My plan for yesterday worked fairly well. It got the 9yo putting more effort into things and the 11yo actually got a fair amount of work done (although not as much time spent working as I would have liked, but there were issues with me having to monitor a testing situation). "With freedom comes responsibility." Both children are trying to shirk responsibility now and with too much freedom, they are quite irresponsible. My lessening their freedom seemed calming to them a bit yesterday, so I think I'm doing the right thing.
I'm considering using the Writing Road to Reading phonics section to work with the 11yo and possibly the 9yo, with the others joining in if they wish. The 11yo is really stuck remembering sounds and rules and all that. Phonics Pathways (which we've been using) is good, especially for his eye tracking, but it takes time to get through all of the sections and doesn't quite get as explicit in possibilities for different sounds. I think I will also adapt it to work with French phonetics with the 15yo. She has read so little French the past couple of years she struggles with the simplest of words. She is so capable so I need to provide her with something to get it all back on track and to have her regain her confidence.
I was just thinking that this may not all seem very Montessori, and perhaps it isn't, but it is taking each child and finding what will best help them instead of using a blanket approach for all.
Thursday, April 27, 2006
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Well...
Things didn't go as I had hoped. Dd decided she wanted to learn about flamingos, but once at the library, we couldn't really find any suitable books and she was so discouraged, she didn't want to see if there were any to request from another branch. I may try to help her do online research, which I try to limit until fter they've already got most of the information they want.
The 9yo was in a mood today and did pick a project--rabbits--but then proceeded to the computer immediately. I had her come back and asked her what she was doing. "Research." "What do we usually start with, instead of the computer, when researching?" "I don't know." Once I stood firm on her starting with books, she refused to do any project.
The 11yo is fighting any kind of learning, especially anything involving reading and writing. He didn't pick anything he wanted to learn about.
The 15yo picked out something last week: Jack the Ripper. I wonder if it'll be something she'll be able to share with others. I'll have to talk to her about 'audience' before she begins narrowing in on her topic.
I feel very un-Montessori in what I want to do--we'll see if I feel the same and follow through tomorrow: I want the 9yo's and the 11yo's time much more structured. They are similar in a number of ways and fall quickly into goofing off mode--and this can last for days/weeks if not nipped in the bud. Trying to work with them to get them back on track is frustrating, to say the least. It'd be different in a classroom full of other kids working, I think. Here, the tendency is towards entropy. :( With certain distractions this week, they are taking full advantage of it and doing absolutely nothing. Seriously. The 11yo spent close to 30 minutes rocking in the rocking chair with a baby block in his hand on Monday. I need to pull them back. I need to direct them more as they are not handling freedom well at the moment. Any work habit the 9yo had has slithered away and hid somewhere. The 11yo hasn't had a decent work habit in two years. Things have got to change. And I've got to be the one to direct the change.
So, what I've got at the moment is a list of things for them to do tomorrow, with guidelines on minimum time (and minimum questions) they should be spending actually working on these things. They get to pick the order. If I don't state approx. times and amount of complete work, they'll take advantage of it. They're both quite talented in getting away, or trying to get away, with doing the least amount possible. The 9yo will write one sentence in cursive, which takes a whole minute, and says she's done cursive. She'll do 5 addition problems (she's currently working on multiplication) which take maybe 5 minutes and little effort and says she's done math. She somehow got in her mind that if she did a little bit of everything, she could be 'done work early,' even if that means that she's done 'everything' in 20 minutes time (during a 3-hour morning work period.) This was something we had ONE day many moons ago when we had other things we wanted to do and she still seems to think it applies. Or the 11yo will take 30 minutes to do 2 math questions--not because it actually takes him that long to figure them out. It'll be made clear that it's the amount of time actually spent working that counts, not how much time you spend in front of the questions, or out of your spot after having said you would do math. I know this isn't Montessori, but I'm not sure that even Maria Montessori would have let these two be much given the circumstances.
