Liberty and Discipline

In order to achieve true discipline the child must be free to move about spontaneously and act according to their needs. We as teachers and parents must be careful to prevent any harmful activity while allowing and protecting all activities which can in any way be useful. It is really a fine line we must walk to be able to do this. It really makes you think hard about "choosing your battles" because what might seem to us as a mere time waster or annoyance might be truly beneficial to the child. Here are some fun quotes on the subject by Dr. Montessori from my readings:

"We claim that an individual is disciplined when he is the master of
himself and when he can, as a consequence control himself when he must follow a
rule of life" The Discovery of the Child p.49

"Discipline is therefore attained indirectly, that is, by developing activity in spontaneous work." The Discovery of the Child p.305

"A room in which all the children move about usefully, intelligently, and voluntarily, without committing any rough or rude act, would seem to me a classroom very well disciplined indeed." The Montessori Method p. 60

Montessori Quote

I came across this quote today while doing my reading. It is from "The Absorbent Mind." p. 220

"We can not cure destructiveness by preaching. If the child wants things for himself or in order that others may not have them, and we try to correct him by giving him a sermon or by appealing to his better feelings, he may stop for a few minutes but will soon begin again. Only work and concentration, bringing knowledge and love, can induce a transformation which discloses the spiritual man previously lying hidden."

Wow! I think this is the answer I have been looking for in regards to many of the problems I have been having with Goldie. I have been going about it all wrong. I have been preaching to her about respect, I have been reprimanding her for lack of it, and I have been trying to "appeal to her better feelings" in regards to how she treats her things and other people. It is just as Dr. Montessori wrote, for a couple of minutes she seems to get it, but then she goes right back to her previous behaviors, and I end up frustrated. Now I have my answer, help her to concentrate to crave knowledge, and to foster love for the things and people around her, so that she can transform from the desire to "seize and destroy" to the desire to "love and serve by means of her intelligence." Now how do I go about doing that in the home? Any and all ideas are welcome!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year Everyone! I hope you are all having a good one. My husband and I are ringing the New Year this year at a fancy hotel dinner and dance, while the girls are having movie night at the Grandparents. We are all very excited about our plans! We have a lot of hopes for this year, It should be a good one. My husband is set to graduate in a couple of month and will hopefully find a job doing what he wants. No more turning wrenches! I will be finishing up my Montessori training program too, late in the year. A lot of change is in the air, but we are all excited to see where life will take us next. I thought this would be a good time to introduce one my New Years resolutions to you all. I have decided to create another blog. This one is called Story Time with Mama. I plan on writing an original story each week of the year for my girls as one of their bed time stories. It is an effort to expand my creativity and hone in my writing skills, but most importantly it is about increasing my quality time with them. I hope you will check it out and let me know what you think. The first post will be tonight. My best wishes for this new year to you all!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all

At The Christmas tree farm a couple weeks before Christmas. This is one of our favorite traditions!
mmm, roasted marshmallows afterwards.

Home to decorate.

Well I have been away from this blog for a while, I think I needed some time to just be. I have been so unmotivated lately! We had a pretty good Christmas, though the massive amounts of sugar involved resulted in numerous meltdowns from Goldie! The days leading up to Christmas were rough I have rarely experienced anything like it. It got so bad that I was ready to just do away with Christmas all together, but we persevered and Christmas day was a lot of fun. It was a good day for everyone. The next day however was pretty rough again. Goldie had several tantrums where she screamed for 20-30 min straight, She kept steeling the Santa candy and hiding it then lying about it, and she even spit at her papa. Needless to say the sugar has left the house. I threw most of it away and hid the things she did not know about. She has been mostly sugar free since then with the exception of juice and an occasional piece of banana bread. The behavior has gotten much better. The last few days have been mostly pleasant and fun. We are looking forward to celebrating the New Year and all that it has to offer! We are also looking forward to starting back to school and getting back on our routine!!! I hope you all are having a wonderful holiday, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!
Christmas Eve dinner, and Christmas crackers. We made a Turducken this year. It was quite good.

Sweet dreams.
Before the chaos.
They loved the dolls I made them.

Opening Santa presents. Fun, fun, fun!

Hand Made Christmas

This year I decided to make many of my Christmas gifts, The ones from Santa will be purchased as I have very little time to make things when the girls are not around and I was afraid they would recognize my work since they have seen me sewing so much. My medium of choice this year is felt. I prefer the wool felts both 100% and blends, but for the clothing pieces I used Eco-felt for washability. Here are the ones I have done so far:
This is a photo year book that we make every year for the Grandparents and Great Grandparents from here.


These hair clips and bracelets are for our nieces they are made with a wool blend felt.

This little monster hoodie is for our youngest nephew.

This little monster polo shirt is for our other nephew.

These dolls are made with 100% wool and this tutorial. They are the main presents for Bella and Goldie. They were fun to make, but they took forever!

This play mat was supposed to be a gift, but I got busted making it so the girls got it early. It is made with Eco-Felt.

This weeks craft

This week in our afternoon program we made gingerbread man collages. The older kids seemed to have fun with this several children have asked to do it every day. The younger ones want to try but loose interest pretty quickly, and Bella kept trying to eat the google eyes, which is why hers is eyeless. I am trying to do a project every week. Last week we did scratch paper drawing, but I don't have any photos.

This Week in Photos

Our First Snow!

Goldie sat and watched it snow for a while after we came in, she is sooo excited!

Bella's newest lesson, she places a bean in each suction cup. It really refines her pincer grasp and works on hand eye coordination.

Scenes from the playground at school.