Practical Life

Before our last parent night (thank you all to those of you who made it such a success!), Weylin sent a letter out to the Cedar parents talking a bit about the Practical Life area in the Montessori classroom and the reasons children love to “do it themselves.” Kristin, mom of Konner and Daylin replied:

Our love of “I can do it” starts in the morning… My 4 and 2 year old, are becoming totally self sufficient in the morning. My son gets dressed and makes his bed first thing in the morning. It makes his room, no matter how messy, look very together. Following, both kids get their lunch boxes from their hooks and brings them for me to fill with lunch. They usually make half of their breakfast, pouring milk, getting silverware etc. giving me time to do the dishes in the washer (unload and refill) and have a cup of coffee. They then brush teeth on their own, go to their hooks and put on their shoes, grab their jackets and lunch boxes, and we are off. Pretty dang amazing. When we get home we just reverse the process. Hang up lunch boxes (which I empty during quiet/nap time), hang up jackets, take off shoes and then read stories. The predictability is awesome and it is all because of Montessori. All I needed was a schedule adjusted to how my kids naturally motivate, a couple of hooks, and a routine! I even seem to do better on it! And everyone is happy, sleepy and we all enjoy an hour of peace before we get silly and act like a bunch of wild things before we… make dinner… another time we all spend together. But more on that later…
Although, it seems amazing,we do get one out of 4 days that goes awry, but hey, I think that is pretty darn good.

Below are photos of some of our alumni (now in 2nd, 3rd and 4th grade) enjoying the activities of Practical Life.

Tiernan grating cinnamon.

Luka practicing with a velcro dressing frame.

Dalia washing dishes (while Jakob observes).