Bells tied on a ribbon... who knew it would keep the 4 month old AND the 2.5 year old entertained for a good 15 minutes?
Over the years, I have tried to use various Montessori methods at home with my babes. Not only do I love the aesthetically pleasing baby toys 😉, but I love how the toys are all open ended for self guided learning and discovery.
Even something as simple as a DIY tactile mobile like a bell tied on a string was great both babes... Quin as she learns how to purposefully hit the string and get a reward (the bell sound) and Lettie had to use her fine motor skills to help me thread the bell on the string! Then she kept helping Quin touch the bell thus inadvertently teaching her!
I remember many years ago voxclarafamily instructing Kolbe how to use a knife to cut her own banana at the age of 3 and my mind was blown. You give a knife to a child??? Don’t worry, it was a table knife but I never thought to let her do it! After that, Kolbe cut all her own bananas and she felt empowered to do it!
Since the banana cutting, I have tried to embrace many more Montessori practices in our home. When buying toys, I try to purchase only open ended ones for a “design your own” play time, I keep plates/cups/silverware on their level so they can get it themselves, I encourage sensory play and learning through that,etc.!
I am SO excited for homeschooling Blaise because many of the things I will be doing with him are more Montessori based. There are tons of home preschool Montessori programs!
My biggest resources for people just starting out... Pinterest for specific Montessori ideas, nickav25’s blog, jackandlinktoys (love their new fb group!), and chickadeeswoodentoys has some amazing sensory ideas for toddlers! I know there are so many wonderful resources out there too that I’m not naming, so if you have a good one, comment and share!
In a world where there are so many resources, materials, bright lights, and flashy toys, I love the simplicity of Montessori and bringing it back to basics. Plus, did I mention, it’s all super aesthetically pleasing? 😉
Y’all know my love for Singapore Math, right!! I’m really excited to start incorporating the Intensive Practice Workbooks!
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I found these workbooks after we had started Singapore math (thanks ourbilingualhomeschool) but still plan on using them this summer. Aryanna is wrapping up 2B and this summer she will be utilizing both 2A/2B by spiraling through the IP workbooks-touching on each of the main concept topics throughout the week, rather than completing each topic section in block form. This way she is working through all the concepts in level 2 each week (thank you Mei for this GENIUS idea!!! cahomeschoole) Layla Mo is onto level 1A and we will start spiraling in the IP workbook once she gets to chapter four.
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What I LOVE about these workbooks is you can use them anyway you want! They have topic areas, mid-year review, extra word problems and challenge problems. It’s a great way to get in extra reinforcement as well as spiral the Dimensions math if needed/wanted. Check out my stories for a flip through of the IP workbook.
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Layla Mo is working on addition facts. She is coming up with addition facts she has memorized that equal 1-10. Aryanna is working on her Chapter Review!!
Hands up, who’s been having stormy weather? 🙋♀️⛈
The weather is undoubtedly channeling our Mirus Toys Ten Frame, a fun and whimsical counting frame which features 10 clouds and 10 felt ball ‘raindrops’, perfect for practicing counting and number sense.
We think it’s rather adorable, how about you?
📷 mirustoys
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#yesbebe #weloveyesbebe #homelearning #homeeducation #invitationtoplay #ecotoys #Montessori #keepingkidsbusy #waldorf #openendedplay #eyfs #playideas #woodentoys #tenframe #educationaltoys #mirustoys #whybehindthewonder #homeschooling #365homeschool #handsonlearning #learningthroughplay #naturestudy #natureschooling #playmatters #letthembelittle #counting #Montessorikids #Montessoriathome #maths #nature yesbebeuk
Its pond week and I'm currently trying to convince my kid to walk with me to the pond 🙃 soooo maybe I'll have some fun clips in my stories later but for now... try making this fun pond water learning craft we did last year!
