What we did last week

I work days so the time I get to spend with my kids is precious to me. I want then to have fun and if we can mix in a bit of learning in the process, all the better. My approach to learning is a mix of Montessori and Play Based Learning (which I personally think overlap quite well). I try to mix in some specific skills each week and watch them for the sensitive periods they are in or approaching.

This week in our time together we covered areas of fine and gross motor skills, letters/phonics, counting, numbers and math, sensory, art and expression. Here are some of the things we did in pictures. While some of these look like work to us, to the kids they are all fun.

We worked sensory and fine motor skills with the Montessori themed knobbed cylinders. I have the mini set and while each will often work with all 4 at once, if they both want to use them, they each take a pair, work them, then I'll switch one for each. Nathan can often sit with the activity for more than an hour, although in this session both wanted to move on after 30 minutes.

I finally found a board game I liked enough to try. It's our first real turn taking and structured game. It was a huge hit. While playing they work on turn taking, colors, counting and even fine motor skills (not pictured is the squirrel that they use like tweezers to pick up the acorns). 

I used some of our Discovery Toys manipulatives for color matching and patterns. If you don't know about Discovery Toys, keep an eye out for my friend over at www.aias.ca as she'll be having a giveaway later this month of one of their best products (which we also have).

More patterns and fine motor with a connect 4 type of game.

We also started working on phonics this week. I'm basing this on the Montessori Method, but since my guys already "know" the alphabet, I'm modifying it a bit. We started with 'm' and 'a' this week. Corwyn LOVES the sandpaper letters and will trace them any moment he gets (I let him!). Nathan was a bit meh about those but both loved one of the games we played. In it, they put the big and little m/a on the fridge. I sit in the living room and ask them to bring me the sound that starts the word monkey/apple/mommy/astronaut/montorcycle etc. They played and played and played, getting winded in the process. So much fun. Why did I start with these letters? I'm following one of the recommended letter introduction orders in Montessori. This is a good write up about it at Living Montessori Now. I picked this specific one because I have the Bob level 1 books that go with it. Two more letters and they will have enough to read an entire book on their own. We'll round these 2 out with s and t.

We did painting and gluing and drawing for art. I also got a mini spirograph type of set and they are using it and the geometric templates it comes with for tracing and drawing.

They are loving their bikes and get out whenever they can. We're still working on road safety, but after showing Corwyn some mangled bikes and telling him this is what happens to a bike that gets hit by a car, he is much better.

The weather has been great so there has also been lots of playground and beach time. I'll miss this when it starts being dark before I get home from work.

I'm linking this post to Montessori Monday. Check out some of the other links there. This is where I get the base for much of my inspiration.

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Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary

The weather is great and (fingers crossed) will stay that way. So I finally got around to our first of the planting fun at home with the kids.
I don't get much sun in my place but I'm still able to get a few things to grow. This year I wanted the kids involved. So here is phase 1.
Setup

Process

Finished Product

Learning about Weather

One of the best places I've found for quality Montessori printables is The Montessori Print Shop. So far, I only have their Science CD but I expect to get more as time goes on. One of the segments on the CD is about weather. I finally got a laminator and put this together for the boys. This one also happens to currently be in the free downloads too.

When they get up the morning they check out the window to see what the weather is that day. This is Corwyn checking out the rain.

After that, they will point to the icon the best shows the weather. (He got it right on the first try.)

Next we update the chart, moving today to yesterday and putting in today's weather. I use the news to 'guess' for tomorrow. If there is a big change during the day, we can put up another icon. I used stick on velcro dots for the daily weather icons. I still need a thermometer to be able to tell the temp each day, but since they can't read yet, I'm not in a big rush.

While this doesn't seem overly complicated, it's not something the average 2 year old is given the chance to learn this way. This not only teaches them the words for the different weather and the pictures often associated with it, it gives them some more practice with the concept of the passage of time (yesterday, today, tomorrow). It's needed to learn about why we have different weather systems. It also has a big place in learning about the seasons (we're going to start with fall in, well, the fall). And it adds a bit of structure to the day.

Check out the blog at The Montessori Print Shop too. Along with information on ways to use some of their materials, they often include links to other blogs with some cool Montessori inspired ideas. They run contests fairly regularly too.

I'm not sure the next set of print outs from the CD that I will introduce. Right now, it's between Animal Stripes, Spots, or Solids and Five Senses. I think they`re ready for the early introduction to both of these. I`ll keep you posted.

I've started taking a Montessori online certificate course last month. I'll write more on that later with details of the school etc. I work full time out of need so obviously wont be homeschooling but I still think that I can help the boys succeed in life and school with as much of the best support I can provide in the time I do have with them. So far, I`m working most on prepared environment since my place is too crowded and too cluttered to be the best for learning. And as I said, more on that in a later post.