Last month, we started a new term of homeschool. In an attempt to keep Jeanne occupied with meaningful things to do while I am teaching Julian, we set up a shelf of Montessori practical works for her. That’s a corner she can call her own. At 26 months old now, her inner need for independence is growing. We frequently hear this little girl says “Jeanne do! Own!”

Before introducing the individual works to her, I showed her how to choose a work, hold the tray with 2 hands, walk slowly to the table and leave the tray on the table, gently pull out the chair and sit on the floor to start working. Thereafter finish the work, keep the materials back into the tray, bring the tray back to shelf and tuck in the chair at the table. This is the process she will go through when she chooses to do a work from the shelf.

Here are the works that we prepared for Jeanne on the shelf.

At a Van Gogh Exhibition few months ago, I bought 2 sets of Van Gogh paintings stickers and laminated them. This set of laminated stickers has created variety of fun time for us all. We played SNAP, memory game and matching game with them, at the same time introducing the name of the paintings to them.

These seashells were given by my cousin who picked them from the beach while at work… How blessed we are!

You may be wondering is that a real needle in the photo… Yes it is. On presenting this work to Jeanne, I specifically showed her that it is a sharp needle and it hurts when I gently touch the tip of the needle. This is the work she choses to do most of the time. From threading the wooden spools and removing the spools from the needle, she has never poked herself with the needle.