Who cares - I am candle calm!!!

So I have bought a new candle. I know, me, a candle!! I am not a fan of candles that smell, they tend to be really nauseous and sweet or chemical and overpowering, but this candle........THIS candle is my calm!!

Well, that's the idea.

It's a whopper of a candle, so let's hope there is a whop-load of calm in there. It smells really fresh and floral but not too much. Yup, of course, you'll get that - a written description of a scent for you to imagine and enjoy - riiiiiiight??!!

Anyway, Mr Beehive has been away again this week, so let's see....no! I do believe the week was actually pretty uneventful, well apart from the fact that the lappy went down mid week so I presumed it was the re-router to the wireless connection - gosh that sounds like I know what I am talking about - shame of it is, I haven't the first clue so didn't even know what the re-router looked like to re-boot it. As it turned out, t'wasn't that at all, it was me being a dork and I pressed off the wireless button on the front of the computer - well duh, like I knew that was there?!

I had a mad crafting day yesterday, the kids were off school as the teachers were at a conference, so while they played, I sewed. Now I would show you the results, but......right now i can't find the cable to connect the camera to the computer and I think that is how the actual wireless button came to be turned off anyway while I was busy poking my memory card into any available slot........well, that normally works!
I made a sweet Christmas skirt and top for LMB, the underskirt for her 50's polka dot swing dress that I intend to make her and began hat number 5 for the Save the Children knit-one-save-one campaign. I'll try to remember to upload photos when I find the cable. I have a suspicion that it has been posted into one of the washing baskets of clean clothes that I have piling up in our bedroom.

How does one family produce so much laundry? I think my laundry basket is modelled on "The Magic Porridge Pot" and I have yet to find the words to get the darned thing to stop re-filling just as I get to the bottom.

Last week I watched a great video from NAMTA (North American Montessori Teachers Association) called - thieves!- "At Home with Montessori". It was three short clips of three different families with kids at 4months, 7 months and 15 months and the different home environments that they had set up for them. All the rooms were beautifully and carefully organised, as this was the prepared environment. I had to take a moment however to cough rather loudly behind my hand "bullshit"! because here they were showing these great environments with one child in them (two in the last one, but only about 10 months apart) with low level shelving with toys arranged on them (almost like ornaments!) and not a spot of clutter, paperwork, no knitting projects all over the place, no homework piles, no dog, no anything out of place anywhere and most importantly.......NO LAUNDRY?! I wonder if they will loan me their fairy? They could make a killing selling that secret, but then, I don't care - I have a candle!!!

Diversion

Today's post can be found here http://www.athomewithmontessori.blogspot.com/

Oh and here is Master Beehive the younger after playing a game this afternoon with his brother called "You've got to be kiddin' me". This was apparently a forefeit!

Making sense of it all!!

Finally the finished dress!!

I think the Little Miss approves, which is great news!!

I start at the Waldorf on Thursday this week. This may all seem somewhat of a change of allegiance, but I have always felt that for the early years ie: birth - around 3, Waldorf is a wonderful environment for children to be in, so it isn't, I am as reinforced as ever about Montessori.

The group I am running is a parent and toddler group and we all work together in the room, making bread, doing handcrafts and observing the children, allowing them the freedom and independence to join in by first observing themselves and then participating. We also play games in a circle and share a snack together.

To me, this isn't too dissimilar to the Montessori environment that my children then moved onto bar the presence of the parent. I have often felt that this wonderful nurturing, parent-secure environment that is created for the first two or so years at the Waldorf, neatly merges into the need of the child to move onto more independence away from the adult and thus lies the prepared environment in the Montessori. I realise this is over simplistic, but I feel that there is some complement to these two very different educational methods as well as some very different ideas too.

This weekend I completed "The Silent Journey" at the Montessori. We spent the time observing all the classes (Toddler, Primary, Lower El, Upper El and the Middle school) in silence, reflecting on our observations. The second part of the weekend was spent being shown and being given the opportunities to use the materials in each of the rooms. It was a very humbling experience. I felt like I was almost being shown something forbidden as there was this strange sense of awe and almost loss looking at things that I had no idea how to use and then, after being shown how the tools produce the formula or results etc, having that real "a-ha!" moment! I have to say, I am actually envious of the opportunities the mini Beehives have at that school!

