Chores for the Little Ones: A Helpful Tip!

Doing chores is (and should) be a tradition in a family. Children learn responsibility by doing their chores and of course, by sharing chores with the family members.

Not sure where to start and which chores to give your little ones? Don’t worry! We’re here to help and make doing chores a positive experience for all.

By giving children responsibility, they feel needed and know that they are making a contribution to the family. If children learn to help in their younger years, they will work harder later in life. Even children as young as two years old can help around the house and are more able than you think they are. They can easily use the modern gadgets, so tasks at home are simple.  However, they are not born knowing everything and just like you taught them how to walk and talk, you must teach them how to do tasks that are appropriate for their age group. Don’t insist on perfection but praise them as they struggle through each job that you have assigned them.

Make a Chore Chart

Create a list of jobs for every member of the family. Hang it in a place where everyone can see and follow. Rewards can also be given to children to motivate them to do their tasks on time.

2-3 Years old

• Put toys away.
• Put clothes in hamper.
• Wipe up spills.
• Pile up magazines and books.
• Fill a pet’s water and food bowl.

4-5 years old

• All of the chores mentioned above
• Make their bed.
• Empty waste paper baskets.
• Bring in the newspaper.
• Help clean the table.
• Water flowers.
• Help unload the dishwasher.
• Wash dishes.
• Help parents prepare food.
• Be completely responsible for pet’s food and water.

6-7 years old

• Vacuum rooms.
• Mop floors.
• Fold laundry.
• Put the laundry in its respective places.
• Empty trash cans.
• Wash light load of dishes.
• Take clothes from the dryer.
• Take care of pet’s food, water, and exercise completely.

8 years old and up

 

• Dust.
• Clean kitchen.
• Clean bathroom with help.
• Mop.
• Help clean car.
• Tidy up drawers and cabinets.

With these tips in mind, you will be well on your way to creating a chore system for your household. We at Taylor Made School also believe that children should take care of their own belongings so we encourage them to clean up their class work and lunches. With this partnership, children learn responsibility and feel that they are members of the larger community!

At Home Holiday Themed Montessori Activities Made Easy

The holiday season is upon us and during the Christmas break, we hope you have some extra time to wind down and spend quality time with your families. If you want to do some fun, holiday and winter themed Montessori activities with your children over the Christmas break, but don’t want to stress out about finding and buying all the craft supplies and making crafts that are Pinterest-worthy, we have taken a few activity ideas and made them even easier for you.

Decorate a Snowman

To make this activity easy on yourself, all you really need is white construction paper and another color for the backing. You can cut out three circles, paste them on the background, and then let your children’s imaginations decorate the snowmen with everyday items such as spare buttons, rice, seeds, markers and cotton balls. You can also use paper or Styrofoam plates instead of construction paper for the body and snowman head. Use leftover styrofoam from any shipping boxes if you have them, and if you’re really crafty or already have the supplies, you can use sequins and googly eyes.

Tracing Shapes

To make this activity easy, you can make the shape templates out of cardstock paper or construction paper. Use regular white paper cut into small squares and then let your kiddos trace the shapes on them and decorate as they wish. There are endless possibilities for decorating the shapes and they can make ornaments, trees, gifts and anything else you can think of. You can also decorate them using the same household supplies as above – cotton balls, rice, beans, straws cut up into small pieces, buttons, sequins, etc.

Bake and Decorate Cookies

This is such a traditional activity and it’s fairly easy. Children love cookies, and making them with you is so much fun for them. Let them work the dough and scoop it out onto the cookie sheet. Let them use the shape cutters as long as they have dull edges. Have a big selection of sprinkles and icing ready for your little decorators, and let them go to town creating their own special cookie masterpieces. The most important ingredient is to have fun. Baking and decorating cookies is a great holiday activity for kids and it allows them to learn life skills and be creative. Enjoy it!

 

The Philosophy Behind Montessori Child Care in Austin

You may have heard of Montessori education or Montessori child care well before you actually knew what that meant. The learning approach became popular in the United States around 1960 and has since spread to thousands of preschools and daycares, with over a dozen in the Austin area.

