Adventures of a Rainbow Mama

Lego Animation Studios: Harry Potter and more

2012-01-29T15:11:00.000+11:00

The holidays are almost over.
How can that even be possible? It only feels like yesterday that I was wondering what we would do for the next 8 weeks!

There are a few little "summer holiday" projects that we still need to work on. Like helping Hug to finish sewing badges onto his Scouts shirt. And... hmmmm, I'm sure there are more!

But one of the cool things that we have finished, however, are these Lego stop-motion movies that the boys started last year. I know I said "we" but really they worked on them with their dad - each boy directing his own one with T on camera. I'm just basking in the glow ;)

So without further ado I present: "Harry Potter - Platform Nine and Three Quarters"

And "The Big Crash":

Rain

2012-01-25T09:53:00.001+11:00

It's raining.
It's actually cold and raining. And it's Summer. Weird.

But we're good. All snug. Inside.
The boys are playing Lego. I don't think they will ever tire of it.
I'm listening to the rain (one of my most favourite past-times).

The Board of Studies visit went really well & we were recommended the full 2 year registration which is fantastic! *takes a flourished bow* I applied for both boys and am pleased that I had the opportunity to plan everything with both of them in mind, but it seems that Hug will still stay at school this year. Deep breath.

Sometimes we need to just release to what is. This is one of those moments for me. But I'm going to miss him being here with us. On rainy days like this especially. x

Preparing for our homeschool registration

2012-01-23T00:13:00.001+11:00

Tonight I'm up to my elbows in books & papers & computer-files. Not ice-cream.

Tomorrow I have a meeting with a representative from the Board Of Studies to officially become a registered homeschooler in our state. I've certainly had moments of panic about tomorrow over the past few weeks (the big Christmas / Summer break made it feel almost impossible to wrap my head back around my plans) but I feel quite Zen about it tonight. I still have a bit to do (and it's already 11.23pm - eeeeek) but I've been finalising my plan all day and I know what I want to do.

It's all made me feel a little sentimental about the years past - years that really were part of our homeschooling adventure. This is just our new stage. But in honour of sweet days past I am going to post a few special photos. It's hard to believe my boys were this little only a few short years ago...

Serendipitous Candy Cane ice-cream & other delights

2012-01-19T08:50:00.000+11:00

We accidentally created a new family tradition this year.

I had this day-dream of a ribbon stretched across the entrance way with big candy canes hanging from it. For all of the children, cousins included, to drool over in the week up to Christmas. So I hung it and it looked divine. But... in my enthusiasm I didn't secure the ribbon well enough for it to take the weight of the canes and with one all mighty *crash* we had ourselves a huge collection of shattered Candy Canes. Boo!

Enter the serendipity.

Why not create a smush-in?!

1. Put worse-for-wear Candy Canes in a ziplock & smash them up even more with a rolling pin. Keep some chunky bits for good measure.
2. Mix into a bowl of good quality vanilla ice-cream.
3. Serve on Christmas Day. Yum!

We also mixed some of the ice-cream with milk and created Zoku ice-blocks after Christmas. We love our Zoku maker here btw. It's brilliant.

So that's ice-cream. And serendipity. And now, here's a few links I wanted to share from the past few weeks. Enjoy! x

Reading:

+ The subtle shades of everyday creative learning
+ A list of things to learn
+ Why Narration?
+ The Virtues Of Kindness
+ Outside the box
+ Studying the world through creative play
+ To be more Joyful...

Inspired:

+ Beauty that moves
+ FIMBY

Resources:

+ Good Reads

+ Librivox

+ Audible

The Treehouse

2012-01-19T00:17:00.000+11:00

Hello And HAPPY NEW YEAR! Welcome to Adventures Of a Rainbow Mama 2012.

Well our exciting news is that we're almost "officially" home-schoolers here at Rainbow HQ. We have an assessor from the Board of Studies coming to confirm our registration next Monday. Not that we haven't been doing this is various forms for the past 8 years! But this is certainly a landmark for us.

I plan on blogging a lot more regularly this year. What about you? I've been busy with my head buried in a lot of cool books & blogs; getting very inspired.

I also have bunches of photos I want to go through & post. A lot of cool activities that we did last year never got shared. So we'll do that too.

But first here are few stolen moments from last Sunday.
Treehouse building.
3 generations.
In the rain.
Very sweet.
Hopefully it might be finished this weekend... :)

x

These sweet days...

2011-12-17T16:47:00.001+11:00

are for surprises.

being with the people (and dogs ;) you love.

spoiling good friends.

small delights.

making memories.

reflection.

afternoon naps.

starting new adventures.

& building lots of cubby-houses!

What are your favourites moments of december thus far...? x

Friendship

2011-12-02T19:48:00.001+11:00

Feeling grateful for the sweet friends in our lives.
I love watching our children grow up together... it's so beautiful.

Little Advent Surprises

2011-12-02T19:33:00.001+11:00

Some of what I'm reading & watching on-line this week

2011-11-10T15:39:00.001+11:00

Reading:

"Why I Don't Worry About My Kids' Screen Time". Part 1 and Part 2.

The Parent's Project Journal

Cookie Baking Party (I know you wanna have one ;)

This broke my heart. Every single parent in the world should read it... There are no words.

The Classical Education.

Counting Coconuts' New Routine. Love seeing how other people get organised!

Watching:

Blue Jay / 12 Year old Music Prodigy

The Elements of Art (for kids)

Wet-on-Wet Watercolour Painting

Image credit: A friend posted this great pic on FB. Wish I knew who to credit it to. Sharing the love.

Press PLAY

2011-11-10T15:28:00.001+11:00

Mr L is doing really well at "school". He's got a Logical-Mathamatical kinda mind (We're loving our Life of Fred books, thanks for the inspiration Hungry Heads! ;) but he's also really imaginative which I love. His reading is improving every day and his retention seems good too.

Our days run quite smoothly *most of the time* Lol. But when I stumbled across this blog challenge I thought it sounded like the type of fun-injection we would enjoy!

Don't get me wrong - there's a lot of PLAY in this house. In fact, I type this one-fingered into my iphone at the kitchen table sipping my tea and listening to the mad ramblings of Mr.L ensconced in a world of suitcases, locks, keys and burgulars in his room. This is a tea-break from our morning of Chess and book reading on the trampoline.

But, sometimes I find they're/we're stuck in familiar play patterns.

The Play challenge gives you 30 days of Play prompts and is aimed at the younger child. Which is where I think the fun will lie for us - revisiting some of the old-skool gems that we have "grown out of". Yesterday (our first day, but day 8 of the challenge) was Water Play and I made up bottles of coloured water for bath-time play.

Today it's Sensory Tubs! I'm actually not even sure we did Sensory Tubs at all when they were little even though they were all over the web. But I took the lead and have thrown this collection together.

Are you tempted to PLAY too...?

L takes a sneak peek. Immediate response ~ peg on nose. Boys!?

Lego inspired painting

2011-11-03T14:55:00.003+11:00

I had both boys home with me today & they were having such a wonderful time playing Lego that I knew it would take something fun to get them into our daily routine.

So, we got painting Lego-stylee.

We used a ruler to block out a grid on our paper with pencil before we began. Mixed up the colors. And dived in.

i heart my Tricky Treaters

2011-11-01T16:06:00.001+11:00

Yesterday i posted about Reverse Trick or Treat - our families Halloween tradition. Here are some pics from the road :)

I hope you all had a happy & safe Halloween! x

Reverse Trick or Treating : Our Family Halloween Tradition

2011-10-31T16:39:00.000+11:00

Living in Australia Halloween is a slightly odd holiday. Mostly because we don't officially celebrate it!

I, however, loved Halloween when I was a kid and I was keen to enjoy it with my own children too. But, there were a few problems... The first being #1 that seeing as it's not officially celebrated in Australia the chance of anyone expecting to be Trick-or-Treated is pretty low (ie. not many people with sweets ready to hand out), plus, #2 I didn't really want my children to be eating many sweets anyway!

So we came up with our own family tradition. One based on the concept of GIVING rather than receiving. It's sweet. It's fun. It strengthens our community spirit and it makes us all feel good.

REVERSE TRiCK OR TREATiNG :)

We bake.

We make.

We dress up.

And we Treat!

We go door to door in our own neighbourhood giving out treats. Costumes can be any of our favourite dress-ups. Ghouls need not apply (but are becoming more popular as they get older ;)

This year it's cookies. We made 3 sorts (that's a batch of Walnut Golden Syrup cookies above).

But some years we make muffins too. You could make any easily handed-out baked good.

These Rainbow cookies (above) are a little extreme! But a concession to the occasion.

Chocolate chip and Nut-butter.

So we're ready to go. I'm just waiting for the boys to get back with T so we can head out soon... I'm sure they will end up with some of their own treats too :) They usually do. A lollipop from the corner house or some peaches from Fred down the road. They love that. But I like that it's not the only thing that we look forward to at Halloween.

Kids who...

2011-10-14T13:48:00.001+11:00

When your kids use a dysfunctional strategy to meet their needs, notice the deeper need they're trying to fill:

Kids who compete with siblings often need to feel more valued for who they are.

Kids who keep pushing for limits usually need to know the parent is in charge and will keep them safe.

Kids who "don't listen" often don't feel heard.

Kids who are always rebelling usually need to feel more powerful and competent.

Kids who are always cranky usually need more sleep.

Kids who disrespect you are always showing you they don't feel connected enough to you.

I recently signed up to receive e*newsletters from Aha! Parenting and am appreciating the wisdom-fix. This is a post from their site that I particularly needed to read today. X

Ken Robinson on the Education Paradigm & the importance of Divergent Thinking

2011-10-09T14:47:00.000+11:00

Here's to the Crazy One(s)...

2011-10-07T10:28:00.001+11:00

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Made me cry.

