The start of my Montessori style summer camp, in pictures

Lunchbox love from Earth Day

All organic, mostly local and plant based dyes. Oh, and the kids loved having flowers on their lunch that they could eat :-)

A Haiku for Monday...

A rewards based future?

Are we setting our future up for the constant need of external rewards and approval? For me, it seems so; and this makes my heart hurt. 

One afternoon this whole problem really came to life for me when my oldest got in the car after her after school program. She was playing with a little toy. I asked how she had come about the toy and we informed she got to select it from the prize bin for helping clean up the crayons. What?! Given a toy for completing an activity and then putting it away?! Around here that's just a part of the process... You complete a task/play/chore/etc. before moving to something new. Well, that made me really take a look at everything in our extracurricular activities. Here's some of the things I discovered: candy for walking quietly down a hall, rewards for listening in class, and trophies for everyone on every sports team of the same size. 

Now, please don't misunderstand me. I believe there is nothing wrong with commending a child for doing well (ie aren't you proud? Look how neatly you stacked our blocks! Etc.) but shouldn't we be teaching them to feel proud for a job well done without needing external approval or material reward? 

We should be building self efficacy not just self esteem. A belief from within them to complete tasks and reach goals. Sure, we can train a child with candy and rewards but what does the child learn? Instead of learning "I should walk quietly in the halls out of respect for the other classes who are learning" they learn, " If I can stay quite until I reach my room I know I'll get candy." Or, instead of thinking, "let me help clean up these crayons to keep my classroom beautiful" they think, "maybe my teacher will see me and I can get a prize from the prize box."

Help raise a child who can find value in a job well done without the material and external and I believe those are the children who will grow to have not only self motivation but also see the full picture and not just the soul desire of reward. 

Listening walk with Fairies!

We so enjoyed actually seeing snow in South Carolina this week! After reading "The Listening Walk" in class Monday that gave me an idea! 

We bundled up, and after heading to the playground to try out a frozen slide we went on a Listening walk around our pond. I was amazed at the things the kids heard! They really took the activity seriously and they heard everything from snow falling of the trees, to birds, to shoes crunching in the snow, even the cars in the distance. I enjoyed the brisk beautiful nature and cardinal spotting I was able to do along our walk as well. 

No snow day would be complete without snow angels and snowpeople so we created a snow fairy complete with toadstool throne and castle. I love our families imagination! 

Enjoy our pictures and eco-live and laugh with us!

I'm so excited to announce...

I am now a Barefoot Books Ambassador! Our family absolutely loves these books and I can't wait to share them with others:-) if anyone is interested in hosting a party I would love to help you earn some free books! Feel free to visit my site at heather-connor.barefootbooks.com and I can't wait to share book reviews here as well!

MLK Day and a free family outing

One of the many joys of my new job is more family time. For Martin Luther King Jr. Day the whole family decided to go hiking at Preachtree Rock. It was a wonderfully sunny and comfortably warm day (SC weather is so strange!) to enjoy nature and it's beauty and the best part?! It was totally free!

I would like to encourage each of you to try out these types of things around your town...sometimes the most rewarding fun is free! So give it a try and Eco-live and laugh with me! 

My dreams are coming true...

There has been so many changes for our family over the past 5-6 months! Moving, working crazy hours, getting injured, etc. But the biggest change has been for me...I am now an assistant montessori teacher for a primary classroom. Yippee!! God is Good! I am so very excited to finally be on the path to eventually becoming a lead directress in Montessori (once I get certified) and I absolutely LOVE my new job. This job not only makes me happy while I'm there,  it also allows me to actually be the wife and mother that I have longed to be. Having dinner as a family every night, tucking my children in and reading stories together, enjoying more that just car conversations with my wonderful husband; it's truly a blessing! But I know I've neglected my blog followers and for that I am sorry. But I'm refreshed now and full of lots of ideas so I can't wait to get blogging!

Let's eco-live and laugh together!