Whistle While You Work: My Happy Little Hummer

Video of Mr. C humming during school today.

Did you hear the "Nutcracker March" (in the form of "bloops"!), evolve into "On the Good Ship Lollipop"? Bet Tchaikovsky, never imagined that!

This my darling little 4 year old. We'll call him Mr. C for the blog. Good gracious, he is a sweetie and loves to help his Mami. He has the cutest dimple and little eyes... but boy can he be loud! He's a very happy little guy, and in fact most of my children usually hum or sing while they do housework and even school work.  Even my husband who works from home during most days definitely sings a lot around the house (he's a full time musician!). We are definitely a musical home and I love it! So what to do when  little Mr. C becomes too loud when the older children are trying to concentrate on their work?

We have this Zenergy Chime from Montessori Services to help us remember to keep low voices while working, or sometimes just to help when the children want to create silence. It can really help and it is nice when the children proactively seek to create silence, but with Mr. C we'd probably be ringing it about every 5 minutes!:)

What tips could you share for those times when that happy little hum turns into that BIG LOUD overture? I would love to hear from both Montessori school teachers and Montessori homeschoolers alike. What do you think? Do you have a "happy little hummer" in your home or classroom?