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.

Hopping Around Washington DC

No, we're not on a Going Out, but how fun would that be?

I used to live outside of DC and this game would have been great to have on hand beforehand! It's a map of DC and you use tokens and coin stacks to move around the board, putting your people into the White House, Congress and Supreme Court, with LOTS and lots of variations.

 

(Affiliate Link)

Legoboy found this game at Half Price Books early in a week, and by the middle of the week he was connecting the locations with various we've studied in our US History studies. Though we are moving very slowly through that study, he has been paying attention to things such as President's Day, MLK Jr Day, presidents on money and the like. So as we study the eras that cover the people associated with the buildings as well as the buildings themselves, he'll already have some familiarity. 

And it was great fuel for discussion on how the Library of Congress is NOT *the* Congress - and how the LoC organizes books, their purpose, etc. 

Each round of the game goes relatively quick - and contrary to the one reviewer on Amazon, you don't hover around the White House - you've got to get guys in congress and the supreme court too. And you can pretty quickly move to the advanced game, which is definitely advanced! Creating bills, trying to get them passed, changing the rules of the game, etc. A bit like government that way ;) 

First Great Lesson: God With No Hands

This is one of those posts I'm not quite sure where to put. Perhaps I should really do a blog over at Keys of the Universe - but I'm not sure I can do one more blog ;)

So I'll do my best to focus this on OUR home and OUR co-op ;)

Many times, I have stated that I strongly prefer the AMI albums over AMS albums and I provide several reasons, repetitively ;) It is because I feel SO strongly about them! AMI albums are keys-based, so to use the First Great Lesson, there just won't be as many demonstrations the first time around. They USED to have a WHOLE BUNCH in the initial presentation, but over the years of careful observation, several of the demonstrations have been separated out from the first Great Lesson of God with No Hands, into their own follow-up album pages. Thus a child can focus more on the main points at hand, then have plenty of review later for follow-up and emphasis on new or additional points. States of Matter, Further States of Matter, and Attraction and Gravity are three such "additional" album pages. Hence those album pages are as brief as they are!


(I say "demonstrations" here and need to adapt my albums to say the same thing - these are truly demonstrations much more so than experiments - we know the outcome and we are seeking to demonstrate a scientific principle - when the children are working to answer a question, form a hypothesis, set up a test, see it through and evaluate, now THAT is an experiment ;) ).

AMI uses art-forms instead of photography
so the children get the emphasis on *impression*
thus providing opportunities within
their research for finding real photos
 of the various principles in action.
And it encourages the children to re-create,
thus encouraging creativity.
There are a variety of stylistic versions.
Keep them simple!

In our home, we stick with that. I at first thought I would add in all the great ideas from Miss Barbara's site (since I'd been reading that long before I had elementary training, and despite being overwhelmed by it all before going into any Montessori training, I thought it was still great and easily adaptable to my own family's needs)... but after observing and working in several Montessori classes during and after the elementary training, seeing the variety of ways the story was done, and the children's reactions....

Well, I stuck with my album page. It really hits home, focuses in, incites interests, and gets personal studying going. It didn't NEED anything else. Just those SIX demonstrations: see this link for the six.

And especially being at home, with an only child, and a part-time (one half-day a week) co-op, the minimal keys-based approach with lots of review just really made sense for us, allowing me to present in short bursts, leaving lots of time for follow-up and research, opportunity for me to observe and present another focal point of interest at the appropriate time, without feeling like I had to have to just *everything* in place at once, or (potentially) overwhelm the children with too  much information. Focus - concentration - didn't I spend all of primary focusing on keys - focus - and concentration development? ;)


So at almost age 6, my son received the first Great Lesson, along with two young ladies (ages 10 and 12 at the time) - and they were hooked!

I wish I had taken photos at the time - I didn't :(


I had my large charts from training - at-home versions are good at half that very large size - 12x18 or so is perfect when feasible, but I used what I had ;)


We also had some supplies from Magic School Bus science kits - the test tubes are not the best idea for later work when you want to hold a test tube over a heat source or place it in hot water (the plastic melts), but it all worked for the first Great Lesson. I love test tubes for demonstrating layers (introduction to density) because you such a small amount and the children LOVE to repeat this work! They can use SUCH control using just small quantities and pouring into the narrow tube - or using eyedropper to transfer various liquids - lots of fun! LOTS of concentration!

We changed up some of the stuff to be melted - I did not have time to find non-lead solder (a little goes a long way when you do buy it though - so it IS a worthy investment) so I think I used a chunk of plastic; and I used an old key for the non-descript metal (broke the rules there, but again, it is what I had!). Another alternative to the solder is that plastic craft stuff that you can melt in hot water then shape into what you want - a bit of that starting to truly melt is perfect. The idea is to use different items to demonstrate the principle at hand, without getting all technical and detailed. Display, and move on with the story.

I also subbed in quinoa for the bebes or iron shot - because it was on hand ;) No other reason! You want particles that can be seen as they roll over and around each other.



When the children have a question, write it down for them so they don't forget. These questions become their research.

