First up, we did a lot of maze work this past week. I purchased this workbook and laminated it so he can do it over and over again He loves the maze part but once it gets to the part where he has to follow dotted lines he stops. I think he is just not ready for that yet.

I made a weather board to go with his calender. His favorite part is dressing the bear.

I am always hearing about the three hour work period that Montessori Schools must have. The theory is that they need that long to actually get engrossed in something. For instance, when I was working at the Montessori Preschool when the kids first came in they would roam the room or do some practical life activities. They would never start out doing something that challenged them. I get this and think it is a must for the school environment. But, I have come to the conclusion that a home is not a school. I can not expect it to be. I leave my sons materials out so that he can use them at anytime. I do not have a special school room that we go to every day and work for three hours. Also, I don’t have that kind of space in my house, lol. I really feel that if Maria Montessori home-schooled I don’t think she would force them to work at a certain time. It just does not correspond with her philosophy of following the child. Also, in the home environment everything is a learning exercise from cooking to cleaning and everything in between so if you want to get technical they are constantly working. Now I am not judging other families that do the opposite of me. I am not in there shoes and do not know what is right for them. All I am saying is what works for us and hopefully help others if they feel the same.

What made me think of this is the other day late in the evening, when I say late it was 10:30 at at night, he decided to do his schoolwork. He had his best session yet and worked for an hour and a half, which is a record for him. He usually only lasts thirty minutes. Because I have decided to keep going on this route and not have a scheduled school time, I have decided that if he shows the slightest interest in something school related, I will drop everything and work with him. I also, need to make sure that I am more on top of providing different activities which I have been slacking on lately. I know, shame on me.

Here are some pictures from that late night. I did not have my camera downstairs and knew if I ran upstairs to get it, his concentration would have been interrupted. So I used my cell phone

The knobbed cylinders he has not worked on for a long time. But that night he did each of them by themselves and then did all four together. I know the blocks are not in the square shape and the cylinders are not in the center. He just won’t do it. I feel as long as he is not hurting the materials in any way, and doing the intended purpose of the material it is all good. My son will stop doing anything if I nitpick on everything. I have to pick my battles

He worked with his geometric presentation tray. Mainly just moving the squares around in the tray.

More maze work.

We did several puzzles. He is starting to get less frustrated with them! I am very happy about this because it means less whining. Also, I noticed that when he puts puzzles together he looks at the shapes and not the picture. I never did that so it was weird to me. Is that normal at his age?

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