The oldest is doing fairly well, although I do have to direct her to more French work. Dd is doing quite well, too. Ds learned to tie his shoes with both 'bunny ears' and a single 'bunny ear' this past week, plus still likes doing all kinds of math things, reading the clock and all kinds of spontaneous things that help him progress. I've started introducing little things to help alphabet/sound knowledge along further as I can tell he would like to read and write, but he doesn't have the skills to do so yet. It's just the two really reluctant learners, both lagging academically, who seem to have reached a point of just wanting to do nothing productive/useful and play. Part of it has been that certain routines got affected with different things going on and they've not gotten back to them. I also know both have stress issues in their family lives right now, which may be part of it, but at the same time, I can't allow them to disrupt everybody else. If they would at least spend their down time reading, writing, drawing, something other than the various things they do that hurts everyone else's work time, I wouldn't have a problem. Well, not as much. ;)
The 9yo was in a mood today and did pick a project--rabbits--but then proceeded to the computer immediately. I had her come back and asked her what she was doing. "Research." "What do we usually start with, instead of the computer, when researching?" "I don't know." Once I stood firm on her starting with books, she refused to do any project.
The 11yo is fighting any kind of learning, especially anything involving reading and writing. He didn't pick anything he wanted to learn about.
The 15yo picked out something last week: Jack the Ripper. I wonder if it'll be something she'll be able to share with others. I'll have to talk to her about 'audience' before she begins narrowing in on her topic.
I feel very un-Montessori in what I want to do--we'll see if I feel the same and follow through tomorrow: I want the 9yo's and the 11yo's time much more structured. They are similar in a number of ways and fall quickly into goofing off mode--and this can last for days/weeks if not nipped in the bud. Trying to work with them to get them back on track is frustrating, to say the least. It'd be different in a classroom full of other kids working, I think. Here, the tendency is towards entropy. :( With certain distractions this week, they are taking full advantage of it and doing absolutely nothing. Seriously. The 11yo spent close to 30 minutes rocking in the rocking chair with a baby block in his hand on Monday. I need to pull them back. I need to direct them more as they are not handling freedom well at the moment. Any work habit the 9yo had has slithered away and hid somewhere. The 11yo hasn't had a decent work habit in two years. Things have got to change. And I've got to be the one to direct the change.
So, what I've got at the moment is a list of things for them to do tomorrow, with guidelines on minimum time (and minimum questions) they should be spending actually working on these things. They get to pick the order. If I don't state approx. times and amount of complete work, they'll take advantage of it. They're both quite talented in getting away, or trying to get away, with doing the least amount possible. The 9yo will write one sentence in cursive, which takes a whole minute, and says she's done cursive. She'll do 5 addition problems (she's currently working on multiplication) which take maybe 5 minutes and little effort and says she's done math. She somehow got in her mind that if she did a little bit of everything, she could be 'done work early,' even if that means that she's done 'everything' in 20 minutes time (during a 3-hour morning work period.) This was something we had ONE day many moons ago when we had other things we wanted to do and she still seems to think it applies. Or the 11yo will take 30 minutes to do 2 math questions--not because it actually takes him that long to figure them out. It'll be made clear that it's the amount of time actually spent working that counts, not how much time you spend in front of the questions, or out of your spot after having said you would do math. I know this isn't Montessori, but I'm not sure that even Maria Montessori would have let these two be much given the circumstances.
