Calligraphy

It has now reached the time for my son to start calligraphy. It's just that age.

How did we get here?

He's been studying ancient civilizations for 2 1/2 years now, starting with Ancient Egypt and Old Testament peoples and branching out (and back and forth) from there.

He has also moved into the love of Medieval times: feudalism, knights, castles, magicians, dragons, valor, chivalry.

That was in history.

We incorporate art into all of our subjects, but he also does a program called "Christian Heritage Art" which has 6 lessons per "level" that are historically-based - recently he created his own coat of arms (and a few weeks later "updated" it to ensure it was an accurate portrayal of his life).

In language, we have recently reviewed the Great Lesson on the Story of Communication in Signs - he'd already been creating Hebrew, Egyptian, Greek and Chinese alphabets, among others.

Also in the area of language, his beautiful handwriting has become a bit... sloppy-ish. Yes, we Montessorians keep the children on lined paper longer than typically thought necessary because it helps to train the hand, but he was doing great with both types of paper...

but that is a sign.

It is all coming together (hint, hint: cosmic education - nothing is studied in isolation).


As part of his other studies, I finally pulled out the Book of Kells (we have two) for its historical value and for inspiration - and I purchased a book called "The Illuminated Alphabet: An Inspirational Introduction to Creating Decorative Calligraphy".
I also already have a calligraphy how-to set that I'm not altogether pleased with, but it does come with ink, pens with various nibs and markers.

I'll be honest - there is NO how-to calligraphy or how-to illumination book that is "perfect" - you'll have to find one or a small number that work for YOUR purposes. For my purposes I am in the process of creating calligraphy command cards similar to the Montessori geography command cards, biology command cards, etc. to take children through the process step-by-step - and then they have these other guides to expand or just provide some ideas for where their work can go.


And the child is inspired.

He is creating his own mini-version of the Book of Kells - and has been a boy on pristine behavior-run so that he can EARN the right to begin the early steps of calligraphy.

What BOY do you know wants to EARN the RIGHT to do calligraphy?

This is a Montessori child, through and through!


He has been studying the history of illumination (and has been allowed to "doodle" (embellish) his paper-works since he was 4), recognizes the similarities of European calligraphy with Chinese and other far-eastern cultures' writing styles, appreciates the historical "lack" of paper and how precious anything written was (not like today where you can buy a grocery bag of books at the library for $2), therefore appreciates calligraphy and illumination as the beautiful art-forms they are --- and he wants to participate in this long history.

Note on the sloppy hand-writing - it is generally sign, that if the other preparations have been made, the elementary child is ready to learn calligraphy as an historical "grown-up" form of writing. He is now participating with his ancestors. Not to mention that the first stages of calligraphy (shaded writing) require slow, careful control - so it brings more attention back to the hand and regular hand-writing should improve as well.

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!

Metal Insets for Writing

Our original "metal inset" material - actually made out of foam-board:

foam-board; blue pony beads attached with wires strung to the back
racks made by me

These have served us well, but we've received a "gift" of new metal insets and I'll be offering these for sale soon. They could use a touch of an exacto knife for some rough edges that have appeared over the years; and maybe some spots of foam sheets on the back of the blue pieces so they lay flatter (the wire is secured by a small foam sheet piece. I've added little pads here and there but they fall off.

I've had these for 7 years; through well over 50 children: daycare, tutoring, friends of my son's, children of my friends, homeschool.... The memories... not the first Montessori primary material I made, it was certainly the first truly intensive one. I still have some of the foamboard left over from these - I was going to make the geometric cabinet insets, but never did find the time. I finally just made those out of wood, and was able to purchase the cabinet by itself (2 weeks later, I figured out how I could have made the whole cabinet myself too!).

I'll have to see if I can find some of the design work that was done with these.

Just memories....

:)

Our Journey to Writing

Chronicling our experiences - as they are - un-edited. Caveat: things do change over time and one does learn from past experiences!