If you want to see more head to the
| 𝐓𝐈𝐃𝐀𝐋 𝐒𝐂𝐇𝐎𝐎𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆 | highlight 🤓
She loved the whole thing from start to finish! Finding her spelling words by smooshing the "pond water" out of the way is her favorite.
| 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐬 |
• 2 ziploc bags
• cardboard
• hot glue gun
• dish soap, paint for "pond water"
• regular glue and all the decorating items such as rocks, glitter, dirt, sticks...
Do you implement sensory crafts and resources in 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 classroom!?
*resources pictured
Nature journal sheets + cards
raising_up_wild_things
Exploring Nature w/ children curriculum (link in bio)
wooden tray + letter tiles
blessthishome_school
Outside your Window: A poem for every season
candlewickpress
🌊 If you're studying the ocean for Shark Week or any time, I have lots of resources for an ocean unit! These were the shelves at the start of our ocean unit two years ago. I have a Montessori-inspired ocean pack (Living Montessori Now newsletter subscriber freebie that's still available), a list of free ocean printables, and hands-on ocean activities.
You can see this post at LivingMontessoriNow.com. Go through my link in bio and then search for "Free Ocean Printables and Montessori-Inspired Ocean Activities".⠀
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Let’s talk about cultivating a sense of wonder in children…
Rachel Carson once wrote, "A child's world is fresh and new and beautiful, full of wonder and excitement. It is our misfortune that for most of us that clear-eyed vision, that true instinct for what is beautiful and awe-inspiring is dimmed and even lost before we reach adulthood.”
Here are a few ways we can help to keep that sense of wonder alight in our children:
🍃 Regularly show surprise, interest, and attraction to the natural world and its happenings! This means you notice everything from the movements of a worm, to the wag of a dog's tail, to the evaporation of a downpour on a hot summer day, to the dew on a spider’s web or the leaves blowing in the breeze.
🍃 Show interest, spontaneous humor, and joy in your child’s daily life.
🍃 Encourage children to freely experiment, taste, feel, hear, see, explore, and get into things that are interesting.
🍃 Show pleasure and delight in every day tasks that keep your home running smoothly.
🍃 Get lost in your own creativity. It’s important for children to see you get lost in your own world of joy!
🍃 Let children choose their own activities based on interests and boredom and not the decisions of another person.
Let’s keep wonder alive in our children’s eyes. Let them risk being themselves without any risk at all. ❤️
What have you showed wonder about this morning? We have been watching hummingbirds on our bee balm this morning! We even heard one tweet!!
🏝 Land & Water 🌊
These independent work packets are a huge hit with Mr. 4.85 and Ms. 6.5 🥰 Mr. 4.85 has been using the beautiful alphabet cards to help inspire him how to color his work. I love how thai packet from stephhathawaydesigns comes with print or cursive and have simple copy work or more complex.
Mr. 4.85 likes to match his packet with our felt land ans water forms from twigndaisy
This work has proven to be a perfect option for whoever isn’t having a lesson / presentation and is also a great warmup work in the morning for us.
I bound this myself with our home coil binder (see igtv for video on it or linked in my bio ➡️ amazon ➡️ homeschool prep)
#earthscience #landforms #landform #planetearth #island #lake #homeeducator #howwemontessori #howwehomeschool #geology #preschoolgeology #landairwater #montessoriathome #montessorihome #montessorihomeschool #homeschoolprek #homeschooling #homeschoolkindergarten #bayareahomeschoolers #montessorishelfie #montessorishelfwork #kindergarten #diymom #diymontessori #kindergartenlearning #homeschoolcollective #365homeschool #homeeducator #howwehomeschool #howwemontessori #montessorimom #preparedadult #preparedenvironment
Biomes of Africa - Salt Dough Map
We are currently studying AFRICA specifically the biomes, landforms and water forms of the continent. We are starting to dive deep into specific biomes and the plants and animals that call them home!
Over the past few days we made these fun and educational biome SALT DOUGH MAPS!