The oldest is doing fairly well, although I do have to direct her to more French work. Dd is doing quite well, too. Ds learned to tie his shoes with both 'bunny ears' and a single 'bunny ear' this past week, plus still likes doing all kinds of math things, reading the clock and all kinds of spontaneous things that help him progress. I've started introducing little things to help alphabet/sound knowledge along further as I can tell he would like to read and write, but he doesn't have the skills to do so yet. It's just the two really reluctant learners, both lagging academically, who seem to have reached a point of just wanting to do nothing productive/useful and play. Part of it has been that certain routines got affected with different things going on and they've not gotten back to them. I also know both have stress issues in their family lives right now, which may be part of it, but at the same time, I can't allow them to disrupt everybody else. If they would at least spend their down time reading, writing, drawing, something other than the various things they do that hurts everyone else's work time, I wouldn't have a problem. Well, not as much. ;)
Monday, April 24, 2006
Tomorrow's plan
I was just re-reading what I've written in the past. It hits with what I wrote recently in a journal and what I keep writing about that I know I need to do and can't seem to get myself to do: focus on cultural content.
Something I had hoped to do today but we'll work on tomorrow is generate questions the kids can find resources at the library to help them research. (Tomorrow is our library day.) We'll also talk about different kinds of ways to present research so that they don't all feel they have to give a written report and just a written report. Things that come to mind off the top of my head: diorama, PowerPoint presentation, oral report, collage, taped (audio or visual) component... Of course, this doesn't apply to ds (5yo), but I would like to encourage him to find non-fiction books, especially in French, while we're there. He's begun imitating others in 'writing' stories (just scribbles, although he will occasionally write 'words'--actual letters, not necessarily matching up with sounds) and this could be a good way to provide him a means of progressing.
One more thing for me to do before Wednesday is pick out a science experiment to do. Haven't done one in ages with the kids.
Something I had hoped to do today but we'll work on tomorrow is generate questions the kids can find resources at the library to help them research. (Tomorrow is our library day.) We'll also talk about different kinds of ways to present research so that they don't all feel they have to give a written report and just a written report. Things that come to mind off the top of my head: diorama, PowerPoint presentation, oral report, collage, taped (audio or visual) component... Of course, this doesn't apply to ds (5yo), but I would like to encourage him to find non-fiction books, especially in French, while we're there. He's begun imitating others in 'writing' stories (just scribbles, although he will occasionally write 'words'--actual letters, not necessarily matching up with sounds) and this could be a good way to provide him a means of progressing.
One more thing for me to do before Wednesday is pick out a science experiment to do. Haven't done one in ages with the kids.
I'm REALLY not good at this!
It's been more than 5 months since my last entry. I'm going to give it one last go and see if I can make this a good habit and hopefully, in turn, provide something useful to others!
I'm not even going to attempt to summarize the last 5 months--remembering the past couple of weeks can be difficult enough. ;) However, I can give an idea of where we are at.
Spring has sprung and the kids really want to be outside a lot. It's only just hit me as I write this (see, I really ought to write more often) that I ought to take advantage of that and try to incorporate that into their learning more. I wish I could be more experimental and just go for it with the kids, as Maria Montessori seemed to be, rather than worrying, planning, etc. I suppose it just takes a certain amount of practice.
We still have a little over 2 months left of school to finish, with some of the kids having to finish certain work within the next month--has to do with the type of registration they have and plans for next year-- and my own kids being able to just keep plodding along at their own pace. I'm trying very hard to get the 11yo to do more writing. An idea I had had in the past has come up again, but with a twist: since he's so dreadfully afraid of writing--because he worries about the spelling and what to write and thinks it'll be "stupid" or have to be redone (damage done from his previous school)--I want to tape him as he tells me about something, or makes up some story, and then have him transcribe it. I've proposed the idea to him in the past, but sitting down and having to think of something somewhat sensible to say in the tape recorder just doesn't cut it for him. So, I'm going to have a tape recorder on when he arrives tomorrow morning and tape one of his usual morning updates, maybe transcribe it myself and hand it to him as one of his written projects. He'll say he didn't write it and I can tell him about Stephen Hawking, and even show a picture of him, and say, "How do you think he writes books?"