"The ones
who are
crazy enough
to think they can change the world
are the ones
who do"

You can see Steve Jobs speaking about this campaign here. What passion. What integrity. What a life. Thanks for being yourself Steve - your legacy is a shining light for all of us. X

Parts of a Flower

2011-10-03T22:33:00.001+11:00

I am loving this post from Satori Smiles. I've never seen a Microfleur Flower Press before! What a cool thing. Okay - I don't actually own a microwave but I know people who do. Lol. And this has now been officially added to my Amazon wishlist ;)

And as if that and the subsequently laminated + labelled lily aren't cool enough ~ the Celebration Plant Salad is brilliant. A salad where you can eat all parts of a plant: flower + stem + leaves + seeds + fruit + roots. Smart. And damn gorgeous too.

p.s. I'm pretty fond on their learning spaces too :) Like the Learning Loft and the Atelier Creative Room. I think I need to start naming some of our favourite spots too!

My cool cats...

2011-10-03T22:03:00.000+11:00

Yummy + Healthy Bliss Balls!

2011-10-03T17:31:00.001+11:00

+ Dried dates

+ Almond meal

+ LSA (Linseed / Sunflower seed / Almond mix - optional)

+ Raw Cacao

+ Coconut Oil

+ Coconut.

So easy:

1. Guesstimate your quantities ;) You can adjust to taste.

2. Add the first 4 ingredients to a food processor & process until the dates are completely pulverised.

3. Add enough Coconut Oil to get the mix sticky.

4. Roll into balls.

5. Roll balls in coconut.

6. Voila!

Yum!

These are a huge hit here at the moment. Plus they're gluten-free, free of refined sugar, dairy-free & full of goodness. I've always wanted to make them & threw this very simple recipe together based on my own pantry but I'm sure there are a multitude of variations out there.

What yummy { and healthy } treats are your family enjoying at the moment?

Listening / Reading / Dreaming

2011-09-20T16:40:00.001+10:00

I am...

Listening to this inspired talk by John Taylor Gatto.

Reading about Charlotte Mason.

Dreaming of ordering Montessori Math manipulatives.

2011-08-29T08:50:00.000+10:00

Wow. Love this! The retro charm teamed with a seriously great idea. Oooozes cool in my books.

Originally posted by Unschooling Conversations.

Now I wonder if we have a family member who can make a set of these for the boys for Christmas?! ;)

We are finding our true centres. Mama included.

2011-08-18T17:28:00.004+10:00

i just made the commitment

2011-08-18T16:26:00.000+10:00

Natural v Man-Made

2011-08-14T10:47:00.000+10:00

Provide a collection of items (these are our "phonetic objects")
Make "Natural" and "Man-Made" labels.
Lay out 2 mats & sort the items as per their origin.

Silkworms | Week 1

2011-08-13T08:15:00.002+10:00

Margaret Homfray: The Montessori Reading Curriculum Lectures

2011-08-11T19:02:00.001+10:00

Here are links to the Margaret Homfray Reading Curriculum Lectures Videos:

Montessori Reading Curriculum, Lecture 1 Preparing Children to Read

Montessori Reading Curriculum, Lecture 2, The Insets for Design

Montessori Reading Curriculum, Lecture 3. Sandpaper Letters

Montessori Reading Curriculum, Lecture 4. (no link)

Montessori Reading Curriculum, Lecture 5 Phonetic Reading

Montessori Reading Curriculum, Lecture 6. Phonetic Grammar

Montessori Reading Curriculum, Lecture 7. Phonograms

The Getty Museum: Art Cards and Resources

2011-08-09T07:31:00.029+10:00

When I was in LA about a year and a half ago I visited the J. Paul Getty Museum. It's an amazing building in a spectacular location with some really great art... and a brilliant store! Lol. I looooove museum and gallery stores ;)

I bought a set of Getty Museum Art Cards for Lovely & Hug but put them away on my return and got them out for the first time recently - only to discover that the cards are SO beautiful. I also bought the book Going to the Getty among other things.

Each card is well titled (with the name of the artwork, the artist and the year it was produced) and a "matching" card which is a very small detail of the original painting.

As you can see from the image above it's quite a sophisticated matching game but something that I think would be universally appealing for kids with their amazing eye for detail.

There are also many opportunities for extension work - creating a timeline of the artworks or grouping the works into artistic genres are a few that come to mind.

Here are links to some cool art resources on the Getty website:

Getty Games (interactive art puzzles)

Art Scoops (for parents and kids to explore together)

Looking and Learning in the Art Museum (lesson plans)

Understanding Formal Analysis - Part 1

Understanding Formal Analysis - Part 2

Elements of Art (pdf)

Principles of Design (pdf)

Introducing Line (pdf)

Introducing Shape (pdf)

Classroom Resources

Tips and Tools for Teaching Art

The Art and Depiction of Dance

Grade-by-grade guide to building Visual Arts lessons

Examples of Watercolour techniques

A Timeline: Four Centuries of Perspective
Make a Bookmark (pdf)
Visit the Getty Museum on Whyville (interactive)
Making Art (videos)

Looking at Art (videos)
View the Collection
Art Books for Children (age guides)
The Gallery Store (for kids)

What are your favourite ways to learn about art?

Montessori Grammar Materials - Free downloads

2011-08-08T16:34:00.005+10:00

I am making some Montessori Grammar materials for my boys at the moment.

I am happy to share them for your personal and classroom use. If you are interested just click on the image to link to the full size file at box.net and please leave a comment to let me know who you are :) Thank you!

The Parts of Speech poem is an amended version of this poem. Please let me know if you are aware of the original source :)

Enjoy! x

Margaret Homfray & the Montessori Grammar Lecture

2011-08-08T14:10:00.001+10:00

Margaret Homfray was a student in Maria Montessori's Teacher Training course in London in 1929. She subsequently continued to work with Maria Montessori for more than 20 years. While she was alive Ms. Homfray gave permission for a number of her lectures to be recorded and the Montessori community is blessed to have these direct-source references to Maria Montessori's work.

Margaret Homfray

The video below is relevant to our current study of grammar and I will follow with a post listing all of the lectures in the READING series with more links to come in the future.

Montessori Reading Curriculum, Lecture 6. Phonetic Grammar

Paper Cutting as Practical Life

2011-08-06T10:01:00.001+10:00

Print out a page with a grid on it (or find something in the recycled paper as we did) for practice with the paper cutter.
Show the child how to use the cutter in steps.
A cutter like this will keep their fingers safe while providing a challenge which can be altered depending on the complexity of the paper grid provided.
Much concentration is required to line up the paper, position it straight to the blade and then to keep it in place. There is also a built-in control of error as the paper will not be cut to the grid if all of the steps are not carefully followed.
L loved this work!

Winter blossoms make my heart sing

2011-08-03T22:10:00.002+10:00

Fiction + Non-Fiction

2011-07-28T22:27:00.002+10:00

Yesterday while we were in the car - on our way to go rollerskating baby!! - L & I stumbled into a conversation about the difference between 'Fiction' and 'Non-Fiction'.

That fed into a game where I said the name of a book in the boys library collection & he told me if it was Fiction or Non-Fiction. To my surprise he got it right every time! We played it so many times that I couldn't think of any more books. Phew!

So, today, he made Fiction & Non-Fiction labels.

Showed his Montessori credentials by insisting that he check that the widths of his labels matched ;)

Laid out 2 mats...

Collected a pile of books from his room..

& got sorting :)

Wordless Wednesday

2011-07-27T20:10:00.003+10:00

Cooking Day: Vegetarian Lasagna

2011-07-26T21:44:00.005+10:00

In keeping with our weekly rhythm, yesterday was 'Cooking Day'.
While L prepared our morning tea...

...I prepped the spinach & ricotta filling (cook onion & garlic with a little salt until soft; wilt fresh spinach; process with a good ricotta until smooth).

Next, L sliced olives and peeled sweet potatoes. I sliced a tomato and grated some tasty cheese and thinly sliced his sweet potatoes. I also opened a jar a pasta sauce! Lol. (I do usually make my own homemade tomato sauce for lasagna but I wanted to keep this reasonably simple).

Ready for layering! I was in charge of dipping the pasta sheets in hot water (to the right of the lasagna tray) & L was in charge of layering all of our delicious ingredients.

Go Lovely! * A little sauce 2 start * pasta sheets * sweet potato * spinach + ricotta * pasta sheets * sauce * REPEAT * top with the grated cheese * finish with sliced tomato and olives.

Served with a fresh garden salad and followed by Bill Granger's Passionfruit Pudding (I substituted plain flour for Quinoa flour and it was A-mazing!).

Delish. What are your favourite recipes to cook with kids? A. x

The 7 days of the week

2011-07-25T23:35:00.002+10:00

Today we were talking about the days of the week.

I'm putting a calendar corkboard together (a little inspired by Counting Coconuts :) but it's not pretty enough for photos yet!

I think this sweet *Days of the Week * Rainbow Wheel* is though:

L and I were discussing the fact that there are 7 colours of the rainbow and 7 days of the week so if seemed like a great idea to combine these thoughts.

The wheel is very easy to make. Take 2 paper plates & trim one down to make the smaller circle. Divide the plates into 7 equal parts - a little more than 51 degrees if u happen to have measuring apparatus on hand - I didn't & mine is a little skew but I think it's still okay.

Colour each section it's own rainbow colour (in order) Red * Orange * Yellow * Green * Blue * Indigo * Violet.

When that's done, write the names of the days in sequence around the plate.

The smaller plate introduces a 2nd concept: Yesterday * Today * Tomorrow. Attach the 2 plates at the centre with a brad so that the top plate spins.

Voila!

The child lines the 'Today' segment up with the current day of the week and can also see what 'Yesterday' was & 'Tomorrow' will be.

Lovely has done so much brilliant self-motivated writing today that when he didn't want to write all of the days himself I was happy to offer to help.

I think this is a wonderful crafty learning activity. The child can "see" the cyclical nature of the week; the particular sequence of days; the names of the days & how they're spelt for future reference; the concept of Y*T*T; as well as the sequence of the colours of the rainbow! Beautiful.

The 5 year old mash up

2011-07-24T00:16:00.002+10:00

You know it's a good party when the dj let's a couple of 5 year olds take over his booth!

'Fools Gold' never sounded so good! ;)

Making a simple Whale softie

2011-07-23T15:29:00.001+10:00

We've been learning about Whales this week and for our first CRAFT + MAKiNG DAY I decided that L and I would make a soft Whale toy.

Meet "Cutie" :)

L had wanted to buy a soft whale at the lighthouse when we were whale watching earlier in the week, and I thought that this would a wonderful opportunity to show him that sometimes we can MAKE the things that we want!