So returning to my original point about the morphing of Waldorfian ideas with the thoughts and philosophies that Maria Montessori had, I really feel that the idea of parent supported groups for babies through the time they would begin a toddler program, for me working in the Waldorf environment, neatly includes the need for attachment, the need of the child to observe the parent, the need to explore and be curious in a safe environment, the use of simple toys and the stretching of the mind, emphasis on sound and voice and a natural prepared environment.

Waldossori?? Not sure that anyone would buy it!

Sleepy here!

It is a little sleepy here at the moment I know, the kids are out for the summer, my sense of humour seems to have gone awol and I am creating a new blog. www.athomewithmontessori.blogspot.com I want to try to create something that documents our attempts to bring elements of Montessori into our home.

My mother rang me the other day to tell me she's feeling fed up and I hadn't updated my blog in ages to cheer her up!!!!!

Seriously, no one told me the demands of the public were so intense. Had I known I would have booked my place in the Priory now, rather than spending the cash on a new blend of Cloudy Bay vino, some botox and a pair of Jimmy Shoos!


Fortunately I have a couple of weeks respite whilst she and my father practice their drunken franglais somewhere in the depths of Aquataine or somewhere similar, wearing hankies on their heads (laughing now mother?).



Hopefully over the course of the next few weeks, the literary (is that what you would call it!) bug will bite again, my babysitter will recover from the leurgy that has struck her down from one afternoon on the job with my kids and I will find space to write and amuse you all once again with the shenanigans from the depths of the hive.

Hasta luego amigos!

Beowulf and Montessori

Well today has flown past again. I only seem to get to bed these days for it to be time to wake up and then go back to bed! I made three visits to school today, pick up separately one for each child!! All of whom had fantastic days and, bar the eldest, have gone straight off to sleep with tired exhaustion - yay! I had a parent orientation in school led by the school directress. As usual M is a very enlightening and vibrant speaker, she always makes me feel refreshed and renewed in my choice to use Montessori even when there are things that puzzle me about it. Take a question asked this morning about Montessori approach to creativity and imagination in stories. M explained that it was always nurtured never supressed and yet from the teachers, the kids would get the "real version" of events, so for example, rather than telling the story of the bad wolf who went to blow down three houses belonging to pigs that talked and wore clothes, they would tell the story of say, Johnny Appleseed or Albert Einstein. That said, were a child to make up a tale of talking animals that do amazing things, then this creativity would be celebrated and nurtured. Montessori was a believer that children's creativity comes from within and therefore it will express itself without force, which I like! I agree that by the "reduced-media" policy and enabling children to have access to books that are less fairy tale like and more realistic, they are actually opening doors to children using their imagination far more than providing clear cut images on a plate.

R. is feeling a little better at the moment, I am pleased to say, is also taking a few days off work! He has some tablets that are appearing to keep the pain at bay and hopefully he will get some tests done this week. I, on the other hand have started a new diet......it is the "lose 6lbs overnight" diet. i think I ate a salad that disagreed with me yesterday, so he basically walked in the door from the hospital to me crawling into bed and handing them over! Bet he thought I was faking!

Tomorrow is my driving test. Crazy but it brings back nervous memories. I have been driving for 17 years. I hope this doesn't fail me due to complacency. My mom to be is holding off at the moment (keeping my fingers crossed for her legs to stay that way until tomorrow evening!.

Well, I am off to that place of down and dreams now but to end must just ask this...if Montessori is not keen to teach from legend and myth but rather from truth and fact.........why is my elder son doing Beowulf for his school play this year?

Sunday morning!

Well there are grumblings abound here at The Beehive!!

First of which we thought may have been R's appendix!
He has been complaining of a pain just slightly lower and right of his navel in recent days, which on Friday evening was considerably worse than normal. I rang the equivalent of NHS direct to see whether they would be concerned enough to get him to the ER. He was classing his pain as a 7 - (see, too much time spent in hospitals these days, I am starting to use their talk!) The nurse on call did recommend he went, unsure what it might be but concerned that it could be a grumbling appendix. Of course, problem 2, it is 11pm, we have three children asleep in bed, he isn't in a fit state to drive and a friend's dh whom we tried to contact was still out of town. He went by taxi in the end, returning at 4.30am the next morning. Thus far, they haven't found a cause for the pain, BUT he has more kidney stones - currenly not on the move!! AND an oedema on or around his adrenal gland. So, we are now all eliminating dairy from all our diets and trying to stick to a mainly vegetarian diet because having to cook one thing for I, another for R, is proving challenging! W. as you can imagine - is the biggest fan of this idea!!!!!!!!!

