Why is Elementary Montessori Less Popular?

Short answer: it's less "available" on the blogosphere; elementary Montessori homeschooling has been even more eschewed by Montessori trainers than primary; and the options available are overwhelming at best.

Something else that has been difficult to pinpoint: you canNOT DO Montessori in any subject without the theory behind it. 


You CAN DO Montessori without any subject albums, if you have all the theory. 

That is enough to ponder right there. Montessori is not a SUBJECT; it is not entirely a philosophy or even a methodology;

it is Education as an aid to LIFE.

Therefore, the theory is CRITICAL.




The following is MY personal experience. Your experience is just as valid, even if you have an entirely outcome than I do  :)

For families who did primary and consider doing elementary, but choose against it:

• theory albums are not readily available for either age; nor are they encouraged as much as they should be
• primary was overwhelming enough - all those materials, and all those differences available online (which one should be chosen for any given family? too many questions!)
• again on the materials (few parents realize elementary has FEWER materials; and the CHILDREN can help create them! Indeed many materials the children SHOULD be making, especially if they are homeschooled - there are far too many elementary materials available for sale that are not necessary to be "sold" -- and many materials available for sale are more follow-ups, for interested children, and are not going to be for "every" child). 
• there are few/no "state expectations" for preschool/kindergarten, so parents feel freer
• parents always intended to send their children to a school environment in elementary, so elementary Montessori at home has never been on the radar
• there are SO many options for (non-Montessori) elementary that all are quite enticing
• there is a SEVERE imbalance on the amount of Montessori information - not just primary versus elementary; but AMS, AMI, etc. And with AMS being more open, AMI being so closed-mouthed, and bloggers/families making their own adaptations, it becomes difficult to see through the modifications (which are necessary!) to see what is actually the key presentation and what is follow-up, what is a particular child's interests, what is a particular region's educational requirements, what is a particular family's requirements. 
• the elementary albums that are available are overwhelming all by themselves. Seriously, if *I* as a Montessori and CGS trained adult tried to use any other elementary albums with my own son, we would be doing nothing but my own requirements for him; his own interests would be seriously stifled and our enjoyment level would plummet. There is no way those other albums can be used when a family has children of other ages too, without a lot of things being lost (and sanity almost being the least important of the lost things) - time, quality, ability to take care of other household responsibilities, etc.
• hence many people I've spoken to that started elementary OR just looked at the albums - and stopped - tell me it was too much. It was impossible for them to achieve. I can't disagree. 
• AMI has been so close-mouthed about things, that Montessori has an unbalanced appearance out "in the world" - I am not opposed to other ways of doing the same way, I am just opposed to the lack of balance. 
• interesting tidbit: elementary Montessori covers 6 years - and should not be arbitrarily divided into 6-9 and 9-12, because then we are trying "finish" something before going into upper elementary that is actually a continuation and a deepening of 6-9 - not a BREAK - but a CONNECTION. Any given presentation is not upper or lower elementary. There may be logical times, but if a child gets it early or late - SO WHAT!? FOLLOW THE CHILD. 
• The albums I tried to use previously; the samples I can access now; the pages that people share with me asking my thoughts/feedback - they are all overwhelming, detailed to the point of "hole-in-the-head" syndrome for both the kids and the adults.
• I've seen others that are just too plain. Not enough to even spark a kindling of interest. And/or they don't provide all the necessary subjects. 
• Few know how truly FREEING Montessori at elementary can and SHOULD be. 

So call me Goldilocks ;) I've got to have it just right, or I am NOT doing it in my home with my son or with any of the children I teach.

