Handmade Montessori

making sandpaper letters

In the last month or so, since this idea of homeschooling came back in our discussions, I have been thinking about the how.  How am I going to homeschool?  What do I want my days to look like?  And most of all, how do my child (X in this case) learn?  It is important for me to make sure our learning style fits my son's need, but also mine.  I want the both of us to be interested, to make sure we have a fulfilling year.

Well, ok, yes, Montessori kinda came to mind as being the obvious choice.  X being what he is, he needs hands on learning, a  continuum from concrete to abstract, he has done so well in Montessori for so many years now, and so, of course, we'll mainly be sticking to this route.

But as I was starting to mentally plan how this was going to happen, I started to have this sense of uneasiness inside me.  One that I have felt before, and at this point, I knew very well what it was.

Anybody who knows a little about Montessori knows that material is an integral part of the method.  Loads of material actually. But, being what I am; simplicity being at the root of my life, I still cannot imagine having a room full of Montessori material . I just don't feel comfortable with that, I never have. It actually led me to researching other ways of homeschooling that would make me feel less trapped into material and tied to the price tag that comes along with all that.  My researches were not useless as I have started reading on a philosophy that was unknown to me before and that I will try to incorporate in our days (more on that later).  But the fact remained that Montessori was the best fit for X.


I came back to this book, and I came back to this post that I wrote what seems like ages ago, and I worked through my uneasiness to find what we work for us.  For X and also for I.

I have come to the conclusion that we will not be doing pure Montessori homeschooling.  We'll adapt the method to fit our life choices and make it ours.  I will not buy the whole shebang that goes with it.  I just can't.  It is too much stuff, well made, and very well thought and intended stuff by the way, but still is stuff.

And so while I keep on tuning plans in my head, I started making Montessori.  The homemade way.  It does take time, but I feel it is a good lesson for my children.  Good work pays off, and there are other way then the easy "wallet way".  I like that they are included in this process, and see the work making all this implies.  I think it makes them more aware of the value of this material, and they have a greater respect for it.
I also feel better knowing that I am using recyclable material that I won't mind either passing on or recycle for it to become something else.

That really eases my mind.


Depuis que le sujet de l'école maison a refait surface ici, j'ai passé des heures à réfléchir au comment.  Comment allons nous faire l'école maison?  C'est important pour moi que les méthodes que nous emploierons soient adaptés à X, mais qu'ils nous plaisent à tous.


Comme de raison, la méthode Montessori semble être, a prime abord le choix facile...  X étant le petit garçon qu'il est, avec le style d'apprentissage qu'il a, Montessori lui a comme un gant, depuis toujours au fait.  Et c'est pour cette raison que nous continuerons de suivre ce chemin.


Mais pendant que je faisais cette gymnastique mentale de préparation, je me suis mise à ressentir ce sentiment d'inconfort, un sentiment que j,ai déjà eu précédemment, et que j'étais, cette fois-ci, en mesure d'identifier.


Quiconque qui connaisse la méthode Montessori sait qu'elle nécessite du matériel:  celui-ci est la pierre d'assise de la méthode.  Et pas juste un peu de matériel: beaucoup de matériel.  Étant ce que je suis, une minimaliste qui étouffe dans le trop, je ne peux toujours pas m'imaginer avoir une pièce complète remplit de matériel sur tout ses murs.  Je ne suis pas confortable même a y penser.  Et ceci m'a même amené à investiguer d'autre philosophies d'éducation maison qui conviendrai  à nos besoins.  Mes recherches n'ont pas été vaines, j'ai en effet trouvé une philosophie que j'aimerai intégrer en partie ici (j'y reviendrai plus tard) mais le fait est que Montessori est la méthode qui semble le meilleur choix pour X


J'ai donc du gérer ce conflit de matériel vs méthode.  je suis retournée à ce livre, et à ce billet que j'ai écrit il y a des lunes il me semble, et j'ai pu venir à une conclusion.

Nous ne seront pas des Montessorien purs dans notre façon de faire l'école maison.  Nous adapterons la méthode à nos choix de vie.  Nous ne possèderons pas l'entière totalité du matériel Montessori, je crois qu'il est possible de faire avec des éléments choisis.  Après tout, nous ne sommes pas une classe Montessori, mais nous suivons la méthodologie Montessori.


