Montessori Elementary Homeschool Blog - with documentation of our infant Montessori, toddler Montessori, and primary Montessori experiences; as well as preparation for the upcoming adolescent Montessori homeschool years.
Showing posts with label elementary montessori homeschooling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label elementary montessori homeschooling. Show all posts

Thursday, April 30, 2020

Legoboy's Schooling - What did he actually use?

Legoboy used many resources in addition to Montessori throughout his life education. Many of these resources I have previously written about on Montessori Trails. A Keys of the Universe parent asked me to write some explicit posts about our supplements, so here goes!


The first Great Lesson story we tell in elementary is The Creation of the Universe or God with No Hands. This story tells of the creation of the universe and the formation of the earth, with the ultimate goal to demonstrate the laws of nature and the utter obedience of all particles to these laws. 
Just about every child studies volcanoes so of course we did too! No particular resources used - videos, trips to our local museum, books. 

He did fall in love with all things POMPEII! And as luck would have it, our local museum center had a special exhibit, so we picked up a few resources there: videos, books, cards. 


The Story of God with No Hands opens up the Geography album. Within geography, we have studies on the universe, nature of elements, sun and earth, work of water, work of air, human geography, and economic geography. In addition to the Montessori experience, Legoboy utilized the following the most heavily: 





Friday, January 1, 2016

Culture Studies in Our Home

We have not really written about our cultural studies in our Montessori home... or have we?


What is included in cultural studies?
  • Political geography 
  • Physical geography - and biomes - climate - all of these affect how people live, the choices they make, and even how the political lines are divided!
  • Music, art, clothing - all those choices that people of different regions make
  • History of various areas - what happened in the past still affects today
  • Economic Geography - goods that are available in one area might not be available in another; or there might not be enough in one area to support the needs and desires of the local people. 





A Montessori Nugget on Culture in Montessori



Previous stops along the Montessori Trails - not all-inclusive: 
Calligraphy
Continent Folders - Primary
Some of Legoboy's work plans - Upper Elementary age
A Week in the Life of Legoboy - earlier Upper Elementary
Timelines: Doing the Child's Work for Him










Saturday, December 5, 2015

Tacklebox Montessori

Just a sampling of the tackleboxes used in our Montessori homeschooling...

Inspiration by Ms. Suzanne over at Livable Learning and Teaching from a Tacklebox.


As I go through each chapter of each elementary album, I am updating, refreshing, cleaning out and re-posting all of our materials - providing downloads of all that is possible, posting images of organizations, etc. I am really striving to streamline the process for Montessori elementary homeschoolers.

For the fun of it, here is some for everyone!


Retiring the old fractions box... It has served us well, but after 3 children sitting on it.... well, it was time for something that has a lid ;)
Plano 3750

The new one - with space for sample fraction problems.
If you make these pieces, please use red (the unit broken into pieces). NOT yellow ;) 

The box needed for the numeration chapter (early math). We call it a numbers/operations box. I would like to call it the Numeration Box because we have a separate box for the actual Operations chapter, but this one has the operation signs, fractions, decimals, etc.

Plano 3700


Operations Box

Holds the bank game, guides to create a child's own problems, stone for group division and more.
This is also a Plano 3700 

Not a tacklebox - but how we store our decimal system cards from primary - materials that are used into elementary and a bit into adolescence.




We also have a Plano 3500 for the Notation of Squares and Notation of Cubes.

And a Plano 3700 for our geography stamps.


Monday, November 16, 2015

Grammar Boxes in Action

Montessori Grammar boxes in action in a home setting - no particular order :)


Our original storage: Each filer box contents in an envelope; all envelopes stored in a larger envelope. Command cards and any additional exercises in their own envelopes (commands cards are paperclipped into smaller groups inside the envelope). All envelopes stored in a mail holder or small basket next to the grammar box. Takes up FAR less space ;)
Would prefer plastic pouches. 





Introducing grammar box 2 - before introducing the name of the part of speech. 




Symbolizing with the grammar symbols. Not a color match because the cards are different colors! 