My motivating factor for offering my albums to the public:

• yes, families of all shapes and sizes CAN do elementary Montessori. 
• the curriculum is not intended to be overwhelming, but FREEING (AMI albums provide this - I have not yet seen ONE elementary album that provided this freedom, without a serious dumbing down of the material or cutting out critical presentations, while leaving a lot of the "extras" from other albums). If you have one that is perfect in this regard, I am very happy to peruse it and will happily point it out as a suitable option. 
• my own experience has been that we use those other albums for particular follow-ups, but if I didn't have them, we would find other sources for the same information. 
• the children should be working to both outside expectations AND their own interests, developing research skills, analytical skills, relationship skills, and more, along the way. Not following any one curriculum to a T and leaving it there. 
• AMI albums (this is my favorite part of them!) allows us to provide the KEYS; then utilize ANY other resource that fits with our learning at any given time - that includes methodologies like Charlotte Mason and living books and nature walks, particular textbooks, time to do endless science experiments/demonstrations, add in Living Math books and games, whatever we NEED at the time. 
• When I tried to use other albums, I hit a brick wall. I hit it hard and fast, just like some other families. I almost burned out. 
• I want to share the JOY and the FREEDOM of elementary Montessori. 

Here is a key my child. What door would you like to open? Oh, you would like to save that one for another time? Ok. Ah! That is the key you would like to use! This key opens these doors - which one shall we start with? 

And we are off on our journey. 

TRANSLATION:

Here is a key my child (a new presentation for which they are academically ready - straight from a keys-based album).

What door would you like to open? (follow-up work - can use any resource, including other albums, books, videos, Goings Out, visitors, etc)

Oh, you would like to save that one for another time? Ok. (they've done some follow-up or not; fulfilled any requirements; the interest just isn't there, or they have an idea for something but would like to finish up some other project first).

Ah! That is the key you would like to use! (they have an expressed interest)

This key opens these doors - which one shall we start with? (you provide the guidance as needed, but are ever-developing the child's own planning skills; you provide requirements as needed for family/state requirements, but the child does most of the planning and the material creation). 

And we are off on our journey. (Freedom, responsibility, cosmic education, living life together, joy)

Is this why you are interested in Montessori? For the freedom? For the JOY? 

It IS possible!

Pick up a proper theory album for the elementary age - the FULL elementary age. You don't need materials to make it happen! I promise!

Our Journey to Reading

What did we use for learning to read?


The longer post: ;) 

I originally found the pink/blue/green series before I went to AMI primary Montessori training. I printed out all the cards from a site that offered them for free (thank you to all you WONDERFUL resource providers out there! low-cost or free - I owe each of you so much!). I had some instructions for their use and several blogs and sites with further ideas; but since I couldn't combine that information with anything in any of Montessori's writings, or any other Montessori-topic books I could purchase at the time, I was LOST. It just didn't connect with any Montessori experience I'd had and I didn't have a chance during that time period to get into a school to see what it was I missing.

So I took the printed words and sorted them out by the lessons I did have in books like The Advanced Montessori Method - and tried to adapt them to fit what I could grasp at the time.

It worked, but I still found myself combining it with learning-to-read series like Catholic Heritage Curricula's Little Stories for Little Folks, graded readers and other non-Montessori reading lessons. I was not entirely satisfied. And I was SO looking forward to learning to use the "real Montessori learning-to-read materials (aka pink/blue/green series)" when I got to primary training.

Was I in for a shock!? They didn't have it! NO pink/blue/green!? I asked about it and my trainer said, "Well, I have looked into it and considered how to use it within our environments, but we find it to be too curriculum-like, too scheduled, too much for the child; therefore too slow and inappropriate." Well, that explains why it wasn't in any of the writings I'd read - because Maria didn't develop it! It was developed later to deal with our English language rules; and AMI considered it and passed it by. Interesting.

I couldn't discuss it in detail with her to get more specifics, because I still didn't have much experience with it at the time. And I had to set it aside because AMI training is intense (and I was a single mom and working part-time at my son's school). What I DID discover while I was in training is that my daycare children had received from me something that looked VERY much like the AMI layout for reading. Both my methodology and Montessori's methodology as laid out in the AMI albums were based on careful observation, providing the keys, and providing real life experience - no dumbing down, no graded stages.



So where did things go askew with my own son? ;)

My son followed the AMI way perfectly his first year in primary. He began reading (and writing) at home and at school, until a little girl told him, "You can't read; I'll read this book for you." She was playing around, he took her seriously. And told me at home, "I can't read yet." Uphill battle until the following summer we worked through some of the issues and he was reading again.

