Elementary Montessori Practical Life - an updated post

I recently updated this post of for elementary Montessori exercises of practical life

Take a look and tell me what you think!

School Days - Botany, EPL, Language, Geography/History

We have been so way-laid from our plans these last few months as you will see with our botany studies... but I feel like we have utilized this season of Lent to really freshen up and clear out. So now, we can focus on things we love to do :)


Practical Life: 
Legoboy got right onto his morning chores, clearing up corners that he'd not quite done just properly the last few days. He even vacuumed (an extra). He must think it's almost time for his birthday ;) Actually, he has really begun to appreciate having a clean home where he can spread out his Lego projects and still find everything.

He arranged the prayer table a new way - with only a week to go until the start of Holy Week, he wants to be ready for some planning he has been doing for the Triduum. He lit the candles for prayer time and replace the old with new.


Botany: 
I wanted to replant our herbs in October or November, start the seedlings then, so that they could benefit from our south-facing balcony window through the winter and be strong hardy plants by now.
All of our herbs except marshmallow did NOT make the full cycle of life from our last planting. :(

Yeah. Um. Or not. Here it is April - we finally got them in.

According to our plans from last time, we made some changes:

• use a seed starter within the egg cartons
• make holes in the bottom of the cartons for the roots to not have to through so much thickness of cardboard (even soaked, many of the roots worked their way between the layers of cardboard, but not all the way OUT --- even after watering only the soil to attract the roots to the soil. 
• place the egg cartons in the seedling planters immediately (well, they now have holes in them after all)
• place directly in a warm window (we don't get as much direct sunlight right now, but a friend has a sun-lamp to loan us if needed)
• use this blue rack that has been making the rounds (we've used it for home stuff, Montessori stuff, in an atrium, in a Montessori co-op, in Legoboy's bedroom, and now into the living room stacked tall and narrow) --- it really helps all the plants reach the light, uses vertical space and not our entire floor space or play area. 

After getting this all squared away, Legoboy wanted to listen to some of the Herb Fairy stories again (Herb Fairies is currently offering a free herb cookbook and will soon open up their yearly Herb Fairy adventures ---- we are SO NOT into "fairies" and the like in our home, but we love this learning adventure!). We chose the one about roses today. Oh! All the things that a rose plant can help with! And the candy from the fruit! (actually you can make candy from the petals too, but the story didn't share that part - which means there is SO much more to learn about all the herbs we've been studying!). So we listened while I worked on tracing figures for a Garden of Francis order and Legoboy built some Lego structures. 

Practical Life Moment (as if herbs aren't practical ;) ) --- he went down to check the mail....
And we got our package from a Mountain Rose Herbs giveaway - I love winning giveaways!!! In this giveaway, we received a package of dried herbs: marshmallow root, chicory root, astragalus root powder, milk thistle seed, and burdock root --- all of which go along quite nicely with this month's Herbal Roots Zine which is on chicory. Many times, we can't do all of the recipes because we don't have the ingredients on hand. No excuse this time ;) So when we get to actually reading the Zine next week, we'll have what we need. Yay!

Our herbal studies have really gone deep. I blame Montessori on that. I can't imagine having time or energy to explore the options and make any basic herb-learning selection if we used any other curriculum. Using Montessori, this IS our botany studies (after the basic lessons). I know I gush about that freedom of time we have - but it is SO true! We worked out a plan today to choose one day a week to be our herb day - it could be reading the Zine and doing some of the activities, doing activities or watching videos from the various newsletters we are signed up for (Learning Herbs, Herbal Roots Zine, are the two that come to mind right away), doing or creating something from the kids herbal books he has, doing a recipe from the Mountain Rose Herbs catalogs (because they have recipes in there --- teas, foods, medicines, candies, you name it!).


Mathematics: 
We are taking a short break from the Montessori lessons while I create the follow-up cards for the upper elementary portions - I want him to work on these sections from the beginning, rather than what he's been doing (reviewing the lower elementary follow-up cards for typos and logic).

