Natural Learning ...... Just add water

Learning just happens.

Given the right environment, just like dough it doubles in hours.

Mein Spatz made pizza dough today.

I lined up all of the ingredients. He placed them in the mixer (we have done it many times before) flour, salt, yeast and warm water.

He never stopped talking, even with a big ball of dough in his mouth.

"How many litres in this?"

"What does that measure?"

"Does the wheat farmer mill the flour in his watermill or windmill?"

"What farm does yeast come from?"

We even spoke some Italian - "bellissimo!"

 I am sure he was a baker in a previous life - he has a great technique.

Who would like pizza?

Our Front Garden

 We live in the foothills above Adelaide and have glorious views over the suburbs , City and towards the coast.

 With this luxury comes the seriousness of living in a high bush fire danger area. Recent hot weather(today is 42 degrees Celsius) brings home the reality the things could get bad very quickly. We have a fire plan in place. I go with Mein Spatz and Henry to a friends house in the city. Depending on the severity, Vati will stay to defend or come with us.

Helping to keep our home clean

"Never help a child with a task at which he feels he can succeed."
-Dr. M.Montessori

Today we cleaned our bedroom. Vati was vacuuming I was dusting and Mein Spatz wanted to do the same. He used the micro-fibre cloth with concentration, dedication and a sense of purpose.

He has a great work ethic for a boy who will be four in May.
He did not want to stop at just the bedroom - he then proceeded to take all of his object off his playroom shelf and them dusted them.

Wordless Wednesday.......A special visitor for Australia Day

 

 See more here http://faithhopeandawholelottalove.blogspot.com/

We love the beach

Vati and Mein Spatz

 We go here

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslin_Beach,_South_Australia

Happy Australia Day for 26th January

It wouldn't be Australian without the fly in the picture.

Shadow Shot Sunday

 

See more here http://www.heyharriet.blogspot.com/



Small World Play

 Having a 10 year old dog (who thinks he is a lively puppy) can sometimes cause havoc for Mein Spatz.
He loves to set up small world scenes and then imagination kicks in.

The voice overs full of detail.
Dialogues, drama and concentration.

Then, suddenly an excited dog runs through and messes it all up.

"MAMA! MAMA!
Henry has ruined it".

So I found an old, large coffee table and placed it in his playroom. We put all of his small world baskets and boxes underneath and then everything is to hand.
It was the best idea.
Boy and Dog friends again.
Peace in the house.

Wordless Wednesday

Playing in the local park.

See more here http://faithhopeandawholelottalove.blogspot.com/

Natural Learning Sunday (we do our shopping each Monday)

 On a table near our balcony door I set up a little bird watching basket.

Every bird that Mein Spatz has seen on our block has been eagerly found by him and labelled by Mama for quick referencing. He has also located the birds that he feed every morning while staying with Grandma in Sydney last November.
The Kookaburras are very noisy at the moment and he has to run out to see which tree they are laughing from.

Yesterday some crafting was needed.

We sat together and made paper folded stars.

 He picked the colours.

(the concentration showing with the tongue)

He did the folding in half with a little help. 

Was in charge of his glue stick.

And let Mama do the smaller folds into the centre.

  

 Mama then glued it in order of the colours that he picked.

 Placing above his bed all by himself.

 Then we sat down to have lunch.

Today a lovely friend had Mein Spatz for a play while I went to the supermarket.

Instead, I used the time to wandered around the local charity shop and found.....

this book below

I am very excited!

($2.50)

Off  to bed now to read.

Goodnight!

Schlaf schoen, traum schoen.

(Sleep well, dream well)

Reading

When the house is quiet you will find Mein Spatz in his room reading.

We love to read in our house. From early on we have always modelled love and respect for books.

 Mein Spatz has books in both English and German.

 Being raised in a house with a mum who loves and gently fosters order he keeps them beautifully in order of height and language.

Many of our English books are sourced from charity shops. We find treasures every week.

We have a strong desire to share with Mein Spatz quality in the books that we read our in our house. We choose books that many would consider to be old fashioned.