 Looking for ways to bring awareness about our responsibility to care for the Earth? The following environmental actions are important to do all year round, not just on Earth day. We encourage you to go through the list with your child and choose a few that inspire you. Commit to making them a part of your homeschooling routine. Together we can build a better world for the future. 1. Go for a walk and pick up litter  2. Yes, it's not your own dog's poop, but pick it up anyways if you see it on your walk. 3. Ditch the paper towels, use a cloth instead. 4. Refuse the plastic straw and carry your own reuse-able ones. 5. Donate old clothing and household items to your local thrift stores, free stores or shelters. 6. Buy local, support local businesses and cut down on environmental shipping costs. 7. Choose sustainable products. 8. Grow a garden, even just one pot with a plant on your window sill if you don't have a yard.  9. Always recycle. 10. Try walking or biking instead of driving.  More than 1 billion people now participate in Earth Day activities each year, making it the largest civic observance in the world. For more information, visit www.earthday.org
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Easter brings the hope of rebirth and beauty. It could give you a point of focus when choosing stories, crafts and activities to do as a family. StoryThe Easter Bunny A charming, simple story about how the Easter Bunny learned how to deliver eggs. http://happywhimsicalhearts.com/2016/03/easter-bunny-rabbits/ This website has really great resources on further ways to celebrate the seasons, ways to bring Waldorf into the home, etc. GamesLittle Brown Bulb For this game, the child curls up on a ball and you cover them with a blanket (a nice, heavy one that blocks light really gives an idea of what it is like to be underground! Then you say: A Little Brown Bulb lay asleep in the ground (hands resting on child's back) And there she slept very sound (caress the back) While Old King Winter raged and roared overhead (walk fingers like spiders over the child's back) The Little Brown Bulb did not stir in her bed (rest hands) Then came Lady Spring tip toeing over the lea (tip toe fingers) Fingers to lips as quiet as can be (whisper) The Little Brown Bulb lifted her head (child lifts head) She slipped off her nightie and jumped out of bed! (child lifts the blanket and jumps up!) Sleeping Bunnies This song can be played while lying down on the floor/ grass/etc. As the song indicates, once you wake up you hop about! See the little bunnies sleeping until noon Shall I wake them with a merry tune? Oh so still.....are they ill?... Wake up little bunnies, hop hop hop! Wake up little bunnies, hop hop hop!  CraftsEgg Dying Natural dyed eggs are usually a 2 day project. To prepare, collect leaves and flowers, and secure them to the eggs using panty hose or cheese cloth (they work best when freshly picked, as maleable and moist sticks best to the eggs). After they have sat in the dye, the wrapping is removed revealing the beautiful stamp of the chosen flower or leaf. If you're not so keen on the chemicals in store-bought Easter egg dye, try these nine all-natural options. Each features a colouring agent — a vegetable, fruit juice, or spice — that gives colour to hard-boiled eggs.  Sprouting Beans Spring is a time to observe growth and life, and what better way to pass the days than seeing a baby bean grow right before your eyes? Here is a really easy, visual way to teach children about root systems. Five year olds might also like to hear the story of Jack and the Bean stalk. https://www.dltk-teach.com/rhymes/beanstalk/story.htm  Paper Seed Bombs
This is another multi step craft that is easy to execute and very rewarding. If you have any old seeds handy, this is the perfect way to use them! Perhaps you can plant to make them as gifts for friends and family, as a way of looking forward to seeing your loved ones again. Turn old paper into some super cool seed balls! This easy science activity and craft are perfect for Earth Day or a unit on gardening or plants and seeds! With thanks and credit to Lucia Perez from the Comox Valley Waldorf School. Passover (Pesach in Hebrew) is a Jewish holiday that celebrates the Hebrews' liberation from slavery by the great prophet Moses. Moses would not have survived to free his people, had it not been for the cleverness of his sister Miriam. She set him in a basket on the river Nile, and watched over him until the Pharaoh's daughter found him and took him home to be her own son. In this way, Moses survived the dangerous times in Egypt, and grew up with a deep compassion for the Jewish people. In his adult years, he fulfilled his destiny to guide the Jewish people out of slavery in Egypt, to form a covenant with God through the Ten Commandments. Miriam, perhaps the only woman in the bible, who is not referred to as someone's mother or daughter, has, in more recent times, taken a place of honour at the Passover Seder. As Jewish celebrations and rituals become modernized to fit our new levels of awareness, we turn to the women of the Bible stories, choosing to elevate them to places of importance. In modern Jewish rituals, when the Seder, or religious dinner ritual takes place, many families choose to include Miriam as one of the sacred guests. A cup is filled with water, in her honour, and songs and stories are shared to celebrate her strengths. What a wonderful time we live in, where we can honour the importance of the feminine, and include it in a ritual