School Daze

The Missus is going back to full time teaching this fall, so "Back to School" has a double meaning for us this year. In addition to all the rigamarole about getting the kids dressed and supplied, the Missus is currently putting the finishing touches on her shrine to the Blessed St. Marie classroom. This has now entered the phase of "pinching things from around the house that might look good at school," the latest victim being a plant from our bedroom of which I had been rather fond.

At least we seem to have passed through the "I need to get some more supplies" stage. We damn near had to leave a couple of the gels behind in Maine after the Missus stumbled across a discount teacher supply store and practically bought it out.

Of course, one of the tenants of the Montessori Diktat is that it is supposed to instill some Real World skills and habits in the kiddies. I wouldn't mind the hustle and bustle so much if I saw more evidence of the payoff. For instance, the Missus went to great trouble to lay out the Llama-ettes' basement playroom in approved Montessori fashion, with lots of bins and shelves and designated spaces for all the toys, games, books and whatnot. Why she keeps this up, I still don't really understand, because once the Llama-ettes get done with it, it usually looks like it got hit by an F4 tornado.

One of the house rules is that the Llama-ettes aren't allowed to turn on the tee vee until they've cleaned up their mess. It is at times like these that I try to make them understand that they go to school for a reason:

"Daaaaa-aaad! It's cleeean!"
"Really?"
"Yeees!"
"Okay, I'm coming down to check......"
[Brief pause as I amble down the stairs]
"Wha-? You call this clean?"
"Yes."
"But...but...there's still stuff everywhere!"
"Where? WE don't see anything."
"Are you kidding? How about that Barbie you're standing on? And look at all these Legos scattered all over the place! And how many times have I told you not to take the cushions off the sofa?"
"Well....we don't know what to do with them."
"Oh, puh-lease! Don't give me that! Is this the way you keep your classrooms at school?"
"Noooooo...."
"Then why do you think you can do this kind of thing at home?"
"WE don't know....."

And so on. I think we've got a long way to go.