We played Act Your Wage again today and discussed some variations to try out next time. I'll post how all that goes ;)

I then assigned him some real life word problems of a sort, using our home finances as the foundation. It is amazing the insights he comes up with by "handing over" the finances to him. Not that he is really doing our home finances, but allowing him real life participation in real numbers and real situations, he sometimes comes up with ideas or asks just the right question to get me thinking of something better. And he finds the applicable Scripture passages when it comes to certain situations as well. He is the one to coin the phrase I have used a lot frequently: "the wife is to increase what the husband provides for the family". Well, that is perhaps a topic for our Catholic Hearts blog, but it ties in so well with our Montessori studies of real life, real experiences, inter-connecting all areas of school and life.

With these word problems, he has been looking at basic interest rates, savings rates, expenses, ways to expand our budget, etc. Utilizing both math skills, as well as logic, problem solving and ethics.


Geography/History: 
As an upper elementary student he is really delving into exploring the various beliefs about the origins of the earth and the early history of humankind. Last year, he explored various creation myths from around the world; he wants to get that book again from the library - I will post about when we do because it is recommended in the elementary Montessori albums and he wants to create some sort of analysis of the similarities amongst each one, as well as the differences - then see what those differences have to do with the culture the story came from.

Today he read a chapter from a book he has on Creation vs. Evolution.


Language: 
We finally had our discussion on what a debate is, how it works, no winners/losers yet how we can analyze a person's evidence as well as the presentation of that evidence. Look at the questions still unanswered and how many debates prompt people to do their own research.
All of this ties into his earth origins studies, because of the recent Nye/Ham debate (the link is creation perspective but I am short on time and can't find a link without a "bias") - we own the DVD - I watched part of it online but didn't have time to finish. We'll be watching the debate soon, tracking the evidence each one puts forth and see how well each one does in responding to the other.

Rolling Mats at Home

When we moved several states over for Montessori training, my son attended a Montessori school full-time. Despite having learned how to roll mats and the like at home, he truly honed in on this work within the school setting.

So much so that he brought his work home with him. One evening, after he had rolled literally everything sensical that he could find to do so - he took my paper and began to roll it as well! I was laughing too hysterically to think to photograph the rolled blankets, aprons, placemats, coats, washcloths and towels - but I did get the paper!

So much for the ladies at the training center telling me that children who attend Montessori school will be put off by having the materials at home (it didn't happen in our case - his work was enhanced by me making materials at home for him to "test" despite being at school 10 hours a day in a fully equipped classroom).

A few weeks later, he started in a Catechesis of the Good Shepherd atrium at our local parish (yay! I was so happy to be at a parish with an atrium! He had such a wonderful catechist too!) - and he was showing HER how to roll the mats because apparently she didn't do it the way HE had learned it. ;)

Hi Mama! I'm rolling mats!
(notice the one behind him? already rolled)

He even PATTED the ends - just like the teacher did!
I so did not teach him that part.

Unrolling his work.

Got to to do it again!!! Unroll and do it over!
Now it's a fun game because Mama is laughing and the camera is flashing. 

Oh the memories this brings back...

Why Citric Acid?

This week: a series of blog posts by Legoboy himself. :) 

Legoboy recently did a research project. 'Project' is a term used somewhat loosely in Montessori - in this case, he had a question, he looked up information and he reported his results. For the project portion, he is reporting his results here:


Legoboy:

Question: Why does citric acid and white vinegar clean off more than baking soda and any kind of vinegar?

Observation: Our toilet, faucets and drains have been building up calcium deposits and Mama uses borax, washing soda, baking soda and vinegar in combinations. I think they look clean but she says they're not. The toilet did have a lot of black and gray in it.

Last week, Mama soaked the toilet in citric acid (she uses it to make dishwasher soap) and white vinegar and closed it up tight. We went out to lunch and I had to use the bathroom at the restaurant because she said I couldn't use the bathroom at home until that evening.

