The No-Pressure Approach

I've shared before how important it can be for Mom to make sure she is a student, too, doing things that the kids would do (or that she'd like them to do), without any pressure on the kids to do so, and having her own "studies". Yes, it can be hard to fit it in, but there is such a payoff when you can do even the littlest something!

I've listed as an option for sometime for my 9yo son that he can do typing as part of his school work. Complete disinterest or resistance--there's a fine line between the two. While working with him at decluttering and organizing his room last night, I came across the SpongeBob Typing program I bought years ago. (I hate SpongeBob, but it was only $5 or something and I thought it could be fun.) I decide to check it out, with him in the room. (Yes, he has a computer in his room, our old PC.) I talked about how I'd never really looked at it and I got into it and started asking him questions because I didn't have a clue what to do and he'd previously used the program. When I was done, lo and behold, he went and did typing for about 20 minutes. :) I wouldn't be surprised to have him ask me if it's okay if he does typing today.

Another thing that has gotten started again: German. While working on his room the other night (yes, it's a disaster and is taking multiple days!), I started saying little things in German. We hadn't done German in ages. As I asked him questions (either in French or in German) about what he wants to do with things I'm finding , he started asking me what things were in German so he could respond in German. That led to me pulling out a type of picture dictionary we have (because I couldn't remember some words genders), which led to him wanting to learn to read some of the words there and then to do some work in his German workbook, which we also found during the room cleaning. We spent an HOUR doing German that night!

So, remember, if you're wanting your child to start working in a specific area, make sure YOU start working in that area first. :)

I'm such an inconsistent blogger!

What can I say since my last post?

Ds has stopped writing. However, with the transition between first semester and second, things were kind of topsy-turvy around here. Then we all got sick with a nasty cold. It's been 2 weeks. I think I'm finally getting over it. My 2yo niece is nearing the end of her third week. My kids are still coughing, Bob's still somewhat congested and his sister, on top of finally starting the cold after the rest of us, added strep throat to it. It's been an interesting Feb./beginning of March!

Now that I'm feeling a bit back to myself, I've got a desire to move ahead! Bob's work is coming along fairly well, despite being sick. My kids are slowly getting back into work. Been doing more math with dd this week and it's getting better and better as she does things she sees she can do, and can do easily. I couldn't help but laugh yesterday when she approached me with a question.  Her workbook asked her to do 3 parallelograms, each with a height of 2 units and a base of 3 and then calculate the area of each. "Why do I have to do 3? They're all going to be the same." Ha! Gotta love it. I told her it was for kids who hadn't yet grasped the idea and needed more practice and that she didn't have to calculate each one. She seemed satisfied with that. The drawback to this kind of thing is that when she encounters something she doesn't "get" so easily, she gets down on herself. I need to remember these moments so I can remind her, "Remember when...? That came easily. Some things don't come as easily."

I'm also looking at high school prep with dd. We talked over science a bit yesterday and high school options. She's only grade 7, and high school officially starts in grade 10 here, but we have leeway in when to actually start and how. I also keep thinking of how high school starts in the US in grade 9. Most of our discussion yesterday was on the high school diploma. Although the message that comes across here from schools and the government is that you need a high school diploma, you don't, especially if you are going to do some post-secondary. You only need certain grade 12 subjects, or SAT scores, for university, and some colleges allow you admission based on portfolios. Dd kept asking what the point of the diploma was. We basically came to a consensus that it was if you weren't going to be doing any post-secondary, it was a good piece of paper to have to say that you had at least done high school. Of course, thinking of it now, we could have quickly looked up people who don't have high school diplomas nor post-secondary and the work they're doing. (Just a note to my non-Canadian readers, high school diplomas are awarded through the government here; parent-issued diplomas, as is often done by homeschooling families in the US, are not seen as valid!)

So, we're toying with starting chemistry already and focusing on getting her math mastered, especially some of the things we didn't cover in elementary and should have, and some more focus on French--spelling, grammar, writing, etc. That's one of my big issues--how to get her French recognized. She may need to do an online French Language Arts course at some point to get that recognition. I'll have to see what other sort of tests and the like exist out there. Right now, it looks as though she'll at least go for the grade 12 credits for university entrance. But, they don't offer French, so everything will be in English (even if we do the work in French) and, at the moment, the only way to actually get credit for French as a homeschooled student is to do an online course.

