L Update

Poor L has been totally neglected on this blog since Little J came along.  I felt it was high time for an update!  Now that she is home for the summer we are making up for lost time and doing tons of activities together.

I really miss her while she is at school and am so thankful for the summers.

 

L has finished her primary Montessori programme and in September is going to be starting the Montessori elementary programme.  This took some serious soul searching for my husband and I as the school is a 45 minute drive away as well as a continued expense.  In the end we had no choice she is a Montessori child through and through.  She has such a joy and thirst for learning and knowledge that we want to encourage and foster.  The Montessori elementary programme is the obvious choice and we are so lucky that there is a programme available for her to attend.

  

I can really see an obvious transition from the 3-6 plane of development to the 6-9.  L is becoming so much more aware of her environment and the world in general.  She is full of questions such as " How did the first person get here?"  Yup she is so ready for elementary.

 

I am constantly amazed at what she has learned at school.  She knows all of her triangles and angles and is always pointing them out in every day life.  The other day she was naming the types of triangles and their angles of the pieces of cantaloupe she was eating for dessert.
Another thing she has accomplished that has blown my mind has been learning every single country on the map!!!  That's right.  At her school they learn the continents and countries by using puzzle maps.  Once they can identify all of the countries of a continent they get to paint it and then label them.  She managed to complete all of them.  I have taken pictures of all of the maps and am going to make a photo book atlas for her as a keepsake.

Her school has a set of bells which she has worked with since day one.  She has progressed passed matching and grading them onto to composition and her ear is amazing.  She can pick out songs on different instruments and play them by ear.

L has always loved words and began speaking and reading at an early age.  She is now confidently reading chapter books on her own.

Something that always seems to take me aback for some reason is her total support and genuine joy of her classmates accomplishments.  She is not competitive and all of the children in her school are so supportive of each other.  The teachers have really done a wonderful job of creating a peaceful, loving and genuine environment.

In many ways L is a pretty average 5 year old who is excitable, full of energy, challenging, sometimes whiny and can be supremely messy and unorganised.  However it is unmistakable when you meet her that she has a spark and something special about her.  Part of this spark has been fostered by Montessori and I can't say enough about how much of an amazing influence the Montessori method has had on L and on our family.

A couple examples of things that make her stand out as a Montessori child are:

When her Granny came back from Hawaii and gave her a bag of shells with a shell book the first thing she did was take them all out and classify them.

She loves to demonstrate works to her brother, rolls out a mat for him and when he tries to reach for them she says "hands in your lap"

Here she has turned Little J's dressing activity into a folding work.

While making cupcakes for Little J's birthday she says hey this one looks like Djibouti! Of course I said Ja what?  Her response: You know mommy the country in Africa. 

She seems so much older than she really is and sometimes I realise because of this we expect a lot of her.  I am constantly reminded when I see other non Montessori children just how much we expect of her and how much she does around the house and for herself.

At the beginning of the summer we made a list of things we would both like to do together.  We have already accomplished many of them which I am excited to share.

Of course this description is just the tip of the iceberg of our special girl.  As I look back on those first posts I realise how far she has come.  It has taken a bit for me to get over the fact that she is changing from a little girl into a big girl and I am excited to see what her next phase of development holds!



Singing the blues for blue week

I think L summed up our blue meal perfectly when I asked her how she liked it this is what she said

"Well, I had fun....but I didn't really have fun."

L got a raging cold half way through last week and then gave it to me.  We still went ahead with blue week even though we weren't feeling that great.

So has anyone else ever considered how many naturally blue foods there out there(keep in mind we still have indigo and violet still to go)?  There are seriously hardly any!!

I though I came up with a brilliant plan by finding a recipe for natural blue food dye!! I added it to some leek and potato soup and viola mildly blue soup.

Yup that's all we had.   L declared she didn't like it and just ate the pita bread.  In the end because she was sick we cut up an assortment of veggies for her which she enjoyed a lot more.

For dessert we had blueberry muffins which we'd made earlier.  After the meal I felt sick and had to lie down. 

