Day 2

Rachel here. Today went GREAT! I really think we're going to like doing this. Basically in the morning this is how our "schedule" has been going. The girls are up and at 'em anywhere from 7-8. In that time we: get dressed (not today!), make our bed, change diaper, eat breakfast, brush teeth, and finish up Sesame Street. Once 8 am rolls around we try to get started on the day's activities. The idea behind Montessori is for the child to be able to sprawl out on the floor, be comfortable, and complete their tasks. Having Emma Grace running around, it makes it difficult to have Reese on the floor. So, instead, I put all of her activities on the kitchen table in designated areas, and she can move about them at will. This morning we started with this beading exercise. It's by Melissa and Doug. I bought it yesterday at Barnes and Noble. Reese LOVED it!
I also had a dish tub full of 4 types of pastas and 3 types of beans. All different colors and shapes. There was also measuring cups and funnels made of both plastic and metal. She must have played with that thing for 30 minutes. It was really cute because she would tell me the colors of the different pieces, wanted to know if she could eat it, "can we have mac and cheese?". It was really sweet.

I found this idea from a personal website of a mother who does Montessori in her home with her little boy and girl... two different ages. She has them totally independent. They even do their own dishes throughout their day. I took another dish tub and filled it with water. She has plastic dishes that I scribbled on with dry erase markers to make dirty, we added a sponge to the mix, and she even had her own towel to dry them off after she washed them.

She had a blast. It cracks me up how serious she looks in all these pictures. :)

Her "clean" dishes. She, however, was NOT all about drying them, so they are currently air drying. ;)

I also purchased another "toy" from B&N yesterday that I planned on having Reese use later in the week, but it caught her eye this morning and she begged to play with it. I told her if she finished all the activities I had for her on the table, I would be more than happy to let her have it. :) Which gave me the idea of creating a chart with all of her "tasks" on it that she can mark off upon finishing CORRECTLY. Wouldn't you know she managed to matched all the nuts to the bolts from yesterday, and liked it so much she did it again?!

She also finished the matching color/object game with no problem at all.

Once she finished, she was allowed to "build."

She worked on all of these things until Sesame Street came on at 10. During which she continued working on some of the activities and worked on her puzzles. 11 am came around, and it was time for lunch. By 11:30 Reese was telling me she needed some rest time. This is humorous because I haven't been able to get the kid to nap for a solid week now... excluding 30 minutes here and there in the car. I took both her and Emma Grace up soon after. Reese and I read some alphabet books, and now she is dead silent in her room. :) I guess I'm keeping her busy.

While the girls are napping, I'm starting to work on making sandpaper letters to help with teaching Reese her letter sounds and eventually letter names. The idea is to teach sounds before letter name... that apparently comes in by default on it's own... and then naturally moving into putting letters together in order to sound words out. I've ordered a book that helps to explain some of the theories and has some great ideas on things you can make and do in your home. The one button mouse for computer time has been ordered as well. Bryan has allotted me a certain amount of money per month, and I'm pretty sure September's money is already gone! :)I'm really excited to see how this all unfolds!