Of course, I suppose I should take care of her jr. high French before worrying too much on the high school French. ;) And above all, keep in mind that I don't just want transmission of knowledge!

“If education is always to be conceived along the same antiquated lines of a mere transmission of knowledge, there is little to be hoped from it in the bettering of man's future.”

 Maria Montessori

The Writing Has Begun!

My son is always full of surprises for me. Now that he's been reading well for sometime, I've been struggling with: how do I get him to write??

He's done it on his own, as he has with pretty much everything else. I've got to remember that's just how he is! I need to expect it, go with it.

He's never written more than maybe a couple of sentences. Last week, his sister was sitting on the couch writing (not an unusual occurrence) and he decided he would write, too. Got out a notebook (that we've had for years and have barely used because he doesn't write) and started writing about Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. He asked his sister when he wasn't sure how to write a word and sat there a good while until he had more than a full half-page, and I mean full. Everything scrunched together. I told him I would write it out on another piece of paper for him so he could see how to space it and, double-spaced, it took up a full page of my handwriting.

He has since started imitating his sister, again, and is now coming up with silly things to write out. Can't think of an example at the moment, but nonsense questions, comments and sentences.

I am sooooo glad this child is not in the school system where everything has to follow a specific pace!!!

A "PD" Day!

The oldest is busy today and we're really not going to get started properly with work on a Friday, so I told Bob he could have today off. Since the school down the street is having a PD day, when we passed the sign, I said, "There, we'll have a PD day!" lol.

I still have my nieces and will be having a visit from a friend and her daughter, but no school work today! Okay, well, not entirely true on my part as I've already been doing some research into Montessori jr. high and high school curriculum and schools. Which is kind of funny because Bob and dd asked yesterday what the PD meant in PD Day and I told them 'professional development', but that I wouldn't be doing any professional development, just taking the day off. haha.

I've actually been quite enjoying my research this morning. I need to do this sort of thing more often, to help keep me focused and attached to a vision. Some links people may find of particular interest:

http://www.alsion.org/index.php
http://www.hersheymontessori.pvt.k12.oh.us/why_hershey/Adolescent%20Program.htm
http://jeffcoweb.jeffco.k12.co.us/charter/compass/middle/humanities.html
http://www.montessori-namta.org/NAMTA/conferences/AdolOrient.htm
http://www.childpeace.org/frames/frames/documents/third_plane_development.pdf

It didn't take long...

...for my 2yo niece to lose interest in the transferring activity (spoon lentils from one bowl to the other). She did it a few times the first day, then once the following day, and that was it!

So, I went searching for more activities for her and ended up at Winners sometime this week and found this geometric stacker made by Melissa and Doug

as well as this little Bear Dress Up activity (also by Melissa and Doug):

which has provided both girls with something new to do things with.

I also decided to show pouring to my niece today. I haven't bought the typical little creamers that are used in a Montessori classroom, so just used some Corel cups. She was actually fine with the pouring; the tough part was to get her to NOT try to pour both cups at the same time! I don't think I showed slowly enough, even though it felt crazy slow and my movements were exaggerated to put the empty pouring cup down, pick the other one up and pour, and repeat. She kept trying to pick both up and pour them into each other. I ended up providing a little more structure and held down the empty cup while she picked up the other one. I'd like to find some cheap little creamers, if I can, this weekend. I've looked for sometime and usually only find the metal ones (if I can find any at all), and I don't want those.

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A week and a half left of study time and exams!! We will be able to breathe a sigh of relief and get into a better routine once Feb. rolls around. I ought to make a point to do some "teacher prep" (gosh, it's been so long, I can't even recall what Maria Montessori called it, but there was a term for it), in reading and reflecting.

Happy New Year!

Is it just me, or is it crazy to realize that it's 2010? Twenty-ten. Say the words. Crazy.

Our first week back to school is done. Although I should maybe backtrack to Christmas holidays.

School-wise: Did absolutely nothing. Because I'd been sick with H1N1 for November, that left the first few weekends of December to really catch up on household stuff: laundry, cleaning, groceries... (It's a reminder to me that I need to learn to teach the others in this house how to do this stuff and to pass off some of the responsibility!) Now, normally I start my Christmas shopping in November and other than a few last-minute things that dh and I maybe have to agree on for a gift, it's done early December.