Legos come in handy. 

And we take a creative break ;) 

Sunday, September 6, 2015

Montessori Memory Development

Memory – something so many of us struggle with, despite 13 years of a traditional school model which required us to memorize pieces of information to regurgitate at test time. Shouldn’t we all have perfect memories by now?


In contrast, a Montessori education has no testing of those memory skills, no straight-forward regurgitation of facts; yet Montessori graduates go on to continue their lives with excellent mental skills, including in the area of memory.

Don’t we need tests to prove memory skills? Don’t we want to be able to remember a string of unrelated facts without any context? Well… yes… and no.


Montessori allows memory skills to develop by connecting the memorization of a particular fact to so many other areas simultaneously that almost *anything* can be a trigger for a needed memory.


Probably many of my readers here will entirely agree with that fact without me saying another word. But please allow me to extrapolate for a moment.

A child in the primary (ages 3-6) class is working on memorization of math facts – those equations based on adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing the numbers of 1-9. This typically kindergarten (age 5-6) child is probably quite adept at the following:

  • performing all four operations utilizing the golden bead material as well as the stamp game – both are kinesthetic to varying degrees, the golden beads require collecting material by walking and the stamp game requires fine motor movement and introduces writing out the operations;
  • this child has also probably worked on counting up and down the short and long chains, representing the squares and cubes of the numbers 1-10, introducing skip-counting and multiples (and indirect introduction to factors). Some Montessori environments include a writing-related extension for the chains. Many children turn the skip counting up and down into something of a chant, all on their own. 
  • the child may be using the snake game for addition and subtraction, which include a verification stage that utilizes multiplication.
  • the multiplication material itself involves some bead boards, strip boards and charts – before even getting to the writing portion with the booklets.


Thus this child has already worked with the math facts in the whole body; in the arms/hands; in some writing; and finally in the mind and fingers with the beads where the child isn’t moving just as much in the whole body. So as the child moves into the charts, we can say, “Check into your mind first – see if the answer is already there, before you use whatever material you want or need to verify your answer.”


Montessori develops memory skills in a variety of areas.


Memory isn’t just in math, but that is the first place we think of.

Order in the environment – Sensorial and Exercises of Practical Life:


From the child’s beginning days in the primary level environment, we invite them to think through their tasks. “As you put away the wood polishing tray, think to yourself, ‘What else needs to be replaced so it is ready for the next person?’” Not only that, but where does the tray even go? If it is put away incorrectly, someone will fix and may gently point it out the child.

Indeed, we set up our environments so that there is a place for everything and everything in its place. Establishing this sense of order is key to developing the child’s memory skills on an ongoing basis. It encourages the use of memory (“where does this go?”) and using context clues to locate the correct spot. It also helps the child when he is elsewhere and thinks about his learning environment, when everything is essentially in the same place, he can visualize it to make his plans for the next day or to tell someone else about his work. Or to wonder what will be new in an area the teacher/parent has said the day before “We have something new coming tomorrow! And I will place it in this spot when it arrives!”

Within the sensorial area in particular, the child see several groups of “ten”, the basis for our decimal system: the pink tower, the brown stair, the red rods, the knobbed cylinders, the knobless cylinders. What doesn’t come in tens, comes in pairs for the sake of matching and some items later for grading. There is a consistent order to things for the children to explore while experiencing an isolation of concepts with our “keys to the world” as Montessori called the sensorial materials. We have the materials on display in a way that highlights the item’s main attribute or teaching point. This aids the child in finding patterns in the world around him which only aids in memory skills as new experiences are ordered to the variety of patterns the child finds in his mind, organizing information in a variety of ways (this information I am learning is like the pink tower in this way; and like the bells in this other way; etc. – meaning that name of something new might sound like particular notes on the bells; or be equally as pleasant to hear).


Maintaining this order, causes us adults to consider making any major (and many minor) changes to the environment with the children present, so that the child can make the mental shift at the same time.

