The Horme Studio

Someone was doing a little measuring exploration!

I absolutely love finding these little signs of cognitive development. It’s the outward expression of what’s going on in their brains, what they notice, what they are attracted to and what sensitive period or human tendency may have been at work. Hello mathematical mind!

Also, the children do not like the 1 number rod to be alone and they don’t like zero to be empty. A few weeks ago when I introduced zero with the spindle box, the noticed that we were running out of spindles as we were counting for the 9 slot and they reserved on so 0 would have something, too. It kind of melted my heart a little bit.

What does a messy desk with a random stack papers have to do with Montessori pedagogy? Role modeling.

A few weeks ago, I was preparing some documents in preparation for meeting with a local Montessori school team. It was the afternoon, nearing the end of the day. Most of the children and my apprentice guide were outside while I did the last of the tidying up for the day.

One child stayed inside with me while I finished up and as I was going around the environment touching up things here and there, he followed behind me, mimicking everything I did. The last thing I did before we went outside together was take a stack of papers from the printer and place them on my desk.

That plain half sheet of paper is his contribution to placing the papers on the desk 💗

It something that could so easily overlooked, but when your eyes are open and you can see the child for the developing human they are, it’s this that reminds you the impact you can have on these young children.

✨Be the role modeling they deserve ✨

hit it out of the park again!

Such a lovely set up and thoughtful details were present and appreciated by all. Such a great idea to add the bird feeder DIY as a party favor!!

Don’t forget about the sensitive period of socialization!

Our Montessori environments need to make space for socialization the same way we do for sensorial refinement or language acquisition.

Through my observation, the more time they have to be together joyfully without interruption, the more freely grace and courtesy emerges among them. This group has had social planning and sharing (don’t sit in that seat/I won’t and save some for me/I will) younger than I have previously seen in my classrooms. Before 3 years old, they were starting to communicate wants and needs with one another.

Maybe being all together through the toddler environment or maybe my own confidence and experience in the prepared environment have played a role.

Regardless, or maybe thanks to, these factors play into the freedom for socialization to be explored. I have to imagine that just as when a child emerges from building a pink tower repeatedly, appearing to be refreshed, there must be a similar response to a positive social engagement. There must be the sense of joy that builds the bonds and strengthens their connection to each other. This, I believe, in turn leads to the group respecting the others requests such as “save some for me” or “please wait for me” and the easy response from their peers “okay!”

These positive social engagements must happen at three years old, because once they get to four and five, the activities in the classroom begin to involve group work. They must know how to be together, through experience and not direction, for these activities to be accomplished successfully and independently. If we want to see a group of children working in addition with the golden beads independently, they have to already know how to communicate and plan simple exchanges to have success with the purpose of the activity.

Just some food for thought!

A flash back to November!

Leading up to Thanksgiving, we did some extra food prep around pumpkins. We started with two pie pumpkins and built on that.

The first thing we did was cut open the pumpkins and pull out the seeds. We roasted the half pumpkins then scooped out the soft insides.

The next day, we used our manual food processor to make pumpkin pies. I found mini pie crusts, so each hold got their own pie!

We had a lot of pumpkin puree left after the pies, so we decided to make pumpkin bread the following week. Again, we used the manual food processor to combine wet ingredients and then added it in to the mixed dry ingredients. We had a pan of pumpkin bread that we were able to eat everyday with our snack!

A few notes about this process:
1. There was one child that was very confused about using the pumpkin for food. Pumpkins were solidly set in their mind as a decoration!

2. Amazing sensorial exploration activity! Some were hesitant at first to touch the pumpkins innards in the beginning, but by the end, after watching their peers, everyone was participating in the removal of seeds.

3. I was surprised how many children were eager to eat our makes! Only one child was uninterested in sampling our pumpkin foods.

4. It’s really hard to take photos of the children working on food prep 😅

This was so fun for all of us and I am really proud of this activity. It was wonderful that it went over two weeks of school and so pleased with children being able to be part of the process of pumpkin to food!

This is everyone working together to prep our pumpkins for pumpkin pie!

For some, it was a new experience to cut into a pumpkin, for others, it was a new concept to use pumpkins as something other than “decoration”.

Together, we scooped out the seeds, placed pumpkins on a baking sheet, placed them in the oven, and then scooped out the soft pumpkin after cooling.

I didn’t get pictures of it, but I found an amazing hand powered blender at a thrift store and we used that to combine all the ingredients for our pie filling.

