tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-51414744916457503102024-03-05T02:21:38.454-08:00Montessori iciNeptunehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16633808709890395812noreply@blogger.comBlogger252125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5141474491645750310.post-38631588834069687692013-02-06T04:36:00.000-08:002013-02-06T04:36:33.684-08:00MONTESSORI ICI HAS MOVED<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://threeoaksblog.wordpress.com/"><img border="0" height="161" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrs8uaVTJcT3HwojT8NTVC3sqYXiF4GgOMiVLhZ1reTT0-WbzyYo_psykAj7V06KlO1t07_bSayh-16Md1_UdVKamn5ucL1wpgB9c8Ryh7igYBhQ45EAIGStrjFp85SAwe3nidgTGtwHI/s640/three+oaks+4.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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And also changed...<br />
Since this blog's name wasn't necessarly still reflective of our daily reality, I took the opportunity to change it and go with something that is more neutral.<br />
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The site has been on for the last few days, but I just wanted to male sure it seemed like running smoothly before making the official transition.<br />
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Here is it: <a href="http://threeoaksblog.wordpress.com/">Welcome to Three oaks</a><br />
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<b>Please, come and join me there, I would love to have you all!</b><br />
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<br />Neptunehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16633808709890395812noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5141474491645750310.post-5069081199690069682013-02-02T18:01:00.000-08:002013-02-02T18:01:02.855-08:00Big changes aheadBlogger is at it again...I think I have reached the limits of what I find acceptable.<br />
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Expect big changes soon :)Neptunehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16633808709890395812noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5141474491645750310.post-36760880029754575222013-02-01T09:59:00.000-08:002013-02-01T09:59:12.884-08:00The hand and it's tools<div style="text-align: center;">
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<span style="text-align: center;">"The hands are the instruments of man's intelligence" M. Montessori</span><br />
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The importance of the hand is at the heart of Montessori education. The use of hands helps the child construct itself thought Maria Montessori. "The hand is the tool of the mind". Years later, science tends to prove that indeed manipulation is paramount in learning, and that retention will be greatly enhanced if the child learned through manipulation rather then mere rote learning.<br />
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If the hands bear such importance, then the tools we use should allow the hand to work at optimum level: to help the learning process, but also to foster the love of learning.<br />
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What is more frustrating, even for us adults, to use a tool that is either defective or of poor quality? This experience can be even more frustrating for the little child who does not have the amount of coordination we do for common tasks.<br />
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I often see in children's store or catalogues tools aimed for children that are either poorly constructed or made with lesser quality products. And unfortunately, they seem to be the norm. <br />
They are also usually made to entice the children's eyes, with bright colors of other features like mass media products which, in the end, makes them overwhelming. For the parents, these items are cheap, and thus interesting budget wise.<br />
But if the hand truly has the importance we attribute it, I think it is wise to use high quality, functional, attractive and beautiful material to keep it working.<br />
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Children are able to use tools way before we expect them to and better then we them credit for. What they need is guidance and an adequate and safe environment where they can experiment with such tools.<br />
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E was given true and good quality tools at a very young age. And I can see the results of this already. His desire and will to work with his hands and use tools is very strong.<br />
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I try to fill his need of using his hands for very meticulous tasks by having a rotation of practical life activities requiring fine motor skills, hand eye coordination, and also deep concentration... in a variety of situations, whether they are real of artificial.<br />
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Good quality tools can be found now easily thanks to a some Montessorians who wished to offers good tools that would be correctly sized for children.<br />
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I usually find what I need and get inspired by:<br />
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<a href="http://www.forsmallhands.com/">For Small Hands</a> and <a href="http://www.montessoriservices.com/">Montessori Services</a> : both have beautiful and inspiring material for the small and not so small child<br />
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<a href="http://michaelolaf.com/store/index.html">Michael Olaf</a> is another site that is just as wonderful.<br />
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But do not underestimate locally found products. There are many treasures that can be found in regular stores. Sometimes, it is just a matter of thinking outside the box.Neptunehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16633808709890395812noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5141474491645750310.post-79458289085874444582013-01-31T04:45:00.001-08:002013-01-31T04:45:25.504-08:00Everyday Montessori<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I have no idea what happened, but I lost my blog post yesterday after it got posted... Blogger cam really be a pain sometimes...I miss wordpress...<br />
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This is something I frequently find in the house. A spontaneous sorting activity initiated by E. I just have to leave the material in an easy to reach spot in an attractive way. These colored bowls are his favorite for any color sorting activities.</div>
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This time, he used the number puzzle that was close by as objects to sort. Sometimes, he goes around the house and uses other items, and sometimes he asks for material, or he uses the ones I provide with the bowls. I rotate this material often.</div>
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Color sorting is a good and easy to set up Montessori activity for all ages. You can easily step up the work by letting the child search in the house for colored object without having a reference in his hands, or over ask for shades a few colors. This also has the benefit of teaching new vocabulary and train the eye to become more accurate in distinguishing hues.</div>
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Pinterest is full of ideas for color sorting activities, if you need more inspiration.</div>
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Neptunehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16633808709890395812noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5141474491645750310.post-30488640253864479092013-01-25T13:02:00.001-08:002013-01-25T13:02:34.664-08:00Why we have incorporated Reggio in our lives<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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A post on <a href="http://www.howwemontessori.com/">How we Montessori</a> triggered a discussion about Reggio Emilia, and I thought the topic was interesting enough to share it widely.<br />
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After mentionning Reggio Emilia to her, she confessed that she was rather turned off by this because of the artistic aspect of it. And I could completely relate as I had a similar feeling at first. <br />
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I kept being pulled back to Reggio, but would always stop myself in my tracks at the mention of the "hundred language of children" which implied artistic activities.<br />