Nothing like a constantly changing environment to make memory development trickier! Those of us who have to change environment routinely with our children, should consider this need for order and look to what we *can* maintain. Whether it be routines around mealtimes and bedtimes, worship practices, consistent behavior expectations, family traditions, or other areas, children are not harmed in any way by moving a lot or long-term travelling, when they find consistent order in other areas of life.




Language:


We utilize three-period lessons to introduce new nomenclature to the children. We give the name in the first period, do a lot of action with the nomenclature in the second period, and when the child is successful at the second period (either in the first session or a future session), we move to the third period of asking the child for the name of the object or quality at hand. We can add more objects/qualities right away if the child was easily successful or we can review another time or day, and add more then.

We strive to use whole language (complete sentences, full words, real words), an extensive vocabulary (children can soak in any word of any length when used in context – we do not need to simplify our vocabulary for young children!), and full interaction with the children on a variety of topics (look them in the eye while having a conversation). It is a stronger impression on the child’s mind when we share in and discuss real life experiences. Instead of just watching a video about gardening and having pretend gardening tools and items, to actually garden, grow one’s own treats, have fun getting dirty – and talking about it, sharing ideas, trying out new things. These things provide a multi-sensory approach to learning that aids in memory development.


Mathematics:


Beyond the 3-period lessons we use with the children to teach nomenclature in all areas, we also ask the children to tell us what they are going to bring after we tell them a quantity of beads or cards to bring to the mat. “Please bring me four thousands and 3 tens. (pause) What are you going to bring me?” (the child repeats – if they miss it, repeat the request and ask them to repeat it again; until they get it – please note if you are using two or more categories and a child cannot say it back, back down one less category and strengthen those memory skills first ;) ).

As the child works through math problems throughout primary and elementary, the child should be verbalizing the process. This helps to internalize the skills at hand - saying, hearing it, finding words to explain it, the physical manipulation, the visual acuity. 


Sensorial:


The sensorial materials for matching are awesome memory developers because are intentionally spreading the experience out. The sound cylinders: shake a red one (switching hands and doing it in both ears), shake a blue one (both ears as well). Not sure if it matched? Listen again. If a “no”, the blue one is set aside; re-shake the red one before listening to the next blue one. Reinforcing that sound. Later, a challenge is to shake the red one, listen to the all the blue ones and select the one that matches.

With the bells, we have distance matching and distance grading. One of the extensions of this distance work is to listen to a bell, then go have a short conversation with someone before proceeding to the bells cabinet to find the match (or next in grading series).

And remember! The control of error is in one's own senses - there is NO OTHER control of error here! 



This memory work area is one area where the children do not ever really age out of the sensorial materials. A 4 year old might be done with the main ways to build the pink tower and may have mastered all the language by age 5; but can they feel a cube while blindfolded, go chat with a friend (having removed the blindfold but not looked at the cube), and only then find the next cube in the series when all the cubes have been scattered around the room. This challenge combines many of the extensions and is a fun challenge for most 5 and 6 year olds (and elementary children!). 






But it is never too late to get started.


Start using these same techniques at any age to get started, either for yourself or with an older child. Recent brain research shows the brain remains pliable throughout life, for as long as it is used. The only time things are truly lost is when one or more areas of the brain are left so inactive for so long, generally from so early childhood that the area was never activated to begin with. We used to think that the brain couldn’t learn much after so long because of the experiences with children found feral and without language in the wilderness. What we have found is that if those areas were activated at all in childhood they can be stimulated – perhaps not to the same extent as if they’d been active all along, but certainly something can develop under the proper circumstances!

Alzheimers.net has an article on using the Montessori approach for people with Alzheimers. 


