Learning around the house

I am anxious to do more preschool-type activities with Gemma, but want to wait until she is ready and will really understand and benefit from the things we do. I am hoping to travel the Alphabet Path with her starting next fall...such fun activities, books and resources. We'll see what the coming year brings. I have also begun and intend to continue applying some of the practices and activities discussed in this book on teaching Montessori in the home.

For now, I have all our "learning" toys and books in our side-server cabinet in the living room, and have just been grouping them into categories (shapes, numbers, letters, colors, motor skills, etc.), and rotating a different themed grouping each week. We have an off-set fireplace with a great brick hearth just the perfect height for Gemma, so I set the items for the week there, and she can "visit" them as she wishes throughout the week. I try to take a little bit of time with her each day to talk and play specifically with these items together, but nothing too structured. We have another small basket of toys (plus Kolbe's baby toys) in the living room and I kind of rotate the ones in there up from the basement now and then, and the rest of our toys are in the basement. It works. I like the idea of our home being a fun, learning environment for our children while trying to keep toys to a sensible minimum. Here are some of the things we have so far!

SHAPES ALPHABET MOTOR SKILLS COUNTING and COLORS (the bears work great for both activities) Kolbe's toys - lately he really likes having the whole basket in front of him, and then emptying it as he goes! Gemma's toys - LOVES the magna-doodle, and dear puppy has been a favorite since she got him for her first birthday. Basket for library books Toy area in the basement
As an aside (as you may have noticed in a few of the pictures), I have saved all the zipper packages we get from things like bedsheets and window valances, and they work GREAT for storing toys that have multiple pieces (Fisher Price Little People, beads, links, etc.).

I am debating about eventually turning my sewing room into a learning room. For now, the upstairs living room (where we are for most of the day) works really well. We'll see what best fits our needs as the children get older. Some of the things on our wish-list are these Montessori upper-case and lower-case sandpaper letters, a number puzzle, this geometric stacker and the shape-sorting clock, plus a whole assortment of books. I don't think you can ever have too many books!

We likely intend to send our children to Catholic schools, but I always want our home to be a place where we can learn together, no matter the age of our children. It has already been fun learning and discovering with Gemma and I can't wait to see what is in store for all of us in the coming years.