When we opened the toilet, chunks of calcium were floating in the water. I had a choice to clean up my room or scrub the toilet. I am happy I had a choice, because the toilet was gross to look at. A few minutes later Mama asked me to come see the toilet. It was white! She showed me that as she flushed the toilet while cleaning it, chunks were falling off under the rim. I saw them. She wasn't even scrubbing. I thought maybe I should have cleaned the toilet instead of my room. She was done first. I told her it was all the particles in the air inside the toilet that pulled the calcium.

The next day, I could only use the kitchen sink because she cleaned the bathtub and the bathroom sink. This time I helped to sprinkle the citric acid, spray with vinegar and sprinkle some more citric acid. But it didn't work. I had used our bottle that has apple cider vinegar and Mama said that only white vinegar works. I filled my other spray bottle with white vinegar and just sprayed all the citric acid. It worked! Everything is sparkling now!

On Saturday morning, we set up the kitchen sink the same. I remembered to take pictures. They are in this blog post. When we came home from visiting with Aunt Sarah (my godmother) at her bridal shower, we took turns wiping down the kitchen sinks and I took more pictures that are also here.

I asked my mama why the baking soda and vinegar we usually use didn't get the crusty stuff off, or even the brown spots around the bathroom faucet that aren't there anymore because of the citric acid. She told me I could use the internet to find out.

Answer: Citric Acid comes from citrus fruits and likes to grip onto gunk, then the white vinegar rinses it away. Baking soda is a base not an acid and it reacts with the vinegar to bubble up and pull some gunk off - it likes to blow things apart. I don't understand the ph stuff but Mama says I will soon. White vinegar is also an acid with a ph of 2.4. Apple cider vinegar isn't the same ph (4.25-5) so is almost neutral. So calcium particles break apart easier in two acids, not something neutral and not a  base. I thought acids burned my skin. They do when I eat a clementine and the juice gets into a cut. Ouch!

Mama cleaned it with baking soda and vinegar first
to make sure it was clean the usual way

Infants, Toddlers and Toothpicks

I have mentioned this activity a few times - about an older infant or toddler sitting at their little table with a set of toothpicks and a jar of varying kinds.

Not everyone has baby food jars - some of us make/made our own ;) So an alternative?

NOT this (awesome spice jar from IKEA - lots of uses - this one ain't it)

Toothpicks go in, but don't all come out.
FRUSTRATING.
Does not encourage independence or skills. 

Ball jam jar
these glass jars come in a variety of sizes, including very short!
Get the wide mouth ones. You'll use them for everything!
Get the types that one-size lid fits all you get.
The child can even insert his hand to
remove the toothpicks without dumping. ;) 

Practical Life in Elementary - Primary works?

There are some primary practical life skills that can still be worked on in elementary - whether because the child needs extra practice or because there was no primary level experience - or because of a significant emotional event that causes a child to backslide a bit. In these cases, a specific tray for a specific skill could be set up. But clear it away as soon as it is no longer a work of meditation, development of concentration and skill practice. Once one of those three components falls away, remove the material and offer alternatives that use that skill and continue to develop concentration. We do NOT want the children "hiding" behind work or choosing work simply to be "busy". We do want them fulfilling their inner needs - and YES sometimes that means a simpler activity already mastered. We just need to have the proper balance of work options --- an older child wanting to do some simple pouring, could pour drinks for snack/meals, prepare various works for other children that require pouring, etc. At home, go play in the bathtub with some pouring items - and get clean in the meantime ;)

1st grader practicing pouring between two pitchers
Skill needed: not touching the pitchers to each other

For the most part in elementary, practical life just looks more practical. There are not a gazillion individual trays, one for each skill. BUT in addition to having perhaps 1 or 2 trays to work on a particular primary level skill, you might put together a basket or box of items that go with a research project or a chosen area of study - just to keep the materials together. One example might be a basket that has mapping skills pulled together as an activity box for the children. This would be more appropriate for at home rather than at school, where those same materials will be displayed differently (according to each school). At home: a nice activity basket :) 

Homemade Vanilla

The resident child (hehe) has been studying a bit about herbs of late. And it has been on our plans to make homemade vanilla extract for quite some time. 

