We've Moved!

If you have noticed there haven't been any posts lately, there is a very good, although not-so-fun reason for that!  I have been writing posts for this blog using an iPhone app, but the app has decided to fail, and the authors/support team have decided to bail.  *sigh*  I've tried a variety of methods to fix my problem, but recently came to the conclusion that my only option was to leave Blogger for the green(er) pastures of Wordpress.

So, please come see us at our new location: Discoveringourway.com

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There will be a lot of new content soon (and it will include math!) so we don't want anyone to miss out on the fun!  Hope to see you all there.

Continent Boxes - North America

Part of the Geography sequence includes Continent Folders or Boxes. Folders would include pictures of various cultural aspects of each continent while boxes hold cultural objects. I chose to go with boxes and started putting them together last fall. They are still a work in progress but they will be used for years so as I collect new items, they'll be added to the box. But what I have now is a good enough selection to show what I have and how they are used.

IFIT Montessori Vendor Review

 When I first began researching Montessori materials, I was very interested in any reviews I could find on the various vendors available to purchase from.  The full set of materials are expensive and the "official" suppliers are VERY expensive.  But the "discount" suppliers have been plagued with bad reviews of low quality and poor customer service.  So what is a budget minded homeschooler supposed to do?  Ultimately, I went with price and bought from the cheapest vendor I could find, which in this case was IFIT Montessori Equipment based in Surrey, BC, Canada.  In the end, I am happy with my decision, but I did hesitate to write a review because I did have an unpleasant experience with their customer service in the end.  But last week I learned that, although they refused to fix my complaint, they are fixing the product for any future customers, so I do have to give them some credit for that.  (Note:  This review is very long and detailed, but as I said, this kind of information was gold to me when I was researching so I hope it will be of help to others as well).

DIY Wall Mounted Art Easel

One of my favorite parts of DJ's play area is the wall mounted art easel.  My husband made this for DJ for his 2nd birthday/Christmas and I can't be happier with how it turned out.  And it has inspired a lot of free form art from DJ as he's able to access writing tools (crayons, colored pencils, markers and paint pens) and paper whenever he wants.  He can also see art supplies like paint, glue and scissors at all times to inspire him to ask for them whenever the mood strikes.

Keys of the World Primary Albums

In my first post, I talked a bit about my planning stage at that time.  I have read all of the books I listed there and more since then, but I decided not to take the KHT Montessori training program as I thought I would.  Although I do believe, based on reviews I've read that it is a quality program, there were a couple of key aspects that led me to an alternate choice.  A couple of months ago, I purchased instead the Keys of the World Primary Albums (currently available via Garden of Francis).

"School Room" tour 2014

While it is common for homeschool blogs to give "school room" tours, our school room is in our living room.  So welcome to our house!  Our living room is long and narrow so it's difficult to get an overview picture of the whole room.  The picture above is DJ's play area.  These shelves have mostly toys, although there are some educational benefits to most of them.  The brown box is full of books.  Too many books, I know, but I find it really hard to choose which ones to leave, so I just put them all in.  Well, not all, he has a bookshelf in his bedroom too.  Tucked between the books and the shelf, you can see DJ's rolled up work mat.  It's a 2'x4' piece of carpet that he rolls out to define his work space when doing Montessori activities.  On the wall, you can see his art easel that daddy made for him.  I'll have to do a detailed post on that soon.  The roadmap quilt on the floor was made by DJ's grandmother for his birthday.  It's not always there, but it was today.  The child's table is a great work area for DJ and he also eats many of his meals there.

First Post!

Now that D is just weeks away from his second birthday, I'm beginning to feel the pressure of being prepared for homeschooling during his preschool years.  While it still seems amazing to me that preschool has become nearly mandatory in today's world, I can truly see D's potential as he learns so much every day on his own.  So I've been doing a lot of research on homeschooling methods for preschoolers and the early months of this blog will mostly be used to organize my thoughts, plans and supplies.