So what do we do to develop our own memory skills?
  • Eat right. Limit sugar intake which causes huge fluctuations in the blood and brain.
  • You learn something new, use it right away – many times over. You meet someone new, use their name several times in the next few minutes, while looking that person in the eye.
  • When you are going into another room to get or do something, repeat the plan several times in your mind or out loud.
  • Need to memorize something important? Make up a song for it.
  • If you are looking for a nutritional method of memory assistance, rosemary is an excellent herb of choice; if you don’t like the flavor, the rosemary essential oil can be utilized via aromatherapy to stimulate the memory centers of the brain.
  • If you have access to the Montessori materials, do the primary level exercises yourself! Challenge yourself!
  • Get up and move! Circulating blood brings more oxygen to all areas of your body, connecting multiple types of experiences to information you want to remember, and generally having more energy – all aid in memory retention. 


Now, please share some of your ideas – where have you seen memory practice in the Montessori environment (any age: infant, toddler, primary, elementary, adolescence) – and what others ways can adults enhance memory skills?



Saturday, June 27, 2015

On the Farm - well, almost ;)

Children should be outdoors as MUCH as possible. Getting their hands in the dirt - the soil of the earth from which their bodies were made. Creating from the produce of their sweat, toil and God's graces. 

The emotional and spiritual benefits can't be measured, but are astronomical (literally); and the benefits to academics and psychology is almost as wonderful. 

These things begin in the child's youngest days of life, and will come to greater meaning in adolescence. We are almost there! Yikes! The end of the elementary years... and the beginnings of adolescence. Age 11 and 12 are kind of cross-over years as hormones start kicking in and the child's plane of development changes. 
More information on the planes of development - sensitive periods

So here is a tiny snippet of what we have been able to do of late - not near as much as what we are planning in the near future! 


Anyone know what this is? We have TONS of it. 

Told you so. 

We haven't exactly weeded the garden this year. Ever.

In May, the landlord came over and tilled the soil from last year's garden; we planted our few surviving seedlings immediately; most did not survive; and we ordered more seeds to literally SCATTER (and cover with some worm compost). June 7, we planted 28 "mystery tomatoes" from a friend who was selling them at a farmer's market - they had lots the tags on them, couldn't identify them, nobody would buy them, so we bought for a bit less than half-off, in exchange for some canned tomatoes down the road. Awesome stuff.

We have watered and watered and watered (clay soil; little to no rain most of the time). Then we had a few days of rain - and VOILA! LOOK WHAT HAPPENED!!!!



Turns out that worm compost had some undigested tomato seeds - so we have a few extra tomato plants mixed with the pumpkins and watermelons. Hm. Extra treasures!

No asparagus, rhubarb and a few other things we'd planted. :( This just wasn't the year to FOCUS on the garden - the goal this year is to prove that we can, get our hands dirty, have some fun and see what happens. Better planning for next year!
Weeding done. We literally *cut* the weeds down.
Left some there for ground-cover.
The landlord will mulch the rest when he comes through. 

Hey guys!!!! Missed you!!!!! 

Beautiful horse neighbors.
Considering learning to ride.... 


Garden from the other side.
Looks a bit sparse now. 

3 hours, 4 blisters between the two of us, a homemade scythe (loving having an 11 year old male child), and a bit of a sunburn later.... WHEW.



The next day - strawberry picking with this adorable princess:
That smile makes it all worth it! 

Just stop trying to escape! 
Yummmmm. STRAWBERRIES! 


Making jam:


Made more -
gifted some
ate some ;) 


Taking a walk afterward.
Think Linus. Lack of bath and all ;) haha!

Not our neighborhood ;) 


What do I not have photos of?

Climbing trees, playing in puddles (yep, he still does it!), planting the lilac bushes, weeding the mulched areas, setting up our statues, just chilling in the backyard, and a bit more.


We are getting realizable plans together to move again - maybe not for another year, though - to larger property and start a Montessori farm school experience. Exciting!!!








Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Legoboy's Doings - June 2015


We don't have photos of it all - but this has been a BUSY month.

Legoboy started the month with a week with friends. He wanted a cell phone so he could text me throughout the week. With a $10 a month pre-paid plan that gave him 100 minutes or outgoing texts (incoming are free) and a phone that is only $10.... ok. This is not our first week-or-longer-separation and he has always done "well" but it is hard to maintain open communication through other people's devices. Now he is getting older, he feels like he "needs" me more, so cell phone it is.