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I am a scientist, in my job and in my head. Art was not something that was promoted when I was a child. I have no problem letting my children explore art, contrarily to what my experience as a child was, but I don't feel like the best person to guide them through this since my limited experience and knowledge of arts. X is not a very artistic boy either. He is a very reality based child. He is very creative in what he does, but not in arts per se. How could Reggio work here?<br />
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But surprisingly, I have been able to find my niche in Reggio, or maybe what I do is Project based "homeshooling", (but truly, I do not think ones need to homeschool in order to incorporate that in their lives), it does not matter, I do not want to get stuck in semantics here.<br />
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What I didn't understand is 100 languages of children doesn't have to be limited to art. You can find your own definition of a language, as long as somebody can express what they are learning, in a manner they are comfortable to.<br />
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One of the principle that I have always adhered to, coming from Montessori, was the idea of following the child. She said that the child is not an empty vessel in which we could pour knowledge, but rather an individual that can and know what he needs to build himself. Letting him choose his experiences, and letting him be intimate with those is important for him to grow. Reggio allows just that, following the interest of the child, just not in a set environment, with specific material.<br />
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Reggio states that the child should be able to work in an area of interest for the amount of time he wants, with the means that speaks to him, without being directed or lured to learning a specific set of knowledge. Choosing an interest and building on it as long as the child can, as long as his interest flourish within that topic, and let oneself go with the flow along other interests that are somehow connected. That is what Reggio is about. The beginning of a project includes brainstorming, new ideas that needs to be developed, tried and improved. It means discussions and reading have to take place to get ready, ideas have to be shared analyzed, fine tuned and even documented... so many skills that are very welcome in life.<br />
The child should be able to revisit his work and even start it over again, and this should not be seen as a waste of time, but rather as adding another layer of knowledge, a new experiment of the previous work, seen with new eyes, and with more experience this time. The child is able to choose what he needs to learn and how to learn it following his own interior"plan"and we should trust this blueprint of construction. This does not mean that the child should not be guided though, and guidance can be an asset to the child's learning.<br />
Feels a lot like Montessori Cosmic Education to me, with an emphasis on expression.<br />
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Montessori insisted upon the importance of attention, letting the child have the space and time to develop this. This is nurtured and sustained by letting the child live in his project at his own pace. <br />
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So really, with this angle, I am not surprised Reggio was appealing to me, it feels so close to Montessori.<br />
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So now, how about the expression part? <br />
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I think there is more to painting and modeling for expressive means.<br />
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X is a builder. He loves mechanics. The down to earth kid.<br />
When he is pursuing a topic, he looks at books, looks at images and study them. He regularly ask me to make photocopies of these images and he pins them to his board.<br />
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He study these images and he learns the vocabulary that is associated to it. I have even seen him identifying part of these drawings.<br />
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More often then not, he tries to build something that is associated with the topic, often with success, sometimes not.<br />
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In this project about space, he looked at launch pads that he recreated with blocks for block play later during the day. I even saw him try to make a astronaut suit to be used in prop play.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">photo taken by X and used as an inspiration to make an astronaut suit </td></tr>
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We have visited museums about space shuttles and space, after he asked and found these expositions.<br />
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Recently, he has been interested in becoming better at drawing. I don't think his art experience will go any further then this. But I agree that a minimal knowledge of drawing and sketching is an asset, even to a scientist. He sketched rockets and space shuttles, designing new features on them. He talked to us extensively about those drawing, explaining what parts does what. <br />
And don't get me started on LEGOs. We have many weeks of rocket building with LEGOs. I think this is a mean of expression that is just as valuable then painting.<br />
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Photographs are also a big part of X documenting his work. He loves to photograph what he does and have the pictures printed. I am sure that he is about to go to another level in photography and try photo montages and such.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photograph taken by X at one of the space museum. He was interested, no, fascinated by the mechanics of the reactors</td></tr>
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Other things possible are the launch of a blog, newsletters, whether written or with images only, making a lecture to member of the family or friends, making an exposition of photograph taken, or a book maybe or even a video...I think the possibilities are endless, if we can get out of the art (painting, modeling...) box.<br />
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This space topic has been on for months now. He has learn a lot through it, and not only about space. About vocabulary, about weather, about geography, about launch pads, famous astronauts, moon exploration and so on. And I see that it is about to shift. The topic of telescopes is the turning point. He has been getting a wider interest in using the tools for observations: magnifying glass, binoculars...and most of all how they work. I don't know where this will settle, but I will be curious to know.<br />
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These are the reasons we chose to incorporate Reggio in our house. We feel as parents, that the importance of being the director of your life and of your learning is one that cannot be understated. We truly believe in the capacity of the child to build himself and the need, as parent, to guide them without directing them. I have seen X do things he would never had done if it would have been part of an imposed project. And I think that the learning not only takes place on the topic the child is researching, but also at meta level: learning about learning, which curiously, is not a topic taught in many school around here, and yet is one that is necessary in life.<br />
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To close this post, I would like to link <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4hkCCK2OFY">to a video that I found while researching rocket projects for X</a>. I really loved looking at it, but X was truly inspired by it, by wanting to retouch his ideas, try something else, and revisit ideas he had but didn't think would work.<br />
We both loved how Reggio and Montessori were co living in the learning experience. I have to admit that is has influenced how we are going about homeschooling here. Note that the project is mainly construction based, there is not a lot of art, drawing being put aside, during the construction of this. I hope you will enjoy it as much as we did!<br />
