mandalas

This is one of the images that will stay with me from our beautiful, long summer. We've just spent a couple of weeks looking at mandalas. Completing a unit study on them, I suppose. We finished the summer looking at circles and relishing in our own little family circle. Drawing inward before Huz ventured out of the nest again for the working week.

At the beginning of the year, we had reached a point where we needed a little more structure, stability, to our days. Big owlet especially was wanting us to give her work to do. Set her on a path of learning, but in a way that she could get excited about. She wanted direction. Something I've observed happens when she connects with a screen more than her family. We also needed to find a way to boost her confidence with numbers. I suspect that her very logical brain will embrace them when she's ready, but for now she is in the complete rejection phase which has preceded all her major milestones. And I needed a plan. So we purchased a curriculum unit from Earthschooling, knowing that Big Owlet is particularly drawn to activities with a Waldorf leaning. It outlined some great simple activities for us to expand on and expand we did... in our own unschooly kind of way...



To begin with, we reflected on the mandalas we'd seen the Gyuto monks create last September. The owlets were fascinated and would have watched for hours, had I not had a wriggly baby to contend with. We talked about the process, the meditation... And we meditated too. That's what they're doing in that first photo...



We drew our own mandalas. Then we reflected on the colours and shapes we'd chosen and what they represented.



And we ate lunch, while talking about all the mandalas we might find in nature. I read a few stories and we sung some songs featuring circles and mandalas, particularly reaching Little Owlet and her love for a singalong.



The next time we visited mandalas, we played trivial pursuit. Big Owlet's first go and she loved it! After that, we looked at the colour wheel, creating our own...



And then seeing how it works. Little Owlet exclaimed with great surprise when she saw the colours blending. I think it was the first time she'd consciously created orange, green and purple and it was an amazing thing for her...



The next morning, we stumbled across Danmala's work and we were amazed. The owlets wanted to have a go too, using bits and pieces from our own garden.



They spent quite a while there working on them, Big Owlet working solo and Little Owlet working alongside me.



Later the wind blew the mandalas away and we were reminded of the monks and how they sweep the sand away at the completion of each mandala...



While the wind was doing its work, we began working with numbers. Counting in patterns and introducing multiplication concepts to Big Owlet. She loved this one so much she wanted to do it again.





But we began working on something a little more intricate, using protractors and compasses and parts of our brains we hadn't yet used (or hadn't used for a while in my case). Robinsunne's Multiplication Clock*, as inspired by my lovely friend (and Waldorfy mentor), Kestrel. Big Owlet enjoyed this too and  the point at which she understood how it worked was brilliant. She's not quite ready to grasp some of the higher numbers yet, but she understood the concept and that was enough for her.



It's all about the colours anyhow ;)



While Big Owlet was working on that, Little Owlet chatted about clocks and life cycles and sat down to colour some mandalas. It always surprises me which colours she chooses. She began with the loveliest earthy terracotta...



I sat down with her later to complete it. We love colouring together...



Somewhere towards the end of all that, between the time it took to buy a packet of Tic Tocs and eat it, Huz returned to work. Summer ended and the circle seemed to have broken for the most part of our days. We're back to watching the clock...



The days are noticeably shortening and the cool weather is here again. Autumn is upon us. So the owlets and I sat down for our last mandala meal, using our mandala-iest** tablecloth. We had our usual little morning tea circle, reserved for home days and joined hands, singing "Blessings on the Blossoms", as the owlets so love to do... And we are getting on with the year. Talking about the seasons, planning for what we might do next. Looking forward to the next long holiday, whenever it may be, and looking forward to warmth and snuggling and more time with Huz.


*The link was there just last week! Promise! I'm popping it here in the hope it'll be back...
** Is too a word.