Monday, February 07, 2005

Parenting a growing child involves a constant series of little gains, but also little losses. It's great to watch your child gain new skills, learn new words and change into their own person, but sometimes they leave behind little things that warmed a parent's heart.

Yesterday, I noticed that Tamsin was very clearly saying "as well" in appropriate places in the conversation, which is quite normal, except it saddened me that we will probably no longer hear the charming "wazell" which has been her previous habit until now.

On the other hand, we do still enjoy her idiosyncratic version of "Jingle Bells", which contains previously unknown (and untype-able) words, and today she exclaimed to Thomas the Tank Engine, "you Love Machine...", courtesy of watching too much Shrek 2, which had me in absolute hysterics for 10 minutes or so, contemplating the possibility of her suddenly saying that to Grandpa or in church ....!!
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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Joanna,
I think Mialani and Tamsin must be similar age. Lani would be due to start school in Sept also. However, I had no idea there was anything such as a registering deadline! I haven't even thought about any of the schools in my area, and I only know she would enroll in Sept because a friend told me, as her child was born in October 2000 too. I've been working since last September on being really 'official' about home ed, in order to brook comments/objections from anyone in Sept '05. I gather everyone will be so habituated to the idea by then, that they won't much bother with it, and Lani can sit comfortably with what we are doing without feeling she is missing out on anything. I thought I had to give her a year of experience in home ed and its opportunities before she could make an educated decision about going to school, or staying home ed. She told my dh she wants to go to school, the other day ... I thought 'what even still?' ... it turned out she meant when she is her elder sister's age (17)! She is unlikely to be very suited to a school setting (temperamentally, or in terms of her educational needs) and we are very committed to Montessori unschooling her (if that isn't a tautology!)
Anyway, you asked about sandpaper letters. They are a superb part of the Montessori materials ... easily handmade by cutting out letters from sandpaper and gluing them to plywood. I leave a space on the left spare for holding the board with your left hand, whilst tracing the letter with the two first fingers with the right hand (put space on the right if child is left handed). They work so well as they utilise a part of the memory that is both visual and muscular (the bike riding bit) ... which is very efficient and long term. Lani seems to remember them really quickly this way. You get the great added advantage that you learn to handwrite the letter at the same time (in cursive is best, as it saves unlearning print in the future ... and is no more difficult in reality than print). You need to choose your script carefully (ie. Nelson is the standard cursive style in the UK, but you may choose any other you would like your children to learn, but you should learn it yourself too!) I can post out copies of my sandpaper letter templates and the presentations/theory behind them. You can also look at the Montessori links on my blogspot for more info. I'll nip off and see if I can find a Montessori album link online that has them for you to see.
Best wishes
Sally (sorry it is so long!)

11:55 pm, February 08, 2005
dottyspots said...

LOL! I can just imagine that ringing out in church :0)

2:28 pm, February 10, 2005

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