God with No Hands - Some Follow-Ups

We first did the Story of God with No Hands when Legoboy was 5 1/2. He was just very, very ready for it!

But many people wonder - what do we do after? Follow the child? But how? What materials should I have ready?

Don't REQUIRE anything. Let it sit. Let it fizzle. Let it percolate. I promise in most cases, you won't be waiting long! If at all!

• Have ready everything you have demonstrated to the children - so the children can repeat. 
• Have lots of large paper on hand if they want to copy the charts. 
• Have beautiful colored pencils or watercolors on hand. 
• Have some flexibility in your schedule so you can hit up the library on any given day. 
• Keep an open, trusting mind - and have some questions of your own you'd like to research, perhaps side by side. 
• It is probably best to just have on hand what you need for the remaining geography album pages and don't worry about much else - because honestly, NO one can tell you where your child's interests will go - even I've been surprised by own son! 

My son's original interests were in the volcano (go figure!) but he didn't get into the parts of volcanoes like most children - he wanted to know about types of volcanoes, which necessitated learning some of the parts, but in a different way from a child who wants to directly know that information - and where active volcanoes sit today - and where inactive volcanoes sit. And could one be where we live. We then got into Pompeii. And two years later, our local museum hosted the Pompeii exhibit! Oh my! It was WONDERFUL! We went twice! He had other minor questions which were not as polarizing at the time.

And we moved into the other Great Lessons, instigating a study into ancient history. We began reading through Mystery of History in our own manner - reading a "lesson" each evening, creating an index card for it, then he could select any of the suggested activities from any of the listed age groups to do during school time in the coming week. Well, 2 1/2 years later, we've not quite finished the book because this study branched into Ancient Middle East, Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece - leading to a study (when I say study, I mean reading lots of books and watching videos and having lots of discussions) of the multiple gods of their religion, leading to an interest in astronomy because of the connections of all those names, leading into a study of clocks and time-telling through history, back into astronomy. And then back into Ancient Civilizations (only reinforced since joining the level 3 atrium a year early). He really has little to no interest in modern history. Ah yes, then he discovered there were more suggested activities in Mystery of History, so he's gone back time and again to review the past stories and add more work in.

And one wonders why I post so little about the direct use of the Montessori materials ;) because it's ALL Montessori materials - the whole world! ;) 


In the meantime, we did another re-telling of the first Great Lesson when he was just past his 6th birthday, with follow-ups that time being the states of matter - heavily into the states of matter. Repeating ALL the demonstrations

At 6 1/2 to 7 1/2, with 2 more tellings during that time, the focus shifted to the layers of the earth, mostly focusing on different types of rocks. Here, he went back to the volcano to discover types of rocks around different types of volcanoes and the use of some of those rocks. Pumice and its uses; some volcanic rocks are great for closet deodorizers - put them in your closet or a polluted area, it soaks up all the smell and pollution and gets really heavy - put it out in the sunlight and the sun's rays burn out all the pollution and you can use the rocks again and again and again. He told me, "Let's buy me a bigger pair of shoes, so I can keep a stone of this stuff in each toe!" (he has raunchy-smelling feet!). I am purposely not telling you the name of this rock so you'll go look it up yourself ;) Isn't it interesting this type of rock would be spewed forth by the very volcano that it helps to "clean up". Kind of a nice balance to nature there, eh!?



Since then, he still continues to come for re-tellings of the original story - told just the same as the first time (with glass test tubes now) - and now he ponders questions of morality: how all these particles have particular laws, obey those laws, and the human race has these choices even though made from the same particles as everything else. He also ties in elements from the later Great Lessons and his own personal research, relating the particles to the planets, or to human peoples and their various methods of migration. His follow-ups these days are not as distinctly coming from just this one lesson, because he has the grand overview, told many times in the last 3 years and he is making connections and discoveries.


Some people suggest changing the story up from time to time - while focusing on just one small section has been a positive experience, I have not once had a positive experience with changing the story at all. The children seem to thrive on hearing the SAME story told over and over and over and over - much like when they were preschoolers! And each time they can listen in for a new detail, a new enticement, a new discovery, a new learning path, all from the same old story.


In upper elementary, children explore other creation stories and make comparisons, exploring how the culture and their stories tie together - what do all of these stories reveal about the Truth and about the ways of life of the people holding to their own story. At this time, it might be feasible for a child to re-write the Great Lesson, modifying it. Or they might enjoy coming back to an old friend.

Research in Lower Elementary

RESEARCH? At age SIX!? YES!!! Research at this age is as simple as asking a question and finding resources to answer that question - then just telling us the answer (or drawing it, or writing it out - or however the child wants to express himself). I guess that is the one requirement to research in the beginning: that they come up with an answer to the original question, even if they move on to other questions.

As they get older and are comfortable with knowing that they CAN do this research and that their questions WILL be honored, then we started with simple steps towards what we adults think of as research.

There is no one right way - except to follow a plan that is totally arbitrary to the child in front of you. Take a general guideline and adapt to the child's needs ;)

The first step for my son was encouraging him to write his answers in his own words. This lays the foundational skills for avoiding potential plagiarism. As he hit spots where he just couldn't do this own words because the others words were just SO wonderful and precise, I reminded him of quote marks to show the specific words of someone, and to put the name of the author and book in parentheses after his writing. Two years later, he is now footnoting these references.

When he starting getting into longer and longer research projects, he started writing his resources used on note cards. Then he could note page numbers of interesting bits of information for future referencing.

At age 8 1/2, he has not yet done full bibliographies with all the printing information --- did you at that age? Some people are aghast that Montessori at the elementary age encourages all this research, but not all the steps that you and I had in middle school and high school (and only minimally in elementary if at all!). When he puts a few paragraphs together, he does provide a list of his resources by title and author.