that was formed thousands of years ago. Ways to CelebrateHere are some ways you can learn more about Miriam and celebrate her as well. Sing Miriam's Song A beautiful song depicting the spirit of women now and in ancient days. Here are the lyrics so you can sing along: And the women dancing with their timbrels Followed Miriam as she sang her song Sing a song to the One whom we've exalted Miriam and the women danced and danced the whole night long And Miriam was a weaver of unique variety The tapestry she wove was one which sang our history With every strand and every thread she crafted her delight A woman touched with spirit, she dances toward the light And the women dancing with their timbrels Followed Miriam as she sang her song Sing a song to the One whom we've exalted Miriam and the women danced and danced the whole night long When Miriam stood upon the shores and gazed across the sea he wonder of this miracle she soon came to believe Whoever thought the sea would part with an outstretched hand And we would pass to freedom and march to the promised land And the women dancing with their timbrels Followed Miriam as she sang her song Sing a song to the One whom we've exalted Miriam and the women danced and danced the whole night long And Miriam the prophet took her timbrel in her hand And all the women followed her just as she had planned And Miriam raised her voice in song She sang with praise and might We've just lived through a miracle We're going to dance tonight And the women dancing with their timbrels Followed Miriam as she sang her song Sing a song to the One whom we've exalted Miriam and the women danced and danced the whole night long Make Miriam's Cup Miriam’s cup honours her as a prophet in her own right and allows the opportunity to acknowledge the importance of women in general. https://creativecynchronicity.com/passover-elijah-miriam-and-kiddush-cups/
 Hey Parents! After you have been a super hero and guided your child through the Daily Wonder morning lesson, maybe you want to take a step back, maybe you have to attend to your regular job, or maybe you need a coffee break. Whatever the reason, learning does not have to stop. In fact, learning is an ongoing process, and Daily Wonder will show you how easy it is to connect regular homeschool activities like free-play and everyday life experiences with your Ministry of Education Big Ideas and Learning Outcomes! 1. Build with Lego Applied Design, Skills and Technologies Grades 1-3: Big Idea/Concept: Designs grow out of natural curiosity Grades 4-5: Big Ideas/Concepts: Designs can be improved with prototyping and testing. Skills are developed through practice, effort and action. 2. Bake Muffins! Math Grade 1: Big Idea/Concept: Addition and subtraction with numbers to 10 can be modeled concretely, pictorially, and symbolically to develop computational fluency. Grade 3: Big Idea/Concept: Fractions are a type of number that can represent quantities. Grade 5: Adjust the recipe and learn this Big Idea/Concept: Numbers describe quantities that can be represented by equivalent fractions. 3. Clean Your Room! Career Education Grade 1-3: Big Ideas/Concepts: Strong communities are the result of being connected to family and community and working together toward common goals. Everything we learn helps us to develop skills. Communities include many different roles requiring many different skills. 4. Family Meeting Time Career Education Grades 4-5: Big Ideas/Concepts: Strong communities are the result of being connected to family and community and working together toward common goals. Leadership requires listening to and respecting the ideas of others. Grades 6-7: Big Ideas/Concepts: Practicing respectful, ethical, inclusive behaviour prepares us for the expectations of the workplace. Leadership represents good planning, goal setting, and collaboration. 5. Climb a Tree!! Career Education Grades 1-3: Big Idea/Concept: Confidence develops through the process of self-discovery 6. Make a Healthy Snack! Physical and Health Education Grades 1-3: Big Idea/Concept: Knowing about our bodies and making healthy choices helps us look after ourselves. 7. Work Through an Emotional Outburst! Physical and Health Education Grade1: Big Idea/Concept: Good health comprises physical, mental, and emotional well-being. Grades 2-3: Big Idea/Concept: Having good communication skills and managing our emotions enables us to develop and maintain healthy relationships. 8. Work Through Social Conflict with Friends Physical and Health Education Grade 1: Big Idea/Concept: Good health comprises physical, mental, and emotional well-being. Grades 2-3: Big Idea/Concept: Having good communication skills and managing our emotions enables us to develop and maintain healthy relationships. 9. Participating in the Digital World Physical and Health Education and Career Education Grades 6-7: Big Ideas/Concepts: Our personal digital identity forms part of our public identity. Practicing respectful, ethical, inclusive behaviour prepares us for the expectations of the workplace. 10. Knitting! Applied Design Skills and Technology Grades 1-3: Big Idea/Concept: Technologies are tools that extend human capabilities. Grades 4-5: Big Idea/Concept: Skills are developed through practice, effort, and action. Grades 6-7: Big Ideas/Concepts: Design can be responsive to identified needs. Complex tasks require the acquisition of additional skills. Stay tuned for new activities and life lessons to be shared on the Hub!!  |
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