Day at the beach

What a beautiful day we woke up to this morning!
I decided early on that I would fulfill another of those promises I made and never came through with.


Today we are going to the beach. Another reason why I love homeschooling, the ability to decide on a whim to change the plans, go with the flow and do something out of the ordinary.

I'll say I don't think the troops have ever been so organised and helpful in the morning, but we managed to be packed and out the door before 9 o'clock.
I guess the "we're going to the beach today" announcement was a great motivator.

The forecast: 28 degrees and sun, sun,sun. 

This was the view that welcomed us when we arrived.
This is beautiful Torquay Beach, in Torquay, Victoria, Australia.

We spent about an hour and a half down on the beach, playing in the sand and the waves. The water was a bit on the cool side, but still enjoyable. Since its our first beach experience this year, I just allowed it to be a sensorial experience, the sand, waves, seaweed, wind and sun all play a part in a sensorial experience and creating lasting memories is always fun too.

Its been such a long time!

Its been such a long time between blogs, its difficult to know where to start!
The Montessori Cottage has been busy, busy, busy. This month I have finally got around to writing out a curriculum plan that I'm hoping to stick too. Most of the year has been what I would call, haphazard learning. I've gone with the flow and focused on topics that have interested the children and really just gone with that. In saying that, JMM has studied Ancient Egypt for about eight weeks, completed some activities and presented them in a lapbook style project.

She read almost every book on Ancient egypt from our library and even some we bought for her. What I noticed on completion of the topic, is that there was heaps of reading involved and lots of discussion but the lapbook doesn't really show the breadth of knowledge that we covered.

Also by not having a plan, I has almost completely left RMM to his own devises and I really have no idea what he has been doing all year. He hasn't really shown much of an interest in any particular topic and only did some of the egyptian activities.

So in order to actually see what we are doing, I devised a monthly plan. I broke it into the areas I want to focus on. I decided that I wasn't going to tackle everything at once. My focus is reading, writing and math. The cultural part of our curriculum I decided I'll cover over the summer months when is nice outside and we can use water to our hearts content, without leaving a mess.

Welcome to 2011!

Welcome the Montessori  ottage for 2011!  We have undergone a few changes this year, physically, mentally and logistically.

Our timetable for this year will prove to be quite full so it will be interesting to see where the formal schooling will take place.  The change in thinking has really come from me. My life before children was with children in a state school education system and it has taken four years of debriefing to accept that homeschooling is NOT just schooling at home. There many other elements that come into play and sometimes take precedence over the formal schooling. For instance, last year we introduced Baby M in June into our family and we have spent the last six months adjusting to the new addition. Well actually Mum has been adjusting, the children just took it in their stride.

I had to deal with sleepless night, feeding at all hours, cooking,cleaning and all things mummsy as well as add a homeschool element. I was punishing myself for not doing anything well. Eventually I gave myself permission to not be perfect.

I gave up on the formal schooling and just went with the flow. We spent time learning to be a family and that mum was human just like everyone else.

I think it was a valuable lesson for all.