A Day in the Life of a Montessori Homeschool Boy

Our days have been looking more unschoolish as Legoboy gets older. Not just unschoolish - but more "practical". Like making popcorn - daily. ;)

Some previous "Life in the Montessori Homeschool" posts - just a sampling of what Montessori life can look like:


Final Upper Elementary Work Plan

LegoBoy's Doings: June 2015

Montessori Homeschooling Week - February 2015 - this post has the links for each day of the week

A Week in the Life of Legoboy 2014 - this post has the links for each day of the week

A Day in the Life of Legoboy

Elementary - Sample of Our Day - 2012 - towards end of lower elementary

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. ;)

Montessori Homeschool Week - February - Friday

This was a stay-at-home day. It has been a full out-of-house week and I really am a homebody. Legoboy could go either way, but really does like to be home too. In fact, he put together his favorite schedule as a joke:

(not finished with adding images and descriptions - posting anyway)


It was a pretty low-key day, even though we both had big plans. We just needed to veg ;)

He worked on some science experiments.


A session of his apologetics course


Christian Heritage Art lesson 6 of level 5


Played the piano - actually worked on a lesson this time


Read through his magazines some more.

He finally had time to work on EEME and he somehow forgot. That happens!

We talked about putting away our Christmas decorations. Then did nothing about it.


He spent a lot of personal time LEGO building.


Watch Shark Tank to see what kind of business ideas people come up with.





Our other links to past Montessori Homeschool weeks:
Montessori Homeschool Week - February - Thursday
Montessori Homeschool Week - February - Wednesday
Montessori Homeschool Week - February - Tuesday
Montessori Homeschool Week - February - Monday
Montessori Homeschool Week - February - Work Plan for the Week

A Week in the Life of Legoboy - Friday (includes links for Monday-Thursday)

Montessori Homeschool Week - February - Thursday

We slept in. Legoboy intercepted a late-night phone call intended for me which still woke me up and left my tired self unable to sleep for several hours.

up to gather schoolwork
I promised him bacon if we could be ready in under 20 minutes. Always works!

help transfer stuff to car/building
Lots of stuff to shift around to get some big projects done at the school building and prepare for atrium in the afternoon.
In the car on the drive there, he decided he wanted to help me (help me? I wasn't going to DO this!) put together follow-up packets for particular areas of interest. So a child has an interest in a particular area, the adult doesn't, here are ideas of what to do.

We'll see how far this goes! I know he wants to do volcanos, inspired by some of the seismology studies from Monday.

bake bacon at school building
Using the toaster oven I had used to bake bread the night before with the atrium children. It was working well until he left the room and didn't check on it!

schoolwork projects (wall of fame - confirmation notebook)

Continued Wall of Fame and worked on his confirmation notebook. 

An example of what he does when he thinks no-one is watching: 

visit the church
Like me, Legoboy is not a public pray-er, preferring to keep things more private. He loves alone time in the church.

heat up more lunch
Toaster ovens are great!

minecraft
Computer time with Minecraft. My one rule: no killing innocent people - if you wouldn't kill/destroy/attack them in real life (self-defense, demons) you don't get to kill/destroy/attack them in a game.

tag
As the atrium children begin arriving, they go down to our large open school basement (dining hall) and play tag. The children really like to arrive early specifically for this purpose ;)

atrium
Continue a Moses study with the group
continue personally chosen projects from the work packet
We had cake at the end - for the fun of it ;)

meet with confirmation sponsor
He caught up a few of the sponsor cards he hasn't done; but they haven't yet caught up with reviewing the other cards. He has 60+odd cards to assist in building a notebook. Some have a cross on them to indicate "do this with your sponsor" - then his sponsor also goes over all the cards he has done individually.

pizza
Thursday pizza. We love our Thursday pizza. I really didn't want to make this particular tradition - but now? It is SO nice to get to Thursday and NOT have to cook!

home again, home again
check mail - mostly for him: EEME monthly package, Odyssey magazine, Dig/Calliope magazine, Muse magazine (review post on EEME)
Relax with a good boy movie of Transformers (actually he started last night, he finished it, but I had gone to bed - so I needed to finish it). I am SO not into Transformers. He is "eh, ok" with it - I am pretty sure he is watching these out of curiosity only.
Then we watched our DVD we had picked up earlier in the week: Mummies of the World
I can't seem to find a link to the DVD - it might only be available for purchase at the exhibit?