Montessori preschools in Austin are based on the popular learning style that was developed by an Italian physician and educator named Maria Montessori in the early 1900’s. She established this developmental approach from extensive research with special needs children, and it focuses on independence, freedom within limits, and following a child’s natural psychological, physical and social development. While based on her research with special needs children, Montessori’s philosophy is appropriate for all children.

Here’s why. Fundamentally, Montessori education is a model of human development, and the educational approach is based on that model. The model has two basic principles. The first principle is that children absorb and learn by interacting with their environments. The second is that children, especially under the age of six, have an inborn path of psychological development.

Based on her observations, Montessori believed that children who are able to choose and act freely within the environment prepared according to her model would learn according to their natural tendency and thus achieve optimal progress and growth.

Although a range of educational practices exist under the name Montessori, the following fundamentals are needed according to the International and American associations of Montessori:

• Mixed age classrooms, from 2½ to 6 years old are the most common
• A Montessori trained teacher
• Students choose their activities from a range of options
• Freedom of movement within the classroom
• Uninterrupted blocks of learning time, ideally three hours
• A discovery model, where students learn concepts from working with materials, instead of direct instruction
• Specialized educational materials developed by Montessori and her collaborators

Montessori daycare in Austin allows children the freedom to learn, but does not force learning on them. It gives them a chance to be children, who are naturally curious and want to discover the world around them, while having fun and developing at their own pace.

Taylor Made Winter Tip!

Transitioning into colder weather can make it challenging to keep up with your energizing green smoothies, but as we honor the spirit of gratitude this season, we open up to the abundance of nourishing fruits, veggies, and warming spices all around us! This #beautyfood smoothie and masque will get you going and keep you warm, all while feeding your skin both inside and out.

Powerful, deep green kale is the focal point here, for its high content of both vitamin C and A, boosting collagen and promoting renewal of cells. It gives you all the vitamin K you need in a day, while boosting your body’s intake of both iron and calcium. Nutrient dense spinach and chard are added to the blend, for their variety and richness of vitamins and minerals.

We’ve added super spices ginger, cinnamon, and, for the brave, a pinch of cayenne to rev up your circulation, get your blood flowing, and energize!

Yield: 1 serving (8 ounces)
Time: 5 minutes

Smoothie Ingredients:
1 cup unsweetened almond milk | beauty fats + vitamin E
1 small organic apple, chopped | anti-aging vitamins + keeps skin clear
1 small banana | vitamin B for skin plumping + fiber
1  cup fresh spinach | antioxidants + vitamin C for collagen boosting
2 large leaves lacinato kale, chopped | vitamin A for cell renewal
2 leaves Swiss chard | Vitamins A, C. E + K for nourished and youthful skin
1” piece ginger, peeled and chopped | promotes good digestion + immune boosting
½ teaspoon cinnamon | draws oxygen to the skin
Pinch of cayenne pepper (optional) | detoxifying + stimulates digestion
Juice of 1/2 lemon | brightening + detoxifies
1 teaspoon stevia, or to taste | non-glycemic plant sweetener

Directions:

1. Place all of the ingredients in a blender and blend at high speed for 1 minute, or until smooth. Pour and enjoy!

October Newsletter

Hello there, Taylor Made Friends! Fall is officially here and the Texas weather is cooling down, finally! We have a lot exciting announcements and activities planned, so keep reading to find out more! Pumpkin Carving Party: Saturday, October 15th 10:30 am to 2 pm Everyone is invited, so come have some snacks and carve away! 🙂 The location will be announced closer to the event date. Austin Monthly and Volunteer Opportunity! Taylor Made School of Austin will be featured in the November Issue of Austin Monthly!  We have teamed up with Gen Austin in Sponsoring ‘We are The Girls Conference‘ held at Austin High on Saturday, November 5th. The conference is for girls grades 3-8 and scholarships will be available! Our friends at Sway Water will be making their appearance as well, so come out and say hi! More information can be found at https://genaustin.org/what-we-do/we-are-girls-conference/. For the conference, we are looking for 5 volunteers who could lend a helping hand or lead an activity. Again, the event will be held Saturday, November 5that Austin High School. If interested, please reach out to us via email at info@taylormadeschool.org . Sewing Classes Don’t know how to sew and want to learn? Already know how and want to brush up your basic skills? We are now offering a Sewing classesstarting October 15th for $20 per class. Classes will be held once a week featuring a Project Runway Designer. We will focus on sewing fundamentals and creating beautiful pieces to show off to your friends and family! Their are a few sponsorship’s available at a first come first serve basis. If you would like to learn more, please email us at info@taylormadeschool.org

