The Villager... a newsletter of Acorn Village Forest School |
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The Process is important, not the product! Contributed by Teacher Phillip Often as parents and teachers we have big plans when we organize the next weekend, afternoon, or school week for our children. These plans often involve a goal such as hiking Lovers Loop, crafting a fairy, or planting a peach tree. In these plans and expectations, we adults imagine the successful finish of the hike, the beautifully made fairy, or the peach tree with our child putting the last shovel of dirt on it and embracing its holistic value for our garden. But no! Our kid might find a super exciting worm on the ground at the beginning of Lovers Loop so we don't have time to finish the loop at all. The fairy might become a fire-spitting dragon, which looks to us like a random ball of needles, thread, wood, and fabric. We might also have to finish planting the peach tree alone, because our kid is much more excited to play Spiderman with little sticks somewhere in a corner of the garden. Consequently, projects can be planned (and planning is good, do not understand me wrong), but our projects (especially when they include young children) might very likely never happen the way we imagined them. Therefore: Do not imagine the outcome too much, because expectations are often leading to disappointment. Or like Allen Saunders said it so well: “Life is what happens to us while we are making other plans.”
(I think especially in the context of the coronavirus, this is a very true quote) In a nutshell: While planning a project, we can lower our expectations and don't necessarily formulate a goal in our head or even to our children, who may get disappointed in not being able to fulfill some of these expectation as well. In practice: Go to the Lovers Loop trail and just see how far you guys are making it. Just put thread, needless, wood, and fabric on a blanket and see what your child creates. Invite your child to plant the peach tree and don't become disappointed when she disappears after digging the whole. For the kids the process is important, not the final product. They are all little explorers. In this explorational process, there is actually an abundance of outcomes happening automatically: They improve their fine motor skills by picking up the worm carefully, they improve their gross motor skills by digging the hole for the peach tree, and the use of needle and thread will help them later to hold the pen at school. Here is where we as adults can work on reframing. When we need to have a goal or see the benefit of an activity, we make the child's exploration itself our goal and try to acknowledge all these small steps up the ladder, maybe without ever reaching the top. Of course sometimes it makes children proud to actually finish and see the end result of their hard work. but not always. When they leave before the project is done and we are disappointed that we did not reach the top of the mountain or glue the hat on the fairy, that makes it our own problem.
Just to mention: My thoughts above are written in the context of making projects with children! I do not mean the daily routine where teeth have to be completely brushed, butts have to be completely wiped, and the light has to be completely switched off to fall asleep. Of course we can see these daily tasks as projects as well and let our children try to do them on their own. The difference between necessary daily tasks and additional projects is that these tasks require an outcome, so we as adults, have to eventually finish the job. |
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Nature Connection- Earth Day This is one of the days Acorn Village has celebrated every year. We gather at the river and remove literally tons of trash including pianos, dressers, and the like. My request this year is that in lieu of our traditionally gathering together, that you as a family gather trash from our Earth. You can take a trip to the river or just pick up on your own street. You can take a trash bag on your hikes. We pick up trash everywhere we see it when inour classrooms at Acorn Village, it is a practie your children are familiar with. When you go out, please send me a picture with your child and their trash. I will include this in our next package to the children. |
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Crafternoons- Shaving Cream Earth contributed by Teacher Tracy Sensory art is highly beneficial to young children. As Bev Bos says, "if it hasn't been in the hand and body, it cannot be in the brain!" You will need: -bottles of shaving cream, I usually find them at rite aid or a discount store, buy as many as you can tolerate, the children will use them all! -a few pieces of cardboard cut in circles, big or small (or a paper plate will work) -Food coloring, blue, yellow or green (can put in spray bottkes with water to dilute or just let them add drops from the tiny bottles) Optional: Box and marbles Shaving cream is a wonderful medium. Allow the children to get it out of the bottles themselves if possible (fine motor skill). Children use hands to mix the colors on a table (preferbly outside to make clean up easier) which you can cover with trash bags if you are worried about the color soaking into wood or staining. Once they have mixed , they can place the circles face down on the cream and lift. Scrape the circles with some kind of spatula or craft stick and allow to dry. They may want to do many of these or they may just want to play with shaving cream. You can add combs or window scrapers or paint brushes. Any of their dolls or cars can get a wash as well. Do not be surprised if they cover their entire bodies with the cream, and you might want to try too, it feels quite incredible. Optional idea: spray shaving cream and color into a box after adding the cut circle, then lay marbles in and roll them around inside the box. |
