But What Do I Do Instead (of a Time Out)?
You might have been here before (I know I have):
You ask or tell your toddler to do something, and instead…
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montessori
Show, Then Tell
This is a repost from our private IG group (session families, click to read the 100+ posts over there!), but it never gets old. A simple way to help your child absorb what you are sharing: show, then tell. (Or tell, then show…but not show & tell!) When presenting a new activity to a child, alternate between
I Promise, You Can
This is a repost from our private IG group (session families, click to read the 100+ posts over there!), but it feels timely heading into the new year. I bought and wear this shirt as a reminder to myself, but I wonder if it could be a good reminder for all of us? If we’re
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Two (No, Three) Kinds of Magic
I wonder if class adults might think there’s a little bit of magic floating around at Clementine, because I’ll sometimes overhear a conversation about something that’s needed (a paper refill, more apples, a missing tiger) and then just sort of appear beside them with it. (Sometimes I wait for a conversation with the child, too,
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Just Some Tape on the Floor
This past Wednesday in the Montessori classroom, it was time to make the jumping square. The jumping square actually holds up rather well through lots of jumping (and mopping), but I peel it away from time to time because then we can add it back. Kids need to move, and I’m certainly not going to
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A Daffodil Epiphany
I wouldn’t call myself a gardener, more like gardener-adjacent, and either in because or in spite of this, I experience what most would call disproportionate excitement whenever 1) something grows and 2) I can use it. Grape tomatoes, jalapenos, zucchini, basil–all of it tastes better when I grew it, and I’m not ashamed to say
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Why Would We Need to Dry the Blueberries?
Our multi-age classes are shorter than others, with less time for food prep, so the snacks have to be simple. (During smoothie week, we make it work!) This day, the task was drying the blueberries–something that seems almost like a non-job, and something that you might not even make time for at home. (Haven’t we
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Saying Less, Meaning More
(Adapted from a post to our private Instagram group from October, 2022. Session families, join to read them all…occasionally, I share an older favorite here.) You may have figured out by now that I love to talk, so it’s sometimes hard for me to take this piece of my own best parenting advice: When explaining
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On Making Assumptions
**A repost from last year from our private instagram group. I noticed that I had misspelled “assumptions” on the image, and am taking this opportunity to model what I tell parents and is at the heart of Montessori: Mistakes are just an opportunity to self-correct.** Until this week, I had never put green peppers out
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Reptiles on a (Montessori) Ramp
There’s a lot of conversation in the Montessori community about what’s “not Montessori.” Montessori often gets what I consider to be a bad rap as “too rigid”–and to be sure, there are strong opinions among teachers about how best to follow and implement Montessori’s ideas. I personally am fairly confident about how this lives in
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