This year, NONE of the family shopping had been done by the time Christmas break started. NONE. Well, not entirely true, since dh's family was done back in October due to having had an early Christmas. However, that still left 2 step-nephews/3rd cousins (um, yes, my step-sister is married to my husband's 2nd cousin, which makes their kids my step-nephews, but also my kids' 3rd cousins), my Mom (separate gifts from me/dh and from the kids), my step-Dad (same deal), my husband (separate gifts from me and from the kids), my kids (from dh and I, plus help them shop for each other), and then pick a gift with dh from "Santa" to us. That kept us busy enough until the 23rd! Then we were gone for a few days, then when back, we spent the 27th recovering from the lack of sleep the previous days.

I had had the thought of maybe trying to do some school stuff, but we really needed to just vegetate a bit. So, I decided to leave the kids be. They spent a great deal of time reading, and dd did some writing, so I really can't complain. I couldn't stop a smile for my 9yo ds near the end of the holidays when I saw him reading yet another Geronimo Stilton book--something like his 20th Geronimo Stilton book in a month. I asked him if that was the last one to read from the library (we had about 10-12 out at the time) and he said he'd already read it and was reading it again. lol. I found out that he had somehow managed to read close to 10 books TWICE over the span of a few weeks. It was fascinating to watch him go play some active BOY thing, then switch gears and sit down with a book for about an hour, then back to play, then back to reading...

This past week, I have to say I left my kids be because the 18yo had a course to finish plus exams to study for, as did her brother. It was intense enough with that that I had no desire to get moving on school stuff for my two. However, it's time to change that!

This week, 18yo and "Bob" have exams to study for and Bob has some full-year courses to work on. I haven't a clue what I'm going to do with the others this week. Dd actually started a lapbook last night (at 8:45pm, to be exact) and has been working hard on it for most of the day. I still have NOT finished the Europe pin map flags for her, so I could work on that. She ought to continue doing some math (decision has been made to NOT have her use a workbook next year! it's somehow way too constricting and stressful) and we ought to figure out together what the next step for her French studies will be. German has been woefully neglected.

For ds... Handwriting and math are my main concerns. I'd love to figure out what I could do with him science-wise. I feel like I'm missing the boat with him on what to connect him with. I could just see him in an actual Montessori classroom spending tons of time outside with things for insects, dirt, plants, or with indoor science materials. Not the research and vocabulary stuff, but the hands-on practical things. I obviously need to build myself up in this area. Once the pin map flags are done, I know he'll want to work on that.

For my almost 5yo niece, I want to keep encouraging her to work on the things she already loves doing: reading Bob Books (can read the first three), practising the cursive sandpaper letters (I think it's time to start some word building AND some writing single letters on a chalkboard), addition (she's got this thing for addition lately, although I've not shown her anything formal; I could show her the bead stair to do some simple questions).

With my 2yo niece... I think I need to find out more information on toddler activities. Although, I could probably start the easiest 3-6 activities with her. She is such a hoot and so smart. I could see spooning beans and maybe pouring beans a good starter activity with her. I ought to also keep her and her sister's little table clear and provide them with a cloth to clean the table when they're doing. All kinds of routines could be built with her, now that I think of it. I just need to take the time to sit and think! :)

Speaking of taking the time... Things seem to be falling together nicely, which is starting to give me more time.  This school year, although heavy with work and illness, has been soooo great. The kids are getting along famously (okay, admittedly there are a few 2yo and 4yo tantrums in there) and things are just much more peaceful and fun. Once the exam stress is done, I think we will have a fantastic 2nd semester! I hope so. It's going to be the last semester for the 18yo and for my almost 5yo niece. Both are heading off to school in the fall. *sniffle* It's not going to be the same around here. And the 15yo could be done in 2.5 years from now--depends on course selections. *gasp* And my 2yo niece will probably be ready for kindergarten the fall of that same year. Gosh, this is what it's like when your kids grow up and leave the nest! :(

Last day before Christmas holidays!

Except, I'm hoping to do some "relaxed" German with my 2 over the holidays and some playful games to work on their math facts and maybe some writing games or something. Oooh, yeah, a Christmas story where we pass the sheet back and forth, but only see a couple of words of what the previous person wrote. Hehehe.

Geronimo Stilton

Ds's latest obsession is Geronimo Stilton. We got one from Scholastic yesterday. He read the entire thing. I found another one for him this morning--he was done by 10:30am.

This from the kid who, about a year ago, was barely reading! Woot woot!

