Yesterday we celebrated Buby's last day of Kindergarten, of commuting, of spending every weekday with teachers and friends. We have a fantastic summer planned. The five and six year olds in Buby's class are all moving on next Fall, a few to the Lower Elementary building down the hill and the rest to schools in their own towns.
I kept looking to the sky for some grand finale firework or balloon launch or other remarkable sight to signify the end of this nine and a half month adventure we've been on. Ha! To me Friday was the culmination of a very long year of incredible growth and transition. To Buby it was just another good day. He got up, got dressed, brushed his teeth, ran down for his yogurt and bread, and loaded into the car for school.
Our educational goals for our children revolve around creating lifelong learners. We want them to go in, soak up the knowledge like sponges, and come out liking school at the end of the day. Not once did our boy tell us he didn't want to go, so that equaled success.
I dubbed this our "year abroad." It certainly felt like it with all of the driving we did {which I'll detail in another post}. We knew going in that it would be one year. ONE YEAR. Buby's old preschool/kindergarten closed last minute, and his elementary school {a lovely Montessori that relocated right across the street from our house} had not reopened as of decision time last summer. We were looking at one year of limbo, so we decided to give Buby a wonderful intro to the Montessori method at a school we'd liked for a long time, albeit far from home. And by chance he ended up with his best friend Grace. Hip hip!
In Kindergarten amazing things happened. It's like Buby took all the groundwork we've been laying over the past five years and just ran with it. You might say the cards were stacked going in... {new school, new friends, first year in this type of classroom, first encounter with a relentless class bully}... but he conquered all with the help of two creative teachers who took the time with each and every student. This year Buby thrived on all fronts. He worked hard and played hard and left us in awe.
Here's my takeaway from our second and final parent/teacher conference: Buby is a pleasure to have in class. He's a model student and good friend to all. He loves mathematics and quickly finished his work on fractions and dynamic addition in the hundreds. He enjoys Spanish, science, geography and history comprehension.
He takes pride in labor intensive detail projects such as push pinning. He has completed two years worth of material/workbooks in a single year. He started Kindergarten a non-reader with great pre-reading skills and finished the year an avid, fluent reader. He LOVES to read and be read to, to write and spell, to memorize facts through song.
In September Buby struggled with his pencil grip and controlled letter formation but worked diligently for months and in June won the class Penmanship Award. He learns well independently and in small groups. He has an easy time grasping complex concepts. He knows how to lead other children in an activity and stand up for himself when need be. He shows maturity, patience and empathy toward with his fellow mates.
In addition to his daily work in Mathematics {number sentences/place value/addition/subtraction/units/tens/hundreds/thousands/fractions/counting by}, Language Arts {reading/writing/complicated letter blends/grammar/parts of speech}, Sensorial and Practical Life, Buby has enjoyed some in-depth on each of the following:
The United States of America {including the use of maps, monuments, important symbols and people}; the human body {skeleton, vital organs, 5 senses, major muscle groups}; Albert Einstein; weather systems; Marc Chagall; marine life; the construction of volcanoes; the study of fish {including what they have in common and labeling the parts of a fish}; Egypt; Africa; Australia; George Seurat; Laura Numeroff; Irish music; cultural-themed artwork; insects; Martin Luther King; water in its three forms; mammals; the solar system; the people and culture on each of the seven continents.
Experimentation with ice crystals; African music and art; holidays around the world; the moon; winter solstice; Tchaikovsky; stories by Jan Brett; Native Americans; veterans; calendars; telling time three ways; plants and the root system; tadpoles; finches; pilgrims; planting bulbs outside; studying seeds developing into plants; the value of each coin; counting money; Beethoven; Jackson Pollock; Margaret Wise Brown; Picasso; Matisse; harvest season; The Magic Treehouse series.
The volcano eruption was a highlight for Buby, in addition to any talk about nutrition and taking care of our planet. Also, he came home pumped after every time another parent visited to discuss their careers as authors, dietitians, orthopedic surgeons, etc.
I must say this particular learning path suits Buby so well. It's not for every family, but it is a natural fit for ours. We will stick with it as long as we can afford our littles the opportunity and they are thriving. If and when Montessori no longer works for one of our children {1st?, 3rd?, 5th?, 8th grade?}, we will transition them out. For now we are just enjoying the ride and looking forward to Bleu starting in September.
This summer we will camp, vacation, read, paint, craft and encourage Buby to journal. I picked up a neat wide-rule composition notebook at Target with white space at the top of each page for an accompanying illustration. Next Fall Buby will continue his studies where he left off, at a schoolhouse so close to home that I can see their front door from mine. It's a wonderful thing.
P.S. Read about Montessori here, find a q&a here, a video excerpt from "Nurturing the Love of Learning" here, an article in the WSJ here, and one comparative study here.
All images from Montessori Outlet.
I made a real effort to simplify our December this year. I had to. The past few months of running with a newby, toddler and kindergartner in tow pretty much kicked my butt. I knew I couldn't pull off ALL of my little traditions {we have a lot of them here!}, so I streamlined when possible.
We tackled fewer holiday-specific art projects. Sorry if you didn't get a custom handmade something from Buby and Bleu this Christmas. I also decided the nieces, nephews and cousins {all 15 of them} would receive reading material. Picture books, chapter books, journals, etc. Most of the children in our family are serious bookworms anyway, you can grow into and passed along books, and we can no longer fit bulky toys into our vehicle.
