[quote=Heidi;309611]

We mostly use three rooms, which are connected in an L-shape: my family room, my kitchen (with bathroom), and the studio. The children are free to roam, although there are times (like when I'm prepping lunch) that I ask them not to go into the studio.

My program started with 0-3 year-olds and has gradually gotten older. When Lucy was born, I stopped taking children younger than she is (until just this year--now she's almost four and I've added some 2-year-olds), because I didn't want her to have to share me with someone who'd need me so much. When it was all infants and toddlers, there were no glue guns, and lots fewer little pieces. The environment has changed over the years, and right now, I'm turning away babies, because I'm no longer set up for that. However, the assumption of competence is a big one in Reggio, and for me. We have always used glass and china dishes, and materials in the studio are stored in glass. There has always been free access to scissors and lots of little materials. I think kids are safer when we teach them how to use materials properly than they are when we try to bubble-wrap their lives (then, when they get their hands on scissors or a broken glass, they are in danger. But if they've been taught how to use them from day one, they know how to approach them safely.) But I'm not foolish about it. I know my kids well, and know who mouths things and who doesn't. The older kids know that little stuff on the floor is dangerous for babies, and they keep an eye on the littles and warn me of danger. Also, I wore the babies a lot, which meant they were with me.

Well, first I have to say that other than those three rooms, my home is NOT beautiful. I don't have time to keep it clean, and it's a constant source of stress for me. But it's extremely important to me that I keep the children's environment neat and beautiful--I think an organized environment leads to calmer, more focused, thoughtful play. Specifically... Everything has a place. We have clean-up at transitions--for example, we clean up the morning's play before going outside. If I notice kids are getting wild, or things feel hectic, I tidy. At clean-up time, we talk about how nice it feels to get things organized. They get really good at sorting! Paint and clay are messy, but they clean up fairly easily. Everything is not available all the time--I store lots in the basement and rotate.

Definitely toys, though a limited selection. There's a block area in the studio, because I think construction is an art form, and because I want them to be able to use the open-ended studio supplies to support their block play. But I also have a basket of small blocks under the coffee table, because some prefer to build on a table. Dress-ups things are in suitcases, which are sometimes up here, sometimes stored away, depending on the group's interest, but I have hats and purses and scarves available all the time, as they're most popular. There are also always dolls and books. There's a toy shelf in my family room on which I rotate baskets of toys. Right now, it holds: a box of alphabet cards, a huge bowl of scrabble tiles, a counting puzzle, geoboards and rubber bands in a basket, a matryoshka doll, a basket of wooden animals, a basket of dollhouse furniture, a basket of dollhouse dolls, an arcobaleno (but I got mine--a second--for $10), a basket of stacking wooden gnomes, a basket of alphabet blocks, and a basket of story stones. There's a well-stocked toy kitchen in my kitchen. There's a basket of tree blocks in a corner, and two push toys leaning beside that. There's a basket of instruments and a stack of puzzles on another shelf. That's about all the toys at the moment.

Of course, best is to go to Reggio! (Someday....). But there are lots of opportunities to learn here, too. I know there are colleges which focus on the Reggio approach, but I didn't learn about it until I was out of college. I've learned through reading (some of my faves here), online forums, blogs, and workshops. The North American Reggio Emilia Alliance (NAREA) will steer you to Reggio conferences, and there are others.

It's definitely a challenge to apply it to home and mixed ages, as you say, and there's not much available out there about how to do that. (Someday, I'd like to write that book!) But Reggio educators always emphasize that what works for them in their Italian municipal-run preschools is not what will work for us in our American classrooms. We can be inspired by their ideas, but must adapt them to our environment, our community, our children.

I'd love to talk more about how to do that, but once again, I've gone on too long and my daughter's about to wake up from nap! Will reply again if you've got more questions for me, though. :-)

Reply