Woops

It's been a while. Sorry about that. Things have been very busy. October was my crazy busy month, then the 2nd week of November, the oldest and I got hit by what was most likely H1N1--and we still don't feel like we've shaken it completely (a kind of ache that keeps showing up in our hands and shoulders and whatnot). My 4yo niece had the flu, too, but she was done with it rather quickly. Right now, we've got a week before Christmas and a WHOLE ton of work to get done. Well, the 2 oldest, anyhow. We're usually in relaxation mode by this point, but not this year. They're doing correspondence courses that MUST be done by Jan. 6 (something like 2 days after we get back), but it makes far more sense to finish them now. Well, they have to be almost finished, anyhow. Then the oldest has an exam on the 6th (I think it's the 6th), then a final on the 8th and another final on the 11th. Lovely. Right after Christmas holidays. But I guess everything has to be done in time for her to do diplomas, which start the 14th.

As for the other ones... My 9yo still pretty much does his own thing, except I do require him more and more to do a little something. It's not much right now: tracing over things I've written or having him do some copywork (he's been reading so much Calvin and Hobbes that he can't always remember how to do lower case letters or he simply writes in caps!), and some math questions. If I give him just facts, I have him do about 20. Right now, I'm having him work on subtraction with regrouping, so he only gets about 5 questions. It's a start! I've also resumed reading to him in French at night, which is so nice to do with him. We've been working on the Magic Treehouse series, whose French translation is among the best out there in terms of not changing the difficulty too much. It's even gotten him starting to read them on his own. :) Other than that, he's been having some fun with this flag puzzle that we have and has been gradually learning more and more flags of the world.

My 12yo has been wanting to learn the flags of Europe and has been working on and off on that. I've been gradually working these past two weeks on making flag pins, à la Montessori, to use in a pin map. I still have to find a map I like and print it off. I got an idea from somebody in one of my lists years ago to simply make big maps and stick it to a cork board so that the maps can be changed easily and not take up tons of room, and that's what I'm going to do. Plus, it solves the problem of how to have holes for the pins.

What's a Montessori pin map? It's a map where you can place pins--with a country name label, a capital city name label or a flag label--in indicated spots to help learn the names of countries, capital cities, etc. You can even do it for just a country and the provinces/states. Here is one example http://www.polestarmontessori.com/Continent_Pin_Map.html , although that's a very tiny version. Along with the map is a control map or card, so that the student can check to see if s/he is right. It's kind of like a memory game.

Other than that, my 12yo has spent lots of time reading, has come up with the idea of a project to make a book of... hm... bad mom, I can't remember at the moment... weird facts? interesting facts? Can't remember. We've also been doing some math and I think more and more that using a workbook with her creates this crazy stress. It's like she feels she MUST "perform". When I did an intro activity with her on the side, with just paper, she was fine. Go to the workbook, and stress sets in. I think I need to simply work on the concepts with her WITHOUT the workbook (even if I'm using the same questions), get her confidence back up and then the workbook won't stress her so much.

Oh, and we've done German maybe a few times. Eeek. I really wanted it to be more than that!

With my 4yo niece, she's initiated some copywork, has started writing "math equations" (no, not really--things like 5 = 1 = + 4...), I've done the red rods with her and not sure what else. She's definitely ready for more, but it'll have to wait until after Christmas holidays.

My 2yo niece... is very 2. ;) Actually, she's more like 2.5, even though she just turned 2. I really ought to learn more about good Montessori toddler activities. Although there are some easy enough things I could do with both her and her sister, like baking or cleaning. Practical life activities are always good!

Enough of my update. Got to get some work done!

Science

Dd's not liking going through the book I chose for her and I can't say I blame her. It's one of those things to digest slowly and perhaps it's just not the right style for her (she agrees with you, Correne!). So, I asked her what she wanted to learn about in science, and covered the basic domains in my question: physics, chemistry, biology or environmental science? After a brief explanation of each, she has chosen biology. So now we need to choose how to go about it. I think I would like to just use a program, even if it's in English, as biology is not my forte. Both Science 4 Kids - Biology and Apologia look really good in terms of what they cover, and they do it in somewhat the same order I would imagine a Montessori program would do it. The Science 4 Kids could be a little too babyish for her and the Apologia Biology could be rather challenging. We will hopefully be able to have a look at both programs at a local store sometime soon so she can see if she has a preference. Apologia is designed for grades 9-12, but a lot of sites are saying grade 8 and above. Even though she's technically grade 7, she is already functioning at a grade 8+ level, but doesn't have the science background, so then I'm back to where I started, wondering it it'll be too challenging. LOL

DOH!

