Out of all of the traditional Montessori work, after the long Division work, the Geometric Shape Insets is my favorite. I used to love working with color pencils as a child, making all the beautiful patterns. I thought the price to buy one would not be in the budget so I didn't give them much thought until I saw this post. Her DIY Geometric shapes were beautiful and I attempted to make some, but I did not have the right cutting tool. My shapes were not geometrical. But you know what, Lil A likes them anyway and it gets the job done. We just won't be creating any exact geometric patterns with it. However, I am satisfied with the way the shelf turned out and guess what? It was super easy, no nailing or screwing, I just used my handy dandy super glue gun!
The man at Lowe's cut a piece of wood into 4 pieces about 5 1/2" width.
The length of mine is 24"
I hot glued wooden square dowels to serve as the ledge.
Our Beloved Aunt S recently went to Zimbabwe & South Africa on a fantastical adventure that included trekking the Kalahari desert, swimming the Zambezi river and almost peeking her head over Victoria Falls. Her husband, Uncle B did in fact peek his head over the edge. She posted the video on facebook, it was Awesome! Note to Self: I must start teaching my Beloveds about God's Magnificent Creations (or the Natural Wonders of the Earth)
Well, Aunt S sent a box of wonderful souvenirs from her travels and I thought this would be a perfect start for our African Continent Box.
Aunt S sent two dolls, a lion, two dollies, currency souvenir, three pencils, three bracelets
two puzzles, and a T-shirt (not pictured). I ordered the African Village sticker book from Amazon.
Our brain is such an important part of our human body, I pray that I did it justice with trying to convey this to my Beloveds. When you have a great brain scientists like Dr. Benjamin Carson for inspiration, it is hard to not get excited about learning about this fascinating organ.
Our local science museum has a nice interactive body exhibit with a huge brain in the middle that shows videos about the function of the brains.
I used file folders and felt to create a brain function puzzle. The colors of each part of the brain were chosen based on the available paper and felt in my home. I did not purchase anything new for this activity. A paper brain and labels is the control card. It can be flipped open to check the child's work. I glued felt to the background so that brain would not slide off and I made felt pockets for the cards. The cards are available free for download. I also share a website at the end where you can download a free paper brain puzzle.
For Lil A we worked on vocabulary and matching the parts of the brain.
A good way to start is to have your child match felt
pieces to the control card.
Lil A did an awesome job of reconstructing the brain.
Z Man and S Man constructed the brain from memory.
Many ways to use the card
More Brain Activities
The plan is to complete the body as we work through
ABC of the Quran, i.e we will put on her heart
when we do H is for heart.
Living Montessori Now, shared two very practical videos in support of Montessori Education. One of the videos asked Why Montessori, which got me thinking about why I Montessori? Will Montessori Education produce the Leaders for the future?
Montessori emphasis on understanding World Geography may also be a great benefit after the release of this youtube video . Montessori incorporates this understanding of Cultural Geography in all aspects of education from Art, Globe study, Morning Circle, Continent Boxes, and even in learning how to write with the Geometry Shape Trays.
If you skipped to 45:00 in the above video she talks about the "most wonderful buildings covered with the most elaborate designs" of "the Islamic people" She also states "You can get them (children) appreciative of other countries, by showing the art of other countries."
The Green Crescent in the Montessori Grammar box
may have been influenced by the another Crescent in the Pakistan flag.
A good friend said "Montessori appeals to the Fitra" or purest state of our soul. This may be true and could be what attracts me. I do want my children to have a beautiful and enlightened soul, hence the name Noor Janan Homeschool.
Maria Montessori was a devout Roman Catholic, however, she spent 7 years in Muslim/Hindu India/Pakistan during World War 2 where she writes about hearing the adhan call the Muslims to prayer. Some scholars believed this had a profound affect on her writings as she began to talk about the child's soul.
It was also in India where she developed the Peace Education which is used in her training course today. So is Montessori an education for World Peace? Susan Stephenson seems to think so. I went to Montessori school from ages 6-8 and again in 5th grade. I also was influenced by Montessori in my early childhood years in a Universal Church: I am 99.9% for peace, so maybe.
Whether, you have spiritual, peaceful, academic or creative ambitions for your child, Montessori addresses all of them. I am inspired by this and God Willing can continue on in my pursuits for a Montessori based curriculum.
Ok, I was going to make Mama Jenn's Kool-aid Playdough., but then I found Chasing Supermom's Playdough recipe and I knew this was the one. The reason being, simple: it does not require Cream of Tarter and it looked good. I was right! It was super good and super fun! So, of course, you can get the recipe from following the link. However, here is the update on how Lil A did.
I found a real jewel in the library the other day. I wasn't looking for it, in fact, I really didn't want another project. The book was so beautiful, with so many delightful children, it was a project waiting to happen. If I didn't do it, someone else would of have to.
I loved this Food Chart and at the end of her blog post she writes "You can easily create one of these yourself." and that is exactly what I did, made a Food Chart that represents our family. The core things are the same, I don't like reinventing the wheel. However, there were some things like the sugar, fats, oil category or the particular foods we eat, mostly Organic, that I changed. I also added a water and vitamin check box.