Obviously, not something he can do on his own... He can cut the beans, he can drain the extra fluid, he can drop in the beans, label it all and seal it up, he can store it. 

But I had to make purchase. My first alcohol purchase of my life! The things we do for our children! It does seem ironic I just purchased an alcohol for my son, though! 

(for the record, I am not opposed to alcohol, I just don't tout it or drink very much, and I have not had a reason to purchase it before now.... wait.... when I lived in Belgium, I bought some wine to bring home to family, but that was a different culture - alcohol was out with the sodas!). 

Grandma was given this kind of rum/vanilla; and we
were so happy to find it stocked at Kroger.
It has fantastic flavor, so we are excited! 

The beans we purchased from Mountain Rose Herbs: 

http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/index.php?AID=135782&Redirect=/search?page=1&q=vanilla+beans&utf8=✓

We have the "1oz Vanilla Bean organic and fair trade" and it smells right! ;) I do wonder if we got quite the driest beans (apparently you are supposed to use grade B beans - but I also wanted fair trade, etc). These seemed more most than I anticipated. So we'll see. Either way, it will work from what all sources say - it's just a nuance ;)

He has been looking at the history of the use of vanilla - and true to Montessori style, we want to look at the PEOPLE involved. Most fascinating is that a 12 year old child worked out how to hand-pollinate the vanilla so that it could be grown outside of the Latin America countries. 

Forget gold and corn and other such things - the greatest gift that the Europeans found in the Americas: VANILLA! 

Ever had chocolate without it? 

We did! Never again, thank you! 

Vanilla brought chocolate to the impoverished Europeans! And now they make the best chocolate in the world. One plant changed the world! One little boy's discovery! 

Practical Life in our Day: Mint

We are trying to be good stewards of the earth, while not letting the earth get in the way of the most important gift of human beings: relationship.

It is even better when the two are the same thing :)

In this case, we are growing mint in our living room. As it grows long, we trim it, hang it to dry, grind it up and make tea... and more... While it is drying (upside down so the oils flow back into the leaves, maximizing their potential), we have a beautiful decoration that makes our home, truly homey. Comforting. And there is a natural inclination towards being with one another in a cozy, homey home ;)

Once it is fully dried, we spend time together pulling the leaves off into a large bowl (easier to collect everything then, transfer in small quantities to the mortar and pestle). I bought a set of 3 of these on Amazon years back (affiliate link there) that have been simply fantastic!

The mint leaves are stored in a jar to use for making tea, or to add to our homemade toothpaste or anywhere else we need some mint flavoring.

That leaves the stems - which are fine for adding to the composting, but well, we have an interesting set up with our apartment management and mouse-traps get pricey when management does little to alleviate the issue. But fresh mint keeps them away.

My mother will cringe when she reads that I tuck these stems in all the places where the mice have been spotted. Despite her cringing, I can confidently report success (so far!) - ice-free and my home smells so nice! We freshen them up when we harvest new mint and THEN we compost the stems. There may be other purposes for them, but that is what we do for now :)

mint, dried, laying on the stove
because our counters were full at the time. 

grinding mint leaves with mortar and pestle

Elementary Practical Life

Primary level practical is so beautiful - all those trays, with neatly laid out items.

The Exercises of Practical Life can be such a conundrum though!



Most of society does not eagerly embrace the idea that a 3 year old can safely and appropriately utilize a very sharp utensil (the sharper, the safer!) to chop carrots. Among other beautiful practical life activities.

Those who embrace the Montessori way of observation and response, DO see this ability and strive to respect it in the best way each person can (with personal limitations). Thus we provide this necessary work for the child's development - with all of its benefits that go far beyond knowing how to cut a carrot. We embrace it, we love it, we multiply to the point it no longer is "practical" just because we can! It is almost TOO easy! I've been there too, so I am not condemning those who might "EPL" that are not really truly practical life ;)


On the flip side, most of the society recognizes that elementary children are capable of chores and some responsibilities, thus there is recognition of the value of "exercises of practical life" in that regard. Still there is little to no recognition of work for work's sake, or work for the sake of developing the inner person.

