The Ultimate Gift Guide for the Montessori Home

"Montessori..." bask in that beautiful word and all it encompasses. Now, attach the word "home" to it. What does it spell? Montessori Home. What a concept! What a wonderful concept!

We are an eclectic homeschool that incorporate The Montessori Method in nearly every subject we learn. Why? Simply because of what Montessori stands for: supporting child dignity, fostering independence, inviting peace, encouraging spontaneous education, teaching care for one's self and the environment, finding beauty in everything, just to name a few.

In this post, you will see a thorough list of Montessori materials that can be given as gifts for those who seek to have Montessori homes. Not only will your children love the materials, but gifting them something educational, useful and beautiful is the best gift of all. My wish is for you to find in this post many great ideas and inspiration for your Montessori Home.

Homeschool Room Tour 2014

Welcome to our homeschool room! We are happy that you have chosen to pay us a visit. We hope you like what you see.

Homeschooling Journal: April 2014 Part 12

This is what we did in our homeschool at the end of April. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did! Read on to see all of our adventures.

Homeschooling Journal: March 2014 Part 6

Classical Conversations Enrichment

Since we were learning about Confucius, we read this book, which was very helpful.

   

Read on to see what our homeschooling routine looks like.

Homeschooling Journal: March 2014 Part 1

What a great weekend we had! First, it rained on Saturday (which we don't get very often) and second, we had a fun Mardi Gras party on Sunday.

Homeschooling Journal: February 2014 Part 6

Take a look at what we did at the end of February. :) Better late than never, right? :)

A.C.E. (Accelerated Christian Education)
To learn more, CLICK HERE.

K and I have been absolutely loving A.C.E. I adjust it to our needs and schedule and it is working out so well that we will continue using it indefinitely. As he finishes his PACEs (booklets) and memorizes Scripture, he gets a golden star each time and that is an encouragement to him. He is doing great with this program. It isn't individualized yet (as it is in the older grades), but that is ok. It gives us an opportunity to develop a special rapport that we couldn't if he were just working on his own.

The best part about it is that I grew up with this program and now I get to use it with my child. Eventually, A will use it, too. :)

Montessori Science (Botany): Parts of a Fruit

We read some information on the different kinds of fruit and how their seeds are different, but they all produce matching plants out of those seeds.
We also studied our nomenclature key cards and observed an actual fruit (an apple, cut in half).
Then he matched the 3-part nomenclature cards.
fruit, pericarp, exocarp, mesocarp, endocarp

I am looking into adding more parts the next time around (seeds, blossom end, stem, leaf).

Homeschooling Journal: February 2014 Part 5

McGuffey's Readers and Classical Conversations Review
Foundations, Cycle 1, Weeks 1-7

Homeschooling Journal: February 2014 Part 4

Montessori Practical Life: How to Hang Cloth Diapers to Dry

                                            

Desk Work

                                            

Egg and Dairy Free Banana Bread! For the recipe, CLICK HERE. 

Homeschooling Journal: February 2014 Part 3

Baking Fun!

They love helping me bake cookies. They almost have more fun baking them over eating them!

Naughty... It only took me a minute to run the sheets to the washer and when I got back, this is what I found.

Homeschooling Journal: February 2014 Part 1

Haircut (first one in a really, really, REALLY long time). I am so happy!

Homeschooling Journal: January 2014 Part 6

Happy birthday, baby girl! She is two now and she is such a blessing to us! We love her!

Science Experiments Class

In science this month we have learned about the brain and nervous system - 3 parts of the brain, how the brain stem works, coordination, hemispheres, nerves. 
We also learned about cells - basic building blocks, working together as a team and identifying different cells - this was met with an experiment - the kids loved it
Today we will be learning about why our arms swing (M. is curious and it goes back to the parts of the brain lesson). 
We will then move on to learn about our ears with a few experiments and hopefully I'll remember to take pictures! 

Montessori Culture and Science: Land, Air, Water Lessons

It was fun learning today. Today was Science and Culture day! We had Circle Time (I know, I still have to list all of the stuff we do during this time. I'll do it another time because it is a lot of great stuff), we sang and danced, we had Bible class, did a little bit of handwriting, and we reviewed Chinese and Spanish, too.  

After that, we had a snack and then got ready for Culture (Geography) class.  Today, K learned about Land, Water, and Air. We talked about these three concepts and then made a craft with the animals that live in each of these places.  He did really well.  Then we did the same, but instead of animals, it was modes of transportation.  It was really fun for him, since he loves cars, trains, airplanes, and boats.

I gave him a little break in between classes, so I let him practice his cutting skills.  I gave him a magazine.  He especially liked cutting the boys in superhero costumes.  He's getting better at holding the scissors and cutting.

    

In Science class, he learned about Living and Non-living Things.  We talked about how living things breathe (need air), get hungry (need food from the land), get thirsty (need water), and need a home.  Then we made a craft that we will briefly revisit weekly until he grasps the concept completely.

Montessori Science (Geography): Land, Water, Air

We sorted several pictures of animals and insects depending on where
they "live."  I know birds and butterflies technically don't LIVE in AIR,
but they fly and it's easier to explain to him that they can fly
and they spend time up in the air, whereas other animals can't.

Land, Water and Air lesson, but with means of transportation.

English: Land, Water, Air
Spanish: Tierra, Agua, Aire
Chinese: Di, Shui, Qi

Montessori Culture (Geography): Land, Air, and Water

First, we reviewed the differences between land, water and air. 

We talk about why they are all important for life. 

Then, I open the envelope with living things and K sorts them out (animals that are in air, water and land).

After that, we clean up and I open the envelope with methods of transportation and K sorts them out (airplanes, helicopters, etc go by Air, boats, ships, canoes, etc go by Water, cars, trains, trucks, etc go by Land).

Montessori Botany: Parts of a Flower

                                           
This is a lesson that we will be looking at more in depth in Classical Conversations in a few weeks, so I thought it was very timely to study this very basic introduction to the parts of a flower.

Montessori Botany: Parts of a stem, a leaf, a seed

Parts of a Stem

Definitions

1. Stem: The main part of the plant that is above ground and that supports the branches, leaves, flowers, fruit, etc.

2. Node: The section where the leaf branches out of the stem.

3. Internode: The part of the stem that is between two nodes.

4. Axil: The area on the onside or upper end of the node that helps support the branch or leaf. It looks like a tiny bud on top of the node.

                                   

Homeschooling Journal: January 2014 Part 2

Gym / Ballet Co-op

In Ballet, we only had the two girls, but it was lots of fun. We talked about lost teeth, pierced ears and such. We had a hard warm-up and some muscle-building exercises for legs. We also did all of our rhythmic counting in French. We loved it!

Homework:
1) do all five positions, feet only
2) do all five positions, arms only
3) do all five positions, both feet and arms
You can refer to the chart I gave them for Christmas.