“Living with Totoro” – 7-Day Homeschool Schedule

“Living with Totoro” – 7-Day Homeschool Schedule

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🌱 DAY 1 — Arrival & Settling Into the Totoro World

Evening

• Arrive, unpack slowly, open windows, let the house “wake up”
• Light sweeping of porch (engawa)
• Brew mugicha (barley tea), Japan’s summer drink
• Explore the yard: find a “Totoro Tree” (biggest tree becomes home base); give it a hug and say, “Hello, Forest. Thank you for having us.”

Dinner

• Make onigiri (rice balls) for your first countryside bento
• Eat outdoors on a blanket like Satsuki + Mei

Wind-down

• Quiet walk around the yard to explore: collect leaves, tiny branches, feathers, fallen flowers
• Learn your first Japanese word: 森 (mori) – forest
• Create a “Nature Altar” in the home (like Mei’s treasures shelf)
• Start nature journals; candle journaling: “What do I hope to learn this week?”

🍃 DAY 2 — Chores of a Country Life

Morning Chores

• Sweep porch & shake rugs (tatami-cleaning tradition)
• Make natural cleaning spray (vinegar + citrus peels)
• Craft: Make a mini shimenawa (sacred rope) for your Totoro Tree

Lunch

• Simple miso soup + rice
• Teach chopstick skills (hashi)

Afternoon

• Read an old folk story under a tree
• Quiet time drawing the house from outside
• Origami: frogs, cranes, sakura flower, or Totoro face
• Play ohajiki (Japanese marble-like game)
• Learn Japanese nature words:
• mori (forest)
• kaze (wind)
• tsuki (moon)
• kodama (tree spirit)

Evening (Candlelight)

• Make shadow puppets
• Storytelling circle: “If Totoro lived here…”
• Perform a kamishibai style story (Japanese story cards)
• Write “Today I served the house” in your journal

🌸 DAY 3 — Foraging & Harvesting

Morning Chores

• Forage: Collect pinecones, sticks, leaves, bark, herbs, flowers, grasses, soft moss, clover, mint, or fallen items/petals (old Japanese summer activity); gather acorns and natural treasures
• Observe mushrooms, cicada shells (semi no nuki-gara), birds, & dragonflies (tonbo), and draw them in your journal

Lunch

• Prepare tsukemono (quick Japanese pickles) to enjoy later
• Eat rice + pickled veggies + fruit

Afternoon

• If allowed: harvest garden items or collect eggs
• Prepare a small “meadow salad,” foraged bouquet, or herb bundle/herb seasoning mix
• Make pressed flower pages for your journal
• Draw or paint nature scenes
• Nature craft: Create forest spirit acorns; make soot sprite characters from acorns/pom-poms & yarn

Evening (Candlelight)

• Sit outside quietly: look for fireflies
• Nature listening ritual; listen to nighttime insects
• Record nature sounds in journal (“What did the night teach us?”); “What did the forest whisper today?”

🕯 DAY 4 — Candle Making + Old-World Crafts

Morning Chores

• Wash dishes outside in basins (like old Japanese homes before plumbing)
• Sweep pathway or porch
• Hand-wash 1 clothing item or towel (basin washing)
• Hang laundry outdoors to dry (furoshiki-style folding practice after)
• Organize clothes using KonMari-style folding (kid-friendly)

Lunch

• Tamagoyaki (Japanese rolled eggs) + rice
• Brew fresh mugicha

Afternoon

• Beeswax candle making
• Make herb sachets from lavender, mint, and rosemary (placing one under your pillow is Japanese tradition)
• Begin weaving project (placemat or bookmark,traditional Japanese textile vibe)
• Japanese brush calligraphy (shodo)
• Practice kanji like: 月 (moon), 風 (wind), 土 (earth), 心 (heart)

Evening (Candlelight Only)

• Use the candles they made
• Write letters with calligraphy pens/quills
• Calligraphy practice → write “ありがとう (arigatou)”
• Read by candlelight (classic childhood magic)
• Whisper “Oyasumi, Totoro” before bed

🌾 DAY 5 — Cooking Like a Totoro Neighbor

Morning Chores

• Gather herbs, wash them, dry them on a rack (old Japanese homes hung herbs from the rafters)
• Scrub and wash vegetables outdoors
• Fill water basins for dishwashing

Lunch Cooking Project

• Kids make:
• Make butter in a mason jar
• Harvest rice bowls, rice bowls with toppings
• Miso soup with greens, veggies

Afternoon - Japanese Desserts

• Make dango (sweet dumplings)
• Or roast yaki-imo (sweet potatoes)
• Craft: furin wind chimes using bells + painted paper strips

Evening (Candlelight)

• Candlelit dinner
• Hang furin chime outside → listen to its soft sound
• Draw your dango, meal, or wind chime in nature journals
• Tell stories of Totoro (maybe the one at the bus stop)

🌲 DAY 6 — The Totoro Forest Walk

Morning Chores

• Sweep and tidy home; clean house (Japanese hinoki wiping — damp cloth on wood)
• Wash and fold anything dirty
• Prepare a “forest offering” of flowers, herbs (child-safe, respectful)

Lunch

• Onigiri picnic under trees
• Drink mugicha outside

Afternoon

• Long, quiet forest or meadow walk
• Identify plants, trees, birds
• Look for:
• Interesting bark textures
• Roots that look like spirits
• Look for tree “faces” (kodama spirits)
• Sketch the “faces” you see in trees, bark patterns and roots
• Collect final nature items for display
• Sit still and silently (meditate) for 10 minutes — “Quiet Like Totoro Time”
• Create a Totoro Museum Table (take a photo) with:
• Pressed flowers
• Calligraphy papers
• Candles
• Dango sticks
• Wind chimes
• Nature collections
• Weaving projects

Evening - Totoro Feast

• Kids prepare one dish each (bread, soup, salad, herb potatoes, etc.); use the pickles they made
• Light all candles and tell legends around the candles
• Tidy home by hand (Japanese custom before holidays)
• Write a final reflection: “What did the forest show me today?”
• Tsukimi (moon-viewing) ritual
• Light a candle
• Eat a small sweet
• Write a moon haiku
• Stargazing like Satsuki and Mei
• Share journals and stories
• Blow out their homemade candles as a “thank you” to nature and to “seal” the magic of the week.

🌙 DAY 7 — Closing Ritual

Morning

• Sweep porch gently
• Pack belongings calmly
• Hand-wash last items
• Create a small offering to your Totoro Tree (flowers, herbs)
• Bow to your Totoro Tree and say: “Arigatou gozaimashita, Mori no Kami.” (Thank you, Forest Spirit.)