Super Fun Mama is getting ready to have a revamp. My daughter is now in kindergarten and we have been doing evening lessons for enrichment. The following is what we have been working on as well as our plans:
Monday Math Day:
*Math Stories using numbers (3 little pigs, story of the six swans, story of the seven ravens
*Pracice writing numbers
*Learning Roman Numerals
* Montessori Math on the Computer
*#Verses Waldorf Style
*Waldorf Math Gnomes
*Montesori Math Counting Game
*playdoh numbers
*beanbag number fun
*Even/odd
Reading/Writing
*letter art
*Nonmenclature
*Copy work
Sciencje
*studying mammals
studying sun movement
making a sun clock
studying mushrooms
Handwork
*waldorf drawing
wet felting
fingerknitting
knot baby
wet on welt watercoloring
Stories Zhana came up with
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Kindergarten Quarter Learning
Friday, May 8, 2009
Fairy Houses
Yesterday we had a lot of fun playing outside. I think our favorite activity was probably making fairy houses. Our letter of the week is F, so fairy houses fit right in.
Today, we had winds of 80 mph and tornados, but our little fairy house stood up just fine! We made ours spur of the moment, but this was so much fun I might just make an actual planned one!
Making fairy houses is one of my fondest memories of childhood. It felt like I was a part of the realm of magic and whimsy. To this day, just thinking about fairy houses brings me that feeling. It’s a rather rare that anything can bring back the actual feeling of childhood, but fairy houses do just that for me.
found some interesting posts related to building fairy houses as well…(Just click on the title and it will take you to the page).
Family Fun: Basic intro to making fairy houses
My Paradise Cottage: Has kits starting at $10!
Build a Fairy House from a Dollhouse
A Little Shabby Always Chic: More instructions for fairy houses.
Beautiful Art: THE MOST BEAUTIFUL FAIRY HOUSES I’VE EVER SEEN!!!!!
Homeschooling in the Rose Garden
Sunny's Little Blog: This is the blog of a 6 year old little girl. How sweet!
As you can tell by the design of my blog-I never get tired of faeries. I suppose I equate faeries with childhood and all the wonder that comes from imagination. Therefore, if you have a fairy post-please share it below. I would LOVE to read about it.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Another Dandelion Story
A few days ago we had a dandelion theme. Today, I read a wonderful story that was recommended on another blog that I just had to post! It is originally from http://www.therapeutichomeschooling.org/starchildren.htm.
Star Children Story
Father sun and mother moon had many children, and those children were the stars. Father sun was wise and kind and good. Mother moon and father sun loved their children so. When the star children were old enough they carried yellow lamps to help light the night sky with their mother moon for all those on earth to see.
One evening several stars wanted to play instead of helping their mother light up the earth. They had worked especially hard during those long cold winter nights when the people and animals were sleeping.
One winter night they forgot to twinkle and instead ran off and played in the nighttime sky. They pretended not to hear their mother calling and calling her children to help light up the nighttime sky. The star children hid behind a fluffy cloud.
Suddenly a warm Chinook wind began to blow. The wind blew with huge gusts. The trees groaned as the wind pushed their trunks and limbs. The gusty wind reached the sky and found the star children’s hiding place behind a cloud and all of a sudden those poor star children lost their balance. They tumbled far, far, far down to the earth below. They were blown right out of the nighttime sky.
When they reached the earth below, they looked up at the dark sky. Maybe the sky was darker because they no longer lived in the sky. The star children became frightened, for they were lost. They called out to their father sun and mother moon to ask for help. They wanted to come home to the sky. In the morning, father sun heard his children call. He said he was so sorry, “Once twinkling stars leave the sky, my dear children, they are not able to return”. He promised the children he would think of something.
The poor star children were so lonely; they missed their mother moon and father sun. Mother moon also missed her children but she found a way to comfort all. Every night she sang. “Twinkle, twinkle little star, how I wonder where you are…” The earth children must of heard this song because all the children of the earth sang with her.
Finally spring came to the earth. Wise father sun looked down at the brown spring ground. Father sun decided to bring some color to the spring earth. He beamed his golden light down to his star children and gave them into little golden flower lamps to light the earth. The children were happy to hold the little lamps and bring happiness and color to earth. These flowers became known as the dandelion flowers.
