Koko's interpretative map of North America and Asia.
The blue parts are the Great Lakes.
Maria Montessori seemed to believe that children should be first rooted in reality before being exposed to too much fantasy not because she was necessarily against fantasy itself, but she saw the danger of fantasy being an escape from reality, something that she saw in the slum children she worked with.
For this reason, I did make it a point to not expose Koko to too much fantasy when she was younger. (I am not sure if that's absolutely necessary in the grand scheme of things, but this was the route I initially chose. Now that I have more children, all my younger children are exposed to everything earlier.) Also, since the Bible is so important to our lives and because we regard the word of God as truth, I didn't want them to get too confused. However, I have always carried an appreciation for fantasy and fairies and even now enjoy children's fantasy novels (Was I the only one annoyed to discover at the end of
Brisingr, the supposed finale, that the author had extended his final book in the Eragon series to one more novel?). I've concluded that tooth fairies, Santa Claus, and such can be part of the magic of childhood. And fantasy, when used prudently, can help children visualize the spiritual world in the positive sense.
However, my children, when they play and draw often discuss continents, role-play Bible stories, and play house. I sometimes wondered if I deprived them of fantasy. When we did Santa Claus for the first real time this year, Koko had so many questions. How exactly did this present phenomenon work? Did we buy presents for Santa to give us? Was he real or fake? And how would Santa come down if there was an actual fire in the fireplace? I was dismayed when a few days she discovered receipts inside the rolling backpacks Santa had bought them. (I had forgotten that my friend who had purchased them for me had left them there.) Jubilantly, she exclaimed, "Santa shops!" and that was the end of that. Whew!
Fantasy and reality--I want a little of both. The natural world is wondrous in itself, but making a fairy house can be fun, too. These days I've been reading more children's books that are beloved in the Waldorf community. Tonight, we read
The Story of the Root Children which shows pictures of little root children painting beetles and bees so that they can be adorned for spring. Koko immediately said, "We don't paint insects for real." But then after a pause, she said thoughtfully, "Though in heaven, I think bees and mosquitoes won't bite." And Cheeky whose current favorites include
Jesus is Coming Back and
Runaway Bunny suddenly exclaimed, "I want to fly like that bunny and talk to animals in heaven." (This same child, during the Christmas season was slightly traumatized by the idea of Santa Claus flying in a sleigh with reindeer and insisted that she would only ride Santa's sleigh if mommy, daddy, Koko, and Eggy were with her.)
So, now while my children know all about King Winter, Jack Frost, and Mrs. Thaw, they always like to remind me that God is the one who makes it snow. And to me, that's truly magical.
Montessori at its best is full of discovery. After over a year of working with this, Koko made the connection between the pink stairs and brown stairs for the very first time. Totally self-led. Oh, and why is the rug so dirty? The wonderful nutcracker...
Another day, I did pose a question: Which one is taller?
She was thrilled to realize that they are the same height/width.
After plunking coins in a bank, Cheeky outlines a chair's border.
After working with golden rods, Koko makes stars.
There's also more freedom with being a homeschooler. I do allow my children to "play" with the equipment as well. Though I moved all unit building blocks to the living room and bought a lot of wooden peg people so that my children wouldn't be so tempted to make vast buildings with all the sensorial equipment in the school room. But even that, I wonder if I should just allow. My logic that I explained to Koko is that she's old enough to know the difference between working with the equipment for it's proper purpose and then to just to play with it, but Cheeky who just turned three doesn't understand so we need to be good models and only build with the sensorial equipment sometimes, not all the time.
Koko's interpretative map of North America and Asia. The blue parts are the Great Lakes.
I started using this 9000 layout cards to do daily calendar work. However, I realized there is a problem with using this material for this purpose. It works for the present year, but when I demonstrated when I was born, 1978 reads as "nineteen seventy-eight"instead of one thousand nine hundred and seventy-eight which can be problematic. But I suppose I could just read 1978 as one thousand, etc.
This estimating activity is from Family Math for Young Children, but I was reminded of it by this post from the lovely Min. We use the 9000-layout cards for this, too.
This is the snowman Koko made from clay inspired by "Chubby Little Snowman" that can be downloaded from The Wonder Years and is also included in her post. That red creature is a rabbit trying to eat the snowman's nose!
My very humble nature shelf. We studied conifers at the nature center homeschooling program. I love all the lessons, but I forgot my camera. An interesting book I found there was Winter Trees.
Reviewing two digit numbers
Blindfolded scent bottles. I love catching them doing activities together.
"Mom, let's do bugs!" We found a Korean poetry book on insects that works well with putting insects in their right continent.
They were using Montessori equipment for their building so I was elated when they were selling a crate full of blocks for only $10 at a moving sale.
Koko who was struggling with writing "y" was thrilled to form one with pipe cleaners that were originally for another activity. I think pipe cleaners cut in various lengths would work perfectly for practicing letter formation for some letters in the English alphabet and definitely the Korean alphabet.
An accessible space just for the children's bowls, cutting boards, cups, and silverware. Koko was upset that Ahpa put the bread machine there. This is a bottom cabinet with a door. I know I am going to have to change the location once the baby is more mobile.
I have a hard time cleaning up after meals. But leaving a basin with soapy water for them to scrub and clean their plates and bowls after meals helps me get motivated and they enjoy doing it, too! I probably need to get another basin for them to rinse their dishes, but for now, I just drag the basin to the sink and rinse away. 
I'm trying to get back to bread making. I made a simple cheese bread that didn't require kneading and the kids were so disappointed! So, I'm aiming to have a bread/pizza crust day once a week in the Waldorf tradition so they get all the kneading experiences they need. Sorry for the pun. 
:: Gift wrapping. Koko was obsessed with this activity for a while, but her passion was renewed with the season. She's even attempting to make a triangle fold on the ends. However, when I tried to show her how to make a straighter edge, a tantrum erupted.
:: Polishing wooden utensils and cutting boards (Kyrie's beeswax polish recipe is on her comments) I was thinking how it would be nice to have some seasonal wooden things...like a special wooden ornament or such. Well, I suppose the wooden nutcracker could be considered seasonal...