The following school year, we were far away from any Montessori school and he was attending a part-time very non-Montessori preschool. The children LOVED that he could read to them. Until one girl said, "We're not supposed to read until we're in Kindergarten!" So he told me just that line at home (he did not know I was in the room next door to the preschool and heard the whole interaction). We spent Thanksgiving RE-training his confidence. But it just didn't really pick up again.

We started again that summer just after he turned 5. He was picking it up. Then for 2 1/2 months he attended a lovely AMS Montessori school that used a very nice combination of reading strategies, but my son's confidence was shot at this point, so he would do the minimum requirements for the day and no more - he was busy in other areas. When we were back home full-time and I was actually home with him full-time, we delved into the reading sequence, starting at the beginning of the AMI language album.

There were some struggles - because he was honestly far beyond the work I was presenting; but his confidence and BELIEF in himself needed to be nurtured, as well as conquering his insistence that he would not be "ready for Kindergarten until I'm 9 or 10" (a bit of confusion set in when the one girl told him that children don't read until kindergarten). Yes, he told me that when I told him he would be starting Kindergarten at the one Montessori school. He has his hand up, palm-forward, and everything - so serious! Speaking to me like I was the child! Well, he got over that in a hurry!


The first "book" he truly read independently at this time was not a booklet from any of the reading activities (AMI, Dwyer, etc.), but it was the first of the Biological Classification booklets - about living and non-living matter - he just went in to his room (the school room was in his bedroom), picked it up and started reading it. Prior to this, during his bouts of reading, he had made up some words as he went along, but it always sounded good, even if not correct. The story or narration made sense. But now he was really reading! Word for word, entirely accurate! And it wasn't lesson time!
(interestingly enough, his "mis-read" words from before not only made sense in context but were ALWAYS a synonym-of-sorts of the same word - so he would exchange feline for cat; God for Jesus; Jesus' mother for Mary; fled instead of ran; leap instead of jump - usually using the more "complicated" version of the word - this was EVERY TIME he mis-read a word --- clearly he could truly read the words in his mind).

But by January of that school year, the frustration level was high, because he just kept having an attitude about "I can't read" (even when he was!); attitude was a serious issue. Then he really wanted to read Magic Tree House and I kept holding him back, because I wanted him to be successful with them (and I didn't like them to begin with). And the attitude continued, until finally I said (not so nicely, I must be humble and admit), "Fine. You may read one chapter. You may not ask me for pronunciation, you may not ask me for help. If you want to read any additional chapters you will need to work through x-amount (I actually specified at the time) of the other work, including y-number of the booklets."

He took the book into his room and I sat in the living room wondering if I was really cut out for this. Whatever "this" is.

He read his chapter.

He calmly returned to me and requested the next booklet. He completed the expectations I laid for him. He read the next chapter. Within 48 hours, he had finished the book and 4 months of typical language album work.

After finishing everything else in the primary album over the course of the next week, he picked up The Oz Chronicles Volume 1 (set of 7 Land of Oz stories written by L Frank Baum - 5th grade reading level - NOT the paperback Oz Chronicles you might find on Amazon). And ate it up.

He then proceeded through the Narnia series.

He then read through a pile of books I can't even list.

And 2 1/2 years later - he hasn't STOPPED. At last "testing" he was reading at an 8th grade level.

For his 6th birthday, just a couple of months after bursting into reading, he received a set of "readers" from 2 friends of his, that were far below his reading level (they'd read them at age 7 so thought they'd be at his reading level ;) they meant well! and the stories were lovely! But the readers were read in a matter of an hour or so). 

This experience is typical. Children who learn to read the Montessori way, will READ. There aren't levels; there aren't experiential steps; they just READ. They need some additional cues now and again in specific areas, but when they start to read, they READ. This happened with my daycare children, my tutoring children, other children I've worked with; it happens throughout Montessori's books and books about Montessori. They go from no reading level to 3rd grade in less than a week or two; then steadily increase from there.

Mama's lesson learned: don't hold them back. Yes, build the foundation; but don't let strife enter into the picture. BEFORE strife sets in, allow them to move forward while making an agreement of continuing to build the foundation.

LESSON FOR EVERYONE: do not make the child read the words aloud until they are ready. There are times it is natural to read the words aloud (phonetic object box, the child will end up saying the name of the item while placing the ticket with the object, for example), but even then, the child has "read" the word in his mind at least a few times before saying it.