Here's a simple step-by-step:

1. Use Google Images to find the shape that you want. Lovely chose this one.
2. Print out the image & make any alterations.

3. Choose some fabric and lay two pieces on top of each other, with the wrong side facing out.

4. Cut out your fabric. I pinned the paper to my fabric and cut an wide edge around it all.

5. Draw a line where you will be stitching (it won't be visible as you are working on the 'wrong' side)

6. Get stitching!

We alternated 3 stitches each. Kinda ;) Me, Me, Lovely, Me, Lovely, Me, Me, Me. Lol.

He's hesitant about sewing but I really wanted him to practice and to be able to feel a sense of ownership in the work. At the same time I didn't pressure him to do more than he wanted.

7. Stitch all the way around your shape but leave a reasonably large gap for the next step...
8. Turn it inside out. Or outside in. You know what I mean!
This can be fiddly - I realised that we'd never get the spout turned so it got culled at this point. You can use a blunt lead pencil to help you.

9. Make any *extras* you want to include.

Lovely coloured a heart for our whale :) and we choose some small crystals too.

10. Stuff your softie!

We used pure fleece - it's so beautiful. Lovely enjoyed this part a lot. We added the extras as we went.

11. Stich up that gap & embroider a few simple details like the face we did & Voila! A new friend :)

Lighthouse Soaring.

2011-07-21T21:48:00.004+10:00

Our new weekly routine

2011-07-20T22:09:00.005+10:00

As our new adventure begins, I am basing our weekly schedule around the classroom routine that L followed for the first half of the year. In typical Waldorf fashion he's taken to seeing the week in terms of "Painting Day", "Baking Day" etc. and I think continuing this will help him with the transition. The only major change I'm making is introducing *Outing Day* - Yippee!

* MONDAY - Cooking Day
* TUESDAY - Drawing Day
* WEDNESDAY - Outing Day
* THURSDAY - Painting Day
* FRIDAY - Craft + Making Day

He's not too keen on the idea of keeping Craft Day. Lol. But I've tweaked it to include 'making' and I'm sure we will find lots of fun activities.

Monday we baked buns. Tuesday we did snow drawings.
And - today - we went whale watching.... ahhhhhh, heaven!

I love this rhythm. But it's also outside of this that it gets exciting! I am utilizing the wonderful classroom guides from New Child Montessori (i seem to mention them often here on my blog!).

All images copyright Rainbow Mama.

I'm following the guides by season & this week we are *actively* learning about Winter. With special focus on 'Places where it snows in Winter' Ie. Not here! Hence the snow drawings (White crayons and pastel on dark paper), snow making (using our snowcone machine to make snow to play with in the yard - yep, all quickly melted away by our glorious winter sunshine), receiving timely postcards from Alaska!, reading loads of books, and seeing with our own eyes the Winter migration of Humpback Whales past our coastline.

And we're only on Day 3 :)

How do you like to structure your week and what Winter activities do your children love? I'd love to hear! x

Yo! Mansted Family Project

2011-07-20T14:05:00.000+10:00

I'd like to introduce you to a beautiful friend of mine. Her name is Tracey and her homeschool | family | life blog is called the Mansted Family Project. Here are some pix of our combined crazy-cats hanging out together :)

We met at an aquanatal class when we were both first pregnant with bub number one and our friendship has blossomed ever since.

Tracey & I share so many *quirks* (as our families will attest! ;) and interests & I take great inspiration from her generous and enthusiastic spirit.

Please say hello :) Mansted Family Project!

Highlights from our first official day

2011-07-19T22:03:00.002+10:00

Adventures of a Homeschoolin' Mama!

2011-07-19T21:58:00.002+10:00

Well... what a difference a few weeks makes :)

After an extended meditation on Life, Love & the Universe & - oh, that's it - my Montessori teacher training dreams... almost out of the blue, we have decided 2 bring Lovely home for the rest of the year.

It's a long-term dream and an opportunity (as he won't turn 6 until after the school year ends, there is no legal obligation to enroll him in a school nor register him as a homeschooler) to see how if works for our family.

It means that - for now at least - my study plans are on hold but it feels like such a wonderful opportunity to 'learn on the job'.

So... today was day 1 & a grand success. Welcome home Lovely-one. xxx

Dr Montessori's 10 commandments to parents...

2011-07-19T21:55:00.002+10:00

I'm not sure where I originally printed this from but a similar document can be found at Montessori.org

Testing BlogPress on my iPhone

2011-07-02T22:04:00.004+10:00

It will be cool if this works well!

Anyone else using an app 4 blogger?

"Boys Toys" : The gun-play debate

2011-06-29T10:57:00.003+10:00

We received this toy catalogue in the letterbox yesterday. In the past I've occasionally, despite my anti-consumerism instincts, let my children look through these catalogues for fun.

Luckily I had the forethought to flick through this one myself before leaving it in a child-accessible area. Maybe it was the $8.74 nerf "Quick Firing Blaster with Rotating Barrel / Maverick Refill and Reload" dartgun advertised on the cover??

a sample of the "toys" advertised in the catalogue

I was shocked at the range of violent toys on offer. They advertise a "sniper" rifle wii game amongst the toy kitchens and tonka trucks. Our children do not need hunting rifles or fauz-uzies. Urgh. Especially when they're all being advertised as "boys toys". The images reproduced here are just a sample of the content.

We have a strict no-gun policy in our house. That means no gun-toys and no playing with household objects as if they were guns. My boys do attempt to subvert this rule and my husband has suggested at times that maybe we could be more lenient and in some ways I do wonder the same - my concern is that in my being so restrictive about it that I create desire - but I honestly cannot stand watching my children engage in violent play for fun.

Do you allow gun-play in your home? And if not, how do you navigate the current violence-as-entertainment-is-cool culture? I'd love to hear your thoughts on this debate.

Decisions. Decisions.

2011-06-27T21:10:00.000+10:00

Speaking of time flying - it's been a month since I last posted! Ker-azy.

The responses to my Montessori | Steiner post had an unexpectedly huge impact on me and have sent me on a huge journey of re-assessment and self-contemplation.

But the most amazing bit is that I'm looking at the options for getting my Montessori qualifications! Which has turned out to be exceedingly confusing and scary & exciting all at the same time.

I'd love to get some feedback and hear your personal insights. I'll try & write more tomorrow about what the options look like :)

Yay! A. x

Walking The Line

2011-06-27T19:33:00.001+10:00

from the archives

Awww, look at bubba Lovely walking on the line. I just came across this old photo. Too cute. *sigh* they grow up so fast! He's "officially 5 and a half" now. Love you cutie-pie! x

Shopping trip :)

2011-05-27T17:18:00.000+10:00

Some of the deliciousness i bought today! Local food rocks. x

Montessori and Waldorf Steiner

2011-05-27T06:20:00.005+10:00

I'm personally fascinated with the convergence, the differences, and the union between Montessori & Waldorf Steiner education & philosophies.

It's a rather controversial topic and I acknowledge the myriad of perspectives and I appreciate the pure form of both on many levels. But, for me, the very fact that I have been so strongly drawn to and inspired by both means that there has to be something there. Which for me is the seed, the intent of both. I have a lot more I could say (and have said) on this topic but that's for another post!

For now I just wanted to share an article I stumbled across which was published late last year here on New Learning Culture which looks at the "Yin & Yang of Montessori and Waldorf in Early Childhood Education" (click on the pages to enlarge):

How do you incorporate elements of Montessori & /or Waldorf Steiner into your home or classroom? Or do you follow a purist approach to either? What do you find difficult and what seems like a natural connection? Please leave your thoughts below in the comments box :) I'd love to further this discussion.

EDIT: Adding some resources:

"Steiner Compared To Montessori"
"A Look at Waldorf and Montessori Education in the Early Childhood Programs"

The Most Beautiful Wool in The World (and how Lovely learnt to finger knit)

2011-05-26T11:04:00.000+10:00

So let's start at the beginning & this picture. Take a moment & LOOK at this wool & tell me if it's not just the loveliest thing ?! Alright, I think we can start the post now ;)

I've been reading a bit about handcrafts & how helpful they are in settling children's energy in the wonderful Montessori book ('Children Who Are Not Yet Peaceful' which I love despite the challenging title. I'll write more about it soon. The link is below) and in speaking to other mothers and teachers at my boy's Waldorf school.

Here is one definite union of the Montessori and Waldorf philoshopies: Children learn through their hands.

"Compelling handwork that satisfied the soul while it exercised the hands... It is mysterious how handwork can serve so many ends - social connectedness, concentration, respect for others, fine motor development. Like music, handwork soothes the savage beast..." p.42 'Children Who Are Not Yet Peaceful', Donna Bryant Goertz.

Lovely (5)'s teacher had mentioned that he was hesitating to get involved in the craft they were doing and I talked to him about it, suggesting that Mama help him. And that maybe we could do some finger knitting! Genius! This would tie in with the reading I was doing! Even more genius! But then... our conversation went a little bit like this:

Rainbow Mama (that's me ;) "Would you like to learn to finger knit?"
Lovely: "No"
RM: "Oh... Really?"
Lovely: "I never ever ever want to finger knit in my whole life"

Hmmmm, so, it was at that point that I realised that I needed to bring in the big guns >> and this is how we came to buy *The Most Beautiful Wool in The World* :)

We are very blessed to have a gorgeous craft shop onsite at Hug's school. We'd been walking past this wool for months (me, admiring it longingly - "imagine having something to use that for!") so we knew where we were headed.

I couldn't remember how to get started so, as we gathered together bringing L's attention to it's lovliness, the shop owner patiently showed us all how to do a "slip knot" & we were off. There is a 10 minute drive between the boys schools and in that 10 minutes Lovely learnt to finger knit! #magic

By the evening he had completed his ball of wool ( I split our one ball of BWITW three ways) & had this gorgeous Rainbow chain. And he was very proud of himself :) LOVE. You can see it in it's finished glory (below) which is how I laid it out for him while he slept that night.

It hasn't *fixed* his hesitancy to get involved in craft but I can see that we are opening the door & showing him the possibilities.

What type of handcrafts do you and your family enjoy?

Juice Of The Day: Apple, Carrot & Beetroot

2011-05-24T13:51:00.000+10:00

With the help of my trusty assistant we had a delicious blood-red juice this morning. Apple, Carrot (organic) & Beetroot (organic). Yum.

