Summer Activities

Okay, so my every intention this summer has been to do less - observe more lol! Here are some of the activities we have been up to so far:

Summer Scrapbooks - actually this is a continuing project. Each of my boys has a scrap book that is journalling our travelling around. We started it last March:

T has added his own writing to his, whereas W has just organised the pictures and souvenirs.

My dd and I have started this project together, using a cheap birdhouse from a craft shop. She is gluing and tiling.

And my elder son decided to paint this little model. It might not look complicated, but it was small and fiddly. He spent a lot of time working on this.

Other ideas we have for the summer are to knit some simple dishcloths with my elder son, do an outing a week and then try to "present" it later, prepare for Harry Potter night - this, as you can imagine, has taken a lot of planning on the eldest's part!! He has made banners, prepared menus for banquets etc etc.

Another idea I thought of, and have not yet put it into play, is to engage the older two in family meal planning and once a fortnight each child is responsible for the planning of and budgeting for and some preparation of a family meal. I may try this over the next couple of weeks and if it works, make it a Sunday night regular!

Summer Reading list

This summer we have been sent home a list of recommended books from the Elementary teachers at the school. It is an incredibly extensive list, but has been compiled only using the Newbery Medal Prize winners from 1922 - present day. I am aware that it isn't a cut and dry list and is only a guideline as to where one might like to start looking, but it misses off some of the great books of our time that I really feel are more suitable for children of 7 - 9. Many of these books have female characters or are quite "feminine" in their story, so of course, my son is not as happy picking this up to read and many, I feel, I too conceptualy advanced for children who are just 7.

There seems to be a lacking of a middle ground for the younger readers who are fluent and skilled readers, but lack the emotional development for some of the content. So, I have adapted a list of books that we are going to tackle this summer, either individually or together.

Some of these may not be the world's most reknowned piece of literature, but in my opinion, at this age, it is important to introduce children to a wide range of literary style and stories.

1. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - CS Lewis
2. Bridge to Terabithia - Katherine Paterson and Donna Diamond
3. The Tale of Desperaux - Kate Di Camillo
4. The Barn - Avi
5. Shiloh - Phyllis Reynolds
6. The Story of King Arthur - Robin Lister
7. The Scarecrow and his Servant - Philip Pullman
8. The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips - Michael Morpurgo
9. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - Mark Twain
10. Kira-Kira - Cynthia Kakohata
11. The Homecoming - Cynthia Voigt
12. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - JK Rowling
13. Where the sidewalk ends - Shel Silversten
14. Missing May - Cynthia Rylant
15. Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing - Judy Blume
16. The Mouse and the Motorcycle - Beverley Cleary
17. This can't be happening at Macdonald Hall - Gordon Korman

(Anything to avoid perpetual re-reads of Captain P.P Poopyhead and his amazing Underpants!!!)

If you have any books you could add to this list, I would be really grateful.

Colour theory!

I just wanted to post these pictures of the playroom now that I have painted it. I have hopefully used colours that will embue imagination and cooperative play I have borrowed a similar colour scheme as those found in the imagination inspiring kindergartens in waldorf schools- ie: not red for fire and arguments, not white for boredom and lack of creativity and not green for tranquility and sleep etc.

Anyhoo, here are the results -

I decided to put up I's canopy in this corner next to a box of books so they have somewhere to hide away to read. There is also a cushion and our storytelling doll in there too.

The sensory materials have been moved over to this area as they were a little dismissed behind the door.

This area has been laid out for a home style corner (not particularly Montessori I know, but it is an area that all of the children love to utilise!) and we are in the process of creating a nature table which you will see better in the picture down below.

It isn't very clear, but we have got our nature table on the cupboard. So far we have found some interesting wood and an empty nest. The nest was in my hanging basket on the porch until a week or two ago. The birds have appeared to have deserted it. Unfortunately I think the mail man had unwittingly scared them. The eggs were broken too. We have since put it on our table.

The final wall is a work in process!!!

I am limiting the amount of stuff I put ON the walls this time, I have only a framed painting of T's, a picture and a wall hanging and I am going to put our huge map of the US back up too. Other than that, the children's work will now be kept in their art boxes in their rooms and if they do something they are particularly proud of, we will frame and hang in their bedrooms. There is still a lot of work in the kitchen on display too.

And of course - there is a very important factor in all of this............is it working - hmmmm they are currently playing in T's bedroom!!!!!!!ah well, time will tell!

Fairy Tales - yes or no??

This post is going to directly come from an amazing workshop that I have been on over the last three mornings. Actually led by a Waldorfian rather than a Montessorian, and fascinating.

It strictly relates to the re-telling of fairy tales to children.

In my hazy recollection, there is some controversy as to whether or not Montessori was for or against the reading of fairy tales to children.