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If you are interested in Reggio or project based homeschooling, I strongly suggest <a href="http://project-based-homeschooling.com/camp-creek-blog">Lori's book Project Based Homeschooling</a>, which was the book I needed to make the plunge and most importantly, have a better understanding of this.Neptunehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16633808709890395812noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5141474491645750310.post-46765858920147361922013-01-24T08:24:00.001-08:002013-01-25T17:33:12.659-08:00Life in the polar region<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Cold has been upon us big time lately. Yesterday was a record day of -39 degrees. We are talking about fast frost bite upon getting outside if a part of your skin is uncovered. <br />
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Freezing.<br />
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Our time outside has thus been somehow limited this week, and so what better days to learn about Arctic and Polar regions? We sure have the feel of how cold these regions can be all year round (or almost...)<br />
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<a href="http://thefreechild.blogspot.ca/2012/12/snow-storm-on-ice-field.html">I took the Polar animals play to another level</a>. Producing ice is more then easy right now, and it is really fast.<br />
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I had planned this activity for E, but again, all three of them were interested in participating, and the activity triggered many questions about ice, cold, Polar regions, frost and so on<br />
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E's interest was the name of the animals, both in english and french. He played a lot about the connections between mothers and babies.<br />
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X's interest was more about the interaction constituting the food chain: who eats who and most of all how. His other very deep interest was about the evolution of the block of ice. Why we heard the ice crack, if this could happen in the Polar regions too, and what were the consequences of this. Why the middle of the ice was melting sooner then the top part and so on. I left the bin out for most part of the day, and I saw him go back and forth to see what happens as the ice melts. He did until the ice cracked under the weight of the animals, this is the part he was waiting for.<br />
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E brought his book out to enhance the play. He loved copying some of the scenes of the book on our ice patch.<br />
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How I did that:<br />
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I used Schleish animals, although the scales are not compatible... (which irritated me a little). <br />
To make the hole in the ice, I used a plastic bowl. I left the bin outside with the bowl in it yesterday during the day. The bowl was filled with sand so that it could sink in the water. DOn't fill it with water, unless you don't mind leaving the plastic bowl in the ice patch. <br />
Right after dinner, I got it in so that the ice would melt just enough so that I could remove the plastic bowl. As soon as this was done, I returned the bin outside until this morning. Then we just had to add water to simulate the ocean.<br />
The same could be done in a big freezer; right now here, the freezer is used for free...<br />
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<br />Neptunehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16633808709890395812noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5141474491645750310.post-69023365390568838242013-01-17T06:06:00.002-08:002013-01-17T06:26:45.453-08:00Learning Roman numerals<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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On the morning of december 26th, we had a very important breakfast at my husband's grandmother's house. We don't get to see her very often because she lives far away, and so she was anxious to have some time with us all.<br />
Right after breakfast was over, X came over in the dining room and actually asked me to teach him the Roman numerals...! This kids who doesn't want to have anything to do with schooling for months now came to ask me to teach him Roman numerals. Both DH and I were floored. How could I refuse? Thankfully, Grandma tagged along with us talking about Roman numerals. I am sure she was expecting the morning conversation to be miles away from that.<br />
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I am not sure what triggered this question, although I had a doubt. He watched Astérix the night before on tv with his cousins. I know that in this particular movie, they are searching for a house, and Obélix asks what xvi (said like a word in the movie) means.<br />
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The topic was raised again after we came back home, and I saw a real interest in the topic.<br />
I put together, on a whim, a hundred Roman numeral board. Thankfully, I was able to use a printable <a href="http://participassions.servhome.org/">here</a><br />
(Participassion is an awesome french website with tons of fantastic resources! Love it!)<br />
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Printed it, glued it on whatever card stock we had around, and X immediately started to work.<br />
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He completed the chart once, it was a very long process, and nothing could distracted from it. He asked me to do a recap chart so that he could correct himself. And then, once completed, he was done. He hasn't touched it since, and surprisingly he now knows everything about roman numerals...and I have come to understand a few more things about him in the process.<br />
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<br />Neptunehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16633808709890395812noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5141474491645750310.post-73711802461888783042013-01-09T10:33:00.002-08:002013-01-09T10:33:33.879-08:00completely out of sync<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Have you ever gone through a time when you felt like you just were not as tuned with your kids as you thought you were? That is where I am right now.<br />
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In the last few days, I have come to the realization that while I was looking at the holidays coming and going, my kids kept evolving, and I obviously missed some of that.<br />
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It started with E's letters, one that I didn't saw coming at all. And it keeps going with now the pink tower. <br />
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I wanted to wait until E would be 2 1/2 to start using real Montessori materials. I didn't want to rush anything. So today, I felt like it was a good day to surprise E (30 months old) with our modified pink tower (the tiniest pieces of 1cm and 2cm are not included), hoping that we would be interested in that for the next few days, and go from there.<br />
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Turns out, the only person that was surprised was myself.<br />
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I was looking at E building the tower. He made a mistake, which was what I was anticipating. But what stunned me what that he looked at his tower, realized the mistake was there, changed the wrong blocks, and added the right ones instead and kept going until the tower was built. I didn't think he was there yet.<br />
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I tried having him make the tower on another mat, going each time to take the right piece on the mat that was further away. This shows another level of discrimination, because you have to remember what size piece you need to build the tower without looking at it. With this, I thought it would match his level, and yet again, I could only realize he was passed this. <br />
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He finished the activity with building the tower horizontally, again, making a mistake, and fixing it right away, and showing me, with his tractor (see first picture) how every step was even.<br />
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Our children are out best teacher. How is that for a lesson of humility?<br />
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The same holds true for X, who we have learned that is a<a href="http://www.gifteddevelopment.com/Visual_Spatial_Learner/vsl.htm"> visual spatial learner,</a> and sees the world pretty much upside down from the standard benchmark. Trying to understand the world his way is my current challenge, and it is a big one.<br />
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I guess I know what I have to do for the next few days: sit down and look at my kids, play with them, and try to meet them where they really are. I guess I might be surprised.<br />