Et pendant que je continue à me faire une image mentale claire de ce que nos jours seront, j'ai commencé les préparatifs du matériel que nous utiliserons. Montessori version maison.  Je suis satisfaite de ce choix, et je crois que ça enseigne des leçons importantes à nos enfant: la valeur du travail, la valeur de l'argent.  Comme ils participent de près et de loin à la fabrication de ce matériel, ils voient le travail que ceci implique, et ont un plus grand respect pour le matériel que nous mettons sur les tablettes.
Nous utilisons des matériaux locaux autant que possible, et surtout recyclable.  De cette façon, nous pourrons transmettre ce matériel à une autre famille intéressée de l'utiliser, ou nous pourrons le recycler pour en faire quelque chose d'autre.


Je me sens définitivement mieux.

Wishing that spring was more "settled"

He has been going outside before the others ever since last week.
And I couldn't figure out why.  Being busy with the 2 youngest in the house, I didn't really had the time to go at the window to see what was luring him out everyday.  I could see carrying an egg box outside, but he was not ready to tell me what is was for.

But today, I had to go into his room and the box was there: he had let it opened on his table.  Obviously, he felt ready to share what has been keeping him busy lately.

I was surprised and yet so happy to see him finally be able to use the cards I made him for Christmas.  He has been asking for a long time now when it will be time for him to use them.  And I kept telling him to wait a little longer, as soon as spring would show up, it would be time.

Well, he sure didn't loose much time.  And it sure makes me fuzzy inside to see that this present is something he likes and enjoy.  Makes all those hours I spend on it completely worthwhile.


I talked to him about it at dinner time.  He told me that he was hoping to be able to find everything I had put on the cards, but he wasn't able to, probably because it was a little too soon still, and that spring was not completely settled yet.  But he couldn't help it to try.

sigh... my boy is growing


Ça faisait plusieurs matins qu'il partait avant les autres dehors.  Je n'avais pas vraiment la chance d'aller voir par la fenêtre ce qui l'occupait tant dehors depuis tant de jours.  Je le voyais partir avec son carton d'oeuf sous le bras, et revenir quelques instant avant que ce soit le temps de partir.
Il ne semblait pas être prêt à me raconté, alors j'ai attendu.


Ce matin, lorsque je suis passée dans sa chambre, j'ai vu la boite d'oeuf, ouverte sur sa table.  Clairement, il était prêt à partager avec moi son secret.


Il avait enfin trouver l'occasion d'utiliser les carte de chasse au trésor que je lui avait fabriquée pour Noël.  Ça fait un bail déjà qu'il me demande quand il pourra enfin les utilisées.  Et ma réponse restait toujours la même: lorsque le printemps se pointera le bout du nez.  Et bien, il n'a pas perdu de temps!  


Ça me fait un petit velour en dedans de voir à quel point il a aimé ce cadeau. Ça rend toutes les heures que j'ai mis à le faire complètement rentable.


Je lui ai parlé de son butin au souper.  Il m'a dit qu'il avait initialement espéré être en mesure de tout trouvé ce qu'il y avait sur les cartes.  Mais il a fini par comprendre que le Printemps n'était peut-être pas encore assez arrivé.


Il grandit mon petit homme...

using the letter pouches

They have been finished for a while now, and the kids have had the time to play with them a lot.  

They are intended to be used just like an alphabet box.   But again, each of my little ones is using them for their own purpose.

E (20 months old)

He loves to empty and fill the pockets.  But I think his biggest pleasure is to explore what is in there.

Since he is in a very verbal state, he often asks me the "name" of the letter, and so I sound the letter he shows me to his great pleasure.  I often hear him saying sound now.

M 4 1/2 yo:

She is the one I had in mind when making this.  And she is using it the way I had in mind.

She gets a couple of pouches out, explore what is in them, sounds all of the words of the items. There is usually 5-6 items in each bags.   She loves it.

