The Lothians

so after a short while with waldorf grade one we realised it just wasn't for us. There is a lot that I find appealing in waldorf but it simply felt far too restricting for us.
We are using a mishmash of things now, a lot aimed at a rightbrained child because I think E is leaning that way, it certainly holds his attention & enthusiasm.

So here the links to bits and bobs we are using now. I'll probably forget stuff and come back later
Ellen McHenry (all the sciences a lot free some interesting paid for stuff)
MEP FAb complete math curriculum by plymouth uni. Based on the continetal Europe aproach to math
Ambleside online Online Charlotte mason based complete curriculum. many books used are available for free online.
World Builder this is really new and looks interesting though I have not got much of an idea about it yet. it is aimed at much older students but I'm thinking of modifying it for us.
SF Reading (grammar)
The great plant hunt Kew
Bring Science homea whole bunch of science experiments
Science Jimscience Jim has some fun freebies also on currclick.
sciencebox lots of free science stuff
Sheppard for Geography
Story of the world for history we ended up deciding on this one thanks to this blog
Progressive phonics Euan loves this!

REAL science odyssey
Peep in the big wide world
Koekeloere we use the programs to watch as its suitable for all 3 boys
HBB again something we can watch together as its suitable for all
Leesdas just for Euan
avi lezen again just for Euan. AVI is the dutch reading ability grading system. You start with 1 and work your way up to 10. When you get to that you are considered a fluent reader.
Lots of stuff in Dutch (from math to social studies)
squidoo a website where people can make a lens (a page) which contains a lot of informations on one particular subject. There are a ton on Homeschooling
homeschoolshare lots of free unit studies & lapbooks
Happy Scientist has a membership section and a freebie section. Also he has a science question a day on Facebook.
worksheet works I especially love the maps

Iphone Well I won't link to everything because there is so much! For earthday MyNature had all their apps for free which was great. I run stanza & kindle on my iphone which gives me access to some reference books and an amazing selection of literature for children and adults.

A fair amount of science stuff just because its so easy to tie all the other things into it, and far more fun than reading from a boring book!

Mulching the veggies

2011-05-10T14:29:00.001-07:00

Taken at The garden

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Foxgloves flowering

2011-05-10T08:07:00.001-07:00

Taken at The garden

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Math for right brained kids

2011-05-10T03:48:00.001-07:00

Taken at Wootton bassett

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10 years

2011-05-04T02:49:00.000-07:00

Today 10 years ago I got on a plane in Amsterdam, with everthing that I owned in 2 boxes and a suitcase, set for London and here I am still in the UK (though we left London because I just could not consider raising kids there) with the person I moved here for. Proving everyone who thought we'd not last the year wrong!

Anyway I thought it was worth a small celebration so I'm running a promotion on the ravelry shop use the code 10YUK(valid for the next 10 days) for 50% of my patterns. I'm also having a little giveaway. Just leave a comment on this post and I'll choose a winner in 10 days :)

Mini break

2011-05-04T02:39:00.000-07:00

We spend a few days in brighton enjoying the company of some very dear friends, more wine than I have had in the past 6 years and 4 boisterous boys who all learned to share their toys.

We spend some time in Rottingdean a short busride along the coast from Brighton where we found some awsome hagstones and half a bucket of shells. We had lunch in a tiny little teahouse that served some great cakes, and the tables where cleared by a giant seagull!

We spent some time on the pier and had a day to spend at the sea aquarium. The best bit for the kids was seeing Nemo and Dory in the flesh :)

We got back after a long and exhausting journy involving 4 trains and a bus and the boys all falling asleep during the last 10 minutes of the trip.
For now I am caught up with the laundry thanks to the awesome weather and I'm catching up with the gardening.

Here's the slideshow of what was on the fuji I have more on the phones and ipods and whatnots but that will have to wait because the internets are sloooooow today :)

Euan and his shark hat

2011-04-29T01:57:00.001-07:00

Taken at Brighton

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Brighton sealife aquarium

2011-04-29T01:55:00.001-07:00

Taken at Sealife Centre

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Eating toast in auntie Jaq's kitchen after a night of being sick

2011-04-29T00:48:00.001-07:00

Taken at London Road Railway Station (LRB)

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Happy Easter

2011-04-23T23:50:00.001-07:00

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April and we have the paddlingpool up

2011-04-21T08:36:00.001-07:00

Taken at The garden

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Found in the pond

2011-04-16T03:24:00.001-07:00

Taken at The garden

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More vikinghats are being knitted

2011-04-13T06:35:00.001-07:00

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Playing Mu Torere on a piece of paper and some duplo blocks

2011-04-13T01:57:00.001-07:00

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Snuggled up fast asleep

2011-04-11T14:38:00.001-07:00

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Thomas and the dinosaur

2011-04-08T11:17:00.001-07:00

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My boys

2011-04-08T11:10:00.001-07:00

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Look mama a snail

2011-04-08T11:09:00.001-07:00

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Burying dinosaurs

2011-04-07T10:10:00.001-07:00

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Another toothfaery visit needed, this time we have the tooth!!

2011-04-06T23:44:00.001-07:00

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Stacking tins of catfood is much more fun than bathing

2011-04-01T09:30:00.001-07:00

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Oops left the box of straws on the table

2011-04-01T01:03:00.001-07:00

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T gwtting ready for his bath

2011-03-30T00:25:00.001-07:00

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Funny nature video

2011-03-28T05:23:00.001-07:00

great to discuss the impact humans have on their surroundings even if we are being considerate!

