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

We started with a different sort of Monday, ending with adoration of the Blessed Sacrament (Jesus) at the local parish from midnight to 1 AM - something we normally don't do at that time. We did get to hear "Holy God We Praise Thy Name" at the fastest pace EVER. No funeral dirges or slow meditative chants from this priest at 1AM with his favorite song ;)

And now - at 9:57AM, Legoboy sleeps. With this National Night of Prayer running form 9PM to 1AM, I am not sure how many other children were able to participate due to the need to be at school by 8AM. Blessing of Homeschooling.

By the time he woke up, USPS had been here to deliver some Christmas gifts for others. He made breakfast for both of us and we finished prepping and wrapping the gifts. We both found it funny that we received two mail deliveries today - one with packages, the other with regular mail.

Morning prayer

Watched some more Once Upon a Time - honestly, looking for plot holes to create a list of questions to send to the creators.

Confirmation card - on the effects and responsibilities of Baptism and the gift of Grace by the Holy Spirit.

EEME - Work on some of the follow-up questions/suggestions he received via e-mail from the creator of EEME. Legoboy created what EEME Dad calls a "dumb light" (gets brighter in bright locations and dimmer in dim locations). He is working on the suggestions and a response e-mail to EEME Dad


Clean up the hall and landing upstairs - we are mostly beyond the unpacking mode but are still in the "slowly getting specific items where we actually want them and find them the most useful". We are working in stages so we can keep going with the rest of life.

Missing two shelves from moving helpers...
Organizing still a work in progress. 

Eventually we'll have these games organized.
Apparently we like games around here. 

Free-time: Legos and tae-kwon-do practice

Come up with a thousand ways to ask about opening Day 10's Advent Calendar.
No.
(Can I blast a hole through an iceberg? Can I do light-saber target practice? Can I make a sky-light?)
The #10 slot in question is located above an ice-cave opening. On Day 1 he asked such questions as "Can I be-head Darth Vader? Can I give Darth Vader a new helmet?" and the like because the top of Darth Vader's helmet overlaps the Day 2 slot.

For the record - I do not see this as a sign of commercialism or materialism - merely a young boy who LOVES jokes. He will argue with ANYthing just to get people thinking and riled up.

Early dinner - LOVE tortellini here :)

Tae-kwon-do - running a bit late, ordinarily before class is hang-out time with friends. Just one class this evening. Because during Advent we have:
...Children's choir - Tuesday evenings leading up to Christmas. He'll be singing at the 4pm children's Mass Christmas Eve. He's not a singer in the spirit of having good pitch matched with others - he sounds great singing by himself with his own renditions though. So this was a surprise to me. He wants to sing at that Mass and serve the altar at midnight.
(the file below has now image - I had the phone facing down on the pew while recording - so it is a video, but it is ok you don't "see" anything ;) )

Get gas - pick up pizza
Yes, I let him go across the street from the gas station we were at, to one of our other local gas stations (their pizza is the BEST) while I pumped the gas. I then picked him up from there. I love this area - I can see his every step, we know on some level every employee of all 3 local gas stations (and both banks), and the sheriff was on duty watching traffic right there ;)

Home for bedtime prep and two of our shows (both in winter finales)
Marvel's Agents of SHIELD
Forever
Watch the news to catch the weather (the ONLY time we watch the news - ever - is after our shows)

Evening prayer

Throughout the day we also played Quik-Sane and a few rounds of W'FF. Because yes, we do like playing games. Legoboy always has some set of cards out to play in between other stuff. Our latest favorite? Rivals for Catan.





Not much math happening here - but lots of using it in real life

• cooking - measuring water and oats, adjusting for wanting 4 servings (the instructions have 1, 2, 6 servings)
• how many miles per gallon gas, how many miles can we go on a tank, how many gallons are left when the low-fuel light comes on. Yeah, we had one of THOSE evenings. While at choir practice, I also drove over to the choir director's home to get her reading glasses she'd accidentally left there, so we *really* needed gas after practice was over ;) 
• he wanted to know when the mail would be arriving; a friend texted to tell us their mail had been delivered, he calculated the miles, the speed of truck with it stops, added to the time of the text message. He was off by 10 seconds - "And that my son is called estimation. We can't predict every delay or package or which houses he can skip for having no mail that day."
• Estimating wood branches usage to see how many Friday fires we can have throughout the winter with current supply. Yes, this one was just plain hilarious - what if we want a longer fire, what if it burns slower or faster, what if we want a bigger fire? But at least he's trying - and thinking. 
• I weighed a package for a Garden of Francis order - he plays with the buttons every time to see what it is in grams compared to ounces then re-calculates to get me to believe that the scale is inaccurate. It's NOT inaccurate, but he "plays" with the numbers to get it looking that way. The thing is - to do what he is doing, he has to KNOW what he is starting with; otherwise he might happen upon the "right" answer and end up looking foolish ;) 

Writing these up, I don't feel like we're hitting on everything - that would take a book each day ;) All the little conversations we have, tossed in between and during everything else....

Interesting to see.

A Day in the Life of Legoboy

Caveat: We no longer have a work-cycle as such at all. We live according to the rhythm of life - so school happens when/how it happens, integrated with the entirety of our lives. This is not unschooling (we still have specific experiences and a guide to those lessons/experiences; I present key experiences, we discuss plans and outcomes together, while the ultimate responsibility is for Legoboy to take those key experiences and construct himself into his own person.

CAVEAT 2: I wrote and scheduled this post before having the bright idea to document a whole week. I will leave this post scheduled on the day it is, but with the note that these events took place the Tuesday or Wednesday before Thanksgiving.

Wake up and build with Legos. Yes, he really does that. He jumps out of bed, combs his hair, uses the toilet, gets some breakfast and reads - then does some work with Legos (or drawing out Lego or Minecraft plans).