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Do you have any tips for when you are out of sync like that? I'd be all ears!<br />
<br />Neptunehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16633808709890395812noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5141474491645750310.post-6915332630032506542013-01-08T07:52:00.002-08:002013-01-08T07:52:32.653-08:00What E (30 months) is loving right nowAt 30 months old, here are E's favorite activities right now: (sorry the pictures are dark, it is very cloudy and snowy today)<br />
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The letters are going strong right now:<br />
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Tag toy's peg tumbler:<br />
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Pegs he received at Christmas from family members. This wouldn't have been a choice for me as I try to limit plastic, but E seems to enjoy it for now. Very interesting for counting and color matching.<br />
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Wooden block in a bucket. I think his favorite part right now is to sort them in the holes. This too was Christmas present<br />
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Building train tracks: I was happy to get them out again. X played so much with these, and E seems to enjoy them just as much!<br />
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Number puzzle<br />
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Vehicles puzzles: E is very much into trucks, tractors and such. Anything related is interesting to him<br />
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And the one thing that I see all day long...<br />
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this is a real replica of a tractor his grandfather owns. He plays with this all day, everyday.<br />
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The rest of his time is spent with BOOKS, and PAINT, 2 things he loves deeply.<br />
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<br />Neptunehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16633808709890395812noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5141474491645750310.post-55738525260181833552013-01-07T05:12:00.000-08:002013-01-07T05:12:07.315-08:00Meet Doggy<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Bedtime routine is an ever evolving situation here. Composing with 3 tired children at the same time is not always easy, and requires ingeniosity and diligence to make everything smooth.<br />
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E's bedtime routine has evolved over time, and he needed a light source for the times when it is bedtime and he has to remain in bed, but he is not completely ready to get to sleep yet. I didn't want to have a light that could be hazardous to him since I am not present with him all the time, and thus this restricted my options.<br />
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Until I found Doggy.<br />
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Doggy is a DEL light. It is battery operated, so I charge it during the day, to be used during our bedtime routine. When used it must be unplugged, so this dramatically diminished the risk of electrical shocks.<br />
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The DEL lights are located under Doggy's head. The head swivels up and down to expose the light sources (there are 12 tiny LED lights) There are 2 options available as far as light intensity goes.<br />
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E uses it by it's side in it's bed. Since there is no electrical outlet, I am not scared that something could happen if he falls asleep with the light near by. (which happens occasionally)<br />
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It is easy to handle, there is a button on the back that E can open and close without any troubles at all.<br />
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It is not by all mean a lamp to light up the whole room. It is a punctual light used only to allow reading. I didn't want to have a very bright light source, because I think it can interfere with sleep arousal. This is just enough.<br />
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When the light is left open, but the dog's head is lowered down, it also serves as a night light.<br />
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M has one that is similar, and she claims that this, used as a night light, is enough for her not to be scared.<br />
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<br />Neptunehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16633808709890395812noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5141474491645750310.post-50410997776468326542013-01-06T10:39:00.000-08:002013-01-06T17:44:08.361-08:00Letter explosion!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I don't know what 2013 has in store for us, but I do know that it has started in force!<br />
New understanding of X's learning style (which by itself is so big! More on that later), many changes in our home environment, jobs... I sure hope that 13 will keep on being good to us.<br />
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I have noticed many changes in E too lately. He is generating a lot more questions then he used to, he is starting to be interested in things he wasn't before, one of them being letters.<br />
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A few weeks ago, he started to sing the ABC song. Honestly, I am not yet sure where he got it from, but I didn't think much of it until he associated a letter he saw to it's name: A. This made me realize he knew more then I thought.<br />
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And with M that suddenly is reading, and spontaneously writing, and X that is now reading regularly cartoon type books (Asterix and Tintin of course), I can say that we are in a time of letter explosion right now. I do not know how long we'll ride this wave, but I will surely enjoy it will it passes.<br />
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So E is currently crusing along the line of learning the sounds of the alphabet. I never thought I would be teaching this at 2 1/2, but I have learned the importance of following the child.<br />
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I took advantage of the Christmas season to buy this beautiful letter puzzle (picture above) that I have had my eyes on for a while. I really wanted it for M, but I didn't get it on time for her. It is right on time for E.<br />
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It is a puzzle by<a href="http://store.tagtoys.com/lower-case-alphabet-puzzle-p96.aspx"> TAG toys</a>. I have said it before, and I will say it again, I love this company. Their products are really high quality, and they, undoubtedly, will last forever. E's peg's tumbler is still a hit, 6 months later. And while the price of the puzzle did seem high at first, I totally understood why then it came home.<br />
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Let me show you the actual size of this:<br />
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We are not talking about the standard size wooden puzzle. This is big and heavy and sturdy too! And I think this is what makes it so satisfying for E to work with it. He LOVES to travel this around, he does it many times a day.<br />
The letters are easily the same size as the letters of the large movable alphabet. They are thicker (and not as smelly...).<br />
I hesitated between this and the typical Melissa and Doug; I have no regrets whatsoever about my choice. I wish I had bought it for the other 2.<br />
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So what do E do with this?<br />
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Right now, he picks a letter, and I say its sound. He usually repeats it after me. This is basically the 1st part of the <a href="http://www.montessoriprintshop.com/Give_a_3_Period_Lesson.html">3 parts lesson</a>. The difference is that I let him choose which letter. I am not pushing anything, he has his own agenda. <br />
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In Montessori education, we rather teach the sound before the name, but obviously, he got it the other way round. Does this worry me in any way? No. He'll get it soon enough. Do I think he will be confused? No, he is currently learning his letters both in french and english at the same time, and he manages not to be confused by that... I don't know how he manage.<br />