E found a duck in the potatoesack

2011-03-24T01:51:00.001-07:00

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Monkeys in a tent

2011-03-23T10:20:00.001-07:00

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T in the hammock

2011-03-23T06:35:00.001-07:00

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Lots of sunshine!

2011-03-21T02:34:00.001-07:00

Taken at The garden

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The most blingtastic vespa evah!

2011-03-20T10:24:00.001-07:00

Taken at The highstreet

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Willow

2011-03-20T10:21:00.001-07:00

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Poffertjes, excellent dutch breakfast!

2011-03-19T00:32:00.001-07:00

Taken at The kitchen

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Euan made some floating candles

2011-03-18T04:33:00.001-07:00

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Pre dinner snack

2011-03-17T09:41:00.001-07:00

Taken at The kitchen

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The gardening willowsaurus

2011-03-17T05:40:00.001-07:00

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Hello gorgeous sky!

2011-03-17T05:38:00.001-07:00

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threat to artistic freedom and how giantcorp cares more about $$ than kids

2011-03-10T04:20:00.000-08:00

An artstudent studying in Amsterdam is being sued by louise vutton (not sure if the sp is right I had no iea who they are lol!) because she drew/painted an image with a bag that looks like it could be a vutton bag not an exact copyi. they are suiing for 20 000 us dollar for each day she uses the image. She is making no money of the image there is no personal financial gain involved. the aim of the image was tho highlight the absurdity of society who worry about the likes of paris hilton and her pooch and not a starving child in darfur.

Anyway her website is here to highlight this case
http://www.nadiaplesnerfoundation.org/page/page.php?id=home
her personal website is here
http://www.nadiaplesner.com
an interesting newsarticle showing the image is here
http://nymag.com/daily/fashion/2008/05/art_student_nadia_pelsners_g...

this case is so wrong on so many levels not just the artistic level but the fact that a giant corp is so stuck up their own backsides they actually sue over this, a poor (ie moneyless) student trying to support a very good cause. For an obscene amount of money trying to bully her into submission, makes me sick!
It would be great if you could help spread the word on your blogs facebook twitter etc.
The twitter hastag is #lvgate

ROTH -spring issue- is out!

2011-03-01T05:13:00.000-08:00

Its here. I love the little birds nest and might have to try my hand at it for our spring table.....

2011-02-25T03:38:00.000-08:00

I can't really think of a title for this post, in fact its hard to think full stop. the kids are sleeping horribly. If I am lucky I get 5 hours of sleep (broken up in chunks) James does his best to let me catch up over the weekeds but this has been going on for a good couple of months now. so posts have not been as often as I'd like and realy there is little to say right now. We are doing lots of painting and drawing. Euan is loving his form drawing, we're telling lots of stories and have nearly finished all the tiptoes books we got for Christmas. If you like the tiptoes stories btw there are a bunch of free ones on the website here.

On top of the complete lack of sleep, one of my uncles died very suddenly of lungcancer, he was diagnosed the last friday of januari died the next and the funeral was the thursday after. Its hard because you can't say goodbye, not really any oppertunity to find closure. Going back to Netherland next will be weird, so many graves to visit.
2 weeks later one of my sisters friends was murdered! Now you have to know that I grew up in a small town right next to an even smaller town, where everyone knows everyone and people know each other by nicknames and their parents. There is very little crime in general and to have something like this happen was ratehr a shock. They arrested a suspect only a few hours after it all happend so I guess that is something right?

To wake up tuesday morning to the destruction in Christchurch was horrible...and put life back into perspective.
Everyone we know is safe and well. Our elderly neighbour across the road has her daughter and grandchildren out there, who where all fine. It is heartbreaking to see the destruction and see how many lives have been so brutally taken. There are so many stories right now of those last moments but thankfully there are some happy stories amongst them.
My heart goes out to all in Canterbury.

Truly, madly, deeply

2011-02-21T09:23:00.001-08:00

Our little narcisist

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Buddha Badges Giveaway :)

2011-02-16T04:38:00.000-08:00

Elm please could you contact me? I have no way of contacting you :)

An unplanned, unexpected give away.

In October last year I ordered some bages from Buddha badges, they where sent out but never made it to the other side of the pond. Buddha Badges kindly sent out another order which I recieved a week or so later.
And what just arrived in the mail? yup that very first order! So rather than walking around with 2 badges of each I figured I'd give them away.
You can see them here, I have Thich Quang Duc, G-G-Gassho, Black Lotus, Avalokiteshvara
Enso Wheel.

Leave a comment on this post and tell me which one of the 5 you would like!

WIP Wednesday

2011-02-16T04:09:00.001-08:00

Bumblebees waiting for stripes
Windowstar notes
Flowers for the bumblebees
Mathclock

The current wips

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Mindful Monday - Children and Mindfulness

2011-02-14T07:04:00.000-08:00

I often hear people say that children allready have mindfulness down and that we slowely grow out of it. I'm never sure how to reply to this as yes children live very much in their own world very often but I would personally not call this mindfulness. My eldest will often be playing with something as he is walking along with me to the shops, at that moment he is wrapped up completely in what he is doing and at the same time walking. He often will walk into things or people. In mindfulness he would take the time for his play and really enoy that not distracting himself with walking. I do think that because children are so able to completely focus on one thing it is much easier for them to join in a mindfulness practise, especially if it is done as part of the family.
I have a little mindfulness bell that the kids are allowed to invite, they have to asl for it since it is up high. They know to bow to the bell and to breath 3 times as it is ringing. They know the bell has to be woken up before we invite it. If you have no idea what I am talking about and you have never heard of a mindfulness bel have a listen to this podcast by sister Dang Nghiem, there is also this video cast Both are free on Itunes and as far as I know they are not avalailable anywhere else.
I think the best way to teach is by modeling and involving our children as much as we can in our own practise of mindfulness.