This has got other thoughts going: I think he's got misconceptions of what writing really is. I know I said something about being willing to type up final work of his, but he seemed to think that meant it would be my work. I asked him if authors typed up all the books we buy in stores; he admitted that they couldn't. I somehow have to get across to him that writing is just someone's message, but written down. I think my tape recorder idea could work. We'll see. (And hopefully I'll remember to post about it. :D )
So, I guess that's an experiment on my part. (Pat on back.) Wait, I'll hold off patting my back until I actually do it.
Back to what I was saying... The 11yo needs to work on writing and reading--he is still so dependent and he can't learn about all the other things he wants to know about on his own because he can't read or even know how to spell things well enough to find what he wants. This and math are major priorities as he'll be heading into grade 7 next year and has only 3 more years until high school, which he's fairly sure most days he wants to attend (we have a school nearby that he would absolutely love going to.) Even if he decides not to go, he sees the importance of at least being at a level where he has the freedom to actually choose it rather than be forced to not attend. Oh, and he also has some minor testing to do in the coming month, required by our school board. We'll see what I can get him to do.
Other than that, I think this week's focus is getting some of the testing (reading and writing) done for the 8yo and the 15yo. They've done the reading today, we'll do a writing practice tomorrow, see if they want yet another writing practice on Wed. and then do the test on Thurs. I'm at a loss as to what to do with the 4 others during this time. It was very rough trying to get the 11yo and the 9yo to get into any kind of work this morning and even the 5yo was asking me what he could do. I spent so much time trying to get the testing in place, monitoring it and handling a cranky 14mo that I just didn't seem to be able to come up with something to get them going. It probably would have helped to work out some sort of plan together before the testing began.
Since tomorrow's practice test is going to be just like a real test, we'll have to set up a normal work time beforehand, I think. But I also have to figure out how to bring some life back to our school work. The nice weather is calling to them so much, but with the 11yo having to complete certain work within the next month and the 9yo possibly heading off to school next year, there are, as un-Montessori as it is, work requirements. They're not interested in figuring out requirements, so perhaps I simply create a plan or contract with them for tomorrow and let them decide when they'll do it.
This has gotten quite long. I'll leave it for now and hopefully come back in a few days to share on how the "tape recording writing" went.
I'm not even going to attempt to summarize the last 5 months--remembering the past couple of weeks can be difficult enough. ;) However, I can give an idea of where we are at.
Spring has sprung and the kids really want to be outside a lot. It's only just hit me as I write this (see, I really ought to write more often) that I ought to take advantage of that and try to incorporate that into their learning more. I wish I could be more experimental and just go for it with the kids, as Maria Montessori seemed to be, rather than worrying, planning, etc. I suppose it just takes a certain amount of practice.
We still have a little over 2 months left of school to finish, with some of the kids having to finish certain work within the next month--has to do with the type of registration they have and plans for next year-- and my own kids being able to just keep plodding along at their own pace. I'm trying very hard to get the 11yo to do more writing. An idea I had had in the past has come up again, but with a twist: since he's so dreadfully afraid of writing--because he worries about the spelling and what to write and thinks it'll be "stupid" or have to be redone (damage done from his previous school)--I want to tape him as he tells me about something, or makes up some story, and then have him transcribe it. I've proposed the idea to him in the past, but sitting down and having to think of something somewhat sensible to say in the tape recorder just doesn't cut it for him. So, I'm going to have a tape recorder on when he arrives tomorrow morning and tape one of his usual morning updates, maybe transcribe it myself and hand it to him as one of his written projects. He'll say he didn't write it and I can tell him about Stephen Hawking, and even show a picture of him, and say, "How do you think he writes books?"
This has got other thoughts going: I think he's got misconceptions of what writing really is. I know I said something about being willing to type up final work of his, but he seemed to think that meant it would be my work. I asked him if authors typed up all the books we buy in stores; he admitted that they couldn't. I somehow have to get across to him that writing is just someone's message, but written down. I think my tape recorder idea could work. We'll see. (And hopefully I'll remember to post about it. :D )
So, I guess that's an experiment on my part. (Pat on back.) Wait, I'll hold off patting my back until I actually do it.