I was doing some journalling, trying to figure out what sort of Montessori babystep I could take and realized that I have been STILL pretty much just assigning work to dd instead of giving her lessons and then showing her follow up work she can do. I've been doing it all backwards!!! No wonder I'm getting such resistance! Such lack of interest!

All I have to say right now. It's almost 9:30 and I'm still in my pj's. lol. (I've been up since 5, so...)

Where'd the week go?

This past week seemed to go by so quickly! It's really quite a blur when I try to think back about what we did. I know we went into the school on Tuesday and took care of some stuff there, my kids and I had kung fu Tuesday night, we visited a bookstore and Goodwill on Wed., signed dd up for Pathfinders (Girl Guides) that night, can't really remember Thursday, although I do remember kung fu, and then had my one nephew (9yo) all day yesterday, which led to pretty much only the oldest getting any work done.

Ds, turning 9 next week, is obsessed with Calvin and Hobbes. Dh asked, somewhat negatively, today if that's the only thing he's reading, and if so, he ought to start reading other things. I decided to not get into a discussion with him on all kinds of examples of kids who passionately read only one type of thing for a while and when ready, do move onto other things. I simply said something about he won't read only Calvin and Hobbes forever and that I did have him read some little French books each day and left it at that. I have to admit wishing that I had a copy of Free at Last: The Sudbury Valley School to hand him and say, "Read this." lol. I think dh has forgotten that this is a kid who was not reading a year ago. That he's gone from not reading to being obsessed with Calvin and Hobbes isn't a huge problem. (And now that I think of it, he has started reading the Goosebumps books this week. But he loves Calvin! Who can blame him? ;) )

Back to where the week went... I do know that I'm already letting go of certain routines. This is not good. So part of my plans this weekend is to figure out to rework routines, write them out in big and post them for Monday morning. :)

Excitement and joy are building

I've been doing more web browsing, finding some great sites and things to rekindle my spark! I think I'm heading in the direction I want to be heading. Some thoughts so far:

*for dd*

-work with her to create a plan for certain things she wants to improve, like her math tables; the plan should include specific goals (like speed) and the how

-one project idea that came out of the idea of the Montessori farm school: where does our food come from, how are farms run here in Alberta, possible visit to a farm, legalities, ecological issues, organic foods, container gardening, etc.

-her strongest interests right now are art, reading and writing, which led to the thought of going back in history and start presenting artists to her, including any historical documents (journals, biographies, etc.) that may be available; one of the things would be to learn about how they learned to draw/paint/etc. and even attempt at recreating some of their work; she could have a binder/portfolio on a specific artist or time period with a possible eventual goal of putting it all together and binding it (she just saw her uncle's PhD thesis which was bound at Staples, so the idea of having her own bound project/book might very much appeal to her); reading and writing about the artists will automatically be ELA/FLA and we can tackle some grammar and spelling and other things that way, although I would like to do some other side lessons.

-Another part of the above interests is to find more authors who were still school age when they wrote and got published, find out more about how they maybe wrote their first books, etc. So far, she knows of Christopher Paolini and Gordon Korman. Both were high school age when they got published, but her high school years aren't far away. Right now, she feels like when she reads and writes, she's not really "doing school" and not learning anything, so I'd love to come across some outside source that says, "I credit my time reading and writing to being able to get published." Okay, perhaps not expressed quite that way. ;) Right now, her thoughts are on possibly being an author, so I would like to figure out how to support that without her feeling like Mom is pushing. lol.

-community service

-lightbulb moment was had: She does NOT have to do her math text in order, although she may very well want to do it in order because she'll be able to keep the pace her Dad's students are keeping (it's the same text), OR she'll be tickled at being ahead, if we get her ahead. (So far, this text is actually going quite well, other than our inability to sit down and do it. Once we get going, she's finding it quite fine and picking up stuff very well, even answering some things before I have figured them out. :) I think it was the perfect confidence-building thing for this year for her. If we can be more consistent, I could see her being done early and choosing to start the grade 8 math before the end of the school year.)

