Fitting more Montessori in!

I've been wanting to blog each day to not forget anything, but I've already forgotten to blog each day. ;)

Yesterday: Hm, counted through the 100-chain with my 5yo niece; realized I ought to have worked more with the Teens and Tens Boards first with her. Note made to show those to her after our little vacation break. Read to her and her sister from an animal encyclopedia. Shoot, I know I did some other stuff with them yesterday.

Today: I was tired. Didn't feel like really committing to anything. As it turned out, everything kind of fell into place for the kids to play in the basement happily, so all was well. Took dd to a half-day day camp she's participating in this week, then headed to a playground afterward, as has been our routine all week. Found a fantastic playground by accident on my way to a different playground--such a great invention! Ample opportunity to run, to challenge those large muscles. Just fascinating to watch today.

Speaking of fascinating to watch... Observation. A key Montessori tool for whichever age group(s) you are working with. Today, I found myself intently observing my 2yo niece. She wanted water while we were at the park, I pulled out her little Rubbermaid bottle with a built-in straw, and she tried to get what little water was there, but it wouldn't come. I opened the top up for her so she could drink right from the opening. After she had a drink, she got this happy little, yet somehow sly, smile on her face and gently took the top from me. She put it on, twisted it a bit (that was fascinating to watch--she was so focused!), looked at me and said she wanted another drink, then took off the top and had another drink. I found myself in such awe over this tiny little creature! It reminded me of times where I have really made a point to observe, to find that awe in the kids--it is such a way to connect with them. Maybe not have them connect with you, but my experience is that really observing your kids and letting yourself be fascinated by them can be very powerful at helping you connect with them. I highly recommend it. :)

Life of Fred

Oh my goodness, if you have an upper elementary or older child who has done significant work with basic addition and multiplication facts (ideally, has them mastered, or is close to mastery), I have to recommend Life of Fred. (The first book says addition and multiplication; the website says long division as well. Hm...) We picked up the first two books of the series today after having had the title show up repeatedly recently: I had 2 different people tell me about them, had read about them not too long earlier, and then after I asked a friend if she sold them, more people asked about them (without them knowing I had asked her)! My life is just like that. lol. Although, now I have to wonder if that means I need a lot of hints before I get moving on something. ;)

In any case, Life of Fred is the story of a 5.5yo boy who has different issues over the course of his day and how he incorporates math to help him solvehttp://www.stanleyschmidt.com/FredGauss/index2.html his problems. There are some opportunities to practise what is being taught in the lesson, as well as a recap every so often. You might be thinking, "So what?" Well, they are HILARIOUS! Dd has already read half of the first book and plans on going back later to actually do the math.

This is Fred (my apologies to Stan Schmidt if this is not acceptable, but consider it free advertising! :D):

You can find out more about Fred here:  http://www.stanleyschmidt.com/FredGauss/21Fredstory.html

And some sample pages here: http://www.stanleyschmidt.com/FredGauss/31samplepages.html