If I had it to do all over again, I would utilize the AMI sequence to a T, supplementing only with the Little Stories for Little Folks because of our family's faith, OR (with other children) utilizing a series of books I need to re-find. One Montessori school I worked at had them, and they are the perfect supplement for those who need the "comfort" of a graded reader without unduly burdening the child. I'll post them here if and when I find them!


Now the main point is not for the child to parrot back the story; but to have a logical discussion about it. They should be able to not only tell what happened, but think through the story or the reading - how does this apply to another experience, or what can we learn from it, or how was it interesting/boring/funny/mind-boggling.

• When children are free-reading, we let them just read; but bring up something from the book in a casual conversation at another time. 
• Use sentences and phrases from their reading selections when doing language work (sentence/reading/logical analysis, etc)
• Use artwork in other ways throughout the room - bring out materials to create a particular art form seen in a book. 
• Experience something in the book (does it have a new food? Redwall books are GREAT for that!)
• Talk about the author and his style. 
• Etc. etc. etc. 
• Keep it natural and integrated into the rest of life. 

Now the funny thing is, he loves to read the Clifford books at the library. Right now, he has taken a break from his bird studies (he drew out some birds he saw, brought the drawings and notes to the library to use bird books to identify their names, what they eat, and types of nests; wrote up some charts on them - some serious deep work), and why take a break from such excellent work? to read Clifford's Christmas. It's "candy" - it's a fun break ;) And he's elementary so I don't have to worry he's going to confuse reality with fiction (no dogs bigger than human houses around here!). I just think it's funny that my 8 year old wants to read Clifford books. 

;) 

Celestial Almanack - AVAILABLE NOW

Celestial Almanack is available for this month!

I've posted about it before - it continues to be a fantastic resource for us as we study the day and night sky, explore the world and universe Montessori-style and just plain have fun with learning something our ancestors knew intuitively.

Perfect Montessori astronomy - multi-age, minimal equipment except one's own capacities, pertinent to the current time, yet entirely timeless.

Just like Montessori history and the way we present everything in stories, this astronomy resource helps connect us with our ancestors' knowledge of the cosmos as they could experience it; as they LIVED it. It gets reconnected back to something that has played not just an important role, but sometimes THE foundational role in historical events and ways of life of humankind.

No equipment is needed for most things, though binoculars and eclipse shades come in handy; the author also sells eclipse shades (MAY 20!!!!), a homeschool curriculum text, storybook, moon chart and more at  http://www.classicalastronomy.com/.

Unfortunately, production of the almanack will cease after June, so get the current and back issues while you can over at CurrClick - the sole distributor of the Celestial Almanack.

Don't have an account with CurrClick?
Perhaps if CurrClick didn't charge so much for selling items on their site (30% or so for being the sole distributor, they keep something like 60% of the sale price if they are NOT the sole distributor), the author of the Celestial Almanack could have utilized a wider variety of outlets, gained a wider audience, and made his time more worth it - he works full-time and needs time with his family too. In any case, setting up an account is easy, very safe, you can use Paypal OR use your own credit card.

International addresses work out great - because it's all downloadable.

$3 for the current issue; $2 for back issues.

Get them now while you can - the information is timeless!

Learning to Read - Montessori

I've been asked a lot lately about learning to read the Montessori way.

Well, there are two lines you could follow (and could partly overlap) - I tried both and ended up sticking with just one. It was easier to choose one or the other ;) Besides, with Montessori, you provide the keys, the main tools, and then there is the rest of the world to explore based on particular needs, interests and temperaments, using whatever individual components of anything else that make sense, fit and enhance the provided keys.

We officially tried:

• AMI (similar, not identical to Muriel-Dwyer)
• Pink/Blue/Green/Purple

and dabbled in others, including non-Montessori (this was a partial requirement, ie for my tutoring children).

Short post: We do not use the pink/blue/green (now purple too) series; my son never used it, though my daycare/tutoring children were my experiment with it. We used the AMI approach, which is more similar to Muriel-Dwyer but NOT identical, and we used the pink/blue/green cards in other ways.