How to video linked in my bio ➡️ youtube
We also utilized our new wasecabiomes biomes stamp for our map legend! 🥰🌍
This has been such a lovely way to transition from summer time to the new schooler year (which we start in a week or so).
Have you studied Africa? What else should we look at?
#earthscience #landforms #landform #planetearth #island #lake #homeeducator #howwemontessori #howwehomeschool #geology #preschoolgeology #landairwater #montessoriathome #montessorihome #montessorihomeschool #homeschoolprek #homeschooling #homeschoolkindergarten #bayareahomeschoolers #montessorishelfie #montessorishelfwork #kindergarten #firstgrade #diymontessori #homeschoolcollective #365homeschool #homeeducator #howwehomeschool #howwemontessori #continentstudy #africaunitstudy #biomes #biomesofafrica
🌎Continent Study G.I.F.T.A.W.A.Y. 🎁
This week is my birthday week and in celebration I am excited to be patterning with some of my favorite shops to bring you this amazing bundle.
Land and Water forms felt mat - twigndaisy
Wooden continent stampers - athomewithbeanie
Dry Erase Contient and Ocean Map - maddiejaygifts
Geography Pencil Roll - birchstreetgoods
Montessori continent playdough - thelittlelapetite
Wooden US states board - kinderspiel_nc
Epoxy US state stamps - charsjar_s
Continent 3 part card holders - mountain_montessori
North American Landmark cards - hatchingcuriosity
continent mold - montessoricatholic
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#earthscience #landforms #landform #planetearth #island #lake #homeeducator #howwemontessori #howwehomeschool #geology #preschoolgeology #landairwater #montessoriathome #montessorihome #montessorihomeschool #homeschoolprek #homeschooling #homeschoolkindergarten #bayareahomeschoolers #montessorishelfie #montessorishelfwork #kindergarten #diymom #diymontessori #kindergartenlearning #homeschoolcollective #365homeschool #homeeducator #howwehomeschool #howwemontessori #montessorimom #preparedadult #preparedenvironment
Today’s Friday Freebie! 🍎
Today’s freebie is Apple Word Family Baskets! You can grab this free resource by following the “Free Resources” link in my bio under the “Fall/Thanksgiving” folder.
#homeschoolcurriculum #homeschoolmomsupport #homeeducation #homeeducator #homeschoolresources #learningthroughplay #learningthroughexperience #makinglearningfun #homeschoolsmallshop #homeschoolnaturestudy #homeschoolflatlays #athomelearning #learningathome #montessoriathome #handsonlearning #naturebasedplay #naturebasedlearning #montessoriathome #charlottemasoneducation #unschooling #worldschooling #365homeschool
High school on the road (link in bio)
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Lots of questions about teens on the road lately and understandably so!
For now I thought I’d share some of what we’re using, or have used over the years, for high school homeschooling.
With one homeschool graduate under our belts, and this one close behind, we definitely feel passionate about allowing our teens to pursue learning about things they’re interested in rather than simply checking off a box because we’re told to do so.
One of our homeschooling goals is graduating young adults who love to learn.
So giving them the ability to pursue that, and tailor their education around that, feels like a gift for going into their adult lives.
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Every child is different, and the beauty of homeschooling is that every education for each child can be different, but if you head to the link in our bio I’ve shared some of what’s worked for us (including curriculum links) so far over on our blog.
🌿Summer Tree Study🌿
We collected as many samples of leaves as we could from the woods. Lined them all up and looked at the differences and similarities between them. Then we chose our favourite ones to make clay prints with. Some of us made hanging ornaments and poked a hole through the end (before it dried out) and some of us made beautiful ornaments like this.
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We used log rolling pins too to shape the clay. Kids are so resourceful.
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I also love how carefully they've worked to get such neat and precise finish and such clear veins and shapes of the leaves transferred onto the clay too. Top work.
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Edited to add: the clay is a simple terracotta air drying clay from aldiuk. It was a bit wet when we first took it but as it was a warm day it quickly dried out. We also had to use a fish slice to life them off the benches.