My son was just-turned 1 when I first started making primary and elementary Montessori materials for my daycare children. Clear the clutter of our home just to add more stuff! ;) But I turned a lot of the clutter into Montessori materials, so it worked out in the end! My daycare children at the time were infants through age 11; I started part-time and was subbing at a Montessori school, but only in infants, toddlers and elementary at the time. 

By this time, I'd made or fanagled most of the infant-toddler materials as outlined in Montessori from the Start (see other posts). So that age was set. 

For preschool and elementary materials, in addition to Montessori's writings, I had the books Montessori in the Home: School Years and Montessori in the Home: Preschool Years. I was too overwhelmed at the time by Advanced Montessori Method to figure out what was primary and what was elementary and when and how and compare it to the various schools I'd been to, so I made do with the little bit that was available online at the time and the above two mentioned books. Livable Learning and MontessoriMaterials.org were both available at the time. I am pretty sure I was part of montessorimakers Yahoo group at the time (I have printouts of some of those files, so I am pretty sure!).

My first material creation for primary was the lowercase and uppercase sandpaper letters. I used the patterns the Preschool Years books, using old-style posterboard (thick stuff!), sandpaper cut and mounted, and construction paper for the colored backgrounds. I was and am satisfied with the results - they were sturdy, but I would never do it that way again:

• construction paper fades over time
• the letters were too small for most of my daycare children - not enough movement of the whole arm
• the colors did not match the movable alphabets that were most readily attainable (colors reversed)
• the letters were mounted at the bottom of a tall card; rather than placed in the middle or to the side of a "wide" card (the child should have a place to lay his unused hand to hold the board down)
• they were print
• capital letters in sandpaper letters aren't really necessary
• I should have asked to visit the primary room at the school to see what they used. 

But they got the job done. And now, years later, they are serving another homeschool family. Not perfect, but functional to an extent. 

Later, I printed a set of cursive movable alphabet that could be printed on cardstock - the children were all over these! Spelling things out, copying them down, trying to link up letters.... I had picked up just one tacklebox (Livable Learning - now Teaching from a Tacklebox style!), and went back to get another and they'd sold out. I couldn't easily find it online at the time, so I picked up another two boxes (because just didn't have enough compartments) and those two boxes have been a nightmare - until I recently replaced them with the proper tackleboxes and turned those flat-bottoms into a phonetic object box and a phonogram object box (yes, just one box of each for the AMI environment). 

(at first, I did not print the capitals on the back - we needed them right then, so I didn't take the time to do it; but the capitals should be on one side and the lowercase on the others; and you can have punctuation)

My son had some speech development set-backs, and it wasn't until I started giving him naming lessons Montessori-style that I discovered how much he really knew already. We found other ways for him to communicate with me what he knew (colors, quantity (not counting!), shades of colors, Latin (another story), etc. He took everything in, he just wouldn't speak it. 

So we played a lot of language games, but I didn't know enough then to understand how important they were. He indicated in various ways where he heard certain sounds, without speaking a whole lot himself. Yes, I'd had him tested for speech delays, but every test said he was still in the normal range - the Montessori activities clearly indicated he was NOT in the normal range, and we are still suffering the consequences of delaying therapy today - but that is another post). 

So he started the sandpaper letters at 2 1/2 - just lowercase - I never did show him the capitals (and my daycare children didn't really use them, preferring the lowercase). He'd been around all the other children using them and other sensorial materials that when he showed an interest, I just went with it; if I knew then what I know now, I'd've emphasized more of the sound games FIRST - and had the phonogram cards made. 

About this time, we purchased the wooden movable alphabet because many of my daycare children had some troubles with the cardstock version - they needed something bigger and the connections between the letters were easier to see with the wood version. I was also becoming more and more troubled by "how do I go from sandpaper print to movable alphabet cursive???" That is when I made the discovery that Maria Montessori gave the children cursive to begin with. Well, I was too busy with other materials to replace those sandpaper letters..... It's one of those things that as a parent, I let slip by. 