There is a very good website started by monks and nuns from the plum village tradition that is aimed at young families. It is currently available in English, French, Spanish, german and Portuguese.

Some books we have enjoyed here have been "each breath a smile" by Thich Nhat Hanh (Author), Sister Thuc Nghiem (Author), Nguyen Thi Hop (Illustrator), Nguyen Dong (Illustrator). It has been a favourite that gets read on a daily basis for over a year now. The illustrations are lovely and uncomplicated there isn't a lot on each page to look at, just enough to keep your attention for a short while before moving on.

Next up are the zen tails, these books are available as ebooks which I like because you can have a few on your iphone/ereader etc and they are easily available when you unexpectedly have to wait somewhere.

"Pebble in your Pocket" by Thay Thich Nhat Hanh. If you take a look at the mindful kids website you will see snippets of the book there.

For the parents I suggest "Everyday blessings: The inner work of mindfull parenting" by John Kabat-Zinn.

I hope you will find something useful in all of this :)

Food Friday - sourdough bread

2011-02-11T06:10:00.000-08:00

If you followed last weeks instructions on making sourdough starter you should be ready now to make your first sourdough loaf!

I do this part in the morning when the kids have breakfast. I add 1 cup of the mix that I have in a jar (the prestarted) in a bowl with 1 cup of flour (per load of bread I wish to make) stirr add water to make it a soggy dough and set aside until the evening. This is your starter.

At this point I add another 3 cups of flour to my mix and add more water. How much really depends on how wet your starter was what sort of flour you are using and the general humidity where you are. I go for a sticky dough that is able to be formed into a bal for a short while. Mix it wel so that no lumps of flour are present and slide it into your breadtin. cover and leave until the morning.

The first thing I do when getting up on a bakingday is taking everything out of the oven and switching it on to 240 celcius. I turn this down to 220celcius when I slide the loaves into the oven They need around 45 minutes. Take them out of the breadtins and tap the bottom. When they sound hollow they are done, make sure you tap in the middle of the loaf as this is obviously the bit that takes the longest to cook.

If its done take it out and wrap it in a cotton teatowel, never a plastic bag or an enclosed tin of some sort because the bread will sweat and go horribly soggy.
If it isn't yet done slide it back in and give it another 10 minutes.

Also be aware that most ovens have a hotspot and a coldspot. if you don't know what your ovens hotspot is its a good idea to find out, either by testing with an overnthermometer or filling it up with a pizza and then being surpised that one end of the pizza is cooked and the other isn't. I don't recomend this way but its how we found out our (fan assisted, so supposedly even heat distribution) oven's hotspot.

Kind complaints

2011-02-11T06:08:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago when the boys all had swineflu I bought a new dvd (Horton hears a who), which is rated A (ie suitable for anyone with no scary bits etc) So I handed it to Euan to open only to find a horribly violent leaflet inside. I mean these where pictures from movies *I* don't watch they are so violent and horrible. Nothing that should come near any young child. I quickly whisked it away and took a few pictures and contacted the shop I bought it from. their customer service department initially had some issues on how to deal with my complaint and when I finally spoke to a manager she was very helpful, contacted their distributor who was very apologetic and confirmed to me that this was an oversight during a short production run that this would not happen again. They asked for my address so they could send a couple of dvd's as an apology. this is the box that just arrived:

All 3 ice ages, good boy, fern gully 1 + 2 ( a favorite of mine when I was young!), because of wyn dixie, monsters in the attic, GArfield 1 and 2, alvin and the chipmunks 1 and 2, mrs doubtfire (again a fave of mine when I was young!) fire dog and diary of a whimpy kid (with the book!) on top of that where the 2 squirrels from ice age. I have to say that this was way more than was expected and so much more than I wanted to come out of my complaint. All I wanted was assurance that this would be dealt with and no children would find such images in their dvd's.

Yesterday I made a complaint to my bank (they added a whole bunch of charges for no apparent reason, and I was lucky enough to speak to an indian callcentre and no one could understand me!) they have send me a basket of chocolates can't wait to see what that will turn out to be!

Little Rootchild pattern

2011-02-07T07:57:00.001-08:00

Cast on 26 stitches
k4 rows
p7 k2tog p8 k2tog p to end (24 st)
work 4 rows in stocking stitch
k6 k2tog k7 k2tog k to end
work 5 rows in stocking stitch
k6 k2tog k7 k2tog k to end
p to end
k2tog to end
Change to skincolour and purl back
kfab to end
work 7 rows
k2tog break yarn leaving a long tail and pull it up trough the remaining stitches. Seam the back of the head and then thread your yarn trough the kfabs stuff and tighten the neck up. Carry on seaming the back of the doll.
the doll body will not be stuffed and should stand fine on its own.

