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How to Handle “Bad” Words with Your Kids

As soon as I heard the words “A la gran pu%#!” (the Spanish equivalent of “Holy Sh*&”), I wheeled around in shock. Had my ears deceived me? Could it be that my son had said that? From the looks on the other children’s faces, I knew I had heard correctly.

My immediate instinct was to giggle. After all, there was no way my 6-year-old had any idea what he was saying. He’d just started going to school the week before and had no doubt heard the new vocabulary word from one of his classmates. “Here we go…” I thought.

It’s normal to expect your child to come home with new behaviors and vocabulary once they go to school and start interacting with other kids. Now, it was my job to deal with it.

So, how did I deal with it? What’s an appropriate way to approach “bad” words in the spirit of Montessori parenting? Here’s how I approached the topic:

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Bad Words: What Are They?

First, a note on “bad” words. I’m not an anti bad words person. I don’t use them myself, but I don’t mind if other people use them. For me, bad words are words that have very strong meanings that can also be considered rude and offensive by others.

Montessori believed in teaching grace and courtesy to children. Social skills are important! Without them, we can’t get along well with others, create friendships, help others and enjoy a sense of community. These are among the most important things in life!

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Montessori for the Christian Home Freebie

I’m so excited to share a great resource with those of you who’ve read my book Montessori for the Christian Home. As promised in the book, here’s how you can get your free God’s creation nomenclature cards.

With these cards, your child will practice their language skills while also delving deeper into the creation story. Let me know how it goes in the comments below.

If you haven’t read the book, you’re still more than welcome to the freebie, although I do encourage you to head over to Amazon and pick up your copy 🙂 The information in the book will help give you a fuller understanding of how you can use the nomenclature cards.

How do you get them?

Here’s the link!

If you’d like to share this freebie with your friends, all I ask is that you send them to this blog page so that your friends can also access the freebie. Thanks so much, and happy learning!

How (and Why!) to Keep A Nature Journal With Preschoolers and Kindergarteners

Peanut and I have been keeping a nature journal. He’s 4 now, so right around the preschool/kindergarten age. I think it’s been a wonderful experience for us. I keep it very low-key, but the benefits are many!

What you Need

I suggest you start with a blank notebook. Write “Nature Journal” on the front. And that’s it! You can have your child decorate it if you’d like. Here’s ours :Nature Journal Cover

What you Do

We have a very laid back approach to our nature journalling. In preschool and kindergarten, experiences are important. All of the fine motor skills and the ability to read and write about things will come later. I focus on having Peanut observe nature and document it however we can, while keeping things enjoyable and interesting for him.

What kind of activities do we do?

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Library Fun

by Rachel Peachey

I woke up feeling a bit under the weather.  There’s a persistent sore throat going around in our family that none of us seem to be able to kick completely.  However, off to the library I went, hoping to be energized by the group of young people.  It worked!  Kids are full of everything us adults need.  It was like a therapy session!  Laughter, excitement and just general happiness from the kids had me feeling better in no time.

Today, we practiced synonyms.  The kids tried to think of synonyms for some fairly normal, unexciting, blah words like big, small, nice, shoes etc.  Then, they each wrote a quick short story.  Next, I had them work in partners, exchanging their stories and each looking for at least 3 words to change out for a synonym.  They had fun tweaking each other’s stories – changing emotions of characters from “angry” to “furious” and the mention of a “bird” to a “parrot.”  Cool!

Then, we got busy reading and the children spent time reading independently.  The kids each keep track of the books they read on their very own reading log.  They are very motivated and love writing down each title of each book they’ve finished.

We finished off the morning playing a game all together in the patio of the church.  What a lovely morning.  It was much better than spending the morning moping in bed!