Montessori Homeschool Schedule and Work Boxes

The last two months have been a time of transition for us. We typically start our new school year with Advent (the first Sunday of the new liturgical year for our church). While he started to tell people he is now in 4th grade and he's 9, Legoboy is one (wanting to be) confused little boy!

He is 8. But during this study of ancient civilizations we came across the Chinese belief that life starts at... conception. Ok, perhaps that's not so novel. What is novel about this teaching is how it is applied: the child is counted as being alive since conception, hence 9 months old (even 1 year old) at the time of birth! So Legoboy knows he began life in August and after 4 years running of being 5 years old (an age he wanted to be forever), he is now firmly decided that he is 9 and has been 9 since August. And indeed, I certainly now have more than 9 years of memories of this beautiful little boy, having seen him for the first time 9 years ago in early September!
(note on the link above - I can't find the book where we read that, and I am having trouble finding solid information on the internet about the belief - this article was the one that explained it the most, but it's not entirely my preferred article either - just saying: that's NOT the article Legoboy read!)

Well, so back to that time of transition - I had a LOT on my plate, we were just coming off of 3 months of non-stop sheer craziness of roller coaster experiences (I hate roller coasters, by the way) - and we just didn't get our new year in gear... until today! (this is being scheduled a bit out from the time I actually write this ;) )


Some background: 
Legoboy has been working with a weekly and a 2-weekly plan for 3 years now. At age 5 1/2 we started on a weekly plan, but it really more of laying out the plan for the week, then either at the beginning of the week or the beginning of each day, marking with an appropriate letter what was expected each day of the week. He had the option of doing more in each area as well, which he routinely did, but he was also learning how to budget his time, earn free time, get his responsibilities fulfilled, all while I was right there helping him.

By age 7, we were creating the weekly or 2-weekly work plan and he would rarely need to ask for guidance on what to do and when - he had the plan, we'd already discussed it, he knew the expectations and he had his personal research. There were times I would do as my training and theory albums suggests and ask during our planning sessions, "When do you plan to work on this?" or "What is your plan for this project?" and provide feedback based on his answer. If it's a great idea, call it what it is. If he has a not so great plan ("I'll do that one on the last day of the week" - translation: I am putting that one off because "I don't really want to do it" OR "I am putting it off because I need help and I don't know how to ask for the help I need despite my insistence that I don't need help"), then I provide a suggestion or even a requirement: "It is Monday 9AM; this particular aspect of the project or this math practice (or whatever it is) needs to be done by 2PM Tuesday." or "Let's meet about (this thing that is troublesome) at 1 pm on Wednesday and we will work on it together." I am telling him at that point that I am helping, not asking him.

This has worked well for almost 2 years! But I think he's hitting that odd pre-puberty thing that boys hit around age 9. Yeah. HARD. Oh the Rebellion! He still has a heart of gold, but there is a new creature living in that body!

So here we are at 8 1/2, re-adjusting how we do our Montessori work plan yet again. I love following the child - not a dull moment! During this transition time, he needs a lot more hand-holding, but at the same time, he needs to prove his independence, while continuing to cultivate proper relationship skills and practical skills to have a strong foundation for the adolescent years ahead (did I just think 'adolescent' and 'my son' in the same sentence? Oh, I'm going to cry.).



So here is what we spent 4 hours working out: 

Legoboy wants a specific structure. So we created a quick and easy chart: 

DAILY: We have listed the subjects that must be covered every day. This includes both new lessons and continuing the work himself (ie reading analysis would count under "Language" here). We went through our scope and sequences (ours are fully-detailed excel spreadsheets, organized by ages), selected and printed just what we wanted to accomplish in the next 2 months, worked out what would need to be done and approximately how often. He selected to do most subjects daily, figuring that even he does 20 minutes each day on sentence analysis for example, it will "keep it fresh" (his words!). 

WEEKLY: Next, we have the subjects that must be covered at least one day each week. This usually entails specifically doing something NEW or more intense or another nuance - not just repeating the same work (he is moving towards upper elementary when desired repetition is a thing of the past but is still very necessary. For this month, that includes a Latin lesson, performing a piano lesson for me (whether he moves ahead to the next lesson or not), and selecting a big chore or project to do around our home. 