This photo is actually from the Lego KidsFest. I need a
photo of Legoboy's Lego Cave ;) 

Review the interdependencies chart - Biology

He reviews this chart from time to time - just for the fun of it. Sometimes he draws pictures based on it or from other studies, adding more details. The first time he received this chart as a 6 year old, he re-created the chart on his own paper (tracing it to scale); at 8, he created it identically but smaller. At other times he has done a variety of other follow-ups. On this day (at age 10), he chose to simply talk it out with me, explaining how each component is interdependent upon each other - and how we, the humans, have created a supranatura that we are now dependent upon as well. This led to an interesting discussion about those people (Legoboy would LOVE to do this) who live off-grid, some attempting to be completely self-sufficient. What is the reality here?

The reality is that modern technologies, human progress, etc. have actually made it MORE possible to live "off-grid" - but that "off-grid" now looks VERY different than it would have 100 years ago, 500 years ago, 1000 years ago. Ancient people lived more in harmony with nature, to be certain - but consider that now we have an understanding of the microscopic world and what it can do for us (and against us), microfibers, and so much more. Thus "all-natural" living has a different understanding than it did centuries in the past.

Lots more to discuss there ;)



Outdoor work: 

• pull loose branches from the trees
• gather sticks and branches from all over the yard (we have 1.13 acre ;) )
• set up 2 outside burn piles (one next to the storage shed on the north side of the yard, one next to the compost heap on the other side of the yard) - and 1 indoor in the garage ---- we have a fire-pit already (although we might move it just slightly closer to the house)
• clean off the porch - clear storage tubs (some to compost pile, empty ones to tub to wash), sweep off the porch, clean out the big storage bin and organize gardening items on one side, outside toys on the other)
• set up the compost pile to our personal liking

He started before I went out so I could work on dishes -
trying to tease some loose branches out of the tree above

Errands across the street

Out the side-front window ;) 

He runs a variety of errands across the street, and to the landlord's house (kiddycorner to our back-yard) and other neighbors. I love this area - on the one hand, we are definitely rural, but we do have some people/places nearby.

Horses live beyond our back fence
(the fire pit, in this photo, is the brush-pile towards the right side)

Laundry
Because we can ;)



Apologetics class

He signed up for the monthly unlimited subscription - not doing the live classes, but watching many of the recorded classes. This works out more affordable, but limits access to immediate feedback from the instructor (although some instructors offer such feedback for a very small fee). Legoboy is currently working through a middle school introductory apologetics course, which is VERY good.


Herbal Cold Care















Continuing our herbal studies, we recently signed for Herbal Cold Care through LearningHerbs.com. A series of 10 videos walk through straight-forward use of herbs and normal foods for the prevention, cure, treatment and follow-up healing from colds and flu. AWESOME stuff here. And lots of downloads of recipes, monographs on particular herbs and more. We got in on about half-off the cost because we also participate in Herb Mentor. Among our other herbal studies from Learning Herbs and other resources, these two have been so straight-forward, real and useful. I can't say enough about using natural remedies for our health.




Sherlock

Legoboy and his godmother are both way into Sherlock. He has been reading the original stories for a couple of years now. We have been hearing talk of the BBC show - and finally watched it on Netflix (Seasons 1 and 2) - HOOKED.


Confirmation card
He is preparing for the sacrament of Confirmation and one of our resources we are using at home is a workbook I divided up into activity cards so he can create a notebook on various topics and experiences. Each week he does 2-7 cards, with 70 altogether, leading him through prayers, reading the Sacred Scriptures, studying sections of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, studying prayers in the Roman Missal, applying Church teaching to real life, etc.



Reading general books
He reads. And builds with Legos. And reads some more. Then asks for movies. Yes, we watch a lot of movies of late - all related to what he is reading in one way or another with LOTS of discussions. I love it :)


Locate Narnia binder and flip through previous work
He wants to re-begin a Narnia study we started quite a while back (which is actually what prompted the Sherlock reading above).
I think if this were the ONLY thing we were doing for school (adding in a math component only), it would be something we would work on more routinely. As it is, we are barely finishing up Magician's Nephew (first book in the study - it presumes you have read the books already, and are re-reading them for the study) and we started WAY back when (3 1/2 years ago???). we don't even do all the activities, we just get started down a rabbit trail or we have our other studies.



Some stuff w do together; some we do side-by-side with moments of cooperation. Some things we do in entirely different locations. We really work together - as a community - building on each other and around each other. Living life :)

"Education as an Aid to Life" - that is the them of Montessori - and the best place to do that is at home (home = with family).

setting up the bead cabinet for visitors and future co-op 

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

Monday, December 8 in the life of a Catholic family - Legoboy was on the schedule for 6:30 AM Mass for the Feast Immaculate Conception.

Our biology study of the day: recalling that a newly created baby girl in the womb of her mother already has eggs forming in her brand-new ovaries - all the DNA that will become her future children is already separating itself out into eggs. Indeed, those eggs are actually mature enough, even while their mother is in the womb of their grandmother, that a British group has had serious discussions about the feasibility of harvesting said eggs from the ovaries of aborted female babies for use in fertility treatments: in-vitro fertilization. 

The main drawback? that those children will grow up and find out that their "birthmother" was "never alive". 

Really. Wow. So the egg that has now become my son was created in my ovaries before I was "alive"? Eggs can grow in something that isn't alive? I had ovaries before I was alive myself? 

Tongue-in-cheek. In reality, I cry for all the pain that is out there because of mis-information about when life begins. 

In the end, science informs our faith. Life begins at the moment of conception. Period. 

Legoboy loves talking about this stuff. 

It was not this light when we left.
In fact, it was not this light when we returned home. 

I did not sleep well last night. In fact, I didn't sleep at all. No particular reason, I just couldn't sleep. Bleck. I couldn't focus on anything this morning when we got back, so Legoboy made himself some oatmeal and I laid down for 3 hours - and finally slept.

