Semi Precious Rocks

Little-N has developed a huge interest in semi-precious rocks and gems.  He started to collect rocks and gems and I was amazed at how quick he was able to build a collection from little gifts from friends and family. We bought him these books and he has read them cover to cover.

Little-N used the books to identify his small collection of rocks. I came across this amazing precious rocks,  gems and minerals magazine collections which I bought him as a gift. Each fortnight Little-N receives a magazine with a rock or gem. The collection is brilliant, the stones are huge and the magazines are so informative. So far Little-N has received gold, amethyst, rose quartz, blue agate, desert rose, obsidian and geode.

He started to look into birthstones and was eager to identify everyone's birthstone. I made him these birthstone cards.



When Little-N gets interested in a subject he becomes totally obsessed. He sat and research each rock making what he calls 'fact files' about each rock. He drew picture after picture of different rocks. He started to talk about crystal shapes and taught himself the names of different mineral crystal shapes. I printed him a set of cut out crystal shapes that he could assemble himself. I also made him colour coded name cards so he can sort and name the shapes. This is how he set up his work:

My husband took Little-N to the natural history museum where he had the opportunity to see and identify many precious rocks and gems. 

Little-N's favorite precious stone is diamond, he asked if I could buy him some but I told him he'll have to wait till he's older. His next favorite is emerald and he is eagerly awaiting the emerald magazine that comes with his collection.

Update on Little-Ns education

Managing a new Montessori school is a lot more work then I initially thought. The school has taken up all my time which means that unfortunately I am unable to prepare and work with Little-N. Little-N is still pretty much homeschooled, or perhaps unschooled is a better way of explaining his education at the moment. Little-Ns week goes something like this: Mondays he goes out on trips with my husband, Tuesdays- Thursdays he comes to school with me and Fridays he goes for prayer with my husband.  

My school does not have 6yrs+ facilities, but I have set up a little area for him, in which he has access to a selection of resources and books. Since I don't really have much time to prepare work for him, he spends the days at school reading and pursuing his burning interests. He is now in charge of his learning and it's been amazing to see what he is able to do and how he has furthered his development without any help from me. The last three months have really shown me the independence and autonomy that Montessori has allowed Little-N to develop. The Montessori education has prepared Little-N and helped him to acquire important skills that he needs for learning, and now that he's been set free he's blossoming and flying through learning.

I've been taking pictures of his work and over the next weeks I'll be posting his work so you can have a look.