We took a trip to Skytop Orchards and filled many baskets with apples.

Here we go to the apple orchard, the apple orchard, the apple orchard.

Here we go to the apple orchard, so early in the morning!

This is how we pick the apples…

We then peeled and cut and cored the apples with our fun little machine.  The children loved this job!

This is how we peel the apples…

The apples were then cooked in a huge pot and mashed up using another fun tool!

This is how we mash the apples…

After mashing the apples, we cooked them again, added some yummy spices and–voila!–apple butter to take home!

We painted with yellow watercolors for the first part of fall and then painted with red.

We love collecting eggs from our chickens!

We spent one afternoon collecting signs of autumn (fallen leaves, berries, flowering plants, etc).  The children were each given a flag and a hammering tool and went to work hammering the “signs of autumn” onto their flag.  The end result was gorgeous!

The table was covered with beautiful items from nature.

For our lantern walk this year, we made beeswax lanterns.  The children loved watching them grow thicker and thicker.  They each picked a leaf to press and then place on their lantern.

Scott’s artwork awaits the children each morning.  They are usually a sign of the story to come!  This week:  Squirrel Nutkin.

The children made acorn necklaces.  The first step was the wet felt a small ball.

We re-enacted our winter spiral story in the schoolhouse.  This was practice for the large community-wide Spiral of Light.

]]> http://www.littleroundschoolhouse.com/2012/02/16/more-autumn-2011/feed/ 0 http://www.littleroundschoolhouse.com/2012/02/15/autumn-2011-michaelmas/ http://www.littleroundschoolhouse.com/2012/02/15/autumn-2011-michaelmas/#comments Thu, 16 Feb 2012 01:44:48 +0000 Becca Lane http://www.littleroundschoolhouse.com/?p=486 In trying to find a balance between frequent blog posting and no posting at all, I have decided to post once a season and include lots of pictures and a few thoughts here and there.  Nothing fancy, but we don’t want you to miss out on all the fun we are having.  Here are some photos from Autumn at the Little Round Schoolhouse.

We began the year just in time to prepare for Michaelmas.

What is Michaelmas?
We often look at how the natural world is mirrored in our own spirits. As we enter autumn and quickly move toward winter, the days shorten and darkness returns. Michaelmas is a recognition of the coming darkness and the spirit of Michael (the archangel of courage) reminds us to strengthen our spirit for the coming darkness. Officially on September 29th, the festival of Michaelmas marks the beginning of turning inward. As the days become shorter and darker, we are challenged to fight our own inner dragons. Michaelmas reminds us that as humans we have the potential to evolve and overcome our shadow side and reach our full potential.
We don’t talk about Michaelmas like this with the children, of course. Instead we create a mood that allows the children to absorb this message. The celebration is symbolized with capes, shields, swords, and dragons. There are two versions of the story of the dragon. With our school community, we will be focusing on taming the dragon (instead of slaying him). In this version, the dragon gives his life in service to repay the problems he caused the knight and villagers.

This year, we each dyed silks gold with goldenrod.  The younger children made shields and the older children made swords.  This was no small task!  The children sanded their shields and swords for almost two weeks–moving from large to fine grain sand paper.  Then they painted the swords and coated them with a layer of beeswax.  We then gathered together with the parents and acted out the story of George and the Dragon.  Such bravery was seen!

Do you see the dragon in the bush below?

The autumn winds blow open the gate

O Michael, you, you we await

We follow you, show us the way

With joy we greet the autumn day.

Good morning!  Good morning!

Who is this I hear

Deep down in the earth

Hacking and cracking the rocks and the stones?

Behold the dwarfs inside the hill–

Their tiny hammers are never still.

They sing and work deep underground,

And as they tap the rocks resound:

Crack, crack, the rock we hack.

Quake, quake, the mountains we shake.

Bang, bang, our hammers clang.

In caverns old we seek the gold.

~ Adapted, from Wynstones

This week we journeyed below the earth.  It is here that the dwarfs and gnomes are doing the hard work necessary to keep Mother Earth going until Spring returns.  The children hammered and banged their way through circle time, loving the chance to make so much noise!  We built gnome homes outside to find crystals appear in them overnight.

We spent a lot of time over the past two weeks working on sewing our own little gnomes.  Each child cut the felt, sewed their gnome, and then stuffed him with freshly cleaned wool.  I find such joy in watching the children engaged in handwork.  Some children sat and finished their gnome in one sitting, only to go on and make another the next day.  Other children worked on theirs slowly over the course of two weeks–cutting one day, sewing a little the next.  I believe it is important to let the children participate in this work much to their own time frame.  While some children need no encouraging, it is helpful to sometimes gently encourage children to return to their work.  In the schoolhouse, I frequently draw a child back to his or her handwork when they are encountering difficult with free play.  Such work is grounding and centering and often what a child needs if he/she is feeling out of control or showing a lot of undesirable behaviors.