She is also using them as sensory pouches.  When I make a rotation of what is in there, she loves to find out what they contain by trying to guess what she is touching.  Of course, she has a good clue (the first letter) but it sometimes still hard.  This is such a fun game!

She LOVES looking at all the letter at the same time, she loves touching them (she is working very hard on her sand paper letters recently), she traces the  letters frequently.  I know she is wishing for these to be stored in her room. She asked me several time.

X 6 1/2 yo:

He loves to participate in the guessing game too.  But what he mostly does with those is to practice writing.  He gets an item out, and write it's name on a small piece of paper.  

He has also started to ask me to make a kind of a grammar game with it. (Mommy, this is LA souris, and LE saxophone right?,  La souris est AU DESSUS du saxophone...)  So I can see that is use of it will change soon

I cannot wait to be able to fetch a long piece of wood to hang them on there. I'll need to wait a little bit more until the wood has finally dried.  That leaves me a little time to figure out where they will be hanging 

The fabric letters

I still cannot believe they are finally done!
I had this crazy idea last december, after going through Meg's book Growing up Sew Liberated and seeing the number project she has on there.

At the time I was looking for a idea to create my own alphabet box or sound pouch, and I guess somehow, the two ideas merged together



So after a little planning, I manage to make letter card based on her project,  but instead of making them like cards, I made them like pouches

Not being a very seasoned seamstress (yet) I had to turn this a couple of time in my head to make it work.  But I am happy that I managed that on my own.  Handicraft really is a source of happiness.  Completing a project, is so rewarding!

I used all fabrics scraps that I already owned, making this project to very inexpensive.

But let's be honest, it is VERY time consuming
And if I am very happy with the results, so are my little ones that are having so much fun with these.  This is what I had in mind, making something that would both be beautiful, and also fun to learn with.  I feel I have succeeded.

There are so many ways these pouches can be used, I'll post all about that tomorrow.

This was such a long project, but I don't regret one minute the time I spent on it.  Although in the meantime, my sew list has grown almost out of hand.  Guess I'll have to be back at the sewing table soon.

J'arrive pas encore à croire qu'elles sont vraiment terminées!
Voici le fruit d'une idée un peu folle qui m'a passée par la tête en décembre dernier, pendant ma lecture du livre de Meg Growing Up Sew Liberated.
À ce moment, j'étais à la recherche d'une idée pour faire une boite d'alphabet.  J'imagine que les 2 idées se sont mêlées.
Et voici le résultat que ça donné.


Le projet est inspiré des cartes : Irresistible numbers du livre, qui sont des "cartes" de nombre en tissu.  Moi je préférais faire les lettres, et j'ai plutôt construit des pochettes.
L'idée était de mettre les petits objets utilisée pour les jeux de son dedans.


Et c'est parfait! Ça rend le jeux attrayant, les enfants adore, et donc je suis très satisfaite du résultat!


J'ai utilisé des restant de tissus que je possédais, et donc le coût est resté très bas.  C'est du temps que ça prend pour un projet de la sorte. (beaucoup de temps)


Il y a plein de façons d'utiliser les pochettes, j'en parlerai plus longuement demain.


De retour à la table de couture, puisque la liste de choses à faire est un peu sans contrôle depuis que j'ai entrepris ce projet.

Fête de Mai

Je ne suis pas disparue, mais nous avons traversé quelques semaines difficiles. E a fait une crise de Faux croup que nous sommes toujours en train de combattre dans la famille. Il est difficile de faire les choses hors norme dans nos sociétés moderne, et traiter les enfants de façon naturelle en fait partie. Parfois, c'est facile de marcher à contre courant, et faire confiance à la nature, mais d'autres situations, ou maladie demande plus de foi que d'autre, ce fut définitivement le cas ici. Plusieurs fois, j'ai bloqué le reflexe de me rendre à l'hôpital, et je me suis rappelée de croire en mon fils, a la force de guérison à l'intérieur de lui, et que je suis capable de l'aider sans avoir recours à la médecine allopathique (pour ce genre de maladie là.) Nous y sommes presque. Il est sur le chemin de la guérison!