RESEARCH? At age SIX!? YES!!! Research at this age is as simple as asking a question and finding resources to answer that question. As they get older and are comfortable with knowing that they CAN do this research and that their questions WILL be honored, then we started with simple steps towards what we adults think of as research. (more in the next post!)


Want to know our follow-ups to the first Great Lesson, the first time around? And other times? See two posts from now ;)

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! 

American History

Now that my beautiful baby is a great big 8 year old, he is now responsible for meeting the 3rd grade requirements of the state in which we live.

Ok. Let's put it all out there: 

• Our state's homeschool laws require "180 days attendance" starting at the 7th birthday if the child will be private schooled (homeschool here counts as a private school), or 180 days of instruction at a public school starting in the school year that a child turns 7. Public schools MUST follow the state standards. Private schools (including homeschools) do not. The state cannot impose such definitions. Neither can the state impose a definition of attendance on private schools; public schools can only count full days, half-days count for nothing. 
• That's it - no reporting; no other record-keeping; NOTHING. And we can define our attendance - so 5 minutes counts. 
• But *I* am a Montessorian, and just because the state doesn't care what we do, doesn't stop me from teaching my son to be a responsible citizen. And part of that is following the Montessori practice of introducing the local education requirements (public school requirements or state standards) at 3rd and 6th grade (or the grade ending at age 9 or 12 in your local region if grade levels are marked different). 
• I also want him literate in what the other children are learning. It is hard to be a responsible citizen if you don't speak the lingo - in a healthy way (I am not referring to negative issues). 

SO. Here we are. And this is how we address the fact that Montessori children DO speak a different lingo and DO have different foundations in their education. For those people who want to add things to the Montessori curriculum, THIS is the place and the mannerism it fits into Montessori.
(See? Montessori covers ALL the needs of the child - including the needs of the child entering into larger society, whether going on to a non-Montessori public or private school, or simply interacting with other people in society). 

As for our current situation: 

One thing we noticed right away is that despite my son's love for all things ANCIENT history - modern history is a bust. Now, I could SO easily wait for this interest to perk up - and I have faith it will - but the corresponding goal is responsibility - even if we really don't have an interest. 

The public school requirement is United States History. The requirements are loose enough to have plenty of wiggle room - and I LOVE that they actually WANT the children to make their own timelines! How Montessori!

So, NO, I will not be purchasing United States history timeline. I am sure they are beautiful - but this IS the child's work after all. 

He balked at the idea of studying such a topic. He has NO interest. Again: responsibility. So we do the work together. He will learn how to get over hurdles of things he is not excited about and still get the task done. We've been leading up to this for a long time and now here it is. 

The ADULT'S PLAN: 

(insert laughter!)

• Reader's Guide to American History - available from a variety of sources, but this is where I got mine. It is NOT overly Catholic or even Christian in nature - I can't find any specific references anywhere. It is simply a fantastic resource guide to the main eras of US History, with book lists, date lists (very short - and we can turn those into our timeline cards!), list of names to be familiar with, suggested extension activities, and a list of educational standards the era addresses. There is a bit more but that is what I remember off the top of my head. Each era has only 2-4 pages, with lots of white space. It is a FANTASTIC framework! 
• A History of the United States and Its People by Edward Eggleston. I have to admit I was not overly excited about this book at first. But it seemed the least terrible of the worst (and only) options available. The fact is, that history books come with a bias. Good, bad, indifferent - it's a bias. And I want my son to have a fair amount of balance. So, while we are devoutly Catholic, NOT ONE Catholic history textbook has ever or will ever cross the threshold into my house - unless a truly balanced one comes into existence (a possibility, however slim). Anti or Pro a particular religion, group of people, political correctedness, lack thereof - all are unacceptable - just give the facts please - and let the reader form his own opinion. BUT I did want an overview story of the history; then use the above guide for more specifics on topics so we can research the original sources.  I am surprisingly pleased with the first two chapters of this book. While the emphasis is still that Columbus "discovered" America, it does not unduly toot his horn either. It lays out the facts as they were known at the time of publication. This leaves us so much room to explore the meaning of the word "discovery", the Vikings, the early monasteries present on US soil, history of the Native Americans (called Indians in this book for obvious reason of publication date). I can handle the few idiosyncracies present. 
• Use the story-based book together to read the chapters corresponding to an era in the guide book; visit the library to select a few books; perhaps watch an appropriate video; and create a timeline with notecards with the pertinent dates (use the notecards to either mount or copy onto actual "timeline paper" (banner paper)). 
• Read the Little House series along the way. 
• Call it good. 

The CHILD's RESULT: 

• Read the chapters aloud to mom on car drives; working on pronunciation, speech, diction and more - all while extrapolating where needed right in the moment. 
• Child creates a list of research ideas (before even seeing the guide!). 
• Timeline materials are already being gathered.
• Family time; lots of discussion; child finds a way to meet the requirements while minimizing cutting into personal work time -- if we're going to do it might as well enjoy it along the way, he said to me today! 
• He is really getting into it! 