Those in the "against" court argue that they go against the grain of belief that life should be for real, not wrapped up in talking animals and good and evil.

Those in the "for" court argue that they convey a very real life message in their stories and that legend and folklore are all based on and wrapped up in fairy tales, our history is intrinsically linked.

Add to that, the fact that the true original fairy tales are not the ones we know today, are NOT those of Disney and adaptations on a theme of a theme AND that places like Barnes and Noble no longer stock Grimms tales in many shops as they are deemed "not politically correct" you may be easily of the opinion that perhaps they should be left alone, after all, what is the point?

Up to today, I was more of the vein that there was no real need for them, they seem cruel and stereotypical and send out the message that life is full of goodies and baddies and that girls are all princesses and boys either bad men or princes. This wasn't the message I wanted to give to the children, so have avoided them to a greater extent.

Today my mind has been entirely changed. Not only do I realise that I was incorrect in my own jaded adult and very literal interpretations of them, but I am doing my children a disservice by omitting them from their lives. Children do not take these stories as literal but much more archetypically which is exactly the way they are meant to be taken.

Read in their original form and appropriately aged (NOT censored!) they emit a very potent message, that life is a journey, that we encounter good and evil in a variety of forms and that when the right paths are chosen on our journies, good will overthrow evil and justice will prevail. Yes, the "baddies" meet their ends, gruesome or not, but in the case of most of these, the end comes around by self infliction. Take for example the wolf in the original version of Little Red Cap - She fills his belly with stones, but she doesn't kill him, the stones are too heavy so when he gets up, he falls down dead. The stones........getting whhhhaaaay deep now, actually represent the materialism in life that tempts us (or Little Red Cap in this instance) when we are on our journies through life. In LRC's case, the wolf opened her mind to be tempted by the flowers (greed) and he, himself, was overcome with greed to not just eat the grandmother but to also eat LRC. At the end, the wolf is destroyed by his very own materialistic greed - the stones, the densest natural material on the earth.

Of course, for a seven year old, this is not what they are thinking and nor should it be explained to them thus.

The guidelines we were left with was that

a.We should read them ourselves, and find our own fairy tale.

b.We should chose age appropriate ones; ie: the more challenges and conflicts, then the older the audience

c. We should not censor the end for something less gruesome. If you need to censor the end for your child, the fairy tale is not yet appropriate. Also look at it this way - if the wolf lives and runs off - where is he now? Is he hiding in the real world??

d. Read them during the day NOT before bed. Children process these stories better when they have just come from the spiritual state of sleep rather than before they go to it.

e. Learn them and read them unscripted, detail IS important to the stories however, so make sure you have read them and understand the significance of the detail.

It is hard to find a good book of Fairy Tales, I have just ordered the one at the top of this page which is published by The Pantheon Fairytale and Folklore Library and can be found at Bob and Nancy's Books I am thoroughly looking forward to reading, digesting, dissecting and then re-telling these tales to my boys!

Hats!!

This really should go with clothing........but I had to post this separately!! Look what a gem these are. Might be perfect to lose that extra scarf!!

Here is the link to this WAHM's site!!

The Bedroom

There is a lot talked about the baby's and infant's bedroom in various Montessori resources: The Floor Bed, mirrors at a child's level, simple pictures, not so many toys but what few being down on low reachable shelving and maybe a mobile for small babies. There is not, however, so much talked about for adapting the room as the child grows. I have already added some pictures to previous entries but this entry is to show how I have tried to organise the children's bedrooms for their varying ages and with the space and resources we have.


Toddler:


This is her bed. We have got her elevated off the floor and not on a mattress, we didn't actually go down that route. However, it would be so easy to adapt a mattress on the floor and then put it on the frame later on. She has a small bedside table that she can put water or books on and yes, that is a bed guard. The floor is hard!!


This is an area set aside for her to sit and read. It is round a slight corner so out of direct vision from the rest of the room and the door, which means she can be quiet in this space. There is a beanbag for her to use and a selection of books. I haven't really been organised to rotate them, but I frequently cull !! We also have rotating books downstairs in the den that I change on a fairly regular basis. She also has some shoes and slippers on the bottom shelf.


This is inside her wardrobe. We adapted this using a broom handle to create a lower rack for the clothes she is currently wearing in season.

This is her "care of the self" space. She has a mirror at her height and a clothes peg. To the right is a playstand which I have shown from the other side in the photo below, that contains her comb, brush and mirror. She also has, which isn't shown, a box of play jewellery and hair accessories that she can use if she wishes. The basket contains a plethora of soft toys and some hand puppets. Dressing up clothes are primarily in the play room in another wardrobe on a low rail.

Here you can see the mirror, comb and brush and a few small toys. The play silks create a backdrop for a puppet theatre or shop or cover it all or........anything really!