We use a Gear Juicer (ours is made by Samson) - which makes it so easy - and safe - for kids to juice.

There are lots of great lessons in this activity. They know how to build it, use it, pour the juice & dismantle it. All I do is cut the fruit & vegetables into small enough pieces - no peeling or coring required ;) & let them at it. I really probably don't need to do the cutting but I like to be helpful too!

Lovely is my juice maestro but today Hug was home from school (he had to be collected after falling from a cubby house in the morning. Thank goodness after a check over by our doctor we know he's okay) and he took the reigns.

Thanks Hug :) It was so delicious.

p.s. You can read more about the benefits of gear juicers here. x

A surprise!

2011-05-23T13:04:00.000+10:00

Wow.

I just noticed that sometime last week my visitor counter jumped over to 26,000 + visitors. I feel very blessed - and amazed! - especially as the counter wasn't there from the beginning & I was (mostly) awol for almost a year and a half.

Feeling the LOVE and all the appreciation that that brings.

So, a huge *Thank You* to all the lovely folks who do read my blog :) I have big plans and some new ideas in the works - alongside the new redesign which is kinda still in the mix - which I look forward to sharing with you.

With Love, A. x

A simple to way to keep track of our water glasses

2011-05-07T13:58:00.006+10:00

If your house is anything like ours - you end up with a completely ridiculous amount of used glasses at the end of the day.

And a lot of the time it's my fault ~ I don't know who's glass it is so i put in the dishwasher & then said glass's owner returns to their now-vanished glass so... they.get.another.one.

Craziness.

So, our new system is going to be using some of the many silly-bands that are around the house (of course rubber bands in different colours would do the job just as well) as markers.

This is mama's water glass people!

Rainbow Juice

2011-05-03T17:14:00.001+10:00

I've been trying to make lots of fresh juices for my family at the moment. With the change of season it seems a great time to be making sure we are getting lots of extra nutrients to keep us as healthy as possible.

I've experimented with adding greens: baby spinach & cucumber are standard additions but today was the first day that I included raw broccoli.

I didn't mention it to them in advance, but there was enthusiasm all round so I will take it as a success. Yum!

What yummy juices do you & your family enjoy? x

How i love rainy day projects | aka The Tibetan Mandala Puzzle Project

2011-04-28T23:53:00.000+10:00

My mama gave us this beautiful circular 500 piece Tibetan mandala puzzle.

And I loved watching two of my favourite boys working together...

More rainbow dying...

2011-04-23T13:01:00.002+10:00

It seemed a waste to just tip all of our glasses of beautiful egg-colouring away!

They sat on my bench for a day until Hug & I got inspired to use them in a different way. I gave him a length of white fabric, showed him how to dip the red & left him to it. Minutes later we had a beautiful rainbow cloth drying in the wind.

There was some serious mixing of colours after that! Scientific experiments & all sorts of concoctions made until we were left with a big bucket of murky black water sitting on the back deck. Lol.

Rainbow Easter Egg Surprise!

2011-04-23T12:48:00.000+10:00

Feeling inspired by lots of lovely easter crafts I've seen online I decided that we would try & make our own version of these beautiful eggs featured on the very groovy Not Martha blog :) Rainbow eggs with a suprise!

First I set up glasses of liquid food colours in a rainbow selection. I had blown & sterilised the egg shells earlier in the week so we were ready 2 get dying.

Dip! Dip! We drew on some of the egg shells with a wax crayon before we dipped. And stuck removable stickers on others.

Voila! Ready to dry...

Now, the 'plan' is that this afternoon I will fill the dried eggs with mini easter eggs and seal the open end by gently gluing a mini patty-pan onto the shell... Wish me luck!

We will share them with our little-friends tomorrow morning - there's a street Easter Hunt planned - & I'm sure that all of the kids will enjoy both the cracking and the surprise filling :)

Yay! 100 "google" followers :)

2011-04-20T22:15:00.001+10:00

Awww, someone - Kara from Rockin' Granola in fact ;) - just became my 100th follower. That's a nice little surprise before bed! Thanks Kara.

On that note - a huge thank you to all of my lovely blog followers... U rock.
Wishing everyone a good night. & sweet dreams. xoxo

p.s. by the way... i just wanted to mention how happy the front of my fridge makes me :)
Anyone else wanna share theirs with the world too? Maybe we could even have Fridge Fridays...?! x

Art, History, Geography in Action.

2011-04-17T07:00:00.001+10:00

In preparation for creating our own Family Flag we did some research and reading about flags, emblems & symbols.

Lovely's Australian flag. I LOVE his freehand Union Jack and stars!

I used 2 books from our home-library: Flags and Emblems of Australia from Kangaroo Press and Signs and Symbols from Pepin Press.

Our discussion about the Australian Coast of Arms led to a bout of spontaneous coin-rubbing (The Oz 50 cent coin features it) using various methods: I suggested crayons then Hug decided Lyra pencil was more effective.

Coin Rubbings featuring The Australian Coat of Arms

We learnt (and yes! I admit that I didn't know these specifics :) that the Australian Flag has 1 large 7-point star and the Southern Cross is portrayed with 4 smaller 7-point stars and one 5-point star. Of course it also has a large Union Jack symbolising our historical place in the British Commonwealth.

Hug's Union Jack. He chose to use a ruler to outline the shape before he painted.

I guess what this particular session showed me - and may i note that it was our first formal lesson in a long time - was how much fun it is to involve art in the learning process! That hadn't been the initial plan as the actual art element was meant to just be the Family Flag (which we did get to later that afternoon!) but it quickly became obvious that through art I could really gather the boys attention. Not only learning concepts that touched on history, geography & culture but also strengthening their artistic skills.

Now THAT is a really cool concept that I'm eager to embrace!

Our Aboriginal Flags. They asked me to paint too! Mama must remember to get messy ;)

How do you use art in your daily learning?

Upper and Lowercase letters | Memory game

2011-04-16T13:37:00.000+10:00

I'm back in2 my lovely curriculum guides from New Child Montessori and 1 of the activities this week called for making a set of Upper and Lower Case Letter cards. I was a bit excited as I think it's a great activity for Lovely to sink his teeth into - this kiddo LOVES memory games - and the perfect reinforcement activity for Hug who is a very strong reader now but can still confuse the direction of letters when he's writing.

I pulled out some metallic card stock (that just happened to be sitting around in my art supplies for the past 10+ years waiting to be used - what's with that??!) and got to making the cardboard tiles. These are 4cm x 4cm. And a little rough - Hug and I cut them out together ;)

I'm trying to get back into using my sewing machine a bit more - and I'm particularly interested in sewing on paper - so I fashioned a simple pocketed sheet to keep them in by stitching smaller pieces of card against a backing card. And then busted out the label maker (I've dreamt of this baby for years. So happy to actually have one! Lol)

My first prototype featured my own handwriting which I later decided to cover with printed letters in a traditional Montessori script (please let me know if you would like me to email you a copy of this pdf. I downloaded it years ago & can't find the source to credit so I won't upload it here) which not only is a nice middle ground between print and cursive but which also highlights all of the vowels by making them a different colour than the regular letters.

The cards are organised and introduced in these Montessori-defined groupings:

SMAT FBOX HNDE CPUR WIGJL ZKQYV

So, the idea is that you introduce 1 set of letters at a time, using the 3 Period Lesson. Layout as matching cards and then extend to a game of memory. As each set is mastered another can be introduced.

I shall upload some pix of the activity in action next week :)

Hellooooo! :)

2011-04-12T00:11:00.000+10:00

Hello, I'm back! again!
Lol. No, seriously this time. I think ;)

& I'm on twitter too >> @aRainbowMama

Please feel welcome to FOLLOW me, (& please say hello!) cos I'm really looking forward to getting to know you all again!

Love, A. x

More sharing

2010-07-26T22:13:00.000+10:00

Today I want 2 give a shout out 2 The Parental Intelligence Newsletter. The latest issue just arrived into my inbox & I thought I should share in case you haven't stumbled across it yet. Always full of good reading :)

Dear Santa...

2010-07-26T21:00:00.002+10:00

You know there's a problem when your 4 year old writes a letter to Santa (in July!) asking if he could "please have some new undies." Lol & whoops! Guess what I'm doing tomorrow ;)

{ image: Du Pareil au Meme }

Dealing with Conflict

2010-07-25T11:06:00.000+10:00

Hug & Lovely are great brothers. They honestly adore each other. But there are certainly lots of moments in our day to day lives where you just wouldn't know it. Fights erupt out of nowhere & people feelings are hurt. I know that it's the story of a million - a billion! - brothers around the world but it can be hard to watch when it's your own children.

So I appreciated reading this new blog post on mariamontessori.com today entitled 'Break it Up & Break it Down'.

Sometimes we all need a reminder that we need to be the voice of calm amid a tumultuous storm and look at each of these moments as a true learning opportunity. Learning to deal with people is hard. It's hard as an adult! - & it's especially hard if you are only 4 - but it is within the safe cocoon of our own families that our children will learn the skills that they will carry for a lifetime.

Single-tasking

2010-07-24T19:48:00.003+10:00

A monk from The Gyoto Monks of Tibet displays calm focus on the task of creating a sand mandala in celebration of The Dalai Lama's 75th birthday at The Crystal Castle, Mullumbimby. July 2010.

Isn't it funny - we spent our bn (before-now) lives impressing ourselves with our ability to multi-task & suddenly the simple idea of being able 2 *single task* is completely lust-worthy.

I was just reading this article from the Zen Habits blog & really feel an affinity with it. While I am loving & embracing our new social media reality I also acknowledge how flighty & unfocused it makes me feel at times.

It used 2 be a case of hanging out waiting 4 the postman 2 come or maybe the old-skool landline phone to ring* to add some sparkle into our day - particularly if we full-time parent or work from home - but now there is entertainment, intellectual stimulation & fleeting or heart-felt connection available 24/7.

What are we losing in the gaps...? & how are we going 2 ensure that we don't completely sacrifice the delicate art of focussed concentration in a world that only promises 2 get big, bigger & big-gig-ier by the minute?

I would love 2 hear your thoughts :) x

* = does anyone actually still use theirs??

