Around the Sun We Go Again!

If you know me, you know I am completely in love with the Montessori method.  We decided to send both girls to Montessori this year and man... I'm not sure I've ever made a better decision.  I've spent the last year reading about Montessori, her life and her philosophy and, based on being an educator, as well as a parent, I am completely sold.  And yes, I could go on an on, but that's a blog of a different sort.  So I'll stop.  :)

But I did want to share one of the very neat things that happens on your birthday in a Montessori classroom:  you get to travel around the sun!  Montessori teaches nearly everything through hands-on doing.  Things are not merely told to the children, instead the children are allowed to learn by "experiencing" whenever possible.  So when it's your birthday, we all know we grow another year older.  But how do you communicate to a young person what a year looks like?  Well, a year is the time it takes for the earth to rotate around the sun one time. 

Get your globe!

The children sit in a circle, a candle is lit (to represent the sun), pictures are shared so everyone can see what the child looked like at each year, and around you go...

There is also some discussion about what you can do at each year and how you grow and change.

We started as

helpless babies and grow into

capable, smart, fun-loving big girls.

Here's to another good "trip"!