The Kiddo and I went to a fun day at his school on Saturday.
I didn't talk about it here at the time--because I half thought I was just being a crazy, nervous new mama--but we switched to a Montessori daycare as early as we could last Summer. We were all of two weeks in at the first place when I knew it wasn't going to work. They were very nice people, but he spent a lot of time sitting in baby holders, being entertained by lights and gizmos. I could hardly concentrate enough to work for worrying about it, which defeated the purpose entirely.
And Saturday I was reminded, not for the first time, that my gut feeling was so right. Kiddo loves his school, and I love it too.
I'm not generally one to jump whole hog into an educational philosophy--just the words "educational philosophy" sound overly precious, don't they?--but this Montessori stuff just makes so much sense to me. Without even getting into the parts that apply for older children, at his age it's all about making a safe, interesting place for him to explore and then letting him do it.
We spent about a half an hour in his soon-to-be room. (He moves up next month after his birthday...*sigh*.) He crawled all over the mats and hopped in and out of the ball pit as his teachers and I talked. He was completely happy to be playing in a space made to his size and where no one had to constantly be hovering behind him to say, "No, no."
It's all actually made me rethink our house a little bit. We can't make everywhere like his school, but over the past few weeks I've been tweaking things here and there to make at least a few spaces just for the Kid. And my goal is to make his room pretty much exactly like school--completely safe, his size, and a lot of fun.
In that vein, I was going to show you his new bed tonight. However, since I've already gone on a bit, I think I'll save it for tomorrow. It ended up gorgeous--Sweet Husband's doing, not mine--so you'll definitely want to come back!
