Minnow is 6!

It seems like such a short time ago that I was holding my new baby in my arms for the first time.

 Alive and taking in his first views of this world; we were both in awe of the horizon in front of us.  Now he is 6.  I can hardly believe it.  I've been here 6 years.  It feels like forever, but it also feels like a breath; a single instant.

I made bluebery "6" pancakes (like I always do... it's a thing of mine.  Whatever breakfast food is made into the year old they are)

We ran some errands, he got some video game time and got to open his gift (a set of minecraft stories)

It was amazingly warm and lovely outside so we went to the big park across town after lunch

 

For Dinner he wanted hot dogs on the fire, and here he is blowing out the sparkler candle on his foxy cupcake :)


  


It was a very busy day, but we had a lot of fun together.  Stay tuned for the party... Minnowcraft...the party... to be continued.

Burning the midnight oil, or, our first attempt at 4H fair projects

So Minnow decided he wanted to be in 4H.  I thought it was a great idea.  He's kind of had the on and off interest since we started but was really excited about the fair projects.

...except he couldn't choose.

His ideas ranged from proving/disproving the existence of zombies to making a scarf.  There were many in between.  So many, in fact, that he couldn't settle on a few and get working.  We'd start one only to think of another option a few hours later.

So there we were, 3 days from the fair with nothing.

Pinterest...here we come.

In the end he chose to make a wall hanging and paint some rock pets.

He did 90% of the work himself, and then we did poster boards to help him explain it all to the judge when the time came.

He wanted to call the duck Milo, so we did that too :)

These are his rock pets:

The top row- bear, cat, bee

The bottom row is the frog life cycle.

Because he's so young, he got a participation ribbon for each, but it was so exciting to watch him with the judge.  He was shy and a little nervous at first, but he really opened up.

Happy Holidays! Merry Christmas, Good Yule, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and any other snowy holiday I may have missed!

So the snow is flying...well actually, as of December 14th this year I'm looking at a brown and squishy lawn and not a snowflake to be seen.  I raked the yard yesterday, it's unbelievable.  Have I mentioned we live in northern Minnesota?  It was 44 degrees today!

But as I was saying; there are lights up everywhere, trees adorning homes, and families are busily making plans to get together.  What better time to switch over our classroom for the warmest of winter holidays?

We had a good mix of activities

Weaving

Cookie cutter tracing

Colander with candy cane sticks

Tree shape decorating (we've added a gingerbread man to decorate also)

Weighing various holiday objects

Pom separating by size or color

Candy cane count

Candy cane train stack

Squeezing sponges

Chalkboard number and letter practice

Flower arranging

Santa nesting/stacking boxes

Color pegs sort

Various holiday books

Decorating their own tree (complete with lights they can safely turn off and on)


All in all it's been a big hit :)  They've had a lot of fun in here so far.  We were even able to share it with the cousins when they came over for a visit.

Wishing you the happiest of holidays!

Setting up the classroom for Halloween

My favorite holiday is Halloween.  It always has been.  The sight of small children racing around, being whomever or whatever they desire for one night.  Who wouldn't like that kind of freedom now and then?

We moved the classroom back upstairs and this is the first time I've had a holiday to set up for.  

The boys loved all the different activities.  Some, we had to do at the kitchen table.  (I don't recommend carving pumpkins on carpet if it can be avoided.)  We also decorated candy apples. :)  It's been very busy around here!

A Montessori...road trip?

Next week marks a first for us.  M, Po, and I will be taking a trip with my mom to visit my sister.  We live in Minnesota and she lives in South Dakota.  It won't be the longest trip I've ever taken, but it definitely the longest I've taken my boys on.  Minnow is 4 and Po is 18 months.

I decided to look to pinterest for some ideas.  Then I sort of went overboard.  Well, that remains to be seen.  I reserve the right to gloat if we go through ALL 30 some activities.  You heard me, 30 some.  (As in somewhere in the higher vicinity of 30.)

Of course there will be books, I'm bringing a bag of hats along for car dress up.  I also now have a medium sized tote full of activities that I hope will be suitable in the car.

I'm begrudgingly bringing the tablet and the DVD player as a last resort.  I have no intention of using either, but I am bringing them along.

