Life with two and Montessori : by amy

Does anyone still write in this thing!?

Sheesh.  Slackers!  Seriously.  What.  Happened.  We went on an unannounced hiatus.  Sometimes, it happens.

One year later, where are we now?  Jean and I both have TWO kids now.  Meet Charlie (Amy's second) and Jordan (Jean's second):

Jean and I have been reading back on old entries to refresh our memories on baby food, feeding schedules and sleep regressions, so the blog fulfilled its purpose for us!  I don't know how frequently I can write in this thing going forward, but I felt like writing an update on the boys.  Maybe it'll become useful for us if we have a 3rd kid :P.

"Charlie-zilla" - back to infant/toddler life!
Our second son is now 18 months old.  He's down to 1 nap a day and sleeps "only" 10-10.5 hours at night-- he insists on waking up before 6:25am every day no matter what time he goes to bed.  Doctor says this is completely normal and he's just a natural early-riser (thanks to the husband's genes!)  Fortunately, no major sleep regressions just yet-- he had one or two with the naps at ~9 months.  Despite his dairy and random soy allergies, he eats quite well!  His favorite meals are typically bap and gook (rice with Korean soups), acini di pepe pasta in pureed veggie sauce, this salmon (though I take off most of the brown sugar), all types of chicken and marinated kalbi.  In his infant months, instead of buying only fresh fruits and veggies to puree, I used frozen organic produce from Trader Joe's.  What a time saver!  Anyway, Charlie had THE WORST eczema starting around 4 months.  It wasn't until 6 months that we realized it was a dairy allergy, so he was on super-expensive formula until about 14 months.  He is now drinking Flax Milk (with protein, unsweetened, vanilla flavored).  I found it to be the best in terms of maximizing calcium and protein with the added bonus of a ton of omega-3s, but it's only available at Wegmans and Wholefoods.  My mom accidentally gave him Greek yogurt last week, and...he didn't break out!  So I'm hopeful that he's perhaps slowly getting over the dairy allergy.  Behavior-wise, he's a bit of a terror, hence the nickname (unless he's at someone's house or we have company-- how courteous of him!).  He also makes us read "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" and "Oh My, Oh My, Oh Dinosaurs" about 30 times a day.  Each.  No lie.

Logan - the big brother.
My little Wolverine is now 3.5 years old.  He started going to a Montessori school when he turned 3, and I have to say that we (parents and child) love it!  I feel that there are some misconceptions about Montessori, and I can understand why.  It's a bit hard to understand the philosophy until you see it in action.  There are two types of Montessori: AMI and AMS.  Basically, AMI is the purest method and AMS, while it is still true Montessori, is a little more relaxed.  Logan has been to both, and I don't think the difference has been too noticeable.  Before enrolling the boys, I debated if this was the right decision.  Will they transition easily to public school?  Will they become anti-social because they work independently most of the time?  What if they're idle or choose to do the same work over and over?  After speaking to a lot of people about it, I realized that the people who encouraged me to do it were all professionals in education-- parents with masters and PhDs in education.  People who clearly knew more about the learning systems than I did.  I also realized that the people I know who did Montessori as a young child were actually pretty smart, very inquisitive, independent, "normal", social children/adults!  So it couldn't be that bad, right??  To address my original doubts:

Will they transition easily to public school?
Usually, yes.  But it also depends on the child's personality and when the child transitions.  If the child is in Montessori beyond Kindergarten, then there may be a more noticeable transition process, but it will be temporary (and again, depends on the child's personality and temperament).  But most Montessori schools start to transition the children to non-Montessori methods/settings in Kindergarten anyway since most children don't stay in a Montessori classroom beyond Kindergarten.  Kids will have to encounter change at some time in their lives!  Better they get used to adapting early on than later.

Will they become anti-social since they work independently most of the time?
Um, no.  Absolutely not.  Actually, Montessori encourages community (at least ours does!).  They encourage "grace and courtesy," so if anything, not only will they be social, but they will actually be polite and exercise grace and courtesy towards one another (though not all the time)!  Also, the older children often take the younger ones under their wings.  It's the most endearing thing to watch.  Children are encouraged to do work both independently and with others if they choose to.  It is typical to see 3-year olds commonly doing work independently and the 4/5-year olds doing work with each other (because they're more social at that age).  Also, there are circle times and group lessons/observations (at least more so in AMS schools), so they're used to group settings as well.

What if they're idle or choose to do the same work over and over?
I just asked Logan's teacher about this, and while Logan doesn't have this issue, she said that when it does happen to other children, they will allow the child to observe whatever he/she is observing (typically, it's another child's work) since they are still passively learning.  But at some point, they will encourage them to choose something to work on.  In my brief observations, I rarely saw a child doing nothing.
 
I originally considered Montessori because I wanted Logan to hone his concentration/focus skills since he's typically very high-energy.  So far, Logan has really flourished in the classroom, and I can now understand why they call Montessori "knowledge for life" because the skills they learn will be critical all the way through adulthood. I know Montessori is great for both boys and girls, but I feel like it's REALLY good for boys since they tend to have shorter attention spans and are slower in development.  But I also understand that Montessori is not for every child...and not a necessity by any means.  But I would highly recommend it if you're considering it for your child.

So far, I am really enjoying age 3-- they are not terrible for us at all...which means it will be terrible when Charlie turns 3 :P.  Logan's been saying all types of crazy things like... "I like it when the brown boy beat boxes!"  or "I didn't see my brown friend at my old school."  *UNEXPECTED TEACHING MOMENT!*  (no Montessori method for teaching race!)