaginative play make the entire experience so delightful.
I'm not sure if I mentioned it before, but we instituted a new rule of staying un-plugged until at least 11am. The rule is that if we're still working on lessons, then devices must wait until we are done. We are rarely done before 11am, mainly because my son has not been getting up until around 9am lately. This means we normally don't stop for the day until right around noon.
What is really great about their renewed interest in their pared-down toyroom is that I'm finding my son less and less interested in using the devices. He may pop onto his ipad for a quick game, and then he's off running after his sister to play games with her. Getting rid of so many over-stimulating toys made such a huge difference in the way the kids use the playroom. Less really is more!
Well, my bed is calling to me after a long day. Cheers!
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