Change is good...right?
The last couple weeks have been busy. John's been on call. second on call. back up on call. on call for like 3 weeks. yuck.
We've had a chance to hang around the house, camp, a date here, our anniversary there, play dates, movies. It has actually been really nice.
There is a big change that took place. Mr. noah-guy is finishing up his time with Laurie's dayhome next month. He has been there for 3 years, that's a long time. She has seen him learn to walk, try new foods, learn to talk, drop a nap, drop another nap, learn to color, climb, build and dream. This is tough. She has loved on him greatly and we appreciate the time he has spent with them.
His buds there will be moving on as well and I just couldn't keep him with littles. He needs more at 4 years old, he deserves more and my job as his momma is look out for him. So I have done just that. He will be moving on to a Montessori preschool/childcare close to home. I didn't search Montessori out, it is just what ended up being a full day childcare facility as well. Who the hell made up preschool hours anyway...like random 11-1 hours. Jesus could it be anymore inconvenient. Anyhow we viewed the facility, met the director and all extremely pleased. What a great idea! What's Montessori? Here is the best search results I could find to describe it properly...
“Montessori is definitely more advanced than regular preschool. It’s not just based on playing and crafts – everything has a purpose. Most Montessori kids are reading by 4, doing addition and subtraction by 4 to 5, etc. It's kind of hard to consolidate the Montessori philosophy down into a short summary, but basically, the Montessori method is based on the concept that very young children (younger than 6) can absorb concepts very easily if they are given the appropriate materials. The Montessori materials use hands-on items to teach complex concepts. So instead of learning how to read just looking at books, first you play “I Spy” to learn the sounds, then you learn your letters by tracing letters made out of sandpaper (so you are experiencing the letters with multiple senses -- sight, touch, sound). Rather than teaching kids to write early, they have a set called the moveable alphabet, which is basically cut-out letters, that allows very small children to "write" by selecting the letters (rather than having to use a pencil). They also "write' in sand trays. In the meantime, they have a lot of activities that are designed to develop writing skills – e.g., picking up cylinders with pegs on top to work on the pincer grasp for writing, tracing circles and other shapes to work on the movements needed to write. A lot of the early materials are designed to teach concepts without really teaching them -- e.g., numbers are learned by using rods of varying lengths, then the numbers are introduced with sandpaper numbers, then they use counters and rods to develop the concept more, etc. -- it's all very hands-on. Instead of telling a child what the number 1000 is, you would give them a box made out of 1000 beads sewn together. Everything builds on each other – the trinomial cube is basically a 3D puzzle for the little ones based on matching colors, but is actually the physical representation of algebraic formulas introduced in later grades. To me, a regular preschool would be a waste of time – my boys are already involved in plenty of free playgroups and already know their colors, numbers, how to count to 20, and most of their letters and their sounds. One of the beauties of Montessori is that it is totally child-paced -- you child isn't forced to sit and watch other kids learn their colors when they have known their colors for two years. That being said, none of the teaching methods are incredibly complicated and there are lots of people who homeschool Montessori”
I will have to pick out a backpack, get indoor shoes, he will be calling them Mrs. So-and-so, fire drills, learning stations and a Christmas concert. So now I am excited (and a tad emotional that he is growing up so quickly). I hope he truly loves it. He will be able to learn as much as he wants to. This will be fantastic, soon enough he will read a bedtime story to us ;)
Change is good...right!
We've had a chance to hang around the house, camp, a date here, our anniversary there, play dates, movies. It has actually been really nice.
There is a big change that took place. Mr. noah-guy is finishing up his time with Laurie's dayhome next month. He has been there for 3 years, that's a long time. She has seen him learn to walk, try new foods, learn to talk, drop a nap, drop another nap, learn to color, climb, build and dream. This is tough. She has loved on him greatly and we appreciate the time he has spent with them.
His buds there will be moving on as well and I just couldn't keep him with littles. He needs more at 4 years old, he deserves more and my job as his momma is look out for him. So I have done just that. He will be moving on to a Montessori preschool/childcare close to home. I didn't search Montessori out, it is just what ended up being a full day childcare facility as well. Who the hell made up preschool hours anyway...like random 11-1 hours. Jesus could it be anymore inconvenient. Anyhow we viewed the facility, met the director and all extremely pleased. What a great idea! What's Montessori? Here is the best search results I could find to describe it properly...
“Montessori is definitely more advanced than regular preschool. It’s not just based on playing and crafts – everything has a purpose. Most Montessori kids are reading by 4, doing addition and subtraction by 4 to 5, etc. It's kind of hard to consolidate the Montessori philosophy down into a short summary, but basically, the Montessori method is based on the concept that very young children (younger than 6) can absorb concepts very easily if they are given the appropriate materials. The Montessori materials use hands-on items to teach complex concepts. So instead of learning how to read just looking at books, first you play “I Spy” to learn the sounds, then you learn your letters by tracing letters made out of sandpaper (so you are experiencing the letters with multiple senses -- sight, touch, sound). Rather than teaching kids to write early, they have a set called the moveable alphabet, which is basically cut-out letters, that allows very small children to "write" by selecting the letters (rather than having to use a pencil). They also "write' in sand trays. In the meantime, they have a lot of activities that are designed to develop writing skills – e.g., picking up cylinders with pegs on top to work on the pincer grasp for writing, tracing circles and other shapes to work on the movements needed to write. A lot of the early materials are designed to teach concepts without really teaching them -- e.g., numbers are learned by using rods of varying lengths, then the numbers are introduced with sandpaper numbers, then they use counters and rods to develop the concept more, etc. -- it's all very hands-on. Instead of telling a child what the number 1000 is, you would give them a box made out of 1000 beads sewn together. Everything builds on each other – the trinomial cube is basically a 3D puzzle for the little ones based on matching colors, but is actually the physical representation of algebraic formulas introduced in later grades. To me, a regular preschool would be a waste of time – my boys are already involved in plenty of free playgroups and already know their colors, numbers, how to count to 20, and most of their letters and their sounds. One of the beauties of Montessori is that it is totally child-paced -- you child isn't forced to sit and watch other kids learn their colors when they have known their colors for two years. That being said, none of the teaching methods are incredibly complicated and there are lots of people who homeschool Montessori”
I will have to pick out a backpack, get indoor shoes, he will be calling them Mrs. So-and-so, fire drills, learning stations and a Christmas concert. So now I am excited (and a tad emotional that he is growing up so quickly). I hope he truly loves it. He will be able to learn as much as he wants to. This will be fantastic, soon enough he will read a bedtime story to us ;)
Change is good...right!
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