The AMI way is a combination phonics/whole language that gets the children reading for real, very naturally. The lack of emphasis on 3 letter CVC words is FANTASTIC - as, if a child can read phonetically, he can read 10 letter phonetic words with the same ease as a 3-letter word. And once he knows some puzzle words - he is off and running!

I just could not wrap myself around the pink/blue/green/purple series. I do have some album pages now (thank you to the kind soul who shared them with me :) ), but I've not had a chance to really comb through them as carefully as I would like.

Now, I want to be clear - I am SURE it works for others. I think it is SO widely known because of AMS and other Montessori groups utilizing and promoting it. I am SURE it works! It just didn't fit for us, specifically me ;)  For ME, I have to agree with my trainer on this one, now that I'm further down the line (see tomorrow's post!).


Ginni Sacket has a GREAT series of YouTube videos that lead from the beginning activities for language into the first activity with the phonetic object box when the child makes the realization that he can read. I wish it went further than that, but I LOVE the content of these videos.

Further thoughts on Cursive

I've been asked about cursive in many places of late. While I have upcoming Montessori Nuggets on the topic, I thought I would share some of my own personal thoughts here. Yes, you may translate that phrase as "soap box." I won't judge your choices if you won't judge mine. I just ask that you hear me out. :)

My son just turned 8. In a regular school, he would be entering 3rd grade this coming fall. In our area, 2nd graders in their 2nd semester start learning cursive. It is a big milestone for the children.

The teachers also complain that academic work in other areas drops. Drastically.

Some random thoughts - in no particular order - hence random:
;)

• my son has been writing in cursive since age 4; yes we had some print experiences in there too (see Adventures in Writing)
• by 5 1/2 he could write anything in cursive; he just didn't; I continued to state "I'd prefer cursive and soon it will be a requirement" - one day he just started doing it - and has never gone back. 
• In January of last year, the 2nd graders (a year older than my son) in his atrium class were just starting cursive and writing on the chalkboard in the atrium. They were still learning and the results were interesting and quite beautiful, if not entirely legible. I loved their enthusiasm! However, all the children were just amazed that my son could already write so well, without thinking about it. He just shrugged his shoulders and said, "I learned when I was ready." (can't improve on that answer!)
• During that time of learning to write, he was in the strongest part of the sensitive period for language. While we were towards the end of the part when re-focusing on the cursive, we were still able to utilize it. 
• Older children just don't have that sensitive period. 
• Maria Montessori worried about teaching the children print (she'd taught them cursive first). Then they started reading Gothic words on the calendar. They taught themselves print. 
• If she stopped worrying, why should I worry?
• Since children are in a sensitive period, their interest and focus is right there; they learn easily in a form of writing that comes naturally anyway (curved lines allowing a variation of creation, versus straight lines being a standard of perfection that is hard to achieve). 
• Again, they learn easily - thus it doesn't take away from their other learning. 
• But in 2nd grade, it DOES take away from their other learning - because they have to consciously RE-learn everything know, RE-learn a natural instinct that was trained OUT of them in kindergarten and 1st grade (and preschool if they went). 
• Print is everywhere - but that does not mean I need to dumb down my handwriting for my child. I do NOT dumb down my vocabulary - why would I dumb down the handwriting? 
• Print is everywhere - more so than in Montessori's time - and the children figured it out all on their own then. Since my son was writing in capital block letters at 3 1/2 (noone taught him, except perhaps the keys on that laptop that Grandma gave him ;) ), it would seem that print is prevalent enough to be learned by anyone at any time. Why spend time teaching it? Time that is best served elsewhere? Like making cookies with my son. 
• we have to print on forms. Ok. Fine. But we don't fill out forms all day every day. We DO write grocery and to-do lists, letters to friends (e-mails aren't even printed - they're TYPED), thank you cards, all the copy-work my son does, etc. 

And this list doesn't touch the practical reasons of cursive such as assistance with dyslexia, spacing of words, understanding of concepts of words (a word is connected as a single unit), etc. This list only touches on some of the thoughts running through my mind for OUR situation. 

Is it the end of the world if your child learned print first? No! 

