Blog Stats 2011: Who, Where and What!

I thought it may be interesting, at least to me, to take a look at my blog stats for 2011! Well, really they're my blog stats since starting my blog at the end of November 2010, but there wasn't really anyone aware of my little blog until later, so while the stats are skewed with that last month included, it's very slightly. I think this will be neat for me to look back on next year to see how much this site has (hopefully!) grown and changed. Here goes!

Peaceful Parenting is read in so many countries around the world, often in places that surprise and delight me, but these are the top ten, in order. I truly love how Montessori connects us all!

United States

Canada

Australia

Poland

United Kingdom

Germany

France

Indonesia

Italy

Czech Republic

Thank you so much to everyone who has pinned my ideas, shared my blog on BabyCenter, Facebook, in forums and your own blogs, as well as those hosting link-ups! The top sources of traffic from specific websites are as follows, in order:

Pinterest

Facebook

Google

BabyCenter

The Adventures of Bear

1+1+1=1

Living Montessori Now

wczesnaedukacjaantkaikuby

Discovery Days and Montessori Moments

The Work Plan

The most popular blog posts on Peaceful Parenting this year, in order of popularity, were:

Our Montessori Home   with 2,196 views!

Infant and Young Toddler Montessori: Part Two  with 1,024 views

Work is calming   with 779 views

 

Classic Game Week!   with 771 views

12 new Montessori-inspired works...and other thoughts.  with 705 views

DIY: Counting Boards with Sandpaper Numerals  with 520 views

Shapes, Colors, Sizes and Patterns!   with 495 views

New on our Montessori shelves   with 446 views

Common Montessori Myths   with 425 views

Interactive Montessori-Inspired Christmas Display!  with 423 views

Other Stats:

The total number of hits Peaceful Parenting had in 2011 (this is amazing to me...):  39, 217

Total number of followers with Google Friend Connect: 142

Total number of "likes" on Peaceful Parenting's Facebook page: 292

I have been pretty terrible about advertising the Twitter account I started in late October, so I currently  have only 30 followers.

Thank you all so much for reading as well as for keeping me motivated to write and prepare more fun and educational activities for Tyler! Happy New Year and all the best in 2012!

New Great Blog Discoveries!

Here's a list of my latest and most favorite discoveries in the big wide world of blogging!

First, if you don't have a copy of John Bowman's Book "Montessori at Home", I highly recommend buying yourself one! It's such a bang for very little buck! He has a brand new site and now a blog too, which you can find here: Montessori at Home: Book Blog The book is for sale on the site as well!

Moving Smart explains how "children develop intellectually, emotionally, socially, and of course, physically" from movement while providing activity ideas. Really top-notch blog by an expert in the field.

The Mommies Made Me Do It is an activity blog by a mother with a (quite adorable) three year old child. I really enjoy her ideas and blogger style.

early play is a fabulous activity blog written by an early childhood educator. Definitely one of my top overall favorites. All of the quotes are wonderful and inspiring in themselves.

No Time For Flash Cards is one that I feel I'm pretty late to the party on, but I'm glad I finally discovered it! I can't wait to dig deeper into some of the older posts and to peek at all of the linked activities.

Recent Favorites: Linky Love!

Ty and I literally did nothing new last week! We have had plenty of older activities to keep us busy, I spent a lot of time preparing the house to move (though it looks like now that's on hold), and we spent a large amount of time socializing and visiting various parks. We've been working on a few new things this week, but nothing I'm ready to share yet. On the other hand, I've really enjoyed several blogs and specific posts by others recently and wanted to share them with all of you.

I've been wanting to create a post about what Montessori essentially is for many months, but always found it such a huge project that I never got far. Deb at "Living Montessori Now" took on the daunting challenge and (not surprisingly) did an amazing job with it! Her post is great for showing family and those interested in Montessori the basics of the philosophy. You can find this particular post here.

I just adore this two part series about selecting thoughtful toys for your children by Jessica at "Our Montessori Home". A must read! "Toys and the Child": Part One and Part Two.

I also wanted to share a new-to-me blog with all of you who enjoy doing art projects with your kiddos. Getting Messy With Ms Jessi is full of great ideas from her own classroom, as well as those that link-up with her. I can't wait to try so many of her ideas with Ty!