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Parenting Tips: contibuted by Teacher Tara The following is an excerpt from the book “Listen - Five Simple Tools to Meet Your Everyday Parenting Challenges,” by Patty Wipfler and Tosha Schore, M.A. (p. 192-193) (Separations: Goodbyes) ENDING A PLAYDATE When my six-year-old daughter had play dates in preschool, as well as this past year in kindergarten, there was often a lot of angst at the end when the kids had to separate. There were bad scenes--tantrums, crying, the kids trying to run away and hide. One parent even bribed the kids with candy, only to have them run away again right after getting it! So I was struck by the brilliant Hand in Hand idea to end a play date with connection. Recently, when we had another girl over at our house and the play date was ending, I went to the closet where the two girls were playing with a toy fairy castle and warmly observed, interacting with them for a few minutes. I told them it would be time to go soon and asked if there was one more fun thing they would like to do before the play date was over. My daughter’s friend suggested an obstacle course, and I responded enthusiastically. So we created an obstacle course together. It involved jumping over stuffed animals, pillows, and through Hula-hoops, which I purposely arranged to lead from my daughter’s room out our front door, and right up to the fence of our front yard. I put our guests’ shoes at the end of the obstacle course so that putting them on would be the final hurdle, and I enlisted my husband to time the proceedings with a stopwatch while I narrated the proceedings like a sports announcer. We all laughed a lot as the kids made their way through the course. It went great! Sure beats the standard five-minute warning, chorus of “Nooooo,” and all that resistance. How It Worked: There are neurological reasons why connection helps children cooperate, but when you’re used to constant struggles, the results of connecting with your children can feel like magic! This mom enlisted the girls’ thinking to come up with a playful idea for ending their time together. They hatched a creative plan, and the parents worked with the girls to make it happen. Fun and laughter ensued, with the visit ending on a happy note. This might sound like a huge outlay of energy to you, but once you get the hang of Playlistening, the benefits are richly rewarding. Who wouldn’t rather play a game than have an argument? |
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Bugs that may BUG you! contributed by Teacher Sarah |
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Natural Remedies- contributed by Teacher Tara The following is an excerpt from the book, “Caring for the Sick at Home,” by Tineke van Bentheim, Saskia Bos, Ermrngarde de la Houssaye and Wil Visser (p. 78-81) Chest compress (for bronchitis) Requirements -a bowl -boiling water -knife and fork -one lemon -woollen material which easily goes around the chest -a bandage which easily goes round the chest -another piece of material which easily goes round the chest -a cloth to wring out -safety pins Procedure The room temperature should be comfortable and the windows kept shut. The patient should go to the toilet before treatment. The bed is prepared as follows: the woollen material with the safety pins attached is placed on the woollen material. The bandage is folded to size and rolled to the centre from two sides. This is placed on the cloth to wring out, and this too is rolled up, so that there are two ‘ears’ at each end of it. The patient bares his chest and he is then tucked up , taking care the shoulders are also under the covers. For this treatment use a whole lemon. The boiling water is poured into the bowl, and using a knife and fork, cut the two halves into star shapes UNDER WATER (emphasis mine; illustration shows that each half has been partially cut into wedges). Then the two halves are pressed out, for instance with the base of a cup. The cloths are placed in the bowl, holding on to the ears so that these remain dry. Leave the boiling water with lemon juice to soak into the cloths thoroughly. Then wring them out quickly and firmly, still holding onto the ears. No drips should come out of the cloth when you have finished. |
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The patient now sits up for a minute. Leaving the bandage kept in the wrung-out cloth, pat the patient’s back so that he can get used to the heat. Then take the bandage out of the wrung out cloth and roll it carefully and slowly around the patient’s chest. The treatment should not be painful, but the bandage should nevertheless be applied as hot as possible. This can be difficult, especially with children, but if you wait too long, the bandage cools down very quickly. When the bandage has been rolled around the chest, another cloth and the woollen cloth are tied round and fastened with a safety pin. The patient then puts on a cardigan or pyjama top and is thoroughly tucked in. The compress should remain fastened for at least twenty to thirty minutes, unless the patient feels uncomfortable, or it has gone cold. Then it should be removed earlier. If the cloth was left too moist, it will cool down very quickly. If the patient falls asleep, this means that the treatment is effective and the compress can be left. Otherwise, the cloths are removed quickly and the patient is given warm clothes to wear. Because of the big differences in temperature, it is absolutely essential that everything is laid out ready to wear before the clothes are removed, so that the patient does not catch cold. After the treatment, the patient should rest for a while. This remedy can be used in a compress for the throat as well, rolling the compress in one direction only. BONUS tip: Colds, in which the mucous membrane of the nose and throat is irritated, can be treated by putting a slice of lemon under the soles of the feet, and keeping this in place with a sock or a small bandage. This can be left in place all night and the treatment can be repeated the following night if necessary. This simple treatment leads the excessive metabolic activity of the nose and throat to the lower regions, and the properties of the lemon act as an example for this. |
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