For the Love of Oranges

There's nothing better than a bright, juicy orange, don't you think? The stores are full of them at the moment and so I thought we'd have a little fun...
A great practical life activity: Squeezing Oranges
James LOVED this work and put some serious effort into squeezing the juice out of the oranges. When he finished he drank a cup full of juice, smiling in between sips. :)

Notice the cute apron he's wearing? It was lovingly made for James by his Aunt Beth. I found the fabric at Joann's in April and knew it would make a fun Practical Life apron. Beth is a wonderful seamstress and when I asked her if she'd make the apron (I don't own a sewing machine), she very sweetly agreed.

And, because she has a heart of gold, she made a matching apron for me, too. Look at these - aren't they adorable?! She even embroidered them to read, "Chef James" and "Chef Mom". And...

the pockets read, "Happiness is Homemade". I about cried when I saw that. It could be my motto!

Frozen Orange Cups

My niece and I made some frozen orange cups. Yummy! And so quick and easy, too!

First we squeezed the juice out of the oranges, then we poured the juice back into the cups and popped them into the freezer. I'd recommend eating them when the get to the "slushy" stage. They're a bit difficult to eat when they're completely frozen.

Perfect for a hot summer day!

As James enjoyed his frozen treat, I read this book to him:

The Sun Egg, by Elsa Beskow. A sweet story about a little elf who comes across a giant orb in the forest and thinks the sky has dropped one of its eggs. She finds out it's an orange - or a "sun egg", as it is called by the other forest creatures. I love Beskow's books, although I'll say there are a few words that appear from time to time (e.g. stupid) that I do not love. I simply change the words while reading aloud to James.

~Thank you for your comments!~

Tree Blocks

As I mentioned in this post, I'm getting a jump start on Christmas gift-making. Like last year, I'm planning on making most of James' gifts. We decided a while back to cut back on the amount of plastic we have in the house, specifically in James' playroom, and to invite more natural and homemade toys into our home instead. So far so good!

Recently, Paul and I made some tree blocks for one of James' Christmas gifts. I saw these at this online store last fall and knew I wanted to make a set of our own.Finding the materials proved surprisingly difficult. It was really important to me to find wood from a felled tree, but since there aren't any real forests here and since Bermudians keep the island impeccably clean, I had to wait and hope something would magically appear!

Imagine my surprise when while driving along I saw a pile of branches on the side of the road! I pulled over and once I found out they were on their way to the dump, I wasted no time in selecting a 6 foot branch for our blocks. I had to break off the attached smaller branches and I think I gave the tourists (waiting at a nearby bus stop) quite a laugh. Me, in my flip flops, stomping and wrestling with this big branch and then trying to stuff it into my very tiny car. :)

The thing I love most about these blocks is that Paul and I made them together for James. Paul sawed them into sections and I sanded down the rough edges.

Once they were all sanded and ready to go, the child in me took over and I began stacking and creating towers and castles. What fun!

I made a drawstring pouch to store them in. The pattern is of a cute and colorful forest. :)

I hope James likes them as much as we do!

~I'm linking this up to Creative Friday, Sharing Time, We Play and Tot Tuesday.~

~Thank you for your comments!~

Beach Themed Activities

Here are a few beach theme activities for our shelves...

Practical Life

Pouring sand
James has perfected his pouring skills, so I'm not sure how much longer I'll be preparing this kind of work. I'll put it out for as long as he has the interest and so he has the option.

Umbrella pushing
Similar to our flag pushing activity. These are those little drink umbrellas you can just about anywhere. James loved them!

Tweezing flowers
We did this a few months ago and James really enjoyed it, so I put it out again.

Sensory

Sorting sea glass
This was the first activity James chose. I think it's because it looks so pretty and natural. Dr. Montessori believed children were naturally drawn to real and organic items.

Beach sensory tub
Click here to read more about it and our sandy playdough.

Sorting beach shapesI found these at the pet store in the fish section. :) I was surprised to observe that James had a hard time differentiating some of the shapes. I wonder if he was distracted by the colors?

Language

We read a few beach themed books and these are the two I'd recommend...

Swimmy, by Leo Lionni. A sweet, yet simple story with some really cool illustrations.

On The Seashore, by Anna Milbourne. I generally like all of the books by this author. This one tells the story of a cute little hermit crab who travels a tide pool looking for a new home.

We are blessed to live so close to tons of amazing beaches, so of course we spend a lot of our time there.How is this a language activity? Well, after printing out the photo I asked James a bunch of questions about it. It was such a great way to get him to think about what he was seeing, to use his vocabulary and to learn new words, too. Here's a sample of the questions I asked:

:: What is Daddy doing with his hands?
:: What kinds of activities can you do at the beach?
:: Why is James wearing a hat?
:: Can you find anyone else in this picture?

Math

Sequencing
I found the clip art on abcteach.com. Our color printer was down at the time, so I colored the images in myself. (I LOVE coloring!) :) I cut out the images, laminated them and then took photos of them in various combinations. James can use the photo strips to copy the sequences.