And us Montessorians do not have a pretty laid out practical life section in our elementary albums. There are lots of lists of ideas - and all are fantastic! But gone are the nice, neat trays - replaced with supply shelves that look more like real life; gone are the nicely laid out album pages - replaced with presentations that look more like grace and courtesy style and can (and sometimes SHOULD) look like a LOT like you're teaching on the fly. Which is ok! Because that is real life!

but it so hard for us to let go.

YES. We need to think through as much as we can (analysis of movement; hence the umpteen steps in the primary EPL); but if your child is ready and has the necessary background to make you scrambled eggs and cheese in pita bread for breakfast... might I suggest you NOT  (meaning me) hold him back because YOU (meaning I) have not been able to analyze the 327 steps in preparing such a meal not to mention clean-up - he's probably ready. If you've given the foundation, then HE knows how to analyze movements and slow down and think through what he is doing (imperfectly perhaps - but we all start from somewhere) and he has confidence and just enough skills to challenge himself on something that is just within his grasp.

Enjoy the moment! Seize the day!

Eat the eggs! Have the courage to ask for more!

;)

A VERY delicious breakfast! 

Starting Montessori with a 2 year old

How to start Montessori with a 2 year old is a very popular question.

The Pink Panther at age 2

Regardless if you have been doing infant/toddler Montessori, the child will be transitioning into the primary age somewhere around 2 1/2 and you'll do the same things with the children regardless if they are new to Montessori or have had a Montessori environment already.



For a 2 year old, the best places to start are:

• practical life
• sensorial
• language

Practical life:

You may or may not want an album right away for the Exercises of Practical Life. If you do, look for the following in the table of contents: preliminary, care of self, visual art, control of movement (walking on the line and the silence game), grace and courtesy, care of the environment. Interspersed are skills for food preparation, care of animals, etc.
Otherwise, just consider those areas and apply them to YOUR practical life :)

Introduce a new activity every couple of days in a variety of areas. These materials do not have to be fancy (ie learning to button might be a vest or jacket with large buttons, hung on a hanger such that it faces out towards the child - work with it on the hanger, or lay it on the floor or a low table to work with; teach the skill of hanging hangers on the rack; shaking out small rugs (we have a rug in our home where shoes are placed when we come in - a small child can easily take that outside and shake it out - even take some muddy shoes and knock them together outside to get mud off)).

The main thing in practical life is: keep it REAL. You might have a few trays of sample skills to practice, but keep the it REAL. A real banana to slice (not a wooden one with velcro - this can be kept in the toy area); real dishes to place on the table.

And you want to have practical life practice areas in their appropriate areas - in a classroom there is an EPL area; in the home, it is nicer to keep food in the kitchen; laundry folding where YOU do laundry folding; etc).


Sensorial: think textures, colors, sounds, etc. A good sensorial album for the primary age is good to get for age 2 1/2 and older - the very beginning work with the pink tower, color tablets, etc. can start with the 2 year old, but will also contain extensions for 5 and 6 year olds (see if you can check that part before making a purchase). The sensorial album should also include beginning music activities, so check for those in the table of contents.


Language: you want to work on real vocabulary and sound awareness. So you'll play sound games, listening for sounds at the start of words, end of words, and eventually the middle of words; play games like I Spy or very similar with objects around the room, the house, the yard, etc. First you will give the language in a 3 period lesson ( 1) give the name of 3 items 2) play games with asking the child to touch, move, hide under, hide it behind his back, etc. 3) when period 2 is successful (might be that day, at that sitting; might be another time), point to the object and say "What is this?" if period 2 is not successful, point to each object and say it's name - and be done for that sitting - come back to it later).

A language album is not necessary until age 3, but if you get one, be sure it lays a SOLID foundation of the sound games and spoken vocabulary building. The spoken language portion of the album is ALL you will need until age 3 1/2; then you will start introducing the sandpaper letters, etc.