Apparently one cause of reccurring k.stones is a build up of calcium (along with not drinking enough water!) SO, reducing calcium intake, ie much of our dairy and anything fortified with calcium, hopefully will help. However, he ALSO has IBS so that means trying to eliminate the foods that trigger that too, which is far harder as that is different person to person. However, we are starting with wheat type products and things that make you feel bloated - hopefully that'll help! Otherwise we'll be on the "fresh-air" diet!

So, great Sunday morning reading, if you are still with me well done, if you have vomited and done a runner, don't blame you!

Secondly today is the day!!! This morning, I braved the "Hundred Acre Wood" agricultural fair competition with my jam, photos and cookies. Smiling like I was a pro at this for fear of being beaten up by an apron-wearing spoon-wielding regular, I boldly walked into the hall adorned with plates of tomatoes, large squashes and some rather dubious looking egg plants! I was dutifully assisted by one such person who was checking in the entrants and adding our labels, she made small talk, but........there was a cool air!!! Judging starts in 10 minutes. I'll keep you posted!

The children start back at school the week after next. I can't believe where the 10 weeks have gone!! The school bus routes are back in the paper and soon the familiar rumblings of the school buses from 6.30am will begin our days! T. gets a locker this year as an elementary student, so he is pretty thrilled with that idea, he also does separate Spanish, sport and art classes where they actually leave and go to another room, that is making him feel pretty grown up too. W. has a new teacher, but is actually finding it harder to realise that he will be going back to the same school this year, poor mite, he hasn't stayed in one place long enough yet! This will be a surprise for him! I. will be doing mornings, as for me and my newfound free time! Well, I plan to go to Pilates a couple of times a week and then......who knows!

Sunday afternoon was spent in that place of "un"-domesticated bliss and chasing my tail. I tried, aimlessly to sort out W and I's drawers putting the stuff they have outgrown in a bag for Goodwill. However, I. decided to assist me and I spent much of the afternoon unbagging the stuff I had already bagged to fish out something that was still the right size! Earlier in the day I had sent R. to the shop to get some sorbet, (obviously ice cream is another no-no for poor I.) - living with us, you would have thought he had fathomed as to why he had been sent for sorbet.......however, he managed to return with sorbet with chocolate in it......well, of course one of the main ingredients of chocolate is............!!!!!! I have promised to ring him at work tomorrow with her diaper delivery for him to change as punishment !!
Mealtimes as a whole (I keep harping on about this don't I!) are proving tricky, not only from a menu perspective, but also from a "letting go" or even a Montessori perspective. We have been allowing I. the freedom of no restraints on her Stokke chair, but she is pushing the boundaries some what. Some days she sits dutifully until she has completed her meal or had enough, then gets down, which is the idea - however, I am also a little in opposition to the Montessori approach to this as I feel that as we eat as a family she could try to at least wait until the boys have finished? i don't know, what do you think? Anyway, MontessoriSchmontessori - she is now getting down and climbing up at the breakfast bar or feeding her leftovers to the dog or putting it in the bin before we have even had a chance! She is like a mini tornado, she can destroy the kitchen in the space of a nano second. So (I hang my head!) the reins were put back on this evening for our meal, Maria Montessori did NOT have kids and did NOT live in my house with three smalls particularly at meal times........! I will start afresh tomorrow!

UPDATE!! - My jam won 2nd place!! And I won a second for colour photography, 3rd for black and white and an honourable mention for my cookies! Curious thing is.......you had to make 6, then one presumes they test them.....however, there were STILL 6 cookies on my plate when I went by hmmmmm, hope they can't take the rosette away if they actually TRY them!!!!!!!!Ah well, here's to next year........gets quite contagious *blush*!!!!!!!

