The Kavanaugh Report

Henry's last day of school before the Covid-19 shutdown was March 9, so we are rapidly approaching the 2 month mark at home. With all this time at home, everyone is going a little stir crazy. Teddy included. So, I decided to get a new materials to entertain us all as these long weeks drag on. 

There are so many amazing toys, games, and materials available for purchase in today's world. And there are so many amazing DIY ideas and possibilities shared around the internet. All of which look beautiful and engaging and lovely. But, have you ever purchased or made something, put it on your shelves and then your child totally ignores it? I know that I have.  And typically for me that happens when I have been sucked into how something looks or feels and not necessarily if it fits the needs of my child. I wanted to share how I think about materials and when to add them. For us, a material (either DIY or purchased) almost always flops if I don't think about it in this way. So for me to see something as a "need" it needs to fit both an interest and a skill for my child.  I created this visual to help think about it. It's that light blue part that is the sweet spot. That's where I find deep engagement, making it "worth it" to add the it

*This episode was recorded before Covid-19 and shelter-in-place orders so we mention being out in our communities.*  Introducing food to your baby can be a fun new adventure for both you and your child. In Montessori we call this process weaning. In today's episode Amy and Nicole discuss their experiences with weaning and preparing their homes for introducing solids. Plus we dive into why and how we use a weaning table for starting solids with babies and young toddlers.  This post contains affiliate links at no cost to you.  Show Notes...  Kids Eat in Color   Other accounts: Feeding Littles Division of Responsibility - Ellyn Satter World Health Organization Breastfeeding Guidelines Signs Your Baby Might be Ready for Food Our Approach to Family Meals   Montessori versus Baby Led Weaning Sprout Kids Weaning Table IKEA Porkal glasses Montessori Friendly Highchairs Montessori Weaning Cup World Market Cocktail Silverware Paul Revere Kids Oneida Silverware

I find so much Montessori inspiration on Instagram ! The community is just so fantastic and filled with people bringing Montessori to children in the most beautiful and creative ways. I thought I would share some of my new favorite Montessori inspired DIY materials! These are so great for children who are longing to work with some of their favorite Montessori materials but happen to be away from their classrooms at the moment. These 3D printed geometric solids are just beautiful! Plus I love the list of other alternative options for building these great shapes. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Kristin (@o_e_and_me) on Apr 6, 2020 at 7:15am PDT These math beads made from pearler beads are genius! What a cost effective way to bring Montessori math beads home! View this post on Instagram A post shared by Beth Kimberly (@eakimberly) on Apr 16, 2020

Somehow my tiny little baby Henry is already 9-years-old! Typically he attends a public Montessori school and is in lower elementary. But with Covid-19 all of the school in our state have closed for the time being (and it is anticipated will be closed for the rest of the school year.) So Henry is home doing "distance learning" for the time being. For his district distance learning has meant that nearly all of his work is now online. 

A treasure basket is a Montessori baby's best friend. These little baskets are filled with any number of interesting things to mouth, to touch, to shake, and to explore. They beauty of a good treasure basket is that it doesn't have to be complicated and can be filled with everyday objects that are attractive and interesting to a baby. 

As a Montessori parent, the language you use with your children matters. Ultimately the decisions you make will effect everything from how your children learn to read, to how comfortable they coming to you as they grow up. In today's episode, Nicole and Amy talk about their do's and don'ts for language development as Montessori parents. This includes why the ABC song is out but swear words are in! Plus Amy has an exciting announcement!  Show Notes  Montessori Like a Mother  Why Isn't Gus Heading To School? And, What We are Doing Instead Days of the Week Song  Child of the Redwoods Continent Song Thanks for joining me for today's podcast! If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, share and leave a review in your favorite podcast app. If you are interested in finding Shelf Help in a podcast app, it is available on  Apple  |  Spotify  |  Stitcher  |  Google . ---

Gus is in a very interesting puzzle phase right now. He can do simple jigsaw puzzles but doesn't quite have the fine motor skills to do those with a lot of smaller pieces. The larger jigsaws are fun for him but take up a lot of room. So to add challenge and interest for him, I've included one of our favorite layer puzzles on his work shelves .  This particular puzzle has been discontinued, but it got me thinking about how fun and innovated layering puzzles are for kids. They can be really simple (if you only include one layer) or move to more complicated. But typically they aren't jigsaws which make them a great intermediate step since they don't need quite as much fine motor precision.  This post contains affiliate links at no cost to you.  Plus they come in a variety of themes, sizes, and over all complexity - making them a really unique and fun addition to your child's work shelves. And, for some reason, the content of the puzzles also tends to be Mo

I don't know about you but we suddenly have a lot of Montessori language and math work in our house. Since we are crisis schooling with the kids, their schools have sent paper materials home and some I have printed or ordered for the kids. I was feeling a bit overwhelmed with how to organize it all. 

I’ve said this a few times since this Covid-19 pandemic experience started, routines are key for my family. And not just any routine, but one based around a 3 hour work cycle. Let’s talk about what a work cycle is and what it looks like for my family. A work cycle is the (ideally) uninterrupted block of time where children can go about their activity. This isn't to be confused with the cycle of activity , which applies to individual works.  (Nora and Gus work with beeswax modeling material )  (We start our work cycle every day with tracking the date and moon phase.) Dr. Montessori found that three hours (less time for infants and toddlers) was the ideal amount of time for children to have in the Montessori classroom. During this time children are free to move about the classroom choosing work that class to them, socializing, and receiving presentations that the guide has determined they are ready for. The three hour timeline wasn't randomly chosen, but was b