Artistic Inspiration

2010-07-24T00:40:00.003+10:00

Last week after we got home from our trip we had a few days to enjoy the city-life before school went back & I decided I was brave enough to face a day at the Art Gallery ;)

It was the BEST decision ever. LOVED.

The boys were AMAZiNG... We were there for almost 5 hours. Probably in the Paths to Abstraction exhibition for at 3 of those! The gallery provided a Kids Trail activity booklet & the boys threw themselves into these with all their heart & soul.

Earnestly observing & interpreting this iNSPiRED collection of art. I adore these images of them sprawled across the gallery floor completely unaware of the people around them. Immersion 101.

It was one of my favourite days ever. Granted, I was definitely a little frazzled at the end of it from containing their vibrant boy-ancy ;) but it was so worth it.

Interestingly it was Lovely - who i don't usually see involving himself in artistic pursuits as much as Hug - who was the most enamored with his own creations. More LOVE!

I had to promise Hug that we would go back as soon as possible & hire the kids audio guides 4 the general collection but between a planned return to Cockatoo Island for the Sydney Biennale (Amazing! We took the boys when it first opened & I'll try & post about it next wek) & a meet-up with friends to see this exhibition (below) I don't think it will be this weekend. Soon.

The Cell commissioned by Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation and presented in association with Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane, is a hypnotic, immersive, large-scale installation. A 12.5-metre by six-metre inflatable decorated both inside and out with Wiradjuri-op designs, The Cell requires viewers to don a patterned costum before crawling via a tunnel into its patterned, cushioned interior.

Dressing up 2 crawl through a tunnel 2 an internal jumping castle?? Now, THAT'S what we call ART!

p.s. If I was in NYC (oh, sweet dreams!) I would be going 2 see Big Bambú at the Met. Amaze. Unfortunately that's not going 2 happen but luckily we can watch this youtube video instead :)

Goodnight lovely people. I hope life is treating you kindly. x

Seriously cute!

2010-07-23T23:19:00.000+10:00

I'm a bit in-luv with these felt social media badges by sunflowerexpress on etsy :) 2 cute.

taking my breath away...

2010-07-17T17:20:00.000+10:00

Home sweet home. It was the BEST trip. Love...

& here i find myself back & taking photos of flowers at 1.30 in the morning. So breathtaking. It's a funny, silly, happy, complicated life. x

Time flies...

2010-07-02T12:41:00.000+10:00

Ahhh, this has been a funny year. Heading home tomorrow 4 the first time since we moved.... will be interesting. in lotsa ways. & how has it been weeks & weeks since i last posted?? sorry.

I have a busy day with lots 2 get organised & am feeling a bit overwhelmed & procrastinational ;) lol.

but i just wanted 2 say hi! & post a few photos.

hope everyone has lots of LOVE in your hearts. xxx

the boardwalk

2010-05-10T21:23:00.000+10:00

Today was a beautiful day spent by the water with Lovely & a special new friend I've made since we moved. I'm appreciating her friendship greatly :)

Ahhhh, & the weather is so perfect at the moment...

I'm off on a course tomorrow but maybe tomorrow night I'll find some time 2 start 2 post some photo's from the past few months. By the way, this photo is off my iphone - i haven't been able 2 find my camera battery charger in months! :(

I hope the sun is shining in your part of the world too. x

Well, well, well. Fancy seeing me here!

2010-05-08T19:58:00.001+10:00

Why, hellooooo everyone! Sorry i've been such a bad blogging mama ;) for the past 6 or so months ~ but I'm officially back with a new thirst 4 adventure & ... a new city 2 discover 2. We moved to Sydney in January & it's taken a while 2 get settled but I think we're finally there.

The boys are doing so well. There have been big changes for both of them but most notably for Hug who finished Kindergarten at his Waldorf Steiner school at the end of last year & started at a traditional state school for Class 1. We have been blessed to find a Steiner Family Day Care that Lovely can attend (1 day a week) & since Easter he has been attending a wonderful new preschool also. The preesk is 2 days a week & although it isn't officially a Montessori or Steiner program I feel it has lots of earthy elements that echo a lot of the things I love about both.

All in all things are progressing nicely... though I'm certainly still getting used 2 a lot of the finer details of life in a traditional school. I'm sure I'll have lots to say about that in the future. Lol.

We haven't actively focused on Montessori or Steiner learning since we landed... but I feel the tides turning over the past few weeks & I am implementing home-school again on Mondays & Tuesdays for Lovely & hoping that these lessons spill out into our wider lives.

Finally, a big *thank u* 2 the lovely people who have dropped me little messages over the past few months 2 say hello & make sure everything was okay & to the blogs that have continued to link to my pages (especially The Crafty Crow + The Montessori Goldmine + this list of the top 50 must-read Montessori blogs ).

Please say hello & throw me some iNSPiRATION! I want 2 hear what everyone is up to :) xoxo

Good morning!

2010-03-05T08:21:00.003+11:00

well, hello! what a sweet surprise to wake up this morning & see that the Crafty Crow had featured my blog yesterday ~ thanx!

Amazingly i have been MiA from this blog 4 nearly 6 months now ... life has a way of taking your breath away sometimes ... But we are all happy & healthy & i will endeavour to start posting again soon.

Much love 2 the community out there. I would love 2 hear what u are up 2 :)

Hello!

2009-09-29T20:59:00.004+10:00

Hello lovelies!

Yes, I am here. Thanks for the kind notes & thoughts I've been receiving recently. It's nice 2 feel missed :)

Things just spun in some interesting tangents recently & have distracted me completely from my regular blogging life. It's been nice actually but I do miss my blog & I miss u guys & everything that's happening out there!

I'm sure I'll be back soon. Till then I shall leave u with this photo taken on the afternoon of Hug's 6th birthday (hoorah!). I'm not sure how many people outside of Australia heard about the red dust storm that hit but it was pretty bizarre! That is the sun - not the moon.

The Textual Paradigm & Other Ways of Knowing

2009-09-01T20:34:00.015+10:00

Just before we went away I read a post on the Montessori_Online yahoo group that really interested me. It was written by Jinan, in India, and was full of insightful, interesting & challenging ideas. What was particularly interesting to me was the concept of "textualised" v. "non-textualised" individuals or communities. The illiterate (& - my presumtion - pre-reading children) could be considered non-textualised; people for whom text has no impact on their consciousness (sorry, if I'm doing a poor job of explaining it!). I guess it grabbed my interest because I had been thinking about Hug & his purposeful *commitment* to not-reading (which I touched on in an earlier post) & my commitment to embracing that. Follow the child.

That post was followed by another great one, this time written by Sharon Caldwell. Sharon is editor of Montessori Leadership and www.montessori.org as well as the Montessori Foundation & IMC Representative for Africa. She writes with a beautifully personal & honest grace as well as a deep understanding of Montessori philosophy & practice. I asked Sharon for permission to publish a copy of her post, because I thought it may be thought-provoking to readers of this blog, as it was for me, which she generously granted:

Hi Everyone

I'd like to give some context to what Jinan is writing here. In December 2004 I had the honour of travelling with Jinan to a small village in rural Orissa - the trip for me was like taking a trip in a time machine because as we left the city on a dirt road, so the trappings of "civilization" disappeared to be replaced by something that probably existed 100 years ago. The village we visited has been supported for centuries by the most amazing traditional brasswork - when you get out of the car you hear a rhythmic beating of the hammers in the small workshops where the craftsmen work sitting on the floor. There was one man who was working in fine gold, but mostly the work was brass. Now, traditionally, children would work and play

alongside the adults, slowly learning the skills necessary to do this work. Now these children go to school to learn reading and math and other subjects regarded as important in a school-based society. None of them are learning this skill that has sustained the village for, probably, centuries. Not only is a unique aspect of culture disappearing, but the village is being primed for poverty. There is no real employment for literate people here - the skills needed to thrive are those involving making these beautiful artifacts, and growing food. People who are "educated" don't want to do those things - they want to go to the cities to find work - and largely end up unemployed, living in slums, women in prostitution and so on. A small

percentage may go on to higher education and find employment. But everyone swallows the idea that literacy and schooling is a panacea. We see the same thing in South Africa. Yes, literacy is a useful skill - but it is not the only useful skill - it has subjugated all other skills. Let us remember that it was not illiterate people who established concentration camps and gulags. We need to seriously start examining the idea of "other ways of knowing" and respecting those and recognising that just as a functioning body needs organs that are specialized for certain tasks so a functioning society needs different systems, with different organis within thoses systems, and within the organs very specialized and focused individuals ... I mean cells. [ At the risk of taking this metaphor a bit too far - in the body some cells are able to change to take over other jobs to repair damaged organs - but when cells get confused and begin to behave in ways they are not designed to behave in - we get tumours. - maybe that happens with people in society too?]

I recently read some interesting research regarding the aboriginal tribes in Australia - how their language does not have words that translate directly as "in front" and "behind" and so on, but always related to north, south etc. But they don't have compasses or any other instruments! How do children learn this - certainly not thorugh detailed lessons on where the sun is in the sky at any time of day, or treatises on the constellations. It is a way of knowing which the analytical textual mind just cannot access. If we continue to insist that everyone learn the same things in the same way,

these abilities will become extinct (as they almost are) just as surely as we have eradicated species from the globe.

Are these "other ways of knowing" somehow akin to the mulltiple intelligences identified by Howard Gardner? Maybe - and maybe there are a lot more than we know. Certainly it is clear that some of the intelligences flourish in the absence of others - we can't have them all at the same time!