After two weeks of hard work, how proud the children were to watch their handmade gnomes play in our gnome home!

We purchase our beeswax sheet locally at Earth Guild.   The sheets we purchase measure 8 1/2 by 16 3/4.  You will also need candle wick which comes in many sizes.  We use #360 for our rolled candles.

Beeswax sheets are very delicate and must be treated with care.  Extreme temperatures can be damaging to them so it is important to avoid very cold (they might crack) or very warm (they might melt) temperatures.  You will notice in the photograph of our sheet that two of the corners have minor damage.

We cut our sheets in half width-wise so each sheet makes two rolled candles.  I find this size fits easiest into most standard candle holders.   Cut the sheets with a large knife not with scissors as they can damage the beeswax.

It is important to warm your sheet slightly before manipulating it unless you are working in a really warm space.  We usually use a hair dryer to gently warm them during the colder winter months–but not too much or they will melt!  Be sure to use the low setting on your hair dryer and hold the dryer a couple feet from the beeswax sheet.  The sheets are covered in little hexagons.  You want these to remain when heating them.

After gently heating the beeswax sheets, lay them flat in front of you.  Cut your wick into pieces that are about 2 inches longer than your sheets of beeswax.  Lay the wick on the very edge of the sheet, placing the wick so it hangs out about an inch on each end. With great care, fold the edge over the wick.  I usually tell the children a story about their little wick man and how it is time to tuck him into bed for the rest of the winter.  Guide your child to very gently press the sheet of beeswax.  Again, we want the hexagons to remain–this is a good way to make sure you aren’t using too much force.  For smaller children, I would recommend doing this step for them as they can damage the wax without much effort.

After this initial fold, gently *roll* the beeswax up the remainder of the way.  It is important to roll the sheet as tightly as you are able without damaging the wax (remember to watch the hexagons!).  It is okay if they aren’t rolled perfectly; however, a loosely rolled candle will burn much faster.  When they children are making candles with me I don’t expect perfection and I realize that the candles might be looser than desired.  Most importantly, they burn and the children love to see their candles being used!

The final step is to trim the wick.  Figure out which end will be the top.  I usually choose the end that is more tightly rolled or the end that tends to be convex instead of concave.  Trim the wick down to about 1/2 to 1/4 inch.  Trim all the excess off the bottom end.

Your candles are now ready to use.  Enjoy!

winter will have another flight.

If Candlemas be cloud & rain

winter will be gone, and not come again.

Candlemas marks the time in the cycles of the earth half way between Winter Solstice and Spring Equinox.  For many cultures, this is considered the beginning of the new year.  Candlemas has its ancient roots in Imbolc and is itself one of the roots of Groundhog Day.  This is a day when we celebrate the returning light of spring.  Daylight is noticeably longer despite the fact that winter remains.  It is during this time of year that we are reminded that the cold earth holds within it a flame–the promise of spring and the warmth to come.  We might even cautiously creep out of hibernation and see if spring is on its way.  Just like the groundhog!

We had fun celebrating this week at the Little Round Schoolhouse.  Each child rolled a beeswax candle for the schoolhouse.  These will light our circle times for the remainder of the year.  See our tutorial on rolling beeswax candles here.

We also took our old candles we use for blessing our food and melted them down into a new candle.  We then decorated this candle with promises of spring.  The children loved watching the old candle turn to liquid and magically reform into a new (identical!) candle.  I personally enjoyed watching them decorate the candle with little seeds and baby plants.  I found myself feeling such joy at the promise of spring.  I am ready!

Each Wednesday we bake bread as a school community.  This week we made sun pancakes.  Sun pancakes are really just regular pancakes, baked while singing to the sun and then eaten under the sun.  It was fun to hold our huge stack of pancakes up to the sun and sing, “Sun, sun, Mr. Golden Sun, please shine down on me!”

At the end of our week, we made earth candles.  Traditionally, these are dug directly into the ground.  We decided to instead use flower pots so we could move our candles around.

We are waiting until a low wind day to light our candles.  In the meantime, they provide a reminder that the flame of spring is being held within the earth.  Soon, very soon, we will feel the warmth of the sun and the earth will be abloom again!

Father Winter watches the children play in the schoolhouse as he stands among rocks, gems, and evergreen branches.  He has been active this winter, giving us lots of snow for playing and building snowmen.

