June 28, 2020 Ob-la-di, ob-la-da, life goes on, brah La-la how their life goes on Ob-la-di, ob-la-da, life goes on, brah La-la how their life goes on –The Beatles Hi Everybody, How are you? Michael (my husband) and I had an interesting conversation recently where we both noted that we felt as if we are […]
Living Arts Weekly: Life Goes On Read More »
June 17, 2020 Some of the best memories are made in flip flops. ― Kellie Elmore Here we are in the middle of June. The Summer Solstice is just ahead as is Father’s Day! The children have been home for three months already and unless you are fortunate enough to have childcare there are many
Living Arts Wednesday: Summer Camp at Home Read More »
September 29, 2019 For even the wisest can learn incalculably much from children.” ― Rudolf Steiner, How to Know Higher Worlds A guest post today – from LifeWays Early Childhood graduate Emary Williams: “I am so excited to homeschool this girl. I want to jump right in and learn with and teach her everything, but I have
Living Arts Weekly: Let Be Read More »
When we are creating a work space – an office, a classroom, a retail establishment – there are certain tools we need for specific tasks. We wouldn’t normally think of using a hammer to screw a socket into the wall or a screwdriver to drive a nail into a cabinet. We try to find the
Toys and Play by Cynthia Aldinger Read More »
The Play’s the Thing: “Spontaneous Theater” with Mixed Ages By Faith Collins What can we do to promote imaginative play in young children? How can we encourage and facilitate children playing together in ways that everyone enjoys? How do we help integrate the play of mixed-age groups? How can we increase our enjoyment of spending
The Play’s the Thing: “Spontaneous Theater” with Mixed Ages By Faith Collins Read More »
“Focus more on who your child is than on what your child does. Remember, you are growing a person, not fixing a problem.” L.R. Knost Emily and I are currently taking a class together about the Wisconsin Model Early Learning Standards. The class, despite being held from 6:30-9:30 p.m. on Wednesday nights (yawn!), is
Planning With Intention, By Mary O’Connell Read More »
Here is a little autumn story poem for autumn harvest days. I make apple finger puppets to help make this visual. Just draw a small fingertip size apple – cut 2 out with red felt, add a brown stem and green leaf…easy! Sew around it, leaving room for your finger at the bottom. This one
Autumn Story Poem (with Finger Puppets!) Read More »
Children love the jolly jack-o-lanterns, but at Spindlewood we like to keep our pumpkins alive all year round, beginning with hunting for them in the overgrown summer garden. Then we keep one to stand guard until the frost on the pumpkin finally renders it food for the sheep and chickens. We save some
Pumpkins All Year Round! Read More »
By Lisa Boisvert Mackensie “There is a garden in every childhood, an enchanted place where colors are brighter, the air softer, and the morning more fragrant than ever again.”- Elizabeth Lawrence The young child is still very much in a state of at-one-with-the-world, completely open to receiving sense impressions from the world. A garden provides
Gardening with Small Children: A World of Wonder and Rhythmic Impression Read More »
Here at The Orchard, our in-home, LifeWays-inspired child care place, being outdoors, rain or shine, hot or cold, is a given. It is also a challenge because, although we value and promote unstructured free play outdoors, we look for opportunities to share nature together. Apart from unstructured, surprise encounters with nature, this happens in two
Children In Nature Read More »