That Christmas Grandma received a request for an all-wood, no bells-whistles-gizmos-gadgets-electricity-or-batteries barn. My son explained time and again, "I need a home for my animals." (We had a lot of Toob animals and others for language lessons and for play.)

She waited until the last minute and couldn't find one, so she got him a preschool laptop instead. Hm. bells-whistles-gizmos-gadgets-electricity-AND-batteries. Not to mention all capital block letters. The mouse broke within 2 weeks, the batteries died about that time and I just wasn't excited about it; and he was still asking for a home for his animals. 

For my birthday, she got him the barn (Melissa and Doug - PERFECT!). He still has that barn and now the co-op children use it (many times it goes back and forth between home and co-op). 

At 3 1/2 my son started a Montessori school while I was in the primary training. Finally, he could get a proper sequence from someone who knew what they were doing! They had lowercase *cursive* sandpaper letters. 

That Christmas, I handed him a set of blank cards to draw in to use for thank you cards for Christmas gifts (we did this every birthday and Christmas since his first Christmas). I was busy in the kitchen when he asked me "How do I make a K?" I came over to show him, wondering what on earth he was doing, when I saw this on the card: 

T H A N 

(capital block letters)

Wow. 

So I showed him on another paper how to make the K. He then asked how to spell "you" - I told him the letters and he wrote them down (I was back to working in the kitchen). He brought it to me and I saw this: 

T H A N K   Y O i

I said, "Honey, this is an 'i' and you want a 'u'". He responded, "I like it better."

I smile and nod. And spend the next week wondering where he learned to write in capital  block letters. 

Then we unpacked a box and found the old laptop. Capital block letters, with lowercase letters on the same key. 

There are still unanswered questions, that get into the absorbent mind. Enough said 

His teacher couldn't get him to use the movable alphabet at school, and then she had serious health problems off and on the rest of the year. When I covered for her and when we had another long-term sub, all the children got into all the material like they'd never had it before - it was great! Even my son was working with the movable alphabet. 

Flash forward to the following school year; we'd had some issues with the reading (another post), but we'd caught up to par; moved to another state; started another Montessori training; and was beginning a job at two local churches. My son attended a 3-half-day a week preschool program run at one of the churches; the teacher allowed me to have him there for both morning and afternoon on those 3 days and I'd join him for lunch in between classes since my office was right there and the school didn't typically have children for lunch. 

This school emphasized print. And worksheets. And getting a piece of candy or a sticker after completing every single teacher-required activity. I love the teachers - they are so wonderful and compassionate, but we were only there because it was the only local option next to the free-for-all babysitter across the road (who we used on occasion as well). 

So writing and reading fell away again. He'd write in print, but there was no joy in it; and so many times he'd make up a symbol and say it was another letter. We spent that summer working through some of that lack of joy. 

The "kindergarten" year, I long-term subbed at a Montessori school and my son was able to attend in the primary classroom. They did handwriting sheets, but they also heavily used all the Montessori materials. When we finished up there and officially were at home full-time again for the first time in 2 1/2 years, we started to use Our Lady of Victory handwriting books, starting with the second half of kindergarten, because they start cursive at that point and the layout is not like typical handwriting where the child just traces and re-creates, so the lines were sized to his ability - this book also asks questions and expects the child to answer the question in his own words with neat handwriting. Combined with the banded line Montessori paper, we finally got back to being on par. He would write short cards or very quick notes; I required at age 6 that he write the grocery list and I'd ask him to make notes for me now and again - anything to make it applicable to real-life, interesting and not a chore. At first, he was still writing in print, and I'd keep saying, "I prefer cursive; you have such beautiful cursive and it will organize your words better" (his print letters looked like one long run-on word). 

Then one day. It took off. And now I can't stop him. Everything is in cursive. 2 years later, we have a house full of notebooks, charts, graphs, lists, stories, more lists, timelines, labels, more lists (he loves lists - elementary children are collectors of things - words being one of those things!). 