Thank you Taylor Made family! We could not do what we do without all of your support! 🙂

5 Practices to Promote Peace

Peace is an integral part of the Montessori classroom (and the Montessori method in general). As much as peace is incorporated and encouraged at school, however, there are many things you can do at home as well.

Dr. Maria Montessori once said, “Averting war is the work of politicians; establishing peace is the work of education.”

So, here are 5 ways you can help promote peace at home:

Care for the Environment

Actively caring for the environment creates numerous learning opportunities for children. Gardening and feeding animals are both a great way to use the environment to teach children concepts of respect, responsibility, and love.

Set a Good Example

The most important way to encourage peace within our children is to set a good example of peace for them as adults. The key to doing this is; do not act in a way that you wouldn’t want your children to act. In order to teach kindness, we must be kind ourselves.

Discuss Conflict Resolution

Not only should we discuss conflict resolution openly with our children, but we should practice it. There are many different ways to go about conflict resolution. One way that has proven to be popular in Montessori, is using an object during a conflict. Whoever is holding the object gets to speak, everyone else calmy observes and listens. Role-playing situations where conflict may arise and practicing these resolution strategies will help children should they ever find themselves in similar situations.

Encourage Reading

Sitting down to read a book is a quiet, peaceful activity. There are endless topics that you can search for and some very incredibly learning opportunities through books. Not only does it promote peaceful behavior, but it also gives you more one-on-one time with your kids.

Share the Meaning of Peace

Openly sharing the meaning of peace helps each child to better understand everyone’s interpretations of “peace.” Going around the room and discussing each individual’s meaning of a peaceful environment is a great way to encourage peace and educate about handling conflict.

5 Things Montessori Teachers Do Differently

If you’re contemplating enrolling your child (or children) into a Montessori program, chances are you’ve done some research comparing the education method to that of traditional structure. In do your research, you’ve likely begun to understand the fundamental differences, especially when it comes to the curriculum itself. But, many people think that the two have on thing in common: the teacher is the center of the classroom. For Montessori, however, this is not the case. That’s why, today, we’ve put together 5 things Montessori teachers do differently.

September Newsletter!

Hello there, Taylor Made Friends!

September has arrived! And that means fall will be here in the blink of an eye. A lot has happened in August, so keep reading for all the updates!

New Month, New School?

The season is not the only thing changing around here. Taylor Made School of Austin is expanding to a new location!

Due to recent weather conditions in Austin, the main campus location has become flooded and unsuitable. It is currently under construction to fix those issues. But rest assured, we have found a new location off of South 1st street. More information,along with the new address, to come in the October newsletter! 🙂

Not enrolled?

No Worries! We are STILL ENROLLING students in our Primary, Lower Elementary and Upper Elementary programs. Spots are filling quickly, so don’t wait! There are also spots in our after school program, Taylor Made Kids.This is a FREE after school program, so enroll today!

Visit our WEBSITE to learn more!

Shout out to our September Sponsor Spotlight SWAY WATER!

Sway is a simple solution to sugary, synthetic drinks. Their purified water has been infused with real, organic fruit, making sway a super refreshing and natural way to stay hydrated. Better yet, they are bottle here in Austin, TX!
Thank you Taylor Made family! It has been a stressful month, but we couldn’t of done it without your support! 🙂

The Difference in Montessori Teachers

One of the biggest differences between the Montessori method and traditional education is the way the teachers actually instruct the students. In today’s blog, we’re going to explain the differences and how they impact your children.

How Montessori Helps Your Child Learn to Concentrate

Nowadays, we live in a world full of overstimulation. Our children are growing up without a good sense of concentration because technology has made instant-gratification the “societal norm” so to say. So now, it’s more important than ever to not only help our children to concentrate but to change their environment to encourage less stimulation, too. This all starts with being able to know when your child is focusing.