A little over a month ago, Henry finished his kindergarten year at the public Montessori school he attends. He had a wonderful year and grew in ways that I wasn't even expecting. My plan for the summer was to just take it easy, let him play and see where he led us.
After a couple weeks, it's clear that Henry missed his school community. He started asking for work -- very specific Montessori classroom materials. Since it's not feasible for us to recreate his classroom, as much as he would like that, I have been trying to follow his interests and create Montessori inspired work to fit his interests.
Math
Henry loves math and it was one of the areas he spent a lot of his time in his classroom. So, it's not shocking it's the first place where he has asked for work. Here are some things we've done:
Word Problems -- Here I simply write out funny little problems, usually involving him and Nora and asking him to add some amount of something. We have some Montessori math beads {these and these} that he uses to complete the problems. For larger problems we have used wooden blocks to fill in for larger bead amounts.
Geometric Patterns -- Henry has really enjoyed exploring these shapes to make intricate patterns and explore how placing shapes together will make other shapes.
Games using math -- We have been playing a lot of Yahtzee around here!
Cooking together
Language
This is another big area for Henry right now as his reading skills improve. Here are some of the things we've been doing.
Word Problems -- instead of simple addition, here Henry has to read what I've written to solve the problem
Reading, Reading, and more Reading -- all day, every day! But, also a lot more asking him to read to Nora and Gus and to myself.
Reading and Matching -- here I use our language objects and write silly sentences or words. Then he has to read them and match to the language object that I'm talking about. So, for example, I may write "the goat eats the grass." Then, he finds and matches the goat.
Writing notes back and forth -- instead of just asking Henry to go on a walk {or whatever} I write him a note! He can respond by writing me back. Sometimes we write by hand, other times we use the moveable alphabet.
Science
Science has been another area of intense interest for Henry this summer. We have been,
Gardening Together
Free Play with Science Tools -- Henry has a set of real science equipment that he got for Christmas, he uses this and this for all sorts of ideas that he comes up with
Human Anatomy Book -- lots of exploration and questions surrounding this book
Observing and Recording Temperature -- a big thermometer has been interesting for watching just how warm our sun room gets
These are just a few of the things we have been up to this summer. There has also been tons of free time to just play, enjoy the outdoors, swim, bike, hike, and explore. It's incredible this love of learning that Montessori school nurtures and I hope we are protecting that love this summer!
Is your child home from Montessori school? Does your child ask for work? What are you doing together this summer?
