Author: Beth - Our Montessori Life

A mother of 2 boys and a Certified Montessori Teacher and Educational Consultant. We don't homeschool, but our home is full of a love of learning. Most importantly, Montessori is not just school for us. It is our life.
Posted on

A Child in the Wild 

We are reviewing a child’s adventure club. I’ll do a full review shortly when we are farther along, but I thought I’d share our travels of today. 

  
A Montessori child in the forest. There really just isn’t anything more awe inspiring. The soft foot falls, the quite concentration as he carefully steps over a mushroom.

  
  
Here, the rainforest meets the Pacific, and fresh water meets salt. Moving at the child’s pace, made us more mindful of our surroundings. 

 

 
Do you use a nature journal with your child? It is an easy and fun way of collecting memories. 

In the end he carried his pack the entire 80 minute round trip. We took our time, talked along the way, and made it all about him. We picnicked on a soft blanket, while the almost deafening crash of the Pacific loomed ever closer. When its reach was only an arms length away, we decided we’d better go.

The final destination was worth just as much as the journey.

   

  

Posted on

Montessori Friendly Books 2015

   
I’ve been wanting to do this for a while. Anyone who follows us on Instagram knows I have a love affair (read addiction) with good quality children’s books. 

So, why not showcase our latest finds once a week, on a day where maybe you can grab a cup of tea, sit back and enjoy what we’ve discovered. 

Montessori friendly books are no different in criteria than any other Montessori  material. They are good quality, beautiful and for the most part reality based.

I decided that the best Montessori friendly books published in 2015 would be a good place to start, and so, here they are:

  

Her art is some of the most beautiful I’ve seen for children’s picture books and she’s Canadian. I love books that speak to a child’s ability to change their environment by including nature. 

A boys bland and ordinary pond has no bottom. “How extraordinary! Cried Ernest D.” Adventure, in the everyday ordinary with some nerdy prose. Oh yes. This was a hit right away. 

This is our favourite and I’ve written about its brillance before. It amazing, mindful and perfect for every age.

A beautiful science book. It follows its predecessor Farm Anatomy, and the illustrations are spectacular. It will have a place on our bookshelf for years to come. 

This is was published in October, and I’m so glad. We have Fox’s Garden and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on a copy of this. Her books are wordless and centred around a child’s compassion. This time it’s the love between too sisters. The cut paper dioramas are stunning. 

This has been on our shelves for a while too. I love the simplicity of it and of course the artwork. Take home message: home is different things to different people but it is always where the heart is. 
There was one that despite all my efforts didn’t make it in time. The distributor has promised to send a new copy out, so I will continue to wait. 

This one will be well worth the wait I think.  

 

So that’s it. If you have any good suggestions let me know. Opening a child’s world to books has such a fundamental and lasting impression on them. Collections don’t need to be big. Public libraries, thrift stores, and friends book swaps are easy places to score great finds. 

    Posted on

    Montessori family reunion: A social experiment 

    What happens when you take two Montessori from Birth children, who live thousands of kilometres a part, who have never met, never spoken to each other, and place them in a Prepared Environment? 

      

        

      

    You get instant friendship. 
    We had the extreme pleasure of hosting Jasper and his family from Milkweed Montessori.

    What transpired in our all too short visit was Grace and Couresty, as they prepared snack together, demonstrated materials and talked about their lives. Jasper talked about his trip and friends back home in his own Montessori Casa. Quentin talked about our recent family goings on and the up coming school holiday. 

    Their was a quietness to both of them and it was magical to watch them both move around my classroom. Jasper tried the binomial cube (and completed it successfully) while Quentin got out the geography flags. They sat side by side as if they had done it 100 times before and it was beautiful. 
    We are off on Winter holidays now, and my classroom is closed up, the shelves draped. 

    Our upcoming weeks will be filled with peaceful home life and we will do our best to not fill it with busy holiday nonsense. To aid that, I’ll take a break from this space in order to fully be in the moment. 

    Thank you to all my followers and friends. This has been a good year. I will see you on the other side of 2016. 

    Posted on

    Montessori Practical Life: Homemade Gifts

    The holidays are so special to each of us. We all have our traditions that are close to our hearts. 
    For me giving homemade gifts is one of those special traditions. Simple acts of love and kindness, carefully made and gifted to loved ones. What could be better?

    This is an excellent opportunity for Practical Life activities for children 3-6 and older. 