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I am a little surprised by the interest E has in letters right now. I hadn't planned anything else then playing around with this puzzle, but it seems clearer to me that I might have to go to another step with him. This next step will probably be the <a href="http://thefreechild.blogspot.ca/2012/03/using-letter-pouches.html">letter pouches that I made before for M</a>. We'll see how this go.<br />
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Overall, I am completely happy with this puzzle. I have seen M using it to write words (using it like a movable alphabet). Of course, since there is only one letter of each, it makes it very limitating for that, but I see the delight of being able to handle such big and thick letters in her hand (and in E's hands too!)<br />
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<br />Neptunehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16633808709890395812noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5141474491645750310.post-26564716590542776382012-12-22T08:14:00.002-08:002012-12-22T08:14:45.793-08:00Wishing you happy holidays<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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We are still in the midst of holiday preparations<div>
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And I am logging off for the rest of the year.</div>
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May you have happy times, </div>
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and see you again next year!</div>
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Neptunehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16633808709890395812noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5141474491645750310.post-34310415968968354802012-12-19T15:48:00.001-08:002012-12-19T17:08:08.620-08:00One of my favorite toy<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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...if not my absolute favourite, Cuboro was a gift we gave X last Christmas. <br />
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I have not once regretted the price tag of this toy. The craftsmanship of this toy is outstanding, and the toys itself is a delight to play with. It is engaging, foster creativity, cleverness, but also requires a good dose of fine motor skills.<br />
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Challenging enough even for an adult to play with, and yet it can be oh so simple that E asks to play with it daily.<br />
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I love how everyone can get a challenge regardless of their ages, and how it allows intergenerational play.<br />
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I have seen countless hours of collaboration over this toy, and I know I have yet to see many more.<br />
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The Cuboro set is fully compatible with the Cogulino set which is aimed towards a younger crowd. It has already been decided that E's next birthday present will be <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Cuboro-AG-of-Switzerland-Cugolino/dp/B000MBW44M/ref=pd_sim_sbs_t_2">a set of Cugolino blocks</a><br />
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I absolutely adore this toy, and cannot recommend it enough. If you ever get a chance to try it, go ahead!<br />
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<br />Neptunehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16633808709890395812noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5141474491645750310.post-64936333984370807932012-12-17T18:29:00.000-08:002012-12-17T18:29:14.052-08:00E's painted Christmas present<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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E loves to paint. I don't think a day passes without him asking to go paint in our studio. I thought it would be fun to share with other members of our extended family the work he does and loves so much.<br />
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I set him up with Christmassy colors, and a big canvas. That is all I had to do, he did the rest.<br />
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I used acrylics for this project. He really loved it.<br />
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He played with the colors separately at first, and then he started to mix them up.<br />
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He was not so used with a canvas, and he struggled at first with the texture of it: his paintbrush was not sliding on the surface as it would with the paper we normally use. It didn't take him long though to figure it out, and add more paint to his paintbrush. I love how it created really rich colours.<br />
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We have starte to play with colors lately, and I saw that he was expecting new colours unlike the first time we tried our colors experiments, which was more of a surprise to him.<br />
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He loves this spot to paint: the mirror is always there, showing him another angle of his work, and I always fill the tub beside for him to rinse out his paintbrushes.<br />
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He did 3 canvas, and he was ready to do more. I love the end result, and I think it is a beautiful and completely child made project. I am sure our families will enjoy those.<br />
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<br />Neptunehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16633808709890395812noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5141474491645750310.post-87974273382743518492012-12-12T18:39:00.000-08:002012-12-12T19:28:19.704-08:00Christmas color matching activity<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Kate's blog <a href="http://aneverydaystory.wordpress.com/">An Everyday Story</a> is chock full of inspiring ideas. But <a href="http://aneverydaystory.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/reggio-observational-painting-with-flowers-an-everyday-story.jpg">this one has been tempting</a> me the most for a while. (do yourself a favor, and visit her blog!)<br />
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On the same day we got our Christmas tree, we had to go at the hardware store. I couldn't pass up the opportunity, the moment was perfect.<br />
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Just after setting up the tree, I got the paint chips out. They attracted both X and M right away. <br />
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I like how it triggered discussions about their guess at what was the closest green, but also which was their favorite shade, and what was the difference between them (more yellow, more blue...)<br />
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I was hoping it would eventually slide towards a test of trying to reproduce the said colors, but it has not happened yet. I think my invitation might not have been clear enough.<br />
I'll give it a new try soon.Neptunehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16633808709890395812noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5141474491645750310.post-30197782795916708652012-12-11T08:54:00.001-08:002012-12-12T19:07:32.838-08:00Books for the season<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Although I have not had the time I wish to answer all the comments I have received (it is the end of the semester...), there is one question that I felt needed a blog post to answer: What is in the book basket? I have to admit, looking at this book basket makes it hard for us to pass it by without taking one out and reading (looking, turning the pages...) it.<br />
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So what's in there? <br />
First off, when I make a selection of books, I try to have all my little ones in mind, and I also try to have a variety of topics. This, sometimes, brings lovely new and fresh topics in our conversations, and also stirs new interests. So you'll see that it is not only about Christmas, but also about everything else that is in the season, for my youngest to my oldest.<br />
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1. Stories about winter, snow, and warmth:<br />
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The legend of the Poinsettia, The Snow Day, The Quilt Story, Winter, L'Hiver (Bramberly Hedge mice in french) And Snow<br />
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M's (5) favorite is "The quilt story"<br />
E's (2) favorite is by far SNOW (I think I might have read it 100 times since we got it. This is a new addition<br />