If you start just those things at age 2, you will be laying a very strong foundation.

In the meantime, pick up a primary level theory album and Montessori's books for your own reading pleasure and to fully prepare for the primary ages of 3-6 :)

The not so Pink Panther;
with clean bed and wall behind him

Exercises of Practical Life in Infancy

An infants' focus is almost entirely on practical life and sensorial experiences. And almost everything requires NO materials.


In our home, we had the following material-required skills for the infant years - up to 12 months old.

• toothpicks into a jar wide mouth jar, then water bottle, then mounting onto salt shaker holes
• beginning to cut with scissors - at tray on booster seat with blunt-tipped scissors and narrow strips of paper on special tray that is indicated just for cutting
• using slots and holes (balls into holes; large poker chips into a slot on a coffee can lid --- start with objects that require no force to push through, then ones with more force required)
• feeding self

Mostly we focused on movement skills, language, reading, and being together. We had the mobiles, floor bed, long mirror, and lots of loved ones to provide love and attention. No specially purchased materials here:

• couch cushions for climbing and tumbling - remove cushions from couch to create a safe climbing and tumbling game
• can or heavy jar that rolls across the floor to encourage crawling
• stairs with a gate across the 4th or so step (move it up as the child is safely climbing up and down)
• textures of various fabrics

Above all else, focus on reality - and encourage baby to participate in his own way. Talk to him with whole language (yes, high-pitched motherese is fantastic for the youngest babies!), smile, interact - all those grace and courtesy lessons coming in a few years in primary. 

Everything is practical life and sensorial at this age! 

Infant Montessori is so easy in retrospect - it really IS a minimalist approach! 

Climbing the couch cushions for the first time
(look at the happy face!)

waiting for his new friend to join him

Exercises of Practical Life in our Home - Toddler Years

Many of the simpler exercises of practical life can be done by toddlers; this frees up their primary years for deeper, more purposeful work. Included in our practical life was a lot of sensorial as well - for us the two areas overlapped a LOT in the toddler years.

In our home, we had the following for the toddler years - approximately ages 12 months to 3 years.

• continue cutting with scissors on thin strips - by age 2, using most of the primary cutting exercises
• mounting toothpicks into a mound of playdough
• continue other infant work as long as needed (see June 7 post)
• cutting banana and other very soft items with a butter-spreader
• opening and closing boxes, latches, etc. 
• twisting: caps on bottles, large nuts/bolts
• matching lids to pans (my son put this one together himself!)
• wiping up spills
• preliminary stages of getting self dressed
• how to wash hands
• walking on a wide line
• walking carrying items (such as porcelain statues)
• sweeping with a child-size broom
• safety rules (ie hold hands in parking lots)
• respect rules (ie do not touch visiting friend's keys on the table without asking)
• spooning grains (cereals in particular)
• pouring from small pitcher
• stringing large, then smaller beads
• using knobbed shape puzzles (large knobs, then smaller; all geometric shapes)
• using large eyedropper (a medicine dropper)
• matching shapes
• dressing frames as appropriate - dressing self as appropriate (shoes on)
• matching colors
• hanging loose items on a hanger
• completing work cycle of putting things away
• using spray bottles to clean windows and tables
• setting own place at the table (with an outlined place mat)
• putting away laundry and other household items

Exercises of Practical Life in Our Home - Primary

The Exercises of Practical Life are the oddest subject area in Montessori.

On the one hand, they can be entirely overlooked because it's not "academic" (it is academic and necessary for a child's development, but that's not the point to this post ;) ).

On the other hand, they are easiest to WAY OVER-DO - getting into areas that aren't, well, practical. This is where we start getting into the area of "independent learning activities" that aren't really Montessori. Useful, perhaps. Interesting, perhaps. Not going to harm your child, most likely. But NOT Montessori.
And can definitely over-burden a homeschool mom who "just wants to do it right" but sees everyone's ideas and thinks they are all necessary. No, they're not necessary - this is where you can have some creativity if you like, but it is NOT necessary!