#enwc #enwcsummertreeweek #summerleaves #oakleaf #cypresstree #beechleaf #connectedlearning #connectedtotheland
K I D P R E N E U R S ✨
Just a little shoutout to these 2 kiddos of mine that continue to blow my hubs & I away! They make our hearts so happy 💛
You see, my hands & heart are full, INCREDIBLE full but FULLLLLLLL 🤪 so when my son started his business a few years ago {I honestly cannot believe it’s been that long 😭} we started by word of mouth and then moved to IG & then a few months back he was begging me to let him do an Etsy. It was a hard no from me, simply because my plate is FULLLLLLL and I didn’t have extra time to figure out a new platform and going back & forth to the PO constantly 🤣🤣
If you know my boy you know where there is a will there most certainly is a WAY 😎 well, low & behold unbeknownst to me he studied Etsy and learned all he needed to see if it was in fact worth his time. He concluded it was most certainly worth his time to give it a go 🤓
How could I possibly say NO to that?! I told him I would gladly do his photography as I’ve always done for him & as long as he manages all his accounts and correspondence he can go for it and I will support him all. the. way. 🥳
He launched his Etsy about a month ago & he got his first order {from a very sweet & supportive local friend!} and he just THIS week got his first organic order from NEW YORK!! He was SO thrilled!!! As soon as he saw the order waiting he immediately packaged it up & had it ready for pick up the next morning 🤩
Now enters his little sis 🥰, his biggest little fan & of course she wanted to get her sewing goods up on Etsy too! 🤣 so he trained her and helped her get it all dialed in & ironically she had her first organic order this week too 👏🏽 she blew us away at how serious she took this order. Her communication was top notch & her prompt attention to processing was incredible!
If you’re interested in checking out their work feel free to head over to their accounts above & you can visit their Etsy shops to see what they have been up to. I know I’m biased but their work is truly SO beautiful 🥰
I cannot leave my littlest out, she of course has to keep up with her big siblings so she’s been working on some fun creations, stay tuned! 🤩
As homeschool parents, we love our plans! But homeschooling works best when we don’t cling too tightly to our plans, and instead lean into the freedom we have as homeschoolers to take advantage of the opportunities right in front of us that we never could have planned.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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#homeschoolcompass #homeschool #homeschooling #homeschoolmom #homeschoolmama #homeschoolmum #homeschooldad #homeschoolingmom #wildandfreemama #unschooling #christianunschooling #christianhomeschooling #homeschoolwisdom #homeschoollife #homeschooldays #athomelearning #lovehomeed #365homeschool #thisishowwehomeschool #homeeducation #homeeducator #theartofslowliving #enchantedchildhood #christianhomeschool #trainupachild #raisingarrows #homeschoolersofig #homeschoolersofinstagram
I’m not the mom who makes sure the kids comb their hair and put their shoes away. I’m not the mom who makes sure her kids meet every academic standard. I’m not the mom who knows what’s for dinner or has a designated laundry day.
I’ve spent a great deal of time and energy shaming myself for this.
I’m done.
The question is not, “Am I a good mom?” The question is, “What kind of good mom am I?”
Things only get better when I focus on who I am and what I like, rather than who I’m not and what I don’t.
So here I am:
I am the kind of good mom who says yes to messes and pets and projects and parachutes...until I say no. I am the kind of good mom who is emotionally dynamic and talks about it with her kids. I am the kind of good mom who is consistently inconsistent; sometimes it’s dessert first, and other times it’s no-dessert-til-you’ve-eaten-your-vegetables.
I’m the kind of good mom who packs the kids in the car when she just can’t take it anymore, and drives up the canyon for a walk in the woods until we all come to our senses.
I’m the kind of mom who stays up way too late sneaking my kid an extra snack after he’s brushed his teeth and listening to his worries pour out at bedtime, then having a slow morning nursing my toddler and taking a bubble bath while the kids watch Wild Kratts and the neighbor kids have already been at school for an hour.