DAILY PRACTICE: Then there are things under daily practice - that could very well be nothing new at all; current month's items here include: piano practice, Latin flashcards he creates during the weekly Latin lesson, tae-kwon-do practice, speech practice, some form of art (he currently has a cross-stitch project in-progress, is working on his own version of a Book of Kells, and frequently looks to learn other skills - this way, he has built-in time each day to develop these skills). 

With this plan in mind, we will still create a weekly or 2-weekly work-plan to show what the goals are for the coming 5-12 days as well as to evaluate the work done in the previous 5-12 days - see where we are in the scope and sequence, what should be practiced more, what areas we want to go more intense with and select a new biology or geometry topic (we are reviewing these subjects by topic area, now we've done the full albums, we'll review each area in-serious-depth and see where it takes us). 

     I am sometimes asked my thoughts on monthly work-plans. I personally and professionally cannot, in my heart, recommend them for any child younger than a mature upper elementary. Why? Because there is a longer time period to "see" the results of one's planning. There is a greater responsibility and maturity gained from making plans and seeing them through; evaluating and adjusting, with more immediate feedback. That is why we adults will look to the next semester or set of months, then make our plans for about the next month, then sit with the child to focus on the next *week*, and depending on the child's needs, let's just focus on each day, but the child is still visually exposed to the weekly plans - not the rest of it - that is too much for a 6 year old to truly learn from. Now at almost age 9, Legoboy is getting towards upper elementary and is ready to see the scope and sequence plans I have, but I *only* print out the sections that I think we can feasibly do in the next 2-3 months -- and even then we might not finish one area, but go far beyond in another area. 

     With that said, I find that 6 year olds without a work-plan at all, are missing out on a *huge* piece of Montessori elementary. See this upcoming post for more information. 

We have always held to a daily routine, which is difficult to put onto paper at times because every day is different. For now, we finally have some morning consistency because Sunday mornings are our only morning out-of-the-home commitments (starting in February we have twice-monthly Monday morning homeschool classes at a local-ish museum, which we will then count as "morning work cycle" for those days). Afternoon activities might be more work time, or speech, or tae-kwon-do or atrium. 

Finally, we have reached an age where the workbox system is much more readily modified into a Montessori environment. Others have modified Montessori to make the workbox system fit; we've modified the workbox system to fit elementary Montessori. Essentially we have ONE box (could be two or three), with the usual supplies needed for the day and for the week - it is essentially the "hard-copy" of the work-plan. If a larger material is required, those can be placed nearby, or noted on that week's work-plan and he knows to go gather the materials. This works great for those pre-puberty boys are losing EVERYTHING, ALL, THE, TIME. 

At primary age, we would do something similar when traveling, in a backpack, to keep skills going. Or if I were sick or had a big project and wanted him "occupied" he'd have a planned out box to go to if he had nothing in mind. Typically, he didn't use it ;) In elementary, if he were to be spending the day with another homeschooling family or when I traveled for a week for a Catechesis of the Good Shepherd training, I packed him up a box and a notebook with a list of assignments we created together - enough to keep him busy when needed, but if it didn't get done the world wouldn't come to an end. 

But now, he developed this solution to keep us on-task and not "forgetting" to do things each week. We have one place to store the small items that are used daily. Like the tae-kwon-do breaking boards, the books we want to read together this week, pencils and erasers and sharpeners in a nice pouch not buried in his desk somewhere, but actually available ;) The clipboard with the work-plan. It might hold the Life of Fred book we are currently reading. 

So there's our January plan. We'll see how it holds into February!

Bank Game Fun

Nope. Not THAT Bank Game ;)

When I started doing Montessori at home, I could not figure out the Bank Game. It needed beads, it didn't need beads; it needed colored cards, it didn't need colored cards; it definitely needed white cards, but in how many sizes!? My mind was BOGGLED.

Along came AMI training - total immersion for the year. Baptism by fire ;)

Well, one mystery solved: the Change Game or Exchange Game in AMI can be called other things in other albums, among those other names: The Store, Making Change, and... the Bank Game (and sometimes Bankers' Game). But in AMI, the Bank Game is specifically an elementary presentation. Confused yet? Me too! I went to elementary training straight-away afterward.

