50 Things to do before you are 11 3/4

I just wanted to share this quickly - it is something we are doing with Addie (I know we have a long while to go until she is 11 3/4!) to help us all enjoy the outdoors together... I think it is a great scheme and we hope to complete all the activities over the next few years... 

To find out more, click here.

Record Keeping using Evernote

OK, so you remember the record keeping book I had last year? I liked it, but to be honest, I didn't keep it up and I was trying to figure out a way to make it work for me including the Montessori materials. Another reason for my procrastination...

I decided to have one big book with all the presentations listed, and all the notes and observations in, but again, it didn't feel right for some reason... I really didn't want to keep an online record, there is something about keeping handwritten records I really like, however, I have previously used Evernote a little, and I decided to try to use that and I have to say, I love it! Here is how I am using it at the moment. (Note, I have Evernote Premium, which costs me £4 a month.)

Montessori presentations

I am keeping a list of all the Montessori presentations from the Keys of the World (see later post about this) on Evernote. Jessica, the author of the albums, has provided a suggested order of presentations, so my lists are based on that, and I have added three check boxes before each presentation to help me record 1) when something has been presented; 2) when it has been practised; and 3) when it has been mastered.

New Year, New Start

OK, so I didn't blog much last year... and so much has changed since I did blog. It is funny looking back on Addie and seeing how small she looked when we did stuff last year.

This year we are starting anew, mainly because Addie will be 3 in February and so we are starting in earnest, the Montessori 3-6 curriculum now. I will be writing more about this in future posts, but I have been procrastinating getting started because, despite my training, teaching at home from the start with one child, and a 13-month old in tow (who is a whirlwind and destroys everything in his path!) has proved to be quite difficult for me to get my head around...

Also, I noticed that despite having our lovely classroom upstairs, we rarely went back upstairs after going downstairs for breakfast... so we moved the classroom downstairs. It now takes up 2 whole rooms (dining room and our small family room) and some of our lounge, which definitely has advantages, but definite disadvantages with the whirlwind!

So, we started the first week of January, when we had Nanny staying, so we didn't really do much, and then the past week I have been recovering from whiplash following an accident! Happy days... onwards and upwards...