We learned more about this family.

Settlers of Catan marathon
He beat me. Repeatedly.

Our other links to past Montessori Homeschool weeks:
Montessori Homeschool Week - February - Wednesday
Montessori Homeschool Week - February - Tuesday
Montessori Homeschool Week - February - Monday
Montessori Homeschool Week - February - Work Plan for the Week

A Week in the Life of Legoboy - Friday (includes links for Monday-Thursday)

Montessori Homeschool Week - February - Wednesday

He awoke to immediately greet me with birthday greetings - his eyes weren't even open yet. Sweetie!

Photo is actually from last week
Too adorable not to post though ;) 

Morning prayer, breakfast, read a section in question from the Bible.

He did some chores at random points of the day - not sure when, but the house was clean when we left for afternoon/evening events.


Primary Grade Challenge Math
Legoboy finds chapter 19 to be particularly complexing. This is *again* one of those many situations where he could be more successful if he could just hold on to the math facts for longer than 1 day at a time.

Speech class

Wall of Fame - Mystery of History

Confirmation notebook

Dentist appointment

RELIEVED to report that our dental treatments have been a SUCCESS!

A couple of years ago, Legoboy got into the habit of chewing on ice. While this is a sign of anemia in most children, it turned out to be a desire for something tough to do - manliness.

WELL. That led to some chipped teeth. Then some rotten spots. Then one day he had an actual abscess. LONG story short, we went through a long route of natural treatments that included a homemade toothpaste of essential oils, calcium-magnesium, and real sea salt, a daily mouth-wash rinse of essential oils and xylitol and baking soda, and avoiding all fluoride.

Not only did the abscess completely heal, the hole itself healed over; small spots in cracked teeth actually filled in, and the one tooth that was broken in half (below the abscess) is actually looking decent. It is a baby tooth and JUST became a bit loose.

Current x-rays show that all is well and we'll just wait for the remaining 3 baby tooth to fall out, adult teeth to come in, then we will look at addressing the top front four teeth which are angled odd (the middle two are tipped a bit backward, making the appearance of the next two (one on either side) tipping forward, look that much worse. Because they stick out, they could be an issue in things like tae-kwon-do ;)

LaRosa's

Birthday dinner at LaRosa's! Yum! 

   

Dairy Queen

Stopped by to pick up an ice cream cake - peanut butter cup. I usually make something but this week was so full - and this thing was calling me!

Goodwill

Scored some awesome deals on some atrium materials as well as discovered that Goodwill gives a 50% discount on anything not already on sale - on your birthday. Score twice! 

Tae Kwon Do
STORM Team and regular class
STORM: Special Team of Role Models. Legoboy is getting a bit frustrated right now and I am letting him work it out. The last few weeks they did nothing but prep for a tournament at the end of January. He wasn't participating, but he helped others with anything they needed and he reports that most of the class he just sits. Ok, well that is over, back to regular STORM team business, right? Nope. The older STORM team members who are already black belts are testing in the upcoming black belt test for their next "dan" (the next level) and there are two younger members of STORM team that have brown belts with black stripes, which means they are prepping for their black belt tests. So they are spending their STORM team time working on belt test prep.

Legoboy is one of them. Why is he frustrated? Because they have their advanced belt class on Mondays already for this purpose AND they have Saturday mornings set aside - a 2 hour block of time EVERY Saturday that they can make it from the beginning of January through mid-May. Even a boy who wants his belt SO BAD needs to work on other things too.

I wonder what the lower belts who are on STORM team are doing? I teach atrium during this time, usually, so don't get to observe like I usually do during other classes.

All in all - a good learning experience for a growing young man.


snow/ice
We finally got some!!!!

