Our kids are busy. They are moving and jumping. They are exploring and learning. But have you stopped to really see how much those little busy hands are doing? Here’s a day in the life of our Montessori busy hands.
I’m blessed enough to be with my children everyday. Although they are 3 and 5, we have a homeschool routine which includes many physical education activities each week, art and music at our co-op, and lots of time reading.
But I admit, as a mother, I don’t slow down enough. There’s always something else to be done. Food to prepare, laundry to be done, and things to be cleaned. That’s on top of the full time work I do from home. So I wanted to take time to watch those amazing little hands as they bustle around our happy home and give you a glimpse of what your child sees as they work and learn the Montessori way.
Montessori Busy Hands In the Morning
I’m a VERY early rise. I’m glad my family is the same. Although it is nice to have the peace and quiet on my own each day before the sounds of our home take over, it is really wonderful to spend the hours before it’s light outside with my family as we all prepare and go about our day.
Each morning we start with a hug and an “I love you”. Life is so precious and my husband and I are not naive to the fact that one day our children will choose to skip the morning hug and go right to work. We both take as long as the kids need to hug and sit quietly. It is a special time where we enjoy holding our children close.
Breakfast is the perfect time for Montessori children to shine. We have a cabinet reserved just for our kids with bowls, napkins, and food. They are tall enough now to reach the utensils and refrigerator on their own. They prepare their own easy breakfast which starts the day off with a sense of accomplishment.
Montessori Busy Hands At Work
I work from home, so I often have to define to my children when I’m working. I also respect the fact that when my children are at play there is a lot of work happening. So we have always defined their activities and play as work.
Avalyn is 3 years old. She is VERY interested in practical life skills and chooses to clean some part of our home to start her work day. We created a child safe cleaning solution from water and white vinegar. She is able to use that cleaning product with paper towel or a rag any time she feels the need.
Avalyn is also very interested in her letters. There are several ways to each the order of the letters. We chose one that works best for our family and adapt it when we need to. She is working on handwriting along with her Royal Road to Reading program. The dry erase board is her learning material of choice.
She also LOVES threading, making “necklaces”, and any excuse to show off her color recognition skills. After this picture above I asked her to make the beads into a patten. This serves as her math lessons!
Samuel is 5 and has a HUGE interest in reading. It seems like overnight he started reading and can’t seem to get enough. We take trips to the library to feed his reading need and he spend a good part of his day reading.
We also read as a family. There is more of this below in Montessori Busy Hands Resting. It’s a great vocaublary booster and to instill in our children a love for reading.
Lego is another BIG part of Samuel’s life. He is able to create worlds all his own, expand his creativity and vocabulary, and work through difficult situations through pretend play. His fine motor skills are refined and he taps into a little science with building and creating items he calls “master builder”.
My husband and I spend a good amount of time working with Samuel with his Lego collection. As a boy, it gives him something to do with his hands while he voices his concerns, thoughts, and interests. I read Wild Thing: The Art of Nurturing Boys and highly recommend it. Boys are a whole new level of awesome and I feel more prepared to parent our boy after reading this book.
Montessori Busy Hands Resting
Rest is an important part to our daily routine. The days take a natural turn to slow and books become the primary form of work. This is an active rest where the body slows but the mind can still engage and learn. Those Montessori busy hands may not look like they are doing much, but the skills we see while our children are at rest are just as critical as when they are in full play.
My husband and I try very hard to demonstrate an active life to our children. We go on hikes, do workouts as a family, and keep screen time to a minimum. We also show our children how to calm themselves and to focus on their body. It is so hard as a busy mom to slow down, but taking a couple minutes in the day to sit and meditate is a priceless lesson. Most mornings I speak outloud where my mind is in prayer during this time. It is a rest period I look forward to in our day.
Like I mentioned before, we read outloud as a family. The kids also “read” to themselves. Although they may not be able to read the words, they can make up stories to go along with the pictures and retell stories they have already heard. It is a great rest time for Montessori busy hands.
Montessori Busy Hands In Prayer
God is within our everyday. We pray and work with God as the center. Praying with our children is an amazing gift and it starts with the hands.
I take the time to pray outloud often during the day. Most of the times because I need it, but also because I want my children to see that in a time of need I turn to God. We pray outloud as a fmaily at meals times too. It is a great time to calm busy hands and remember God in our life.
12 Months of Montessori Learning
Please take a minute to click through the other posts in this month’s edition of the 12 Months of Montessori Learning
Our Daily Homeschool Schedule | Natural Beach Living
What to do today… Our Typical Homeschool Day Schedule | The Natural Homeschool
Montessori Caregiver Rhythms and Routines (Finding What Works for You) | Living Montessori Now
Our Montessori Homeschool Schedule | Planting Peas
The Daily Rhythm in Our Montessori Home | The Kavanaugh Report
Montessori Inspired Routine at Three | Mama’s Happy Hive
A Day in the Life: Part-Time Montessori Homeschooling | Study at Home Mama
A Day in the Life of Montessori Busy Hands | Christian Montessori Network
A Day in the Life of A Montessori Family with Special Needs | Every Star is Different
Our Daily Routine | Grace and Green Pastures
A Day in the Life: Part-Time Montessori Homeschooling | Sugar, Spice, & Glitter
I love this. You are right — as mothers, we don’t slow down quite enough. We’ve changed our routine/rhythm so that it’s a more relaxed one now, but I still feel like I can slow down even more, especially when it comes to spiritual matters. Thanks for the reminder.
Great post! I love how you’re teaching your children to slow down, focus, meditate, pray, and so much more!
What a beautiful post! I love the focus on the (busy) hands throughout the day. 😉 Amazingly awesome.
This is so sweet. I love the perspective of the hands. It’s mesmerizing. You day sounds beautiful. I have put the book you recommended on my reading list as well.
Would love to see your posts in the Practical Mondays Link Up:)