Here is what the AMI albums, when followed in sequence break down to:

Primary:

The Change Game - the first time create a tornado and a HUGE mess of golden beads; invite the children to help you count up, knowing full-well that you will have to exchange to the next category to find the final quantity in such a way that it can be found with the cards. Thereafter, this material is used for all 4 operations in a variety of fashions. The material requires 3 sets of small number cards (for the addends and for the numbers being taken away), one large set of number cards (for the subtrahend, dividend, and sums), and a set of small black numbers (could be written in black ink on small slips of paper) for the multiplier and dividend. All those cards are white with appropriate colored numerals.

This work opens up the decimal system and its operations to the child like no other mathematics material on this planet. LOVE it!!!!


Elementary: 
The Bank Game uses one set of white cards that goes into the MILLIONS (up to 9,000,000 - just with no commas) - for the answer. It uses a set of colored cards with black ink that goes into the thousands - for the multiplicand. It uses a set of gray cards with 1 double-zero, and 2 sets of the numbers 0-9 for the multipliers.
There are 3 roles in the AMI album, so I can't explain the 6 roles that some of the materials boxes contain. Sorry! And the AMI albums say to  not even bother with those labels - just toss them.

If an elementary child isn't strong on his facts, he can be the runner (gets the "money" from the "vault" - at another table). The banker and customer are at a small table with the colored and gray cards laid out on a third table. The customer gathers his multiplier and multiplicand and brings them to the banker. The banker then needs to make the calculations and give the customer the appropriate "money."
(don't you wish you could go into a real bank and do that? "I'd like $6,327 and I'll take that 64 times please!" Sigh. ;) )

The banker should know his facts; the customer should be learning them to double-check the figures; the runner should also be double-checking, but if he is weak on his facts, being the runner is perfect practice.


So how we do this at home? With an only child?


I am the customer; we share the role of banker. He's the runner. It means we'll only do 1-2 problems at a time because it takes longer and we're doing more work for each person.

The frustrating thing is how often he says, "This is SO easy!" And then he stops thinking - and he makes stupid mistakes. This work was much more appropriate at age 6 and early 7; less so at age 8 1/2 even though we pull it out from time to time to review because of those silly mistakes he makes in his work.

As I said, he's older now. When he was younger, he was interested but it was a LONG work for one little boy, a work meant for 3 children. So we work together and it has to be on my time. He moans about it once in a while; or when things get tricky (meaning he's getting stuck on something he knows he should know but tries not to know), he'll say, "I thought I picked a SIMPLE problem!" (meaning, "I'm just picking numbers to get through it - I'm not really interested in this.")
(yes, I have him select all his problems. Sometimes I have a guideline - such as zeroes in the middle, or at the end; double numbers next to each other; etc. but he still selects - so it is HIS interest and HE picks up on the pattern - thus even in these grumbling moments, he is still seeing the patterns in the results of HIS chosen numbers. "Well, now I know what will happen with THAT next time - I won't do THAT again!" - and 9 out of 10 times, the next time he WANTS that challenge again! Sigh. I love 8 year old boys!)
And then he suddenly picks up on something - either related directly to his selected problem, or some other number pattern. And he's excited and interested and wants to try a few things to see if he can replicate the revelation or the pattern - even if it's just a coincidence in the numbers. Such as the problem shown below - he loved that the multiplier and the answer both ended in 1, and that the last two digits of the answer add up to 6 (the other digit in the multiplier). So then he was off doing a few shorter problem (3 digits by 2 digits) to see if he could replicate. Did not want help from me. Ok. So much for grumbling that "this is SO easy, it's BORING!" and "This is so hard, and it's still boring." He learned the word boring recently and has been using to describe everything, so I'm not entirely listening when he uses it. Boring or not, we have responsibilities - and it's not boring - as his 2 Bank Game expedition this afternoon proved!

Hmm. Multiplier must have run away ;) It was 61 - so we had a 6, a 0, and a 1.
The multiplicand is decomposed as in the large bead frame work.
as well as the multiplier.
Then each row is multiplied by the 1 (in this case); the answer is brought.
Each row is then multiplied by 10 (add that zero) just as in the large bead frame work -
then multiplied by 6.
Re-organize the white cards as needed when duplicates are needed
(the children are to think of a solution for when they need duplicates!)
-- answer arrives in the result. 