All in all I'd say blue meal =FAIL

Hopefully next week will be more successful.  I have a few ideas in mind.

To end on a brighter note.  Here is a picture of the fruit bouquet we made for the family potluck at L's school.

It went down a treat!

A day of learning for everyone

Well today was L's first day of Montessori pre-school.  The morning routine went along smoothly and she even helped to make her own breakfast and put he dishes in the dishwasher.  Long may it continue.  I did have to keep her moving along but we were nice and early and the whole process was positive.  Except for the last bit. 
When we did our cards the last one in the sequence was driving to school with a picture of a car.
 We went outside this morning and she said which way should I go?  Which door should I get in?  This confused me and I said where you car seat always is.  She says, "But I'm driving."  "I'm driving to school."
Somehow L had figured that the last bit was and then SHE actually drives to school!!!  I explained that she needs a license to drive and that when she gets bigger she can learn. 
Thankfully these were the only tears.  Once we got to school she was so happy and chatty and I left her with no problem.  When I picked her up she was playing in the playground.  She looked totally wiped but was having fun.  The teacher said she had a great first day and was very outgoing and chatty.  Yeah!
She was starving and after lunch I wanted her to take a nap but she went to her shelves and got out her napkin rolling activity and then proceeded to tell me how to do it.
I did eventually get her to take a nap though.  Phew!

The best thing about today for me though was not actually L's first day of school but our first parents night.  It was all about children's brain development and how to grow your child's brain and was presented by Gary Anaka a wonderfully dynamic Brian Based Learning Facilitator. 
The evening was so enlightening and my husband and I were both captivated. 
I'm so excited about what we learned that I'm going to talk about it in an upcoming post.
For now just let me say to you my bloggy friends that we're all on the right track!

Twas' the night before......

L starts Montessori pre-school tomorrow.  We've been anticipating this moment for ages.  Me for the past year!  It's such an exciting time for all of us!  My biggest curiosity will be what activities she chooses for her first day.  Oh how I wish I could be a fly on the wall.

It's felt like ages of waiting for L and I for this day to come so to help with the anticipation I created this sequencing activity for L's first morning.

While she was coloring I made up these little cards with pictures of each small event that will make up our morning routine.  I'm not sure how clear they are in the picture but we have everything from waking up to brushing teeth and putting her breakfast dishes in the dishwasher(we'll see how this one goes!)

We first talked about each pictures and then mixed them up and L put them in the order in which she will do them in the morning.  She's done this quite a few times over the last few days so hopefully it will come off smoothly tomorrow.  We'll see : )
Check out this wonderfully creative post by Cynthia over at A Montessori Musing place which sums up the excitement we feel.

Not much to tell...

Well this week has been a little skimpy on anything too interesting. L and I have both had bad colds and haven't really been doing too much. We have done quite a few practical life things like cutting up and serving cantaloupe and washing the car. We also had a wonderful playdate with one of the children from the Montessori school L will be attending and his mother. I can't wait for her to be able to socialize with all the children in the fall she is soo ready.

Now spring is here L is helping Granny in the garden and we are starting to plan what we are going to plant in the vegetable garden. This is a good thing because today we were walking on the board walk along the beach and I asked L what she thought it was made of. She said wood so I asked her where she thought wood came from. "The wood store" was her reply. Hmmmm Vegetable garden is definitely the next thing on my list.

A wonderful experience

Today I had the privilege of observing a Montessori classroom for the first time. It was everything I'd hoped it would be and more! There were about 13 children in the class and two directors and it was a busy hive of activity.
There was such a relaxed yet industrious atmosphere in the classroom and the directors were amazing. I was really impressed to see the children so happy and content with their work, seamlessly going from one activity to the next. The directors seemed to have this amazing ability to be able to help and guide several children at once while keeping calm and in control. Observing them really helped me to understand how much intervention and guidance can be used.
This visit has totally affirmed my confidence in the Montessori method and the Montessori classroom. The only thing is that the experience was a bit bitter sweet because they are full to capacity at the moment : (
I know this is the right environment for L to learn in and am excited for her to have the opportunity to be part of their Montessori community.