I have not disapeared, but we have had some challenging weeks. E has been down with a case of false croup. It was a scary experience for us, and it was definetly challenging to help him go through this without the help of allopathic medecine (and dare I say despite). We had to remind ourselves many time that allopathic medecine is not the only way, and that our bodies have the abilities to heal themselves(in those types of diseases) if given the rest, food and care necessary. We are well on the road to recovery, and I am so glad to have believed in him and in our abilities to help him out differently.

Alors après 3 semaines de disparitions me revoilà avec les images de la fête de Mai organisée par l'école locale Waldorf. Belle façon de célébrer mon retour ;)

So after 3 weeks of being away from the blogosphere, I am back to show you the pictures of the May fair that we attended about 3 weeks ago.

Nous avons été accueillis par cette dame qui offrait aux enfants des cadeaux: un emballage de coquillage et pierres de toutes sortes

We were welcomed by this lady who was offering presents to the kids present: seashells and various stones.

Il y avait plusieurs stations d'activitées:

Many activities were set up for the kids to participate to:

Après avoir fait des courrones, des épées, des bracelets de cuir, nous avons emprunté ce chemin qui nous a mené à un gazébo juste au moment ou la pluie s'est mise à tombée. Et comme par magie, nous sommes arrivés en plein milieu d'un jam de tambour

After making flower crowns, wooden swords, leather band ... wer decided to take this path that brought us to a gazebo just in time before the rain started to pour. And we arrived in the middle of a public tam tam jam!

Alors nous avons tous pris un Tam tam, et nous nous sommes join au concert Quel plaisir!

So we all took a tamtam, E included, and joined in with the rhythm. What fun!

Goddies on the way out:

Superbe journée, même si Dame Nature n'a pas coopéré tout le long. Nous continuons de parler du jam de tamtam, et je crois bien que lorsque tout le monde sera remis sur pied, ça restera une activité familiale. Ne manque que quelques tam tam!

Magnificent day, even if the weather didn't cooperate as much as we hoped. The tamtam jam is something we keep thinking and talking about, I can see how this will evoluate as a family activity soon (once everybody is back on track!)

there are days like this...

when you just feel like not getting up in the morning because the night has been just too short

when you feel like you could stay in the shower for one hour and a half because that is the next best thing to being to bed (that is until there is no more hot water in the tank...)

when you just feel like curling in your living room all day in a rocking chair, knitting in hand, and not have to worry about anything else

when you would much rather just get hooked in a good book instead of having to put coat and boots to go shoveling the latest 15 cm of snow (!!!)

Where the only thing that would brighten this day is this:



still fuming right off the stove

yummmmmmmm

Today is a day  like this



don't tell ;)

 

Receipe to a day like this

Whole milk

thick cream (10 or 15%)

vanilla bean split lenghtwise

cinammon stick

Chili infused dark chocolate

Dark 80% or more chocolate

honey to taste

Put cinnamon stick and vanilla bean in a saucepan.

Cover with milk and some cream (to make it thick, so go to taste.)

heat on low.

When about to boil, add chocolate by small pieces so they will melt, and stir

Add as much chocolate you want, I usually add 3/4 of a chocolate pack

Serve while hot on a day like this.

and enjoy!

 

the quote of the day...

"Stop buying unnecessary things. Toss half your stuff, learn contentedness. Reduce half again. List 4 essential things in your life, stop doing non-essential things. Do these essentials first each day, clear distractions focus on each moment. Let go of attachment to doing, having more. Fall in love with less."

Clutter really is a silent killer. It creeps up on you unoticed. and you finally notice it when...you MOVE! (and pack boxes)



I see this move as a very beneficial and cleansing process. We are sorting out so much stuff, I feel like I am nesting again! I cannot wait to be done, and live simpli-er then we used to.

Off to packing more boxes, that will, at any rate, be un-packed by the end of the day! Moving with young kids is oh so much more exciting!

The joy of toymaking

Once you get the taste of the rewarding feeling of handmade, you can get easily hooked. And toymaking is no exceptions. I can spend hours looking at the most beautiful toys made by the Europeean compagnies, and truly they are absolutely magnificent and are a joy to own. But they are also quite spendy, and truth be told, no matter how beautiful they are, they take space, and having too much is no better then having too much of something else, it does become clutter! (Yes, you can clutter your house with beautiful Waldorf type toys!)

