Is that the 'y' shaped country?

Alright, brag time...the other day at a train station, we met a man from Somalia. He asked us where we were from and we told him Minnesota. He smiled and said "I'd fit in there well, I'm from Somalia, they have the largest population of Somali people in the U.S. in MN." We talked for a while and went on our way. As you learned in my last post, Owen later was processing the conversation and wanted to talk more about why there were so many people from Somalia in MN, etc. We talked about war, about refugees and the general location of Somalia in Africa. After some thought, he said to me "Is that the 'y' shaped country?" I honestly had no clue what shape it was and told I didn't know but we'd have to look on a map soon. Well, this morning, we pulled up google maps and sure enough, Somalia is the 'y' shaped country. Pretty impressive if you ask me! (Here's a photo of Owen showing us the Africa puzzle map at Sunny Hollow in 2009...see 'y' shaped Somalia on the Indian Ocean?!)

Of course, I will tell you it is one of the wonderful things about a Montessori education. Not only do the children work with maps of the world, but they also learn their shapes, major landmarks, capitals and I'm sure so many other things I'm not privy to.

Yesterday, the boys and I made a trip down to Hove to visit the boys' school. It was so great to meet the guides, the children and many parents! We were welcomed with many smiles and eager handshakes. The boys both got to go in their respective classrooms for a tour from their future classmates. They were happy and confident in doing so, which made me at ease. It was really wonderful. Owen's guide, Stephanie, invited him to join the class at a couple of upcoming going-outs (Montessori's version of a field trip). The first one is a day at the sea rock pooling, which I thought was their phrase for rock climbing. I learned its not, instead, rock pools are areas by the sea that when the tide is low, there are small pools of water left behind, full of creatures and sea life. They will spend the day there catching creatures and exploring. The next one will be in the English country side, but I don't remember where. What a fabulous welcome!