Older child's room:




These two pictures are inside my eldest son's wardrobe (excuse the mess - Montessorischmontessori - they still can't put stuff back in the places it belongs and as for folding aaagghh!)


I have some issues with chests of drawers (one of which is lack of space, another safety, for a child to pull them open and then apply their weight on a drawer fills me with the heebiejeebies) they are stiff and cumbersome, so as we have the luxury of a walk in closet for this son, I bought some wire cube shelving from Target and his underwear, t-shirts, sweaters etc are all in their own space. He has a step so he can reach the stuff that is hanging, but that is primarily the next season's clothing.


This photo below shows his working space. We haven't yet done this with our younger son. We chose to give our elementary son this space partly because he LOOOOVES to write stories and also to give him some space for his hobbies without the younger two. When our younger son reaches elementary age we will try to provide a similar space for him. At the moment, our younger son does his art and craft either downstairs in the kitchen or in the playroom.


This was a flea market table!! $40!!


He has a space for his pens and we also bought a fishing tackle box that he keeps colouring pens and crayons, scissors, sharpeners and glue in. That stays up out of the younger two's reach!! There is also a pin board to display his work and an area to store his stamp collection. Both him and his brother have a CD player in their room (that is as technological as they will get - I will refer to media in another entry) to allow them music or stories on CD.



This is the reading space we have designated for our elder son. Unfortunately he doesn't have a nook anywhere that can be turned over to a quiet space, and he frequently climbs under his covers to read his books (at any time of the day !!) so this is a bit redundant at the moment. Still, it is a low chair to the floor and concealed by the table so he could hide away if he wanted to.

Clothing

This entry I will add to as I find things, but at the request of another Montessori mom, I am going to list places that I have found to be pretty good for finding clothes that foster independence. By that, I mean, velcro tabbed shoes, good outdoorwear that is easy to put on, elasticated waist clothing etc. If you click on the underlined words, it should take you to the site or the relevent picture. Please let me know if there are any broken links.

This is primarily going to be stuff that the children use at school, because I really have no issue with decorative t-shirts at home. I do prefer natural fibres wherever I can and there is a link for some amazing woollen leggings further down, that fit cloth diapers perfectly!

Indoor clothing:

My best finds have been places like Kohls for leggings and elasticated trousers and Walmart for training pants and covers. The other training pants I like, particularly for boys are Bright Bots just because their colors are bright and fun and they used to do some funky striped leggings for boys!!

Again I like Kohls for tops, plain t-shirts that don't detract from their work cycles etc. Or for older children LLBean often has plain t-shirts and I love their flannel check trousers that are elasticated as does my son!! My other favourite place for these elasticated plaid trousers is Boden which again, has great sales, but sells out fast (why am I telling you this??)

I also love the woollen leggings and pants from this wonderful site Their stuff is pure wool - excellent for winter and organic too. It is a little pricier, but it fits over cloth diapers and is easy to pull on. It is probably better for the younger child and toddler rather than a primary aged child, but they do have sweat pants and cotton leggings sometimes.

For ease for potty training, leggings, shorts or elasticated trousers are far easier for girls than dresses as they pull them down rather than up and then they are totally out of the way and their is less chance of them getting wet. However, there are some "skorts" out there if you do have a girl who loves dresses - might be a half way compromise?

Gap has great clothing for older children for school, trousers for boys and jeans that seem to last forever and plain t-shirts. I think I have found the odd pair of slippers from time to time if the Gap is big enough.

Of course Hanna Anderson has nice elasticated leggings for girls, but it is on the pricier end of the market and if you have a girl - who can avoid the pretty dress to go with it??!! That said, they often have great sales or there is always Ebay for a second hand item.

There are, as far as I am aware, two good thrift shops in our local vicinity. If anyone has any others, please let me know. I have often rummaged in there to find the perfect pair of trousers or even a second hand rain jacket. The first is opposite Bob's and Stop and Shop on Route 7, the second is on Ridgefield High Street, but you will have to look underneath another shop for it. It is called the Children's corner and is downstairs next to Shaun's ice cream parlor (we don't go there often 'cos it gets expensive with the food detour!!)

Stamford has a Nearly New Sale coming up in July that might be the place for a bargain or two.

If you are looking for cloth diapers, my personal favourite were Mother ease ®

We used the one-size system so it lasted us from birth through toddlerhood and into her potty training. The diapers are shaped and fasten with press studs. The wraps that go with them are either the Air-flow or the Rikka wraps which are either press stud or velcro respectively. The principle behind things like cloth is that a child can register the sensation of being wet, and likewise, learn to be dry and clean quicker, well that, and the aside that disposables weren't really a late 1800's phenomenon!!

