I've been trying to do some research into Waldorf and Montessori education at the preschool level. I've been trying to implement some of their styles of learning and teaching into our everyday. I'm also trying to do this with as much homemade materials as I possibly can.
As you can probably tell from earlier posts, I get a lot of my inspiration from Pinterest. There are also a few blogs by fellow mothers that I find inspirational; some put my efforts to shame! But I still try. And I'm still learning. I don't necessarily follow the rules exactly, but I use them more as guidelines at this stage in Harper's development.
I'd love to eventually homeschool our child(ren), though it will take a bit more persuading to get Wade on board. I realize that there will be challenges ahead and maybe the best thing for our family would be public or private education, but for now I'm going to continue doing my research and doing the best that I can with Harper while we're still home together.
This was a breakfast for Harper, by Harper. This child of mine loves cheese, eggs, butter, and chocolate milk. So what better breakfast than one that involves most of her favorite things? (I excluded cheese from this, only because if given a choice, that would be all Harper would eat. She loves it so!)
So I taught her how to use cookie cutters. I gave her her own piece of bread and let her select what size cutter she wanted to use. I let her help me scramble the eggs. She helped to butter the bread.
And then, of course, she helped me to gobble it all up.
Yes, I am one of those people who is addicted to Pinterest. I just can't help myself. I've pinned and liked so many things I hardly think I'll be able to go through them all. But every once in a while I'm able to remember some really cool thing I pinned and do it in real life! (Must be all that DHA from my multi-vitamin kicking in, finally). Anyway, the other morning I was all excited because I was going to be a cool mom! And let my kid paint with colored shaving cream! In the bathtub! And perhaps help her to learn along the way! Go me!
Then I realized that my husband uses a shaving cream warmer (thanks to his wonderful (at the time girlfriend) wife who bought it for his birthday one year) (I told you I'm awesome!) and you have to take the top off the shaving cream to put it into the warmer. Problem #1. I had to put the shaving cream back into the warmer, without plugging it in, and firmly push the button down while the cream slithered out ever.so.slowly. Meanwhile, I have to distract Harper with something else to do because, hello? Didn't I just say we were taking a bath where we get to do something incredibly fun? And now we're not? C'mon mommy!
Then, I couldn't find the food color. In my quest for making our lives free of processed food, I hid it from myself. Why? I don't know. The only reason I kept it was to be used for crafts anyway. (Perhaps the DHA isn't working as well as I thought...?)
I next realized we don't have any paint brushed. Oops. So I dug around my kitchen until I found a cooking brush (for basting? for what exactly?). Problem #3 solved.
I finally got Harper into the tub and showed her what she could do with the brush and "paint" when I then thought, "Uh oh! What if this stains the tile? Or the tub?" and in a very not-so-great parenting moment I washed off part of Harper's "painting" just to make sure. Thankfully, no damage was done.
And finally, Harper starting freaking out when a blob of the blue shaving cream landed in the water and started floating towards her. I hadn't even bathed her at this point (obviously, since I was trying to be so cool and let her have some fun firth), so I had to quickly let the water drain out and re-fill the tub so I could clean her up.
So there you have it folks. The idea was good in theory, but, as my husband says, proper planning prevents poor performance! And I definitely was ill-prepared. I also scarred my child for life a little bit more, thus deflating my awesome ego for the day.
Onto the next Pinterest challenge!