Peanut is really playing with her doll lately. It is part of every day for her. And she has been sleeping her in the most unsual little corner of our house: the laundry basket, a bookshelf, in the pot cupboard...so it made me think that this wonderful doll of hers had no spaces of her own to sleep. I pondered over getting a wooden bed, but finally choose to make something for her: it would cost less, and take less space, and well, would be made with mommy love.

I tried to get the best idea for this bed, and finally came up with something amazing! A hammock. We love hammocks here, and try to enjoy them as much as possible when the hotter seasons are around. But why not treat her doll for an all year round hammock bed?

And so DD's doll's bed was created:



I made the hammock with some cascade yarn and gigantic needles (broomstick knitting anyone?).

I hung the hammock with a tree branch that we found in our yard. Pea and I sanded it as a surprise for Peanut.

then a little rainbow of silk is in order to keep Doll warm



and some birds to lull her into sleep;



and that was all Peanut needed for some more magical playtime.

Review: Living simply with children and some thoughts

I have just finished to read this book:



It has been on my amazon wish list for such a long time, and for some reason, I kept putting off buying it.

I read Simplicity parenting before, a super interesting book by Kim John Payne, and loved it. ( and highly recommend it)



It discusses simplicity with young children, with a Waldorf point of view, so I was not convinced that I would be able to really find something different enough to justify buying it. Well, I finally took the plunge, and I am SO glad that I did.

I feel like this book tackles a bit more topics then Simplicity parenting. Or should I say complement. There are so many valuable advises that I took from SP, but I was able to add or reinforce some other topics with Living simply with children. The topic of school, money, environement, things that I don't recall reading in SP. There is also a wealth of informations, links, ressources and all at the end of each chapters so if you feel the need to deepen your knowledge on one topic, it is rather easy to do.

The author really loves the book "your money or your life" and mentionnes it many times through out the book. I might give it a look eventually.

I love how she stresses that simple living is not something you do because you are poor or can make it, but because you make a choice. Or should I say CHOICES. You have to decide what are your priorities, where do you want to go, and what is the best route to get there. If things are for you, you need to work, and thus get less time. But if you rather time and relationships, then forget the things, and get the time.

My thoughts and conclusion after ready this book:

It is crazy how the arrival of children in your life make you reconsider many things, your way of living, your values... I guess we call this grow. This is something that has happened with the arrival of both my child and is happenning again this time around. I feel like at every preparation for this new arrival, I did a step further in a direction, and I am realizing that this direction has not changed since the beginning of this. I am just walking deeper into a road that seem to uncover itself as I go, and as our lives changes. I don't think there is an ending destination, I think it is the journey that matters. But that journey really is rooted in simplicity for me. Everytime I started to feel overwhelemed or just bad (not being able to define what was going on), something happened that made me simplify more, and suddenly, things started to make sense again.

Simplicity comes easily, anytime, and just feel so good to me, to us...

I am realising, after putting down this book, that materialism is really something I am struggling with. I really feel a weight with material possessions, and feel just so much lighter when not in a" owning" state of mind. I was scared to have kids, because the vision I had of childhood is the one that is promoted by commercial and the materialistic world we live in. Comes with a child tons of stuff and that scared me. I didn't want to go through this. And yet, we had a kid, and entered this world of consumerism, and god did that not feel good. I hate that people around me would somehow decide how our lifes would be by getting us what they thought was useful for a baby: mobile with lights and music, plastic toys, musical toys and so on. But after some much soul searching, and reading, and surfing, I found that there is another way to live and there are other things that can be done then just stick to the images that we see everywhere of what life and childhood should be.

First thing to do: close the TV!

And then follow your heart and your soul.



Yes, I am currently in a journey of change, and our way of life has tremendously changed in the last five years. We have tried stuff, made mistake, tried other things, took some wrong turns, and now are trying to become what our family is by picking what resonates with us.

