Montessori By Mom subscription box review #MontessoriByMom

Oh, do I have a treat for preschool moms today!  We got to try out a box from Montessori By Mom.  Now, those of you who know me are thinking, "Montessori?  I didn't know you were into that."  Well, here's the thing.  Montessori can be a way of life.  Or it can just be a label.  In this case, it's a label that means, "Really fun and interesting," and that, I'm into.

We received the Mad Scientist box, and it's been a huge hit!  It came with a lovely wooden beaker stand, 6 beakers with stoppers, a bag of color tablets, a deck of color cards, graduated cylinders, a pitcher, 3 dropper bottles, and best of all, a deep tray to use the materials in to contain spills.  The entire box sells for $55.95, or you can save money by getting a monthly subscription.  You can also purchase the deep tray separately, which is helpful if you have 2 preschoolers!

This box was fun and interesting from the moment we opened it.  The act of getting the test tubes into the rack is good fine motor skills practice.

Then we put color tabs in the bottom, and began adding water.  (There's a funnel, but Katie did okay without it.)

We started by making the primary colors.

Then I showed Katie what happened when I mixed some yellow and some blue!

I set her to work mixing blue and red to make purple.  (Notice Josiah reading aloud to us in the background?)

By this point, the boys were dying to get involved.

They helped Katie get the finished colors in rainbow order.

Another day, we decided to do a craft with the colored water.  (You can get extra refill color tabs from Montessori By Mom!)  Even though these boxes are designed with the 3-5 year old child in mind, my 10 and 13 year olds wanted to get in on the fun, too.

I showed Katie how to use the dropper to color a coffee filter.  We made quite a few of these.  They turned out pretty!

Once they dried, they pop right off the backing paper.  I'm thinking they'd make good "snowflakes" come winter time.  Or maybe we'll do something vaguely stained glass window like with them.

In addition to color matching, we also used the cards to find various colors around the house.

The pitcher and beakers were a huge hit!  Not only did Katie learn to pour carefully back and forth, the girls took them in the bathtub to play with, and had a wonderful time!  They used them for imaginative play, making "drinks" for each other to pretend to drink, all the while, learning more about the properties of water, and the hand/eye coordination of pouring.

Montessori By Mom was created by a husband and wife team, both with a background in education.  Included in the box is a Resource Guide, which includes a link to helpful videos on the website, so you can see how to use the materials in your box, and of course, you can come up with your own ideas, as well, like our coffee filter art.

Subscription plans start at just $49.95/month, or you can buy single boxes for 55.95.  There are also various individual items in the store that look interesting, such as the Alphabet Cards on a ring, which would be easy to keep in a diaper bag or purse for learning in a waiting room, or at the grocery store.

You can connect with Montessori By Mom on Facebook or Twitter.  If you're curious about the Montessori method, I noticed that Practical Homeschooling has an article about it.

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

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Update on Luke

School continues to go well for Luke.  He's got regular morning and afternoon bus drivers now, which is nice.  At the beginning of the year, he had lots of different drivers until they got the routes figured out and assigned.

At his appointment at the MIND Institute last month, it was discovered that the genetic test his neurologist ordered didn't get put into the system correctly, so the results we thought we were waiting on never even got tested for.  I have to wonder what they did with the blood they took from him...

We're now waiting for insurance to authorize the genetic test.  16 months in, and sometimes I feel like we're no closer to an answer to the "What's wrong with him?" we get asked whenever we take him out.  I haven't yet developed a comfortable answer to that question.  I usually admit we don't really know and end up launching into a big old explanation.  But I feel that taking the "easy" route and throwing down the autism card isn't really accurate, either.  Yes, he meets the criteria for an autism diagnosis, but we don't know what's causing his symptoms.  If I say, "He's autistic," people make assumptions based on the autistic person or people that they know, and those assumptions don't line up with Luke's issues.

Like the time I was holding him while he was throwing a fit, and someone told me, "He wants to get down and run around."  I don't think smoke came out my ears, but if there's a less helpful thing to say, I haven't heard it yet.  I would love to have him "get down and run around," believe me!  But if I put him down, he's going to start slamming his head on the floor, and then you'll really look at me funny.


