Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Montessori Work Day

On Sunday it was Josie's last Parent/Child Work Day in the 3-6 classroom. For three years now, we've visited twice a year to spend the afternoon getting to share in her montessori classwork with her. It's always a really special day, and it's also been an interesting way to track time.  I remember visiting the first time as the mother of an only child who was just days from being the youngest child in a whole classroom of kids. Kindergarten felt like a lifetime away. And I remember sitting on the floor as pregnant as can be with Beatrice and needing help to get off the floor.  I remember when Bea was still infant carseat-bound and slept in the classroom next to the class bunny's cage while we worked with Josie. And now, there's Josie - the kindergarten, big-sister version of her teeny, tiny only child self - at her last Parent/Child Work Day in pre-primary while Louie and I work in shifts to keep a very active and school-eager little Bea busy enough so Josie can get the undivided attention of one of us at a time.

In classic Josie fashion, she was a pure joy on Sunday afternoon - flitting from work to work like a little montessori butterfly.  She showed us bits and pieces of math and language - how she is working on multiplication and addition, her journal with handwritten versions of moveable alphabet masterpieces.  She punched out a profile of Lincoln with Louie and then showed me how to polish wood and grind cloves - two different ways - so we could come home and make clove tea.

She's a gem that Josie.  A happy, bright, glowing (and growing!) gem...