Montessori at Home

Before school was out, I designed a montessori classroom for our home.  I was not sure if I would get a return on my investment, but it truly has been amazing.  We had school most days during the summer and I have seen Silas and Anna grow and learn.  I take pride in teaching them.  Silas was sounding out each letter while reading in May and now, after this summer, he reads fluently.  Anna has greatly improved her fine motor skills and is now comfortable with the "work period."  While I did not attend a Montessori school,  I am glad my children have had this opportunity.  Our house is not always calm, but during the work period, they are both calm and focused.  They take pride in doing their individual work and accomplishments.  I never had to force them to "work."  More often, they were asking me if they could have "Mommy school."  Silas would say before bed, "Do we have Mommy school in the morning?"  If I said yes, he would say, "Yeah, I get to do math!"  I am truly a believer in the montessori method.  

Below are images I captured of their work in progress.  It was a Saturday and Silas had asked for school.  

Proud Anna Kate... All by myself, Mommy!

First day of "real" school!

Anna Kate's Montessori Birthday Celebration

Birthdays are special in the Montessori classroom.  This is a glimpse into Anna's celebration.  For the celebration, I prepared a collage of pictures from her first three years of life.  This was a very emotional experience.  I think it makes me again realize what a blessing Anna is to our family and the joy she brings. I wrote a simple biography, below to read to her class.  

The Story of Anna Kate

Anna Kate was born on August 10, 2009, in the United States on the continent of North America, on the planet earth. She had to be held and taken care of all the time.  She couldn't talk to her Mom or Dad to let them know what she needed.  She wore diapers, drank only milk and slept a lot.  She soon learned to smile and laugh.

When Anna was 1 year old he learned to crawl, climb, then walk.  She began to eat regular food and loved watermelon and corn.  She had a birthday party and had her first piece of cake.  Her favorite part was the icing.

At 2 years old, Anna Kate began talking.  She came to Hilltop Montessori this year.  She loved babies and painting.  She also loved music and dancing.  She took a music class this year and learned to sing songs.  She also got to meet Amos, our previous Nanny’s new little baby.  

And now Anna is 3 years old.  She can now talk in sentences, sing, and run.  She takes swim lessons, gymnastics, and attends a music class.  She plays and pretends with her brother Silas. She loves doing jobs at school and playing on the playground.  She helps a lot at home and helps put laundry away, feed the dogs, and cleans up after playing.  She loves playing with her baby dolls, playing dress up, climbing, princesses, art, as well as riding her plasma car and spending time with her family and friends.

I only took a few pictures.  I wish I had made a video of Anna's answers to her teacher's questions.  She had a great time and after her special walk, the children had fruit kabobs and sang happy birthday, hip hip hooray!  What a special event!  I was so glad to be a part of this experience.

 Posing with the collage of her first 3 years

A Party for a Princess: Get Ready for a Marathon

What a joy to celebrate Anna's 3rd birthday.  She is a blessing and adds much happiness to our lives.   She is the type of child who can draw attention from strangers.  She is very animated and at times comical.  She loves babies, princesses, climbing, baths, swimming, dancing, and music.  

She gave her first baby doll at age 2, the name purple red.  I am going to list the names of her babies, more as a record of fact so that we can remember in the future.  Purple Red is HER baby.  The others include, Baby Sister, Abba, Abby, Best Friend, Buka Puka(a zebra), and Wada (a bunny).  She named them all without help.  

I love the way Anna is so creative and fun.  She loves to play teacher with her babies.  She has recently begun asking me not to clean her room, as to not disturb her babies' birthday celebration.  I really have to draw it in.  I have always been an organized person, but having children has strengthened that quality.  I know she needs to have the freedom to play and I know I need to loosen my thought that everything has a place and needs to be in that place before I go to sleep.

She has always loved drawing. She has held a pen correctly for over a year and for almost a year drew only tiny circles.  Now, the circles are bigger and more colorful.  She loves pink.  Pink is her "favorite."

I have never been a girly girl, but  I now have one.  As she told my sister, "I am not marvelous, I AM a princess."  Growing up, I didn't like pink.  I would say just recently have I allowed pink items to enter my wardrobe.  Anna's wardrobe on the other hand is dominated by pink.  She loves jewelry or her "jewels" as she calls them.  Me, not so much.  She loves her toes painted.  I again was not into pedicures, but I love to go with Anna now.  I was not into baby dolls and would get in trouble because I would not play babies with my sister.  I still don't play babies much, but I delight in watching her play and pretend.  She has opened my mind to all things girly.  

While Anna is a princess, she is also tough.  She is adventurous and climbs everything.  She hardly ever gets hurt even while climbing.  She is persistent and strong.  She is independent and tries to do everything by herself.

I am excited to see what the future holds for our beautiful baby girl, or should I now say little girl.  

Ok, so now on to the party.  Anna's party had stations.  The map is below.  We followed the path and finished in Anna's room under the rainbow.  What a special day attended by special friends and family.

  

1.  Fairy Face Paint Forest

2.  Princess Anna's Crayon Castle

Thanks to Dad, Anna had a beautiful castle...  Kelly's son painted some and I painted the dark pink.  We had a lot of fun creating her castle.

3.  Shipwreck Island

Digging for treasure!

And the winner is...

Ahoy Matey!

Best Pirate Expression

It seems the pirate was not too honest at first...

Silas just could not understand why you needed to wear a blind fold.  Wouldn't you want to see the X to get the treasure sticker in the right place on the map...

4.  Mermaid Candy Cove

5.  Somewhere Under the Rainbow

Party Favor books wrapped in gold and chocolate coins!

And, finally to wrap up the 4 hour long party, the cake and presents!!!

I know that was a long, long blog post, but what a party!  Happy birthday Angel.