We finally started Luke on anti-seizure medication.  When we first noticed them, we had to really wait and watch to see one.  But they've gotten more and more frequent in the last few months.  His school called, concerned, because he'd had 17 in a row one day, and they wanted to know if that was normal.  17 seizures (during a 2 hour class) is not normal for anyone, but it can be typical for Luke these days.  We decided he can't possibly be learning with the constant electrical storm going on in his head, so we're easing him into medication.  We started a week ago, and today we up the bedtime dose.  Next week, we'll up the morning dose, too.  We're still seeing seizures at this point, but I'm hopeful that this, or one of the other drug options, will help us manage those.

Paul took Luke in for another MRI Friday.  It's been over a year since his last one, and the neurologist wants to see what's changed in there.  I'm anxious to hear, too.  This should give us some indication if Luke's is a static condition, or if something is deteriorating.

Paul said he did well coming out of anesthesia.  Next week, he sees Genetics, and they may have additional tests that they want to run when we do the bloodwork for the genetic test that UCSF recommended in February.

The following week, Luke sees his Primary Care doctor.  Who is leaving the practice.  So we'll have to choose a new one.  I'm hoping she'll sign the paperwork for a handicap placard for Luke, since his neurologist wouldn't.  When we're out with the girls, we can use their placards, but Luke doesn't have his own yet, even though he's the one with the wheelchair, so for appointments where it's just him, a placard would be helpful.  Had I known we'd be eligible for 3 of them someday, I would have just gotten handicapped plates on the van in 2010 when I was given the choice with Hannah.

Still trying to get the spinal tap and muscle biopsy scheduled.  Hoping to have those done by the end of the year.  

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Our 7th Week of School

As you can see from the picture above, we're still loving our grammar program.

At co op this week, the boys finished up their faux batik shirts from last week with a generous application of paint.

We were told to bring them home and leave them out in the hot Sacramento sun for 2 days and then wash them.

I captured Paul quizzing Josiah on the California Driver's Handbook.  Looks like learning to me!

We did a couple fun art projects at home this week, too.

Katie has been doing some work with colors and liquids (Montessori By Mom review coming soon!)
and we ended up "bird-walking" into this one.

The coffee filters actually looked the best when totally saturated by the colored water, so I would pick them up and put them on a sheet of paper to dry.  This was one of those times when I'm glad we have extra miscellaneous science supplies left over from various science kits.  We had enough droppers and pipettes for everyone.

Jack is cutting out an ear.  Our current science has the boys making several multi-layer paper models of various body parts.  They're not crazy about coloring, or these would be pretty cool.

We learned to draw cubes and books this week.  This is Eli's cube.

There was a fundraiser at a local restaurant for Sam's school.  So in the interest of supporting the team, I picked up dinner to go one night.  The next morning, looking at all those containers, a light bulb went off.  Not a huge, energy efficient bulb, but a little Christmas tree bulb.

I had Eli cut off the tops & bottoms of the containers.  (Hence the picture above where he's wearing them all on his arm.)

Then we busted out the sharpies and started drawing.

Our sermon Sunday was about God's sign of the rainbow, so I drew Noah's Ark.

 After baking, our "redneck shrinky dinks" were smaller, thicker, and just about indestructible.

Eli's doing some work online for an upcoming review.

We played a game this week!  Watch for a review of Abundant Harvest, coming soon.

After laundering the boys' shirts, the glue washed out, leaving the outlines of the people figures they'd drawn before painting.  (Jack's guy is upside down on purpose.)

This week in history, we hit the birth of Jesus.  While we've all heard the story, it's very interesting to me to see for the first time the context in which the event occurred.  Augustus Ceasar, Tiberius, Pythagoras...  I'm really enjoying this chronological study of history.  We'll spend the next couple weeks on the life of Christ, then some early Christian history, including Paul's missionary trips.

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Keepers of the Covenant

I knew this was going to be a good book when I was less than 40 pages in, and I'd already dog eared 3 passages I wanted to share with you.

We all know the story of Esther.  Wicked Haman, King Xerxes, yada yada.  This was a story set during that time period from the perspective of other Jewish people in the empire.  I'm embarrassed to say, it had never occurred to me that the Jews had known of their coming death months in advance.  How terrifying!  I saw so many parallels between the fear of the people after Haman's edict went out, and the horrifying predicament of the European Jews in World War 2.

Instead of the queen's eye view in the story of Esther, we get the experiences of the common people.  Those who are scared, not just for themselves, but for their families.  Ordinary people working, eating, living... all in the face of a coming death sentence.