Arms
cast on 6 st and knit an icord for about 1cm change to skin colour knit 2 rows, break yarn and thread it through the remaining stitches. Attach it right under the neckline at either side of the body.

hair.
I'm not entirely happy with it at the moment but this was the only wool I had carded and ready to go. I was hoping to have some wool dyed but I and the supermarket where out of vinegar so this has to do for the moment. It was felted on much the same as I did with king Winter (look in the tutorial section for the instructions).

Cloth
cast on 10 stitches and knit until you have a square cast of and attach a corner to each hand

Mindful Monday - Movie night

2011-02-07T02:08:00.000-08:00

For those of you reluctant to pick up a book to learn more about mindfulness, here's a movie.
It's called "Peaceful Warrior" and it is based on a book by Dan Millman. To see the trailer of Peaceful warrior go here, the dvd is available from amazon.com, amazon.co.uk and probably any other dvd shop.

brief Synopsis (from http://www.thepeacefulwarriormovie.com/main.html)

In the Peaceful Warrior DVD, Dan Millman (Scott Melchowiz) is a talented, yet arrogant college gymnast who seems to have it all. He gets good grades, has disposable relationships and is trying out for the Olympics. But he still wakes up in cold sweats at night. His (Scott Melchowiz) world is turned upside down after he meets a mysterious stranger he refers to as Socrates (Nick Nolte). Socrates (Nick Nolte) seems to hold the power to tap into new worlds of strength and understanding and becomes Dan's (Scott Melchowiz) mentor who guides him through various avenues of his life.

Dan (Scott Melchowiz) suffers from a serious injury, and with the help of Socrates (Nick Nolte) and a mysterious young woman (Amy Smart), he grows to realize that strength of spirit is what leads a man to his true greatness. He (Scott Melchowiz) learns that he has to let go of the person he thought he was and start living in the moment by appreciating the journey and accepting his lack of control over the future.

If you prefer to read the book its here in the UK and here for the US.

To learn more about Dan Millman and what he does now you can go to his website here

I really enjoyed watching this movie, hope you wil too!

Food Friday Sourdough - getting Started

2011-02-04T04:53:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago I started a sourdough starter. I wasn't sure if it was going to work, I tried it once a few years ago and it went funky not yeasty soo....

It was very simple and worked even in my rather cool kitchen.

Day 1
Have a reasonably sized container (I'm using a 1.5 ltr preserving type jar) add 1 cup of WW Flour and 3/4 cup water stir and put it aside until tomorrow.

Day 2
add 1 cup flour and 3/4 cup water again stir and put away till tomorrow again

Day 3
Your mix should be quite wet and have bubbles by now. though if your kitchen is very cold this could take a little longer!
take half of the mix out add 1 cup of flour again and 3/4 cup of water. Stir it again and scrape the sides well. put it away again till tomorrow

Day 4
If you are lucky your mix will have risen (but if not just keep going it could take a little while if its cold where you are!) if it did rise you can start making bread. Again remove half (save it for your 1st bread) add 1 cup of flour and 3/4 cup of water. your mix should be ok now to use daily for bread. it can be kept in the fridge and fed weekly (remove half add 1 cup flour 3/4 cup water)

Some thoughts

*It is easiest to have a see trough container so you can check for any activity
*Best not to use metal, some metals can react with the starter
*a sloppy starter is easier to deal with than a drier starter.
*It can take up to 2 weeks to get it going, if you live somewhere cold don't get discouraged if you don't have bubbles on day 3!

Great resources

2011-02-01T05:13:00.000-08:00

Some Dutch some English bits of german well just see if its of use :) And don't forget babelfish!

Zonnejaar Dutch site with a lot of handwerk things lots of pentatonic music with sheetmusic and audio files. Should be easy to understand the crafty stuff because of the drawings.
DoehoekDoehoek means do it corner so again lots of things to make and do.
Straight line and curved Rhymes and poems for MLB and circle time

Mindful Monday

2011-01-31T04:39:00.000-08:00

A very quick one this week since I don't have anything to add to the resource I am about to share. simply because they say it so much better than I can lol!

This week I would like to share a particular series being done by the Deer park Dharmacast on meditation. Here is verse 1. There are 14 verses in total and if you haven't yet have an established meditation practise now is an excellent time to start :).

Horses of Newbury

2011-01-30T13:01:00.000-08:00

The video is called wild horses of newbury but as far as I can find out there where no wild horses near this site at the time of filming.
Beautiful little clip at the same time so very very sad

Mindful Monday - Why should you bother?

2011-01-25T03:44:00.000-08:00

* The autopost didn't work so apologies for being a day late :)*

So why should you bother practising mindfulness?
Mindfulness has shown to help people suffering from depressia, reduce stress and increase general happiness. It helps people to be more patient, which when you are parenting little ones is something that is tested multiple times a day.

A good Non-Buddhist autor on the subject of mindfulness is John Kabat Zin, He has many books including wherever you go, there you are.
He has several video's on youtube which you might find interesting. Here is one I particularly like:

I'd love to know how you are getting on :)
.

Euan reading his mail

2011-01-25T02:55:00.001-08:00

A letter from granny

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the second week and start of the 3rd

2011-01-19T03:31:00.000-08:00

It looks like I didn't take any pictures of our blackboard last week. though they might be on the proper camera, the batteries where once again "borrowed" by someone so I need to get them back and upload those pictures to see.
Due to the flu in the home the past week and a half have been much more relaxed than I had planned but Ce'st la vie I guess. We introduced the letter B last week made bread and butter and chased around the house for as many things we could find starting with B.

