Chasing Cheerios

Thursday, September 11, 2008

1st day of "school"


1st day of "school", originally uploaded by omamom16.

O and I had our 1st day of real Montessori homeschooling on Monday! Up until Monday, we've done lots of Montessori inspired work, but its been in a very laid back, unstructured format. Elliott and I finally finished our Montessori school shelf, and I've been reading this book to help me prepare (thanks for the recommendation, Stephanie!). O was very excited when I told her that we were starting school, and her eyes were bright with excitement when we turned the shelf around (it stays turned with the shelf to the wall when we are not having "school"). Here is the list of activities that she chose during Monday's session: transferring water with a dropper, placing marbles on the frog, red rods, matching tiny animals, putting clothes pin in an ice cube tray, pouring lentils, and matching cats tray. I presented each work to her (even though she was familiar with many of them), since we haven't done them in a while, and I wanted to be very precise and careful in my demonstration. She did a fairly good job and seemed to enjoy herself. However, she also seemed to be trying to be intentionally naughty. She let out a little squeal and quickly checked me for a reaction. I just quietly reminded her that we only use inside voices. I reminded her that I wanted her to use her nice, school manners, and she said "not naughty manners." I had to remind her to only pick up one clothes pin or one marble at a time, and she laid on the floor and said "O take a deep breath." I have no idea where that came from, but it was pretty funny. When I told her that we were finished with school, and we would have school again tomorrow, she said "O not be naughty morrow." So... she was just "researching" to see what she could get away with during school :) It was very interesting to observe her!

5 comments:

  1. You are amazing... I need to do something with my 2 year old.. who has developed an addiction for High 5 ( a kids TV show - singing and dancing type thing) and wants to watch it all day.. so your school idea is so great

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  2. That deep breath is just wonderful! We're just beginning our Montessori thing here. We are trying to decide if we want to put our television in storage too...she just watches way to much, and it's so easy to plug her into Baby Einstein when we want to get some "work" done on the computer. I have a fantasy of turning our living room into a "school" space full of exploration activities for her. I don't like that there are so many things that she can't touch, or isn't allowed to play with. I'd much rather she be free to explore most of what is around her, and have those things that need supervision put up high out of reach so that she's not tempted. Wow...so sorry for a long comment. I didn't mean to hijack your wonderful post!

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  3. Great ideas. We want to start doing the same thing once we move. Thank you for the ideas.

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  4. Thanks for this post. I just started "school" with Sydney this week, and I have been wondering how many activities I should have out for her. I am starting with just a few so she can really learn how to do each one, since she is only 16 months. This is a great resource!

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  5. YOur Montessori school shelf looks wonderful! Such a great idea for limited space!!! I think we are going to adopt this idea. Could you please share the dimensions of the shelf?
    On completely different note, please say thanks to O's Grandmama for sharing the sugar cookie recipes. I made them for my son's first birthday and they were so tasty! Also, I wanted to thank you for inspiring me in making our Birthday ring. You can see it here http://mychilddiary.blogspot.com/2008/09/blog-post_2132.html My husband cut the wooden stands, and I made little figures from felt. There are five scenes in it - each one symbolizes one of the different values which we intend to bequeath to our son. A family represents the unconditional love that family members feel for each other. A butterfly goes for beauty, art, freedom and independence. A nest symbolizes home, roots and the flow of life. Two little children represent friendship and kind human relationships. Finally, a tree is there for nature and everything that is natural. All these together constitute the base for self esteem, self confidence and belief in yourself.
    Thanks again! Miri

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