Open House-Our Journey Begins

Tomorrow, Devin begins "real" school. Yesterday, we went to "Open House." This was an optional, afternoon event & Dev and I took some of her stuff for class. One really nice thing about her school is they keep everything she needs in the classroom. (Rain coat, boots, change of clothes, slippers, blanket, pillow, etc) So, they don't even need a back pack. Which is good, because "Barbie" back packs are not allowed!

This is the assistant teacher, Miss Karen. She did a great job of taking these 2 and getting them comfortable with the space. I heard Devin tell her, "I already saw the bathroom when I was here cleaning." She also told Miss Katie (the main teacher) about the Barbie backpack. Um yeah. I wasn't going to mention it...but ok!

Some of the "typical" Montessori teaching tools.

Devin's so excited to learn to count to a 1000! With these beads, they can.

On her own, Devin was very interested in some of the "works." (The proper term for the various activities in the room)

The major adjustment (for all of us) will be the schedule. School starts at 8:00 am. Yikes. What a difference an hour makes. But, the cornerstone of the Montessori method is the 3-hour work cycle in the morning. This allows the children to explore and fully engage in an activity without distraction or interruption.

With each visit, Dev seems a bit more relaxed about the change of schools and her class in general. At bedtime last night, she seemed to look forward to her first day and hasn't had any nightmares since last week. She will start tomorrow, earlier than some of the older kids. Keep in mind her class is 21 children, broken into 1/3's by age. Meaning, about 1/3 of the kids are 2/3, some are 3/4 and the rest are 5/6 like Dev. This week, everyone attends school through lunch time and then goes home. This is supposed to help children adjust to the early start time, without getting too tired. Wish us luck.