We also made our own pair of knitting needles, Euan still has to paint the ends of his but can't decide on a colour for them.

Yesterday was a day off because all 3 boys had fevers and were utterly miserable, today however Euan asked for HS and asked to start knitting. We carried on our Gnome story and introduced the letter C. Practised some wavy forms which Euan really tried to rush trough because he wanted to start knitting. Obviously this resulted in it all taking longer than he wanted it to take lol!

We managed to knit 3 rows before he had to stop. I remember those first few weeks of knitting, how hard it felt and how much I wanted to scream at my knitting. The number of times that I chucked it all in the bin, only to come back later and fish it out again lol! He did allright and finished up being pretty pleased with it all :).

I also recieved my copy of St Nicholas by Jacob streit today, I realise this is a book often wanted by waldorfy mums and wanted to say that Mercury Press still has copies. The book is only $7.50 and they are quick to respond to emails.

160 windowstar points

2011-01-18T11:26:00.001-08:00

For 20 windowstars, 1120 folds in a jar to be assembled over the next few days

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Mindful Monday

2011-01-17T01:30:00.001-08:00

One thing that comes up again and again on e-lists I am on is mindfulness. Other mums asking what it means and how they can achieve it.

Minfulness is the practise of being fully present each moment of every day, or at least striving to live fully in each moment as it is easier said then done. Especially with our hectic schedules these days. And I think just because of these schedules it is important to be mindful.

For a thorough primer on mindfulness I suggest "the miracle of mindfulness" by Thich Nhat Hanh. It is a quick and enjoyable read. Another plus is that this book is generally available from the many second hand bookplaces on the internet, even if youcan't find it second hand its pretty cheap new.

I would like to invite you to join me in the building of our midfulness practise, maybe you have been working on this for awhile and could do with a kick in the behind or maybe you are entirely new to mindfulness. Either way join in and take a moment to tell us about your practise maybe how you started what inspired you to work on your mindulness etc.

And incase you need a hand to get started I am sharing a Gatha from the Plum Village Sangha. Gatha's are short poems that help you be present in the moment. You breath in whilst saying the first line silently in your mind, you breath out for the second line. You breathe in for the third line and breath out on the forth line. then smile and start your day!

Waking up this morning, I smile.

Twenty-four brand new hours are before me.

I vow to live fully in each moment

and to look at all beings with eyes of compassion.

I've employed Mr linky so you can sign up to the Minful Mondays. Now I've not used it before so if it doens't display properly bear with me :)

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Homemade soutdough bread/ thuisgebakken zuurdesem

2011-01-16T04:13:00.001-08:00

Made a starter from scratch starting last sunday and I just pulled the first loave out of the oven,Yum!

Ben vorige week met mn eigen zetsel begonnen en heb zojuist het eerste brood uit de oven gehaald,erg lekker!

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Food friday - Creamy lentil soup

2011-01-14T12:50:00.000-08:00

Someone on Twitter asked me to share my recipe so here it is.
I must add though that it barely qualifies as a recipe it is that simple. feel free to add stuff to it. I often add any carrots towards the end that where leftover from last nights dinner, peas are good and also adding potatoes (smal cubes) in with the onions is great.

about50 gr red lentils per person
1 medium onion per 3 servings
stock cubes
water
tbsp of your oil of choice

Add the oil in your pan and et it warm up add the onion diced and cook until glazed and browning around the edges add your lentils stir them trough and add water till you have 1 inch or so over the top of the lentils. Add your choice of stock cube. Cook this until the lentils are softend and taste if its good you can choose to use your immersion blender and turn it into a creamy soup. I like the lentils unblended to but the kids prefer it smooth. Obviously if you added anything to it (peas pototo etc) you can't really blend it.

You could add garam masala to this, paprika or a dash of cayenne is nice too.

Smakelijk!

Romige rode linzen soep

ongeveer 50 gr linzen per persoon
1 medium grote ui per 3 porties
bouillon blokje naar keuze
water
eetl olie naar keuze

snipper de ui en fruit deze in de olie todat het glazig en light gebruint is. voeg de linzen toe en roer goed om voeg nu goeg water to aan de linzen totdat er 2.5 cms water bovenop staat. voeg ook de bouiilon blokjes toe even goed door roeren en laten pruttelen todat de linzen gaar zijn 15-20 minuten.
Als je wilt kan je ze nu met de staafmixer mixen en dus lekker romig maken of je kunt het zo laten (de kids vinden het gemixt het lekkers hier)
Je zou nu nog specerijen toe kunnen voegen zoals kerrie, zoete paprika of een klein beetje cayenne.

Ook kun je aan deze soep macaroni toevoegen of plakjes wortel blokjes aardappel of erwtjes.

Smakelijk!

Michael Gove in fiery debate with caller over Baccalaureate

2011-01-12T12:58:00.000-08:00

Interview on the BBC.
I have to say it was rather amusing when Gove claimed to not interupt people and then a minute or so later did it himself and had this pointed out to him.

This caller has been added to my list of personal heroes right next to Sir Ken, it was great to hear someone without any obviously noticable interest in HE be so passionate about learning.