Let’s go walking in the snow

Walking, walking on tip toe

Lift your one foot way up high

Then the other keep them dry

All around the yard we skip

Watch your step or you might slip

Wednesday is bread baking day at the Little Round Schoolhouse.  This past Wednesday, we baked a special treat–oatmeal nut scones.  They were a hit!  The children ate them happily and asked for more.  These are very hearty scones and are a small meal/snack by themselves.  I know it can be hard to find easy, healthy, kid-friendly recipes, so I wanted to share.  Enjoy!

Oatmeal Nut Scones

• 3 1/2 cups unbleached white flour*
• 1 1/2 cups rolled oats
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/3 cup currants
• 1/3 cup raisins
• 1 cup chopped walnuts*
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar*
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 3/4 cups soymilk*
• 3/4 cup ghee*
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

*We made several substitutions, as follows:

• instead of currants, we used dates
• instead of walnuts, we used pumpkin seeds
• instead of granulated sugar, we used 1/4 cup of maple syrup
• instead of soymilk, we used homemade rice milk (cow’s milk is also good)
• instead of ghee we used earth balance (butter is also good)

Preheat oven to 375 degree F.  In a large bowl, combine the first nine ingredients and mix together well.  Add the soymilk, vanilla, and ghee and mix together until well combined.

Shape the batter into triangles or flatten on an ungreased baking sheet.  Bake for 15 minutes.  Serve warm with butter and jam.  Yummy!

It is hard to believe it is half way through the school year already!  Although the days are long and dark, the light has returned and with it the promise of spring and renewal.  I hope to update the blog more and attempt to share the magic that we’ve enjoyed inside our schoolhouse.  In the meantime, I’d like to share some pictures from the first half of our year.

St. Michael beckons with his hand

To follow him through Autumn’s land.

Heart’s sun to seek to give us light

To keep our courage shining bright.

- D. Harris & S. Price

The beginning of school brought the well-loved celebration of Michaelmas.  Michaelmas is a celebration of the harvest and the point in the year of equal night and day.  It is a time when we strive to achieve balance between the darkness and light within ourselves.  The spirit of Michael beckons us to find the spirit and strength to come alive while the natural world around us is dying.

At the Little Round Schoolhouse we heard the story of St. George, who with his sword, spirit, and cape subdued the dragon and brought light to a village that was once afraid of the darkness.  Together we dyed silks with dye the children made from collected goldenrod.  We are lucky enough to have a lot of goldenrod on our small property and many families also spent the weekend harvesting.  It was magical to watch the water turn the brightest gold and even more magical to watch our white silks turn into capes of golden light!  We also planted bulbs, made dragon bread, and pressed cider.

“And with this cape of golden light, I give you courage, strength, and might.”

Weekly yoga with Scott has become a much loved ritual in our schoolhouse.

Our second big celebration was Martinmas and the Lantern Walk.  Martinmas is a holiday that recognizes the good deeds of Martin–a soldier that gave his wool cloak to a beggar outside on a cold winter’s night.  Martin inspires us to share the light within us, especially during a time of increasing darkness.  To celebrate, we created handmade lanterns–each child worked with surprising focus for two weeks to create a beautiful lantern.  We then gathered together at sunset and lit our lanterns and walked and sang.  Our path was lit with candles; our steps were slow; and our voices were sweet.

I walk about with my lantern

My lantern about with me

Above the stars are shining bright

Down here on earth shine we

My light shines bright

Through the darkest night

La bimmel, la bomma, la boom.

My lantern, my lantern

Sun and moon and stars

Put out all your lights!

Put out all your lights!

So my lantern may truly shine bright

We have spent a lot of time working and playing in the garden–even in the winter!  The children spent most of one afternoon clearing the vines off the bean tepee.

I leave you with this image–our schoolhouse in the snow a couple weeks ago.  The schoolhouse still looked magical in the snow but felt empty without the children.  It was only a matter of days before it was again warm with the movement and voices of children.

Silently, slowly, the snow falls down

Silently, slowly over the town.

The first day of school was full of anticipation and excitement.  As new friends opened the garden gate and began the walk through the garden and down to the schoolhouse, I watched the different expressions.  Some children ran ahead of their parents, others hung back unsure of what it would be like to be away from mom and dad.  As they entered the garden gate, Scott handed each child a round of wood that he painted just for them.  The wood is from a walnut tree in our backyard.  Scott cut a medium-size limb and sawed it into 3/4 inch rounds then gently sanded the top smooth.  Watching him do this was such a treat.  He sat down, surrounded by the blank pieces of wood.  I watched him close his eyes and bring each child into his mind.  He then took this and gave the children each their own animal symbol.  They then walked through the garden and to the schoolhouse, where they found their cubbies and spot in the circle marked with their new symbol.