and X's (7) favorite is the Legend of the Poinsettia<br />
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2. Informative books<br />
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Tout un monde sous la neige, The Shortest Day and The Story of Snow<br />
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the favorite by far is The Story of Snow (really amazing book, perfect to match our snow investigating activities!), although we are waiting to be closer to solstice day to read The Shortest Day.<br />
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3. Stories about Christmas<br />
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The 12 Days of Christmas, Apple Tree Christmas, Casse-Noisette, How The Grinch Stole Christmas, The Story of the Three Wise Kings, Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree<br />
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X's favorite is How the Grinch Stole Christmas / The 3 wise Kings<br />
M's favorite is Casse Noisette...again and again<br />
E's favorite is Mr Willowby's Christmas Tree and the images if the 12 days of Christmas<br />
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As you can see, our collection is heavy in english books as we are in a month of intensive english, but Casse-Noisette, a timeless favorite here, sneaked up his way in our basket along with a few others.<br />
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Reading books is something we love during our winter months, curling up under a blanket in the couch, looking at snow falling silently. I guess it might be the reason why there is so many choices in the december basket as opposed to other times when out time is also taken elsewhere.<br />
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I'd be curious to know what are your winter favorites? I would love to add to my list!Neptunehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16633808709890395812noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5141474491645750310.post-85111075401007732512012-12-08T04:44:00.000-08:002012-12-12T19:02:45.488-08:00Listening nook<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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A couple of weeks ago, I saw the need of creating a listening nook.<br />
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Many reasons supported this idea, of being the upcoming arrival of december, which meant Christmas music, and also the growing need (and interest) for X ( 7yo) to listen to audio books.<br />
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Reading not being easy for him, I still see the importance of being able to listen to good quality books, stories that will match his level of comprehension and intelligence, something that his reading cannot currently do.<br />
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But this was not only put together with X in mind. I wanted to have a little bit for everybody in this nook, and so I added books, both for X and E (2 yo), an audio game that is loved by both M (5 yo) and E, and M added the first holiday disk...The Grinch who stole Christmas.<br />
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Since that first picture up there, the content of the shelves has changed tremendously. More Christmas music was added, books were rotated as they were finished, and other Christmas story made their place (The polar express being a new favorite right now). There is material both in french and in english.<br />
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At some point, I will probably invest in a MP3 reader of something of the kind to allow X to have access to a bigger selection of audio books, and have the portability of using it where he see fits. Also he will be able to listen to titles that are of interest to him without receiving comments from the other who don't share the same interest / level of comprehension<br />
<br />Neptunehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16633808709890395812noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5141474491645750310.post-68296032606933707872012-12-05T03:29:00.000-08:002012-12-12T19:00:58.919-08:00Snow storm on the ice field<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I am not a fan of plastic, and I try to avoid it as much as I can. But there is one plastic toy I am willing to make an exception for: the Schleish's animals. I like how realistic they are, and they are always enticing for E (2yo).<br />
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I stumbled upon a Polar region set, and this inspired me ideas for open ended play that was very much in the season.<br />
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Although it has been looking like winter outside for the last few weeks, it hasn't for the last 48 hours. I was planning on making an ice field for X to play with, but after 24 hours outside, the plastic bin I had filled with water was still not even close to be frozen. So I decided to go with plan B: the shaving cream.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The invitation</td></tr>
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Well I am glad I did. I was not expecting this to be a tactile activity, but shaving cream kinda change the deal. I didn't know whether E would be as interested to it with the dislike he currently has for tactile stuff. <br />
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I guess there is a hidden power to shaving cream. After a few minutes of not being sure, and wiping his hand almost every minute, he ended up just embracing the whole thing and get dirty.<br />
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M couldn't pass up an opportunity to play. SHE is into whatever tactile thing there is.<br />
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I tried to interact with E during the activity. I asked him how the cream felt on his hands, and if it was smooth of rough. He said that it was"cold but not cold". He was expecting it to be cold, but it wasn't. He built a house for the Bear family and asks M to help him make a "road to walk on".<br />
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While he was building, I could see that he was taming the feel of his hand being dirty. Many times I pointed out how his hands were full of shaving cream, and he said" look mommy, hands are dirty!" with the biggest smile ever. He even took the time to rub some of the cream on himself, something he would have never done before.<br />
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This experience has really pushed him over something he hadn't crossed before. I can't wait to see if this will also apply to finger paint. I'll give it a try later this week.<br />
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Here is the set up:<br />
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I used the sensorial table, and installed the light table on it. The shaving cream was put into a plastic bin that I use regularly for these types f activities. I also used the wrapping as "backdrop" to set the mood. The tub on the right is full of cold water. I didn't know how they would use it, but it ended up being the sea. The animals all went swimming in there, and M had the penguins hunt for fishes in there. It was also very practical to have a tub for a quick washing during the activity.<br />
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Beside the table, I had another bin, our cleaning bin, that contains old prefold diapers, a roll of scott towels, and a supply of plastic bags.<br />
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The room where this happens is adjacent to the bathroom. Right after this, both M and E were sent to a much needed bath.<br />
<br />Neptunehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16633808709890395812noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5141474491645750310.post-2988679569226455782012-12-03T10:18:00.000-08:002012-12-04T10:47:36.883-08:00Sustainable Christmas tree<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Snow has come and gone temporarily, but December has arrived and is here to stay. This year, it was anxiously awaited by the kids. <br />
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Years ago, we decided that nothing Christmassy would happen before the date of December 1st. Seeing the Christmas decorations and music making their appearance earlier and earlier each year was a cause of irritation for us; I even remember one year when we felt that Christmas had outlast it's welcome in our house before December 24th. We just couldn't wait to remove the decoration, and get on with something else. This is the year we promised ourselves that we would restrict Christmas to december, and that was going to be more then enough. It is really. And we have no problem holding on to our word.<br />