I am pretty sure we did not do morning prayer today. Since Mass is the greatest prayer we have, I suppose we are ok ;)

He worked on some Minecraft while I slept, working around the reality that he is not allowed to kill "humans" even in the game. Zombies and animals are fair game. The one is already dead and is attacking him; the other is needed for food and other commodities.

He also worked with Legos. You know - hands-on Minecraft ;)

I woke up and checked e-mails. We had a nice response from the gentleman who offers EEME - Monthly Electronics Projects. After each thing we do on there, we receive an automatic request for a survey/feedback. This last one I put in a couple of requests, pointed out what we loved and shared that Legoboy was having trouble getting the photoresistor to work properly in other configurations (it is actually going brighter when it should go dimmer, and vice-versa). Mr. Pien "EEME Dad" offered for us to send him a photo and he'd see if he could provide some feedback. He loves that Legoboy is experimenting with alternate methods. Very cool.

So he got a photo ready to send over (I just took care of responding this evening, so no response yet as of the time I type this).

 Randomly took a picture of himself walking. Cute.

We have been slowly working on our Jesse Tree ornaments for this year - set up the tree this morning, but have not yet hung the ornaments. Last year, Legoboy made paper ones each day. This year, we'll be doing wood-burned ornaments again.

For Advent, he has a Star Wars Lego Advent calendar. In the past, he has had a Kingdoms Lego Advent Calendar which was really neat. The City version never intrigues him for some reason.

He did use his St. Nicholas gift with some Legos today - after a couple of hours of experimentation, both yesterday AND today. He received a box with a battery pack with a switch that allows the current to go either way or off, a motor with a piston that turns either direction based on the switch, wires with 2 lights, and something else (can't remember off-hand). A few small extra pieces too. Anyway, today he built this - he says he has more to add to it to make a non-water boat.

Our Advent prayer table. Using a red candle for Gaudete Sunday - he can't seem to find the rose candles and I have not had time to look.

All the Legos he is getting for Christmas either from me or from others? I got some free packages mixed in ;) To be clear - those freebies? they're mine ;)

History: He and I reviewed his progress on his Mystery of History Wall of Fame. He was half-way done, looking forward to finishing up two months ago, then had the idea to convert all his images to the computer. He wants to learn how to use Paint.net really well and thought this would be a great to do so. He is about 20 images in so far (doing 2-3 a day, about 3-4 days a week) - and his skills are definitely improving! He won't let me share until it is entirely done.

Confirmation Preparation: He worked on a card in his Confirmation notebook. He does 1-2 a day, 4-5 days a week, with about 4-5 cards actually done each week. (more information in another post)

Outside to gather up more fallen branches and sticks, sweep away some leaves, before snow falls again.

Natural creations: Made new batches of deodorant and toothpaste. Yes, he helps make this stuff.

We did some afternoon chores together, cleaned up the living room, discussed the most recent episode of Once Upon a Time and how grateful we are to have the movie Frozen with substantially fewer loose ends now. Elsa, Anna and their aunt (who also has ice powers) have been on Once Upon A Time this season - the aunt is something else, and it came to a sudden conclusion that at first made us all think, "What!? That was IT!? That is all it took? That was WAY too simple!" But if you go back to the "Love Experts'" (the trolls') song in Frozen:

"People don't really change... People make bad choices if they're mad or scared or stressed, But throw a little love their way - and you'll bring out their best. True love brings out their best!"

We only watched the movie this past summer when there was an intro of Elsa at the end of OUAT Season 3. I LIKED the movie, surprisingly enough, but SO MANY loose ends.

Most of them are now tied up. Why the parents left. Yes they threw a message in a bottle before they drowned. Are the powers genetically passed on or was Elsa cursed? Does Anna's love really withstand all things? Could she ever do something to harm Elsa? What is Christoff like when HE is grumpy? These and so much more. Legoboy appreciates the further depth to the story now! He is NOT a Frozen fan in general.

Faith Formation: Two lessons of Consecration in Truth - below his actual grade level, but the teaching is so meaty that he asked to go back to where we stopped. He did level 1 when he was in kindergarten-age, but we've not used it since then. So he picked up with level 2 today and we did the first two lessons.


Then it was time for tae-kwon-do.

Mystery shop at Dairy Queen. My favorite mystery shop ;) Legoboy's too.


45 minute drive home - yuck. Stuck behind 10-15 mile per hour traffic for NO apparent reason (two police cars in front of the traffic slowing everyone down).

Evening prayer.

Considered a nap. We had adoration at the church from midnight to 1 AM, tonight, in honor of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception and the upcoming Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe when Mary appeared to St Juan Diego with the unborn Jesus in her womb ---- this vigil/adoration is for the sake of all unborn children in our world.

Legoboy took a nap. When I woke him up, he stumbled around for about 5 minutes, then came to me and asked, "Did I fall asleep?" Yeah, just a little, kid ;)

after everyone in front of us left

That was his Monday (and a small part of mine).
Lots of faith formation. Can't complain ;)


I'll add: I looked up Fractals and we both discussed them. People keep mentioning them and it IS in the Frozen song "Let it Go". My personal opinion? Totally cool, totally fun. No need to introduce lesson plans or new materials for Montessori-educated children - just have a book or a chart about them to entice interest. These seem more a follow-up, a connection to art for sure - not necessary as a "key experience" because the key experiences that already emphasize patterns and history and further studies will lead the children down that path.
And if the children don't go there in elementary - then they have adolescence for it. 

Electricity - EEME (Review Post)

We are still in the process of unpacking - well, not so much unpacking as making it all homey and cozy. Since we have more space and lots of projects, we are slowly and carefully working through each one, spreading out (did I just say "spreading out"!?!?!? Oh yes!) and actually enjoying the process!

