DJ and I went to a puppet show of the Very Hungry Caterpillar this week. The puppeteers were from Nova Scotia so when we came home, we pulled out the World Map puzzle to see where Nova Scotia is. DJ’s grandparents recently went to San Diego for the winter so I showed him where we live, where San Diego is and where Nova Scotia is. I had told him it would take two days to drive to San Diego, which…
Earlier this week, DJ surprised me by saying, “Let’s do school!” Before this he hadn’t really shown an awareness that the fun things we do for school were different than playing with toys. I had hesitated initially to even call it school, but so many of his friends are in preschool now, and school is mentioned in books and TV shows and even his hairdresser asked if he’s in school. We worked a lot with the Land & Water forms…
The past few months have been a whirlwind of activity that has amazed and excited me. But at the same time, I’ve been noticing that DJ hasn’t been settling into his schoolwork. Instead of being more focused, he’s been flittering from one project to the next. Instead of procedures becoming good habits, he’s been avoiding even the steps, like using a work mat, that he initially enjoyed. In my reading, I’ve learned that one way to get back on track…
DJ’s birthday was this week and he’s now officially 3 years old. When it came time to light the candles, DJ began singing Happy Birthday to himself! It was adorable. This is a significant milestone for a couple of reasons. First for some background. Maria Montessori described the first six years of life (0-6) as the period of the Absorbent Mind. This is a time when children absorb information like a sponge. She further subdivided this time into an unconscious…