Counting coconutsIt's about time I got around to creating an activity in honor of my lil blog! I cut these shapes out of felt. The idea here is that James will shake a (homemade) die and add that number of coconuts to the tree. He'll then shake the other die and add that number to the tree too and then count the sum total. It's a fun introduction to addition. I used small, wooden blocks and a black marker to create the dice. Note to self: buy a wood burning tool.

Quantifying with shellsI made some number cards and gathered 55 shells to use as counters.

Measuring palm fronds
After collecting a few fronds from our yard, I cut them down to various sizes. We will use a nifty little tape measure from my sewing stash to measure each piece. I think James is really going to like this activity!

Art
I realized we haven't done much in the way of "organized" art lately. We made these shell collages last month and James has been spending TONS of time coloring and drawing me beautiful pictures. :)

That's it! These will last us the next few weeks easily. This week my niece is coming to stay with us for a couple of weeks and I know James will be happily preoccupied with her. :)

On a personal note, I'm feeling anxious about the upcoming school year. I don't know why exactly. Maybe it's because I haven't made any real plans as to how our school schedule will run. I've made up my mind that we're moving into true homeschooling mode, which means we'll be having schooltime everyday, just as James would if he were attending a school outside of home. I'm not at all worried about our curriculum since I have 100% faith in Montessori. I guess I just need to find some time to sit down and think about it all. :)

I'm linking up to two wonderful learning spots: Montessori Monday and The Preschool Corner.

~Thank you for your comments!~

A Bit of Knitting

Since learning to knit this past January, I've been busy creating a variety of small things until I work up the courage to attempt something like this or these. Anyway, seeing as a few of you have very sweetly inquired about my knitting adventures, I thought I'd share what I've been up to...

I made a cute *little* bowl (seriously, this thing is just big enough for a few pairs of earrings) using a bamboo/wool mix and a pattern I found in this book. This was my first time felting a knitted project and I was quite pleased with the results.

This little bird didn't turn out as well as I hoped, but it's fine enough for our nature table and James thinks it's cute. :) I still have to needle felt in the eyes. The yarn is a beautiful handspun wool which I purchased here on Etsy. You can find the easy to follow pattern here.

Here's something I am proud to share - a little drawstring pouch. The pattern can be found in this book. This came together very quickly (just a few hours, which is quick for me anyway!), but I must note that I fingerknitted the drawstrings instead of creating an i-cord. Everyone tells me i-cords are easy to make, but I just can't get the knack of it. I'll revisit it again another day. :)

I posted here about my newest hobby, spinning yarn, and decided to make another (larger) bowl with some of the fiber. It didn't turn out as well as I had hoped. Still very floppy despite my felting it. I think I needed to knit two strands together.

Lots of little fruits. I got the pattern from my favorite magazine's website, Living Crafts. The pattern itself was created by Nicole, of Frontier Dreams. I plan on making more of these so they can be used for counting, our sensory tubs and as tree ornaments.


I'm sharing the good and the bad with you and this hat definitely falls in the category of BAD. I had such high hopes for this hat! I made it for my darling husband and cast on several additional stitches to account for his large and lovable head :) but it ended up being waaaay too big - it's more like a beret! Also, this was my first attempt at creating a seed stitch, a thing which requires focus and concentration, a thing which I am not very good at.

This is my most recent project, my rainbow scarf. I LOVE it! It's super soft, super long (6.5 feet!) and just the right weight for Bermuda. I didn't follow a pattern for this, it's just straight garter stitch. I worked on it during the commute to and from Colorado and I think now it'll always remind me of that trip.

I'm getting a jump start on Christmas and so I'm currently working on a new and improved hat for my love. In this case I'm not even following a pattern (I know, how rebellious of me!) because I think hats are basic enough that you don't really need to. I've cast on a sensible number of stitches, created a bit of ribbing at the bottom and then I'm just going to knit the rest of the way. I should mention that I'm using my favorite go-to method, The Magic Loop. The yarn is Malabrigo, the softest, smooshiest and most economical wool I know of! The very manly colorway is SFO Sky.

Next on my "to make" list is a pair of socks for me (my first attempt!) and then it's on to making Christmas gifts for Paul and James.

Speaking of Christmas, I'm asking Santa if he'd be so kind as to bring me this. It's a wooden swift used for unwinding hanks of yarn into usable balls. For the moment, Paul has been very sweetly offering his hands while I wind my yarn. :)

I'd love to know what knitting adventures you've had lately - link back to your work in the comments or send me an email!

~Thank you for your comments!~

Summer Nature Table

I'm a bit behind on posting our summer nature table, but I suppose it's a good thing because you get to see all the goodies we've collected over the past couple of months...LOTS of shells (a mainstay on our table), some of my knitted and needlefelted creations, and a couple of cute wooden figures.

And here are some close-ups:

~shells, seaglass, and coral all cupped in one large shell~

~rocks from our recent trip to the Rocky Mountains~

~My needlefelted flower and dragonfly and a sweet little picture~

The little wooden frog reminds me of the tiny Bermuda tree frogs that whistle in the evenings during the summer. I just love that big chunk of quartz - I've always been a sucker for stones, gems and minerals. The sun mat is needlefelted.

