Tot School

Connor is 22 months old

If I had to specify the homeschooling approach we have been using over the past couple of weeks it would be unschooling. I have not used any of my plans and, other than making sure the children get lots of outside time, I have been mainly following Connor’s lead. Despite this lack of structure, we have done so much over the last couple of weeks.

With the weather warming up, we have been spending a lot more time outside. This has provided Connor with a lot more opportunities to explore nature. He has had encounters with frogs, worms, lizards, cockatoos, kookaburras, feathers, and sticks. I wish he was old enough to keep a nature journal!

We continued with our number recognition learning with this spur of the moment activity. Connor has definitely mastered the concept of ‘one more’. One more story, one more biscuit, one more puzzle… I’m not sure moving on to number two is a good idea.

His favourite activities these past couple of weeks have been puzzles and playing with play dough. I have noticed that Connor is starting to manipulate the play dough too. He attempts to roll it and flatten it out, and after achieving this with my help, he loves pressing shapes into it.

While I was busy with unpacking, organizing, and nursing Sarah, Connor’s big sister played with him. He loves imitating her (check out the photo in the bottom left hand corner).

Montessori Practical Life: Food Preparation

Food preparation is the logical culmination of the Practical Life curriculum, activities the child sees in the home and in everyday life. Through movement such as slicing and chopping, stirring and mixing, peeling and juicing real foods, the hand begins the work of concentrating. What follows is coordination, order, independence, and confidence.

Introducing Food Preparation: The Savory Side of Practical Life

Connor has been eating most things independently for several months now. This, however, has not included him preparing any of the food. For our first lesson in this area, I have decided to introduce Connor to peeling a mandarin. It’s simple and no kitchen utensils are required. He really loves sitting down and eating a mandarin on his own.

Montessori Three Part Cards - Occupations

Control Chart

PDF Price: $3.95

The file includes:

• 18 occupations: 18 pictures with labels (control cards), 18 pictures without labels, and 18 labels.
• Control chart showing each labeled picture.

Types of occupations include: policeman, fireman, florist, painter, doctor, chef, lifesaver, teacher, butcher, scientist, athlete, musician, gardener, accountant, librarian, photographer, garbage collector, and builder.

This item is a PDF file. The item will be emailed to you once payment is received.

A Day in the Life of Connor and his Entourage

For several months now, Connor has been inseparable from his “Digger Men” and “Bob”. From the moment he wakes in the morning, until he goes to bed at night, “Digger Men” and “Bob” are by his side. It’s quite entertaining to watch him play with these figures, but at the same time stressful as I often have to make sure he hasn’t lost one of these people. To cover for future events, and as a gift for his upcoming second birthday, we have gone so far as to order additional “Digger Men” (these are known as Fisher Price Husky Helpers) on Ebay. It’s reassuring to know I now have back-ups. Anyway, so that in time I don’t forget these days of Connor playing with his figures, below is A Day in the Life of Connor and his Entourage.

The day begins with breakfast followed by playing with some puzzles and blocks.

 

Digger Man and Bob always join Connor when he goes outside.

 

After lunch, Connor and his buddies have a nap.

 

Naps are followed by more play

Bath times are no exception. Digger Men and Bob are always washed by Connor.

Finally, story time, cuddles, and bedtime.

 

Honest Scrap Award

Life has been so full on that I completely forgot about the Honest Scrap Award that I received from Leptir. Thank you so much. Your posts on Montessori activities are really awesome. I can’t wait to use your ideas with my children when they are old enough.

Conditions of this award:
Tell your readers 10 things about you that they may or may not know, but are true. Tag ten people with the award, and be sure to let them know they have been tagged (a quick comment on their blog will do). Don't forget to link back to the blogger who tagged you.

10 Things About Me

1. I love reading. I could quite easily spend my entire waking time reading. My favourite saying is “You can never have enough books.” My biggest problem is lack of space for my books. Since moving in with my in-laws, I’ve had to put 75% of my books in storage.
2. My favourite sport is gymnastics. As a young girl, I wanted to be the next Nadia Comaneci.
3. I don’t drive. Life always gets in the way of me getting my license.
4. I’m a night owl. I never get to bed before 11pm.
5. I have a Law Degree and I graduated with Honours but I have never worked as a lawyer.
6. My favourite drink is a cup of tea.
7. I love Mary Engelbreit artwork.
8. I speak fluent Polish.
9. One day I would like to learn to sew and scrapbook (after I get my drivers license).
10. I love sushi.

I would like to nominate the following blogs:

1. The Wonder Years
2. Filth Wizardry
3. Making of a Montessori Mum
4. The Snail’s Trail
5. Katherine Marie Photography
6. Homeschool Creations
7. Playful Learning
8. A Bit of this and a Bit of that
9. Raising Itty Bitty Bookworms
10. Flip Flops and Applesauce

Finding a New Rhythm

The move is complete. All that remains is for us to unpack and organise our things. For me, this is the most difficult part. It doesn’t help that I have created some bad habits with Sarah, namely holding her during her naps. So I have some work ahead of me. I need to gently teach Sarah to sleep on her own, finish unpacking, and find a new rhythm with my two babies.

I miss the simplicity of my days with just Connor and am finding it hard to imagine how I will regain that simplicity again. I yearn to get back to doing activities with both my children and spend my days wondering how mums of many children cope and manage their days. Perhaps I am expecting too much too soon. I’m not very patient and have to keep reminding myself that this is the season in my life when I am going to be taking care of just the basics.

I’m still enjoying my days but I do feel as though I have to start from scratch. I miss creating materials and games for Connor, cooking nice meals, and reading. I would love to know how other mums with young children structure their days. If you feel like sharing your day or have any advice, please leave a comment.

In the meantime, below are some recent photos of Connor and Sarah.

 

Tot School

  

Connor is 21 months old

This week, despite it being our final week to move, we slowly started to get back into doing Tot School. The activities were simple but Connor enjoyed them and requested to do them daily.

 

Connor’s favourite activities this week were puzzles. He pulled them out of one of the boxes as I was unpacking.

 

His favourite new set of puzzles is these construction vehicle puzzles:

These puzzles are made up of 12 pieces each. They are a bit too difficult for Connor to do on his own. The way we got around this is by me handing him a puzzle piece and showing him where it fitted.

One of the other things Connor discovered among the many things I was unpacking, was the Brown Bear Brown Bear What Do You See Board Game. Connor loves this book and spent quite a long time looking at the pictures and matching them to the pictures on the board game.

As much as possible, we tried to spend time outside. We even had wild ducks visit our backyard. We gave some bread to Connor so he could feed the ducks, but he decided to eat the bread himself instead.

Lastly, Connor spent quite a bit of time reading in his rocking chair.

Favourite Photo this Week