Playstands

Now that our basement will be warm and cozy over the winter months, I've been thinking about what I'd like to see for the kids down there. My latest interest is in building a playstand. I love the simplicity and open-endedness of them. I think they're pretty, they can be used for so many different set-ups, and we don't have anything like it. You can buy these Waldorf inspired playstands at various places for about $100 each or about $300 for a pair of them joined by an archway, but Chris thinks we can build a set of our own for much less.

I found two places with free plans:

Against the Grain Carving has plans for the set pictured above.

And at Eric's Projects you can find free plans for a simpler version.

We also ordered plans for about $20.00 from Playstandplans.com which include full-sized patterns to trace and cut for the set pictured below:


I'll post photos on our progress and the final result!

The Neighborhood

I just read this article by Michael Chabon about the "lost wilderness" of childhood and it strung a chord with me. And while I agree that there's value in roaming the neighborhood without the constant monitoring of adults, that there's value in discovering your "place" and all it's secrets, hidden corners, alleyways, interesting gardens, houses under construction, noticing the way it all changes through the seasons -- I'd be worried to let my kids do it here.

On the other hand, we've been taking family walks together once a week and I'm delighted and amazed with all the exploration and discovery that goes on. It's a 26 minute walk that I usually take each evening by myself to get away from all the chaos, but with the family it can take up to 2 hours. The boys poke around, feel the bark curls on the Paper Birch trees, scoop up handfuls of cottonwood fluff to throw in the breeze, sample the blueberries just ripening on the neighbor's bushes, gaze at the lake and Mt. Rainier in the distance, and discuss Daddy's commute over the floating bridge and to the city of Bellevue beyond -- all which is part of the view on our walk. It's good stuff and when I see the boys in action, on foot and taking it all in, it reminds me how important this roaming around is -- even if Chris and I are along for the ride.

Powerful Words

I recently read parts of How Lincoln Learned to Read by Daniel Wolff. Here's a quote that caught my attention:

The argument that got the [common school funding] movement going again wasn't so much the nation's need for literacy or a unifying patriotism, but for obedience. What made a republic successful, Noah Webster wrote, was "a singular machinery...which takes the child as soon as he can speak, checks his natural independence and passions, makes him subordinate to superior age, to the laws of the state, to town and parochial institutions." It was like religion: a child had to be taught to answer to higher authority.