How We Homeschool

Here is what I see happen in many homeschools:

A wonderful curriculum is selected or compiled from a variety of sources. This is for science; that is for math; etc. Or it's a complete curriculum package. Very handy and neatly laid out.

Then mom and dad (more particularly mom) gleans a neat idea from a homeschool friend in the neighborhood or homeschool co-op or from an online acquaintance. Or the child has an interest in something and a kit or supplies are found at the store or in storage. "This would be great to do with the children!" The materials are purchased or gathered. And there they sit.

Or they do work on it, but the curriculum has to be set aside for the time it takes to work on that project. Because there is only so much time left in the day.

And then we're behind on school.

Repeat cycle.

And there is burn-out.

Sometimes those fun things are saved specifically for burn-out time - February for many people (I happen to LIKE February myself ;) ). A good plan for anticipating what is coming, because you know it's coming, so let's have something on hand to cover it!

Well, if it works out that way.

Most of that stuff ends up sold to other homeschoolers who love the idea and may or may not use it. I once tracked the ownership of a particular resource I had just purchased back no less than EIGHT homeschool families, most of whom didn't even open it up before eventually passing it on. All contents were intact and none of the projects had ever been done in it.


But I ask: why plan for the burn-out? How about avoiding it altogether and still doing those fun things? ;)
Why sell off unused stuff that you KNOW your kids would have just LOVED if they'd had it at the right time, but they're now in college and you're online selling it off?



In our homeschool:

We do hit our times here in our homeschool where we just need a break. We don't call it burn-out because we're not burned out - we're just gearing up for a change of pace. We have these built-in times anyway because we live according to a liturgical year and that helps. But our curriculum choice helps too.

We have and use AMI Montessori albums. These albums provide a foundation and framework in their appropriate areas, as well as build connections between the subjects. If I just provide my son with THOSE lessons, he will have a solid foundation and a firm framework, but he won't have everything he needs.

Yikes, you're thinking! You mean your curriculum doesn't cover everything? (nope!) But that's terrible! A comprehensive curriculum is what a family needs to ensure the child learns everything he needs to know! (Well... not exactly).

See. My son has the foundation and the framework. And if I had more children, each child would then receive a solid foundation and firm framework. But what each child *needs* from there is going to be very different from the next child!

SO. We have a foundation and a framework. We then have TIME to explore personal interests (no, not just the interests he expresses, because the Montessori albums guide me to present in new areas in order to find new interests) in ways that speak to this child. So if my son is interested in the layers of the earth over types of rocks right now - so be it - we explore the layers of the earth. I know we'll come back around to that foundational presentation in the future and he WILL come around to studying different types of rocks.
And if he doesn't get there on his own? It is covered by 'family requirements' and 'local educational requirements' (anything required by the state in which you homeschool).

If my son wants to explore the orchestra by attending orchestral performances, we can do that; or if he would rather go to the music store and talk with an employee while the employee is pulling an instrument apart to clean it, repair it, and tune it -- we can do that instead! Or do both!

Thus, all the requirements are covered, with minimal time.

And we can pull in ALL SORTS of additional resources that supplement our "curriculum" (I know my Montessori trainers cringe at that word! Sorry! it's what most people understand, in regards to organizing a child's educational experience, so I'll use it for now ;) ) --- and we can explore personal interests SO DEEPLY.

And still have time and space left for family life.

What sort of stuff do we pull in while at home?

• Fun science kits
• Cooking experiments
• Art projects of ALL kinds
• Just sit and read for hours on end
• Work on handcrafts for hours on end
• Play games - lots of games - cards, boards, co-operative, etc. 
• Writing one's own music
• Being allowed to attend a midnight showing of The Hobbit and stay up afterwards to discuss it. 
• Learn a foreign language; continue learning sign language --- for the FUN of it. 
• Keep the house clean, together. 

And the stuff we can do outside the home is endless.

Ok, so some of those things apply more to my son than to my own free time (I run two small businesses from my home after all!). The point is that time is available because we're not looking at just the bare minimum requirements for 8 hours a day.