I picked up Legoboy from his TKD instructor's home (the same apartment building in which we used to live) - he brought him back for me so I wouldn't have to drive through the ice and snow. This was the first time I had pulled into the parking lot of our old apartment since we moved out in October. Even Legoboy thought it felt kind of strange. It was snowing so hard, that sitting and waiting for them to arrive, I had to brush off my car --- I haven't even brushed snow off the car at our new home! (we have a garage). Legoboy thought this was riotously funny - 10 year old boy humor.


start a movie
I fell asleep; then was rudely awakened by an 11pm phone call from someone who should know better. I ignored it, but just the knowing that it happened and that there was a voicemail waiting for me, kept me awake for a few hours. Bleck. Legoboy watched the entire movie, then snuggled up with me and fell asleep. These days won't last much longer. Love them while I have them!




Our other links to past Montessori Homeschool weeks:
Montessori Homeschool Week - February - Tuesday
Montessori Homeschool Week - February - Monday
Montessori Homeschool Week - February - Work Plan for the Week

A Week in the Life of Legoboy - Friday (includes links for Monday-Thursday)

Montessori Homeschool Week - February - Tuesday

Tuesday morning started off kind of slow. Monday was a drainer, so I wanted him to sleep in and I got up to work. At least that was the plan.

The alarm went off at 6:05. Somebody wanted to serve at 6:30 Mass across the street.

Go for it, kiddo; I can't move.

He came home, made breakfast (scrambled eggs - his specialty - touch of cream cheese, some salt and garlic. DELICIOUSNESS. Now if we could work on not giving Mama the ONE bite that has a bit of shell in it, we'll be doing awesome.), snuggled up with me and went back to sleep.

Once Upon a Time plot holes
By the time he woke up again, I was up and working. He started looking for additional plot holes in the ABC show "Once Upon a Time" - he is making a list of things he wants to look for in upcoming shows.

In the meantime, I was really not wanting to drive into the city again for the Lego Store's monthly mini-model build (first Tuesday of the month - stand in a long line - put together a Lego set and take it home for free - it draws CROWDS, MONTHLY), and Legoboy had expressed interest in attending one of this month's Lego Club meetings - which are different than they used to be. So I got brave (sucked my pseudo-asperger's) and called the store. Patrick answered the phone. We like Patrick. He knew my son by description which is both kind of cool and kind of creepy (in a good way). He explained that the new Lego Club set-up is far cheaper ($10 versus $25); no t-shirt anymore; BUT the children get to build and take home that month's mini-model build (so they could get two if they attended both events: the mini-model build and the Lego club meeting) --- and do some activities that build a story around the model. They also get a mini-box for the Wall of Bricks, that they fill up to create more components to that month's model's story.

And they take it all home.

Ok. 9:00 AM on a Saturday. Sigh. I don't like making commitments before 10AM. But he'll enjoy this - and in the end, I will too.

Back to work for me - on with school for him.

Decimal Fractions

Legoboy worked on the decimal fractions as promised. He remarked from time to time, "That is dumb! They put a zero in front of some of the numbers!" I reminded him that calling someone (the person who created this image) "dumb" when we don't know the person's intentions is a sin. We can judge behaviors when we know the full story; but not judge people. Ever. 

Best to consider the person's best intentions until we know more. 

A lesson we could ALL learn - some of us are more in need of it than others. 

In this case, Legoboy came around to, "You know what Mama? They probably put those extra zeroes in to be tricky! But they can't trick me!"

Mystery of History
He is getting really simple with his pictures ;) The focus is on the process - learning the skills of creating images from scratch, considering what goes into each image, what are the most crucial elements to include when it is not as easy as sketching with a pencil?

He allowed me to post this one very beginning draft. No details.
He doesn't want to share yet. 

Consecration in Truth
6 lessons together - mostly review. One new saint he didn't know about.

Chores
swept out the garage
watered all the plants
record the power usage on the basement fridge/freezer
clean up after self (clothing, etc. )

Swim lesson
He is actually MOVING through the water! Still holding on to a dumb-bell-shaped floater and he has a thin floater around his chest when in the deep-end (liability requirements - which I am fine with right now, because this is about getting over fears and building confidence). Previously he keeps his knees bent and gets upset when the instructor tells him to straighten his legs because he think he does have them straight (when they are bent underneath him - you can see where the "there is no thinking when in the water because of the fear factor" issue comes in). But he finally let go and straightened his legs! This boy can MOVE when he keeps those legs straight!


DQ
Because he earned it!

