BLEUBIRD BLOG

MONTESSORI AT HOME

peeling and slicing and egg. self explanatory really, but afterwards she made her own snack and placed the egg slices on crackers and gave them a small shake of salt. this was a hit! she has asked to "make eggs" twice since.

getting dressed... sounds simple enough, but as birdie gets older so does her need for self determinism, and getting her to do the things that we want her to do can be a daunting task. in a nut shell, she has been refusing to wear clothes as of late. this is something that is common with toddlers and can be a battle when needing to go somewhere. i have been putting together options for her so that she can feel like she is somewhat in control of what she wears. i give her three different outfit choices (usually a dress option, a shorts option and a pants option) she then chooses which outfit she wants to wear and i help her get dressed, with her doing most of the work. still a new exercise, but she is really enjoying it... and wearing clothes. 

MONTESSORI AT HOME

birdie working on her cutting. a practical life exercise recommended for children ages 3-5. she loved this one.

weekly nature hikes near our home have become a treasure and something that all of the kids look forward to. this past week we have found white tailed deer, a box turtle, numerous turkeys, tadpoles, worms, tiny snails, moths, a robin's nest filled with newly hatched baby birds, various bones, walking sticks, odd bugs and more. i am so incredibly thankful to have found a home surrounded by nature for our family. yesterday there were a couple of doves trying to get into one of the living room windows, it was pretty entertaining to watch and there was the cutest little humming bird flying outside of our kitchen window. it's been such a big change from city life and we absolutely love it.

birdie cherishes her walks has been collecting flowers, plants, leaves, pebbles and nuts along the way. we had her tape some of her findings onto paper and then hang it up above her play kitchen. it made a beautiful piece of art.

i want to thank you for all of the kind words and feedback regarding the recent pre-school/montessori at home posts. this is still pretty new to us, but we are enjoying it and i love sharing our experiences with you here. many of you have asked about montessori references and where to find them. i have two montessori books at the moment that i am so inspired by. this one is specifically for the pre-school years and has been a great guide for us. this one is for ages 3-12+ and i am just digging in but loving it and am learning so much. it has inspired me to change so many things in our home and to find child size supplies and create child size stations in almost every room to help both birdie and sailor become independent. i am also excited to read more about montessori with older kids to see how i can use the method with them too.

many of you have asked for me to post more on my older kids and their homeschooling. i posted a little bit about what i do with them here and will work on an updated post with some book references for you all soon.

footnote: i understand that many people have different opinions on education and homeschooling and i am okay with that. i welcome debate and questions in the comments. what i am not okay with are rude or hateful comments towards mine or any other parents right to decide how to educate their children or any other issue for that matter. if i see them, they will be deleted.

MONTESSORI AT HOME

this week we focused on two practical-life montessori exercises with birdie. "setting a table" which is simply learning how to properly arrange a place setting. the purpose is to develop control of movement and coordination and also to teach appreciation of manners and social amenities. we also had her "pouring rice" which is pouring rice from pitcher to cup. it's purpose is to develop the muscles involved in pouring and to pour from pitcher to cup without spilling. birdie did great!

MONTESSORI AT HOME

as i have discussed briefly before, i started to introduce birdie to some at home, preschool lessons this year. i have researched several different approaches and i must say that she is loving the montessori method. this week we worked on "button games" (above) using a hodgepodge of buttons and a muffin tin to sort by color. she has also been doing a balance exercise called "walking the line" using simple string or yarn to stress good balance and posture (below.)

birdie is also loving doing arts and crafts with colored paper, cutting and pasting and watercolor painting, and she has been joining in on nature hikes with her big brother and sister. she starts a preschool gymnastics class next week, which we are all very excited about.

life is good here.