In this video I’m sharing what our evenings in the atelier actually look like in our home—usually one to two hours of focused connection, learning, and creativity while my younger son sleeps. I start by preparing intentionally, and tonight that meant looking back at my documentation notes from the previous evening. I noticed Samuel was drawn to letters (abacus letters, magnetic letters and making “pretend words”), sensory materials like rice, and building/attaching (he made a little cake stand from tubes and paper plates and was more interested in how things connect than decorating). So I set up a couple of simple provocations: one invitation to build onto his cake-stand idea with plates, cardboard tubes, and “attaching” tools like tape, a stapler, scissors, a hole punch and ribbon; and another invitation with magnetic letters alongside a tray of sensory rice (plus a few familiar words to look at). The key is that provocations aren’t a task he has to complete—they’re there to spark interest. You’ll see sensory play, pretend play, a bit of cutting and making, and even him choosing to pull out a letter-learning game from our curriculum. It’s not “sit down and do school,” but it is very real learning through creativity and connection.