Drive Home: Talk about Jupiter (it was to the left of the full moon - and despite the hazy overcast of clouds, Jupiter shown through! Awesome to know the names of these things. We couldn't see any other stars that evening.
Earth Sky Website gallery of images

We frequently use our car rides for discussions, sometimes just silence, we like to sing, or listen to classical music (he LOVES classical music!).

This is basically what we saw - this is not our photo.
Linked from EarthSky. 

Confirmation Notebook card - slowly making forward progress
Piano - just reviewing past lessons. Not ready for a new one yet.


Our shows were both on! Yes, we watch a tad bit of television. We did nothing for the longest time but now we watch Marvel's Agent Carter (while Marvel's Agents of SHIELD is off for the winter break --- these are both the back/connecting stories to the Marvel's Avengers series). Afterwards, I watch Forever and I let him watch some parts of it.
Legoboy's favorite line from all the movies and shows?

Ma'am, there's only one God. And I am pretty sure he doesn't dress like that. 

(that may not be a direct quote - but his rendition of it over time ;) Captain America!)

Second favorite:

Puny god! (Hulk)

Somewhere in there we did morning and evening prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours; and still didn't get to our Oremus prayer study book! Yikes! Two weeks without doing the daily homework. At least the Sunday evening meetings, video and discussions are still fruitful!



Our other links to past Montessori Homeschool weeks:
Montessori Homeschool Week - February - Monday
Montessori Homeschool Week - February - Work Plan for the Week

A Week in the Life of Legoboy - Friday (includes links for Monday-Thursday)

Montessori Homeschool Week - February - Monday

Homeschool Class
Seismology - I really thought this was going to focus on earthquakes. They did do earthquakes, but they really covered ALL the movements of the earth. Four stations were set up with guided investigations at each. I really like this class because they provide some worksheets (ho-hum) and lists of additional resources and websites to explore. So wherever a child's interest lies, there are follow-ups already available that *I* don't have to looking for - or have him go looking for in a random manner. We can start with the suggested resources and build from there.

waves of energy

Mummies of the World exhibit
I appreciated all the reminders that these are real people and NO photography was allowed.
Seeing the children was HARD.

We learned about the variety of ways that mummies are made and saw several examples of each.

It was a worthy 45 minutes. A lot shorter than I thought - BUT considering the extent of what was covered and the cost it takes to maintain everything, I totally get it.

IMAX: Jerusalem the Movie
Jerusalem
Benedict Cumberbatch narrates.
Benedict Cumberbatch - of BBC Sherlock fame - a modern adaptation of the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle stories. And Smaug. And the Necromancer (who later becomes Sauron) - these latter two roles being in the recent The Hobbit trilogy. Based on the books written by JRR Tolkien.
Very nice.

This is our second time seeing this movie. We wanted to watch it a couple more times because the footage is phenomenal. The movie focuses on the 4 quarters of Jerusalem (Muslim, Jew, Western Christianity and Orthodoxy), meeting with 3 young women who talk about their experience living in their quarter (Christianity and Orthodoxy are represented by one woman). They also share that there is not much interaction between the quarters, but it all focuses on the POSITIVE.

Ice cream break - awesome ice cream!



IMAX: Mummies: Secrets of the Pharaohs
Mummies: Secrets of the Pharaohs
Christopher Lee narrates. Of Sherlock fame - based on the stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. And Saruman - from The Hobbit trilogy and The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Wait! Didn't I just say something very similar?
Yep.
VERY nice. And quite humorous to this literature-loving, art-film appreciating family!


Educator's Guide for Mummies: Secrets of the Pharaohs


Scavenger Hunt in the Nature's Trading Post
Each month they have a new scavenger hunt. The children come in and pick up their slip and pencil. They read the questions, going around the Natural History Museum to discover the answers. When they return their filled-in slip AND pencil to the Nature's Trading Post, they receive points with which to trade or bank. Options for trading include geodes, fossils, shells and more.

The children can earn points other ways as well - doing projects at home to bring in and display, finding specimens to donate to the trading post, etc.

The images here are from last month's Scavenger Hunt that he did on Saturday when we were there for the Forensics of Mummies class in the Lite Lab (see below). Information on the theme is one side, with the questions on the other.