*for ds*

-figure out a 3-year plan for him, and put together a list of things for him to work on this year

-show him the list (or perhaps a partial list for just the first half of the year) and have him choose things to work on, but not just to work on--the goal must be mastery (although, I have to say he's already got at least a bit of a sense for this: he knew he had to do some work yesterday, grabbed his cursive book and did only one page, did some other stuff, then rushed off and played; I asked him to show me what he did in his cursive and before he found the page, he said he had to work on p's more because he can't get them! lol. Turned out that the A Beka 'p' is kind of loopy so I showed him another way to do it and he tried that, was pleased, then went off and played. :D)

-the above means that his math doesn't have to be done in order and that I don't even have to rely necessarily on his text, or on this text; he's got practice stuff all over the place--the list of things to learn would include ways of practising and proving he can do it

*everybody*

-nature study: We used to go for regular walks and sometimes bring notebooks and art pencils; no reason not to do this! My 4yo could even have her own book and try to draw things. One Montessori website I was at (Hershey Montessori School) had the kids sometimes do partnered journalling, where after a while, they exchanged journals and then would draw in things the other person hadn't put in.

-accountability: I think figuring out how to incorporate accountability, to have some way of each one seeing what they are spending their time on would be greatly helpful. But how to do that without spending my entire time watching them and writing things down? Hm...

----

On another note, it's time I brought up the Choice Theory idea of Quality Work with at least Bob. He was doing some of his science yesterday, the stuff he has to hand in. He was on a multiple choice question and had to write the letter answer. It was D. It was his last question. So he wrote a D, but so sloppily, that my 4yo niece could have done it better. It honestly looked like some 3yo had tried to write a D. He also has been doodling on the pages he'll be handing in and on his math page from yesterday, he drew--IN INK--a Pacman for his greater than symbol > . This is obviously not okay! He's 15! He has an obvious pull towards the FUN need, but doesn't seem to realize how some of his fun choices will affect other things in a negative way.

I love Montessori :)

After my earlier post, I went web reading. I had already spent some time this morning on Charlotte Mason, so I went to the Dalton School and then to Austin Montessori. The Dalton School gives lots of info, but doesn't really explain *how* the teachers work with the kids. Clicked around different things in the Austin Montessori site and ended up at this:

http://www.austinmontessori.org/PDF/Upper%20Elementary%20Home%20Work.pdf

I was reminded of why I love Montessori so much. So much belief in the kids' ability and innate desire to work, so much belief in their right to choose, to a certain degree, what they will work on. I just need to figure out what I want to present to my kids--which could mean pulling out some Montessori R&D albums that I have and/or purchasing new ones--creating a year plan with a desired sequence, and then figuring out different things to try to get our days going better! The hard part is going to be to get out of our current habits. I just have to prepare myself for that and keep plugging away. What is it that "they" say, 21 days to create a new habit? *sigh* That can feel really long. ;)

Thoughts on this Saturday morning

My mind's been ruminating lots.

I have to admit to myself that I have no real idea on how to incorporate Montessori at the junior high level. The "ideal" Montessori experience is an apprenticeship, like living on a farm, away from parents. Hm, yeah, that's not going to happen. ;)

Other than that, there are projects and experiences, but they are all mainly GROUP activities. I have no group to offer my dd, not on a regular basis. The 18yo is busy with her stuff, Bob could potentially do stuff with her but he dawdles so much that it takes him all day to get done what could be done in about an hour. And ds is just not interested.

Looking around websites, there's not a whole lot of information, and some "Montessori" schools seem to have traditional schedules, with set times for math, LA, etc., but the students just work at their own pace through the materials. That's fine, except it doesn't foster the same type of things a Montessori education would foster.

On the flip side, I am finding myself feeling like I want to make sure my kids know some very specific things. I'm getting tired of ds avoiding learning certain things and spending the bulk of his time in play. He's almost 9. Sure, his reading has come along nicely and he's got a good thinking mind that he is learning his grade 4 math without having done all the expected previous skill work, but all kinds of skills are woefully inadequate. I guess I'm trying to figure out how much I have "abandoned" my kids and how much I've been letting them choose.

It would be much simpler if we could all follow the same approach! But I don't want my kids, at their age, doing what the two oldest are doing. I want some more life in our studies. More interest. More excitement.

I know dd just wants to know more and be able to do more. I've been toying with the idea of incorporating some Charlotte Mason and/or Dalton Plan approach. The Charlotte Mason would be more for content than philosophy, though; the Dalton Plan, created by a former Montessori teacher, says to the student, "Here's what you are expected to learn. It's up to you to determine how you are going to learn it." Well, in a nutshell. It's a little more complicated than that. And without my kids having really learned proper research and all that, I would need to find out more before springing something like that on them.