It was saddening to listen to this as this person claims to be an educational guru (as per his twitter account)yet has absolutely no idea about learning.
Just to be clear about the difference between the two:

Educating as defined by webster

transitive verb
1
a : to provide schooling for b : to train by formal instruction and supervised practice especially in a skill, trade, or profession
2
a : to develop mentally, morally, or aesthetically especially by instruction b : to provide with information : inform
3
: to persuade or condition to feel, believe, or act in a desired way
intransitive verb
: to educate a person or thing

The definition of learning as defined by webster

Definition of LEARNING
1
: the act or experience of one that learns
2
: knowledge or skill acquired by instruction or study
3
: modification of a behavioral tendency by experience (as exposure to conditioning)

Now Mr. gove in the interview claims that people learn because of the national curriculum. I would love to know how the (British for that matter) National curriculum ensured that I am the polyglot that I am today? Seriously I dropped all languages as soon as I could in school because the way they where forced onto me was boring as could be. Yet here I am fluent in more languages than the average Dutch person.
I would also like to know what the National Curriculum did for hubby? He stopped with his education took on a mindless job and then found his passion and became one of the best in his field. He has been to more countries doing his job than he could ever imagine he would when he was stuck in a school that could not go with his interests because they where stuck with the National Curriculum.

And what does the National curriculum do for all those kids that have different learning needs? be it the so called "gifted" children or those with the lovely named "learning difficulties"? Not much as far as I can see from the growing numbers of people who keep these kids at home and come to HE lists to complain about the horrendousness that was school. And a lot of these schools score high on all those crappy tables, schools that those middle class families with their shiny 4x4's fight over.

I think Mr. Gove needs to wake up and see real learning take place. real life long learning takes places when the person involved is passionate about the subject, has a love for what they are doing. Real life long learning happens very little in a school building. I have found that cramming happens in school buildings, learning for testing and sometimes when you are lucky and you have a teacher who know how to bring a subject to you in a way that makes your heart sing even if it isn't your favourite subject or even if you don't really enjoy it then real learning might take place.

Next time I see a shooting star I will wish for a learning minister (not education!) who understands learning, who will not look to a girl who was abused and killed as a way to put limits on home educators, who will get rid of tables and websites and whatnots telling people which schools are "good", who will instead work to enable children to become the best they can be doing a job that makes them truly happy. Doesn't matter if this job means being a binman or a doctor because we can't do without either.

The first week..

2011-01-12T06:57:00.000-08:00

I've was meaning to write this over the weekend but we had to buy hay and new shoes both are incredibilly time consuming because we don't have a car.

The twins quickly settled down and accepted that this was school time, Euan got (and still) up every morning asking for more school and generally things went really smoothly.

Last week was the Epiphany so I tied that into our lesson. I had originally planned to use ALGF's story for the introduction of the alphabet but the fables and fairytales didn't feel right. I could not justify to myself the violence used in them. And yes I know most of you anthroposofists will tell me that kids don't see them the way we do. That they are good for the development etc. for me and Euan I don't think it would have worked.

Instead I started a story about a gnome at the end of a garden who had lost his name. The gnome packed some food and started an adventure to find his name. Along the way he meets other gnomes and fairies and animals that help him find his name.

On the Epiphany day the gnome met someone who told him the story of the 3 kings. We got out my incense burner (which has seen very little use since I've had kids) and the frankincense and myrh and had fun lighting the charcoal (surprisingly it still self ignited!) and scooping spoonfulls of incense on it.

The board had the letter K on it together with a crown. this was the first letter we introduced. The forms for this week where simple straight lines.

This weeks MLB entry

We made a star for the window and made star shaped biscuits (no picture of those surprisingly!)

Petition to stop league tables for 5y/o

2011-01-09T08:35:00.000-08:00

I just recieved this from a home-ed list I am on. I can not believe that they are seriously thinking of adding yet more pressure to children by even considering to do this. I have signed the petition and hope you will join me!

******start of email************************
Please sign and pass the petition on to family and friends.
You may have to copy and paste the petition link into your browser.
Many thanks.

Dear friends,
Please accept my apologies for this rather impersonal `round-robin' email. I'm
writing in support of a new petition that has just been launched by parent and
journalist Frances Laing, which is challenging the government's plans for
publishing league performance tables school-by-school for 5 year olds. Frances
has a major feature about the new petition appearing in Nursery World magazine
in next week's issue, and we are hoping to get some really high-profile names as
signatories by Monday morning, who can then be mentioned in the report. It's
very easy to sign the petition – see below for the link that enables you to
sign, and I'm also copying the petition text below for ease of reference. I hope
you agree that this is a very worthwhile public campaign, and that you'll
consider adding your name to those who are deeply concerned about this proposal.

I hope this finds you well; and warm best wishes to you for the coming year.

Kind regards,

Richard House

Petition link for signing: http://www.gopetition.com/petition/41774.html

Petition text:

The UK government is proposing to begin publishing school league performance
tables for England's five year olds on a school by school basis.

We, the undersigned, believe that such an unprecedented development puts both
young children and their teachers, parents and carers under unwarranted pressure
that is distinctly unhelpful - especially for children at such a tender age.

We believe such tables to be divisive and unnecessary, and that they generate
all manner of unintended and unforeseeable consequences that do far more harm
than good.

Swap catch up!

2011-01-06T13:24:00.000-08:00

I participated in 2 yule swaps on crafster and have yet to post pictures so here they are

the card swap:

the stocking plus gift swap:

My favourite by far is the beautiful glass goddess she made me. She sits right next to my pc!

