Montessori Inspired Preschool Mirror Writing

About six weeks ago, Henry's preschool teachers expressed some concern about his writing and fine motor skills. He goes to a non-Montessori preschool so their concern was not at all unexpected. While Montessori schools focus on reading and writing with a movable alphabet at first, traditional schools are more concerned with pencil grip and writing skills.  I think it's kind of silly, but since we aren't sending him to a Montessori school {sadly} I felt like it was important to honor their request to work with him on writing at home. If I was going to do that, I wanted to do it in the most Montessori way I could, so I created a Montessori inspired preschool mirror writing work.  This post contains affiliate links at no cost to you.  I knew I had to create something to entice Henry to participate. I wasn't going to force him or do silly worksheets. Part of the issue is Henry shows almost no interest in writing on his own. Right now, he fills his time ...

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Nora -- 9 Months Old

This post is 10+ days old now because time is slipping through my fingers at the most unfair of rates. I spent an agonizing 2.5 years waiting for Nora, everyday felt like an eternity. Then, she comes, and bam, nine-months are gone right before my eyes.  Being with Nora is a joy and an absolute privilege. I could spend all day squeezing her. All day. This month Nora has had a little growth spurt! She's in size 4 diapers, 12 month shirts and 6-9/12 month pants. She's up to 18 lbs 4 oz, and 26 inches -- around 50 percent for weight and 10 percent for height. Even with this spurt, she's much smaller than Henry was at her age. She has a little more hair, three teeth -- two bottom and a top, as of yesterday -- and big blue eyes.  This month Nora has been on the go. She is crawling, pulling up all over and cruising behind everything. She has even taken a couple unassisted steps. I'm guessing it won't be too much longer until she is walking. In fact...

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Henry at 4-years-old

In the blink of an eye, my baby is 4. Everyday, he loses more of his baby-ness and becomes solidly a kid. A real life, independent, silly, charming, sassy kid.  It's been a long time since I've dedicated a post solely to Henry. It's hard to really describe where we are at -- he's probably how he's always been -- very black and white. So super sweet and charming and social one minute, and screaming in my face, angry and sassy the next. 3-years-old, especially the last six-months have been a bit tough for him. Henry is exerting his independence at every opportunity and he's not afraid to let us know how he feels about something.  But, still he's so much a baby. He carries his blankie everywhere, still sucks his bottom lip and touches my hair. He's a cuddler at heart and his love language is completely touch. Two seconds after screaming (and I mean screaming) in my face, he will plant the wettest sloppy boy kisses on my face.  Henry is...

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Printable Baby Language Book and Treasure Basket

This month's 12 Month of Montessori topic was language. It was a little difficult for me to think of a language idea that I liked, because really the best was to develop your baby's language is expose your baby to language! Talk and talk and talk some more. Talk them through diaper changes, meal times, and play time.  This language book and treasure basket can help get the conversations started!  In this treasure basket, I included a DIY language book and several small, simple items. I used generic items so you can recreate the basket at home. I wanted an appealing mix that encouraged exploration and movement. For a toddler, you might encourage matching a picture to an object, but here, I just wanted to explore the idea that things have names and we can talk about them.  I presented this basket like I would any other treasure basket, by letting Nora just discover it. Once she showed an interest I asked her if I could read the book. I...

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Montessori Inspired Space Theme

Over the past several weeks, we have been space crazy around here. Henry is in love with Star Wars so I thought we should use that desire to learn a little about the real solar system.  It has been a huge success. Henry and the co-op kids all loved the work.  The first tray was all about the moon landing. The tray features a Styrofoam ball painted like the moon, several flags and a couple of cards. The cards feature pictures of the original moon landing and American flag. The goal here is to have the children look at the cards, study the astronauts, and plant the flag. Henry loved this work and probably repeated it more than anything else. I loved this work because it was a simple way to get him interested in fine motor work, an area where Henry could use some practice.  The next tray was one examining the sun as a star. When I presented the work, I explained the sun was the closest star to the earth. To repeat the work, the children could use th...

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