Just to distract us from the joy of having a glorified walk-in closet (the master bedroom, with its three closets, holds only our clothes (a closet for each of us), holiday decorations, sewing projects, and laundry. Yep - walk-in closet.)...

So the distraction? Someone on a Montessori Facebook group (I wish I could remember who!) recently linked to EEME - curious, I clicked over. I was intrigued. We penny-pinch around here - so $8.95 for the first month to try out some electric projects, with lots of online videos and other resources? Yeah, worth it. 

And YES - WORTH IT. 

Legoboy has very limited interest in electricity, building a couple of kits (a robotic car and a traffic kit - both kits that I thought would entice interest - the light didn't work; the car was way fun for him (the crazy honking horn sold him - it sold me OUT ;) ) --- and there was some electricity with the LEGO Tower of Orthanc. Not enough to entice interest in further electric studies though. 

I shared the website with him, he watched a video - and he said, "I WOULD like to try it. We can always cancel if I don't like it or it's not worth it."

His first kit arrived today. It's been 4 hours. 

Here he is: 

At this point he has watched all the associated videos and is experimenting with this "Genius Light" circuit to assure he understands the concepts and can make it work. (he actually got it to work, but backwards - it lights up in bright rooms and dims in dimmer rooms - and now he is off experimenting to figure out WHY). 

This is everything the first set comes with: battery pack (with 2 batteries), 2 stickers (he put one on already), baseplate to hold the bread-board and the battery pack, bread-board (the white thing with all the dots), 2 resistors, LED, photoresistor, 2 1-inch wires, 2 2-inch wires. 

$18.95 normally - but $10 off if you use someone's referral link. Here is one: EEME with referral code. So $8.95 for all of that plus video instruction, plus additional free lessons on the website. 

Um. He's hooked. He has offered to pay half of each month's shipment for the duration. 

Legoboy is learning about negative and positive sides, how to arrange wires based on what is connected and what is not; that a current needs to complete itself in order to work, etc. 

So what all do we have here? 

• Each month for 7 months, you receive a package in the mail with the necessary components for that project (plus the requirement to use some of last month's stuff too). 
• Corresponding video instructions are given in short blips, with quiz questions inserted sporadically to ensure understanding. Not just blurt-back questions either - they are basic enough but you do have to actually think to answer them. 
• What you receive can be rearranged and used for other purposes. In the end, it is a LOT of stuff and LOT more learning, with lots of experiments, ideas and inspiration. 

This first month has "22 sub-lessons", the last few lessons actually build the Genius Light; the first ones lead the child through various styles of lighting up the LED, what will work and why; how the bread-board works, and more. 

You can also watch all the future videos when you first subscribe - to see what is coming up before you get your items. 

The DOWNside is the same as the UPside: they only mail each kit on the first of each month. So whenever you sign up, you wait until the 5th or so of the next month to receive your items. Then each month afterward... so no moving on quickly to the next topic. 

On the other hand - this then gives a month to really let the learning sink in, do some more experiments, have questions pop up --- then get started on the next lesson. 

Where do we find electricity in the Montessori key experiences? 

• The children in first and second world countries have been sensorially experiencing electricity their whole lives. Many children in third world countries don't need or use it. Thus electricity is NOT a key experience for the universal child. 
• For those children for whom it is a key experience: it would correspond with "Geography" - Earth Studies --- specifically it could come in with a review of "Attraction and Gravity" (magnetism comes in here - so an introduction to positives and negatives). Unless there is an earlier interest or an earlier experience that entices that interest, typically upper elementary and into adolescence is the time to really get into electricity studies - with lots of hands-on work. We want the children to understand what they are doing (electricity CAN be dangerous), so we want them to have a basic understanding of atoms, perhaps some exposure to the periodic table of elements. 
• If we are utilizing Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding with AMI-style key experiences, we have the following note included in Thread C where energy and electricity are studied: 

• This entire thread is interest-driven in the AMI Montessori albums. Come to it as your children are ready and interested. Always introdue concepts on the sensorial level first; at primary have the experience first, then add language. At elementary the language and experience can come together. These here are the concepts that are discussed in the AMI albums that the children in classrooms will find experiments in other books and resources and want to replicate in the classroom. Also, many of these areas are more upper elementary as far as going DEEP but can certainly be done sensorially and as fun activities in primary and lower elementary. (the download for a document correlating BFSU with Montessori key experiences is included at the link above)

An introductory study of electricity: 

1. Conversations about the electricity we use (as early as the child starts exploring with light switches and bulbs). 
2. Exploration based on interest: simple kits, books, etc. (as early as primary for those children interested; into lower elementary) Here is a great blog post from Montessori in Bloom about using electricity in primary.
3. Later upper elementary and adolescence: more concise conversations and explorations, with the scientific principles noted. 

Where does EEME fit in to this introductory study? 

• It is a great place to start and to build, but it doesn't give the "how does electricity work"? For that, we have books and videos - and BFSU. And they do ask for reviews as you complete a project - so we'll see if they don't add those details in soon ;) It DOES do a lot more than your basic kits that tell you where to put the pieces but can't really be built any other way (or minimal other ways). 
• They advertise for ages 7-12 - with what they have right now, I feel that is entirely on par. 

Resources linked: 

EEME (referral link)

Montessori Trails Post - utilizing Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding with Montessori

Montessori in Bloom on electric experiences with primary children

Montessori beyond Elementary

Are there Montessori options past Elementary?

MOST DEFINITELY.

And my son is creeping on 11.
ELEVEN.

WHAT!?

Sigh.....



Ok, stepping off the nostalgia box.... Or... trying....


As far as resources go - there is very little directly related to adolescence (the third plane of development).

But the elementary Montessori theory album contains some information the third plane of development - and the concepts of Cosmic Education continue into adolescence.