Although I have said not so long ago how Waldorf did not resonate all that much with us, I have to retract that. When I first started to research Waldorf, I read a lot, and was influenced by the forums at Mothering.com. So I was exposed to the outside world of Waldorf, the one that is being more and more popular right now: the beautiful toys notably. And while I DO NOT want to bash in any ways the wonderful posters over there, I feel like materialism is a common trend that kinda turned me off. We are, therefore, currently living deep into many of the Montessori principles since my son attend a Montessori preschool and is so happy in this environement, but there also, I felt the burden of materialism weighing on me when thinking about using this as homeschooling method.

But after the rain, the sun always comes out!

But recently, I have found something else. I was searching for a post by a wonderful mama about bedtime where she was linking me to her blog. And gosh did I love what I read. I wasn't aware at the time that she was Waldorf or anything, I just loved the ideas and the feel of that post. I went back to it about 2-3 weeks ago, and then my curiosity was piqued seing that she also had so many things to say about Waldorf, things that were way further from the best toys, the necessary items, basically, nothing that had to do with owning things, but rather living Waldorf. And in one of her post, I stumbled about a yahoo group adress: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/waldorfhomeeducators/?yguid=301863949 where she claimed there was many articles about Waldorf that were really a must to read. Being the curious person that I am, I HAd to go and see.

And I have to agree. I have found so many things that totally resonates with me. Many that adresses the dangers of materialism, of commercialism, of TV and everything that comes with it.

Yesterday, I was meditating on the topic of newborns. MY soon to be newborn. What does he really need? Does he really need "things"? And giving a quick look in the file section, I found an article written a couple of years ago by the owner of the list. I would love to share this part of the article with you:

"Soon, though, within perhaps minutes, the weight of materialism beings to exert itself into the realm of the child: possessions and objects. Humanity does bear the burden of both consumerism and clever mass production capacities. We overflow with things, we drown in stuff, we wade through our homes and garages and sheds and attics and basements and storage spaces and barns and warehouses and containers and malls and giant cargo ships, with closets, drawers, and shelves overflowing with physical matter."

...

"Well intended parents and relatives stock these rooms with every imaginable beautiful “natural” toys. Hand carved wooden animals fill barns, needle felted villagers populate oak-tree dwellings, handmade dolls with exquisite clothing lie in bunk beds, and china tea sets rest on hand spun plant dyed organic cotton placemats! Dozens of toys line the shelves and floor. Can the young spirit breathe in this space? What can unfold in the inner realms when surrounded by a plethora of objects, colors, shapes, forms, sensory impressions?

In this light, then, if you provide the child with hardened images, and objects, in your home or classroom, then you rob the child of this important venue of spiritual education, one that begins at birth...

...

Even in the Waldorf world, materialism raises its head with the advent of professionally produced ‘toys’ and products, aimed at capturing the market share of the ‘natural market’. Homes and classes filled with ‘made’ objects or ‘made’ ideas, are offering hardened thinking to the children, no matter how beautiful or gloriously created these items are. These objects are designed to appeal to us, to the adults, who yearn for the days when a simple stick could be literally anything. We need and admire these beautiful creations, much more than the child under age seven does...

Nature tables are becoming filled with human-manufactured objects, pushing aside the plants, leaves, wood, and stones. ..."

Written by Marsha Johnson

And that. That article, really made me think through the night (while baby was obviously having a gymnastic class in there...) it lifted a veil over Waldorf, one that I was not fond of.

I am still unsure what route we'll be using when comes the "pedagogy" times. But I feel like I have seen something that I can really relate to. The more I am reading about the less known sides of waldorf, the more interested I am in reading some more. There are things that I don't relate to, and that don't resonate with me. But I am grateful to have the time to learn, and read and try! Isn't this fantastic to have the time to try, and to feel how this and that makes us feel? It is the best way to truly find what you are, to customize your life the way you want, and not being dictated what you should think and do and have!. Trying, making mistakes, trying again, and then knowing.

I will continue to make mistakes and learn, and while all that, I am confident that I will find my path, the one I am supposed to be on. And there is one thing I know, simplicity and simple living, is part of it.



Yes, I am nesting big time. But I think whoever is out there over us designed this period to give us the chance to change and find a new path, one we should be on. I am all ears!