I cried more than once while reading this book, but one line in particular got me, "We show our faith in God when we keep moving forward even when our prayers aren't being answered.  It's the highest form of praise to keep believing that God is good even when it doesn't seem that way."  (pg. 35)

I had never realized that the Jewish people had to fight their neighbors in the wake of Haman's death.  I sort of glossed over the verse in Esther 9 that said they killed 75,000 gentiles, but did not plunder.  This book made me want to re-read the applicable passages in the Bible.  Fortunately, the references are listed in the back of the book, to make them easy to find.

I look at the way Ezra stepped up to be a leader and then took on the responsibility of his brother's family, and I wonder if my boys would do that for each other.

This is a beautiful, multifaceted story you'll want to read.  I wish I'd known of it last school year, as I would have had Brianna read it when we studied this time period in the Old Testament.  Author Lynn Austin brings to life the realities that have been whitewashed from our cheery, Sunday School version of Bible stories.

Lynn Austin is back with the next book in The Restoration Chronicles series, Keepers of the Covenant. Austin weaves together the struggles and stories of both Jews and Gentiles, creating a tapestry of faith and doubt, love and loss. Here, the Old Testament comes to life, demonstrating the everlasting hope displayed in God's unwavering love for His people.

Lynn is celebrating with a Kindle HDX giveaway and a live author chat webcast on October 21st.

One winner will receive:

• A Kindle HDX
• Keepers of the Covenant by Lynn Austin

Enter today by clicking one of the icons below. But hurry, the giveaway ends on October 21st. Winner will be announced at the Keepers of the Covenant LIVE webcast event on October 21st. Connect with Lynn for a fascinating evening centered around God's unwavering love for His people. She'll be hosting a Biblical fiction book club discussion, giving away prizes, answering your questions, offering an exclusive peek at the next book in The Restoration Chronicles, and much more!

So grab your copy of Keepers of the Covenant and join Lynn and friends on the evening of October 21st for a chance to connect and make some new friends. (If you haven't read the book, don't let that stop you from coming!)

Don't miss a moment of the fun; RSVP today by signing up for a reminder. Tell your friends via FACEBOOK or TWITTER and increase your chances of winning. Hope to see you on the 21st!

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Field Trip Friday: Apple Hill

Last week, my mom and I took the kids to Apple Hill to celebrate the changing of the seasons.  Since Paul was taking Luke to a neurologist appointment, we had to be back in time for afternoon carpool, so we only had enough time to visit 3 of the many farms up there.

At Abel's Acres, Hannah got to ride a horse again.  She'd just been saying a few weeks ago she wished she could ride a horse.

I reminded her that she had ridden a horse before, and it was actually at this very same farm, so it was kind of cool that she got to do it again here.

Katie loves buses, so we had to get a picture with the bus prop.

Then at High Hill, we visited the trout pond and fed kibble to the ducks.  We walked over to the candy shop behind High Hill and Jack and the girls got little cups of candy for the ride home, and I got dark chocolate honeycomb, which had to be put in the fridge for a bit by the time we got back.

The girls got lots of compliments on their candy corn dresses.

I had planned on getting pumpkins, but that never quite happened.  Ah, well.  We'll get those when we go to Fog Willow later this month.

My mom and I with the little girls.  Katie was having none of this sun in the eyes business.

That's better.  It wasn't until we were on the hay ride that I looked over and realized...  Her leggings are navy blue.  I thought I'd grabbed black, but with the soft green light in the panda room that morning, I pulled out navy blue instead.  We decided she's cute enough to get away with just about anything, fashion wise.

Jack Jack did NOT sit up there once we started moving.

Photographic evidence that Josiah was with us.

And look!  Even me!  The hay ride was fun and educational.  We learned that trees can bear 2 or 3 different types of apples, if they've been grafted, and we got to see Arkansas Black apples.  We learned that apples will keep up to a year in cold storage (35*) and that the fallen apples do NOT get picked up because of animal contamination.

After the hay ride, we did a spot of shopping (apple donuts, apples) and then headed to Rainbow.

Jack looked like another pumpkin in this group of pumpkins.  We got apple cider and pear butter here.

It was a lovely day, warm and sunny, with just enough breeze to keep it from being unbearable.  It was nice to have Grammy for a visit, and we all had a great time, despite Jack's funny face above.

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