(ETA he's still not "excited" about it, but he is responsible and thorough in all that he studies)

So yes, sometimes requirements are good things. Everything in balance.

BC AD Timeline - some thoughts

As I was preparing a new BC AD timeline I had a few random thoughts - entirely random!

Making it: 

More images to come! 

• This timeline is VERY SIMPLE. And should be kept that way so that is remains multi-purpose. I have seen several fancy (and therefore expensive or trickier to make) versions available. Bleck. Keep it simple! It can be made WHILE you are presenting for the first time! Measure out your white strip (ribbon, receipt tape, strips of white paper that you tape together as you go (this last idea would be the easiest for measuring if you are making it while presenting)). Start in the middle with the life of Christ. The year Zero is placed written in red - but see note below on color options. Make a vertical line above and below the zero. 
• Now we start marking an inch back (or two inches back or whatever distance you ultimately want) for the first century before Christ. Mark the same length ahead for the first century after Christ. These are black vertical lines broken only by the number in the middle - 100, 200, etc. (choose if you want to have BC/AD repeated on each one but usually this would be a NO - too much of a crutch for the children). 
• Continue with the second century before and the second century after. You are drawing vertical lines down to mark each century equal distance from the one you made before it. 
• Ultimately we are going back the same length of time as we come forward, so that the timeline is balanced. 
• Then go back to the red/gold zero - write in BC and AD in their appropriate places and explain what they mean.  

Modifying it: 

• The 0 is the only writing in red because this is the hinge point. All other years are in black. BUT if you are making this material within a setting (homeschool or school) that is somehow connected with CGS atrium experience, I would consider writing the BC numbers in red; the 0 in gold; and the AD numbers in green (to coordinate with the Books of the Bible presentation of Old Testament and New Testament). 
• Or if you are only loosely connected or not at all connected but are a family of Christian faith, then BC numbers could be purple (preparing for Christ), 0 in gold, and AD in green for the growth of Christ's light throughout the world since His resurrection. 
• In the spaces thus created you could add "1st Century", "2nd Century", etc. I still would not add the "before Christ" or "after Christ" on the writing but would add that phrase in the SAYING. We want the visual to have the most power. 
• ONE POSSIBLE ADDITION to the material that is actually quite useful: Adding in the Roman Numerals to represent the centuries (perhaps in place of the words "1st Century" etc from above). Alternatively, this could be a separate strip created to lay below the BC/AD timeline in coordinating length and segments (it too could be created while presenting). Second alternative: these could be on small cards that fit onto the original timeline and the children sort them out accordingly. (or combine both alternatives - set of cards to place and a second timeline to roll out to check their work)

Presenting it: 

• If a child has been in the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd atrium, this timeline could come much earlier. They have had experiences from a different angle - that of focusing on the life of Christ (the moment of Redemption) then extending out to the moments of Creation and Parousia. To a child with solid level 2 atrium experience, I would give this work at the middle or end of year 1. I wish I'd made that connection with my son already ;) 
• This effect is possible with Godly Play but there are no timelines in Godly Play, so while the stories would fit into place on the BC/AD timeline, the visual hasn't already been there - this would be their first visual of it. 
• It is ok to create this material while presenting it. Invite the child to make their own if you are in a co-op situation - they can take it home and expand upon it there. 

Follow-ups to the BC/AD Timeline will depend on the age and experience of the child: 

• If you have story cards for pretty much anything (from the Montessori presentations, Godly Play, Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, Bible stories, world history stories, etc, etc) place them on the timeline in about the time they happened. See where things fall.
• Do some mathematics word problems. How many years between 200 AD and 500 BC. If a building were started in 320 BC, could it have been completed *before* 350 BC? Older children get more detailed, with numbers more closely matching - trickier; younger children make it more obvious. Come back to it every year and expand. 
• Upper elementary: This timeline and 99% of American society is based on this concept centering around the life of Christ. Now with older children explore other timelines with different resulting years - Chinese calendar, Jewish Calendar, Mayan Calendar, etc. What are their calendars centered around? Do they have a "before" anything aspect?
• Sometime between 2nd and 5th year: explore the calendar updates - what changed in the AD portion that forced us to "lose" days - sometimes MONTHS depending on our location. 
• This leads back into calendar study of course but gives it another perspective. 
• Introduce CE and BCE (Common Era and Before Common Era) and the reasons why this notation was introduced. 
• Be sure to emphasize there was life and history before the first timeline actually shown on the timeline, we are just showing here where our time markings came from. 
• Work with the Roman Numerals as noted above. 

And yes this very simple timeline should be visited every year, with some sort of follow-up or discussion or word problem set with it. 

Elementary Geometry Lesson

I have a deep respect for Dr. Steve Hughes, Assistant Professor of Neuro-psychology at The University of Minnesota.

This link takes you to a Geometry lesson told during one of his presentations at a Montessori school in Minnesota - a parent meeting.

Watch until 6:30 for the Geometry lesson (the rest goes through brain development).