I was happy to do the majority of our shopping through Scholastic, Amazon and Barnes + Noble {online with in-store pickup}. Me and toy stores don't mix. Never have. The downside to Scholastic is no gift receipts though. Several of the books I chose for nephew Parker were duplicates :(
As for our own wee ones they didn't want for much. We are in those awesome early years when babes believe wholeheartedly in everything and aren't writing mile-long wish lists for their parents. Honestly, I hope mine never do that. I cringe at the thought of little guys tearing through catalogs with big markers. Want. Want. Want. I don't want that.
Speaking of, I couldn't help but notice how many people pressed Buby and Bleu for what they wanted this year. Every day friends, family, the receptionist at the hair salon, a stranger at the coffee shop would force them to articulate a desire for the tangible. Whenever Bleu responded "A box of tissues" someone would say "What else? Nothing else???" and they'd stare and wait until she could come up with more! Oh the pressure.
Buby only asked Santa for his fairies, and Bleu asked him for a Jessie doll, a box of tissues and a toy for her Bitty Baby. Later I think she mentioned a purple phone. As usual we used two wrapping papers... one for gifts from Santa and one for gifts from us. Inevitably we end up buying something in front of one of the other children.
I told everyone else to please not go crazy. Buby and Bleu are spoiled silly {and I mean that in the sweetest possible way} when we visit Family Land. They didn't expect to open gifts on vacation, and I didn't want to bring home another playroom full. That said, it was by far the most fun Christmas yet watching our five year old and two and a half year old partake in so many family celebrations. Grandparent and cousin time was the best. And the gifts exchanged were so thoughtful and lovely. Here's a small sampling.
*A goody box from my friend Maria included {among other things} this roadrunner globe, a chili pepper ornament and a cactus growing on our kitchen windowsill. *Grandma DJ knitted Bleu a pretty poncho. *The Plan Toys dollhouse is made of organic recycled rubber wood. 
*Bleu keeps this board book on her nightstand. *Oliver's sock monkey from Grandma DJ. The others came with personalized "sweaters" as well, but Bleu prefers them all nakie. *Crazy soft blanket for baby. 
*Prettiest his/her tissue boxes we could find. *Uncle Mark gave Buby the Yankees hat right off his head. Buby adores it, and I'm sure my brother misses it. *The pooch trinket box from Great Aunt Mary is very special to Bleu. She hides her jewels in it. 
*The My Neighborhood play mat is made in Belgium, rolls out 6 feet and stores easily. *Remember Alphie? Very '80s. *Genius fill-in-the-blank for five year olds. *A tiny horse stable both kids love. 
*Family of seven dollhouse dolls. *Satin-trimmed blankie. *Gourmet-scented Smencils. 
*Magformers building set. *Taggie blanket for Oliver. *Felt dino bag. 
*Sweetest board book by Nancy Tillman. Thank you, G. family. *Raggedy Ann brings back memories. *Fun bendy figures.
*Purplicious doll by Madame Alexander. *Magician's costume. *Seen the movie Big?
*Seriously the most fun racetrack ever. Thanks, Dad. *Fold'N Fly paper airplane kit. 
*The Hess truck is a Grandpa J. tradition. *My Sweets found an original painting of our village library for Buby. *New Acorn Monster Moc slippers for Buby. They wear "indoor shoes" at Montessori school.
*Hardcover classics from my dad. *Highly anticipated Jessie doll. *City tee for Buby. It's super soft and reminds him of his favorite place on earth.
Note: There's plenty I didn't photograph, including more books, games, an aquarium dvd, clothes, a sled, and sweet accessories for Bleu's dolls.
Bleu adores these wooden pull toys. Who knew! One would assume she is too old.
Before Thanksgiving my parents took in an elephant, zebra, giraffe and frog from my Aunt Carol. {She was moving and needed to downsize her toy inventory.} The idea was to keep them at my parents' house, but Bleu was so immediately smitten that my dad insisted she take her new pals home with her.
She has played with them nonstop ever since. That's over a month. Nonstop.
If you have kids and you don't own this game, you're totally missing out. It entertains our whole family for hours on end.
Buby and I just got around to doing this Christmas puzzle ball on Friday. I'm so embarrassed to admit I have no clue who gave it to us. The box is small, and I recently discovered it at the bottom of a huge travel bin from Family Land. This never happens.
It could have come from any one of the five parties we attended, but my guess would be from a mass cousins exchange at Aunt Mary's on Christmas Eve. My Sweets and I were on opposite sides of the room during the chaos--him with Buby and me with Bleu--and sadly didn't see everything the wee ones opened.
At first glance I thought the idea was GENIUS. I mean, a puzzle with curvy plastic pieces that turns into an ornament for all time? Love everything about that. But 10 minutes turned into an hour and an hour into two. Buby and I would get within three pieces of completing the whole thing just to realize that one itty bitty illustration wasn't lining up right. We'd take it all apart and start again. By this time Buby was convinced it was a cruel joke, an unsolvable obsession.
The puzzle design looks Swedish or German and there were no written instructions. Saturday morning I tried again. Grandma DJ, too. Finally My Sweets stepped in and solved the darn thing in 10 minutes simply by following the number clues on the back. Showoff!
Anyway, I'm back to thinking it's GENIUS. We'll hang this ornament on Buby + Bleu's tree from now until eternity. So thank you... to whomever it may concern... for the gift.
