Pacing and Waiting
I must say that I have been reading a ton of Montessori theory in my new set of albums and I am so excited to begin with all the amazing things I have been reading! I am ready to jump into everything tomorrow! I am ready to reorganized the classroom and make sure its all in place. I am ready to start the great lessons, the grammar, the writing and research. I am ready to start it all and I haven’t even browsed the Montessori stores online yet! But this is where I need to pull myself back. It is a sure way to homeschool mommy and kiddo burn out! We are not ready. I need to pace myself and wait. These are two things that I am not so good at. I am not good at waiting, but I must learn to. Waiting and pacing your presentation until the kids are ready is a corner stone part of Montessori. As I read more about the second plane of development, I realize Bunny is changing. But even though this change is happening its not ready to change everything. We are not quite ready for a full on switch to elementary. I need to wait. Pup is changing too. She is ready for more and more real work with the Montessori materials. She is blowing through learning her numbers, but she is not ready for letters at all. She is just not ready, and I wait. Ugh! So much waiting, but in the end it will be better for them, better for me. If I jump into everything right away, they will get frustrated and upset, and I will get frustrated and upset too. So we wait. We will keep learning as we are and get ready. In the fall we will be ready to jump in with both feet! We will be ready for numbers, for the great lessons, for all the amazing things that are out there to learn. In the fall it will be the right time. Right now, I am excited, but the girls are feeling the call of summer and outside! They are ready to learn and explore, but not inside! They want to run and play and be in the outdoors. We keep learning but at their pace, not mine. We will learn outside, we will learn inside, we will have time for fun, and we will wait! 🙂
And during all this waiting I will read! I will find out all I can about what is happening to the thoughts of my dearest little ones. They are changing, but do I understand what is happening so I can help them become their best? No, so I need to learn! Summer become down time for the kids, and full time learning for mom! I want to understand. What I have read already has changed how I am treating Bunny and it making a huge difference. She is not a little kid anymore, and I need to adjust my thinking accordingly. She is learning how to be a person of herself, not so connect to me. But this also gives her moments of clinginess as she feels insecure. She trying to understand right from wrong and is constantly trying to figure out which is which. Then there is the fact that she is moving toward abstraction and needs me to be ready for that! Pup is no longer a baby and I need to really start to treat her like the preschooler she is. She needs to learn to pick up, to ask politely, to care for herself and environment. She is ready for that and I need to raise my expectation! So we all move forward together and we wait for the right time for everything!
So I know that these thoughts are a bit muddled, but I have great hopes that we are moving in the right direction and I cant wait for all the exciting paths we have in the future! How do you get ready for the changes that you can see on the horizon?
May 21, 2012 @ 4:10 am
wow love your post , i am in the same position like you , with my just turned six and three , I feel a bit anxious though about all the things i need to read and learn about and little time available . would you share with us please what montessori elementary albums you are reading from and planning to follow ??and what are your plans for next year .
i loved your waseca work , thank you so much for sharing .
love
viv
May 21, 2012 @ 8:00 pm
Hi Viv,
I am planning on writing a post all about that when I get it all straight in my head! 🙂 Right now, my plan is to use Elizabeth Papandrea’s Albums ( you can send her an email and she will send you some sample pages. Here email is: elizabethpapandrea@yahoo.com). I have been reading her Theroy Album and it is really good! I love that she show exaclty what an elementary kids in thinking and how we need to be different with the teaching for this age. I didnt feel overwhelmed with the info. like I thought I might. I totally understand what you are feeling with all that you need to read. The theroy album has allowed me to get a real grasp on what I need to do and change in a simple and easy to read way. I also feel like I want to go deeper and find more info instead of balking at the prospect of trying to find where to start!I really like the albums and they are very good! As for what we are planning on doing next year, that is something I am still working on! I think though that we are going to be sticking to a more purist type routine and hit the basics! I promise a post all about this soon! Good Luck with your schooling and learning!
May 21, 2012 @ 1:47 pm
Hope you get to spend LOTS of time outside swimming, biking, hiking, etc. They only get one childhood 🙂
May 21, 2012 @ 8:00 pm
Dont worry they always do! 🙂 Thanks for stopping!
May 25, 2012 @ 6:05 pm
I completely understand how you feel! Whenever I find a new idea or learn a new lesson, I want to jump right in and do it in my classroom! Especially over the summer months when I am not at school, I have to wait for a long time to try anything new I have discovered.