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Since saturday, Christmas has started to creep up everywhere. From decorations to music, to handmade gift ideas scribbled on a piece of paper. We see the old traditions happening again, from getting the box of decoration out on December 1st, to going to pick the tree that very same day. <br />
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But sometimes traditions needs to be revisited according to new believes, and to include even the littlest amongst us. The Christmas tree picking was the one to go this year. <br />
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We have made big stride towards a more sustainable living. We still have loads of road to travel, and things to learn. But the Christmas tree tradition has been troubling me for the last few years, and I was happy to have find a solution to it.<br />
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Last year, we decided to choose a potted Christmas tree amongst else to decorate the house. Once the celebrations were over, we took the tree outside, and let it be until spring in a well protected area of our yard. Once spring came, we transplanted the tree to an area of our yard. It was such an amazing experience to plant the tree we celebrated upon a few months earlier, (and most of all see it grow through summer), that we decided to do it again this year, and use only this tree as our "official" Christmas tree. <br />
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It feels so good not to have to throw a tree out once the celebrations are over, and instead to keep nurturing and protecting this tree until it becomes part of our outdoor environment.<br />
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Now this little thing needs to be trimmed, and since it is right at E's level, he'll be able to participate fully to the process from start to finish.<br />
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<br />Neptunehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16633808709890395812noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5141474491645750310.post-63368443698841271572012-11-30T17:46:00.001-08:002012-12-12T18:52:33.081-08:00play to learn <br />
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I am starting to suspect X to be dyslexic. I am not sure yet, but many things are leading me to this. One of them being his dislike of anything related to language art: this is so very hard for him. He hates to write, and he has such a hard time with it. He hates to read, and it does seem so burdensome to read even just a few line (but he loves read alouds, when I do it of course!), he hates spelling, and I see him reversing his letters. Writing something is so hard for him,;putting a word from his mind to a piece of paper requires all of his attention, his will and some.<br />
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He is so confused by verbal explanations, letters, words, numbers. But let him experiment, observe, try, see and he gets it at light speed. He has a mathematical mind that beat mine any day!<br />
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I have always agreed with the idea that language arts can be learned through everyday life activities. But I cannot imagine him soaking up language through reading books: he does not want to read. I cannot think of having him use writing as a tool for other purpose knowing he'll catch up spelling and composition at the same time: he refuses to write, even the smallest word.<br />
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So I have been trying many things to help him improve in the language art area, things that are different, things that might be appealing to him; many failed, but one things really does work.<br />
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Games<br />
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I had this idea after finding a probe game at a yard sale this autumn. I liked this idea, thought that it would easily customizable and knew X would love the idea of the trapdoors.<br />
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And it worked!<br />
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He has been asking for it daily for a while now.<br />
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Playing this game allows us to touch many component of reading and spelling:<br />
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<ul>
<li>Spelling the word right before hiding it behind the door </li>
<li>...thus using a dictionary if necessary</li>
<li>learning to guess words without seeing them entirely, which is a very beneficial reading skill for faster learning. </li>
<li>learning new words, and thus add to general vocabulary</li>
<li>in his case, having to write a word in his best possible handwriting so that it is understandable for the other players.</li>
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This is not the only game we have been playing. I'll be adding to this as time goes by.</div>
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<br />Neptunehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16633808709890395812noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5141474491645750310.post-32283691759022938962012-11-27T05:01:00.000-08:002012-12-12T19:00:58.906-08:00Where the drawing morning led us to<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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One thing I have taken from Lori's book <a href="http://project-based-homeschooling.com/camp-creek-blog">Project Based Homeschooling</a>, was that it is a good thing to let a project hanging on. This allows the child to come back to it and add over time, bringing fresh ideas and new input.<br />
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Seeing the spontaneousness of<a href="http://thefreechild.blogspot.ca/2012/11/drawing-morning.html"> yesterday's project</a>, I thought it was a good time to put this recommendation to use.<br />
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And you know what, many things happened.<br />
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Some stamping was done<br />
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Games were invented and played (keeping E busy while we were working on school stuff)<br />
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And we even had our first glimpse of Christmas(...as per request) amongst the drawing of swimming pool (see the round thing in the picture above... I guess X is still in summer, and truthfully, so am I!)<br />
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items were added at any times of the day, according to the current inspiration<br />
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And cooperation was learned during this time, as everybody had to work on the same canvas. Tears were shed, and new ideas came from them, making this drawing even more interesting to look at.</div>
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And after a long day of drawing and collaborating...<br />
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I heard the rustling of paper few minutes ago. Still in pyjamas, sleepy eyes not yet completely opened, another drawing is on the way with old ideas and completely new ones. <br />
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I wonder where this one will go. (and right now, I even hear some maths going on, namely multiplications! Indeed, I cannot wait to see!)<br />
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<br />Neptunehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16633808709890395812noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5141474491645750310.post-44444059604132253522012-11-26T05:06:00.001-08:002012-12-12T19:00:58.909-08:00drawing morning<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This is what I woke up to this morning (yes, I managed to sleep "late"...)<br />
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I love how having many art material at child's reach is enhancing their creativity lately. <br />
Don't get me wrong, we always had art supplies at child's level, but since I have created a time each day for arts, it seems to happen more and also spontaneously during the day. They are incorporating arts in many aspects of their play and their learning. I guess now it is part of their days, part of their routines like anything else.<br />
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I love how the oldests care for the littlest, and always makes sure he is included in the process, and has access to all the material he wished for.<br />