Wise father earth found a way that the little star children could visit their mother and father. After the yellow petals of the dandelion fade, littler white hairs form on the flower, which are so light they, blow all the way up to the sky to visit mother moon and father sun when a warm wind blows.
Monday, January 5, 2009
Books I've Been Reading
I haven't been blogging too much lately but I have been reading a lot! The cycles in life are interesting. Just as the nature world tends to have cycles, so do all of us. I'm in a bit of a slow, contemplative, back to the basics mood lately. I've been loving reading. I thought I'd share it with you all...
You are your child's first teacher : what parents can do with and for their children from birth to age six / by Rahima Baldwin Dancy.
I think I know why I love the book and Waldorf in general so very much. When I was a little girl I was very creative and spent a lot of time in imagination and wouldn’t trade those memories for the world. Most of my time was imagining playing with unicorns in the forest. This was a beautiful, beautiful time. If I would give my child any gift, it would be imagination and creativity. She has the rest of her life to live in reality. Anyway, Waldorf emphasizes movement, rhythm, fairy tales, art, and ect. If the method sounds interesting to you—this is the perfect book for you! I loved it and give it FIVE stars.
Montessori from the start : the child at home from birth to age three / Paula Polk Lillard and Lynn Lillard Jessen.
This book was decent, but I think I read it too late as so much of the focus seemed to be on babies. Also, I already knew most of the information in the book because I’ve been looking into Montessori for quite a while now. However, other reviews I’ve read about this book is that it doesn’t explain enough for those new to Montessori. Maybe there is just a problem with the explanations in general. I really wanted to learn more about the actual activities, but I’d say it is okay for someone just learning about Montessori. However, I didn’t read the sections that pertain to infants since I have a toddler. My understanding is that some of the advice is controversial—such as letting a baby cry it out (something I’m totally against and most research is too). I think it does a decent job of introducing the basic principles but I’m looking for a book about Montessori activities step-by-step.
The no-cry sleep solution for toddlers and preschoolers : gentle ways to stop bedtime battles and improve your child's sleep / Elizabeth Pantley.
I don’t think it was really that different from her book pertaining to infants. Honestly, I didn’t learn anything new. I already knew about having a consistent schedule and bedtime routine. However, it did make me feel better to realize I’m not the only one still struggling. My daughter is 2.5 years old and I’m still up 3-4 times a night with her. Not having sleep for this long is draining after a while. I’m still searching for that perfect solution…Great book for someone that hasn’t looked into helping their child sleep before…but after this long I can’t imagine that is the case. It did remind me of a few things such as the signs of a little one needing to take a nap.
The cloud atlas / Liam Callanan
This is NOT a book about parenting or for children, but I can’t resist because I enjoyed it so much.
This book is about a priest sitting by his dying friend, who happens to be a Shaman. Much of the book is set in Alaska during World War II. The main character is about a young man who was disposed of balloon bombs during the war. It turns out this really did happen, though I had never heard about this fascinating part of our history. It is hard to explain the book really and it isn’t the type that I usually read. I was afraid I’d be turned off by the war setting because that really isn’t my thing but I LOOOVVVEEDD this book. It is moving, dramatic, and was one of the best books I’ve read in a while.
Thursday, November 6, 2008
You've got to see This! A Toy Company; A Not-To-Miss Post; Waldorf dolls, wood toys, playsilks, and more. Oh, and did I mention the giveaway?
*all pictured toys are from A Toy Garden
*The shirt my daughter is wearing is by Whimsical Walney, a company I'll be featuring within the week
I can hardly contain myself I am so very pleased to tell you all about a FANTASTIC company called A Toy Garden. The store offers the most beautiful and unique toys I’ve ever seen. Have you ever had an experience of going to a back street and finding a little shop where every corner of the store offers something you love? Where everything in the store is beautiful and just being around the items makes you smile with delight? This is how I feel when I look through the pages of A Toy Garden. If this were a brick and morter store, I imagine it would be the type to have the bells that jingle when the door opens, maybe a hint of patchoulli scent in the air, windsocks blowing on a porch with rockers, and tea served for the customers. I imagine the owner of the store would be the type of lady you want to hug and who always says exactly what you need to hear that day. Every time I go to this site, I don't just spend a few minutes looking around but literally hours. I get lost in fantasy and the store brings back memories of when I was a child pretending to play among the fairies, unicorns, and a land far, far away.
