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Home Rhythm: Meal Planning and Meal Prepping
Earlier this week I posted about how I got started planning our Home Rhythm. As I assessed our home rhythm I drew up a list of things that felt either time consuming or stressful. Cooking dinner (and meal planning in general) was top of both lists. Whenever I mention meal planning on Insta stories I get a load of questions about it, so here it is, everything I know! Get Started With Meal Planning I’m not a naturally organised person, Scheduling snack times was easy, meal planning was a bit trickier! Every day I was spending too much time chopping vegetables or making last minute dashes to the shop, even…
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The Montessori I Spy Game – Pre-Reading for Toddlers
Phonics (letter sounds) have become pretty mainstream over the last ten years, most parents and schools know that reading starts with sounds. And yet we’re all so keen to bring out the letters, the CVC words and the digraphs. Confused yet? Imagine being a child! Before reading comes the Montessori I Spy Game. Before we rush ahead with printed letters there needs to be a good solid phonic foundation AND a pleasant relationship with reading. The Montessori I Spy Game is the perfect place to start. You can scaffold it into a few stages to help your break up the reading process. The Montessori I Spy Game – Round 1…
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Montessori Appropriate Fiction about Animals
In our home we tend to stick to five principles of Montessori Appropriate fiction, you can read more about them here, this can be tricky because Alfie LOVES animals and finding realistic animal fiction is tough. I’ve divided this list in two the first section features books with nothing unrealistic in terms of behaviour or ability, the second has some very mild fantasy. I’m happy to include some fantasy (Alfie is 3.5y) because this is a home not a school! Alfie spends so much time with real animals he knows the limits of their abilities. Likewise he can ‘read’ animal behaviours so knows they can think and have feelings eg…
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Finding our Home Rhythm
If you’ve been following us on Instagram then you will know that for a few weeks I have been consciously making an effort to establish a home rhythm. This rhythm was inspired by being a student on Eloise Rickman’s Rhythm In The Home course. I highly recommend this course for anyone who wants to be intentional about their parenting and their self care. Identify the Family Needs The first thing I did was identify my main problems. For me the problem was stagnation. I was feeling overwhelmed, under-stimulated, harassed, ignored, tired and a bit bored. I was uninspired by my life. I hate to admit this but it felt like…
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Cooking with Toddlers: Simple Apple Tart
Finding the perfect Montessori recipe for toddlers can be tricky. I usually find I have to get a bit creative with adult recipes. This apple tart is a combination of a few different ones that I’ve adapted to allow for greater toddler independence. Alfie (3.5y) complete each of the steps and only needed guidance on what to do next. It was really delicious and looked far fancier than it was. Toddler skills Spreading Rolling Peeling Mixing eggs Sieving Ingredients 3 large apples (I used Fuji) 1 sheet ready-made puff pastry 2 tbsp apple purée 20-30g butter 1 egg Few tbsp castor sugar Pinch of cinnamon Method Roll out sheet of…
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Montessori at Home; The Table Tray
Many a meal time have descended into a kind of seated jig for me. I plate up a meal, we sit down to eat and someone needs a drink, or someone forgot a fork, someone needs the toilet or someone wants more juice or in the worst scenarios they don’t like what’s on offer and I’m making something new. Meanwhile my dinner forms a skin and goes cold while my blood pressure creeps ever northward. I’m fairly laid back but this was starting to really grind my gears. So, I looked at our problems and tried to come up with a solution. Part of the problem was a lack of…
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Our New Montessori Kitchen
Over the last few months we’ve done a bit of moving and shaking at home. Our house layout wasn’t serving us anymore so we moved the playroom and with it the kids’ kitchen. However that didn’t really work either so their Montessori kitchen space has migrated back into our kitchen BUT I’ve made some changes to how it’s used. Follow us on Instagram to see daily stories of how we use Montessori at home. A Simple Montessori Kitchen Firstly I scaled their available equipment all the way back, they no longer have everything displayed all at once. We used to have too much choice, their utensils were all necessary for…
