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December 2013
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February 2014

I know a lot of parents feel anxious about their children's learning. As a friend recently asked me in a different context - what are you afraid of? Are we afraid, are we worried that our children aren't learning enough? I don't know. What I know is that we cannot force our children to learn. A love of learning must come first. A love of learning is something that we can nurture and reinforce with our children. Montessori isn't play based. The children are working and so proudly so. But this desire to work comes from within. It's not so... Read more →


It is that time of year when we check the school uniforms to make sure that they still fit. Wow how kids can grow in the period of a few weeks. For Otis this will be his first year at school. When Caspar started school I was freaking out nervous. Cry in the carpark kind of nervous (I was pregnant with Otis and my husband was overseas and I'm already an emotional person). So with Caspar I cried. I agonised. Was I (I mean we) doing the right thing, was he ready? For Otis, perhaps it's just because he's the... Read more →


How are you going? I feel like I'm being pulled in a million different directions. Running but not actually get anywhere? Know the feeling? My house may be a mess (and the rest of my life too to be honest) but I'm getting a few things right. We are preparing and eating solid fantastic meals and my kids are getting lots of fresh air, space and rest. We have two weeks until school is back - I need to take a few deep breaths make the most of it. It must have been the recent hot weather as we are... Read more →


We don't always have a designated Nature Table. Often we have a basket, jar or tray full of items we have collected from nature. I thought I'd like to make Our Nature Table a regular feature. A few snippets of what we are exploring. Perhaps weekly, although there are some weeks when our items and displays don't change. We currently have a lot of items out on the table. We've recently changed our shelves around and the boys wanted to group these together. Recently Otis has been interested in the bowl of shells (these are farmed), he started to match... Read more →


These summer days bring so much light into our kitchen. The weather is nice and fruit abounds. The two year old is so capable. With each passing month his strength and coordination increases. We must give him things to do that satisfy him. Productive work is an important part of his day. Work that allows him to exercise his skills to increase his abilities. I see relation between building physical strength and strength of character, the child is continuously doing both but needs activity and exercise to challenge. They also need reward (intrinsic, satisfaction) and joy. They need to start... Read more →