Lite Lab
In the same place where he takes monthly Saturday classes, they have free exploration options as well. Whenever the Lite Lab is not in use by a scheduled class, they have different scientific explorations at each table. Today they had out optical illusions, a wind machine to create and test a variety of windmills to create power, logic puzzles such as the farmer on one side of the river needing to get his items to the other side without them being eaten, some architecture --- and magnets. These were neat - and I finally remembered to pull out my camera!

Wendy's - 3 chicken sandwiches for the growing boy! And french fries, a salad, 2 cups of water...

Home Depot - he always compares prices to see if anything has changed; loves carrying long shoe bases strips around the store. I will get a picture one of these days!

TaeKwonDo (YMCA) - black belt preparation class, followed by regular class.

Swimming (YMCA) - deathly afraid of the deep end. I promised him Dairy Queen once a week if he not only does his weekly swim lesson with bravery, doing everything the teacher asks him to do without needing to repeat, but also gets in the pool during free swim and authentically practices floating and anything taught in class. ALL with a good attitude.

Yes sometimes what looks like bribery is OK. In this case, I see it much less as bribery or an unrelated reward but as a way to focus his attention elsewhere during the hard parts, so that he can overcome his fear and move forward with life.

So on this evening, we did not have a swim lesson, we could wait 45 minutes for open swim to start, OR go home. It had been a long day. He had the option and neither was going to reward or penalize him in regards to DQ.

He chose to practice swim!

I love my kid.

I didn't get pictures this time, but here are two from last week:

While waiting for open swim to start, we just chatted and played some mind games - and did some researching on the internet.


He found this riddle he wants to work on tomorrow, using only the decimal checkerboard for multiplying the decimal fractions. He CAN and DOES do this work on paper, but since helping me last week get some freshened images, he has really wanted to work with it some more.

Today was quite the full day, educationally-speaking and we have a full week ahead of us. We'll see how down-time plays out ;) 

Montessori Homeschool Week - February - Work Plan

Just for kicks, I am hoping to blog this whole week about Legoboy's homeschooling experiences - all Montessori (though if I didn't mention that, many people would think we were either unschooling or doing some other "curriculum". Why? Because Montessori is not about the materials in and of themselves, but about the child's needs and interests, both expressed and unexpressed - needs met through key presentations given by the adult and further research and exploration on the part of the child.)


Work plan for the week: 

• Study something from his "herbal jumpdrive" (we have finished up some projects/studies and he has a few resources he still wants to explore - this one is left open-ended)
• Continue editing images from Wall of Fame (Mystery of History - he is creating digital designs for each story that he wants to have printed into a book)
• Watch 2 Apologetics course sessions (he is continuing with a middle school apologetics course he started this past December --- currently doing the Recorded Classes with all assignments with Homeschool Connections)
• Daily work on his Confirmation notebook - meeting with his sponsor on Thursday to go over what is done up to that point. 
• Review decimal fractions multiplication on the checkerboard. He had fun last week helping me create freshened images for this work, that he wants to "play with it" a bit this week. 
• Three chapters in Primary Grade Challenge Math (he has been putzing slowly with this book - he prefers to have me listen to him doing all the math orally while he writes some of it down. He needs that communal aspect, but I am not always available; so he adjust his plans accordingly). 
• Finish Consecration in Truth review: levels 2 and 3. He started this way back when, now he wants to keep going with it because "Lent is coming" and he wants to freshen up on things. 
• EEME Project 3 should be arriving this week. Our review post on EEME
• Practice piano daily
• Select other work as appropriate and interested. 
• On the schedule - some he planned, some we planned together: 
• Homeschool Monday class at the local museum: Seismology
• Mummies of the World exhibition
• Jerusalem OmniMax film before it ends on the 12th
• Mummies: Secrets of the Pharaohs OmniMax film
• Tae-kwon-do Monday and Wednesday evenings; Saturday morning
• Swim lesson Tuesday evening
• Additional swim practice when possible
• Atrium Thursday afternoon
• Mass: Tuesday morning, Thursday morning (had to choose between tae-kwon-do and Mass Wednesday evening - various reasons, he chose tae-kwon-do this time)
• Speech Wednesday morning
• Dentist appointment Wednesday afternoon
• Meet with Confirmation sponsor after atrium Thursday
• Celebrate Mama's birthday on Wednesday - and another day when we have actual "time"

Now THERE is a SMILE!