Back to what I was saying... The 11yo needs to work on writing and reading--he is still so dependent and he can't learn about all the other things he wants to know about on his own because he can't read or even know how to spell things well enough to find what he wants. This and math are major priorities as he'll be heading into grade 7 next year and has only 3 more years until high school, which he's fairly sure most days he wants to attend (we have a school nearby that he would absolutely love going to.) Even if he decides not to go, he sees the importance of at least being at a level where he has the freedom to actually choose it rather than be forced to not attend. Oh, and he also has some minor testing to do in the coming month, required by our school board. We'll see what I can get him to do.
Other than that, I think this week's focus is getting some of the testing (reading and writing) done for the 8yo and the 15yo. They've done the reading today, we'll do a writing practice tomorrow, see if they want yet another writing practice on Wed. and then do the test on Thurs. I'm at a loss as to what to do with the 4 others during this time. It was very rough trying to get the 11yo and the 9yo to get into any kind of work this morning and even the 5yo was asking me what he could do. I spent so much time trying to get the testing in place, monitoring it and handling a cranky 14mo that I just didn't seem to be able to come up with something to get them going. It probably would have helped to work out some sort of plan together before the testing began.
Since tomorrow's practice test is going to be just like a real test, we'll have to set up a normal work time beforehand, I think. But I also have to figure out how to bring some life back to our school work. The nice weather is calling to them so much, but with the 11yo having to complete certain work within the next month and the 9yo possibly heading off to school next year, there are, as un-Montessori as it is, work requirements. They're not interested in figuring out requirements, so perhaps I simply create a plan or contract with them for tomorrow and let them decide when they'll do it.
This has gotten quite long. I'll leave it for now and hopefully come back in a few days to share on how the "tape recording writing" went.
Sunday, November 13, 2005
It's been awhile
I'm not very good at remembering this blog, am I? :)
Let's see, what's happened in the past month and a bit... My most resistant one is reading more and more, which is great. We are getting more and more work done, but he relies on me so much to actually work. There's a part of him that thinks he should be off the hook from working if he can't have my undivided attention. There's so much he can work on on his own, he's just so unmotivated. Or scared. I'll have to work on that more.
This week, the two oldest are going to be expected to plan out a bit more what it is that they want to get done this week, then all will work on personal daily plans. I'm not expecting anything highly detailed, although the oldest (11 and 14) who have the least amount of homeschooling and Montessori experience, really need some sort of framework, personal goals, to keep them going so that they don't drop everything when they've finished their first work item and turn to me and ask, "What can I do now?" They need to think more about what they want to do and have it to fall back on when they don't have something capturing their attention.
As much as I've always hated many of the "Montessori" work plans that I've heard of, I'm leaning more and more towards them being vital for the two oldest. The two middle children have only known homeschooling and my Montessori attempt at it during their 'mandatory schooling' time (grade 1+). They are quite self-directed and are usually fine when I make a request of a certain type of work from them. They can go with the flow quite easily. The two oldest have a number of years of public school behind them, plus they're older, so I just think I need to meet their needs in a different way than the two youngest. I don't want to tell them, "Do this, do that" but at the same time, there are things that will be forgotten or put aside that I really think they need to work on (ooh, the big Montessori question--what 'should' they be working on?) And I think they just need more structure, and I hope that they can self-impose a structure that will work for them.
Let's see, what's happened in the past month and a bit... My most resistant one is reading more and more, which is great. We are getting more and more work done, but he relies on me so much to actually work. There's a part of him that thinks he should be off the hook from working if he can't have my undivided attention. There's so much he can work on on his own, he's just so unmotivated. Or scared. I'll have to work on that more.
