🌺Each spring, we prepare our flower boxes, beds and pots with fresh soil. Once prepared, we plant a variety of flowers to enjoy all summer long. Along with the beautiful flowers, we also add a new tree annually. As the landscape takes shape, it’s always wonderful to see how much our garden grows. 🌱Involving the child
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Caring for plants, both indoors and outdoors, is part of our daily practical life routine at home. Our sunny and warm climate means our plants require watering, trimming and attention frequently. Watering Tools Are Always Handy and Support Growth 🌱 We always keep a watering can and mister handy. As important as it is for
As adults, we all have fond and emotional memories deep within us from our early childhood experiences. Most of us can recall intense relationships with other living things: favorite animals we had and loved, open fields, wild flowers growing on a mountain side, or perhaps the sound of a fresh water stream trickling down the
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Children are born with innate urges to guide them as they gain control of their muscles and senses. Especially in the first three years of life, they are unconscious learners and work tirelessly toward independence. And as they develop naturally, they learn to hold their head up, roll over, sit, crawl, walk, run and talk
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When Baan Dek Montessori school in Sioux Falls, South Dakota invited me to participate in their Spotlight Series (link highlighted below), I didn’t know quite what to expect. Our initial calls were a pleasure and I was able to learn more about their amazing Montessori school and staff during our conversations. Today, Baan Dek continues
There are countless articles about picky eaters, food battles and how to get children to eat healthy foods. Many parents resort to sneaking vegetables into cakes and bribing children with toys and trips to the park. Tears and tantrums can be sparked over a single green bean placed on a primarily white food plate. It
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I’m sure Lesley Stahl’s peers are as she describes in The New York Times Opinion page today: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/13/opinion/sunday/grandbabies-the-great-reward-for-aging.html?ref=opinion. Most have plenty of money, time and interest in their grandkids. However, there’s a much larger percentage of grandparents that also love their grandchildren and are willing to help out as they can, but they do not
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Design Wise by Vern Yip is a Great “Go-to” Guide for Any Home Environment When it was announced that interior designer Vern Yip would be a guest speaker at a local Charleston museum fundraiser, I reserved a seat. My calendar was marked and I ordered a copy of his newest design book, Vern Yip’s Design Wise.
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“Respect all reasonable forms of activity in which the child engages and try to understand them.” — Maria Montessori Imagine that it’s a beautiful Saturday. Your son had spent the afternoon playing happily at his friend’s house and you’ve just arrived to take him home. From the look on your son’s face, you know he
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“He does it with his hands, by experience, first in play and then through work. The hands are the instruments of man’s intelligence. “ — Maria Montessori As parents, milestone expectations are common concerns as children grow and develop. Within a relatively short time, helpless newborns gain control of their bodies and movements. Before long,
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