Dr. Montessori's work is base on the idea that children acquire culture from their environment - in other words our "way of knowing" is influenced by early experiences - so for me the interesting question is the extent to which the predisposition of the brain is genetically set (and how quickly does this happen) to acquire certain ways of knowing more easily than others. There is research that shows that oriental children process number in a different area of the brain to western children, and this may have something to do with the way language is symbolized in the different cultures. If that is the case, then it is not a huge leap to propose that symbolized language is affecting our brains in other ways too -possibly even highjacking areas that would otherwise be allocated to say, feeling empathy? I know this is speculation but the plasticity of the brain is based on specialisation - the brain prunes neural connections to specialise on those skills that are favoured in whatever circumstances the human being finds himself. I'm rambling so I'll get on to my last point -

How much do we (society as a whole) really need to cling to this dependence on text - reading and writing - and develop it to the detriment of all else. We have software that recognises text - pretty soon we won't be typing in a forum like this, but merely talking into the computer which can store the sound file for others to listen to (oops - we can do that already... just, well me, I prefer text ....) - soon we will be able to click on the sound file and get the voice/sound file for it - probably with a translation into many languages. Technology renders all these things possible - but the aesthetic sense of the brass-beaters, the sense of place and connection to the Earth of the Australian tribes (the this is where I am *meant* to be rather than the geographical location that a GPS can give), the sense of awe and reverance that results from gazing at the night sky, or the mixture of primal fear and wonder when you are deep down in a cave watching the drip drip that forms magestic columns, or the sense of love when you look into a babies eyes, or true heroism that happens on a daily basis when people make small and large sacrifices simply because they care for one another - those are human things - that can't be replaced by text or technology. Surely that is what we should be focusing on when we work with children.

Oh yes, I think Dr. Montessori said that too.

Sharon Caldwell (sharoncaldwell@montessori.org)

You can watch a video, entitled Children Being In The World by Jinan, on youtube. It's only about 7 minutes long & I think fellow-Montessorians & Rainbow Mama's will dig it. Watch to the end past the credits for the dancing bubba :)

Happy Birthday Madam Montessori!

2009-09-01T20:24:00.002+10:00

Well, I'm a day late - but I'm still celebrating!! Happy birthday MM :)

We're home :)

2009-09-01T12:12:00.002+10:00

We're home! Had a wonderful week away! A bit of a roadtrip & a visit with old friends. A winter heatwave. T only working half-days. Swimming... And a whole lot of *blurk* from Lovely who came down with a mystery virus - but even he enjoyed the week away which is saying a lot ;)

Quiet Playtime

2009-08-25T15:45:00.000+10:00

We have a tradition of "quiet playtime" in our house. It's after the boys have had dinner & their baths & got dressed, teeth & toilet done... all ready for books before bed. As long as there is time (I started it as an bit of an incentive to get all of their bedtime jobs done in a timely fashion without too many fusses) they can choose a quiet activity. Last night it was finger knitting. These photo's are super grainy but I thought it was really sweet. Hug loves to finger knit & in these photos he's trying to teach Lovely, his willing student :)

Locks & Keys

2009-08-24T15:31:00.000+10:00

Having made the screwdriver board activity I decided to get off my butt & put together the lock & key activity I've had sitting around my cupboard for months!

There are 3 different locks with 3 different keys (in the glass jar so they don't get lost) & the ring (a bracelet) is for the locks to be locked onto. I realised after I took this photo - actually Lovely pointed it out to me this morning - that this photo isn't the right presentation; the locks should start on the ring & then the challenge is to get them all off, line each lock up with it's key, & then put all of the locks back on the ring before it's returned to the shelf.

The keys are quite small so Lovely has been getting a little frustrated with trying to turn them but I think it will be alright once he gets used to them. If you are going to make this activity then I recommend getting largish locks (if the truth be known I just got the least expensive ones & that's why mine are small).

Screwdriver activity

2009-08-23T14:58:00.000+10:00

When the electrician came around this week (tradesmen are like rock stars in our house!) & Lovely wanted to use a screwdriver to be like his new idol (he also changed into boardshorts because I think we got a surf-y electrician ;) I was inspired to create my version of these screwdriver activity boards at Montessori Services.

Saw up a piece of wood.

Add some screws...

And get going!

Holidays :)

2009-08-23T07:27:00.001+10:00

We are off for a little holiday! I have a few posts scheduled & will be back in a week :) Happy days!

Continents Box: ANTARCTICA

2009-08-22T13:32:00.001+10:00

Lovely chose the Antarctica continent box off the shelf today, discovered the penguins, & ran off to put them in the bath toys basket where they used to live! Hmmmm, still in the sensitive period for order I see. I asked him to (read: insisted ;) that he bring them back because they live in the Antarctica box now. He was dubious.

Then I showed him our map in the reading corner & pointed out that something is missing - Antarctica! We've had "issues" with this map before! And then I got the globe out & showed him where it really is. Now, if only I would make that continents globe I'm planning...

So, as you can see - I don't have a lot in this box, but I do have a cool set of penguin cards that I got from Jo's blog A Bit of This and A Bit of That & a set of penguins that I think I got from The Sunrise Learning Lab :) Lovely & I matched the penguins to the cards which is easier said that done!

What is in your Antarctica box if you have one or, if you don't, what would you put in one?

Continent Box: ASIA

2009-08-21T09:38:00.004+10:00

The contents of our Asia Continent Box, a work in progress...

Middle Eastern Nesting Dolls. I think these are wonderful. One of my close friends was living in Dubai for a few years & brought this as a gift for my boys. Unfortunately we lost the tiniest doll - a camel! - the day we got it. I'm sure it's under a floorboard somewhere...

The Vietnamese flag, courtesy of my mama.

Assorted money, mainly from Indonesia and Malaysia.

A coin from the United Arab Emirates (am I the only one who feels weird thinking of the Middle East as part of Asia?)

Brass statues from Thailand.

The incense cones I bought recently. They smelt really toxic (!) when I burnt one so we'll just look at them now I think.

I Ching coins.

A goddess postcard, chopsticks & the tie from the traditional white outfit many boys wear in the MIddle East (I need to ask my friend what it's called because I can't remember) - we have the full outfit in the costumes area.

I also have a great set of cards of children from Asia that C from Sunrise Learning Lab very kindly sent me a year (or more!) ago and probably lots of other bits and pieces that I should gather.

BTW, there is a *back to school* giveaway at Sunrise Early Learning. Go enter!

Rainbow Porridge

2009-08-21T09:11:00.004+10:00

Hug had rainbows in his porridge at breakfast yesterday morning!

Lovely was the first to notice - they were reflecting off a vase of flowers in the middle of the table which was being lit up by the rising sun shining into the kitchen kind of like my tea rainbows.

The boys thought that was pretty cool :)

Silence

2009-08-21T08:51:00.002+10:00

I'm linking to another Mama-Om post ... because I couldn't have said it better myself: Begin with Silence.

The Red Rods & my new approach...

2009-08-19T13:53:00.001+10:00

Part of my desire to loosen up our home Montessori was that I had been starting to feel like all of the (Montessori) learning & reading & thinking & making that I have been doing this year was kind of going to waste a little bit.

Because Lovely doesn't see anyone else using the Montessori materials he isn't too inclined to use them (often choosing hammering & other non-typical Montessori activities) & because our Montessori materials are kept in a closed cupboard (we typically start our workcycle by listening the a chime & then L can open the cupboard doors) & because I have tried to be quite particular about the use of the materials & because (I swear there won't be any more 'and because-s' in this sentence! ;) there hasn't been any specific time for Hug to work with us... a lot of our beautiful things have been pretty lonely.

Take the Red Rods that I made for example. Lovely worked really well with them when I first presented them but has *never* chosen to use them again! Hug saw them on the shelf (I've actually taken over the bottom shelves of a bookcase too - so some materials are visible now) & mentioned that he'd "done them" at his previous pre-school & showed no further interest. I had tried to inspire him by talking about the maze but he said he'd "done" that too.

But this morning... in my new spirit of relaxing the barriers & times & approach with Montessori, when we had done all of our morning tasks & we still had some time before Hug was being collected for school, I just quietly went & got out 2 floor mats & started to take the Red Rods off the shelf. Well, that certainly grabbed their attention! They *instantly* rushed over & began negotiating who could pick up the next rod. I took a moment to show Hug how I expected them to be held (one hand over each end) but that was my only instruction & I let them take over, showing them what I wanted to make - a shining sun! - with the smallest (natural) tower cube in the centre. I had had the idea in mind for a few days & in all honesty I would have been rather happy to make it all by myself but I was *thrilled* that the boys wanted to be involved!

After we had celebrated over the creation of our shining sun Lovely said that we must make the maze so I asked them to put the rods back on the shelf before we made something new. When they asked why I explained that it would help them to make the maze but I knew that it also reinforced the need to return work to the shelf when we have finished using it. Having returned all of the rods back to the shelf in order they proceeded to make the maze with only a little starting guidance and were thrilled with their results. We each took turns walking it while the rest of us watched on.

Next, I asked Hug to help me place the rods randomly on the rugs & asked whether they could build the maze when the rods were like this. They said no at first but after a little discussion decided that they could :)

During the construction of the second maze there were a few disagreements about who could place which rod (that metre long baby sure is popular around here it appears! ;) & when Lovely started trying to grab a rod off Hug I gently removed him to sit with me outside & left Hug to his own devises. He called out that he had finished the maze & then that he was going to do it again & then - when I realised what the time was & came in to ask him to come & put his shoes on for school - he said he had to just do one more thing!

I took this photo & then went back outside to wait for our friends (we car pool the school run :) who promptly arrived. Giving him an extra moment I took his bag out for him & he came out a few moments later. I quietly smiled when I came back inside after he had gone & observed that the rods were all placed neatly back on the shelf :)

So, maybe the experiment is working...

Loosening up...

2009-08-19T12:40:00.009+10:00

For the past little while I've pondering the idea of 'loosing up' the structure of our Montessori workcycle time. It does work quite well for Lovely & I (aside from a few issues which I'll list below) but it wasn't working out great for Hug.

In regards to Lovely, we have 2 mornings a week that are dedicated Montessori mornings. Hug is home on Mondays & I hadn't found a good rhythm for "working" with both of them so we generally have an outing or meet with friends for our crafty homeschooling day & then Lovely has 2 days at "school" & then there are only 2 days left. Having said that one of those mornings is when the Farmers Market is on (so many wonderful Practical Life lessons to be had there!) & I really want to commit to getting there *every* week. Ideally I would love to have 3 Montessori mornings a week & I seriously considered keeping him at home (his "school" is a Waldorf family day care) for the rest of this year but he was soooo excited when school came back after the holidays that I knew it wasn't the right decision, regardless of how much I might have liked the idea.

