Missing Montessori

Man, oh, man! I really miss doing Montessori with my little ones. I can't wait for the new house, the new space. I miss the concentration and the ideas and the craftiness and the purpose in my daily life. I miss the organization and the thrill of watching my children discover new things that I prepared for them. Did I mention I love Montessori???

In case these pictures don't make sense, I will explain. The picture above is a counting activity that involves hand-eye coordination as the child ties the rods into bundles that correlate with the numbers on the cards (which the child places in order). Erik loved this activity.

I used the wooden three-dimensional shapes for Erik's geometry lessons. (All of these pictures are from last spring.) During an unrelated lesson with Erik, Anna found a space to herself, laid out her work mat (i.e. pretty pink blanket), pulled the shape basket off the shelf and began lining them up and touching each one, just like I had shown Erik - all by herself!

During this time I discovered my boy LOVES to paint. I would never have allowed "real" paint (I was a firm believer in only using water colors with small children) had it not been for my new-found desire to allow and encourage my children to explore their world with real materials (i.e. not "dumbed down" for kids, and not plastic, but actual objects that actually came directly from this earth without being melted down and mixed in with a bunch of chemicals before it was user-ready).

I love this picture. Erik set the entire table place setting by himself after a practical life lesson. He did an outstanding job. As a side note, we spent a lot of time working on setting a table properly and making it look lovely with flowers, table linens, and matching glasses for our lessons, but I don't expect it or do it in our daily life. Hmmm . . . I think I have some learning to do.