But how much more wonderful use of their time to teach cursive first and not bother to teach print at all (since it just comes). 

Ok. So I know at least one reader of this blog will be thinking "why should we *teach* cursive at all if print is so much easier?"

BECAUSE: 

• cursive is for writing; print is for reading (we type print for books and computers; original printing press wasn't for handwritten books)
• cursive is actually EASIER at the primary age compared to print because children naturally curve their lines. Straight lines are perfection; variations on a curved line become an art form.
• Cursive is an art form. It is beauty. It is individual. It is expressive. 
• Print is actually harder to teach at the primary age, dyslexia or not. 
• Kids with dyslexia NEED cursive writing to help with the orientation of letters, groupings of words, and general confidence building. 

I hope this information helps! Or at least provides food for thought!

Making a Large Bead Frame

Do you have a Melissa and Doug abacus lying around? Ready to get just a TINY bit creative? :)
This one doesn't take much AT ALL!

The glue doesn't tend to be terribly strong on abacus, so you can wiggle out one leg removing it from the metal rods and the wood rod across the top.

Now. Remove the 4th and the 8th metal rods (counting from the top).

Now, rearrange the colors so you have (from the top): green, blue, red, (space), green, blue, red, (space), green. Re-attach the side leg.

Ok, you're going to be short on colors! So you get out some paint (washable child safe paint is NOT ideal here), and you paint 10 of those natural colored beads green. They can hang on the metal rod, with space in between, to dry. Polyurethane if you want (I never did on ours and it's fine, but I think I would have preferred the texture of the polyurethaned ones - plain paint feels different from the rest of the beads).

You'll also want to paint the sides with white gray and black, but I've not done that on this one; I tend to use colored paper taped on for presentations and remove it for other times (another story).

You can see our painted ones on the bottom;
polyurethane would have been nice. 

Leftover yellow and natural color beads? Give them to your younger children for stringing practice; or any of your children for jewelry or other just fun crafty project of their liking.

It's not a Montessori abacus - it's a large bead frame!

Want a small bead frame? Just wrap up the lower 3 bars, so you have only up to the thousands showing. For homeschool purposes, the large bead frame is much more adaptable - so if you have to choose just ONE size, make or purchase the large bead frame because it will extend from primary into elementary.


EDITED TO NOTE:
In AMI albums, the small and large bead frames can be used in primary; the large bead frame is used in elementary (even if used in primary); but the small bead frame does not need to be in place in elementary, since all the same work can be done on the large bead frame and the children are older and capable ;)

What if the world stops turning????

In our home, I've been known to say, "It's not like it's the end of the world!"

I've also always made a point of saying, "When the earth faces the sun" or "turns toward the sun" or "the earth has turned away from the sun" - rather than referring to the sun doing the movement.

I've just always wanted to be very accurate with my speech.

So one day, my just turned 6 year old son, comes to me a little while after some now-forgotten incident that prompted me to say, "It's not like it's the end of the world!" and asks, "What if it is the end of the world? It will stop turning! What will happen then!?" He was curious and thinking - now at the elementary age (second plane of development) of not just accepting everything on factual statement, but wanted to understand WHY and WHAT IF and HOW?

So, out of order from all elementary geography presentations, I said, "Ah! I have a chart for you!" This was his first official chart presentation, though he'd seen me painting them previous to this time.

We talked about it a bit. "What do you see here?"
"If this is the earth, where is this side facing?" (pointing to the flames)

• How do those flames feel? (hot) And where is the heat coming from? (the sun)
• I see something else! (icicles!) How do those icicles feel? (cold! because the sun can't give that side of the earth any heat!)
• I wonder if life could exist on this earth if it didn't turn and have times of heat and times of cold? (his response: I wouldn't want to live THERE!)

Now in the time since then he's had the "usual sequence" and we've come back to this chart in the proper scheme of things. 

It means something different for him than the children who only just saw it this year (in proper order); but every child took away what they needed, and brought to the conversation at their level, contributing to the growth of understanding in all the children. 

No, I would not show this to a child in the first plane of development - it might instill fear of the unknown and the what-ifs because their minds work in the concrete, right-now, here in the moment. We do not want to instill fear into a child, but trust, at this age. In the second plane, the child has a strong foundation and can contemplate the what-ifs in a realistic manner without inappropriate fear. 