Give away winner!

2011-01-06T13:21:00.000-08:00

So the new year has started with colds bugs and general unwellness here hop your year started better!

Anyway we rolled the dice:

Amy said...

Those are adorable and could come in handy throughout the year, count me in!

Amy please mail ( vera AT thelothians DOT net) me your ravelry id and I'll get the pattern to you asap!

Happy Epiphany

2011-01-06T03:18:00.001-08:00

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New pattern in the works

2011-01-01T06:23:00.001-08:00

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Oliebollen bakken/making a Dutch new year treat

2010-12-31T06:57:00.001-08:00

Yum!

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Pattern give-away

2010-12-28T06:53:00.000-08:00

********Check this post for the winner*****************

To end the year well I'd like to give away a copy of my running man pattern. To enter leave a comment and make sure you leave me your ravelry ID (its free to sign up if you aren't a member yet) as it is much easier to ensure you recieve updates this way :)
here's the ravelry link

And here's some pictures of items made with the pattern:

Viking Hat pattern

2010-12-22T03:08:00.000-08:00

I have made several of these in the past couple of months for 18month olds and for a 30 something collegue of hubby. here goes:

Yarn DK in grey white and brown (or any other combo of colours I might make a pink one for my sister)
3.5mm dpn or circs ( I magiclooped it everytime)
a darningneedle
stuffing for the horns

Cast on 112 stitches (take of 8 for a childs head and 16 for an infant) with grey
knit 2 rows
purl one row
knit one row
Bubble row k2 *kbubble k4* around to the last 2 st k2
k the entire row
purl entire row
k entire row
switch to brown
k 20 rows (more if you like the hat to be longer)
start the decreases
k10 k2tog around
knit
k9 k2tog around
knit
k8 k2tog around
knit
k7 k2tog around
knit
k6 k2tog around
knit
k5 k2tog around
knit
k4 k2tog around
knit
k3 k2tog around
knit
k2 k2tog around
knit
k1 k2tog
knit
k2tog

break weave trough remaining live stitches and pull up tight.

Horns
cats on 20 and knit 10 rows (again more if yo'd like longer horns)
now for the turn kep 10 stitches aside you will only work on the first 10 stitches.
k9 wrap and turn
purl back to the last stitch wrap and turn.
Keep doing this until you have 2 unwrapped stitches left.
knit those two stitches and knit the first wrapped stitch wrap the next stitch and turn
purl back and purl your first wrapped stitch wrap & turn
keep doing this untill all wrapped stitches have been worked add the other 10 stitches back on your needles and knit 5 rows (again more if you want)
starting the decreases
k3 k2tog around
knit
k2 k2tog around
knit
k1 k2tog around
knit
k2tog around

break yarn pull up tight trough the remaining live stitches, make another one.
stuff and attach them about 3 cms from the top on either side of the hat done!

Super Simple whistle case pattern

2010-12-22T02:37:00.000-08:00

Its incredbilly simple and quick too. I made these for the penny whistles for hubby and Euan for Christmas. you could easily make this wider make sure you have an uneven number so its easy to place the button hole.

Use a DK weight yarn with a 4mm hook (size G?)

Chain 11
first dc in the 2nd loop from hook, dc to the end chain 1 turn
dc to the end chain 1 turn (twice
button hole row: dc 4 chain 2 dc 4
dc 4 dc 1 in the chains dc 4 chain and turn
Work the entire piece in dc until your piece measures the lenght of your whistle plus 4 or 5 centimeters for the flap.

Crochet a sc around both edges of the case to connect the front and the back.
weave in your ends and you're done :)

I need to come back to add the lenght of our whistle but right now I have hubby in the present room working and I forgot to check this morning lol!

Planning for grade 1

2010-12-22T01:49:00.000-08:00

We have everything planned out for our eldest to start grade 1 in the new year. I was met with some surprised confusion. Januari? but school starts in September here.

The first time I was a bit confused about this comment, after all he won't be going to school so if I'm not going to stick to their curriculum why would I stick to the schedule?
So my reasons for starting in Januari are 1 british summers never happen during school holidays, they happen in short bursts troughout the summer, so imho their is no point in a summer holiday. 2 december with all the festivals is such a busy month I would much rather not fight over lessons then and take it very easy with "school" stuff and 3 because I can! lol!

So we'll be using ALGF supplemented as and when I need to with various books. for music we'll be using Jodie Messlers "living music from the heart" James will be taking on this part since he allready plays the whistle. And then we will supplement with arts and crafts troughout the year. Since we allready do a lot of this there will not be any huge changes there.

I have to admit that I also bought the ebook planner from ALGF just because it allready had everything I want in a planner and for $10 I couldn't make it myself. Its undated so I can use it for the rest of their schoollife and beyond! (ok that was a bit of buzz lightyear slipping in there....)

Euan is getting a basket full of new crayons new pencils and his whistle with a nice red MLB for xmas so he has a little bundle of just school bits that won't be used by the twins (mainly because Willow likes to eat crayons when does that stop?)

So yes I am quite looking forward to the new year and looking forward to starting this new adventure with Euan.

********************************************************************************

We hebben alles gepland voor onze oudste om de eerste klas te beginnen in januari. Hier kreeg ik nogal verraste reacties op, want ja school begint hier in september.