Proboscis monkey

What a week of ups and downs - quite literally. W. fell yesterday, he wasn't wearing his glasses and managed to cut his top lip badly. He unfortunately looks something like this poor lamb!! We had only hours earlier returned from the Opthalmologist who had scolded me for not forcing him to wear his eye patch!!! How can you force a 4 year old to do something! She told me she would be giving me drops to blur his vision if I didn't make him wear the patch! The way I see it is this, there is no way doing this patching is necessarily going to make his poorer eye any stronger, whereas there is a strong chance that forcing him to wear it is going to make him not enjoy school, feel resentful towards me, and is probably going to make him less outgoing.....he had already said he didn't want to return to soccer today with his lip in case they called him "beaky"!!! Okay, laugh over! But seriously. I am so divided with this. I don't want to wrap them up in cotton wool and mickey taking is part of life, but equally I don't want them to feel that to get on in life you just have to take the crap. Those that take the crap end up giving the crap I think. Anyway fortunately the heaven's have opened this morning, so the soccer choice was made for me.....I know, passing the buck!! He is currently obliging by wearing the patch attached to the lens of his glasses.

I. had a home visit yesterday from the Montessori teacher. M. brought her son who played with the boys, which was a great idea, it meant that I. had M to herself. T. did me proud though by offering and serving up drinks and brownies (homemade earlier in the day I hasten to add!) without help.

Today we went to R's works do: A cowboy cookout - or rather a CT washout!! The weather is out to get us at the moment!! Still, at least we got some lobster this year, but I am still laughing at the things we do to entertain our kids. Seriously, there was a small train there and the guy driving it went round and round in circles over and over, with kids so excited that they couldn't sit still and parents crunched into this minute contraption with moronic grins on their faces as if they couldn't have thought of anything more fun and adventurous!! Fortunately for me, our kids thought it was a little trite and beneath them (good on you guys!) I. rode the ponies, which she thought was the best thing "horse!" and W and T decided to throw themselves down an upturned bouncy Titanic slide about 45' up!!

For those of you that are disappointed in my lack of jam this year, I am going to gladen your hearts........it is being made as we speak! This year's efforts to keep the world in toast for another year, are peach and a new recipe - well, I made it up really:

Plum and Basil Jam
Same proportion of stoned plums (that is remove the stones guys, not feed it anything!) to sugar ie; 1lb to 1lb
Quarter of a lemon in whole (you will remove this later)
and around a dozen small basil leaves per lb.

Allow it to gently boil stirring to ensure the sugar doesn't go gritty, then leave it to simmer.
There really is no science to this (well, there probably is, but not in MY kitchen) I just run quality control every so often with a cold saucer, take a little bit out, roll it around the plate, as it cools it will run less, once you have it to great consistency, then stop it simmering.........that's it! Not rocket science!!

Okay, better go, this jam is gonna be a late entry in the CT seriously scary old ladies guns out agricultural fair!!! Let ya know next week how I do ha ha!

Wearing Wellies and pantyliners:

?Why? you may ask has this title come about for today's entry? You don't know my daughter very well then if you even have to ask! It is only 8.35am over here and today already she has decided she is wearing half a box of pantyliners, her wellies and a doll's dress on her head, and earlier she had blue felt tip lips. We either need more locks or I have to do something about my own dress and make up skills because it worries me that children learn through copying (aagghh!).

I. has discovered the skill of opening locks. My maternal side is congratulating my 20 mth old daughter for her dexterity and intelligence at realising that standing on the outerside of the pantry is NOT going to achieve her goal of eating the contents on the innerside of the pantry.......hence a quick learning session and voila!

My non-maternal, I have to clear up this frickinfrackin' mess side is silently screaming at her capablilities. I don't wanna be clearing up weetabix whilst she is then in the dog food, all the while I am trying to think of ways to exterminate the mouse, who, by all accounts is the cleverest of the bloody lot of them! - On his tale - he can actually remove the cheese from the trap WITHOUT setting it off........but then, I think I would acquire this skill if I knew that I would be getting free weetabix and things dropped my way!

So, this skill (perfectly Montessori!!) has led her to opening our bathroom doors and cabinets - which are a joy - stickers!!!! Nice padded ones too. I think today's list of chores will include fortifying the lock situation, now where is I.?
I think she is wearing my post it notes!