    Here are some of our favourites.   

      
    Cookie making. Little hands rolling and cutting dough into stars, trees and snowmen. Rolled cookies are easy and inexpensive to whip up. Placed in a little tin or box a child can proudly deliver, they make a great gift. 

      
     Printable note cards your child can help fold and assemble. These are from one of my favourite artists Alice Cantrell. Her Etsy Shop is a must for me when I’m looking for a beautiful paper gift to send. I also use many of her works in my Montessori 3-6 classroom. Quentin loves picking something out, going through the printing process and assembling the finished product. 

      
     Drying oranges. They are so easy to do and they make quite a statement when wrapped with cinnamon around a gift. Quentin made these almost completely on his own. I simply placed them in the oven. 

    That’s it for now. I hope you enjoy. If you have some favourite homemade gift ideas I love to read them. I’ve included the instructions for the dried orange slices below. 

        

    Posted on

    Changing seasons: Materials and Exploring

      
    I love tying what we have on the shelf with our bigger picture. Montessori is about immersing a child in rich, holistic experiences. 

    So, when we want to explore the changing seasons, it only makes sense for us to find some beautiful Montessori friendly materials. 

    And then, go outside. 

      

    There is so much for a child to take in when walking in the forest. We purposely seek out quiet, peaceful spots where we can really take in our surroundings. This doesn’t have to happen in the middle of nowhere. A quiet corner of the park will do. We stop, practise some mindful breathing and really listen. Even at 3, Quentin has been able to master this with practice. 

      
    There is just something about sitting beside a stream. The water starts rushing with the heavy Autumn rains where we live. We could just sit all day. 

    In Autumn our favourite shelf activities include: leaf garland sewing, crayon/charcoal rubbings of leaves, and using Autumn themed free printables a like this one and this one. 

    Materials collected from nature walks also make great counters to go with number cards. 

      
      
    This is a beautiful new multi level puzzle we were gifted from Mind Set Learning Tools. Such perfect timing. 

    Posted on

    DIY Lightbox

      
    Quentin has been using our home made lightbox for about a year and a half.

    There are so many things you can do with it and it is a great sensorial experience, especially with a mirror in front of the child. 

    Many people have asked if I have a tutorial for our lightbox, after I posted the above picture on Instagram today. 
    I didn’t, but I quickly made one up. 

      
    Here’s your list of materials. If you have the tools, the materials can be very inexpensive. I got everything I needed (except for the glass) at our local big box craft store and as always had my 40% off coupon with me which I used for the wood frame. 

    Materials list:

    • 30 cm square/12 inch square wood shadow box frame
    • Safety rated indoor use rope light
    • Frosted glass or plexiglass 
    • Drill and hole cutter adapter
    • Glue gun 

    List of steps:

    1. Place the wood shadow box where you will use the light box. Think about where the nearest outlet is. Mark where you want to drill your hole. Should be on the same side of the box that the electrical outlet is. 
    2. Drill hole in the side of the shadow box near the back corner (where you marked).  You will pass your rope light through this. 
    3. Stretch out your rope light & find non plug end. 
    4. Thread non plug end of rope light through drilled hole until you reach the end of the light. 
    5. Starting in the middle of shadow box hot glue down non plug end of rope light. 
    6. Continue wrapping rope light in outward circle hot gluing every few centimetres/inches. 

    Ok. Check in. You should now have a wooden box with a hole in the side. Your rope light should be glued in a circlular coil from the middle of the box outward and be passing through the hole that you drilled. 

    Try to pack as much of the actual light inside the box so that none is sticking out of the hole and you can only see the cord. This will also ensure that you get even coverage of light coming out of the box and no dark spots. 

    Made a mistake? Hot glue once dried is easy to pry off. Re-adjust or just start again if you aren’t happy with it. 

    Ok. When you are happy with the coil test it out by plugging it in and gently placing the frosted glass on top. There is no switch on our box. We just plug it in when we want to use it. That’s why it’s nice if the cord exists the box on the same side as where the plug sits. 

    If you are happy with how it looks hot glue down the frosted glass to the top ridge of the wooden box. 

    You are finished! 

    Ok.  Here is the big important disclaimer:

    You absolutely need to use indoor safety rated (doesn’t get hot) rope light. 

    You absolutely need to use frosted glass to defuse the light your tiny loved ones are staring at. 

    And: Staring at any bright light for an extended period of time can damage your eyes. 