The second item for review is their set of herbal play bean bags. Again, huge praises for this wonderful item that surpasses any bean bags I’ve ever seen. These bean bags are homemade and come in a variety of cotton prints and are filled with organic herbs (lavender, mint, chamomile) and beans. The smell of the bean bags is amazing and bring a whole new element to the bean bags. (My daughter loves the smell as you can tell by the last picture below). Since having these bean bags for a little over a month, they have quickly became one of Zhana’s favorite toys. I’m obviously not the only one who thinks so as the website lists numerous positive customer comments about this product and it was named as One of the Best Toys of the Year by Mothering Magazine November 2005. These are A Toy Garden exclusive and I can’t say enough, how much I recommend them. They can be used for so many activities such as tossed, stacked, counted, used as doll furniture, dramatic play, and so much more. This lovely set of 8 sells for $20.00. Here is a direct link to them: http://www.atoygarden.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&Product_ID=22

The third item for review is the sewing apple. My little one has really enjoyed threading the wooden worm in and out of the sticking apple. It is an excellent tool of enhancing motor skills and practical skills. The apple is handmade from an old Walnut tree that was raised organically and only cut down when it stopped producing fruit. This item sells for $12.95. Here is a direct link to the item: http://www.atoygarden.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&Product_ID=868

Next up for review is the wool felted pizza. This gorgeous pizza is precut into four slices of dough and tomato sauce. The child is left to decorate the pizza with cheese, peppers, mushrooms, and pepperoni. It comes in a handwoven serving tray. This is handfelted in Nepal by a Fair Trade group. This is just a beautiful toy. One thing, I've come to realize is that children are able to recognize beauty and seem to play with toys that are handcrafted and made beautifully differently, almost with a sense of respect. This item sells for $19.95. Here is a direct link to the item: http://www.atoygarden.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&Product_ID=1171


*Wood Squirrel Puzzle: This puzzle is cut without a pattern. It is made by a community of people with disabilities. It retails for $14.95.

*Felt Mushroom House Set: Includes a needlefelted mushroom house, gnome, gnome's broom, and felted fire. This item is handmade. Retails for $49.95
*Crocheted Pot with Cakes and CookiesThe crocheted cookie pot is brown and decorated with crocheted flowers and vines. The flowers have colorful beads embedded in them to add to the charm. The pot is 8" across, 9" to the top of the lid and comes with 5 goodies to keep it stocked! There are two wool felted pieces of cake, two felted cookies and one felted cupcake. $59.95
Of course, I have to mention to kindness of a Toy Garden owner Sonya. I don't know her personally but I really get the sense that she is a kind person. Anyone who reguarly reads this blog knows how important that is to me! She was kind enough to answer a few interview questions so we can all get to know here better-
What is one of your most popular items?We specialize in many handmade and unique items. I’ve found and developed many of my crafters and we work closely to develop toys that I think my customers will enjoy. I love selling toys where I know who made them and what they are made out of. I especially love working with US crafters but we also get items made in Europe, Brazil, and other places around the world. We’ve traveled to Europe to find small family run companies that sell exclusively to us in the US. We speak German so we are able to communicate with small companies that have no US reps. Whenever possible, we buy from family run companies as opposed to larger companies. Some of our most popular items are gnomes, fairies, wooden vehicles and puzzles, books, handmade dolls, and always, our woolen undergarments and play silks (best quality and prices in the world)!
Q: What do you think makes your store unique?It is so much more healthy for children to have few quality and open ended toys than to have many brightly colored plastic or fabric toys. Most of our toys can be used in many creative ways, not just for 1 use. All of our gnomes, fairies, play silks, blocks, tree houses, vehicles, etc. can be mixed and matched and played with together to create stories and puppet shows and used in open ended play through the child’s imagination. Some toy companies focus on “gift sets” or toys that look impressive in a gift box but when opened up, they have little play value. We focus on looking at each item and examine how beautiful, well-made, and creative it can be used in child’s play. I personally test and select every toy I sell. If I don’t love it, I don’t sell it. My customers know they can call me or email me any time and I’ll answer the phone and help them out. We are real people and we want our customers to be happy. We stand by our products and frequently go above and beyond normal customer service to satisfy a customer. We ship as fast as possible and provide free gift wrap –many of our customers really like this service.











































