Why We Were Gone, Why We are BACK!

New life, new endeavors! So here's a little background on what's been happening in the last year or so...

1. August 2009 I started a new business selling Strider PRE-bikes http://www.runbike.ca I received an offer to start my own dealership selling these wonderful bikes and I thought "how can I let this opportunity pass?" My intention was to get it up and running which I knew would take away from home Montessori time and blogging and then come back to those two important things in my life once I had everything running smoothly. A. girl started going to her Montessori school full time and she seemed to thrive there and love it (but as you can see from the previous post I was struggling with it)

2. January 2010 I became pregnant! yay! This was planned but I hadn't anticipated on how it would reorganize my priorities. (and how much morning sickness I would have!) In light of all his my new business just wasn't intriguing me as much anymore so I decided to do it on a more casual basis and to let a wonderful wahm supporting boutique sell the bikes for me. It is called KidzOwn Boutiqes and they are located in Surrey B.C.

3. April 2010 The little being inside of me went back to Creation (or God or whatever belief it is that you have in where we all come from and may return to). This was of course devastating news. I can say without a doubt though that I believe this little soul came to us just long enough to push us in a new direction. This was his/her gift to us. My husband and I have always wanted to live outside of the city, and we had for quite a while but circumstances pushed us there again and we were longing to leave. Somehow this tragic event was what we needed to make the leap of faith to purchase our first home and move to a new rural town 9 hours drive from any large city without jobs to go to right away.

4. September 2010 We bought a house on 1/2 acre of land complete with barn, and wood shed! Room to have a large garden, tree fort, play house, swing set... yahoo! This house is in an adorable town; population 350 in the Kootenay area of Beautiful British Columbia! We were fortunate to have 2 good friends and their 3 super sweet daughters to welcome us to town and to introduce us to so many genuinely wonderful people that we are fortunate to now call friends. Our only reservation against moving to such a small community was that there is no Montessori schooling unless you wish to drive over an hour each way. A. does attend a pre-school 2 days a week at this time which she loves. I was hesitant to put her in another type of school but she does like it, and the teacher there is a lovely woman who has won many awards for her dedication to young children. She includes a lot of outdoor nature inspired and local aboriginal inspired content in her school which I feel is important. The kids learn about their local environment, what challenges face the animal species (such as the salmon who can't make it back to their spawning grounds due to the Kootenay and also the Washington (U.S.) river damming systems which are connected).

5. February 2011- We are feeling settled in to our new home and are becoming increasingly aware of the lack of resources for the local school system the more we talk to parents in town. I never really thought that I would send my children to a public school but I was trying to keep my mind open to the possibility if the local school was in some way special. The school however is struggling to stay open and every year there is talk of one of the 3 multi-aged classes closing and then having to bus the kids away down the road. My lady friends and I started talking about the possibility of the town buying the school and then having a school c0-op where we "home-school" but at the school location. I realized that I needed to make a decision and get back to Montessori in the home. We practice the philosophy at all times but there was not a formal area with activities for A. in our new home.

6. March 2011- I've enrolled in an online Montessori course from Karen Tyler. You can find it here: http://www.worldwidemontessorionline.com/ I found out about her course through a giveaway post on http://livingmontessorinow.com. A lucky lady won a free course on that giveaway! I'm doing the Fast Track method of the course which means you pay for everything up front and then you can do double the curriculum as well as you can receive all of the albums ahead of time to use. The Standard curriculum offers a pay as you go format over 24 months and then you are sent a portion of an album each week to work on. Her prices are very affordable and the content is also very comprehensive as far as I can tell! She also gives you templates and tips on making your own materials because as we all know, they are EXPENSIVE! Here's the preliminary set up for her Montessori home-school. It just needs activities! (and maybe a little tweaking and decorating!)

Table and sensorial shelves

Math, Language and Art shelves.

Reading area

Physical Sciences (and maybe I'll throw in a Waldorf nature table as well)

Many posts on my learning journey to come and once I have set up A.'s environment and officially opened her school well, look out!

I also want to thank those of you that have welcomed me back to the bloggy world! I'm grateful to connect with all of you and love reading what you share! I so look forward to the coming years of learning, friendship and inspiration!