The elementary Montessori theory album, along with adolescent readings (mostly lectures from Maria Montessori) sold via NAMTA provide a few key points (with lots more details):

• cosmic education continues
• personal vocation (personal place in the cosmos) is coming into focus - so we want to hone in on finalizing personal skills such as the following: 
• personal economics
• small business economics
• hospitality (the adolescent practical life)
• essentially: time to practice those skills that will allow the adolescent to live independently as an adult, long before that independence is entirely necessary (lots of practice time)
• Now that those essentials are out of the way, the adolescent is freed in the final years of adolescence (ages 15-18) to explore his options for personal vocation: goals in life, mission, etc. 

So resources to DO all that? 

NAMTA is offering an adolescence "algebra" album - actually covers a LOT more than algebra. ;)
(this album is the one exception to my "no materials" comment below)

Otherwise, it is ENTIRELY necessary to follow the child. There are no specific materials to learn, which is both GREAT and scary at the same time (those materials become comfort zones for us - what do you mean "NO materials!?")


So - look at what your child needs in various areas to accomplish the tasks of personal economics, small business economics, and hospitality. Fill in those areas with resources that serve YOUR child.


Our ideas to come ;)

Keys of the World and Keys of the Universe Albums - on Sale - First time EVER - probably ONLY time

Ok, I did it. I put them on sale. I am still in shock, actually ;)

There were several people who were on the fence and their children could really use these albums, so I did it to help out those families.
Sale is now over, but see comment response below.
Garden of Francis

Keys of the World

Keys of the World album sample
This pdf includes all 5 albums: Theory, Exercises of Practical Life, Language, Sensorial and Mathematics. Looking it over you will see that Geography and Science are included in the appropriate Language and Sensorial sections, Art is in Exercises of Practical Life. Remaining cultural is likewise interspersed.

What is upcoming to be added?

• Sensorial explorations of astronomy. This is oft-requested and the AMI albums haven't had anything "official." 
• Homeschooling realities: not "supplements", not "adaptations" but what does Montessori at home look like when school IS at home - for the primary age child (ages 3-6). 
• Downloadable materials to correspond with each and every appropriate lesson (some free with the online support; some paid (online support participants have a 75% off coupon code))

Additional resources: 

• Intervals for the presentations - general ones are posted at Montessori Nuggets; detailed ones are posted with the Online Support (paid access only)

Keys of the Universe

Keys of the Universe album samples

These pdf files include the following albums: Theory, Art, Biology, Geography, Geometry, History, Language Arts, Mathematics and Music. 

What is upcoming to be added? 

• Keys for exploring Astronomy

Additional Resources: 

• Linking Montessori to various resources such as the following - with generic ones available free online and detailed ones available with the Online Support: 
• Life of Fred
• Ed Zaccarro's Challenge Math series
• Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding by Dr. Bernard Nebel

Questions about Keys of the Universe Course versus Albums/Online Support: 

• The Course includes all the albums and all online support, available indefinitely; the assignments are optional but can be helpful in getting organized. If a certificate is desired, an additional $50 fee is required. 
• The Course is the cheapest way to go if you want all albums and online support for all subjects. 

Printing the Albums: 

You can order them in printed format from me, but honestly it is cheaper to upload the purchased pdfs to a site such as Best Value Copy and order the print-outs. I highly suggest a D-ring binder if you order them unbound. 

Or many people are going entirely digital via PC, Ipads, etc. 

Montessori Math - Word Problems - Option: Zaccaro's Challenge Math

Legoboy and I received our copy of Upper Elementary Challenge Math two days ago and all I can say as I go through it is YES! Yes, yes yes yes yes yes!

As I suggest in the comments on my first post on the Challenge Math series, I find that for typically developing Montessori children, we can add 1-2 years to Mr. Zaccaro's age suggestions. These books were designed for gifted children and they tie in wonderfully with our math and geometry experiences.

This book says grades 3-5 - and I say YES! Adding two years puts it at Montessori "grades" 5-7 (misnomer there but bear with me ;) ). My son is "5th grade" and I would say he is just about ready for this book, the first levels of each chapter. I have a few more reviews I would like him to do in the first book (Primary Grade Challenge Math) before we dive into this one; if we hadn't been waylaid by other life events, he would be entirely ready for this book.

Now the difference between Upper Elementary and Primary Grade? There are additional problem sets (3-8 pages of them!) before even getting to the "levels". Both books have the same levels - Level 1, Level 2, Level 3 and Einstein. Primary Grade did not have the additional problem sets though and at times I feel like there are not "enough" word problems... to the point I re-wrote a few (just a few in the end) with different numbers, just for more practice. This book fills it ALL in. If I had known what was coming, I would have let it go and just enjoyed the Primary Grade Challenge Math for what it is, holding out for Upper Elementary Challenge Math.

Well now I know. And I love it.

I could see this book carrying us through the rest of elementary and getting us started in adolescence. Then moving into the original Challenge Math book. At the time we started Primary Grade, the next step available was Challenge Math - so this Upper Elementary Challenge Math fits a nice little transition stage perfectly!


I LIKED math growing up - because I always knew there was something more there - I picked up pieces of it here and there, but mostly missed the boat.

This is ONE EXCITED Montessori Mama - I get to do all of this too!

The Real Cost of Montessori Training

Costs of Montessori Trainings --- Only my personal experience:

Primary Montessori Training - 1 academic year format - 1:00-5:30 every week day:

• $9000 - training center itself - in the form of a 1.76-3.8% variable rate loan
• $1000 - Rental truck to move across country, including gas
• $3000 - ultimate out-of-pocket cost for 9 months of full-day childcare after state assistance kicked in (Montessori school)
• $300 - incidentals (paper, ink, binders, etc.)
• can't measure - the cost of closing a profitable in-home childcare, working part-time (3-5 hours a morning as an aide with hours added as the year went on) only in the last 7 months (the original aide was a single woman, not a mother, responsible, also in the training with me - she continually called me to sub for her the morning that the weekly assignments were due since hers weren't done; when she finally put in two weeks notice because she couldn't work and do the training, the directress/guide wanted to hire me, but the school board wondered how a single MOTHER could manage to work and go to school if a single WOMAN couldn't; they ultimately hired me and more hours were slowly added because I COULD do it.)
• Not included: expenses we would have had anyway (food, etc.). Although food costs went up because I was purchasing bulk food and receiving money from the Federal Food Program for the daycare I had; now we were on our own and buying in smaller quantities - the prices goes up per person.

