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imagination
Raising Creative Problem-Solvers
Do you constantly referee children's disagreements? Do you tend to side with one child, frustrating the other? Or do you offer solutions, only to be ignored? If you're nodding in response to any of these questions, this will help... 
living room/homeschool area. Both kids love LEGOs, but my older son likes to...
The scenario:
My 4.5-year-old daughter and 8-year-old son share a room. It's the only place in the house where they're allowed to play LEGOs, so the plastic pieces don't take over our living room/homeschool area. Both kids love LEGOs, but my older son likes to...Why Boring is Good
You might think that the home of a Montessori teacher is like a miniature classroom, with shelf after shelf of perfect little materials and not a plastic object in sight. That might be true for some teachers' homes, but not for ours! We have a little cupboard that holds a few activities: musical instruments, a basket of containers, nesting cups, and a couple of books. He also has a Ball Tower, a basket with assorted balls, a push toy, and a couple of stacking toys. That's pretty much it.
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Fantasy/Imagination/Reality
There seems to be a huge amount of confusion surrounding the concepts of fantasy, imagination, and reality, as well as their relationship to creativity. It seems like every few weeks I get asked a question related to this. I recently received a comment from a reader, and I wanted to share it - and my response - in hopes of clarifying some of the confusion around these concepts. Click the link to read the comment and my answer...
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