This week, the two oldest are going to be expected to plan out a bit more what it is that they want to get done this week, then all will work on personal daily plans. I'm not expecting anything highly detailed, although the oldest (11 and 14) who have the least amount of homeschooling and Montessori experience, really need some sort of framework, personal goals, to keep them going so that they don't drop everything when they've finished their first work item and turn to me and ask, "What can I do now?" They need to think more about what they want to do and have it to fall back on when they don't have something capturing their attention.
As much as I've always hated many of the "Montessori" work plans that I've heard of, I'm leaning more and more towards them being vital for the two oldest. The two middle children have only known homeschooling and my Montessori attempt at it during their 'mandatory schooling' time (grade 1+). They are quite self-directed and are usually fine when I make a request of a certain type of work from them. They can go with the flow quite easily. The two oldest have a number of years of public school behind them, plus they're older, so I just think I need to meet their needs in a different way than the two youngest. I don't want to tell them, "Do this, do that" but at the same time, there are things that will be forgotten or put aside that I really think they need to work on (ooh, the big Montessori question--what 'should' they be working on?) And I think they just need more structure, and I hope that they can self-impose a structure that will work for them.
Saturday, September 24, 2005
Slowly getting there!
Yesterday was one of the best days in a while. But, I didn't follow my usual expectation of spending considerable amounts of time on language and math. We started the day going through what kinds of things would be in a travel brochure (the kids are going to create travel brochures for planets--they have to be as factual as possible!), then we spent some time on music, then our week-end cleaning, then we went out for lunch and a movie (ds' birthday party).
That little inner voice has been nagging me for some time that I should be doing more cultural work with them--science, music, etc. I know that it's the main key to helping the children develop fully, as these areas captivate them so much and get them naturally involved in the language arts and math skills which are so important to living in this society. I think I've been too engrained by traditional education to worry about the language arts and math and have not been looking at the WHOLE child. Yesterday was a great eye opener for me.
That little inner voice has been nagging me for some time that I should be doing more cultural work with them--science, music, etc. I know that it's the main key to helping the children develop fully, as these areas captivate them so much and get them naturally involved in the language arts and math skills which are so important to living in this society. I think I've been too engrained by traditional education to worry about the language arts and math and have not been looking at the WHOLE child. Yesterday was a great eye opener for me.
Saturday, September 10, 2005
One week done
It was a struggle this week. Part of me thought we could just sort of continue from where we'd left off. I shouldn't have been so naive! We needed to resume good routines, have lots of group stuff... I didn't have my meeting with the 11yo as I had planned and I think that definitely didn't help things. We will have our meeting Monday morning.
Good things from the week: some work got done, the idea of using the tablecloth has been working well, the kids have been quite good at picking up after themselves, not sure what else.
Things to work on or things learned: I must practise lessons before I give them instead of the winging I did for one; I need to have more group time and group lessons, especially to make sure that our activities from Building Moral Intelligence and Raising a Thinking Preteen get done (it's basically grace and courtesy stuff, but in a different way).
I know that part of the problem was that one of the kids was away for the week, so I wasn't totally willing to get started with the cultural lessons and the read-aloud. I'll have to plan things out, and practise things as necessary, for next week.
Good things from the week: some work got done, the idea of using the tablecloth has been working well, the kids have been quite good at picking up after themselves, not sure what else.
Things to work on or things learned: I must practise lessons before I give them instead of the winging I did for one; I need to have more group time and group lessons, especially to make sure that our activities from Building Moral Intelligence and Raising a Thinking Preteen get done (it's basically grace and courtesy stuff, but in a different way).
I know that part of the problem was that one of the kids was away for the week, so I wasn't totally willing to get started with the cultural lessons and the read-aloud. I'll have to plan things out, and practise things as necessary, for next week.
Friday, August 26, 2005
School year almost started
(As a recap: with things going on (like the 9yo essentially being away for almost a week), the routines and whatnot that I had last posted about didn't take place. And ds didn't do the Lagostina pots.)
I'm starting school officially with ds and the girls (7 and 9) on Monday. The idea has put butterflies in my stomach. I don't feel ready! I guess that tells me what I have to do these next few days: finalize the plans for our first few days before the two oldest come back.
