A stitch in time

Let's just say that I don't think the hole was this large when the pants arrived at school this morning.  I suspect it may have had a little help. 







When our lovely assistant alerted me to the pants problem, she wondered if we might send the child to the office for a replacement pair of pants.  But I had other ideas. 

Don't pass up a learning opportunity when it is a big gaping, threadbare maw, staring you in the face.  ;) 

I must confess, I was waiting for this to happen.  Instead of sending the child away, I sent him to the Practical Life shelf for our sewing basket.  "Anything a child can do, a teacher shouldn't."  Words for Montessorians everywhere to live by.


He now knows how to thread a needle and do a quick and dirty whip stitch.  I think he also learned about responsibility and sticking with a task--even a challenging one (such as mending your pants while they are still on your body!)--until it is finished.









Most amusingly (and yet, just what Maria Montessori writes about), when he finished repairing his pants, another child with a small hole in his pants wandered over hoping to get a sewing lesson from the first child.