The Kavanaugh Report

I'm going to admit this right off the top, I'm not a huge music/audiobook person. I think I'm mostly overwhelmed too easily by the noise of daily life that I'm not the first one reaching to add more noise. But, my children, on the other hand, are HUGE audiobook and music people. There is always someone in this house listening to a book, blasting music, or wishing they had the device that one of their siblings is using so they can do one of those things. 🫣😆 After far too many fights over who was going to use our smart speakers (and listening to a toddler scream at it in vain) I decided to get a  Yoto player for our home. This was nearly a year and a half ago and it is still one of the most popular things in our house. Everyone from my toddler to my teen uses the Yoto. I'm so glad I purchased it and foresee it being popular for years to come. Yoto Players and Cards We Love as A Montessori Family I get asked very frequently what cards we love and what are the best M...

The other day at dinner we had pickles as a side option. As we were eating, my 5-year-old gets up, goes to the kitchen and comes back with a cutting board, knife, and fork. He serves himself a pickle, puts it on his cutting board, holds it with the fork, and slices it into tiny bits before ultimately eating it. I laughed to myself because it was so classically a first plane of development Montessori kid thing.  Days earlier, my 2.5-year-old was in the garden gathering vegetables into one bucket. She came inside and separated each type of vegetable into it's own pile, washed them each, dried them, put them all into a clean bowl (together) and into the fridge. Again, I laughed to myself. Both of these might lead out adult brains to ask, "why?" They both seem like overly complicated ways to approach regular tasks. Just eat pickle. Just wash all the vegetables together. Get it done quickly and efficiently. I think many adults, look at these examples of Montessori and think ...

We live in such an amazing time for children's toys. There are so many options that you really could spend every day playing with something new. (PS, don't do that!) As a Montessori parent, I want to add toys that stimulate my children's senses, make them think, but will keep them engaged over and over again. Gear toys have been one that has fit those criteria for my children and for me.  Gear toys are often this unique combination of open ended toys (they can be put together in many ways) but that also have correct (more close ended) ways that they need to be put together in order for them to work. I love that these toys set the stage for deeper learning about mechanics and engineering that can be foundational to other learning later on.  (Using jumbo gears at a local library)  In our house, it's my 7-year-old that really loves gears and gear related toys. We have had several options over the years that have been loved by several of my children. Everything from toddle...

Following a wonderful summer at home with all of my kids it's really become apparent how big a lot of my children are getting. Their days as young children are far behind them and they are all really coming into their own. Watching my big second plane kids play and explore, though, has really led to me to one conclusion - they don't need a Montessori playroom anymore. No, our Montessori home needs a makerspace. On my Instagram stories, I said, "if I only had bigs I would get rid of our playroom and make it into a makerspace."  And while I would love to just give up the playroom for them, I still have some really little first plane children at home too. They need and use the play space, so for now I'm just dreaming of a makerspace. I'm starting to store away a few ideas for when this will become a reality in our home.  A Montessori Friendly Makerspace At Home Of course makerspaces are really popular in museum, library and school settings so specific furniture f...