New Home

My new blog. I am no longer posting here at Crazy Busy Momma! I am now at www.wildbluecolorado.blogspot.com

I hope to see you there!!

Waldorf-inspired Public School Offers a New Choice for Families in Fort Collins

Mountain Sage Community School is a free, public, charter school inspired by Waldorf education and sustain

able living. Approved by the Poudre School District Board of education October 2011, Mountain Sage is set to open in fall 2012. The school will serve K-4 students in its first year of operation, and will grow by one grade each year until becoming a K-8 school.

Mountain Sage is currently accepting Intent to Enroll forms for K-4 students and will be hosting a final informational enrollment event on Tuesday February 7th, 2012 from 6-7pm.

This event offer the opportunity to learn more, get involved, have your questions answered and meet the founders.

The informational enrollment event will be held on February 7th, at The Gardens on Spring Creek (2145 Centre Avenue, Fort Collins 80526) in the Evelyn Clark classroom from 6-7pm.

Created by parents and educators in Fort Collins, Colorado, Mo

untain Sage is dedicated to education that respects the creative journey of childhood. Waldorf-inspired education integrates the arts (music, movement, story, drawing and more) into the learning process of all academic subjects, offering students an experience that fully engages and empowers them. Waldorf-inspired education offers a time-tested, research based approach that enables each student to reach their highest academic and creative potentials. Sustainable living practices are fully integrated into school life to offer children the powerful experience of stewardship and positive community action.

To learn more visit www.mountainsagecommunityschool.org

Decompression

I have heard tell of children needing some time (upwards of a year) to decompress from their school experiences before they are ready to attempt curriculum or any sort of organized homeschooling. This gives them time to unlearn negative behaviors, feelings, and even unwelcome educational methods.

I have found with Teilee that the first couple of months she needed extreme amounts of alone time at home. She craves this time the most in the early mornings. When we were homeschoolers she couldn't wait to get out of the house. Daily trips were requested and we were limited mostly by my energy or lack of. Recently she is still craving home time but she is beginning to turn to her brother again. When she was in school she had a hard time playing with him. When she was home at night or on the weekend, she wanted to be alone. When she played with him it was not creative, inclusive play. It was non-cooperative and often antagonistic. I have heard many times over by parents that they do not have the patience to homeschool. I am amazed at how much more patience I needed when she was in school because of the personality changes and the strain in the sibling dynamics.

Landis has waited a long time for his big sister to return to him. To embrace him as a playmate, and friend and to play long hours of creative games with him. She helps him work on his workbook and loves to teach him anything he is willing to learn. I am absolutely astounded at what we lost when she went to school. This is only highlighted by what we have gained as she has been recovering from her school experience.

Several times in the last week they have insisted on playing nearly the entire day together in creative joy. This may not last or at least not at the intensity of which they are playing constantly now and so well together. However, right now I am so overwhelmed by this feeling of gratitude. That I know we are making the best decision for our family and for the kids by entering again into homeschooling.

Chicken in the Sink

My mind has wondered lately to the ideal. What that is? How that exists in the imperfect and impermanence of life? As a family we take as much time that we can to plug in to the moment to realize its beauty. To acknowledge the gravity of where we are. That this will pass whether we wish it to or not. We try to breathe in the moments, whatever they may be. Change seems to be what has caused havoc and created new beauty in our lives. I am pondering this as I am standing next to Blackbird, our Americana chicken, as she bathes in our kitchen sink. Something is wrong with her, we believe she is egg bound. She is one of our oldest chickens and perhaps it is just her time. The last chicken we had died in 24 hours from this. I was not about to take any measures to save the last one, it is just a chicken I said, livestock. I still feel that way, but I am softened. If there is something I can do, I do. So here I am, making sure she doesn't decide to jump out of her warm bath, drinking my tea and talking to her as she softly clucks back. I am clearly not the rough and tough farmer I idealized upon embarking on urban homesteading. I am some mixture of gentle, grounded, tough, and a little strange.

It is a moment that I appreciate. The humor of it, the gravity, the change it means has come to me. Whether this chicken in this moment survives, we will soon know. This was a beautiful space in time to contemplate who I am and what I am working towards.
*The sink has been thoroughly disinfected.

Wordless Wednesday

Recent Art Work

Ketchup Jelly Fish




Follow Your Neck (not completed yet)





Shades of Grey

How to turn Eight

It has been many years since we have attempted a birthday party. I have loved our small, intimate, family parties. After our busy spring when Teilee asked for a large party I knew I would have to be crazy to say yes. The reasons why we all deserved a big party began to whine in my head and suddenly I was anxiously awaiting the inevitable large party with all of our friends. Fortunately for myself, Teilee has excellent taste in friends. It was almost as though the party was for me!!
In advance I made a lovely wooden banner. Made from wooden rounds and painted with letters. It says, "Happy Birthday". I also made a banner that says "Teilee" and one that says "Landis". These will eventually become headboard decorations (without the happy birthday part).

I love multipurpose, reusable items that have been made from reclaimed materials. It sorta fits in with our Wooden Toy Garden lifestyle.

We decided to have a morning pancake party. The idea was gifted to me by a lovely friend and we couldn't have been happier about it. We had it at City Park beginning at 9:30-11:30 with a bring-your-own-lunch invitation after the party, and a trip to the pool after lunch. How lucky is our town to have a place like City Park and it's pool.



This was Teilee's party so it was dinosaur themed of course. We had a design your own necklace table and a create your own dinosaur garden. This was based on a traditional Waldorf activity, gnome garden building. We just substituted the gnomes for dinosaurs and viola! The kids crafted, played on the play ground and ate breakfast at our gluten free, dairy free, corn free, soy free pancake bar. We had coffee, juice, pancakes, homemade honey syrup, hard boiled eggs, lots of fresh fruit and veggies. Our guests brought their own plates and utensils to help reduce waste. Although I do wish I had brought extra plates, napkins, forks, cups etc... Thank goodness my parents were in town to help out! They prepared all of the fruits and vegetables, ran and defrosted the 100 pancakes (we had to premake some during the week and freeze them until the day of the party), went out and purchased extra plates and utensils, watched kids during the party, and cleaned up after the party as well. I am sure I forgot a few hundred things they did.




After everyone had gotten their craft on, eaten, and played thoroughly, I told Teilee's rainbow bridge story. Teilee is in the middle (purple and white dress) with the happy smile on her face.


The rainbow bridge story is one that we always tell. Teilee asks for it every year and can't wait to see how it changes. To prepare for the story it requires me to take some time to reflect on Teilee's past and how she has grown to be this child that she is. I share a little something about each year that she has been on earth.
Gifts were not requested, nor required, nor desired and yet they appeared. Her friends know her so well. Dinosaur inspired, carefully homemade, lovingly created gifts.


Then the kids ate and daddy took them swimming with some friends while Mommy, Grandma Lee, and Papa cleaned up!
We wound down the evening at home.




With cake of course. Teilee allowed me to do brownies instead of cake (Thank you, Thank you, Thank you). It is also our tradition that I make a cake into something, or decorate a cake in some special way. Brownies are just as capable of being designed as cake is!







Teilee unwrapped her gift from Grandma Lee and Papa Ken, and immediately showed us her sense of humor.

I am not sure if we can pull this off every year, nor do I aspire to. At least this year, we gave her a party to remember. Introducing my eight year old!