I'm linking this up to Creative Friday and The Nature Table. Click on the links for more creative ideas!

~Thank you for your comments!~

I Did It!!

I successfully completed my Montessori Teacher Training Course!

I learned so much in the process of taking this course - and not just about the Montessori method, but also about myself as well.

For years I blamed my mediocre grades on my inability to retain information for a long periods of time and because I was too shy to ask questions. While both of those things are true to an extent, I knew deep down that it was really just a bunch of bologna. Truth is, I was always a "lazy learner". I lacked motivation and support. My parents were always very lax about my education and never made a big deal out of grades or homework. Twice during my childhood my parents were urged to move me up a grade because teachers felt I wasn't being challenged enough. They decided against it for social reasons. I don't blame them for my actions (or lack thereof), but I do think their attitude affected my views on school.

Anyway, I was a bit nervous about taking this course because I wondered if I had the ability - and time! - to be successful and to follow through with it. I decided to go for it because the Montessori method is something that I truly believe in (my motivation) and because Paul, my loving husband, was positive I would succeed (my support).

Turns out that's all I needed!

I haven't seen a report card with this many A's (that had my name on it) in years!

Another thing I learned is that I can no longer consider myself one of those people who doesn't finish what they start. This is HUGE for me as it was something I had struggled with all my life. This past year has been filled with things I started AND finished. Hooray for personal growth!

Now, what am I going to do with my new-found knowledge and this diploma? Well, as I mentioned in this post, for the moment I plan on using it to teach James and any future children we may have. Paul and I have made the very exciting decision to homeschool indefinitely (more about that in a separate post). In the long term, it's a hope of mine that I'll someday open my own Montessori school. A much respected Bermudian approached me about opening up a school here. He was willing to back the endeavor (a necessary thing in order to start business in Bermuda) and while his confidence in me was certainly flattering, I declined the offer. For the time being I really want to focus on my family.

The folks at the North American Montessori Center (NAMC) have in no way asked me to do this, but since I'm all about sharing with you the good things I come across, I must recommend NAMC's 3-6 course. I had such a positive experience with their program and I was so impressed with their professionalism and high quality materials.

That said, however, I realize an online training course isn't the most ideal way to learn how to teach Montessori, but at the moment I am... geographically challenged :) and had no other choice. I'm thankful I have Montessori materials in my possession so I could actually touch and see what my manuals were teaching me. I would LOVE to take the full, hands-on training course someday.

Finally, I just want to say THANK YOU...
First to my wonderful husband for all his words of encouragement and praise, and for graciously giving me the time and space I needed during my many, many hours of studying. You are one of kind, my love.

Thanks also to my lovely NAMC tutor, Collean, who was extremely kind and helpful and always took the time to give me meaningful and encouraging feedback.

Lastly I want to thank my bloggy friends for their support! Many of you reached out to me throughout the past several months to inquire about my progress and to wish me well. I was always so moved by this and it did everything to solidify my belief that real friendships can be created online.

Now to celebrate!

~Thank you for your comments!~

Storytelling

I fell in love with storytelling back in high school when I focused on that category for our speech team. I got such a thrill from memorizing a story and then stepping within it to create movements and voices to make the story come alive for the judges. I have the pleasure of doing this for James now, and boy does he love it! He watches me with big eyes and when I'm finished he'll say, "One more time, mama!"

Lately, James is really into the story of Goldilocks and The Three Bears - he asks to hear it over and over again. Because there are only so many times mommy can tell a story with gusto and because I want to nurture his own creative storytelling side, I set out to find an easy to follow book and some story aids.

A few weeks ago, while shopping on Etsy, I ran across this beautiful wooden set. I thought it would be the perfect accompaniment to our story. The book is a much loved (read: chewed on) board book from James' baby days. The pictures are simple and easy to follow.

Aren't the pieces lovely? I just stare at them in admiration. They were made by one very cool single mama who travels the county in her van with her 3 year old son.

It's wonderful how something as simple as carved wood can open the doors for imagination and movement. The other day I saw James using the set and retelling the story to his teddy bear. :)

Children learn so much about our language through storytelling - vocabulary, nuances of dialect, and vocal fluctuations. They also learn about morals, values and important life lessons. Best of all, storytelling is interactive and engaging in a way a television could never be. Instead of kids zoning out, as they do with TV, they stay alert, excited and full of anticipation, eager to hear what the storyteller has to say. Try it with your kids and/or students and you'll see what I mean!

As for the story aids, I believe these are very important, too. They encourage oral communication and creative thinking. They are particularly useful to children who are not yet able to read - they can look to the pieces for cues and ideas.

I wish I could find more wooden sets for our other stories. I could certainly create more characters for our felt board which could serve the same purpose. I LOVE this idea and if I had access to flat stones I would make them asap! Another creative idea I ran across recently was to use small, flat wooden cutouts (such as those you find at craft stores) for storytelling. If I were really ambitious I'd create variations of our paper people or sew some characters out of felt. Can you think of any other ways to create storytime visual aids?

~Thank you for your comments!~