spring

2009-10-09T01:21:00.000-07:00

adventure moon - the horizons of the world begin to unfold once more

light moon - lucent days, nights like silk, this is my personal new year

flower moon - the childhood month, full of colour and joy

I always know when spring is beginning its beautiful, languorous arrival. The whole world around me seems to open itself, in bud and breath and sky, and my own heart opens in response. This is the season I want to run off to become a pirate or a starship commander. This is the season I am half-wild and wholly in love with the universe. My thoughts unravel in colour, like silks, like rainbows. I get out all my air-filled, light-catching craft things again. I read all my favourite books through the long, luminous nights. I trawl childhood memories for things I can make new for my own child.

the return of the light

a mass of white candles

garden cleaning

sweep the winter out of your house

hope and harmony

gather up the light

hang cellophane or paper-lace suns in your window

make origami suns

roll beeswax candles

dip candles

melt wax into deep seashells and place in a tiny wick

plant herbs and seeds

make plant labels using iceblock sticks and laminated cardboard (you can laminate them using clear sellotape)

balance

fertility

new beginnings

Ostara - the vernal equinox

crafts

cupcakes made from roses

lemonade

honey cake

eggs

whatever you can do or dream you can do, begin it.

boldness has genius and magic in it.

to make your dreams come true, begin.

~ Goethe

Beltane

customs and lore

flowers in your hair

wash your face in the morning dew

braid wishes into your hair

make a May basket filled with flowers or sweets or small gifts and leave it on neighbour's doorsteps ~ fold colourful scrapbooking card into a basket shape with ribbons as handles, or roll it into a trumpet shape.

bless your garden

make Brigid Wheels - take two strong sticks from the garden and tie them together in a cross shape with twine. Weave coloured wool around and around the sticks, from the heart of the cross to the outer edge. You can place a flower such as lavender or rose at the heart or tied to each of the ends. These hang beautifully or sit on a shelf, and for those of us in the southern hemisphere they also make lovely Christmas tree decorations.

make a bonfire, jump over it or dance around

make a maypole for your garden ~ or a miniature one for your dolls using cardboard, coloured crepe paper, fabric flowers, and sparkles.

send your child on a spirit quest ~ fill a bowl with water with a blessed gem inside, then blindfold her and have her take an obstacle course through the house or garden, guided by your voice, and without spilling any of the water.

make butterflies ~ paint your hands with different colours and place them on paper to make a print, cut out around the shape for wings ~ fold over long ovals of cellophane, crepe paper, or coloured fleece and twist in the centre, then tie a pipe cleaner around the centre and curl its ends for antennae.

make bird feeders

whisper wishes into a seed and plant it

weave nests from scrap material and fleece, or from twigs and twine

make baby birds from fleece, clay, fabric

spring poems

So often it happens that, as spring progresses, we of earthsong homeschool find ourselves re-enchanted all over again by learning. We dream up new lesson ideas, open new books, and try out new crafts. So it seems to me that spring is a good time to learn about people who had a similar curiosity, and to follow where it led them.

explorers ~ read their diaries, map their routes, draw their ships, imagine their lives

early scientists, inventors

the first farmers

Holling C Holling's books

the Renaissance era

the properties and uses of herbs

sympathetic planting

marriage customs around the world

famous or important historic marriages, eg Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain

read Shakespeare comedies

learn Robert Frost's poetry

read Anne of Green Gables

how seeds grow

the life cycle of butterflies

storms ~ what causes thunder and lightening

sex education

visit a farm to learn about lambs

watch a sheep-shearing performance

Plum Puffs

Boil half a cup of water and 3 tablespoons of butter. Turn heat to low, add half a cup of flour and one teaspoon of sugar and mix thoroughly over a low heat for about a minute. Remove from the heat, add one egg and beat well, then another egg and beat again. Drop a teaspoon's worth of the mixture onto a greased baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes. Take out, turn off the oven. Prick each puff with a skewer or knife. Then return to the warm oven for a couple more minutes. When cool, fill with plum jam and serve with cream.

I heard a thousand blended notes,
While in a grove I sate reclined,
In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts
Bring sad thoughts to the mind.

To her fair works did Nature link
The human soul that through me ran;
And much it grieved my heart to think
What man has made of man.

Through primrose tufts, in that green bower,
The periwinkle trailed its wreaths;
And ’tis my faith that every flower
Enjoys the air it breathes.

The birds around me hopped and played,
Their thoughts I cannot measure:--
But the least motion which they made
It seemed a thrill of pleasure.

The budding twigs spread out their fan,
To catch the breezy air;
And I must think, do all I can,
That there was pleasure there.

If this belief from heaven be sent,
If such be Nature’s holy plan,
Have I not reason to lament
What man has made of man?

- Wordsworth

seasonal homeschooling

spring