This term has been a settling in one for us. It has actually been quite a struggle to get into the swing of things, having a just-turned-one-year-old Bear has been quite a challenge, and now he understands things a little more, but is cheeky and does things you can tell he knows are cheeky still. However, I am loving seeing his little character come out, and he loves doing activities with us. Sometimes, actually often, far too much and he tends to be like a bit of a little wrecking ball or whirlwind and tries to take over Addie's work, but he is getting there... He is definitely walking and climbing everywhere now. He has worked out that if you put a chair that he can get on to next to a table, you can use that to climb on the table and then turn the TV on, or try to climb up the bookcases (!)... He is also developing his hand muscles quite a bit now, and you can see how he is getting a little more refined with them, and he can feed himself with a spoon now too.
We are using the Keys of the World (AMI Montessori) albums, which you can currently buy here. I absolutely LOVE these albums. I cannot express how much I love them. They are so comprehensive, yet simple, and achievable for home educating.
Having said that, making a change from doing things as and when we need to, to having any time every day to do 'school' (we call it school because Addie used to go to nursery that we called school, and due to her anxiety issues, we told her that school would now be at home) a very BIG challenge!
It is hard being in our living space, with all the distractions of every day life, and trying to focus on having a work cycle. We don't really have one I suppose, at the moment, and our whole day is a mix of learning, presenting, reading, doing other stuff. In that way, we are quite autonomous in how our days go at the moment. I am hoping that this will progress to a more defined work period in the future, and over the next term, HT2 (or March & April), which starts on Monday.
One thing is the preparation it takes to get things ready. It really isn't that much compared to what a lot of Montessori homeschooling blogs seem to indicate, particularly when using the Keys albums. I mean, I have put off one presentation because I have to sew a tiny little thing onto some dusters, but just have not got round to it! Too many things getting in the way!
Now, though, Daddy has his office much closer to home, so he can be here more, and at the office more (because he does not have to travel 90 mins each way now), and I am hoping that this will lead to better home organisation, and better home ed organisation and better family time organisation too! It is a step in the right direction at least!
What have we been learning?
Jessica, the author of the Keys albums, has given a sequence, broken down into 6 month intervals (starting at age 2.5), of how presentations can be given. It definitely is not a definitive guide, and following the child is always a must. We have definitely had to adapt it for Addie because she covered some Interval 2 & 3 stuff at her nursery (haphazardly, by the way, with no prerequisites being taught), and not a lot of the Interval 1 stuff. For her age, the suggested order indicates she should be going into Interval 2 work, and I can see that she is definitely ready for a lot of it. But, we have also been trying to make sure we have covered Interval 1 too.
Getting her to do anything though has been a bit of a struggle. And I think there are a couple of reasons. One is that she is not in a community of learners, so she has no one to really observe or learn from, or spontaneously be inspired to do any work. I often have to prompt her. The other is that she really has not been presented much, and so when she has time to practice or revisit things she has been shown, she doesn't really have a lot to fall back on. So, HT2 will have quite a lot of new presentations and a lot of things she can choose from our shelves to work with.
What has she done in HT1?
Well, quite a bit of practical life, quite a bit of drawing, some Knobbed Cylinder work, started the Pink Tower, and through our daily reading, has started to recognise beginning sounds of words, and also where different continents are. These last two are really calling to her at the moment, so we are focussing a lot on those, while trying to keep interest in the tactile sensorial work.
We have also been trying to get out and about in nature, learning about animals, the sky, plants, etc in preparation for learning coming up in HT2 & 3, which will be finishing off Interval 2 work, moving into a more relaxed (and more outdoors) HT4 over the summer months.
One thing, though, is that Addie is loving school. She is always asking to do some, so I need to be ready to respond to that, and treat all the times she is awake as learning moments, and not just think we do school in the mornings only. You definitely cannot, even if you tried, stop a child from learning or wanting to learn!
Here are some pics...
