The Kavanaugh Report

Young toddlers are so fascinating to me! On their first birthday they are such babies, but even just a few short months later they are just completely different people. Then that growth just doesn't slow down. Walking, climbing, problem solving, and language skills all explode over and over again between the ages of one and two. As a Montessori parent, I know I can sit back and really enjoy these phases as they come. But, I also know that we can prepare our environment to foster the skills that our children are working on. 

This week on our Montessori podcast...

Is there anything better than walking into a room and finding a child snuggled up with a good book? Maybe snuggling up and reading it to them! I don't care how old my children get, we continue to find so much joy in reading good, Montessori friendly picture books together.  As a Montessori parent, I find that books are just a great way to expose my children to a variety of people, places, and stories. I never want to push reading onto any of them, but I want to make it a connecting time, something they find pleasure in, and really follow their lead. So far, that's working! Even in the summer, taking a few books outside is one of our favorite Montessori activities!  Montessori Friendly Picture Books We Love Right Now Here's a look at some of the picture books that my kids have really enjoyed reading lately. We also have a few longer chapter books that we read but I choose to stick to just picture books here.  Toddler Books At 16-months-old, Penelope doesn't have a lot of...

Summer is here and we are spending the majority of our time right now outside. Our days are filled with exploring our Montessori backyard, going to playgrounds, and learning about nature through movement. Plus, we have a great shelf of outdoor Montessori work available. But, even with all this time outdoors I still want a shelf of Montessori activities for preschoolers available to Teddy. At 3.5-years-old, he craves some more concrete work to engage his mind an body.  Recently, I did a huge reduction in the number of things I kept out for Ted for the summer. I wanted only things that really would keep his interest, challenge his skills and be fun for the times when he is inside working.  Montessori-Friendly Toys for 3-Year-Olds Here's a look at what made our Montessori shelves this summer: Silicone Numbers + Sandpaper Numerals + Colorful Counting Chips : Teddy loves math and number work and this was the only traditional work that I kept on his shelves for the summer Haba Rai...

The OG Kavanaugh family Montessori baby is already just about 9-years-old! 🤯 I can't believe that in just a few short days, Nora will done with third-grade and turning 9. Time really does fly. I honor of her celebration, I figured I would the things on her birthday list. Each of these Montessori friendly birthday gifts has been chosen by Nora, she won't end up with all of these, but we'll have to see what we choose. 

No one wants to see their baby or toddler get hurt. It's particularly hard to see your child get hurt because another child has lashed out at them. Siblings hit, friends hit, and even random kids in public. That's just how kids can be. Montessori parenting with toddlers is not a cure for preventing all possible harm. But we can use our understanding as Montessori parents to create a framework for how to respond when your baby or toddler gets hit.  Montessori Parenting: Responding to Hitting Recently, we were out at a baseball game with several of my kids. Penelope was wandering around looking into the field and into the dugout. Another toddler around her age, 16-months, was wandering around too. Suddenly he charged at Penelope and smacked her right in the face. Who knows why and honestly it's not important. Toddlers are impulsive, have nearly zero emotional control, and are following their own internal order that we don't really get to understand. So, there's no bla...

Maria Montessori observed that children move through a variety of phases of development from birth until they reach full maturity around 24-years-old. While Maria Montessori identified the second plane of development as ages 6 to 12, many Montessori elementary classroom environments are divided into "lower elementary" and "upper elementary" Lower is from ages 6 to 9 and upper is 9 to 12.  As a Montessori parent, I've found it important to keep this distinction in mind as I approach my children. There are distinct differences in the children in lower and upper elementary children.