Saying good-bye to Montessori.

Almost 4 years ago I packed Kat into the backseat of my car, drove her to the Montessori school near our home, pulled up the the curb, and let a teacher I didn't know help her out of her carseat and let her walk away.

Then I cried the whole way home.

We chose Montessori education for our children before they were even born. Everything about it sounded wonderful. Following the child, self-directed learning, practical life activities, math, science, reading, peace education, social graces, music, dance, nature walks. We loved the sound of it. The one thing Montessori does not provide is imaginative play. That wasn't a big deal to us since we knew that we'd be able to provide that at home.

Today, I packed Kat into the backseat of my car...well, she actually packed herself, drove her to the Montessori school near our home, pulled up to the curb and watched her walk herself in. In these three years of schooling her confidence has been bolstered. She knows what she is capable of and she knows when to ask for help. She's learned to read and is at least 3 grade levels ahead in language. She's learned math. She understands place value through the 10,000's and has been introduced to place values up to 1,000,000. She can add, subtract, multiply and divide. Fractions are no stranger to Kat. She can dust, vacuum, and wash dishes. She knows how to apologize properly. She knows to look out for younger children and to help them when they need help. She knows how to speak to adults. She can name all 50 states, all of the oceans and continents. She can tell you what an archipelago is and give you an example of one.

Montessori has been a dream for Kat. She's been able to learn at her own pace. She's met new friends from different cultures. She's sang and danced and played on the playground. She's painted pictures and rolled in mud and played fairy games. We're so glad that we found the school and teachers who were willing to teach her mind what it wanted to know and to allow her spirit to be a child.

As they say, "All good things must come to an end" and this is the end of Montessori for our Kat. Next year she moves on to first grade at the public GATE school. The GATE school incorporates some aspects of Montessori education but it is not a Montessori school. She leaves behind the sweet world of preschool and moves into a realm of bigger kids with more "sophisticated" points of view.

We're proud of Kat. We're proud of what she has accomplished. We're proud of her Montessori school for providing such a beautiful, nurturing environment.

It's a bittersweet time. She's accomplished so much and it is time to move on. I thank God for the precious time she has had at her wonderful school with her amazing teachers. May her next school experience be half as good as her Montessori experience and we won't have a thing to complain about.

SHE'S IN! SHE'S IN!

The letter came today. I waited until Peter got home to open it. We're so excited!!!

This is the week.

The decisions were made yesterday. The letters mailed today. Doing lots of positive visualization. Doing even more praying. Please want her, GATE school. Please!

I don't know what to think!

Kat's birthday falls during the Easter holiday this year. Because of that I made sure to make her birthday cupcakes and take them into both schools last week. I wanted her to have the lovely experience and subsequent memory of sharing cupcakes with her class.

I slaved over the butterfly cupcakes from the "Hello Cupcake!" book. It took me hours and hours to make the wings. Thank goodness my mother took on the task of baking the cupcakes and frosting them so my only task was decorating them.

So! We took the cupcakes in to both schools on Friday and they were met with much fanfare. Everyone thought they were so pretty and I was so happy to see much being made over Kat's birthday treat and that Kat was basking in the glow of the praise.

During AM kindergarten Kat was given the Montessori birthday ceremony. Kat was able to select anyone in the room to hold the model of the sun while she held the model of the earth while her teacher spoke about her first 5 years of life. Kat was so sweet and selected her brother to hold the sun. <3 The ceremony lasted about 4 minutes and was so beautiful, so touching. I loved it and so did Kat!

For PM kindergarten Kat and I went into her classroom together. This almost never happens as parents are expected to say goodbye at the door and leave. Since the cupcakes were heavy and delicate I chose to walk right in and help her out. Ms. M admired the cupcakes and said to me, "Kat is perfect, you really ought to write a book to share how you did it with others." Very flattering but really? This is the same little girl that I could never take to the park because she would tantrum as we left. Tantrum for hours and hours. The same little girl who would scratch and kick and bite when she was unhappy. The same little girl who cried bloody murder when I tried to rock her to sleep at night. And don't even think about singing one of your lullabies, ma'am!

I think we're just lucky that Kat has turned out so well with our muddling through the first 4 years of her life.

So as we prepare to celebrate 6 years with Kat next week. I just have to say...we've come a long way!

Hooked on Phonics.

Okay, we aren't really hooked on phonics at our house but I enjoyed a phonetical moment with Drew today. We have a gallery wall in our home with many, many black and white family pictures on it. In the bottom corner of the grouping there is a hand painted sign that says, "Happily Ever After." This morning Drew went through and produced all of the sounds in each word then did it again quickly so that he managed to read the three words.
I was so proud! IN YOUR FACE CMV!

Like a sore thumb or why are little girls so stinkin' mean?

Kat has been saying that she wants a pair of Twinkle Toes shoes. They are $40, have BRIGHT led lights and are UGLY so naturally I said no. She's taken it well and actually has never brought it up again since the time we were standing in front of the display and I told her that I wouldn't pay for them.
I had no idea that she wanted them because there was a "Twinkle Toes" club at school. Kat was told that she could not join because she did not own a pair.
I feel badly but I am still not going to buy her a pair. I don't want to send the message to her that it is important to have things to fit in and I don't think that Twinkle Toes shoes are beneficial to the learning process at school. Kat has cute clothes, she has nice shoes. She looks like every other girl in her class, well kept, well dressed, and sweet.
However, I am kind of fed up with three of the little girls in her class. Kat has tried over and over to play with them and is always met with resistance. One of the girls who is excluding Kat is the daughter of a teacher at Kat's school. This is awkward.
I told Kat last night that even if she got the Twinkle Toes these girls would likely try to find a reason to exclude her from their little group. Kat was surprised but believed me. I am glad that she trusts my guidance at this point.
After this conversation Kat mentioned to me (quite proudly) that she is in charge of playing "Happy Birthday" on the piano while the children in her class sing for her classmate's birthday celebrations. It makes me wonder if the two are related.

Speech Therapy and the dependent mother.

I had a meeting with Drew's regular speech therapist today and she said that Drew is ready to be done with his weekly speech sessions. I am happy and nervous. I like that safety net of having professionals interacting with him each week. I am happy that I will now have more time at home on Tuesday afternoons though. It will be nice to walk Kat to school and to come home for a couple of hours before going off to work for the evening.

Ms. J said that Drew is extremely bright and has a terrific memory. That he is ready for Kindergarten in the fall. The funny part is that Drew isn't eligible to go to Kindergarten this fall, he needs to wait until the fall of 2012 to start Kindergarten!

We'll keep meeting with the speech therapist until May and then we'll do an IEP for Drew's 4 year old preschool year. After that all bets are off as to whether he will remain in the special ed program for hearing or not. If he continues to behave as a typical student he will lose his IEP and will no longer be followed by a team of teachers, speech therapists, audiologists and social workers. Again, that makes me feel happy and nervous.