Elementary Montessori Training - 3 summer format - 8-hours each day:

• $9000 - training center itself - in the form of a graduate loan through Loyola in Maryland - 6.8%
• $20,000 - graduate credit at Loyola towards a Master's in Education-Montessori - in the form of same graduate loan - 6.8%
• $5,250 - housing for all summers combined
• $750 - materials available on-site at a steep discount (or unavailable elsewhere)
• $400 - incidentals (paper, ink, binders, etc.) - cost went up due to twice as much paper, and they wanted it re-printed a few more times.
• $900 - summer camp cost for the weeks my son was with me
  
• Not included: two weekend seminars (I did not attend); travel expenses between training center, where my son was a portion of each summer and where we live/d, other living expenses we would have had anyway.
• can't measure: time away from my son. With primary we were together every day, if not every hour of the day. With elementary, he went to family for weeks at a time. 
• also can't measure: the emotional impact of the severe discrimination faced as a practicing/believing Christian (and a Catholic to boot!), a homeschooler (egads) and a woman who can get things done without whining about everyone else in the room (about 1/3 the group was constantly picking on everyone else). The constant re-writes of album pages because I kept Christian statements in the stories where they said "you can modify this to suit your own beliefs" - well, I am a Christian, so I will "modify" by keeping the Christian statements, thank you. Nope, that was apparently the wrong thing to do. And the constant apologies for the Christianity of Montessori were beyond just rolling one's eyes and ignoring it - it was downright cruel to Maria Montessori. Another training center may have been more respectful. (all those re-writes, and they couldn't catch actual safety typos - like typing the wrong chemical name for a demonstration).
  

I ended up sick during both trainings. In primary, our heat was accidentally "swiffered up", drying out my lungs in those few hours before we figured out what was going on, ended up in a severe coughing spell for weeks that caused me to almost pass out, cough up blood, and the doctors couldn't do anything. A friend gave me an old-fashioned humidifier and voila! Two days later I was fine. No amounts of boiling water on the stove took care of it as well as that cold-water humidifier.
 

In elementary, I was bit by either a tic or a spider - severe bulls-eye rash that wrapped around my leg. The doctor gave me a strong antibiotic for it - that I ended up sensitive to. Unable to focus while on it, severely motion sick (threw up several times on the way to the training center from the place we were staying), and unable to eat well within the first few hours of taking the twice daily dose. I had tiny windows of opportunity to get something in that would stay down. Finished the 10-day run and am hoping it wasn't a tic, so I don't have to worry about Lyme's Disease (so far, so good!).

We're Home

12:57. Waiting for Legoboy to collect the mail (our local post office isn't forwarding all appropriate mail...). We've finished cleaning, walked out, closed up. I am looking up at the balcony and thinking "I don't miss this place." EVERY other time we've moved, as we pack, I start to think that I will miss the afternoon sunlight, or the pleasant aroma of the lilac trees, or whatever it is about this particular place I just love. Several years ago, we were going to move from here to Milwaukee, and I was definitely in that mindset. I would miss the southern sun through the winter.

But this move. Nope. Nothing. The one place I have lived the longest continuously my entire life - 6 years, 2 months to the day from the moment I signed the lease on this apartment to the moment I saw the inside of the house we live in now, and told the new landlady I want it. 4 days later I was cleaning with a friend; 5 days later I was moving our first load of stuff in.

The difference? All those other moves I was moving to something better, for one reason or another, but there would be drawbacks. So it always balanced out. This time? Everything is better. Not perfect (I want to own our own property with at least 3 times the acreage - run a small Montessori farm school). But EVERYTHING is better. No drawbacks (I guess the overall higher electricity bill and the double-rent for two weeks and having to do some of our own maintenance don't really count as drawbacks ;) ). We have a LARGE yard - about an acre, in the shape of a capital T. The neighbor on one side has a decent size yard in between (OUR part of the yard, no less); the other neighbor is the landlord's father and he has tall plants growing along his fence (privacy) and there is a driveway between our house and the fence (leading to the pole barn), with his drive on the other side. Yes, our landlord will use that driveway (the pole barn is theirs) - but he is mowing the lawn - way cool.
There is a decent size garden already. We'll make it bigger in the springtime. A GARDEN!
And apple trees. Edible apples on my own property! We picked a few, and the landlord picks more to sell along the roadside. We can have what we like from the trees of course.
We have maple trees too. Not sure how many (limited time to look) - perhaps enough for a quart of syrup? Just for the fun of it? Maybe! We'll find out.

We have a full basement. Divided into two rooms. One room will be for woodcutting (finally in my OWN HOME! No more driving half hour to a (dear!) friend's house to woodcut. Now I can cut 2 minutes at a time if needed - much more efficiency with Garden of Francis orders!

The other room has an OLD deep freeze (won't be using it - much too big for us) and an old refrigerator (might use it for storing some stuff, but stuff that is mostly canned/sealed already). We are looking forward to purchasing a smaller chest freezer before month's end.

And the BRAND NEW washing machine I just purchased. I have never purchased one before; I made a list of the features I wanted. No agitator being pretty close to the top (no, it IS at the top). Well, that happens to get pricey. Do I "deserve" a new washing machine? No. And certainly not the more expensive one. Many people have pointed out some facts to me though:

• I never purchase something that isn't really good value for the money invested.
  