It was ok that my son saw and discussed this chart out of order; our presentation did not follow the typical album page, because he'd not had the typical pre-requisites. Just because he'd not had the pre-requisites did not mean he was not ready! He was ready in a different way; and at the proper time, he was ready in another way. 

Learn from our Children

I have been slowly reading through a short book that a friend asked me to read: The Practicing Mind: Bringing Discipline and Focus Into Your Life by Thomas M. Sterner

It is interesting - just provides a slightly different perspective on life issues.

One chapter though stood out - perhaps because I know of a few parents who need to KNOW this, and most Montessori parents already deeply, truly know: We have a lot to learn from our children. Not just because of them, not just for their sakes - directly from them.

Many adults make the mistake of thinking that because someone is younger than they are, they can't possibly learn something from them. This both an egotistical and insecure point of view in my mind. ...I have met many young people, even children, who were more mature and better-thinkers than some adults I know.    ~~~Thomas M. Sterner

Botany Study at Co-Op

Our co-op finally got started on official dissections this week! Yay!

Before Easter, the children were using a rubbery/plasticy scalpel to dissect soaked beans. Since I only have the children once a week, I want to establish some ground rules and practice them a little bit at a time.

So this week, we pulled out the dissection kit and away we went.

First thing was just feeling the mat - what a sensorial experience all by itself!


We first reviewed what we already knew, just talking through things like dicotyledon and monocotyledon, how many leaves each one originally sprouts, how the plant grows. Then we looked the branch, stem, leaf with veins as an overview. We'll get into the details in the next couple of classes.

Photos of our work:

one sample of a dissection
follow-up drawing

the impressionistic chart of
plants expressing water

one girl's rendition of the chart

Elementary Course Giveaway

Visit Montessori Nuggets - Elementary Montessori Course Giveaway for several chances to win $40 off the Elementary Montessori course offered at Keys of the Universe.

Remember to leave a comment on THAT post for each entry :)

 So what are the elementary Montessori children going to study? At primary, the keys of the world were given to the young child; the second plane child at elementary is given the keys to the universe. “The universe is an imposing reality and an answer to all questions. We shall walk together on this path of life for all things are part of the universe and are all connected with each other to form one whole unity.”[1]


The universe is our curriculum!

Handwriting Sample

Here is an image of a handwriting sample. This was done by a boy at age 7 1/4 or so - elementary Montessori, homeschool. He was "delayed" in the usual Montessori sequence in writing (see my other post on this one!), though he'd started at 3 1/2 years with capital block letters (of his own accord). However, my (biased, motherly) opinion is that he has beautiful handwriting.

This is NOT his best handwriting; it is an information list of some random words that I just recently found in a folder of mine (I think he had given it to me for something, but the purpose slips my mind). **Updated: he informs me this was part of an online spelling game I'd let him play - these are the words the game was giving him and he had wanted me to see the type of words he was spelling.



I am slightly embarrassed to show the following samples of my own handwriting at a similar age - public school all the way through. The artwork with my name would have been early 3rd grade (8 1/2 - regular classroom); the journal would have been April of 2nd grade (I was in a split class of 2nd/3rd grade; I was writing in cursive by then, and LOVED it, so I don't know what the deal is with the print in this journal). I can't seem to find a cursive sample until middle school work. Odd, because as I said, I loved writing in cursive. I also seem to recall being the top speller in my classes - yet I have some obvious mis-spelled words. But, then, I wasn't a Montessori child!

In my partial defense, when we moved to a new town for 3rd grade, the other kids weren't writing in cursive so "encouraged" me (negative peer pressure anyone!?) to print - you can see the kind of curvy letters in my name that show I was really wanting to write in cursive.