A Week in the Life of Legoboy: Friday - Upper Elementary Montessori

wake up in a mood (don't tell me boys don't have PMS too)
straight to breakfast - took FOREVER (reading Life of Fred Geometry - AGAIN)

morning prayer, bit too quickly for my liking.

Primary Grade Challenge Math - chapter 9 on Percentages - again with the math facts not solidified, but he won't take up any of my ideas or come up with his own ideas for how to solidify them. He will learn them all great for a day. Then they are gone again. He has a great memory... so just not really really sure what is going on. 6% comes up a lot in this chapter - after a while he says, "UGK! I am SO tired of 6 perCENT! I need a NEW number!" So dramatic. I had to laugh at him. Probably not the best thing to do based on the grimace on his face afterward ;) 


Piano - for a LONG time - this helped him. A LOT.

Made lunch: scrambled eggs --- got to work on the clean-up part

I guess it did turn into a Math week though! ;)
(he even took the book "10 things mathematicians should know" (or something like that - by Ed Zaccaro - see review post here) along in the evening car-ride until it got dark enough to see the Christmas lights)

We spent 45 minutes this afternoon organizing a few shelves in the library - got more boxes emptied anyway. 
The goal was to gather the rest of the faith-related books onto the far two shelves - I had already set up the childbirth books (considering becoming a doula in the future), the adult faith books and the Montessori/Catechesis of the Good Shepherd resources on the upper shelves. 

But it is a 'give a mouse a cookie' deal - one thing leads to another - so we ended up also working on most of the math, some of the science and some geography, art and music. 

Not bad ;) We even ended up with several empty boxes. Haha. Ignore the stacks of books now on the floor that WERE in boxes. ;) Hey, now we can see what we have. That's a purposeful purpose for having stacks of books, right!? ;) 

he found a couple of books he wanted to read - one a book of Christmas stories and poems ("Christmas Tales for Reading Aloud"), and Advent devotional he forgot we had, and another faith-based books I can't recall off-hand. This is where I found him: 

This is the GUEST bed - yet he's been in it almost every day this week. 

Early evening, I finally read through this week's messages from Educents and came across a set of Minecraft math guides. Using my credit with them (from purchasing a mod class we've not been able to use yet) and the sale already on, we got three guides for $3.49. Legoboy is excited to try them out, even though his original reaction was "there is NO math in Minecraft!" Hm. We'll see ;)  Every once in a while Educents offers something really neat and useful. I consider it useful for browsing for interest units. 

Gathered up some wood from the backyard, but needed a LOT longer of outdoor time today that we did not get. 


The day ended with me posting this on Facebook: 

3 hours of Christmas light touring; ice cream eating; song singing; great conversation with my awesome son. Sitting in the car that long makes me sore. Worth it. 

We did some mystery shopping, enjoyed the Christmas lights in this darkest time of year, and talked a lot about the Amish specifically and the Anabaptists in general (we were driving through an area with a large Amish population; their night-time buggies are still required to have functional green, red and white lights). We discussed our similarities and differences and Legoboy developed a stronger understanding of where various pieces of the Christian puzzle fit together. He even deduced some of their beliefs based on particular things I shared with him - spot-on every time. We have a few things to look up that I was unable to answer for him.

Not sure I can see anything in this one. It was all lit up though. 

Then we got to talking about the other images on our Facebook page:

Thank you for spending the week with Legoboy! It was pretty exciting on this end, but with so much to write up on top of my regular work - I am not sure I made it sound as exciting as it really was. 

My goal: to provide a glimpse of what 5 days of a week looks like in the life of a Montessori homeschooled child. Especially at upper elementary, it is not so much about the materials anymore - but about the real life experiences, the planning, the follow-through.

