Photo Recap: Some of Our Days

We have been busy here doing a variety of works, both old and new.

Here is a recap in photos of some of what we have been doing lately...working hard at having fun and learning at the same time...

Big Bro doing some math and logic work with Cuisenaire rods.
Not exactly Montessori, but ties in nicely with Montessori math work...

Little Bro doing some sensorial and math work with Snap Cubes.

Little Bro doing math and logic work with Cuisenaire rods.

Little Bro working with Montessori wooden math counters, comparing sets.

Big Bro taught Little Bro how to use some acorn counters to do a math work on Greater than / Less Than...

Big Bro and Little Bro holding their glow-in-the-dark balloons.  They had an absolute blast playing with these balloons! We took some awesome special effects photos with Dear Hubby's photos that I will post in the future... Got this idea from a great blog...if it is your idea from your blog post or if you have read about this idea and know the name of the blog, please let me know...the mommy blogger had said that her hubby had loads of glow sticks and balloons from a work party so she got the idea to add them into the balloons. I tried to go back to search where this was from and cannot find it and want to give a huge shout out to you! We did this twice after I had read about this...the boys loved it, so if this was your idea, please let me know...

Caz and her family did some cool activities with "moon balloons" and other glow projects. Here is a link to her nice post on her cool blog, A Little Learning for Two.

Little Bro lining up picture sound cards to upper case fabric alphabet.

Big Bro doing some farm themed writing practice from an awesome product that I will be sharing a review about this week by Laughing Star Montessori.

Little Bro doing farm themed writing practice. Both boys love this work. Will share a full review of the great pdfs from Laughing Star Montessori that this work goes with this week.

Little Bro having fun doing bathroom pipe construction at the Glazer Children's Museum.

Both boys love this exhibit...so fun to connect the plumbing pipes.

Big Bro proud of his building job.

Big Bro balancing to get the pieces to fit...

Little Bro putting on a hard hat at the construction exhibit at the Glazer Children's Museum.

Little Bro's building construction made with foam blocks...

Driving the fire truck...

Little Bro taking care of a pet at the Vet Clinic exhibit...

Big Bro making felt pizzas at the pizza exhibit...

Both boys cutting pieces of our palm tree with saws on our lanai.

Big Bro's building a contraption at G Wiz Science Museum.

Big Bro is connecting wires and learning about circuits at G Wiz...

Little Bro is having fun hiding in the park...what fun!

Big Bro having fun with a fallen frond.

Big Bro trying to blend in with the plants.

Big Bro resting after climbing a tree. He just loves to climb trees!

This post is linked up to We Play at Childhood 101.

This post is also linked up with One Hook Wonder's Montessori Monday links.

Also, please be sure to check out Adventures in McQuill-land and Mommy Moment.

I usually link up to these two blogs on Mondays, but they are both doing different things for this week...

Jennifer has done some great book reviews and Jody has given an update on her home renovation project. She also has a great Christmas Gifts Galore thing going on over at her blog, so please be sure to pop by and see what she is giving away during this holiday season.

Making Memories & Montessori Monday - Our Version of Summer Camp

Peanut butter cup time...this time, our version of summer camp (including some Montessori inspired works), plus some memories in the making...

We are having such an awesome summer! 

Memories in the making, to be sure...

Such fun times with some wonderful friends who came to visit us for a week, as we packed in Disney, the Florida Aquarium, Clearwater Beach...

We also had fun shopping, playing at the pools, parks, and water parks in our area, and going out to eat, plus some fun hanging out, playing at our home, and just kicking back and relaxing a bit, too....

This past week, we had to take it down a notch and get back into our more regular summer groove...namely,  doing our version of "summer camp."

Our summer camp is basically a looser version of our school year.

(Pictured above: bead stair hanger work, counting 0-20 work.)

Both boys still select their work the night before, and they still get started as they normally would during our school year.

(Pictured: sorting shapes work, patterning work, rhyming work with language objects,  counting bead stair extension with frog counters, Draw Write Now Frog art and copywork, dart frogs sorting work and dart frog book, block tower work, sound cylinders work, CVC words with language objects and movable alphabet work)

The main difference is that in addition to our Montessori inspired works, there are more non-Montessori materials such as board games, card games, extra art projects, etc. than we normally have during the school year.

Plus, there is some additional free play time added into the mix, to play outside and to catch and / or observe all of the little critters in our neighborhood, along with some down time to watch a family movie, to do some cooking projects, and to just hang out and relax...

 For us, our summer camp schedule is a much more loose, go with the flow sort of schedule...

We get out and enjoy the sunshine when we can and then, we hang out and relax when either the weather is too hot or humid, or it is a downpour.

Sinus and ear infections have kept creeping back into our summer, so that has necessitated some time to just chill out, as there have been days when we have not felt up to par.

When you feel dizzy, your face, ears, and head feel like they are going to burst, and your sinuses and ears are so full that your teeth hurt, putting in a nice family friendly movie is not all bad...

It actually can be quite calming and relaxing, although we do not do that during the school year. 

(Pictured: Little Bro's art project, cool bilingual English - Spanish card game called Green Alligators, having fun in the sun at the beach, Big Bro and Little Bro eating Popsicle treats, Boys trying to pull out King Arthur's Sword at Disney's Magic Kingdom, having fun splashing at the park in the water fountains, checking out the hot air balloons that fly over our home almost daily each morning, Big Bro and Little Bro catching lizards and frogs, as well as watching a grasshopper and an alligator swimming by at a nearby pond.)

We are enjoying our summer, so much so that the happy times will shine through more than remembering the sinus and ear troubles we have had lately. Ear tubes may make their way back in to the scene, but we know that those aren't all bad, as they worked like charms for both boys the last time around, so if it comes to that again, well, BRING IT ON...

But really, when we think back to this summer, we will remember the times spent doing things we love, not times we had to spend laying on the sofa and watching movies.

Well, happy Monday and happy summer to everyone!

Please be sure to check out:

Jennifer's Making Memories Monday link-ups,
Jody's Montessori Monday at Mommy Moment link-ups,
and Nicole's Montessori Monday link-ups.












 Please also be sure to check out my last post about a light table items swap! 

Even if you don't have a light table, if you have a decent light source such as a large window that gets plenty of sun during the day, you could use the items for displaying in your window.