Some points an offline friend noticed:

• Note the use of lines on my paper; versus no lines on his; yet the alignment is similar (therefore he did better because he didn't have a line!).
• If I recall, he was not using proper writing posture to write these words; I was sitting at a desk sized to my body, I was likely using proper posture. Therefore he is still has the advantage; and how much better if he'd used proper writing posture! He always used proper grip.
• writing grasp: I know his is fine; I recall having a soft indent in my ring finger between the nail and the knuckle because of how I wrote (I had this writing grasp into my 20s when I took Montessori training!)
• He is not yet writing long stories, journal entries, even long sentences - unless he is *extremely* interested (copying poignant Scripture passages; selections from the Egyptian "Book of the Dead" - copywork - he's not *thinking of *what to say while writing long things; when he *thinks, he keeps it *short.). That's ok - it all works out - and it means he is more careful with his handwriting itself. 
• In short, his writing has a meaning and a beauty. Mine had meaning; but it was "simplistic" - when my son writes, it has a deep, rich meaning.  

CAVEAT: This is not directly about cursive versus print - only about neatness, style, content, beauty, being able to express oneself.

In the end, I'll take the Montessori education any day, hands-down!

Exercises of Practical Life - Elementary

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

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

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

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

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

The list goes on. :) 

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

Just food for thought! 

Primary Albums - Elementary Albums - TOO MANY ALBUMS!

Elementary looks different than primary - but there is a continuation and there are connections even where we don't see it at first (most of this information is found in the theory papers as well as the introductions to sections within albums).

I am one to find connections and build upon them. It helps my brain and my sanity. Instead of 5 albums at primary and a separate 8 at elementary; elementary actually does build on primary.

First let's look at each album from primary to elementary:

Theory builds into Theory. That's the easy one ;)

Mathematics: depending on the child and the albums used, some overlap or some gaps - but mostly it continues on into elementary Mathematics. The overlap is in content, but the style of the presentaiton is different.

Sensorial branches out: Geometry is now its own area, as is Geography; as is Music.

Language: appears to be overlap - that's because some of the basic presentations are similar, but address just slightly different aspects and provide different information (if you have primary and elementary, most grammar presentations can be given to both ages at the same time, just directing certain information to the older children). Some children may need "remedial" work (this is not a bad thing!). For all intents and purposes, the core of primary builds into elementary Language.

Note: Language in primary with the AMI-style also incorporates Geography, Biology, Music, Geometry, and Sensorial. 

Exercises of Practical Life: also becomes Geography in elementary.

The only area we really add in elementary is History. While children could have time-telling and timelines of their lives in primary (especially surrounding birthday celebrations), and we tell stories about last month, last year, before you were born, etc; and they have the cultural activities within language and sensorial, the fact remains that it takes a certain skill in abstraction to TRULY contemplate history. So we wait until elementary to formally introduce it.

There we have it. It is connected after all :)

Theory Album available for Purchase

Theory Album - Elementary (ages 6-12)

Options available for download or printed/mailed.

Child-created Materials

Here is an example of what I mean about the children creating their own materials - we adults do NOT need to kill ourselves making everything FOR the child - especially the elementary child.

power switch
(crop image for "safety lock")

Earlier this week, I allowed my son to use our new video camera to experiment with - take some nature pictures and the like - he's been working on a nature book and we were at Grandma and Papa's home, with 60 acres of land at his disposal. I thought he could take some pictures of some things he'd seen on the property. He didn't get far on the nature book because of the new technology in his hands. He's really been working at perfecting his photography skills (the video camera takes stills too), getting interesting angles, working on lighting and such.

Today, we're not officially back to doing school again - but our Montessori way has allowed learning to take place anytime. We've also not entirely cleaned up from our trip away from home; and the old scroll saw (it's dead; it had been in my car trunk before we left; then placed in our living room while we were gone) is still sitting in our living room.

My son decided to make a "Parts of the Saw" booklet for our co-op class. And away he went.

He will organize the photos (with me) in a file, with the titles (he will type it in) and we'll print them out and make a booklet. I am with him, guiding him, but it is he who is looking at the object, noticing the details, deciding what is important, discussing with me any areas of disagreement, coming up with a definition or using resources (yes, I count as a resource) for finding a definition; organizational skills; leadership (he will present the work to the younger children so that he catches his own errors or just finds something that could be explained with more detail or less detail). This is HIS experience, HIS learning, HIS growth.

And I'm right here with him, enjoying the journey, but respecting his space to explore and discover for himself.

He's only missing the blade ;)