Montessori philosophy teaches children to care for their environment so if they make a mess, they are to help clean it up and they clean as a regular part of the school day. Ian has discovered that he loves to clean!
Ian and I walked down the hall to the vending machine. I let him carry the quarters and then put them in the machine, get out the Diet Coke and carry it back to the room. He did very well until he saw the water on the floor by the ice machine. I had to drag him back into the room. He got a towel and tried to open the door to go back and clean up the water. If we didn't have such tiny towels at this hotel I would have let him. It is so nice that he is interested in cleaning. I know I am not!
Today at breakfast, after he dribbled water out of his cup, he cleaned it up with a napkin. He also insisted on making a breakfast burrito just like me.
I hope to find a Korean Montessori. The English-speaking one here in Seoul costs $10,000 a year. Too much for pre-school. I got a lot of ideas from the two months of school that he had in Erie. Just taking the time to let him help with daily life makes a big difference in his learning, behaviour and enjoyment. Last week, Heather and I made bread for Ian to take to school for snack. We put a chair next to the counter so he could see and he was happy, quiet and watched the whole time. We had him hold some ingredients. We should have let him measure, but we were trying to get it done quickly and he was satisfied to watch.
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