December 2012 - A Brave Writer's Life in Brief A Brave Writer's Life in Brief
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A Brave Writer's Life in Brief

Thoughts from my home to yours

Archive for December, 2012

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Happy Winter Solstice!

DSCN9634.JPGFor years, I thought about celebrating Solstice with my kids.

It seemed like it would be a great way to take some of the commercialism out of the season and it would give us a chance, as the kids got older, to recapture some of the magic of our homeschooling journey.

In 2009, we decided to create our own holiday traditions for Solstice. Each year, they vary a bit (for instance, the first year we used hammers and nails to puncture tin cans in pretty patterns to create lanterns to line the driveway—much harder to hammer nails into tin cans than you might imagine! So we recycle them each year and haven’t had to make them again).

solstice tin cans

DSCN1998.JPG

Traditions

There are a few traditions we do every year.

For instance, we always light a fire (sometimes outside, sometimes inside). Then we take strips of paper (old Trader Joe’s grocery bags cut into long strips) and we write two things on them:

1) Regrets from the past year
I regret not working harder to help my team…

2) Wishes for the coming year
I wish that my sister and I would get along better this year.

DSCN2006.JPG
 

These get read silently by the writer, then tossed into the flames. We usually play a little instrumental Celtic music in the background while we use magic markers to write. It’s proved to be one of our favorite traditions of the year. The kids now like to keep a record of their wishes so they can remember year to year what they wrote the previous year.

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Another tradition we love is to make handmade gifts for each person. This means we can’t go to the store and buy someone a CD or scarf. Rather, whatever we give, it must be crafted in some way by the giver.

DSCN2034.JPG
 

DSCN2047.JPG

Some of the items of the last several years:

  • Origami cranes colored to look like famous people (based on the celebrity obsessions we each have—from Lady Gaga to Dumbledore to Dietrich Bonhoeffer!)
  • Book marks and popsicle stick picture frames
  • CD mixes (tailored for each person)
  • A lengthy rap, where each stanza addressed a specific family member and the whole thing was performed with accompaniment
  • Photos framed with selected passages from novels (remember the value of copywork?) that went with each person
  • Apple calendars with photos of the kids for each month of the year drawn from my lifetime supply
  • Harry Potter brooms (matching the houses each of my kids believe they would be in)
  • Haiku!
  • Personalized tree ornaments
  • Crowns
  • Art trading cards
  • Embroidered initials in small hoop frames

DSCN1310
 

We also eat special foods (in our home, we eat a cashew pasta dish, homemade applesauce, and sliced oranges with sugar and cinnamon on them) and we drink a special wassail (though this year we are trying mulled wine).

The event ends when we make candles from a beeswax kit purchased from Hearthsong (a favorite toy and craft company we’ve loved for 20 years).

Solstice 2011
 

The most wonderful thing about celebrating Solstice is that I get to see the fruits of all those years of crafting, reading aloud, the celebration of family, and the care for each individual member all expressed in one evening celebration—at the darkest time of the year. For us, it’s been a most satisfying addition to our winter holiday celebrations.

I want to publicly thank Kimmy Certa (Brave Writer mom and online friend) who first put the thought into my head as I witnessed her version of Solstice celebrating.

Happy Winter Solstice to all of you!

Posted in Activities, Brave Writer Lifestyle, Family Notes, On Being a Mother, Solstice | 3 Comments »

Vanessa’s first teatime!

TeatimeVanessa

Tea Time Tuesday is AWESOME! We got out our real china and ate muffins. Then we all took turns reading our favorite poems. My three year old even got into it. It has become something we look forward to each week.

Thanks,
Vanessa

Posted in Poetry Teatime | Comments Off on Vanessa’s first teatime!

The Natural Stages of Growth in Writing: Holiday Edition!

Natural Stages of Growth in Writing Holiday Edition

After completing the five part series about the Natural Stages of Growth in Writing, I thought it might be nice to see how you can apply those insights to writing through the holidays!

This is a great season to capitalize on natural writing opportunities (rather than relying on contrived assignments). Below are some of the most obvious ideas along with ones you may not have thought of! They’re also organized to fit with the Natural Stages of Growth.

Jot it Down (kids who can handwrite and/or copy writing):

  • caption photos in a family holiday letter
  • write out tags for wrapped gifts
  • create placecards for your holiday meal
  • write gift wish lists
  • address envelopes for holiday cards

Partnership Writing (you help with transcription):

  • all of the above in “Jot it Down” works well with Partnership phase too
  • retell and write a short description of the year’s biggest highlight for family letter
  • copying lyrics from holiday music
  • writing a list of special traditions to remember
  • putting holiday events on a posted family calendar
  • thank you notes for gifts received

Building Confidence was Faltering Ownership (kids who are writing, but are still not high school level):

  • interview family members for holiday letter
  • write your own memories of the year and send in holiday letter
  • journal about each holiday event and bind in a little notebook at the end of season
  • plan and execute a New Year’s party (including invitations, games, food to purchase)
  • copy cookie recipes onto notecards, make cookies

Transition to Ownership/Great Conversation (junior/high school level):

  • take control of the family holiday letter (interview family members, organize, and execute)
  • take photos of the season, caption, and scrapbook as the month goes along
  • keep a notebook of quotable quotes from the family
  • write a meaningful description of what the holiday means to you personally and consider sharing
  • reflect on a significant piece of reflective literature by freewriting or journaling about it

Stages of Growth in Writing

Posted in Brave Writer Lifestyle, Natural Stages of Growth in Writing | 4 Comments »

Friday Freewrite: Holiday memories

Write about your favorite holiday tradition!

Cinnamon Rolls

Posted in Friday Freewrite | Comments Off on Friday Freewrite: Holiday memories

Poetry Teatime!

Poetry Teatime

Today was our first time doing Tuesday Teatime and embarking on the BraveWriter lifestyle. It was great! My kids wanted to read poem after poem after poem. I guess it didn’t hurt that they got to eat cookies before lunch. (smile) Our table set up wasn’t fancy but the kids were very creative in setting the table. Thanks for the idea. It made our day go a lot smoother. I think they will look forward to Teatime next Tuesday.

Domanicka

Poetry Teatime

Posted in Poetry, Poetry Teatime | Comments Off on Poetry Teatime!

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