There is also a teeny-tiny amount of time available for computer usage, but at age 8, that time is less than half an hour per week. Not that I actually clock it at this point; it's just that the computer is for work and minimally available for play. Thus... there is also time for... SOCIAL INTERACTIONS. The only thing that non-homeschoolers want to know about ;) 

Lots of time. Lots of energy. Neither of which are spent on tedium or unnecessaries. 

Especially now I am pretty much DONE making materials or earning money specifically for Montessori materials. Blissful SIGH! ;) 

Consider how YOUR child learns. If you have more than one child - what are their similarities and differences? Is it possible to provide them a foundation and a structure and then allow each one time to explore their individual interests? Can they then learn from one another? And be involved in each other's interests at each one's own level?

;)


By the by, the kit mentioned above that had 8 previous owners? We had a BLAST with it! I'll post about it soon. It's been a while but is still discussed quite often.

Command Cards - Elementary Montessori

This post started as a quick note about Geometry Command Cards, but quickly got off on other tangents as 3 ladies asked me related questions at the same time ;) Talk about coincidence! (or alignment of the moon or something!)


ORIGINAL POST: 

Fast drawing the concept on paper
From a command card for "two lines"
note the opposite direction of the stick work
showing mastery of the concept in a different layout

Just a quick post to say that I have added sample basic geometry command cards at the end of the following previous post:

Geometry Command Cards Original Post

This file includes additional pre-formatted pages to add your own additional ones; I have left it in Word so you can edit it as you like.

More advanced versions are being added to the Keys of the Universe Geometry album.





ADDING ON: 

NOT ALL CHILDREN need these command cards. Sometimes (in the case of my son) they are a great way to provide quick reviews for a slightly older homeschooled child without the benefit of having watched his peers doing the work, or helping younger ones, before moving on to more advanced work.

Sometimes a child just needs a little push into ways that he can work independently with a material.

In pure Montessori terms, the command cards should be presented only when needed to get work going, then pulled out as the children are finding ways to work independently and come up with their own ideas.

EDITING (11/27/2012) TO ADD this sentence:
*Writing* command cards is an excellent exercise for a child to develop skills in planning and organizing --- especially when there are many ideas going through his mind at once and he can't go all directions at once! So if a child hears a lesson and has 5 ideas, he can write out each of his ideas on a card - choose one to work on now, and now he has 4 ideas in back-up to pursue later that day, later that week, or just later in life.





Again - in the homeschool, I see more of a use for them from to time.

• get work going
• encourage working independently when toddlers and babies and teens or home businesses need a parent's attention
• as review for that middle aged child (8-9) to review concepts not explored recently before moving on to more advanced work. 
• As a way of monitoring work, combined with the work plan and work journal. 
• I DO NOT recommend using as your child's sole source of inspiration for work. Use them judiciously. 

How do I feel about the curriculum cards created by Albanesi?
You are about to read a completely wide open, honest and blunt response.

You have been forewarned ;)

• I think (my opinion!) they are ridiculously expensive for a homeschool (even though homeschoolers might have a greater use for them, supplementing the cards where 30-35 children are not present; but then you have to buy the materials too!? And still have the albums!? NO WAY!?)
• And entirely unnecessary in such large quantities and sets for a classroom where there IS the influence of so many other children. 
• These curriculum cards are not command cards so much as almost everything is done by the child, with very minimal work with the adult. This is NOT Montessori - this is independent learning - not really the same thing at all. And it is too "curriculum-like" to borrow my primary trainers term (for another Montessori-styled item) - it's not about following the child or meeting the child's needs of the moment. 
• Yes, there are a couple of yahoo groups that are trying to do something like these sets for homeschool purposes. They (we, actually - since I am in on those groups), continue to hit brick walls because of these conflicting notions of what they are meant to be and how they are meant to be used. So yes, I have looked into these cards extensively. And a homeschool version is likely to be created at some point in the next year or two - but it won't be like what the original project set out to do. 
• I do NOT recommend purchasing them, for home (expense) OR for school (appropriateness in the environment). If someone gifts them to you, then great - use them as you see fit. But don't spend your own money on them! 

How's that for an honest response? ;)