That's them.  That's not all, but it's a large portion.  I'm also bringing a digital camera I don't use anymore for M to take pics of the vacation.

So let's dig in- what's in the box?

Colors- I made a color matching activity for each boy

Adding eggs-one half has the problem, the other has the answer.  He'll find the answer and snap them together

Word family eggs: Making word families

Counting eggs- one half has dots to count and the other has the answer

Letter find bingo-Fold down the letters as you see them

Number find bingo-Fold down numbers as you see them

Worksheets- A whole bunch of different worksheets in a dry erase binder

Whiteboards

Travel legos-glued a big piece in the top so they have something to stick to.  Also has a boat piece and guys :)

Stencils/colored paper book-practice letters and numbers, or else just draw/color

Boggle Jr. Spelling

Puzzles

I spy bottle- I did NOT make this, it was a gift from my sister.

Lacing-big holes for R and small ones for M

Sandpaper/felt:

-3 sizes, rainbow, and shape- Sandpaper on a clipboard makes a fantastic feltboard!  News to me but YAY!

Animal cars- either drive them around/play or use to make animal sounds; this is a big deal for Po right now.

Magna doodle

Finger puppets-possibly Po's favorite thing EVER

Button snake

Wooly willy/magnet

Magnet bottle

Connect sticks-popsicle sticks with velcro, fairly open ended

Pom pom container-dump out, stuff back in.

Duplo-blocks in a block for Po

Nesting/stacking strainers-just like it sounds, may throw some fuzzy sticks in there for interest and motor

Buttons in a zipper bag-open zipper, take out buttons, put buttons back in, close zipper

Color block match

Color discovery blocks-large blocks with primary color containing items of that color in red, blue, and yellow

toothpicks and spice bottle

Squishy water bead I spy bag and finder card

Animal lacing cards for Po to practice animal sounds- because he rarely wants to do anything else right now

Stickers/sticker book

So that's a hefty majority of the activities I have planned :)  Here's hoping they like what they see and that we have a peaceful drive there and back.  

and on to my next project...

Our new inspirations!

It's been awhile since I've had any new material to blog about.  We've had some family issues and were moving.  It has been a very busy couple of months here.  Hopefully things will settle down now and we can get back to life as usual around here.

So I've been working on KHT Montessori for about a week now.

Minnow is starting to have better focus, he's taken renewed interest in Montessori activities. I think that alone was worth the money!

We did the silence game a few times, he really likes that.  Imagine that, my son enjoying quiet!

I also find the course very interesting and have gained a lot of information already.

My camera is missing, so please bear with me on these phone images.  I'm sure the camera will turn up soon

This is what we've been working on this week:

Grating soap:  I found an awesome tool for the boys at a hardware store locally (come to find out it's the very thing KHT Montessori suggests for use) It has the ability to grate 3 different sizes, separate, and juice.  It also has the plastic cup to catch what you're working with and a handle for stability.  It really is perfect.  I was a little leery because it really is sharp.  Minnow nicked his finger a little when he started to go really fast.  He was fine- no bleeding, just a little pinch.  After that he was very careful and made sure to keep enough soap between himself and the grater.
We use the soap shavings for whisking later on.  We may move up a bit so he can help me make laundry soap when the time comes around for that again.

Grinding eggshells with a mortar and pestle:  Wrist motion and as another positive, we can use this in the garden :)

This is his shelf after working.  Here we have:

Grating soap
Cutting fruit and veggies
Intro to broad stair and tower (really need to stain the stair, just haven't had the chance)
Spindle box
Grinding eggshells
Nuts and bolts on a board

He's really enjoyed this week

Po has been working on colors, beginning with blue as a blue basket and hard and soft objects.  His favorite activity right now is stacking blocks.

It's been a fun week, here's to many more!

On to my next project...

A day off, AND Some exciting news for me!

So we took a day off and went to the local pool/gym/kid center for some fun and free play.

The boys loved it!  It was the first time Minnow went down a waterslide, Po got to be in a pool for the first time and he also took time to try out the big wavy slide too for the first time.  Everybody had a blast, there was definitely napping on the way home.  :)

Now for my news, I'm starting an online Montessori certification course.  I'm planning to consult and maybe teach since the closest Monte school is 5 hours away.  :)  Completion about a year off, but I'm excited to start in about 2-3 weeks.