Our Homeschool Journey Newsletter October 2008

Spring Crafts...

It's always nice to receive a gift! We have a beautiful Spring Butterfly Craft Pattern, as a gift for you, to wish you a joy filled change in season.

Download it and let your imagination run wild. Won't those Butterflies look beautiful on a mobile?

Books and more...

We’ve chosen Loot as our preferred supplier of books as their service is incredible and they're the most awesome on-line bookstore. My personal experience is that they deliver on time or ahead of schedule.

If you have a wishlist with them, as those books come on sale, they let you know via email, in some cases it’s as much as R50 reduced. You don’t get better than that!

Best of all...They stock Waldorf Steiner Books!

You can help us by ordering your books, Cd's and DVD's through the link on our Blog.

And they do Gift Certificates as well!

Homesteading Recipes...

No matter what time of year, or season it is, it's always fun to bake with your kids!

We have stunning Homesteading Recipes,(some more than 100 years old), in our Bakers Day Book. Including a recipe for Buttery Shortbread Biscuits, which can be turned into a seasonal project by cutting out either flowers, leaves or christmas trees, with a cookie cutter and decorating them.

There are also Gift Recipes for Peanut Butter Cookies and Chunky Chocolate Squares available at the moment.

Thank you...

Lastly I'd just like to take this opportunity to say Thank you to everyone who has kept visiting our site over the past year. Your support is so appreciated.

A Thought from Steiner...

There are only three effective educational methods - fear, ambition and love. We do without the first two.

Welcome to Our Homeschool Journey Newsletter

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for subscribing to our Newsletter. This is only the second one to go off in the past year! But we'll be trying to write a new one at least twice a month.

So much has changed over the past year, and finally our family is settled and I can start to spend more time on our website and my favourite passtime, our Blog. If you haven't visited in a while, you're missing out as our Blog is updated a few times a week, and there are so many new goodies!

Rehome a Gnome Competition!

One of the projects we started this winter and it developed a life of it's own, was The Gnome Shop. I've been knitting Gnomes for my kids for a while and they're a big part of what we do now, we have maths gnomes, reading gnomes, nature table gnomes.

To launch our Gnome Shop we're having a "Rehome a Gnome Competition". One lucky Gnome Lover will receive the Temperament Gnome of their choice as a gift. It is expected that you love and care for him in his new home!

To enter send an email with the title Rehome a Gnome. Please include your name and surname in the body of the email.(One entry per person please). We’ll draw the names out of a hat..., very scientific, on 31 October 2008, and post the name of the winner on our Blog and notify them by email of course!

Good Luck and remember anyone can enter, so pass this newsletter along to as many friends as you like to give them a chance as well!

Change of Season

Finally it's Spring here in the Southern Hemisphere. For our family Spring is a time for fresh ideas, a new energy and the chance to explore new rhythms for the coming year. So we've been making big decisions. John has embarked on a new writing career, so he’s home all the time, so can help out with Dad Homeschool Lessons, or at least join us in our morning verse!

We're starting a new Waldorf Curriculum. Which looks promising. As our journey unfolds, I'll be discussing it on our Blog and we'll do a curriculum review. That's coming soon...

If you live in the Northern Hemisphere you'll be going into Autumn/Fall and what a beautiful season that is. We're still finishing off knitting projects here whereas you'll be starting yours shortly.

I have a load of beautiful handspun, hand dyed wool, on order which should be available in our Shop in the coming weeks.We'll let you know in our next newsletter when the wool and, our families hand made knitting needles, are available.

The Four Temperaments

For me Rudolf Steiners lectures on The 4 Temperaments are a fantastic starting point if you're interested in his work and want to explore Waldorf Education. These lectures seem to be passed over, and not discussed often, which is a shame as they are extremely helpful from a parenting perspective.

I've found that discovering my children's Temperament as it emerges has given me an invaluable insight into how to interact with them.

The result being a home which is calmer, more relaxed and peaceful. We're doing a Series of articles on The 4 Temperaments on our Blog and have a link to Rudolf Steiners Book. To find out more visit our Blog and click on The 4 Temperaments Category, All the articles will then appear. Almost like magic :o)

And so we come to the end of this newsletter. May your Spring or Autumn be blessed with all things Good and Light.

Blessed be

Sue