I feel like my thoughts are just going around in continual circles! There are so many great ideas, great resources, great approaches; I just can't seem to figure out what would work, or perhaps am not able to figure out something that I will actually stick to. I realize it can take some time to get something to work properly since there is always an adjustment period, but I need to figure out my eventual goal, my "end vision". The Big Picture. I'm getting lost in all kinds of details, I think.

Another week done

I can't believe how much weather seems to affect us. Today was a very good work day--weather was nice, not too hot, not too windy, focus this morning was quite good. Previous murkier days and changing-weather days seemed to be days of tiredness and lack of focus. Is it really that simple? It doesn't seem right. I think we ought to be able to get past it, no?

I suppose there's more than just the weather: change in routine, change in seasons... Of course, being with different people means potential exposure to different viruses and such, too. You don't have to actually be sick to be affected by something.

I've been trying to focus more on routines than work, but finding that I need to still focus on making sure work is a solid part of the routine. I gave Bob different schedule options to choose from, which seemed to work... today. We're still just not connecting. Perhaps it's because it's not "flow" work. I miss the flow work. I miss the high interest levels. Hm...

Kung Fu!

I completely forgot to do a proper recap of my week last week:

Monday: Met the 18yo at the school to finalize her registration and get resources. That took much longer than I had anticipated. After that, we went to a store for me to check out a popular religious education program around here, decided I really didn't like it, then we got Frosters from Mac's (it was HOT Monday) and just took it easy. I also ate too much sugar and dairy.

Tuesday: Had the 18yo and Bob come in the morning. Unfortunately, I think what I ate Monday got to me and I felt ill all morning. Didn't go through the resources at all like I had planned. We went out in the afternoon to go to the library and pick up food for Wed.

Wednesday: We kind of got to work in the morning and then went to the yearly Not-Back-to-School Picnic. Always lots of fun! It was soooo hot, though. I don't think it's ever been that hot. I met a couple of French-speaking moms while I was there, and ds went off--for the first time in a long time--with a bunch of kids to play. He usually just sticks with our little group and friends. It was good to see him off with others. (Of course, it helped that the multi-age group of boys had sticks and were playing some sort of game with swords. lol)

Thursday: Worked in the morning and then went back to the school in the afternoon to meet some of the teachers. In the evening, my kids tried out a Wing Chun Kung Fu class. :D They loved it. I watched the adult class and have decided to join, too. I've said for years that I'd love to do Wing Chun and managed to find this over the summer; it's also very inexpensive compared to other places and types of martial arts that I've looked at.

Friday: Worked very sluggishly and slowly in the morning--the weather changed and instead of being hot and sunny, it was cold, windy, dreary and rainy. Afternoon, went to West Edmonton Mall to just hang out and find a 60th birthday gift for my mom.

I didn't do anything specifically Montessori with the 4yo at all during the week. :( Gotta get myself off this computer and get some things down around here, like planning!

Happy Labour Day!

So, it is Labour Day. Supposed to be a holiday, but I know I'll be taking care of a bunch of things around here and not really relaxing! I'm slowly trying to simplify some things, even things like cutting back on the emails in my inbox and removing subscriptions from my Blogger thingy. I don't need notifications when people update their things!

Other than that, first week of school is done. It wasn't too bad. I've restarted journalling in the evenings and it helps so much to just take the time to reflect on the day, on what went well and I need to do again, what didn't go as well as I would have liked and what needs to be changed.

Changes for this week:

*Bob needs a set list of work to finish this week; I have to be aware of how much I may be trying to control his actions during the day, too--it's HIS job and his choice, really, if he's going to work consistently, but I also know that there's a place in Choice Theory (and Montessori at this age, for that matter) for deadlines.

*dd needs a list of work ideas and a chart to kind of check off which subject areas she's working in; it can help to see that lots of time is being spent in math or science, for example, but other stuff hasn't been touched; also, a general list of what she needs to do during the week to keep a certain pace in her texts

*I have to figure out a plan for ds and 4yo niece; they're just disappearing and playing each day!

