Walnut Grove Kindergarten

In August, Thomas and I began our homeschooling journey together.  The first order of business was to transform the sunroom into a space for learning and exploration.  I had custom bookcases made to fit under the window ledges, and Thomas and I painted them a sunny yellow, a color fitting for an awakening and active mind.  These cabinets hold art supplies, nature guides, and craft materials to support our scholastic adventures.  Thomas's kitchen, of course, is still an important part of the room.

Painting the bookcases

Job finished--with date and handprints of the family

The bookcases in place

Thomas's first assignment was to prepare a new nature table for our gnome friends, who left him a letter and a poem about summer to inspire him in the task.  After collecting flowers, moss, tiny vegetables, and other seasonal objects, Thomas arranged them into a lovely home for the gnomes and a pleasant little shrine for the natural world.  He also painted a wet-on-wet watercolor that represents summer to him.  (I was hoping for a green meadow, but the end result was a melancholy blue background with ghost-like splotches of light floating in the foreground.  He named it "The Old Grounds of Sorrow.")  Refreshing the nature table will become one of our core homeschooling activities. It involves both scientific and artistic discovery and develops empathy and appreciation for living things.

Assignment #1: The late summer nature table

Another view of the nature table

The Christmas nature table

Making an advent wreath for the gnomes

The curriculum I am using--Oak Meadow, mixed with Waldorf and Enki--teaches all "academic" concepts (like letters and numbers) through art (storytelling, music, painting, etc).  To introduce a letter/number, for instance, I always start with a story.  Thomas recalls the story to me the following day, and then I point out the letter/number we will focus on.  The letter/number does not have to be a "star" of the story.  I introduced the letter "A," for instance, through the story of Peter Rabbit, who squeezes under the garden gAte (long A sound) to escape Mr. McGregor.  Thomas then practices drawing the letter along with a picture of the object from the story that represents the letter (in the case of Peter Rabbit, "A"s on gates.)  We continue our exploration by making letters out of different objects (sticks and yarn for A and beans for B, for instance), and we do a craft related to that letter.  We undertook a traditional Appalachian, and quite ambitious, craft for letter A--an apple head doll.  We invited friends Inge and Anna (also homeschooling) over to participate in the craft.  We all carved our "heads" out of fresh apples and strung them up to dry and later made clothes for them.

Leaf rubbings

Making clay letters

Shaving crayons for melting and making wax paper butterfly wings

Carving apple head dolls

Thomas working on his apple head "monster"

Fully dressed apple-head doll (who now serves as my 'kitchen witch")

Stay tuned for more musings about our homeschooling journey...