The other thing that I find tricky (in regard to working with Lovely) is that being just me & him - I am definitely "too involved" in the activities he chooses. I know that he could be quite an independent Montessori student were he in a Montessori classroom but when it's just 1 child & his mama it's hard to get the balance right;) Often, when I attempt to "blend into the background" (read or write some notes in a chair close by) he takes that as a cue that I'm not interested in the workcycle any longer & he loses his commitment to it too. I think it's understandable because in a classroom situation he would have the example of all of the other children working independently which he doesn't have here so I often find myself more involved than I'd like to be.

In regards to Hug, as many readers may have noticed I have spent the past year embracing the "Follow the Child" mantra despite the fact that I felt that it was leading us away from my Montessori ideals. I have worked hard to not put any pressure on Hug to do "work", although I will often ask him if he'd like me to show him something. Usually the answer has been no & I've respected that although I know that there are many Montessori-style activities that he probably would enjoy.

This week on Monday morning when we usually meet with friends for our 'Homeschool day' we all felt like actually staying at home & I said that we would try something new - that I would leave the Montessori cupboard open all day so that they could choose to work from it if they liked - or not. Hug actually asked me why he hadn't been doing any "preschool work" (as we call it - in reference to Hug's old Montessori preschool & so as to not confuse the children & their Waldorf teachers - my Montessori plans are rather private in that regard) in a long time & I answered with honesty that I didn't think that he had wanted to.

Well, he really surprised me! He immediately got out the Geometric Solids (I made them *!!* but I still haven't got around to posting about them) & did some wonderful work with them for quite a long time. Later, he got out a pack of wipeable addition cards that I keep on his shelf & proceeded to do more than a dozen of them! Pretty amazing for someone who hasn't done any structured Maths 'work' for months. He didn't want to listen to my suggestion to use the glass counter beads in conjunction with the cards (my nod to Montessori manipulatives) but did ask me to get out the other packs of cards (there are subtraction, division & multiplication cards in this set) for next time. Wow. He also spent time juggling lemons (that explains that first photo then!), talking to our neighbor about getting a solar hot water system & looked at an interactive science book.

Interestingly it was Lovely who had trouble settling into this workcycle... he didn't like my focus being split - if I wouldn't sit with him / join in with his activity then he wasn't interested! Again, I think it was completely understandable because he just isn't used to it. After a few half-hearted attempts he wandered off started playing elsewhere. Actually, he went & made us all a snack (Butter and Vegemite corn-thins - yum! - which was self-motivated PL :) & later we baked cookies together to share with friends in the park in the afternoon so he did end up having a productive day too.

Anyway, this has become far more long-winded that I had imagined! But it's just the first jumbled thoughts of my emerging plan to open up our Montessori learning into a way that will sit with our family in a more organic way.

Just this morning I read a wonderful post from the new blog (Hi C!) Sunrise Learning Lab about her littlest son who got up at 4.30 in the morning so that he could do the Montessori work his big brother was planning on doing first up! The commitment! I love it :). Her boys choose work in the evening to put out on the table to start first thing in the morning - often eating their breakfast at the same time. Wow. Now, eating & using the Motessori materials at the same time goes against my instincts in theory but I *love* how Montessori is merging in with their lives. School-time is life-time. And that is very cool.

How do you / would you like to / might you suggest / could you imagine - relaxing Montessori to fit in with life at home while still staying true to the underlying principles? I'd love to hear your thought...

Rubber Band Ball

2009-08-19T11:34:00.003+10:00

Oooo ,just spotted this Rubber Band Ball activity on the Montessori Services website (sigh - I they have such fabulous stuff!) & it would so easy to make at home.

All that you need is a small 'starter' ball & a bag of rubber bands. I'm sure we have everything needed around the house already. Just start wrapping the bands around the ball (keeping them tight) until the ball is completely covered & the size you want & then ... bounce/throw/roll to your hearts content :)

This is, as the MS website says: A great activity to develop fine motor skills and eye-hand coordination.

Wisdom

2009-08-18T14:04:00.003+10:00

One of my latest-favourite bloggers, Mama-Om, has written yet another inspired post called The Path to Peace is Filled with Potholes (and I Lose My Way a Lot). Please read it if you have the time :)

{p.s. the image is my own, taken from a hot air balloon!}

The Art of Storytelling

2009-08-18T11:33:00.008+10:00

I was just reading a post on GreenMama about reading & writing & I was thinking about how Hug just isn't very interested in either despite having learnt all of his letters years back in his Montessori preschool.

He started in Montessori at 3 and he's almost 6 now. And the truth of the matter is just that! He's just not *interested* in communicating that way yet. And that's cool :) This year has been full of amazing lessons for me... We guessed that Hug would enjoy the Waldorf Steiner kindergarten & I have written before how much he really does love it!

The beautiful thing is that despite the fact that he isn't interested in reading or writing at the moment (& despite knowing that he actually can) I am blissfully aware of how *full* of creative wonder & energy & enthusiasm & imagination he is! He creates elaborate 'puppet-shows' for us & will dictate well-structured stories for us to preserve for him. He "reads" (word-for-word by memory) favourite books to Lovely. We spend a lot of family time reading together & daddy T (who just so happens to be a children's author), in particular, has taken both boys on many exciting bed-time adventures this year, having graduated to classic chapter books. I am basking the joy that Hug experiences in the art of story-telling.

The time will come when he feels the desire to have private reading experiences & he will read for himself. The time will come when he has private thoughts & will want to write them down. I have no doubt that he will read & write. In fact I think that he will be rather prolific! Instead I am learning to peel back my own preconcieved ideas of when & how and embrace now.

GreenMama referenced a few articles (both Montessori & Waldorf) she was reading on the matter & my heart rose reading this one, entitled Why Waldorf Works, & I quote:

Working with a real knowledge of the developing child, Waldorf

teachers begin teaching reading by cultivating children's sense of

language and their inner capacities to form mental images. Vivid

verbal pictures and the use of rich language are constantly

employed in the classroom. Difficult vocabulary and complex

sentence structure are not held back in the telling of tales.

Children sing and recite a vast treasury of songs and poems that

many learn by heart. Children live into the world of imaginative

inner pictures, totally unaware that they are developing the most

important capacities needed for reading comprehension, for

reading with understanding. They learn naturally and joyfully.

Both of my boys are always bringing new stories & songs to our dinner table. Songs that they have learnt by heart at school, about the beauty of the world & the seasons. They tell me about wild adventures they have imagined & what their friends said in the playground & when I really listen they are also telling me who they *are*. The are both verbose (! ;) & wordy & articulate. My own more-Montessori instincts lean towards the intellectual (though I know that the heart of Montessori is about more than that) but my children show me a different type of intellect - that of spirit & heart & running in nature & awe & wonder.

We are all a work in progress & I have just as much to learn as they do :)

An early start / flowers

2009-08-18T09:47:00.004+10:00

T had to leave at 6am this morning (he's away for another few days... bottom lip out) & Hug didn't want to miss him so he woke up at 4.30 am!

Thankfully, I didn't get up until 6 & after waving daddy T off we were into the breakfast routine. Hug started to stir up a bit of trouble (the *I'm looking for trouble* type that I'm sure any parent of siblings will recognise!) so I applied my new approach - which is: if you have time to sit around and cause trouble then you must need a job! Now, I don't know if this technique will work forever but it certainly did me well this morning :)

I explain that it isn't a 'punishment' - but he will have an extra job to do - and I quickly racked my brain for an appropriate task "Ummm... could you please empty the washing machine for me". Well, both the washer & dryer were full & he wanted to empty both so showed him where the dry clothes could go & then the basket would be free for the wet. "Thanks Hug :)" But, no, that wasn't enough - he also wanted to help me hang them out. Now, I don't usually hang out washing at 6.16 in the morning (!) but what the heck! It was lovely listening to the morning birds & Hug was strangely excited to be in charge of pairing & hangings socks.

Inside again, he said that he wanted to help with *more* extra jobs! I'm so loving this ;)

I insisted that they get themselves ready first (doing the jobs on their morning charts) & then they helped to make my bed (with just a few tears over how the covers should sit ;) & then Hug said he would like to vacuum. He vacuumed the lounge-room & the kitchen. Lovely wanted an special job too so he carried the recycling out to the bin for me.

So, by 7.30 we were out in the garden - all jobs done & both boys ready for school - & picking flowers. Well, I wasn't picking - I was photographing - obviously ;)

Then when one of the boys that goes to "school" with Lovely turned up unexpectedly, with his dad, so they had a run around in the yard while we drank tea. Phew! It's only 10.15am now & I'm sure it's gotta be time for bed ;)

Beach picnic :)

2009-08-17T13:10:00.005+10:00

On Saturday morning, after a lazy start (ahhhhh, after having T away all week I so enjoyed a lazy start!) we headed to the beach for a family picnic in the sunshine.

The spread featuring a home-made layered focaccia.

I love bubbles!

A fruit salad of star-fruit, pink grapefruit, apple & strawberries.

Sparkling San Pellegrino.

A slice (to share :) of *raw* Avocado & Chocolate cake from the farmers market. Yum.

Hello :)

One happy dog.

Add water = bliss

Doggy B ran so much he hurt his hip the poor sausage... it's sad to think he's getting older :(

Sand!

And castles!

A family effort.

And, to finish off, a game of Bocce.

Ready...

Happy days :)

Sunflowers

2009-08-17T13:03:00.003+10:00

Our newly thrifted Van Gogh print has found it's home down low in the cosy book corner :)

Counterwill

2009-08-15T16:27:00.005+10:00

So, I was blogging around this week & somehow stumbled across a new blog that I'm really loving called Mama Om. Please check it out. Her tag line is "Hitting every bump on the path to Peace" & she's an earthy, spiritual, grounded mama of 2 boys looking to find a way to Peaceful Parenting (and herself) along the way. Having just written this post I was feeling a lot of connection with her!

Anyway, one of concepts that she mentioned that I wasn't familiar with was that of counterwill & she urged readers to check out the website GordonNeufeld.com, which I did. He introduces the concept of 'counterwill' in children:

It is simply not possible to make sense of kids without having some understanding of the counterwill dynamic. Counterwill is the name for the natural human instinct to resist being controlled. Although not unique to humans, this dynamic is certainly the most complex and developed in our species. The counterwill instinct is, in essence, an allergy to coercion. Though we as adults experience this reaction routinely, we seem to be surprised when we encounter it in children. Counterwill is undoubtedly one of the most misunderstood and misinterpreted dynamics in children. To understand it is to lay the foundation for knowing how to deal with it.