He has plans going on in Minecraft and with his Lego creations that I do not get into - I monitor to keep things "moral" but otherwise, these are his world. His two other big projects right now are the Further Up, Further In Narnia study and Confirmation preparation. But other rabbit trails criss-cross continuously. We love it. :)


For more days from the past week: 
Friday of "Week in the Life of a Montessori Homeschooler"
Thursday of "Week in the Life of a Montessori Homeschooler"
Wednesday of "Week in the Life of a Montessori Homeschooler"
Tuesday of "Week in the Life of a Montessori Homeschooler"
Monday of "Week in the Life of a Montessori Homeschooler"

In the midst of this series, I also posted a "day in the life of a Montessori homeschooler" from about 2 weeks previous:
A Day in the Life of Legoboy

Any particular day or week may not be representative of what goes on in the grander scheme of things - that particular week would have made an interesting write-up - he ran in his first-ever 5K that Thursday (Thanksgiving) - VERY proud of him!


Saturday, right after this posted week, he has a 3 hour study at the local-ish museum on "Geometry in Nature". We will also watch their current IMAX film again (we have a year-pass to the IMAX theater there - we can watch as much as we want!) - and do more mystery shops on the way home. Not sure what he will do in the morning - could be school work, could be Legos, could be hanging from a tree... I'll be working. Lots to get caught up on now we are in a house. Legoboy is an awesome helper, taking out packages, locating good packaging options, weighing packages, printing labels and more. 

Sunday we have atrium and he serves at the Traditional Latin Mass - he is a bit nervous because it has been a while since he has been to Mass there, let alone served! He will do great! 


:) 

A Week in the Life of Legoboy: Thursday - Upper Elementary Montessori

Today ended up being a very low-key day. Not the intent. He and I both had big plans for how the morning would go. It didn't materialize - no particular reason, we just needed to be more laid-back. I have found that when we don't honor this need, we end up sick or with headaches, or we otherwise crash & burn in such a way that following days are even worse. Honor it when it happens, and our bodies and souls get the rest and nourishment they need.


Woke up to reading - lots of historical fiction in the pile.
He'd already opened his Advent calendar.

Morning prayer together

UPS came early today - Legoboy helped put a new shelf together for the kitchen
     We have been almost agonizing over what to do in the kitchen. We have somewhat limited counter-space, no counter space at all by the stove. I did put a rolling cart (already owned) between the fridge and stove; but there was still need for something to cooking utensils nearby. And we'd already added shelves to the closet to make it a full pantry. Well, Legoboy helped organize all of this, so perhaps a post to itself. Short story for now - we needed something. Over and around the stove. We found an over-the-stove microwave shelf, but at over $100 for ONE shelf that is the width of the stove... it didn't sit right with either of us. We finally found a tall shelf with adjustable shelving, option of castors or levelers. Sure, it's wide

breakfast
Minecraft
Read for the umpteenth time: Here There Be Dragons
Reading Upper Elementary Challenge Math (just reading it - not doing the math --- he did this during part of dinner last night too)
Life of Fred Geometry - just reading it, although he had a notebook in which he was taking notes.

lunch - leftovers

Seems like it is going to be a "reading" day!

head to Atrium - play Minecraft while I led a sacramental preparation session - when the other older children arrived, he joined them for a game of tag and word plays

2-hour atrium: opened with all the children from infant through 14 in level 3 to review the Advent Wreath and sing the next verse of the song; Prophecy of Light, learn and sing the associated song (learned the prophecy last week). Level 1 children went to their atrium, while the level 2 and 3 chilren stayed for another 40 minute presentation going through 7 more prophecies and what they mean for us as we prepare, not for Jesus to be born as a baby, but for Jesus' light to grow in us more and more each day, until His light fills the whole world and He returns as a glorious king at Parousia.

Legoboy and another level 3 boy planned Communal Prayer for the level 2 and level 3 children. Favorite song: All God's Critters (message: everyone has a place in the Plan of God - God loves all and so should we).

Afterward, he helped clean up, re-set each atrium for Sunday class, and ensure all tasks were completed.
He really wanted to get home and have some popcorn ;)

He cleaned out the car, played some piano, wrote some e-mails to a few people, and read some Lord of the Rings (The Two Towers).



These descriptions still aren't getting all the in-between stuff - checking the mail, checking the time, random e-mails. But I hope it is a peek into the life of an upper elementary Montessori boy ;)