Just occurred to me that it is the end of Thursday already and I forgot to post about this.  We will have an altered Funschool schedule over the next couple of weeks. This week two moms are out of town.  Brendan has his tear duct procedure next Thursday and two appts before that. We have All Saints Day the week after.  My goal is to do one Funschool sometime between now and Nov 2nd.  I can’t promise yet which day that will be. Funschool has been just that – lots of fun. To keep it that way we try to be reasonable and meet when we can without making ourselves crazy.  It is hard to learn when you are rushed and mom is grumpy so we avoid those two things wherever possible. : )

Our little people have been spending their days exploring the new games we have brought out each week. The geoboards have had a lot of use. We have circle and square boards so the possibilities are endless. The soap grater – huge hit! We found if you wet the shavings and wad them together you get a new bar of soap too once they dry. 

I wanted to share this too. Brendan is 2 and a half now and moving closer to 3. He has been quite a busy boy, always into something and not one to sit still for long.  Even with years of Montessori theory stuck in my brain I could not rearrange the circumstances the first half of the year dumped in our laps. (you might recall power lines) Goll, that just ate up HOURS every week. Hours I didn’t have with a newborn in tow. Our prepared environment …. wasn’t.  His behavior responded accordingly.  I am happy to report that after two months of very gentle, very sporadic exposure to the homemade manipulatives, stories, and group work Brendan is a new boy.

It is amazing to see ‘normalization’ happen. He is still a firecracker <g> but no more does a grocery store run with him strike fear in my heart lol!  He is visibly more relaxed and engaged with whatever project is at hand.

You don’t need to do all these activities.  You don’t even need to do most of them.  However, if you do one or two each week, while truly being present with your little person, and then keep him close by the rest of the time, I promise you that little person will respond in amazing ways. : )