Awaiting the Wallingford Parade

Painting with watercolors

Scotland's own rapid rate of vocabulary absorption and intense interest in duplos and his demand to do things “by self” is what spurred me into Montessori. I knew he was ready for a bit more stimulus in his life, but wasn't quite sure how to structure it. My own Mother was an excellent model of most things Montessori- incorporating us kids in every day tasks like cooking, cleaning, and gardening. And was always willing to suffer the mess in favor of allowing us to take part. So it seemed a natural choice for us. We're not that formal yet, mostly it's been a mindset change for me. I find myself looking for little lessons throughout the day. Even something like a blue sippy cup with a red lid can be an opportunity to teach how colors mixed together create other colors (since Scotland himself called the cup purple!) Reading about Montessori has taught me how I can incorporate teaching into every day life. Yesterday, for example, we didn't do his formal shelf work, but he did help me water the garden, pick raspberries, we worked on smearing jam on toast, washing grapes and peeling carrots as we prepared our picnic lunch. He put away his dishes and the silverware- all activities that could have been recreated on trays if Scotland was away at school. One thing Montessori is big on is modeling. The teacher continues to model until the child has learned the task correctly. Maria Montessori believed that children were capable of being careful, diligent and organized, and that their lack of those skills was more a result of not having been taught. Yesterday I got frustrated when Scotland refused to wipe up his tray after eating breakfast. I knew he could do it by himself, and so I didn't want to help him. After a minor freak out (over not wiping up a tray- silly) I took a moment, thought about it, and realized I needed to do it with him until he felt confident and capable enough to do it by himself. At this point the tray had passed. But he was also offering a lot or resistance to doing his dishes. So I got down on the floor and did it with him. Handing him bowls I'd say “Hmm, I wonder where these go?” He'd point, then taking them from me say “They go right there.” I advised them on stacking to create order, and remember where they went for next time. Then we moved on to silverware. . . It was slow but as soon as I got over that we had a lovely time “doing dishes” together. Sure I didn't get the rest of the kitchen cleaned while he did his share, but I did achieve what really mattered, that he did his part. Fingers crossed, that eventually he will feel so confident that he will demand “by self!”