Our summer is SUMMER, and we don't do a bunch of 'school' things right now.  To me, the summer slide is when a kid doesn't get outside enough, or PLAY enough.  So, here we are picking strawberries during the day, reading for pleasure at night.  Nothing relates a child to materials and books like seeing actual plants in nature.   We enjoyed a picking our own strawberries at a local farm, but we REALLY enjoyed eating them!  Today we made Strawberry Shortcake and dined on freshly picked strawberries all day long .  We picked nearly 10 pounds.   Please follow this link for a free strawberry life cycle printout.  By looking at these life cycles and work for naming the parts of plants, Iris was able to locate the squash and pumpkin area at the farm just by looking at the plant in the earliest stages.  Wow! Ready to pick!!!!!  Madeline loves Strawberrries so much, her room is Strawberry ! The twins compare berries "THIS is wh...

Here we are blowing out the candle, after a little home celebration.  The candle represents the sun, and they walked around it with a globe 4 times today singing:   The Earth goes around the sun, the Earth goes around the sun. Twelve months, fifty-two weeks, three hundrend and sixty-five days. Sarah and her #4 Iris and her #4  Onto the Education update..... ....next year, Sarah and Iris will be at school with me.  Yep, my twins will be at the Montessori School where I teach-  in my class.  Madeline came to school with me when she was small, it was so special. What does that mean in my home?  It means that I change the environment a bit.  The aim will move from working with Montessori Materials towards supporting my Montessori Schooled children while we are home.  Which, I find to be full circle.  My Master's Thesis was about making the home environment more consistent with Montessori School.  How lucky ...

Every Spring, we get our Painted Lady Caterpillars and it's a joy.  We worked with 3 part cards, made our own booklets, and watched this all happen right before our eyes!  Madeline is forever finding inchworms outside (they are actually moth caterpillars, not worms) and creating cozy habitats with them.  One day recently, we counted over 50- just in our backyard.  She is convinced that each Painted Lady we see in nature is one of ours, or- at the very least- a relative of ours from years past.  Maybe! Sarah is hysterical.  She was initially grossed out, but grew to love our guests. Our first butterfly, Iris named her Vanessa. Saying our goodbyes, ready to let them free! Our last of the 3 to go!  Enjoy your long journey, and lay some eggs in nature!