So much for that nice pretty rows we see in the albums!
This is how my son really sets it up for his own work.
Sometimes neater - usually not. 

As neatly organized as it gets. ;) 

How We Homeschool

Here is what I see happen in many homeschools:

A wonderful curriculum is selected or compiled from a variety of sources. This is for science; that is for math; etc. Or it's a complete curriculum package. Very handy and neatly laid out.

Then mom and dad (more particularly mom) gleans a neat idea from a homeschool friend in the neighborhood or homeschool co-op or from an online acquaintance. Or the child has an interest in something and a kit or supplies are found at the store or in storage. "This would be great to do with the children!" The materials are purchased or gathered. And there they sit.

Or they do work on it, but the curriculum has to be set aside for the time it takes to work on that project. Because there is only so much time left in the day.

And then we're behind on school.

Repeat cycle.

And there is burn-out.

Sometimes those fun things are saved specifically for burn-out time - February for many people (I happen to LIKE February myself ;) ). A good plan for anticipating what is coming, because you know it's coming, so let's have something on hand to cover it!

Well, if it works out that way.

Most of that stuff ends up sold to other homeschoolers who love the idea and may or may not use it. I once tracked the ownership of a particular resource I had just purchased back no less than EIGHT homeschool families, most of whom didn't even open it up before eventually passing it on. All contents were intact and none of the projects had ever been done in it.


But I ask: why plan for the burn-out? How about avoiding it altogether and still doing those fun things? ;)
Why sell off unused stuff that you KNOW your kids would have just LOVED if they'd had it at the right time, but they're now in college and you're online selling it off?



In our homeschool:

We do hit our times here in our homeschool where we just need a break. We don't call it burn-out because we're not burned out - we're just gearing up for a change of pace. We have these built-in times anyway because we live according to a liturgical year and that helps. But our curriculum choice helps too.

We have and use AMI Montessori albums. These albums provide a foundation and framework in their appropriate areas, as well as build connections between the subjects. If I just provide my son with THOSE lessons, he will have a solid foundation and a firm framework, but he won't have everything he needs.

Yikes, you're thinking! You mean your curriculum doesn't cover everything? (nope!) But that's terrible! A comprehensive curriculum is what a family needs to ensure the child learns everything he needs to know! (Well... not exactly).

See. My son has the foundation and the framework. And if I had more children, each child would then receive a solid foundation and firm framework. But what each child *needs* from there is going to be very different from the next child!

SO. We have a foundation and a framework. We then have TIME to explore personal interests (no, not just the interests he expresses, because the Montessori albums guide me to present in new areas in order to find new interests) in ways that speak to this child. So if my son is interested in the layers of the earth over types of rocks right now - so be it - we explore the layers of the earth. I know we'll come back around to that foundational presentation in the future and he WILL come around to studying different types of rocks.
And if he doesn't get there on his own? It is covered by 'family requirements' and 'local educational requirements' (anything required by the state in which you homeschool).

If my son wants to explore the orchestra by attending orchestral performances, we can do that; or if he would rather go to the music store and talk with an employee while the employee is pulling an instrument apart to clean it, repair it, and tune it -- we can do that instead! Or do both!

Thus, all the requirements are covered, with minimal time.

And we can pull in ALL SORTS of additional resources that supplement our "curriculum" (I know my Montessori trainers cringe at that word! Sorry! it's what most people understand, in regards to organizing a child's educational experience, so I'll use it for now ;) ) --- and we can explore personal interests SO DEEPLY.

And still have time and space left for family life.

What sort of stuff do we pull in while at home?

• Fun science kits
• Cooking experiments
• Art projects of ALL kinds
• Just sit and read for hours on end
• Work on handcrafts for hours on end
• Play games - lots of games - cards, boards, co-operative, etc. 
• Writing one's own music
• Being allowed to attend a midnight showing of The Hobbit and stay up afterwards to discuss it. 
• Learn a foreign language; continue learning sign language --- for the FUN of it. 
• Keep the house clean, together. 

And the stuff we can do outside the home is endless.

Ok, so some of those things apply more to my son than to my own free time (I run two small businesses from my home after all!). The point is that time is available because we're not looking at just the bare minimum requirements for 8 hours a day.

