More Home Work

This afternoon, Bennett was feeling a little remorseful about some earlier behaviour and he offered to help me out with some jobs after his quiet time (read: forced alone time in his room behind a closed door so mama could regain some sanity time). 

He said that he was really good at folding towels. Lucky for him, I had a stack waiting for just this moment. 

That, my friends, is how a kid earns his first responsibility. And quite possibly a quarter if I see a repeat performance. 

I'm quite pleased to share this task with little hands now!

Montessori at Home

One of the reasons we fell in love with the Montessori "way" is related to homework. Students in his particular school are not likely to have *assigned* homework until the sixth grade. And that typically takes the form of long term project work. 

As I understand it, in lower elementary, the kids only have to take work home if they haven't been able to finish in their work sessions during the day. 

Until that time, his teachers have told us that the only home work he should be doing is home work. Like cooking with me, which will help him understand various points of math and number sense. He should learn how to make his bed and do so every day (we're BOTH working on that one). 

They also suggest that he help me clean. We've done laundry together. He wants to be in charge of folding wash cloths. He has also enjoyed helping me Swiffer, vacuum and sweep. 

Today, his self-selected homework was to carve a block of wood. He started with a butter knife. Then, HIS screwdriver. Finally, he wanted to drill. Together we used Brian's Drimmel after discussing the safety rules ad nauseum. 

And now we're climbing at the park where he's practicing his negotiating skills. (Not my favourite part of the "lesson".)

Parlez Vous II

Just now, he said, "Merci Beaucoup" (please excuse my mangled spelling - I only took Spanish) and used it appropriately! Whoot for language class!!!

My Ear Hurts, Mama

Last night was a rough one for us. Bennett went to sleep a little later than usual, because we had gone to a Taiko concert at Centennial Hall to celebrate the 45th anniversary of his school, Montessori Academy of London. The concert was GREAT and Bennett really loved it. But it meant we got home about fifteen minutes after his usual bedtime and we still had to go through the routine. However, he was having none of it. So, we put him to bed with no tooth brushing, no stories. Boo! About 4:00, he came into our room and wiggled until 5:00 when he finally got up to go to the bathroom. (Thank goodness he didn't pee in our bed again, like he did a week ago.) He fell asleep again by about 5:30 but woke up crying at 6:00. "Mama! My ear hurts!!" I tried to comfort him, but he got up to go to the bathroom again. Turns out, he went in search of q-tips to "fix" his ear. Gratefully, he brought them to me and I told him that the q-tips wouldn't help, but I could give him some medicine to help with the pain. Two tylenol, some rocking and snuggling in his bed, he fell asleep again at 6:30 and slept until 8:15. He was still complaining of a sore ear, so we went to the pediatrician and she confirmed that he had a raging ear infection - "classic" is how she described it. She was also surprised that he wasn't screaming or clutching his head in misery. I replied that I wasn't so surprised because he'd never been much of a "sick kid".

We came home and spent the day shoveling (that's another entry entirely!), watching movies, playing in the snow and making cookies. He had a mini-melt down around bedtime, but went to sleep with no fuss. Here's hoping he sleeps well tonight!

For the record - this is his very first ear infection. He's 3 years, 3 months. Sweet!

Parlez Vous??

Part of Bennett's Montessori education is French class once a week. He's been to two so far. Last week, he said, "Bonjour!" when he came home from school. Yesterday, he looked at me and asked, "Mom, do you know what a French fish says when he burps under water?" I was totally expecting a punchline.
I said, "No honey, what does a French fish say?"
He says, "Excuse moi! Not 'excuse me'."

Just proof positive that kids his age are at their absolute ripest for language acquisition. I love it! Now I've got to go learn some Francais, I suppose.

School II

The tour was great! We loved it and even talked with the director about enrolling Bennett in January if possible. She was very positive and encouraged us to complete the application paperwork and find out what our obligation to The Lab School was regarding withdrawal.

Brian and I had a very long conversation about the pros and cons (really, not a lot of cons!) and decided to bite the bullet. I dropped the application off at the Montessori school this morning, and then sent an email to the admissions contact letting her know that we were serious, and needed to move quickly due to a deadline of November 30 for letting TLS know that we were going to withdraw. She called me within half an hour to let me know that Bennett was accepted for a January start!

Such a relief to know that we don't have to think about school for him again for a very long time. I have a very good feeling about how much he's going to like being in such an enriching environment. I'm also encouraged to think about how we can use Montessori ideas to organize and enrich our home life too. Yay! This is a great birthday present, this sense of peace.

Check out the website: http://montessori.on.ca/Home

He's be in the half-day Casa program, five mornings a week.