Other things:

*I need to work out my own routines/schedule. And make it big and post it or something. I keep writing out stuff, thinking it sounds good, but then don't follow through, in part because what I wrote out was in a notebook or on a scrap of paper and isn't in my face to remind me. Things I want to make sure to include in my day that I haven't been doing: time for personal reading, read-aloud to the kids, personal study (guitar, piano, German...), writing and exercise. I've been doing some basic yoga routines in the morning for a couple of weeks now, but that doesn't address cardio at all, and not really strength (although I did hurt the first couple of days!).

So, other than trying to establish routines and good habits around here, there's not much else going on! We are getting together with some friends Thursday and I want to figure out a French club get-together, hopefully for the week after that. We spent a lot of time last year just doing things on our own. I'd like to do go out less this year, but try to do more with a variety of people! We used to do things with all kinds of people, other than just park days, and I'm not sure what happened. Used to invite people on field trips we were planning, used to have a party or get-together almost every month...

Of course, if the kids simply decide one day they want to do go somewhere, I need to remember to pull a Montessori card on them and say, "Well, it's during school hours. Figure out how it is tied with what you are learning or want to learn, write it out and let me know." :D

Happy Birthday, Maria Montessori!

Maria is 139 years old today. :D Many people don't really know anything about her, but she brought a huge amount of change into the world. The whole idea of child-sized furniture, and environment scaled down to the size of a preschooler--she started it! The idea of manipulatives, hands-on things for math and language... started with her!

So, happy birthday, Maria Montessori!

I just feel like complaining a bit

There's this article http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/reuters/090828/odds/odd_us_dutch_sailor about a 13yo girl who wants to sail around the world by herself (another article says she would make regular stops into port). Now, personally, I don't think I'd be prepared to let my 13yo spend two years by herself sailing the world. But I think it's kind of crazy to have anybody by themselves on a boat that long!

However, that's not my big issue. My issue is that because of her plans, the Dutch court was close to removing her from her parents' custody over this. Right now, the father is sharing custody with the state.

What's their issue?

Caroline Vink, a senior adviser at the Youth Institute in the Netherlands which advises the Dutch government, said the biggest questions was whether a 13yo could understand the consequences of her decision.

and

"Two years out of school will have an impact on her normal development [I can't help but gagging here]," she said.

EXCUSE ME??? It wasn't that long ago that 13-14yo girls were marrying, taking care of entire households on their own, going off in covered wagons to their new homestead with their husbands, who'd be working out in the fields or forests all day--possibly gone for days at a time--with their babies in tow. And, oh my gosh, heaven forbid she's not in SCHOOL for 2 years. (Homeschooling is not recognized by the Dutch government, just in case you were wondering.) Somebody with the nickname powderhound wrote in the comments section for the article link shared below:

It's pretty pathetic that these "child protection" authorities think that she would suffer more from the maturity, life experience, and wisdom gained from two years of self-sufficiency - as opposed to two years in a peer-pressure cooker of a high school, obsessing about makeup and boys while playing computer games and going to the mall.

I could not agree more!!

Teens are so underestimated. Granted, I wouldn't let my daughter go, but you know what? I didn't spend the first 4 years of her life raising her at sea, like this Dutch girl was. I haven't spent her life teaching her about boats. I didn't train her to be able to do some solo sailing at age 6, as this article indicates http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/08/28/dutch-dekker-world-sail-voyage-court482.html . I'm not this Dutch girls' parents, and this girl seems to have been raised to be very mature, very aware, very *real*. Caroline Vink goes on to say:

"It is wonderful to have dreams, but they have to be realistic."

It seems to me this Dutch girl is probably more rooted in reality and in what's possibility than most of us. It's not a dream for her: it's planned out in full and possible.

From a government point of view, I can understand the need to intervene. I mean, can you imagine just allowing anybody to let their 13yo sail off on their own? It'd be insane. But the attitude behind it, that a 13yo can't be capable of "understanding" it all properly, and the whole school aspect... Ugh.

You know what? When I was 14 and living in Yellowknife, I spent 4 days taking care of 3 kids who were 6, 8 and 9. Where were the parents? They had gone down to Edmonton for a wedding. I had been babysitting for them regularly from the time I was 11--started with just the youngest at that point, who was then 3. I could have taken care of those kids for ages. I knew how to cook, take care of the house, keep routines, do laundry... I was a fantastic typer and could have worked as a secretary or done all kinds of jobs. I was responsible and knew how to take care of pretty much everything. It's how I was raised. Just because most kids get caught up in the "teen culture" of today, doesn't mean that teens are inherently irresponsible or incapable of making big decisions for their lives.