Homeschooling it is!

Pat and I were undecided about committing to homeschooling Mateo this coming year. It means a lot of work and dedication to our child but we feel it is the best thing we can do now with the life we have here. First, we have all the time in the world, aside from attending to our business we are pretty much free to explore this journey. Second, we would like to have the freedom to come and go to our farm and to be able to build a new house there. Finally, we want to give the best to our child and give him a Waldorf education. We have ordered the Live Education and Christopherus Waldorf curriculum for kindergarten and we will "start formally" in the fall. We are practicing in the meantime. We were also very lucky to find a group of parents here in Ecuador who are homeschooling. This will be of great support! We just came back from a 4- day reunion in the beach. Mateo still unfamiliar with everyone, was able to enjoy the pool very much and be okay with all the children around. He also went in the ocean for the first time.  Here are some photos of the things we have done.

Enjoying the first hour of the day and looking for shells

Running away from the waves

Look mama: I am in the big kids pool! 

Great group of parents and children 

Monday is painting day

A toucan and the Guaycuyacu river... can you see it? 

Sewing project: it is a two story house with a table downstairs and a window upstairs. There is a cross above the house.  

Books and books to read

Ask and you shall receive. We have lots of books in English for Mateo now. I was able to find someone who sold me a big lot for around $70. Also, Mimi our land neighbor has many children's books since she homeschooled her two children a while back. It is like a library we go to every time we need more books! We are blessed. Here are some of the books we have:

Pat reading to Mateo 

"Cause maybe I'll be a gorilla masseuse..."

Love the Zoo Books!

And these books I got them for me hoping we will do lots of crafts.

Looking for English books for Mateo

One of the things we miss the most of living in California is the lack of public libraries where we can access to so many children's books. We have found some English books here but mostly they are expensive because they come from U.S and have a high tax.
I wonder if any of our friends in the states would be willing to help us buy some used children's books. We will be going to Florida this month and we could bring some books back. We are willing to pay for the used books and the shipping to Florida. Please let us know!

Advent Spiral and Lantern Walk

We were fortunate to be invited to join Nina Pacha (Mateo's former Waldorf School) in their celebration of their advent spiral and lantern walk. Mateo and I took our homemade lanterns.

Mateo's lantern

Advent Spiral 

Advent Spiral with candle light 

" In some Waldorf schools it symbolizes finding light in the

darkness. In other schools and churches walking the spiral as an individual carries the image that

every human being must make; a journey to an inner place;  where we can find a light to carry

back into the world to help us in our own journey. The labyrinth is said to be nondenominational because it can be related to many different religions and cultures and because it

represents man’s journey on his own spiritual path within his religion, rather than the path of one

specific religion" Kristie Burns

Children's lanterns

Lanterns made with recycled plastic bottles

Lots of learning outside school

Just because Mateo is not going to school, it does not mean he is not learning a lot everyday. Pat and I do many things together and Mateo is part of all we do. At home we are trying to do the school. We have a nature table with special little things, collecting flowers for it is one of the things we do in the morning. 

At the "end of the school day" we light the candle, tell the story and put rosemary oil in our hands. It is a nice little ceremony. 

On Mondays we try to have watercolor painting as our activity. It usually last less than 5 minutes! 

On Fridays we try to color with crayons. It last 5 minutes too! 

When we go to our land in the rainforest, it is such a magical time. We are surrounded by nature and great nature sounds. We make sure our nature table there has fresh flowers and anything special we find in our walks.

A while back, Mateo and I clear a space called "La Escuelita", which is not more than a clear space under an orange tree. We put several stumps for seats and a round log for table. When we finish this work, Mateo said "when are the children coming?". This photo is the first time "La Escuelita" was full :)

This was a happy sight of our neighbor's chickens eating dinner. 

Climbing trees when we go eat out 

Mateo enjoying ecuadorian food for Pat's birthday. 

Time spent in the sandbox is never a waste of time or a mess too hard to clean up! 

One of the things Pat and I have been spending time lately has been getting our apartment ready for rentals. Mateo helped Pat painting the walls. That is a drawing of the "Backson".

After a big storm, there is nothing better than a nice walk and run!

The Day of the Death was celebrated making bread and colada morada. We had a great time

Cute "guaguas" de Pan

Last Saturday afternoon we got crafty. We made little gnomes, hearts, a hippo, a pillow case and a sewing project with different color threads.  Mateo ask me when it is Saturday again so we can do more crafts! 

And finally, since the lantern walk is coming up, we have decided to make lanterns and take them to the land for a nice lantern walk. This is the first of at least 3 we will make. 

Mateo got tired of school very soon

The excitement of going to preschool did not last long. The first two weeks were difficult because he would complain and ask me not to take him to school. I thought that would be normal and it would go away in few days so I insisted that he should go. After a month and a half he was sick with a cold and did not go to school for few days and when I said, "okay, it is time to go back" he said, "I don't want to go. Please mama, I don't want to go". Pat and I talked about it and decided to keep him at home for a while.
The truth is that I wanted him to go to school so I could reclaim my life and freedom. I wanted to have time to do all kinds of things I don't get to do when Mateo is home. And I honestly thought he was ready to make friends and "learn" new things at school.
I have taken this as a sign that maybe I could HOMESCHOOL him! and that is what we are trying to do now. It will take a while until we figure out a good rhythm and routine but I am really excited for the challenge.
Pat and I want to listen to him and allow him to be nurtured at home until he is ready to go to school again.
In the time Mateo went to school he did several things. Here some pics:

Michaelmas Festival 

Nature Walk and Run!

Getting good at balancing 

Making Bread 

Story Time with Verónica the teacher. 

First Day of Preschool

It was not even 6:00 am when Mateo woke up and said "today we are going to the school!". He was so happy to start school that everything went smooth all day. When Pat and I left the school, I worried I would have to come back soon because he would be crying or something, I did not come back. Back at home, the house was too quiet and too clean and Pat and I felt like we did not know what to do with our free time! I spent few hours catching up with paperwork related to our expropriation and I heard Pat playing his guitar. After lunch, we left to pick up Mateo and I was glad to see him all well and happy to see us. He came to greet us at the gate of the school. The teacher told me that he cried after I left but it was for a little while. He then told me that he cried in the morning and then a little bit in the afternoon. I think it is normal, it is a big change for all of us. At dinner time, he told us that he is tired of school and that he needed to rest until monday. I think he was very tired of the day :)

Ready to go!

Opening to life 

When we came to pick him up