    Always use your lightbox in a semi dark (not completely dark) room and never for extended periods of time. 

    I hope this is helpful. Please feel free to leave questions here and I will try to answer them promptly. 

    Enjoy. 

    Posted on

    Our Autumn activities 

      
    The air has become crisp. It’s such a cosy time of year. Here are some of the things we have been doing to welcome Autumn. 

      
    Some absolutely gorgeous 3 part cards by Puzzleheads. These cards are perfect for Quentin. Great detail, and lots of other complimentary products such as matching wooden puzzles and colouring PDF’s. He can easily match the picture to picture and is learning to match the words. This is yet another way we observe and provide materials for his sensitive period for language. He is now able to sound and then make an educated guess about what larger words may be. 

      
    Quentin’s love of geography continues. He uses his Little Passports subscription almost everyday. We explore what is happening around the planet in terms of seasons. He knows our friends south of the equator are opposite to us and therefore just coming into spring. We look up how other cultures and countries celebrate Autumn. 

      
     
    Finally as always, there is Practical Life. The right sized tools make it fun for him. Raking leaves is such a fantastic activity because it incorporates so many parts. Gross motor, fine motor and sensorial. It also expends a lot of energy which at 3.5 years old, Quentin really needs. 

      
    Finally one of our favourite activities is making applesauce using our peeler. Quentin loves using this because he can do it but it isn’t easy. It takes lots of coordination, and concentration. The apples come out as peeled and in spirals which he also loves. 

    Our recipe is simple: 

      
    We hope you are enjoy whatever season you find yourself in. 

    If you’d like to share some ideas for Autumn activities don’t hesitate to leave a comment. 

    Posted on

    Essential Montessori back to school gear: Thank you to our favourites

       
     With the new school year just underway for us I wanted to take a moment to share our essentials for this year. 
    One of the core Montessori values is independence in the child. Beauty and quality of materials are also important. So when I’m shopping for school items for Quentin, I keep those things in mind. 

    Here are our essentials:

      
    A compact reusable lunch container. We are Studio Ghibli fans  and so this Totoro Lunch Box was perfect. A good thing for parents to make sure they know is, where and how their child’s lunch will be stored. Our school as great little fridges right in the classroom. However they need to accommodate 20 lunches. Bento box style lunches can pack lots of healthy food into a small space. 

      
    Little feet are still forming. Children should go barefoot whenever possible to help their feet grow strong and in their natural shape. A full school day is a long time for a small child’s foot to be in traditional shoes. Soft soled shoes for indoors provide protection but allow the foot to move properly. 

    These are from Great Scotts Baby Moccs a locally owned shop of handmade leather soft soled shoes. Quentin and I saw them and immediately knew they would be perfect. 

      I fell in love with this messenger bag the moment I saw it. 
    Messenger bags are great for preschoolers. They are much easier to put on than a backpack. 

    Sierra from Fox and Rebel made and shipped this bag in record time. It is as gorgeous in real life. The arrow patterned fabric lining the inside is a perfect contrast to the simple outside. It comes with the three pins. 

    One of my favourite things about Montessori school is that the materials are usually supplied. Quentin doesn’t have a list of “must buy” school supplies. Just these three things are all he needs to get out the door in the mornings. 

    And then something very special arrived in the mail. 

      
    Marie-Claire the genius behind So Awesome Wallet Cards sent her latest deck. These are perfect for the car trip to school. They are practically indestructible, safe for use from birth and have amazing details and features. They help keep everyone feeling their best as they set off each morning. 

    Thank you to all the wonderful artists and makers who make our school mornings so much more bearable. We really couldn’t do it without you. 

    Posted on

    Life Unexpected: My interview with Baan Dek

      
    It’s funny how life happens sometimes. For me there are weeks even months of predictably, and then I find myself unexpectedly sitting in the Edmonton airport waiting for my flight home and I check my email. 

    Baan Dek Montessori the makers of the world renowned Montessorium apps and the Montessori Work books approached me to do an interview. 

    The last weeks have been a collaboration between us on top of the busy start to the school year.

    I’m extremely honoured to have been asked by them. Their kind words and the words of other schools and families who have spoken out about how much the blog or our consultations have made a difference to them reminded me that you never really know how many lives you touch. 

    It’s a good lesson for us all. 

    Here’s the link if you’re curious:

    Baan Dek Montessori