So I’ll be uploading main lesson workbook pics as we go…and a general lesson plan. As there are read alouds I want to do with StJohn etc. Form drawing obviously is still big, here. Juliette was horrified when she found out she wouldn’t be doing form drawing every week up until Grade 12….she’s in Grade 5 this year…time flies…StJohn is in Grade 2.  I need to research form drawing for the higher grades, or put something together myself.

For now, I’m going to clean the house a bit, finish my murder mystery book, and then get to it. I’m going to be re-reading Steiners Practical Advice range of lectures this week as well, as I sorely need to get focused. My personal life is a mess of immense proportion and honestly I shouldn’t be about to start teaching, but I have no choice…they’re depending on me, so I need to get myself back into that good light space. I need to strengthen my etheric body, as it’s taking a beating at the moment…

Not to mention my astral body seems to be more inclined to stay in the spirit world…what I mean by that is that every opportunity I get to fall over and sleep is grabbed. I’m not really feeling in control of that right now. Honestly I cannot blame it, the physical world is a bit of a disaster right now.  And I obviously need the help of every available angel. Thank god for my earthbound angel, my husband. xx

I’ll post again a bit later in the week…when the lesson plans are in place,sigh…

 For years I wouldn’t touch a paint brush or pencil. I’d draw or paint with the kids, but only for their amusement and not engage myself in any way. Finally this year I felt brave enough to start drawing again, and attended a watercolour class. I thoroughly enjoyed the colour theory aspect and the excercises, but watercolours are not for me. I love acrylics, oils, pastels, and plain old pencils!

I needed to do the watercolour class, and I studied Dr Steiners lectures on colour (very interesting) to be able to unblock whatever had stopped me from drawing, painting etc. Well it worked…So thank you John, if you read this. My pencils, and easel and stuff are keeping me sane, they’re helping me heal. Bless you, my love. xx

Here is the first preparatory sketch I’ve done this week for an oil painting, small (4 x 6″)

Now I’m going to finish my tea and get my canvas out and start to sketch the pic on there. We’re having a good holiday, I needed it, to get my life on an even keel. I always do too much, filling every day for the good of everyone else, but I dare not think about me. If I stop to think/feel about me, I want to cry…so… that has had to stop. I have to think about me now and what I need and what I want. So I’m going to use this blog not only for “homeschooling stuff” but also to let you see the other parts of me. I’m not just a waldorf mom who homeschools, and lives a Steiner life. Yes I am that, but I’m also a wife and a daughter.   And at this point in my life I’m having to face the fact that I was adopted and deal with that crap. The fact that I lost my Mom, before I had a chance to know her, through no fault of hers or mine. And the effect that has had on me, my kids, my husband etc. I’ve had to look it in the face and it’s been hard, but the amazing thing is that I have the best husband on the planet, he does everything for me. I have kids who love me and think I’m amazing, even when I’m being daft. And finally after 35 bloody years I have a Mom again. I finally have a Mom… 

Juliette took some awesome pics, which I’d like to share with you. She’s given me permission to upload them to the blog. (Please do not use them without her permission :o))

Part of her curriculum last year and still this year is her local geography and history, so it is educational as well as fun! Then we went in StGeorges Mall to go and have brunch. From there we went to what used to be called the Natural History Museum, but seems to have a new name (for the life of me I can’t remember it). They have all sorts of bits of history from the various settlers in the Cape and of course the local population of the time, being the Khoi-San.

What I didn’t know, and I honestly thought Jules was going to explode with excitement, was that the have a section on Egyptian history, from textiles to jewellery to funereal artifacts. Quite Awesome! We’re going back within the next month with our sketch books, as no photos are allowed. It’s been great studying history with Juliette, as only by having a broader knowledge of various civilizations do we get to see the similarities. Like today we found a figurine from a part of Ancient China, that could have been from the Indus Valley. So close was the similarity, it was astounding. I made a rush for it, as I saw it over another statue in the room, and nearly brained myself on the huge glass case. Over excitement will do that to one, ahem! 

The trip seemed over too soon, and then we were walking back to the car and I realised how exhausted I was, and so was everyone else. We came home, the kids swam, I rested, Jules had a tantrum as, apparently, there were no snacky things in the house…and wonderfully, John made dinner for us all…a delicious ratatouille type dish, with brinjals, tomatoes etc. in homemade wraps (he made them from scratch). Tomorrow I plan a day of rest, the most I’m planning on doing is finding my way down to the mall for coffee! xx

 Usually I bake everything from scratch, using as many organic ingredients as possible, but a few days back I was given the gift of a packet of muffin mix (chocolate). All I had to do was add apple sauce (in lieu of egg), oil and water. I must admit on seeing the packet I sort of snorted and thought that’ll be the day…well actually today was the day. Feeling restless and out of sorts, and not in the mood for doing anything…I decided to bake something for breakfast, usually health muffins with dates, or waffle mixture to be kept overnight. I looked at this muffin mix and thought, why not?

So I added the few ingredients, and including the buttering of the muffin pans and popping into the oven, it took less than 5 minutes! Mmmmhh they’ve got to taste really yuck right? Er, no…they taste great! Most probably as healthy as fly paper, but they taste great.

Here they are….

The kids are looking forward to breakfast, I’m staying in bed later as I don’t have to do anything for breakfast and all thanks to a silly ready-mix paket of muffins. Tomorrow when I drag myself out of bed I’ll be heading down to the shop to buy Turpentine for my painting, and to just take a look (no committment, you see) at the other ready mix cake things on the shelf. God I hope they have blueberry muffins!

New year is coming up which is a non-event for us, and then of course StJohns birthday on the 2nd and my Moms’ shortly after. So I’ll focus on those for now. I need to order a cake for Sin or make one…which is what I should do…what happened to my energy??!

I’m taking this coming week slowly, I want to sort out the house, clean up and then get stuck into my christmas presents from John - oil paints, easel and the works - bless him a zillion times!

Today we popped into the mall where we had to stock up on food, we had coffee and did a bit of shopping, underwear and toys believe it or not. StJohn hit the 2 remaining tennis balls over the horrible neighbours fence yesterday. They’re like the grinch! If anything goes over there they never send it back. Sour miserable couple,yugh! Anyway he was beside himself, as I couldn’t go to the shop and replace the damn balls - the shops were closed! So I bought 6 today - let’s see how long they last, hey? Since I started this blog post an hour ago, 1 of the 6 has already joined the other 2 over the wall.

When we got back from the mall Jules and I sat down and made window stars. They came out beautifully…look…

I made 1 for StJohn as he found it just a bit too difficult, he chose green and blue - unusual for him as he’s a yellow/orange sanguine kinda guy ;o)

I need to start preparing our lesson plans and daily lessons for next year in 10 days time. We’ll be starting with a Maths block…Jules is going to be less than thrilled…she doesn’t enjoy maths.

One thing I forgot to mention is the beautiful gifts that Juliette made for all of us, mine was a bookmark…see…

She did all the cross stitch herself, in fact she did everything herself, she’s just turned 11 and that’s pretty awesome. She made a spectacle case for John, and a pencil case for StJohn and a bookmark and snowflake fridge magnet for me. The stitches were tiny and each one so perfect. She started working on these things on the 01 December. Hats off to you Kitty,(when you read this one day), you’re awesome at 11!

Now I’m supposed to be keeping my eye on a pot of soup I made for dinner tonight…not sitting here blogging!

Have a joy filled day! xxx