A great new Montessori blog discovery I've made (just today!/) is Carrots are Orange. Two pages in and I'm already quite inspired!

I'm not sure if I've shared this blog with my readers or not, but I've often been asked about Montessori for really young children and I've found that Montessori House  is a great place to find simple ideas for infants and toddler, especially if you're newer to practicing the philosophy at home. The latest posts talks about exploring autumn with your child.

Enjoy!

One Lovely Blog Award

The Rules:

1. The recipient of the award must thank the one who passed the award on, and link back to their blog.
2. You must mention 7 things about yourself.
3. You must pass the award on to other blogs and let them know they have won the award.

—————————————————

1. Thank you to Jessica at Our Montessori Home for passing this award to me after she was awarded by Montessori Print Shop! I am always inspired when I read her blog as well!

2. Seven things about myself:

--I have been a vegetarian for eight years.

--I worked as a day care teacher for four years, nanny for another four, then worked as a Behavioral Interventionist with children in a public school. I can't imagine not working with children!

--I brought ants to school in second grade for show and tell...in a bucket with holes in the top. I collected them from my driveway when I was waiting for the bus. It was probably a good thing I was also teacher's pet that year as there were ants all over our classroom! I was always a little different from others, a bit "odd" and still feel that way! As an adult I am much more comfortable with my "quirks".  

--I have over 300 Pez Dispensers. I'm looking for a really cool way to display them all someday!

--My husband and I are about to move for the seventh time in twelve years!

--One of the scariest emotions for me is boredom. Some people think I must be a "super mom" but it's really more a fear of not having anything to do!

--I have my Child Development Associate, degrees in Psychology and English, but have also entertained getting education to become a Montessori teacher or a Photographer. I switched my major so many times and entertained the idea of several other majors in college. I will likely never know what I want to be when I grow up!

3. These are the Montessori blogs I always find inspiring and motivating:

-- The Adventures of Bear

-- The Work Plan

-- Discovery Days and Montessori Moments

-- Sugar and Spice

-- 1 + 1 + 1 = 1

Sharing The Linky Love!

I've recently received a lot of "linky love" from other bloggers, The Montessori Print Shop, Childhood 101, and a even a Montessori Preschool, and now I really want to return the favor. The recent number of hits and new followers I've received has been amazing. It's quite rewarding to share my ideas, as well as to find new blogs and information in the process! Many of my favorite blogs are in my side bar, but not everyone is on Blogger, so this is also a chance to share other great bloggers that I adore as well.

May I suggest...

Our Montessori Home: Mother to an infant and older toddler practicing Montessori. She formerly worked with ages 3-6 in a Montessori classroom.

A Candle To Be Lit: Montessori Mother to an almost two year old toddler and infant twins.
I also like her personal blog which is full of reflections on parenthood and Montessori.

This Thing Called Life: A beautifully witten blog with lovely, touching thoughts on parenting a young child.

Childhood 101 Playopedia: Unique play ideas sorted by category and age.

Escaping To My Happy Place: I can't sum-up this next blog any better than the author has in her description!: "Where I Post Crunchy News, Argue Politics, Advocate Attachment Parenting And Natural Family Living, Channel Maria Montessori, Garden Organically, And Kick Your Lily White Arse For Making Your Baby Cry-It-Out"

North American Montessori Teaching Training Center: This is a blog is packed with wonderful information!


Now a little extra linky love for the Bloggers and Facebook pages that have given me the most traffic! These are all (wonderful!) Montessori blogs.

The Adventures of Bear: Blog and Facebook

1 + 1 + 1 = 1:  Blog

Discovery Days and Montessori Moments:  Blog

Counting Coconuts: Blog and Facebook

The Work Plan: Blog

Wczesnaedukacjaantkaikuby: Blog (You can translate to English with her Google Translator Gadget)

One Hook Wonder:  Blog 

The Montessori Print Shop: They have a Blog but more importantly they have a huge selection of over 950 Montessori materials in digital file format! If I had a printer I'd be downloading like crazy! Here is their Store as well as their Facebook, and Twitter pages.