Feed the ducks and such

This morning we had a play date at Furman with a Greenville Meet Up group.  I joined this group in an attempt to get out, socialize the girls and meet some ladies that might have SOME things in common with me. It is very hard to find people who have the same ideals as Josh and I do and it has really been a struggle to make friends when you don't have anything in common with anyone you meet. We aren't really weird or have a strange religion or anything, we are just what you would call frugal hippies maybe. You know, homeschooling, pro breastfeeding, cloth diapering, healthy eating, stay at home mom. We joke often that we should just up and move to Asheville where we might fit in a little better, but our mothers would kill us if we even considered it. 

So anyway, I have a little social anxiety when it comes to meeting new people, but usually I push through it because I know there is an experience to be enjoyed in the end. Here are a few thoughts that went through my head as I was laying in bed last night, trying to sleep, to give you a better understanding of what I deal with every time I am approaching an event I know I have to interact with adult women.

I am terrified of meeting these people. 

I hate getting out of my comfort zone. 

I have no buddy to go with me. (Josh is usually my comforter)

I'm scared I will get lost. 

I'm nervous about being out of place. 

Worried my kids won't interact. 

Worried they won't have fun.

Scared I will have a bad mommy moment. 

Scared we will be late. 

So there it is. My thoughts raw and unedited. And you know what? Some of that stuff actually happened. I got lost, I was late, the girls didn't interact, I did feel slightly out of place but, as always, we did enjoy ourselves in the end and THAT is really all that matters. 

We fed the ducks, had a picnic lunch, played with bubbles, picked wild flowers, talked about pinecones and how they work and Lydia found a marble. I met some nice ladies and didn't make a complete fool of myself. No, they didn't have a whole lot in common with me, but that's ok. 

Here are some shots of our outing:

As soon as we got home I RSVP'd yes to 2 more events. I love introducing a variety of things to our girls because I feel it makes them well rounded and they see there is a world outside of their own. That may be the only thing that pushes me over my fears. One of my goals as a mother is to not pass that fear of interacting and doing something new onto my children. If I accomplish that I can say I did okay. 

It isn't pleasant stepping out to interact and doing something new to me but, really, isn't it supposed to be a little uncomfortable when you get out of your comfort zone? 

Glass/mirror polishing

This morning's lesson just sort of fell into place as though Delores and I were in sync. Which never happens. Delores has a will and passion as strong as my own so we clash more than we get along. So, maybe it wasn't that we were in sync so much as it was that the subtle selection and placement of the material made us both think we were in sync. 

Last night I sat out a tray for mirror/glass polishing. The tray consisted of glass top stove polish found in the cleaning aisle of the grocery store (if you chose to get this see if you can find a small bottle. This will probably dry up before it gets used up).

The other materials in the tray were a couple of q-tips, a few cotton balls, a rag, a small dish, a small glass bowl and Delores' play makeup mirror. 

Not too long after breakfast she announced she was going to put on makeup. He he he. She then proceeded to put on makeup, but wait, where was her mirror? And the introduction for today's lesson began. 

The child puts two or three drops of the polish into the small glass bowl and then uses a Q-tip to dip into the polish and apply the polish in small circular motions from left to right, top to bottom (indirect preparation for reading) until the entire mirror is covered with the polish and they can't see themselves. They then have to wait until the polish dries which takes about 30 seconds to a minute depending on how thick they have put it on. The girls and I sang a couple of songs while we were waiting. 

After it is dry they use a cotton ball to rub off the polish. Wa lah! A nice clean mirror they can see themselves in and what child doesn't love to look at themselves in the mirror. 

Of course after they do that they have to throw all the used Q-tips and cotton balls away and replenish with new ones. Clean and dry the container holding the polish and replenish the rag used for drying. Put everything in the tray and put the tray back where they got it from. Leaving the material exactly like they found it so it is ready for the next person to use. The clean up in always more exstendive than the lesson and if you are starting out with a two year old it is best to start them out with clean up adding one step at a time until you feel they can handle doing it with just a small amount of reminders before you start giving lessons. 

But anyway, back on topic. So that seems like a neat way to keep some kids busy for a while, but what exactly is it teaching them? Well, several things. It is a practical life activity which means it gives the child a sense of purpose by having responsibilities and skills to help take care of his/her self, his environment and the world around him. This particular work is a care of the environment work and develops focus, concentration, encouragement to follow through with a task to the end, self control, fine motor refinement, respect for fragile objects and respect for those things in his environment. 

So here are some shots of the girls doing just that. 

Polishing the mirror

"I can't see myself!"

Wiping off the mirror

"There I am!" (Different mirror the second time around)

Lydia's turn:

There is always something I find that I want to change after doing a lesson for the first time. The polish bottle was a little heavy and difficult for them to open so I'm thinking I will find a dropper bottle to put a little polish in. Also, Delores broke the little glass bowl in her attempt to clean it so I'm considering a small metal bowl next time. Other than that the lesson was a hit and I'm guessing it will be on the shelf to be used over and over again for a while. 

Cleveland park

Last night in choir practice we had quite a few outbursts and some uncontrollable laughter. Our choir director said it was all because of teachers. Of course all the teachers in the room stood up ready to defend themselves, but then he went on to say that every person has been affected and ingrained by teachers in the sense that when the end of May rolls around suddenly we all start acting up because we've behaved so nicely all year long and now we just want to cut loose and be done already. That's another reason we decided to homeschool and to do it year round. I didn't want them to experience that feeling of just being done with learning already. 