If I could do it all again - it would be cursive from the beginning; much more emphasis on sound games; and a polite request at the preschool to NOT do the worksheets. Otherwise, things needed to proceed at his pace, as they did. Without force or coercion. 

I am finding a similar outcome with the co-op children. They know that cursive is required in our classroom and they are trying it out at home too. They know I respect their past and present experiences, and they also see that I have provided tools in the classroom to adapt from print to cursive. One 7 year old boy who was initially "hostile" to the thought of cursive asked me one day, "Could we please just get rid of all the cursive in this room?" I took him on a tour of the classroom, with a piece of paper, noting each thing that was in print or cursive. We did a mathematical calculation to determine that 95% of the written materials in our classroom were in print, not cursive. I didn't judge him or become upset. We just looked at it all unemotionally. He said, "Hm. That is interesting." The next class, he came back with the news he'd started writing in cursive at home, "but it is slow and hurts my hand" he said. So we then worked on writing grasp - along with all the children. And they are all writing so beautifully now! 

Cursive is an art-form and when children are creating art, it is no longer a chore, but a joy. 

Movable Alphabet in our Home

In our home, the alphabet system we use is as follows, according to the AMI Montessori primary and elementary albums:


All letters are CURSIVE


sandpaper letters: 
pink consonants
blue vowels
(I made ours and our "box" is just a white cardboard box)




sandpaper phonograms:  
green
(we do have a nice wood box for these ones)

The x is upside down in this photo

wooden movable alphabet: 
red consonants, blue vowels
organized alphabetically (ideal is NOT alphabetical, but this was affordable, and smaller, but still large enough to work with)





printed movable alphabet: 
(no not in print; this is cursive printed on the computer - these COULD be in print)
set 1: red
set 2: blue
set 3: black
I chose the colors - you could use green (phonogram) and black (rest of the word) to start, then add red for the later activities (red denotes "new").
All stored in a Plano 3701 Tacklebox - one alphabet per tacklebox. This box has curved bottom for ease of removing the letters; and just the right number of compartments needed in the right sizes!

NOTE: This set started out as a tile-based movable alphabet - I had the consonants in red and the vowels in blue - so that longer stories could be written. But then, we transitioned to full-color alphabets.
In a home with lots of children, you'll probably want both types - this post is just about what we have now ;)

This is not ours - but shown here to show
the contents of our tacklebox shown above :) 

For our homeschool and co-op, this has been enough thus far; but I will soon be adding another printed color set because of the number of children needing this material at co-op. For PRIMARY, 3 sets is sufficient, and you could get by with 2. For ELEMENTARY, you really want 3 sets for home use, possibly 4 for ease of use - it is used for a LOT of things, in particular word study and spelling games. It is easy to make and the tacklebox is perfect size.

At first, I did not print the capitals on the back - we needed the lower case right then, so I didn't take the time to add the capitals until we needed them and I just wrote some in; but the capitals should be on one side and the lowercase on the others; as well as cards for punctuation in one of the colors, so that longer stories can be written out. This is where children learn punctuation and capitalization - with this small movable alphabet.

So why the Plano 3701 Tacklebox?

• With the dividers it comes with, there are enough slots for all 26 letters in the same box. You could even add punctuation if you are so inclined (there are sets in my primary album that include punctuation). 
• the far and near sides of the bottoms are curved so the letters slip out so easily with one's fingers (flat bottoms do not allow for ease of removal at all)
• The dividers stay in place so letters don't slip underneath (at least in my experience; the flat bottomed ones allow for sliding of the letters to the next compartment)
• They are affordable at $10 each; and free shipping on Amazon if over $25; I've sometimes seen them in the $8 range as well. 

We have other alphabets, but this is it for our movable alphabet collection ;)


UPDATED TO ADD some close-ups of the tackle-boxes in question:

Photos of our actual colors ;)

Note the curved bottoms
(pictured is a smaller box - punctuation
 or use for numerals/operations/symbols)