There is also a teeny-tiny amount of time available for computer usage, but at age 8, that time is less than half an hour per week. Not that I actually clock it at this point; it's just that the computer is for work and minimally available for play. Thus... there is also time for... SOCIAL INTERACTIONS. The only thing that non-homeschoolers want to know about ;) 

Lots of time. Lots of energy. Neither of which are spent on tedium or unnecessaries. 

Especially now I am pretty much DONE making materials or earning money specifically for Montessori materials. Blissful SIGH! ;) 

Consider how YOUR child learns. If you have more than one child - what are their similarities and differences? Is it possible to provide them a foundation and a structure and then allow each one time to explore their individual interests? Can they then learn from one another? And be involved in each other's interests at each one's own level?

;)


By the by, the kit mentioned above that had 8 previous owners? We had a BLAST with it! I'll post about it soon. It's been a while but is still discussed quite often.

God With No Hands - cooling layer

We make our own yogurt and the last few times, we've been using a simpler method that we LOVE - it's so easy!

When removing the milk from the pan and placing the jars on the counter, we always notice the layer of cooling milk on top.

This layer is mentioned in the first Great Lesson - The Story of God With No Hands - right before introducing the volcano... so it can easily slip into the recesses of one's mind when confronted with that *awesome* volcano!

This last yogurt-making was interesting though...

We were both working quietly in the living room and continued to hear a pop - pop - pop. Ever so slight.

Dreading the possibility of a mouse in our apartment, we crept into the kitchen....

and found...


This....



If you listen very carefully you can hear the quiet pop-pops - just barely. There are two other videos as well - both showing the same thing, but we couldn't decide which one to post!


Give it a try! Boil some milk in a glass jar by placing a 75-90% filled with milk jar into a saucepan of water and cover with a lid. Bring to a boil until the milk is about 160 degrees Fahrenheit. Now use a mitt to remove the jar and place it on the counter. Just let it sit. It won't take long!

Neat, huh!?


Wanna make yogurt while you're at it?
If you don't have a nice consistently warm place, do what we do and place that pan of hot water in a cooler which has been lined with a thick towel. Close the cooler for now to get it nice and warm in there.
(if you want to use raw milk and keep it raw, to make yogurt, you'll heat only to 110, but will not get a skin on the milk)

When the milk is about 105-110, mix in a spoonful of yogurt with active cultures. Put a lid on the milk culture and place it in the cooler next to the pan (best not to let them touch if the pan is still too hot - you don't want to kill the yogurt culture). Close the lid.

Come back in 24 hours (usually less but the 24 hours part is easy for us!).

To a pint jar, we add about 1 1/2 tbsp of sweetener (powdered sugar, honey, maple syrup, fruit juice concentrate) and whatever other ingredients you'd like. We are out of vanilla (still waiting for it to finish up) so we've been using almond extract - YUM!

Or mixed with homemade granola. YUMMIER!

It's pretty thick to start, but gets a bit runnier with stirring, so minimize your stirring if you want thick yogurt.

No pectin, no preservatives, our own sweeteners.

AND science!

Can't beat it!


Yes, those are wide-mouth Ball glass jars - we have been slowly switching over to just using those, instead of re-using other glass jars, because, well, we're not buying as many other glass jars as we make more and more of our own food from fresh produce. I chose wide-mouth because 1) the food doesn't clog up underneath a lip and 2) the same lids and rings fit on both pint (think jam) and quart jars - I really need ease of use and mis-matched lids have been hair-pullers in the last year! ;) Now I have multiple sized jars and just one size of lid that fits on all the jars. And everything looks so NICE in the cupboard, fridge and freezer!

After stirring it is just a bit runnier than organic yogurt.
Just as thick as well-stirred non-organic yogurt. 

In the cooler; we make 4 jars at a time.
Saving the last half of one jar as the culture for the next batch.

AMI language and Dwyer - how they fit

The following blog post is not showing up in readers. I have now had several people contact me to suggest or request that I re-post it. I do not want to belabor the point, so this will be my last post on it ;)

The link to the blog post is: Dwyer and AMI Primary Language Album

Wednesday, I will have an elementary school day post up again. Yay!



Click her for a link to the Montessori Trails page correlating Dwyer with AMI with Pink/Blue/Green - aligned next to each other according to stages.