 Felted Artwork by Mimi Hirsch The Meaning of Martinmas Throughout the year, Waldorf schools celebrate festivals to connect with the cycle of nature, establish a yearly rhythm for the children, and strengthen the community. The Festival of Compassion (Martinmas) is celebrated around November 11, between Michaelmas' fiery out-breath and the winter holidays' deep in-breath. Universally, it honours St. Martin's story, patron saint of beggars and outcasts, who was known for his gentleness and his ability to bring warmth and light to those in need. He is best known for his act of kindness toward a poor beggar freezing outside in the cold. Martin used his sword to cut his cloak in two and gave one half to the beggar. This act of compassion, which gave the beggar warmth and hope, is why this festival is also called the Festival of Compassion. Waldorf Schools celebrate this festival by making lanterns with the children and gathering together for an evening Lantern Walk. The essence of this festival is to acknowledge the light that shines forth from each of us. This light needs to be protected, just as the lights inside our lanterns do, so they don’t blow out. Autumn is a time to reflect on our inner selves, to find the inner light that will carry us through this time of darkness. It can be an opportunity to know ourselves more deeply. Waldorf schools mark this season of inner searching with three fall festivals to help guide us on this introspection path. In September, the Festival of Courage (Michaelmas) and St. Michael urges us to battle with courage to face and conquer our “dragons”. In early November, there is the Festival of Compassion (Martinmas), where we observe St. Martin’s compassion for others. In December, St. Nicholas brings the gifts of wisdom, reflection, and review upon the year's events. These three figures model strength in the qualities of willing, feeling and thinking. As we journey into the darkest time of the year, it is increasingly important for each of us to kindle warmth and light in our hearts. The gently glowing lanterns of Martinmas will give way to the candles of the Festival of Wisdom (Advent Spiral) as we draw nearer to the Solstice, showing how our inner light must shine ever brighter against the cold. As nature sleeps, we must be wakeful! How can you bring this festival to your homeschooling family? You could make some lanterns: There are many ways to make lanterns, all of them fun and easy. The simplest way is to take a glass jar and, using some white glue mixed with a bit of water and a paint brush, glue bits of coloured tissue paper to the outside of the jar. You can glue at random or make pictures and shapes with the tissue paper, whatever works for your family and your children's age level. Adding a handle can be done in various ways, from pipe cleaners to flexible wire; you can even add beads to the handle.   If you have access to beeswax, another way to spend an afternoon with your children is to make a beeswax lantern. You can melt beeswax in a double boiler and dip an inflated balloon halfway into the wax. Let the first layer dry and then dip again and repeat. You can add leaves between layers as well. Once finished, add some sand to the lantern's bottom, then place a tea-light on top of the sand to stop the candle from melting the bottom of your lantern.  There are many other ways to make lanterns. Get creative and have fun! You could plan a lantern walk: With your family and perhaps with some other families, you could plan to meet in a park or at some local trails in the early evening when the sun is just setting. With your lanterns lit, you can take a quiet meditative walk while singing some lantern songs. Here are some lantern songs: The Sunlight Fast is Dwindling The sunlight fast is dwindling. My little lamp needs kindling. It’s beam shines far in darkest night, Dear lantern guard me with your light. You can listen to this song HERE. Glimmer, Lantern, Glimmer Glimmer lantern glimmer, little stars a-shimmer Over meadow, moor and dale Flitter-flutter, elfin veil Pee-wit, pee-wit, tic a tic a tic, roo-coo, roo-coo Glimmer lantern glimmer, little stars a-shimmer Over rock and stock and stone Wander tripping little gnome Pee-wit, pee-wit, tic a tic a tic, roo-coo, roo-coo You can listen to this song HERE. I Go with My Bright Little Lantern I go with my bright little lantern My lantern is going with me In heaven the stars are shining On Earth shines my lantern with me My light shines bright, through darkest night La bimba, la bamba, la bim (repeat last 2 lines) You can listen to this song HERE. You could donate to the Food Bank:
As this festival is about compassion, you could follow St. Martin's footsteps and make a donation to the food bank or think of some other way to bring warmth and hope to others. In this time of turning inward, may you find your light shining brightly and remember that even the tiniest flame can dispel the darkness.