Speaking of plagiarizing and expectations - a girl at one of the local schools a year older than my son was talking about a report she had to write for school when she saw my son in the atrium doing some research on an ancient civilization. She saw him listing out his sources and where he got each bit of information - very loosely done but a step in the right direction. The two children talked a bit about research and I heard her comment, "I don't bother writing down where I got what, because I just copy sentences from different books and turn it in with a list of books I used." My son replied, "If you don't put direct copying into quotes, then it's not your work and you're stealing from that author who put a lot of work in that book!" (I never said those words to him! Not like that!) "Yeah, but I tell the teacher which books I used." "But if your report has your name on it, you're lying and saying it's your work when it's not. Just put it in quotes and say who said it - or say it in your own words. You wouldn't want to be a liar or thief!" She thought about it for a bit; walked away looking kind of angry and kind of sad; went back a little while later and asked him to show her what he meant. I didn't hear all the details, but I thought, "Wow - my son is really catching on!" And he wasn't being mean about things either (he can have a bit of an attitude so I was very proud of him in that moment).

Think BABY STEPS. Develop those habits in tiny steps at a very young age, and the work will just flow when they are older without having to unlearn old habits or develop new ones.



Use resources, aim for as many real experiences as possible, within research and without. This second one can't be overstated - you may not be able to take your child to an active volcano, so you may need to bring in videos or visit exhibits of as real-life as possible, but you can certainly get your children out into the community, talking to "experts", visiting those exhibits, sharing your stories of being at various places, touching the rocks that come from various types of volcanos, finding out what those rocks can DO for us, planning a real or pretend long-distance trip somewhere (and all the skills needed for that!), and definitely helping to plan real trips (errands, etc.). These skills are just part of real life and are not specific to Montessori ;) These things all help to develop planning skills, organizational skills, survival skills (even as basic as what to do if you are lost in a public place), and other life skills that we all want our children to have.

Real experiences :)

First Great Lesson: God With No Hands

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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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


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

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


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


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

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

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



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

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


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

Cubing - Part 3 - Just exploring

After all was said and done, he really, really, really wanted to just build with the squares and cubes. Ok, I said - but you have to graph out your creations. He agreed and off he went:

The camera batteries died after that - and my own batteries were slowing down so I didn't replace the camera batteries until the next day. When he graphed this on paper, he did it two ways - straightening up the inside pieces as he worked:

1. straight down - so just the tops of each piece. He wasn't satisfied with this because it was a 3-d work. 
2. he tilted it and drew it out on the graph paper with diagonals in some of the boxes to show both the tops and the full fronts of each piece. That is better he said, but still tricky. He colored the sides in a darker shade of each color than the tops (outlining the tops of the white walls in gray, and coloring gray for the sides). 

So what did this work entail: 

• geometry
• art
• aesthetics
• architecture
• planning
• viewpoint adjustment

Good skills going on!

Algebraic Trinomial Cube

This cube goes by several names - but the most important fact is that it is NOT the trinomial cube.

As Legoboy so recently and astutely discovered:

Poorly cropped - but
1) someone skipped getting dressed
2) I wanted to include an image
 of the squaring/cubing

"It's just like the trinomial cube!" He proclaimed when he first saw it. "But the colors are different," he side-commented to me to be sure I didn't ask him about the changing colors as I did with the tower of cubes versus pink tower.

But I still had him one-upped ;) "Hmm. Different colors, alright. I'll let you explore this while I go do something else and keep myself from interrupting you!" He just smiled and proceeded to work.

When he was done, he brought it to me, and said, "Oh Mama! The colors were VERY different! They didn't even match the lid on every layer like the trinomial! This is a CRAZY cube!" (keep in mind our trinomial cube is not in our home right now - it's over at the local school building).

I told him as soon as we get our trinomial cube back into our hands, I will show him the story of the Three Kings. Of course, just to be contrary, he says, "I already know about the Three Kings! I can skip that presentation!" (sound like some adults we know? I already know it (based solely on the title or perhaps the title and the main headings, then skip the actual content, which just MIGHT actually be nuanced different, if not entirely different... and then wonder why things aren't working right;) hehe - Yep, that describes me!)

"Oh no, my son, not THOSE three kings! These are the Cubed Kings!" That got his interest up! He's been asking for a week now. Perhaps next week we'll get to it. I like to keep up some anticipation (and I do want to review a couple of other concepts before working with the Kings.).

Yeah, we had fun with this one!

Stylized version - I know how tricky the illustrations can be!
Tricky - but NECESSARY
for each and every step!

Don't know the Kings?

Pick up a Keys of the Universe mathematics album ;)

HONEST review here - from a homeschooling mom - NOT from a Montessori trainee:
There is a free elementary math album available online, with which I usually agree as to the order and general set up of presentations, but I am thoroughly perplexed by its version of the Three Kings - (this part comes from me as a trainee: and I KNOW it! And I know what is trying to get across and what comes next.) Back to being JUST a homeschooling mom: But the instructions are confusing, the story is BLECK-boring until you realize that the *actual* story comes after the presentation in the album and is actually mildly interesting but leaves some strange questions, the whole set up begs to know what pieces to move when and as a mom I want it all together so I can SEE what is going on, and I really-really want those black pieces to be the same height as their king - it just makes sense when you see the other attendants the same height as their own king. But this album has them all laid flat.    It just does not look appealing - while mathematically correct, there is another way that makes the math more clear, leaves out the strange questions and keeps the appropriate parts of the presentation together in order. I'll stick with the Keys of the Universe version ;)
Sorry! I really do LIKE that album - I just don't "love" it and I'm very honest about things these days.