I definitely have been feeling the lets-get-this-over-with way recently. The motivation I usually have to teach just isn't there and the itch to get out and go and have a vacation has been replacing my thoughts of formal leaning and I, of course, have been feeling guilty about that. 

I even joined an upstate mothers meet up group to get us out of the house to socialize and do fun things, but when it came to RSVP to some events I started feeling guilty if it wasn't on our Freeday or there was two in the week I wanted to go to. Then I was reminded by my attentive husband that they are just kids and they need that before they get to be school age and we have to start doing school. I also remembered that doing stuff outside of the house for learning purposes  during the summer was my intention all along because I believe children can learn a lot that way if they have some guidance and are pointed out things they wouldn't recognize or know on their own.

So yesterday I took them to Cleveland park's playground in Greenville for the first time. Take a look at how happy they are and I had a pretty good time too. 

It was right by the zoo and then I realized I could even take them to the zoo on a weekday and not have to schedule it on a weekend when Josh can go with us. But not that day. We spent so much time at the playground that there wasn't time for anything else. I hope this is the beginning of many more adventures and I can stay guilt free about not doing planned lessons in front of a mat. 

Blog construction

I am working on adding tabs under the blog's title to categorize some of my posts. When I first started this blog I didn't really think about separating certain topics from each other, but as the blog is growing I feel the need to organize (as any good montessorian would).

For instance, I have already created a tab for music where I will be posting all previous and future posts related to Delores' music lesson since they really don't have anything to do with Montessori homeschooling. That being said, the previous links to posts on her music lessons will change so if you are looking for something and can't find it, please visit the music page by going to the drop down bar at the top of the blog.

I hope to have other tabs for my random off-the-wall posts, an "about us" page, and some answers to FAQ's (if anyone would ever ask me a question :) ). 

It will also give me a chance to blog about other topics besides Montessori homeschooling and put them in their place without feeling like those posts don't belong.

So bear with me while I make some adjustments to the blog and, as always, if you ever have any questions please feel free to ask. 

Mountains of art

My girls love to make art with any medium and I encourage it being an artistic person myself, but all that work makes for piles and piles and paper that just lay around for weeks or months (depending on how motivated I am at the time). 

In pursuit for organization I ran across an article in Parenting magazine that suggested you just throw it away after a certain period of time. I just could not imagine doing that. I kept all of Delores' art work from when she was 2 in a binder in chronological order. Looking back through it I can see how much she improved and see how her creativity blossomed over time. That binder is something I will treasure for the rest of my life and hopefully she will treasure it as much as I do when I give it to her.  So for that reason I do not thrown any of their art work away unless it was just some light scribble that didn't look like there was anything on the paper anyway. 

Yesterday I didn't have anything planned to clean during their nap time so I took that opportunity to organized this:

Intimidating huh? This is the instance where I had waited months to tackle this project. After 1 & 1/2 hours of separating paper into each girl's pile, then putting each pile in chronological order, 3 hole punching each paper and finally putting all the papers into their binders, this is what I have now:

Don't you just love that feeling of accomplishment that comes from organization? :)

Turning out alright

I go through ups and downs as a Montessori homeschooler. There are some weeks when I feel the pressure to do school in a very formal way. I become stressed and I usually take my stress out on the girls. Then I get frustrated with myself and I am reminded it is about going with the flow and following the child. Not about sticking with a schedule or an outline. Then I relax and do just that. I spend some weeks just trying to enjoy my girls and then something happens and the pressure creeps up inside me again. I try more and more to stay in those easy-going weeks, but I have weaknesses and downfalls just like any other human being. If you want to know the truth I think it has a lot to do with my cycle and hormonal imbalance. I find myself going from one extreme to the next and, as hard as I might, I can't seem to get a grip on it.

This week however, I am going with the flow and while I still have that nagging feeling to do school I am pushing through it to be the mom and teacher I want to be for my girls.

Monday we had a busy day. We didn't do much "school" where they sat in front of a mat doing activities for hours at a time. They did the kind of school that I love to see blossom in them. The natural curiosity for life and the learning that comes from that. 

Here is the only shot I got of the girls doing mat work.

Delores transferring poms into a container with tongs.

The rest of these pictures are just of things that the girls asked to do.

Delores using our DIY version of the circle metal insets made from pink and blue foam board and dowels hot glued into the middle. 

Delores and Lydia washing the chalkboards. 

Drying the chalkboard

Delores cutting on the line to make a letter "H," beginning sounds booklet I got from here: http://www.first-school.ws/theme/alphaletter_p/h.htm

Then on top of all that the girls asked for turkey and cauliflower for lunch and asked for classical music as background noise after lessons. :) So no matter how bad I put myself down for being hard on the girls and being stressed out and not feeling like playing all the time, apparently they are turning out all right. Yay me! And yay them for putting up with me. 

1000 page views!!

So I just visited my blog's dashboard (profile page) and noticed I have over 1000 page views for this blog that I started writing 2 months ago. That's awesome! I'm so glad I am able to reach people with my writing even if it is to spy on what my girls and I do all week (ahem, family members).

I just want to take this time to personally thank you for tuning into all my posts and giving me the motivation to keep writing.