In the end, we communicated much LESS than we normally would have "tried" for. No question as to "why" that is. He knew I was accessible to him at any time day or night - so he lived his life in confidence.

One morning we had this conversation:
L: Good morning.
M (surprised at how early he was texting me): You awake?
L: Yes, I am AWAKE and I woke up at 7:45.
M: Ouch! Did that hurt!?
L: No, it did not hurt. Why?
M: Because you don't wake up that early at home without a fight ;)

I asked for a happy nice smile to have on my phone while I was gone:

A few days before I left, he got a new bike. Because of his size and current growth rate (he will be big enough for the bigger wheels by the end of summer), the guy at the shop recommended the bigger wheels. Well, it just isn't comfortable for him to trust himself. So learning to ride isn't going so hot. He tried a 2-wheeler at age 4, but I put it together and it didn't work right - and he tried to ride it on carpet first... Not so hot then either.

Sigh. Poor kid. He just wants to RIDE. It won't be long, he'll try again later this summer. When he is a bit taller.




Because see - he's been doing a lot of this - these are all day-time shots:


He still likes to snuggle from time to time. 



AND THIS:

He does a lot of cooking these days. Not just to feed himself,
but because he really enjoys it. 

Staying up late every night to watch the stars MIGHT contribute to day-time sleeping, but really.... he's a growing boy! I canNOT keep him in pants that reach his ankles and he is not much interested in shorts. While I was away, he even texted one day to say that yes he was being fed, yes he was eating 3 breakfasts, 2 lunches and dinner never stopped, but he was still SO hungry. ;)


When I got back home, we both helped at a carnival to raise money for the family of a friend (the friend's family he stayed with actually) - our friend's brother had stage 4 pancreatic cancer. At the carnival, Legoboy spent most of his tickets "buying" things for other people - including getting me some Legos ;)

Two weeks later, we attended the funeral of the gentleman in question and Legoboy served at the funeral Mass. I did not get photos - I wanted one of him in his serving alb and surplice (he doesn't normally get to wear the full layers at our local parish since this is reserved for the Altar Boyz group, but at funerals everyone does). I was thrown off by a not-so-random turn of events. Sorry Legoboy!


In the between time, Legoboy spent 3 long days entertaining himself with Minecraft, reading, naps and eating while I did a Level 1 Catechesis of the Good Shepherd with two very awesome ladies (you know who you are!). He complained the whole time he was hungry of course. ;) The first day of the course, he spent with some local homeschool families at our local Canal Days celebration. He took a LOT of photos. Here is just ONE:


He has been pursuing some of his own studies in various areas - most of which I am oblivious to, I have to admit. He wants to write something about Khan Academy, so he's been doing some stuff there; he has been designing worlds in Minecraft; practicing piano (just reviewing all that he knows - not currently learning anything new); climbing trees;


working on the backyard:

Picking up hose reel, bricks and tiles for the garden. 
Picked up our 3 new lilac bushes
Ummm. I think it's time to start weeding. 

We have both an in-ground fire-pit and a portable one (for using on the porch on rainy but not windy days). Weekly s'mores! His mission this summer - starting next week, he wants to intentionally build a different style of fire each week, try them all out, see which ones are better for what, and know them all off the top of his head. Very cool!






Practicing Tae-Kwon-Do - preparing for the next belt test (school test in August; association test in September)

Doing his part to prepare for Vacation Bible School ;)




He missed one of the Homeschool Mondays at our local museum center (the week I was gone, everyone forgot!), but we made it to the next one.

Exploring the museum after the class (which was on cultural celebrations - he really liked it)

We always stop by to the visit the baby - he is 3 years old, his name is Umi. And I cry. Every. Single. Time.
He's in here. 

And this is a reconstruction of what is inside,
based on scans. 
Neat exhibit this time around of our local area's contributions to weaponry since the 1700s. Legoboy pointed out all the cursive letters and notes....


The month isn't over. ;)