Indoor Shoes:

Indoor slippers are often the harder things to find as the back needs to be firm so that they don't turn into mules like these ones:

the kids then slouch their feet around desperately trying to keep them on, and they need to be able to take them on and off them easily themselves so fastenings need to be zipper or velcro or an excellent slip on, like these ones, which are from Mothercare in the UK:

The back on these have a raised hard edge, so I am hoping there will be less chance of them bending down - only time will tell!

I tend to stick to velcro for the younger two, just because it is easier than catching a sock in a zipper and their feet are often too small and their arch not developed enough to hold on a slip on (or the slip on is so tight they still can't get it on!)

Unfortunately I have found most success for slippers back in the UK from good old Woolworths, but over here I have bought from Rugged Bear who always have a good sale if you shop in advance!! Again, Kohls has a fairly good kids shoe section, you might be lucky and sometimes Bob's Discount Clothing Store will have that perfect pair.

Online I have occasionally found LLBean to have good ones, although their current ones aren't so hot, but it is summer! Sometimes Walmart has white plimsolls with a velcro tab fastening that work well as indoor shoes. This is always my hardest search each year.

Outdoor shoes:

LLBean if you feel you can shop online for shoes, otherwise places like Hawley Lane discount shoes on Route 1, StartRite is another place and they often have coupons so watch out and check online first for discount vouchers.

These probably need to be velcro, certainly to start with. Later children can manage the likes of Merrells (I find them really hard to get my finger in the heel to pull on and my children have struggled at a young age too.) Or the ones that have the toggles to loosen them. Alternatively, I am not really sure what Maria Montessori would have made of these but as a halfway house for children who are learning to tie laces, it could be a great compromise and after all, independence is the aim of the game!!

Outdoor clothing and snow kit

I am particularly faithful to Rugged Bear for most of my snow kit. I buy in the summer (as I have three to get of everything and the moolah only goes so far!) their sales are good. Take a tip though (which you probably already know!) buy a size bigger. The assistant told me this last year after I struggled with getting my youngest and a thick sweater inside a coat that was her actual size!!
Try to avoid salopettes (overalls, dungarees) for toddlers and younger primary aged children as they may struggle, particularly if they need to go to the bathroom. They will find more independence with basic pull on pants. However, these can be harder to find for this age group!

Our toddler teacher also recommended actual gloves for them rather than mittens as they have more control. Not quite so easy for them to get on, but playing a finger game "this little piggy goes in here" helps them to grasp the concept of one finger in one hole. Again, Walmart was the only place I found these this time and bought about 7 pairs in the same color to ensure we always could match a lost one!!

I also used this wonderful item last year that my daughter could wear under a hood and didn't fall off like a woolly hat does and it tucked nicely into the neck of her coat doing away with that horrid cold gap or the need for a scarf (something else to lose!). She was also able, at 2, to pull it on herself.

Rainwear

The last rain jacket I bought for our toddler is a Cherokee brand which either came from Walmart (but I don't think it did!) or Tesco in the UK. I have just noted that her velcro tab sandals are also Cherokee. The rain jacket actually has a velcro fastening. Many rain jackets are snap fastenings, which is fine for the older child, or go over the head like a sweater, which is hard to manage for the flip over with a smaller child. I haven't tried this, but I am wondering, for those of you who are proficient with a needle and thread, if a press stud (popper) fastening rain jackets couldn't have velcro pieces stitched in between the poppers?

Again I usually go to Rugged Bear for this stuff and also for wellingtons. The best boots for smaller children are the ones that have the little hooped handles on the sides to help them pull them on. But watch out, this year I discovered that many of the boots had a small elevated heel that was at an angle and worried me that a child could turn her/his ankle.

Nightwear:

I guess it goes without saying really, that with nightwear, pyjamas are easier than all in one sleepsuits, although they are a devil to find. If you can't find p-j's then look for sleepsuits with zips rather than popper fastenings. Carter's is amongst my favourite place for pyjamas, although check the size of the buttons on the front for primary aged children. Sometimes these things are so tiny and then this just creates frustrations for them.

Lunch packs:

As with the holistic philosophy behind Montessori, children are taking a pride in the world and their place within it, so where better to start than lunch packs that reduce waste in the environment.

Plain lunchboxes we often find in LLBean or Walmart, but I have since discovered this site that has plain lunch boxes and these wonderful wrapable/reuseable sandwich bags, that not only eliminate the need for plastic wrap or aluminium foil, but also eliminate the need for plastic boxes which have been known to leak toxins over a prolonged period of use, washing in a dishwasher and heating in microwaves. I am still on the search for small square tins that I can use for salads instead of the aforementioned plastic boxes, so will keep you posted.


Okay, that is it for now. I will add to this as I think of things. If anyone has any other tips, please pass them on!!