• I make things last by properly caring for them.
  
• I tend to make my own repairs. (I am loving that the landlord/landlady actually prefer I do any minor repairs myself - this is some odd inner need of mine - to care for my own stuff, to feel creative in that way, to exercise stewardship over my surroundings). I make things LAST. 
• I have been handwashing my laundry (and sometimes taking loads to a friend's house, perhaps once every 4-6 months) for 5 years now. And personal laundry cannot be washed in anyone else's machine because of the residue build-up, that even with my homemade, no harsh chemicals still gives me uncomfortable rashes. Sorry Mom and Grandma - your machines too! And I KNOW those are clean! Our apartment machines were just awful - and we had to pay for them. NO THANK YOU.
  
• I am not yet getting a dryer. We'll hang dry a while longer. A chest freezer is a more useful and wise investment of our money next, and after that we need to build up savings and pay down debts again. So I'm not looking to "spoil" myself. Simply utilize my money and time wisely.
  

This house has 3 bedrooms and a den/office. The living room is a hair smaller than our apartment living room, but in the apartment a portion was used up by our dining room table. Now - the den/office is a dining room (with a small sewing room at one end ;) ). I have a dining room! No more eating in the living room!!!!!

( just a little excited there )

Then the small bedroom on the main floor, next to the DINING ROOM, is the..... LIBRARY. Half of my bedroom has been the library - now it is a room of its own. And we'll have a good deal of the school supplies in there, using the closet for our main storage of items we use routinely (holiday decor and the like). Both of these rooms (indeed the whole ground floor) is a mess right now because we were waiting for the carpeting to go in upstairs. Yeah. Upstairs. I'd be fine with a ranch-style house and a basement, but somehow this feels more like "home" with the upstairs. LOTS of closet space, one large bedroom, one smaller bedroom, one LARGE closet with a light already in it (now "Legoboy's cave" - he has his Legos in there already), and a large landing for the keyboard, music shelf and a shelf along the rails for the games (doubling as protection against falling through the rails and my fear of heights ;) ).

We are potentially looking to do foster care, so haven't yet decided on the arrangement of the bedrooms. Firstly, the small bedroom will have the bed and be set up as something of a guest room. We'll sleep on the main floor for a little while longer while waiting for the gas furnace to be installed (within the next week, but then we'll wait a bit longer to conserve the gas bill while....)..... I also want to get through the sewing projects I have, so want to use the large room to spread out a bit. Get through all of that, creating a variety of items to sell at local craft shows and on Etsy (I have a LOT of fabric I don't use routinely enough and it just needs to GO), as well as a few other crafty projects. Get all those things done and sold, while going through the foster care preparation process.

By the time we finish all of that up, we'll be ready to sleep upstairs, but also make decisions regarding possibly my own sleeping quarters and Legoboy's - that provides the appropriate balance for him and for any potential foster children.


Our kitchen has light; our bathroom has light - all rooms here have windows (except Legoboy's cave - and he is happy with that). Our apartment had no windows in the kitchen and bathroom; the bathroom was HUGE (way too huge) and our kitchen was tiny (smaller than the bathroom....). The stove here has a light and a window - yeah, I missed that. ;) Weird little things like that, that just make a place more COMFORTABLE. The kitchen here is so much bigger; I could have a small table in there, but I am putting in a long narrow table to have more counter space instead. You know - since we have a DINING room and all ;) The bathroom is SO much smaller, but you know what? I am totally cool with that. It is functional and cute (needs a new sink - but we'll address that in a few months), and still has space for a bathroom shelf to hold our towels and such. It has what it needs AND has that thick frosted glass for a beautiful natural light (I can actually keep a plant in there - it will have enough light!). Yep. All good.


So - issues will come up - but this is the first move I have made in a long time that is truly an upward movement. And the first move ever that has no lingering wishes or something I will miss from the last place. As I looked up at the balcony, I realized, "We have been trying to LIVE in that apartment - for 6 years - and now we can finally LIVE without trying." Pure joy.


Home!

Astronomy from NASA

For those of you waiting for my to have things unpacked enough to start showing off all the cool things I LOVE about our new home ;) here is a neat NASA astronomy unit to download and utilize in our schools and homeschools:

Eyes on the Solar System

Tell me what YOU think of it!

Guess what we are doing? ;)

Yeah, that's just the books. (minus the two tubs of fabric on the table)

And apparently not even all of them.

Will post photos of the library when all is unpacked in the new house ;)

Reality vs. Fantasy Before Age 6 - My Experience

I knew about the Montessori principle of focusing on reality before my son was born. So I was good to go from the start. And I fully supported it because it made sense - it fit with my own experiences working with children that I had not been able to clarify before.

A not so scientific survey - well, it's scientific, just anecdotal/observational science:

Children founded in reality in the first plane of development (conception to age 6) have stronger imaginations, greater creativity and are generally still in awe of the world around them into the elementary years, as compared to children who were surrounded by other people's imaginings in those formative years.

For example, I can tell what sort of 0-6 upbringing a 6-8 year old child has had in response to the first Great Lesson: God with No Hands. Children founded in reality, recognize immediately that there is some amount of fantasy here (the inanimate world does not actually whisper "I hear my Lord, and I obey" nor do angels actually carry heat up and bring cool down). The children immediately recognize words such as "like" and "as if", referring to analogies. The children understand these analogies and pick up on them, even if they have not had an explicit lesson on "analogy." These children can immediately get into the exploration of the actual facts and have JOY in the imaginative pieces - 'those particles, "like" people, like some but have a strong dislike for others', the children find such amusement in this line!

On the other hand, the children who have had experience with a lot of other people's imaginations (things that are not real, adults telling stories that couldn't possibly be true for the fun of it, cartoons, etc.), even when they tell you they "know" the difference between fantasy and reality - will ask at the end (or interrupt in the middle!) of the First Great Lesson, "Is that real?" Or they will say, "Well, that's not really what happened."