In the end, I was surprised at who enjoyed the pie and who didn’t. One of the children that I was certain wouldn’t eat it ended up devouring it and wanting more! Another who I thought was going to live it didn’t even want it on their plate.

All in all, it was a new experience for everyone and a first wave in trying new foods in new ways. Exposure is so important for building an open palette.

Stay tuned this week, we have more pumpkin and will be making pumpkin bread! I will try to get a picture of our awesome hand powered food processor!

Happy Halloween to all those out there celebrating!

Consider this a reminder - young children in the first plane (6 and under) are concrete beings. So, when a child is dressed as Spider Man, Elsa, or an astronaut, they *are* those characters, so don’t be surprised if during the day you see them jumping, singing Let It Go, or eating freeze dried ice cream 😂

Have fun and stay safe!

Well, hello out there!

It has been really quiet here as I have been taking time to expand our school, participate in some exciting legislation coming down the pipeline, and assess the direction and purpose of this account.

Other than all that (🙃) the children have been growing and thriving! As they have been transitioning into the primary room, old favorites of mine are coming out and they are all building a love of exploration with the new activities.

I have also seen tremendous social growth in the children as they all grow closer to and turn three. It’s been so wonderful to observe them emerge from their unconscious beginnings and into their conscious absorbent minds 🥰

Moving forward with this account, I am interested to hear from you all: what do you enjoy most about the stories I share? Philosophy? Material making? Cute children pics 🤣

Share below!

When you’re just trying to mind your own business and a goose emerges from the drywall…

Today, someone put a goose’s head into a hole left by a screw that had come loose.

It was removed and it placed back into its basket. Another child picked it out and replaced it into this hole, so, I guess this is where it lives now 😂

# UnexpectedGoose

It’s planting season in the garden!

We’ve been busy prepping our raised beds—topping them off with fresh soil and making sure everything is nice and damp for our seeds. Next up: creating a bit of shade to protect our delicate sprouts from the strong southwestern sun.

Our first seeds are in the ground: broccoli, cucumbers, tomatoes, tomatillos, and basil. We’re dreaming of nut-free pesto, fresh salsas, and crunchy homemade pickles… and honestly, we’re especially excited about the pickles!

Gardening with young children is such a delight. There’s something magical about getting hands in the dirt and watching food grow before our eyes. It’s a beautiful way to introduce new herbs and veggies—last year, taste-testing fresh herbs straight from the garden quickly became a favorite outdoor activity.

This work is rich in Montessori experiences: practical life through caring for the plants, and sensorial exploration through touching, smelling, and tasting the harvest—real-life applications of their growing awareness.

We can’t wait to see little hands watering, tending, and eventually harvesting our garden bounty. Stay tuned—we’ll share updates as it all comes to life!

This little board with letters and animals has been a fun and much loved addition to our shelves! And before anyone calls it out - yes it capitals, yes it’s print, yes it’s non-realistic animals. This is what was available!

With one child is busy working with the moveable alphabet, the others are curious and gaining interest in it. We use this board collaboratively and make the sound of the letter and find the animal with that sound at the beginning. It’s a phase of simply giving them exposure to this concept before diving deep into it. And yes, it’s in the toddler environment because that’s what they’re interested in 😊

I am looking forward to building this up into more sound games, sound to symbol matching and sand paper letters - which are cursive, by the way 😂

The result of live writing daily from the time the children in the toddler environment are 1 year old.

This was my big experiment and I have to say, the output blew me away! I know from training and experience that children imitate what we model and I know that even unconsciously they are taking in habits in and around their environment. With this knowledge, I decided to make live writing part of my daily routine.

Nearly two years in the making, the children are interested in writing without me having to “teach” this skill or ability. It started with them watching me, then I began narrating what I was writing. When they began talking, I would ask them what their favorite thing was about their day. Along the way, they wanted to write on the note, then, I began to encourage them to bring over their own paper or chalkboard.

We would write in crayon, pencil, paint stick or chalk and they watched over and over and over. Then, one day, letters spontaneously appeared! I write in cursive and Emily, my assistant, writes in print. You can see this in the papers - some are print and some emerging shapes are small circular shapes.

The most interesting observation so far was one child “teaching” a friend how to write letters. Those children were 2yrs 4mos and 2yrs 2mos respectively.

We will for sure be maintaining this practice in our classrooms. I am beyond excited about this manifestation of this observation and practice coming b form the children!

- thought you might be interested!