Toen ik dit de eerste keer hoorde was ik zelf een beetje in de war, want ja we sturen hem niet naar school dus waarom zouden we ons aan hun schema houden? Om meerdere redenen hebben we gekozen om nu te beginnen, ten eerste gebeurt het zomerse hier nooit tijdens de zomervakantie maar altijd zo tussendoor, ten tweede is December altijd zo druk dat ik veel liever dan niet de druk van school heb en ten derde omdat ik kan!

We gebruiken ALGF voor the gewone lessen, voor muziek gebruiken we Jodie Messlers Living Music from the heart. James zal dit gedeelte op zich nemen omdat hij toch al de pennywhistle speelt. en voor kunst en handwerk zal er erg weinig veranderen we doen dit al heel veel.

Ik moet toegeven dat ik ook de ebook planner van ALGF heb gekocht. Die was maar $10 en voor dat geld kan ik hem niet zelf maken. ik ben nl niet zo handig met dat soort programma's. Verder is de planner blank dus ik kan zelf de datums ieder jaar invullen wat wel zo handig is .

Euan krijgt vd kerstman een mandje vol met nieuwe schoolspulletjes die dus ook alleen vor school gebruikt mogen worden. voornamelijk omdat Willow er nog steeds een handje van heeft de krijtjes op te eten.

Dus we zijn er wel klaar voor voor het aankomend jaar en ik heb er ontzettend zin in :D

Euan sings O denneboom

2010-12-20T04:48:00.001-08:00

lots of snow!

2010-12-18T07:17:00.000-08:00

Jody McIntire takes on the BBC

2010-12-14T13:15:00.000-08:00

After watching this video I felt compelled to make a complaint to the BBC. If you feel the same go here to complain

Here is my complaint:

I have just watched the interview with Jody McIntryre and I am absolutley appaled by the way your presenter treated him.
The fact that your presenter repeatedly insinuated that Jody provoked thepolice to abuse him in that way beggars belief.
The sweeping judgements the presenter made about Jody's character are beside the point, as we all have the right to our own views.

I took the time to read Jody's blog (easily found trough google) and whilst he does have revolutionary views expressed so did Ghandi.

The fact that the presenter had allready made judgement about Jody's character was clearly evident in his line of questioning.

I found the way this interview was conducted to be incredibily offensive and more than that sadened by the lack of impartiality shown by the BBC during this interview.

Painting hippo masks

2010-12-13T05:33:00.001-08:00

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Home ed meeting

2010-12-08T09:41:00.001-08:00

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I am a stuperhero!!!

2010-12-03T09:33:00.001-08:00

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Almost proper snow!

2010-11-30T02:59:00.000-08:00

Not so early this morning

2010-11-27T07:41:00.001-08:00

Not a lot but we enjoyed it none the less!!

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It started snowing!!!

2010-11-27T07:40:00.001-08:00

Early this morning

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Cold walk in the park

2010-11-25T08:22:00.001-08:00

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Some photo's from our park this morning

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Playing find the turkey

2010-11-22T07:48:00.001-08:00

From thetoymaker.com

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I am exactly where I need to be....

2010-11-19T05:54:00.000-08:00

Something I can play over and over on those days...

By Amy Steinberg

National curriculum 'led to tick-box teaching'

2010-11-18T12:50:00.000-08:00

England's "overloaded" national curriculum has led to a "tick list" approach to teaching and is in need of reform, a report says.

From the Beeb

Pakjesboot 12 finished

2010-11-18T06:44:00.001-08:00

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Crafting St Nicks steamboat

2010-11-18T05:25:00.001-08:00

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When the lantern child changed jobs

2010-11-17T02:13:00.000-08:00

The lantern child decided to change jobs he wanted to do something else holding the lantern made his arms hurt. So he donned his cape and pulled on his supergnome suit and became minus. Currently he is waiting for his fellow gnomes to join him but they should be with him soon!

The pattern

Very easy to knit all you need is some left over DK weight in 3 colours (suit (dark blue, supergnome belt light blue and skintone) a wine cork (1 makes 2 dolls).

Body

Cast on 20 stitches
Knit 1x1 rib for 4 rows
knit stockingstitch in lightblue for 5 rows
knit 5 rows in darkblue in stocking stitch
knit 1 k2tog to end k1
change to skin colour knit 7 rows in stocking
K2tog to end break yarn leaving a long tail and draw up trough the remaining stitches pull tight.

To seam the doll together start at the top of the head with a mattress stich when you get to the colour change weave the yarn trough the last row of skintone stitches stuff and pull tight to create the head.
Change the yarn to the body colour and finish seaming the doll. stuff the part made of stocking stitch and finish of the body with half a cork. I find they stand much better than when you knit and stuff the entire body.

Hat

cast on 20 knit 5 rows in stockingstitch
* k1 k2tog k to last 3 stitches k2tog k1
purl *
Repeat these two rows until 3 stitches remain break yarn leaving a long tail seam the hat up and use the tail to secure it to the head

Looking for a Dutch testknitter :)

2010-11-15T08:53:00.000-08:00

If you are Dutch and would like to testknit copy of my running man pattern in Dutch drop me a line on vera AT thelothians DOT net replacing the AT and DOT with its relevant symbol obviously.

Thanks!

Interesing perspective on bullying

2010-11-12T06:09:00.000-08:00

Just to warn you some strong language ahead!