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 In our first month of Grade 1, we form a foundation for academic learning and cover ideas around personal responsibility, harnessing creativity, and placing learning at the heart of the human experience. Grade 1 is the transition between learning through play (thinking through doing) and learning through imaginative academic activities (thinking through feeling, on the way to developing analytical thinking processes). The Wonder of Patterns is a funny name, but quite literally means that parents and their children will be telling stories of and with patterns and forms. What are patterns and forms? Patterns exist in everything in nature, and forms make up all the letters and numbers we use today. There is the straight line and the curved line and all the ways that these two friends interact. By exploring patterns and forms through imaginative pictures, families have a place to focus on routines and rhythms for home learning, expectations for school time in the home, such as where, when, and how. By focusing deeply on the patterns and forms, they also focus on the ‘form’ of posture, pencil grip, quality of work, and habits. Permission to slow down and enjoy the wonder… To prepare to bring this unit, we ask parents to go out and get excited about the horizon! Have a look at what is around, notice landscape features, and the patterns and forms they create as they contrast with the sky. Imagine the line of the sun as it moves across the sky; see the shape of the wave as it meets the sand, the shape of the trees as they meet the sky, or reflect on the lake. Remember that you are in no rush. Remember that you have all that it takes to provide an enriching, holistic, warm, and loving environment for your child to grow into an innovative and creative thinker, a compassionate community member, and a passionate steward of the earth. Take a deep breath in, think about the ‘form’ you want for your home learning journey. Think about the details of the routines and habits that will support the healthy functioning of your ‘school at home.’ Think about your needs now so that you can be fully present for 1-2 hours of orchestrated joy and learning for your child(ren) for this day, and breathe out. Repeat as needed over coffee/tea, then start your morning lesson with a song/verse. An exert from the Day 1 Daily Lesson: Ask your child to sit quietly and imagine a butterfly (any flying insect could work) resting on a branch. Describe the wings' color, the shape of the wings, the antenna, the shiny black body, etc. Tell a very short imaginative story of the butterfly’s journey to go and visit a friend – describe in detail the pattern of the flying in your telling; feel free to use your finger to show the pattern and orient it from your child’s left, horizontally, to their right. The pattern can have loops, points, or both – make it horizontal and a consistent pattern. Sing your transition song or recite your verse and head outside. Once outside, show your child any pattern you see, such as the trees’ pattern against the sky, the pattern of the edge of a leaf, the pattern of the top of the fence, the pattern of the edge of the apartment block, etc. Take turns finding and sharing patterns you notice, discuss patterns in detail, notice any similarities between patterns you find. Return to your book-work space with the support of your transition song or verse. Turn to the first page in the book, show your child how to create a beautiful border around the outside edges of the page, about an inch thick. Have them copy the word PATTERNS at the top of the page as a title, make sure the work is done mindfully as a set up for the quality you want to see moving forward. Under the title word, show your child how to lightly color in the sky with the side of a crayon (use golden yellow or blue), then bring in a brown tree branch from the side of the page, then build the shape of the butterfly wings and body. Your child can bring details to the wings as they wish. Finally, they can add some green to the branch around the butterfly. Transition out of book-work with your song or verse and include an out-breath activity such as putting away materials and stretching the limbs. If your child needs more movement, take two minutes to do jumping jacks or something active, then come back to quiet for the ending story.  Children experience a sense of oneness or unity with the world around them. They experience life through their feelings, soak up all of the sensations in their environment, and are united with everything.
Daily Wonder is supporting parents to bring their children capacities and flexibility through balanced, integrated education. By empowering parents to educate their children to enter the world with excitement and boldness, and by observing how things work, children naturally fall in love with the world, and it is through their love that they will want to change the world.  What is Michaelmas? Michaelmas (pronounced Mi-kel-miss) was originally a Christian festival in Western Europe during the Middle Ages. It is the feast day of the archangel St. Michael, and is celebrated at the end of September and beginning of October each year. Because Michaelmas falls near the equinox, it is commonly associated with the beginning of autumn. Waldorf schools use Michaelmas to teach students the importance of using courage to prepare for the colder, darker, winter months as we begin to feel the impulse to turn inward after the long, warm days of summer, and gather up strength and fortitude to face the colder days and long nights of the winter ahead. In addition to honoring St. Michael and marking the beginning of fall, Michaelmas represents harvest time – a time when people make preparations for the winter. In Waldorf schools, Michaelmas, or the Festival of Courage, is the first festival of the new school year. Traditionally, Grades children perform the play of St. George taming a fiery dragon with the help of the archangel, St. Michael, who gives him courage. Following the play there is a small harvest themed feast which usually includes fresh baked dragon bread baked by the school children and fruits and vegetables that are in season, like apples and grapes. The story of taming the dragon symbolizes the inner courage it takes to face our human challenges. As the days grow colder and the nights grow longer, we must find and bring forth our own inner light when the sun, warmth and growth of the earth are fading. St. Michael, who in some versions of the story, gave courage to St. George and in others, gives courage to all the brave people of the village who have to work together to save themselves. Whatever the version, these stories give us courage to uphold what is right and true, and the strength to face the challenges that lie ahead. The story speaks to children in a deeply symbolic way, feeding their innate need for truth and justice. “Michaelmas