The main goal of a Montessori education is to promote the joy of learning. It is a process that is child directed and at the child's pace. This brings satisfaction, confidence, and independence in a child. Independence is fostered through teaching life skills that Montessori calls Practical Life. Montessori children learn from a young age to dress themselves, hang up their coats, put away their toys, help cook, clean, and basically be an active member of their family and community.
Kaylee often enjoys helping prepare dinner and helping around the house. She especially enjoys helping at Thanksgiving and Christmas. This Thanksgiving was no exception. When we make pies she likes to make her own individual pumpkin and apple pie. We do all of our baking the day before Thanksgiving.
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| Kaylee putting the homemade pumpkin pie crust in her individual sized pie pan. |
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| Measuring just the right amount of brown sugar. |
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| She really likes to use the apple peeler/slicer/corer when we make apple pies. |
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| Putting the top crust on her apple pie. |
Each year, she likes to make cookies out of the extra pie dough. She rolls the dough and uses the cookie cutter to make heart shapes. Then, she sprinkles them with cinnamon and sugar. And we bake them.
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| Kaylee's left over pie dough cookies before they are baked. |
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| The pumpkin and apple pies are completed. Kaylee made her own matching individual pies. The cinnamon rolls are about to go in to the oven! |
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| I bake the cinnamon rolls the night before Thanksgiving to have for breakfast the next morning! |
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| Lastly, we make the homemade pull apart honey oat rolls. I make the dough in the bread machine. They are a lot of fun to roll into balls and place in the pan. This was a family activity. |
Montessori is a part of just about everything we do. Kaylee enjoys the independence and she has really developed a joy for learning.
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| Happy Thanksgiving! |