Exercises of Practical Life: think practical. What is practical for YOUR life?

Montessori = Keys.

We actually started with old medicine droppers
at home - transitioned to glass ones later.
You can see our "supply shelf" in the back!

Home versus school = small available space.
(it could be argued that schools need to follow the same guidelines because they have more children who have less time with the materials than homeschoolers have, but I am writing about MY home right now :) ) .

Therefore, in our home, we stick with the practical exercises of the "Exercises of Practical Life" album.

At primary, that meant we had the following throughout our home - not all in one place:

Preliminary Exercises (any special materials introduced here are removed when the child is competent at the related activity)

How to Carry a Working Mat

How to Place a Pitcher

How to Carry a Tray

How to Roll a Working Mat

How to Put Down a Chair

How to Sit On a Chair at a Table

How to Fold Napkins - basic - styles added later in elementary

How to Pour Grain (dry pouring - something with weight - removed when competent with pouring)

How to Pour Water (wet pouring - removed when competent with own pitcher in the fridge)

How to Fold a Dust-cloth to Put Away (we just used the regular dust-cloths)

How to Fold a Dust-cloth to Dust (just used the regular dust-cloths) Transfer with Eyedropper - liquid from one bottle to another (related to polishing) Clothespin on edge of a jar (removed when starting to competently hang clothes in such manner)

Care of Self

How to Wash Hands

Snap Frame

Hook and Eye Frame

Button Frame

Buckle Frame

Zipper Frame

Bow Frame

Lacing Frame – V Pattern

Lacing Frame – X Pattern

Lacing Frame – Linear Pattern

Safety Pin Frame Combing Hair

Care of the Environment

How to Dust a Table

How to Use a Dustpan and Brush

How to Sweep with a Broom How to Vacuum (kid-sized vacuum)

How to Wipe Up a Spill

How to Dust Leaves

How to Polish Glass, Metal, Wood - I had separate trays, but the processes are streamlined for function within the home.

How to Care for Plants

How to Wash a Table AND counter

How to Wash Cloths

How to Iron

How to Arrange Flowers

How to Make Basic Food items (orange juice, fruit salads, pbj sandwiches)

How to Wash Fruits and Vegetables

How to Peel & Cut Various Fruits and Vegetables

How to Bake (a toaster oven is ideal; we did not, so he did everything EXCEPT when the over door was open - that part was my job) --- a primary aged child can help make almost anything from cookies and muffins to salads and sandwiches - even pizza!

Grace and Courtesy

How to Walk Around A Mat

How to Introduce Yourself

How to Apologize

How to Observe

How to Draw Attention

How to Accept a Compliment

How to Blow Your Nose

How to Sit on Upholstered Furniture appropriately (still working on that one!) How to answer the door

Control of Movement

Walking on the Line - rolled up ball of string - stretched out when ready to use

The Silence Activity

Visual Art

Rubbings (Exploration of Texture)

Cutting - Snipping

Cutting - Lines

Advanced Cutting

Contour Drawing with Crayon (Exploration of Line)

Drawing with Colored Pencils

Cutting and Gluing (Exploration of Space)

Painting (Exploration of Color)

Sculpting (Exploration of Form)