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As I am sitting and writing, I hear M, that barely just got up, and that is already participating in this common drawing. Can wait to see what they all come up with. I guess formal lessons will be delayed later today... In the meantime, let see what other interesting surprises this day brings.<br />
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Have a wonderful monday!Neptunehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16633808709890395812noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5141474491645750310.post-85043597213552555842012-11-25T12:07:00.001-08:002012-12-12T19:00:58.925-08:00Tactile experiences, or exploring finger painting<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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One of the best recommendations that I had seen about implanting Reggio inspired learning at home is to start by learning about the mediums that the child can use, and then, make them available at all times for further exploration by the child.<br />
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So I decided to start our art exploration by using a tactile medium, since it would be exciting for M, and much needed for E (he is still unsure about having his hands dirty...).<br />
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We started with a hand painting kit E got this summer, but that we didn't get to use before.<br />
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As anticipated, E started by exploring the paint with tools, not being fond of using his hands. <br />
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it took him a while to get his hands right in the paint, but since he say the 2 others do it, he finally gave in and tried it. He didn't enjoy it all that much. He was much more happier with tools.<br />
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M and X used everything at their dispositions, hands included. X didn't stay long in his exploration, his rocket project was more interesting to him.<br />
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This week, we'll do finger painting again, except this time, I won't offer tools to see if E will engage nonetheless. We'll also try different kinds of papers (textured, or glossy) to see how the paint slides and cover on each type of paper.<br />
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I plan on putting together many tactile activities for E in the next weeks.<br />
<br />Neptunehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16633808709890395812noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5141474491645750310.post-71460236290027733402012-11-24T11:46:00.000-08:002012-12-12T19:00:58.922-08:00transitioning to a project based homeschooling (or Reggio inspired learning)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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During the deschooling period we went through, I had many days and night of thinking. I had to reorganize my thoughts, my believes and my vision of things to suit the life we want to live and make sure that we are moving towards our goals.<br />
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One of the first and most useful thing I did was to define this, our goals. As parents, as persons as a family, having an idea of where we are going makes the travel a lot easier, and the chances to get lost along the way less significant.<br />
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After many discussions, we decided that the most important values we wanted to instil in our children was the love of learning, independence, responsibility (for themselves, theirs acts, and their learning...amongst all things), creativity and respect and knowledge for the world and it's living creature, whether they are people, animal or else. There are many other things we wish or them, but this is the basis.<br />
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I toured a lot of blogs during this time, and read intensively on many educational philosophy. I think we are lucky as homeschooling parents to have so many choices and so many resources to help educate our children. And I am glad to have had this mountain of possibilities to choose amongst or at least be influenced by in order to find our right learning philosophy. Many of these philosophy were very interesting and sure have their good and not so good sides. But not all of them were in line with OUR goals, and so having setting those beforehand was really useful in not feeling overwhelmed in the process.<br />
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Truth be told, we will not follow blindly any curriculum or educational methods of any kinds. We will always make sure that the choices we make are in line with these goals I have mentioned before, and also make sure we are comfortable doing it.<br />
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With that being said, project based homeschooling is one of the philosophies that resonated them most with us, and what we wish for our children. <br />
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For the last few days/weeks, we have been working hard at implementing project based homeschooling in our lives in so many ways. X is very excited about it, and really so are we. Reggio inspired learning is not the only type of learning that is taking place here, literature based learning is taking up the other big chuck of our days. But since I have learned, in the last few weeks, that it is WAYYYY better to implement things one at a time, the Reggio part is taking up most of our energies right now. I will work on implementing the literature part better after we are set with this first phase.Neptunehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16633808709890395812noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5141474491645750310.post-92061860495733168382012-11-04T11:09:00.000-08:002012-12-12T18:52:33.113-08:00My doer is back<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Well, 2-3 months into deschooling, and I think I can safely say now that I have found my son again.<br />
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I can now breathe a sigh of relief.<br />
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I got confirmation of that yesterday during the photo session of his karate class. He was the ONLY child, in all of the 40 children that got their pictures taken before him, to question the photographer about his camera, the flashes and all of the photographic material that was there. Yep, this felt finally like my son. More interested into understanding how things works then having his picture taken for karate cards.<br />
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I saw signs before, many of them actually, that lead my to think that we were getting there<br />
And now they are leading me to think that just letting go was the best decision I have ever taken for my child.<br />
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Now his interest are blossoming in so many things. And I don't need to ask, I just have to look at what I find in the house lying around. A guitar, a ball of yarn attached to a knitting tower, finger string book, anything karate, letters written for members of our family waiting to be posted...the list can be quite lengthy. There is not a day that he doesn't come to cook with me, and even READS THE INSTRUCTIONS!!! :)<br />
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He is creative again, and his imagination is flourishing. He needed that. We all needed that.<br />
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I don't plan on doing anything formal until Christmas that is. I think the month of december will be used for the preparation of it. Seeing his interest in getting ready for Halloween brought me to this decision.<br />
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And truthfully, I don't know when I'll start something formal. I have to admit that my experience is leading me to believe in a more delayed approach to schooling. <br />
Looking at X, he is busy, learning that is. But not learning whatever is being learned in school. He is busy learning what matters to him, and he is taking all means necessary to do that, whether it is reading or writing, or counting.<br />
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In the meantime, we play games, do handiwork, laugh, read and live. And for now, it is all he needs.Neptunehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16633808709890395812noreply@blogger.com4