We also do math.
Kinda.
And it’s all good.
Even the hard is so, so good.
Because it’s the hard I choose.
What kind of good mom are you?
Isn’t this a beautiful handcraft for Autumn Leaves Week in Exploring Nature with Children!
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Thank you to lindamydlak for sharing. Do pop over to Linda’s account for details.
🧡✨🍂🧡✨🍂🧡✨🍂🧡✨🍂🧡
#enwcautumnleavesweek
#exploringnaturewithchildren
#natureschooling
#naturebasedlearning
#learningthroughnature
#naturelearning
#natureschool
#naturecrafts
#enwccrafts
#naturecraftsforkids
#homeeducationuk
#homeeducator
#homeeduk
#homeed
#wildschooling
#charlottemason
#charlottemasoneducation
#charlottemasoninspired
#charlottemasonhomeschool
#enwccrafts
#naturekids
#naturestudy
#welleducatedheart
#homeschoollife
#homeschoolers
#thisishomeschool
#365homeschool
#lifelearners
#enwc
#exploringnaturewithchildrencurriculum
Struggling with getting homeschooling off the ground? You are not the only one!
This graphic is meant to be slightly humourous but the point I am trying to get across is that homeschooling may not come to you as easily as you had originally aniticipated and that is perfectly normal. 😁
I have come to realize that homeschooling doesn't happen the way you think it does. Parents often find themselves going through different "stages" through their homeschooling journey.
Honestly, even after you have done your research and found your comfort zone, it is still a journey filled with excitement and often times unpredictability.
As you keep learning and make small tweaks and adjustments to your daily rhythms, you will become more confident and comfortable with homeschooling.
As always, I am cheering you on! Feel free to DM me, if you have any questions!♥
Have you found yourself doing this? Do you compare your curriculum choices with what others are doing or do you even purchase curriculum because you've seen it work for someone else? ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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You have the freedom, and the smarts, to choose what's best for your family no matter what you see everyone else doing. If you see a curriculum working well for someone, be sure to think through how it will implement into your household, lifestyle, and your kids' learning styles as well as your teaching style.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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You've got this! Seriously!
📖 Language Materials 📃
With summer quickly coming to and end and the school year about to kick off I’m in the process of organizing and shelving new materials and curriculums in our schoolroom.
Mr. 4 (nearly 5 in October) is starting TK soon and is using allaboutlearning , schoolnest for his notebook and wasecabiomes for spelling and biome readers too!
We had hit a little hiccup in our reading progression and started using All About Reading in the beginning of the summer for Ms 6 and it’s been so lovely. I highly recommend them.
I also picked up a gaggle of schoolnest notebooks and her homeschool lesson planner. I am over the moon about the quality of these materials and the kids are already loving using them! 😉
Lastly, wasecabiomes has so many stunning materials. we just received a shipment 📦 that I post to youtube soon! It goes without saying I’ve been eyeing these materials for over a year and can’t wait to use them with the kiddos.
Happy August Friends! I pray you had a blessed summer and I look forward to sharing more of our homeschool journey with you all!
wooden container & notebooks linked in bio ➡️ amazon ➡️ homeschool prep and organization
#catholicmama #catholichomeschool #catholickids #catholicmontessori #montessoriathome #montessorihome #montessorihomeschool #bayareamom #catholicfamily #homeschoolprek #homeschooling #homeschoolkindergarten #bayareahomeschoolers #montessorishelfie #montessorishelfwork #kindergarten #diymom #diymontessori #diymontessorimaterial #kindergartenlearning #homeschoolcollective #365homeschool #homeeducator #howwehomeschool #howwemontessori #firstgradewriting #firstgradereading #homeschoollanguagearts
A gorgeous window transparency made by gathering.wildflowers for Black Garden Ants Week in Exploring Nature with Children!
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Isn’t it fabulous!
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#enwcblackgardenantsweek
#exploringnaturewithchildren