is a great time to ponder our own inner dragons and to cultivate the courage and strength necessary for self development.” – from Waldorf Publications newsletter Why are Festivals important to Waldorf education? Festivals allow us to be attuned to the rhythms of the Earth and the community we live in. Regardless of personal beliefs and faith, every human being can connect with the magic and gifts that each turning of the seasons brings. How can you bring this Festival to your homeschooling family? Your family can read stories about St. Michael, there are lots to chose from out there. In this first version which is typically told in Waldorf schools, the dragon is slain and this second version, instead the dragon is tamed by St. Michael and becomes a friend to all. You can decide which version is best for your family. Here's a completely different Michaelmas story about stars and courage instead of dragons. The key element of these stories and the Michaelmas festival as a whole, is that it celebrates inner strength and courage. Here is an Autumn verse: Golden light is turning grey, Mists begin to rule the day. Bare the trees, their branches lift; Clouds of dead leaves earthward drift. Through the field the farmer goes, Seeds of ripened corn he sows; Trusts the earth will hold it warm, Shelter it from cold and harm. For he knows, that warmth and light Live there, hidden from our sight; And beneath a sheltering wing, Deep below, new life will spring! Deep below, deep below, new life will spring! And an Autumn Blessing: Brave and true will I be, Each good deed sets me free, Each kind word makes me strong. I will fight for the right! I will conquer the wrong! Sword of Michael brightly gleaming, Down to earth its light is streaming, May we see its shining rays In the Winter’s darkest days. Michaelmas Feast: Your family can spend a morning making bread and forming it into the shape of a dragon and invite friends over to share a fall harvest feast. This is a beautiful story you can tell your children while you are preparing the dragon bread, as well as a recipe. Mealtime Blessing: Earth who gives to us this food Sun who makes it ripe and good Sun above, Earth below Our loving thanks to you we show Michaelmas Hands-on Activity: When we once ran our little Waldorf school, for Michaelmas one year, we had students create a paper mâché dragon. Michaelmas is the Festival of Courage and a time to gather our strength to overcome the shadows within us, shadows like bad habits. We asked students and families to write any bad habits they were wanting to free themselves of on pieces of paper. Then we had them place those inside the dragon's mouth to later be consumed by fire thereby releasing them. After the festival, the dragon was brought to safe place on a family's property to be burned. You could easily create this at home with your child(ren) in the way that would work best for you.  Whether you do none of the actives, some of them, or all of them plus more, whether you celebrate with just your family or beyond...may you find your inner strength and courage as we head into these darker days.
 This month Oliver and I are studying Geology with Daily Wonder Home Learning. This week we’ve been learning about the earth’s layers and decided to do a scaled drawing. We had fun (I think) figuring out the math to scale the earth down to fit on our page. This is how we did it.
To calculate what each section of our drawing of the earth’s layers would be, we first needed to create a scale to figure out what 1km would be equivalent to. For example, our paper size in our Learning Portfolio is 300mm (30cm) high and we knew we would need to leave about 30mm for a title. So we wanted to draw a scaled drawing that was 270mm high. We used these measurements for each layer of the earth: Inner Core: 1,250km Outer Core: 2,200 km Mantle: 2,900km Continental Crust: 45km Oceanic Crust: 10km We added all these up and got 6,405km Then we divided the total km by the total mm of space we had on our page: 270/6405 and got a measurement of 0.042mm So our scale became: 1km : 0.042mm And then to calculate each layer we took the actual km of each layer and multiplied by 0.042 Inner Core: 1,250 x 0.042 = 52.5mm Outer Core: 2,200 x 0.042 = 92.4mm Mantle: 2,900 x 0.042 = 121.8mm Continental Crust: 45 x 0.042 = 1.89mm Oceanic Crust: 10 x 0.042 = 0.42mm And then we drew it. We really liked this exercise, not only because it provided an amazing math lesson, but also because it put into perspective just how little of the earth we live on and how much earth is beneath our street.  Will wonders never cease... We're really excited about our new logo and new look and we think you're going to love it too. Our new logo consists of nine concentric, asymmetrical circles to represent the nine grades of our curriculum (this year we have grades 1-7, but next year we will offer K-8) as well as a stylized sunrise. To match the nine circles in our logo-mark, we have chosen nine colours in a new palette to represent each of the grades.  We think this new look will work wonders for us all!
What do you think of our new brand?  9:00am - Be the Pied Piper--play a song, sing a song... find your beautiful way to begin the morning lesson together 9:00am - 11am - Daily Wonder Morning Lesson 11 - 11:30am - Snack time/fresh air/free play 11:30am - 12:30pm - Options to rotate through on a weekly schedule and based on your home life and needs:
12:30pm - 1:30pm - Lunch time/ outdoor time 1:30pm - Options to rotate through on a weekly schedule and based on your home life and needs
2:30pm - Chores/clean-up time 3pm - Free play You got this! Top 10 Fun Activities That Can Happen After Morning Lesson and How They Link to Learning Outcomes!8/24/2020  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 play and regular 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!!   Thank you to those that were able to attend our first Zoom info session last week. We appreciate you and thank you for considering Daily Wonder as a homeschooling option for your family.
We will hold our next Zoom information session on August 31st at 7pm PT. To register, please send an email to admin@dailywonderhomelearning.com and we will send you the Zoom link on the day of the call. Our mission is to empower parents to provide integrated, culturally diverse, creative, hands-on curriculum for their homeschoolers that meet grade level learning outcomes. Our vision is to use stories and human connection as the foundation for acceptance and appreciation of diversity so we can build a more compassionate and responsible world. Daily wonder, wonder daily... Mareesha, Jennifer and Rebecca  Thank you to all the engaged parents who attended our first Daily Wonder info session, we appreciate you! If you couldn't make our first session, no worries - stay tuned, we will announce dates for our next info sessions soon...
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