Yes, you are correct my child, but did you actually listen?

The story itself doesn't say that it is really what happened - the analogies make this clear. But these children have been set up to argue something that wasn't an argument. They have to repeat to themselves the concepts in the story itself to say that the story is an imaginative event, with a good deal of real facts. So 1) they consciously miss the clues that are obvious to the other children yet 2) they are re-stating those very clues in their own words ("this isn't how it exactly happened").

It becomes almost a difference between true pure joy and a building cynicism.

Wow. And I just wanted to tell a story to open up the geography album.

It happens in other areas too.

The children with the mixed experiences before age 6 seem to spend several of their elementary years sorting out the difference between reality and fiction. I wonder, if a longitudinal study were done, if this carries over into their adolescent and adult years - leading to people questioning objective Truth in this world. Even those without cynicism waste those elementary years still sorting out real versus fiction.

The children with the solid foundation in reality spend their elementary years enjoying the awe and wonder of the world around them, asking many "what if" questions that explore the very real natural laws around us; then testing them out and seeing what more they learn. This is true imagination - to test the limits of reality.

The children with mixed experiences generally consider fairy tales to be girly stories (if they are boys) and baby stories (if they are boys or girls). They might participate because they know there is something there, but there is a rough exterior that says, "I'm actually too cool for this but I'll go along with it since everyone else is." Or they tend to tease the other children who actually still like fairy tales.

The children with the reality experiences DELVE into fairy tales (which are actually moral tales), reading the original versions and various re-writes. They explore the moral dimensions, they re-write endings, or write alternative viewpoints. They explore the cultural dimensions and what it meant to have Cinderella's eyes pecked out by ravens. They are fascinated with Rudyard Kipling's "Just So Stories" and can actually sit through a reading of the original Jungle Books.


Now does this happen with EVERY child? Probably not. But think about this: even the children who SAY they understand the difference, and verbally state they know and then proceed to prove it... doesn't mean they really get it. And sometimes, the fact that they have to verbalize it, means that they have not entirely internalized it. Sometimes the whole talking through something is a sign that the child is still working through it.

And it has been consistent with all the children I have personally observed in this area.

Small Home Montessori - Elementary - What we're doing

The space:
We have an 850 square foot apartment with a large bathroom and a tiny kitchen. Yeah, they could have shifted that space!

Legoboy has the smaller of the two bedrooms (less than 1/3 of less than 1/2 the apartment); I have the master bedroom (the full third end of the apartment (including the walk-in closet).

History:
We had primary set up in Legoboy's bedroom; his clothes went to my closet (on a lower rack on wheels; he has the bottom half of the dresser which is also in the closet). There was a small couch in his room for his bed. I removed the closet doors to extend the space, placing the map cabinet in the closet, with shelving above and behind it.

We even had the bells in there:

IKEA shelf (no longer sell that particular one :( ) on side
placed on top of a coffee table
Sensorial materials below.
The mess above is stuff I swapped up/down. 

My bedroom was/is the library (umpteen shelves), sewing room, and holds my bed. The tops of the bookcases and the shelves in the closet are "storage", which right now equates to empty boxes because we have been trying to move into a house for the last 6+ years.

The hallway had a rack with science supplies; the lower cupboards in the kitchen contained items for Legoboy's use (practical life, dishes, etc.). The bathroom has the art easel and 2 sets of drawers of art supplies.

As we entered elementary, we were slowing adding and replacing the primary materials, but then moved our whole set-up to the local school building to offer a Montessori homeschool co-op, which last some time. We brought materials back and forth as needed; not ideal, but allowed us to have some space at home to get through some other projects. Now we have had to move everything back home and, well, we've just not fully set up. We get out what we need, when we need it. Much less than ideal (less visual options as reminders) but now we are in upper elementary, we need the materials less and less anyway.


So what have we done for elementary?
The classroom sized charts and other large flat items are in the living room closet.

Side by side shelving in Legoboy's room allows us to store items while allowing him to keep his couch-bed, desk and plethora of bookcases.
I can't find the photo of this room off-hand. I will add it if I remember to do so before this posts goes live ;)


Science supplies are in a kitchen cupboard. The hallway has been replaced with the keyboard and our huge 5-gallon bucket of coconut oil. Looking closely you can see we have two maps on the wall (a world map and a US cloth map made by Legoboy with a print from Joann Fabric); two space posters; a globe; art/writing supplies in the far back corner. And this area connects his bedroom, my bedroom, the bathroom and kitchen; I am standing in the living room to take the photo. And the dictionary because he was "hiding" it from me - the whole thing about hiding stuff in plain sight. Yep.

I keep thinking it is all temporary as we look for a rental (you'd have to know the area to understand why this is taking forever), but reality is, he's 10 now. Yes I want to offer a co-op of sorts when we move into a house, but he himself is coming to the end of most of these materials anyway. My heart is breaking and joyful at the same time - that tug of not wanting him to grow up yet, but seeing the wonderful young man he is becoming. :)


But all these materials? 
I totally GET the folks who consider the multiplicity of materials compared to living a simple lifestyle. Not wanting our children to live an indulgenced lifestyle where they get all these expensive (or time-consuming materials) all to themselves. Or to have a tightly filled home when Montessori herself promoted simplicity, beauty in sparsity. My home right now is not the ideal. But it is not Montessori materials cluttering it up. It is all of my own unfinished projects. It continues to improve and I love every inch of free space and time we have as projects finish up; it is a long uphill battle from clingy to clutter-FREE. Montessori HELPED! ;)


My balance to those concerns that I also share?
The joy in sharing these materials with others in one fashion or another certainly goes a long way. We have these blessings, we share them. With local children via co-op and tutoring, with the blogging world, with other homeschool parents wanting to do Montessori at home.