Anyway, I found it all pretty interesting, especially as we were having a few days of rather confrontational behaviour from Lovely. I googled around & didn't find many references to it, but this one from a blog called weighless and weightless did interest me:

Another thought. We are all born with counter will. Counter will is that thing that children have, you see it in 3 year olds a lot, where they will say and do the opposite of what you tell them. Well it doesn't go anywhere. How many of us like to be told what to do? I don't, I've got a well-honed counter will going on. It's immediate. I will do the most kind, wonderful, generous things for people who ask. Tell me to do something and my first instinct is to do the opposite. There is something to be said for presentation.

The same goes for the messages we send ourselves. "Don't eat cookies" immediately triggers counter will. The thought that follows is "I want cookies and I'll do whatever I want".

Hmmm, interesting. So, this might explain that weird phenomena that occurs when you think about doing one thing & immediately do the opposite, ala my earlier post:

There are so many good books I want to read.

I just need to collapse in front of the t.v. tonight.

I commit to making wholesome food for my family.
Lets eat takeaway fish & chips tonight.

I want to live frugally.
I feel like going shopping.

yada-yada.

Don't you think that's interesting?!

Another reference that I liked is here at a touch of parenting:

Counterwill is the name for the natural human instinct to resist being controlled. You know when someone is driving close behind you, trying to get you to speed up and you slow down? Counterwill!!

Counterwill is an innate human urge to survive, to be safe, and to know a sense of belonging. It is an internal monitor, that alerts us to any threats--real or perceived--to our sense of survival, safety, and belonging.

So counterwill in children is a "good kind of stubborness" because it happens when they are beginning to take charge of themselves. Their individual self is emerging. It may test us and we may think they are manipulating us or doing it 'on purpose', but remember it is innate.

It's interesting to consider what "perceived coercion" our children might register even when we are actively *trying* to be non-coercive parents! It's also fascinating to think that we can be instinctively responding to our own internal coercion & creating a kind of self-sabotage. Now that might explain why I'm still eating chocolate!

Interesting...

2009-08-14T17:05:00.005+10:00

I have just learnt that another family that we are friends with have decided to homeschool, pulling their son out of Hug's school. So interesting... the other one was one of my close friends who just pulled her daughter (also Hug's age) out of a public school a few weeks ago.

The funny thing is that these families, well at least the first, were totally against the idea of homeschooling last year when I was thinking that it was our plan & thought we were c.r.a.z.y!

Hug is happy at school & I am blessed. This year at school, kindergarten, is just a wonderful year of art, craft, gardening, storytelling, baking, playing, building, singing, friends & nature for him. I can only hope that he (& we) will always be this happy :) but I won't hesitate to consider homeschooling if there are any bumps in the road in the future.

Continent Boxes

2009-08-14T12:58:00.003+10:00

I found the doll from Norway in the car :) Her eyes do open but she's old so they don't open much!

I also put our Continent Boxes out in a more obvious spot! Previously Lovely was too little to have free access to them but I think it should be fine now although I'm still keeping the money separately as I'm sure lots of it might 'disappear' ;) Both boys are always playing shops & other games were money is required & I'm happy that mostly the money they use is glass beads & stones :)

My Continent Boxes are a set of fabric covered photo boxes. You may notice that there is actually 8 boxes on our shelf - yes, I know that there are only 7 continents! - but having only 7 boxes would drive me crazy (too aesthetically unbalanced!) so I bought 8. The last one is un-labelled but I plan to use it for objects & information about Space, Planet Earth as a whole and the Universe.

I took an overhead photo of the North America box laid out (Lovely was interested in it this morning when I went to pack away our latest thrifty finds) but the photo was a bit soft. I'll post a better one later though you can obviously see a bit of it here.

I had been thinking of blogging about the contents of each box & then read a post today from Gigi at Montessori Spanish - her North America box is wonderful! - which inspired me to kick it off. Thanks Gigi :)

The commercialisation of childhood

2009-08-14T12:23:00.008+10:00

Last night I watched a doco called Consuming Kids: The commercialization of childhood & this morning read a post from Makings of a Montessori Mum about her reaction to it (you can read her post here). I wrote such a long comment that blogger wouldn't accept it! So I've decide to post it below. For the next 13 days (only) the full doco can be watched for free here or there is a 5 minute trailer on youtube - you might have something to say about it too!

.........

I got chills reading that quote. I watched the doco last night too & experienced many of the same emotions.

Watching things like that just solidify your resolve to do it differently. To say a blessing that your own kids aren't being "sold" to 24/7 because we've made a *commitment* to keeping them away from it.

I haven't had a chance to watch the extra clip you found - but I totally will!

It is amazing how truly *insidious* advertising is - Lovely *thinks* that he loves Batman & the only thing I can think of it that he's seen other children wearing Batman costumes at the park or other 'inconspicuous' advertising. Like yesterday, we passed the bags of a group of older kids & one of them had a 'Transformers' bag & he had to walk back past it & ooooed & ahhhed about the "Batman" on it. Basically anything black & kinda sinister... Yes, and aggressive must be "Batman". Wasn't that HORRIFIC the part where they showed how girls are sold to with images & messages about being valued by their looks and how popular they are & boys are sold to with images of aggression & violence. It is SICK!

Sometimes it drives me crazy that my boys are constantly collecting sticks & trying to use them as swords or all of those things that little boys seem to be instinctively drawn to - but last night when they talked about children not being able to construct things of their own imagination, that a stick can no longer become anything else, it made me so thankful for the creative energy pulsating through my sweet boys bones.

I *love* that by choosing to homeschool or by choosing an 'alternative' school (like a Steiner school in our case) we are giving our children the gift of their true un-commercialised selves. Watching the program reminded me that this was one of the cornerstones of our decision to send Hug to the school we chose, despite any hesitations we might have had with Steiner versus our interest in Montessori, because I knew that it was the only way (outside of homeschooling) that we could protect him for mass-media-itis.

At Hug's school the children don't wear a uniform and the rule is no black (for children in the kindergarten & primary school) or any images/writing on clothes and bags etc. Plus, we had to show our commitment to no t.v. or computer time when we were interviewed for a place at the school. Although the interview process was *very* daunting at the time, having come out the other side, I am thrilled to know that all of the other parent's in the school are on the same page.

I was involved in a discussion at the MWEI workshop I did about Maria Montessori & how she apparently had typewriters in some classrooms & how because of her forward & practical thinking she would have probably embraced technology & seen the importance of children learning the 'Practical Life' lessons that they would need in their technological future. Hmmmm, last night I thought that Maria Montessori would have a LOT to say about the commercialisation of children. If they can no longer concentrate outside of a video game. If they no longer appreciate the beauty of the natural world. If they can't use their imaginations. If they can't think for themselves... they will *never* become their true selves. And THAT is what Maria Montessori really wanted. To let our children unfold, unhindered, into their true selves, their true essence, in the hope that they would therefore have within them the spirit to bring about a more peaceful world. That so isn't going to happen if we let advertisers sink their teeth into them at birth.

Having said that we don't have a complete ban on t.v. in our house but it's restricted to Playschool (wish I had some of your retro ones!) or the british show 'Grand Designs' (gotta add a little culture for Hug!) but it's only on once a week or fortnight & often less than that. While it's true that it's is all about moderation it's also all about looking after the best interest of the child & creating a "prepared environment" for them (ie. our homes) where they are free to be themselves.

We don't give brands a name in our house either - so I loved reading that you talk to Little Bird about that "girl with brown hair" (not 'Dora). Btw, who (WHO?!!!) is letting their children be scanned with an MRi machine in the name of advertising research?! That is beyond outrageous...

I could go on forever!

Hope you & LB are having a happy *advertising-free* day :)

$6.50 well spent

2009-08-12T12:46:00.006+10:00

It never ceases to amaze me what wonderful treasures you can find when you go thrifting. This was today's booty:

A beautiful old Van Gogh print.

"Sunflowers".

These 2 cultural dolls to put into our Montessori Continent Boxes. I think the boys will love the Beefeater. I also bought a little girl doll from Norway but can't find her now. Don't you love that the Polynesian (?) mama is wearing her baby. That's him tucked in behind her shoulder :)

A wooden box. A Montessori Mama can never have too many wooden boxes!

A Melissa & Doug magnetic calender (like this) but without any magnets. It's a little ugly at the moment but I've been wanting to find something like this so will have to think of some customisations :)

A Canadian flag pin.

And a box of Chinese incense cones. Maybe I'll just burn these or maybe I'll put them in our Asia box.

What good thrifting have you done this week?

Books I actually have read!

2009-08-12T12:20:00.002+10:00

When posting about the books that I want to read I forgot to mention the wonderful book that I actually am reading! It's called Mitten Strings for God: Reflections for Mothers in a Hurry & despite the title it isn't overtly religious. In fact, I happened upon my copy at a yard sale & didn't realise until I started reading it that it is a Waldorf Steiner influenced book. Anyway, it's beautiful, really honest & personal, & I've been moved to tears on more than one occasion. I've earmarked so many pages so that I can return to the wisdom of Katrina Kenison's words when I need them.

While on the topic of Waldorf-inspired books I will also mention a book that I read last year that I've been thinking about a lot after Meg from Sew Liberated posted about it recently in a post entitled Waldorf & Montessori. It's called Heaven on Earth: A Handbook for Parents of Young Children. I had borrowed it from a friend & incorporated many of its gentle ideas into our daily lives. It's one of those books that although I've already read it I've often thought that I want to buy a copy to have on my own shelf!

The last book I'll mention is called Beyond the Rainbow Bridge: Nurturing our children from birth to seven. It's a Waldorf book that I bought last year in preparation for Hug starting school. Again it's full of gentle inspiration.

Kids in the kitchen

2009-08-12T09:35:00.000+10:00

We had such a feast when we hosted our crafty homeschool morning. I baked fresh bread to eat with organic butter & pesto & other yummy things. The munchkins made Apple Berry Crumble which we served with natural yoghurt - so good. There were biscuits & watermelon & more. Hug picked lemongrass from the garden to make tea and collected flowers for the table.

Yum :)