Our first week in the schoolhouse went really well.  Much to our delight, the schoolhouse is very comfortable with 11 children, 2 adults, and 1 baby.  The round space as an amazing way of feeling full yet open and large.

Our first week of school, we all learned the routines and rhythms of the day.  Scott and I delighted in seeing all the smiles as the children as they did their work–making dresses and forts with the dyed silks…creating a home for sleepy children in the loft…lining up acorns and seashells to be sold in the market…chopping vegetables for snack.  Play truly is the work of childhood!

Here are some photos of our first few weeks to enjoy.

Wooden carts, hills, and children are a wonderful combination.

Children and gardens are another lovely duo.

The children jumped right into the work and chores that we do daily at the Little Round Schoolhouse.  Children are active participants in the daily and weekly rhythms–shaping and baking bread, chopping vegetables, sweeping and doing laundry with the washboard, just to name a few.  It is joyful to fill the schoolhouse with the sounds of singing as we wash and chop and play.

We are so excited to open our doors and welcome the sweet children who are a part of our community.  Scott and I (Becca) feel truly blessed to be a part of this school family.

So many people in the greater community are responding to what we’re doing.  It definitely uplifts us to experience the encouragement and support that we have in the beginning stages of this journey.  Several people have sent us generous donations of money and materials, dozens of people have volunteered their time and skills, and even more people have spread the word about what we’re doing.  The response is amazing!

As we begin the final days until the schoolhouse opens its doors, we want to repost our needs.  Please look through this following list and see if you have any of these things sitting around your home or in your attic or basement.  We would love to give your old things new life and space.  We will be very grateful!

There is a direct link to a frequently updated version of this list on our site here.

Art Supplies

1. uncarded wool–we have some dark wool, but we also like some light-colored wool
2. wool carders
3. felt–an on-going need!
4. needles
5. thread
6. cloth
7. scissors (children’s sized)
8. wool roving
9. sheets of beeswax
10. natural hair brushes
11. empty small baby food jars (for watercolor painting)

Teacher Supplies

1. beeswax candles (1” x 4”)
2. wooden candle holder(s)
3. candle snuffer
4. lyre
5. match box

Furniture

1. short-legged table (two short)
2. benches or stools (to seat 14)
3. circle time rug
4. kitchen shelves
5. painting drying rack
6. small table

Kitchen Supplies

1. small bowls (14)
2. utensils (enough for 14)
3. cups (14)
4. little napkins (14)
5. serving utensils (ladle, wooden spoon, etc)
6. mixing bowls (2)
7. baking sheets (2)
8. pitcher
9. rags
10. tablecloth

Creative Play Furniture

1. play stands (2)
2. play area shelves
3. balance beam
4. wooden fridge
5. wooden range
6. wooden sink/cupboard
7. silks
8. dyed muslin
9. baskets (various sizes)
10. smooth stones
11. log blocks (made from tree rounds)–have some; could use more
12. wooden blocks
13. sticks
14. dry beans
15. shells
16. pillows (for cozy corner)
17. 2-3 dolls (made from natural supplies, “waldorf” dolls)
18. toy crib (wooden)
19. puppets–can always use more!
20. balance board
21. wooden cars
22. wooden animals
23. wooden train
24. play dishes
25. play utensils
26. play napkins
27. play cups
28. play food–have some but could always use more!
29. wool balls
30. bean bags

Structure

1. yurt!
2. infrared heater (to heat 400-450 square feet)
3. small solar panel

The first thing that went up was the door.

We then brought down the khanna–the wooden framework that will hold up the canvas. We unrolled it on the platform and stretched it out. This part was really exciting for me. The space was quickly taking shape!

After the khanna was stretched out, we put a wire along the top of the khanna.  The rafters were then stretched between the wire and the center ring.  Charlie held up the center ring while we stabilized it with the first 4 rafters. 

We continued to add one rafter at a time until all were in place.

The roof canvas was then lifted up and pulled down over the rafters. 

Next we hung the side walls/canvas.

We painted the wooden rim around bottom.  Actually, Ms. Ruby painted most of it.  What a joyful helper!

We also added stairs (since the children can’t fly) and a real window (in addition to the vinyl ones).  

It’s hard to believe how quickly our schoolhouse went up once the platform was built.  It took about an hour, thanks to the approaching rain acting as a huge motivator.  I love walking to the back of our yard and seeing the schoolhouse sitting there, all round and beautiful.  I can’t wait to finish up the inside and then fill it with beautiful toys and–most importantly–beautiful children.  Our community has grown just as quickly as our yurt and it brings me great joy and excitement to think of the sweet faces that will be joining me in our new space soon.