Beginning Sewing

Sewing a Button

Advanced Sewing – Running Stitch

Basic cross-stitch Exposure to crochet Others adapted for our home:  Grating soap "Guard" when Mama makes soap (have the vinegar and water buckets ready for accidents) Safety precautions around home-made soap Holding and carrying lit candles Other candle-care Cleaning the inside of a fridge or freezer Using tweezers to pick up small items - this was a novelty experience, but taught the use of the tweezers when needed for medical purposes. Other than medical or dissections, tweezers just aren't used here.  Rock sorting within a set of tackleboxes - this was very nonchalant - his work but not on a shelf of its own within "Montessori" work.  SPUR OF THE MOMENT activities that did not become permanent in our home: washing rocks, sorting shells Chores appropriate to age and ability Using other kitchen utensils - we just taught/learned as needed, not with a specific tray activity Stringing buttons - or any other activities that are not typically done ROUTINELY in real life. Something that is done once in a great while (ie stringing popcorn for Christmas decor), is taught at the time it is needed. There is NO need for a tray activity for such activities.  Art activities - again learning what is needed in the moment after he'd all the basic art lessons from the EPL album; including play-dough, clay, painting, drawing, gluing, etc. Beyond the basics I did NOT have a tray activity for everything. He knew where the supplies were (organized in a simple, Montessori-like manner) and he knew when he had free time to create as much art as he wanted.  Other games - we like to play lots of games here - so many things that some people put on trays and use as an independent learning activity, we just used as games. Repeatable, but not necessary to have on a tray and called "school".  "Inspired" unit studies that last for a time, but are not permanently on a tray or shelf.  Cultural experiences as appropriate - related to books being read, people visiting, videos watched, people or animals met. These were not permanently on display, but cycled back into our regular life (ie chopsticks are in the utensils drawer).

We did NOT have the following - either space or philosophy:

• polishing shoes (it is in the albums, but we just don't have shoes to be polished)
• anything with those little pom-pom, warm-fuzzy things. They have NO weight, so serve little purpose when applied to real life. We used cotton balls with polishing and these needed to be replenished, so there was plenty of work to do with carrying weight-less items. Activities that others have created are cute, but when do you ever spoon or tweeze soft weightless objects in real life? These activities are novelties; not harmful, but should be kept to a minimum (and Zero is an acceptable amount ;) ). 
• trays for EVERYTHING. It's just not necessary. Many things at home can and should be done in their proper context. Yes, sometimes a preliminary presentation is needed and that might be on a tray for a while; thereafter, the materials are kept where they belong (whisks belong in the utensil drawer) and are used at appropriate times. No tray needed :) 

Exercises of Practical Life - Elementary

What do we do in elementary practical life in our home?

There is no concise list. The idea is to provide practical life exercises needed for the children's specific needs. Ideally, they've left primary with basic skills in cleaning, basic food preparation (including cooking with a toaster oven or similar), polishing, care of self, care of clothing, work cycle completion.

Teaching practical life skills seems to come more naturally at this age because historically children have begun to learn these things at this age. We chose to teach certain skills at primary because there is a joy in just doing the activity in and of itself. Now those things are integrated and the child's mind and hands are free to move on to focus on things that are now of deep interest. By the adolescent years, they should have enough tools to work through the emotional changes with grace and health.

Now, in elementary, they are on to bigger things than at primary. In our home over the past two years, we have slowly incorporated the following lessons; I do not pretend this list is complete!

• continuing ALL skills from primary
• answering the phone
• taking a brief message
• placing a phone call
• using the sewing machine
• following a very, very basic sewing pattern
• continuing with cross-stitch, crochet (trying to add knitting)
• weaving
• indoor gardening - will add worm composting soon (edited: it took us a while to get the worms set up! almost 3 years!!!)
• woodworking (Home Depot, at home, at Papa's) - sanding, patterning
• using a video camera with still and moving images
• changing light bulbs
• charging batteries of various kinds (phone, computer, rechargable batteries)
• reading a map (inside buildings, road maps)
• using fusible web to make some clothing and stuffed animal repairs
• household repairs as they come up (just include the children in everything)
• selecting merchandise at the store for supplies for our home businesses
• grocery shopping lists
• basic budgeting - household
• basic budgeting - personal expenses
• pet care (as much as possible at others' homes)
• emergency situations (when/how to call 911, what to do if someone collapses)
• very basic first aid care
• how to handle various social situations
• interviewing at the museum

The list goes on. :) 

Editing to add: In reality, practical life is all around us; as much as possible to include our children in the real day-to-day events and occurrences in our lives, providing them skills through the lives that we adults lead, we won't need "trays" anywhere near as often as places such a Pinterest seem to suggest. Keep it real - keep it straight-forward. If it's not straight-forward, how can YOU improve yourself and/or the task at hand to make it straight-forward and include your child(ren)?

Just food for thought!