Montessori: apples & chickens & goats -O my!

So...I think we are about to take the plunge. Right now my oldest child "E", she's 4.5 - is in a nice private Christian school. Nice parents, nice kids, nice curriculum - it's all very nice. So why am I itching to get her out of there? Something about it all just has not been sitting well with me. I started researching (did you know that I L-O-V-E to research?...just an aside) some other schooling options. The Montessori concept really caught my attention and the more that I learn about it the more I:

a.) wish that I had attended a Montessori as a child and  b.) want my children to attend Montessori schools while they are young.

I love the idea of children learning the concepts and skills they need to know by doing everyday tasks. Rather then sitting in a chair learning a concept they are actually doing the task at hand. There is a part of me that wishes that I could homeschool, but I am just not that mom. I feel like with Montessori, I am paying someone to have the patience to do the things with my child that I just don't have the patience to do. I know that that sounds awful. But I don't mean it that way at all. There are just certain things that my kids won't experience because I am unwilling to go there. I am grateful for a classroom that is set up to encourage kids to go there. Poring water out of a small scale glass pitcher into small glasses. A dish washing station. Shoe & silver polishing. My kids would rather do this stuff any day over playing with silly old toys. Now sweet E is gonna have her chance.

The school that we are most excited about has chickens & goats for the kids to help care for. There are fruit trees that the kids gather the fruit from and a garden that they plant and tend. Um...can I go too?

I just started to read this book to learn how to incorporate more Montessori concepts at home with my little one.

This catalog is a fascinating look at the different items that fill a Montessori classroom. There are some great finds for home too, as everything is made kid size. These are real tools, not toys, they are just made to fit in little hands. What a concept!

{image found at socializr}