Dear God in Heaven

These children are going to kill me. Maybe not literally, but already my right hand is hurting. Unfortunately, a lot of the stories provided in our curriculum are not engaging enough for these sweet little ones. Once I introduced Bran and Bryn, Sunstone and Moonstone have been uninterested in the other tales I’ve been telling. You know what that means, right?

I have to write more. And with no printer, and a current lack of funds at my disposal, I have to write it all by hand. With arthritis. Needless to say, I’ve only written about four pages… of the first chapter for form drawing… I’m going to die.

But, you wanna know something? First of all, I am really enjoying writing more (even if it isn’t my normal topics), and if it gets them engaged and willing to learn, what the hell?! I’ll do it. We are also going to follow a different type of Form Drawing block than the one provided (just for the Main Lessons, everything else will remain the same).

So, now we have The Alphabet, The Esbats, and Form Drawing as adventures for Bran and Bryn to go on. These little kids sure are busy bees!

The Tales of Bran and Bryn: The Alphabet

As promised, here is the prologue for Bran and Bryn’s Alphabet Adventure. The kids really seemed to enjoy it, especially since I created Peg People of Bran and Bryn (Bran wears a red felt cloak, and Bryn wears a light purple felt cloak). No art for this part of the story yet, but maybe I will do some at a later point. We will hopefully get to the vowels this week, so then I’ll be able to post those parts! Hope you all enjoy!

Homeschooling Update

On Monday we did the first Main Lesson for Form Drawing (straight lines), and I read the secular story of Saint George (not sure I liked it though, I might look at the non-secular one tonight and see how I like it). Sunstone – and Moonstone – practiced their form drawing (Moonstone wants to do everything her big brother is doing, and honestly, I don’t see anything wrong with her doing a fair few of the activities, though they are a bit above her level – if she has one, why the hell not?!)

Yesterday was a bust – we didn’t seem to get anything done except the handcraft activity, which was a Sit-Upon (a pillow). We finished those up today, along with the prologue for Bran and Bryn’s Alphabet Quest.

I also finished sewing the Gnomes cloaks and hats, as well as Bran and Bryn’s cloaks. The peg dolls are finished, for now.

I’ll write up a more detailed post about our adventure thusfar later on this week, once we have completed everything. I’ll even post pictures!

The Alphabet

So, we are going to be using the Earthschooling curriculum for first grade, and we are starting with the August lessons (the very beginning of the academic year, the month deals with Language Arts and getting into the rhythm of school). I like some of the stories offered in the curriculum, but some of the verses, and the delivery, are lacking. Because of this, I decided to give Bran and Bryn some more face time with the kids, and they will be going on a quest to obtain all 26 symbols, place them in a magical book, and keep Wisdom in the world. The finished product will be The Tales of Bran and Bryn: The Alphabet. The tale is inspired, highly, by The Wise Enchanter by Shelley Davidow. The letters themselves will still be introduced by the tales and in the order provided by the curriculum (at least if I like the stories), but they will be introduced in the context of Bran and Bryn’s quest.

Bran and Bryn’s first symbols will be A and E (AH and EH). The book will not be in alphabetical order, so in its final form it will not work for traditional school (however, I don’t doubt that the resourceful Waldorf homeschoolers out here in Blogging Land, will be able to modify and adjust the stories to fit their needs).

I just finished the Prologue and AH-The Vowel of Wonder, and am starting to work on EH-The Vowel of Balance. I will post the tales each week, with the artwork that goes along with it (both my feeble attempt at chalkboard drawings, Sunstone’s MLB, and whatever else we decided to draw, paint, or make).

I’ve also written some verses for the vowels (currently need to work on EE and OO) with suggestions for movement/eurythmy for each line.

As you can plainly tell, I am super excited about this. I am anxious about not being prepared, but I am so ready to start! I am going to introduce the vowels with a story starting on Monday (last week of January) – the story is provided with the curriculum, and is called The Golden Key-Rainbow Colors. I will read it to the kids while we drink our chamomile tea before bedtime. It is a really long story, so it will work for the entire week, and then on the first day of school, we will read the Prologue I wrote.

I will leave you all for now, I have to work on these tales!

Oh, as a side note, I got some wooden People from Hobby Lobby and painted them yesterday! I have the Math Gnomes done, and I even made one of Bran and one of Bryn! I will post some pictures once I have their capes and other accessories finished!

The Tales of Bran and Bryn: Esbats

Alright, so I know I posted about this last night – I wanted to expound upon the topic of these stories a bit, and where I want to go with the series.

The Tales of Bran and Bryn: Esbats is a series of short stories that follow the adventures of the siblings Bran and Bryn each Full Moon. I believe that next year, come January, I will begin writing short stories to go with the Sabbats as well (as Sunstone and Moonstone will be older and more solid in knowledge of the seasons and the Wheel of the Year). Though we plan on working through the Sabbats starting with Imbolc this year, I will be using tales found on the internet. For all my studies these last 15 years, I am still at a loss for Sabbat inspiration! I am going to try and outline some ideas for the Sabbat series before January comes again, try to get a feel for what it should entail and such.

Though deities do have a role to play in the Esbats series, they may not play a traditional role as we adults would view it. They guide the children on their quests, and offer materials that will help them in their spiritual growth. In Storm Moon, the children meet Brigid of the Well, and she gives them a clear crystal that will summon her if their need is dire (it wont work for simple problems or mundane tasks, more of a life or death situation). She also gives the children a task – to find her three sisters. I know that Brigid is a Solar Deity, a Fire Deity, but the Sun and Moon are linked and therefor her three sisters are Lunar Deities: Diana, Arianrhod, and Selene.

Why did I choose Deities from different pantheons? Because I believe in providing my children a well rounded spiritual education, and they need to know that all deities ARE equal. I am not against those who focus on a single pantheon, I did for many years (started with Greek, then Egyptian, then Celtic) but realized that it didn’t matter who I called on for specific work or that I mixed Hindu and Greek deities in a job spell – it all worked for me, nonetheless.

Back to Storm Moon. Bryn holds onto the clear crystal. Diana gives Bran an enchanted Arrow that will guide the pair to her at any time – really what it means is that it will guide them out of the path of danger, but it uses Diana’s energy so an arrow may appear to direct them away from the danger, or her Stag may appear. Arianrhod gives Bran an owl shaped Moonstone pendant that will help the siblings to be wise and to find the answers to even the toughest questions. Finally, Selene gives Bryn her torch in order to light their way through darkness – whether physical or otherwise.

I just want to say that though I used traditional deities, they may not appear in any of the tales as how you might see them. The reason for this is because I write about my experiences with them, however brief they may be, not traditional experiences.

I really do hope that everyone enjoys these tales, and if you decide to use them in your own practice, I sincerely hope that you are yours enjoy them as well!

The Tales of Bran and Bryn: Storm Moon

So, instead of waiting to reveal the tale of the Storm Moon, I have decided to post it early in case anyone else wants to use it. I am doing this with some serious faith in the blogging/reading community. Please understand that this story is mine, and it took time to write.

If you use this, please leave a comment on this post telling me how it worked. I would strongly prefer that you only repost a portion of the tale, and link back here so that your readers can get the full version.

If you repost without credit or claim this as your own tale, I will probably get incredibly pissed off, send some strong words, and perhaps do some retribution work – though the first two are not too severe, retribution work is nothing to take lightly. Again, I am trusting you to be respectful of me as an artist and a fellow Pagan.

A note on Age Range: Though my children are 4 and 6, I believe this tale is good for any and all ages, even adults!