Landin @ School

Landin has been attending Montessori school for a little over a month now and it's so amazing how much he's progressed in such a little time. Several times now, I've caught him organizing, stacking and categorizing things. Right now, he's practicing his "practical life" skills, which for Montessori means..."children learn how to do things such as: pouring and scooping, using kitchen utensils, washing dishes, polishing objects, scrubbing tables, and cleaning-up. They also learn how to dress themselves, tie their shoes, wash their hands, and other self-care practices." He's doing such a good job at it. He wants to help wash dishes with every chance that he gets and he thoroughly enjoys washing his hands (I think that's more because he likes to play in the water though). Just tonight, he brought out his crayons that are shaped like little traffic cones so they can be stacked together, but then they can also be stuck on your finger to draw, he took them all out of his pencil box and lined them all up before he started to color. The other day, I found Ashlynn's stacking rings lined up like a train on the floor and every once in a while I find various other things in some sort of order that I know was his doing. He's so stinkin smart it's amazing! I can't believe that he is learning so much so quickly. The next step in Montessori is for him to start learning colors, letters and shapes. While the "Montessori method" is to teach him at his pace and not force him into learning something cause that only makes it take longer, I am working with him as often as possible to teach him those things. So when I hand him something for a snack or to play with or I point to an object while driving or playing, the question that normally follows is "What color is that?". For the most part, he can get it right. Yellow and orange he's got down with no problem, he understands black and brown. Red, blue and green are still his trouble areas. Shapes...we've still got a little ways to go. But the point is, it's all about waiting for him to show his interest in those things and then that's when you start teaching. Another thing he's participating in is a computer class at school. Every monday, for about 30 minutes, he takes a computer class. An organization comes in to the school, brings laptops and teaches the kids the components of the computer, how to use them correctly, and then they play some age-appropriate learning games. He's loving that class, and that makes me happy. He also, starting tomorrow, is going to take a science class. It's a week long class, and he'll be doing it after his school hours, but I am so looking forward to hearing his stories about what he's going to learn from it. I'll share, as soon as I get the details from him!

I am so proud of him!