The 9yo doesn't have her school supplies yet, but I want them to start their work journals, so I may just have her write on a sheet of looseleaf and we'll put that in her work journal once she has her stuff. I just want them to get into the habit of putting the date at the very least.
So, what are my plans for Monday? Let me ramble... Get my kids ready for the day by 7:30. I'd like to read aloud to them in French before 8. At 8, we get together and they write in their work journals, we'll talk about what we'll be doing for this week, what we'll be doing Thursday when the other two start, get ideas from them for things they'd like to work on, etc. Of course, ds (not quite 5) won't do all of this, so perhaps I need to show him an activity before the morning meeting. I think I'll pick a PL activity for him--maybe cleaning the plant leaves or polishing the Lagostina pots.
Dd has been wanting to do a small report on ducks, so I think I will encourage her to work on that. I'd like to do a cursive lesson with both of them--they've already been told that we will be working on cursive a lot this year. I don't want to get started on the Great Lessons until the others are here, so I guess cultural presentations will wait until the week after, but they are, of course, free to study things that interest them. I could present the World Puzzle Map, though. I think I'll do that. Ds could do it with us.
I might start on math. Maybe I should just plan on doing math but if it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen. We are starting our year off with numeration--understanding place value, reading and writing numerals to at least 10 000, reading and writing number words to at least 10 000. I should make sure I have materials ready for that. Ds has been wanting to work with the Golden Beads but I've either lost or thrown away (I think it was damaged) the Decimal Tray. I'll have to take care of that. And a sequence of lessons or detailed made-up lessons so that I know exactly what I'm doing. I should technically practice it first, too.
All right, so this gives me a focus for this weekend: finalize my plans for next week, particularly Monday, get whatever materials ready that I need to and practise the lessons. Oh--can't forget to practise how to get the written part of the folders of lessons done. I think it's crucial that we get started with this right away.
As for the rest of Monday, focus on those routines: regroup and clean-up before lunch, put a table cloth and set the table for lunch, prayer before eating, silent reading after lunch. We're going on a small field trip (just us!) in the p.m. I still haven't figured out when I'm going to do the English read-aloud. More things to think about this weekend.
That's it for now.
I'm starting school officially with ds and the girls (7 and 9) on Monday. The idea has put butterflies in my stomach. I don't feel ready! I guess that tells me what I have to do these next few days: finalize the plans for our first few days before the two oldest come back.
The 9yo doesn't have her school supplies yet, but I want them to start their work journals, so I may just have her write on a sheet of looseleaf and we'll put that in her work journal once she has her stuff. I just want them to get into the habit of putting the date at the very least.
So, what are my plans for Monday? Let me ramble... Get my kids ready for the day by 7:30. I'd like to read aloud to them in French before 8. At 8, we get together and they write in their work journals, we'll talk about what we'll be doing for this week, what we'll be doing Thursday when the other two start, get ideas from them for things they'd like to work on, etc. Of course, ds (not quite 5) won't do all of this, so perhaps I need to show him an activity before the morning meeting. I think I'll pick a PL activity for him--maybe cleaning the plant leaves or polishing the Lagostina pots.
Dd has been wanting to do a small report on ducks, so I think I will encourage her to work on that. I'd like to do a cursive lesson with both of them--they've already been told that we will be working on cursive a lot this year. I don't want to get started on the Great Lessons until the others are here, so I guess cultural presentations will wait until the week after, but they are, of course, free to study things that interest them. I could present the World Puzzle Map, though. I think I'll do that. Ds could do it with us.
I might start on math. Maybe I should just plan on doing math but if it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen. We are starting our year off with numeration--understanding place value, reading and writing numerals to at least 10 000, reading and writing number words to at least 10 000. I should make sure I have materials ready for that. Ds has been wanting to work with the Golden Beads but I've either lost or thrown away (I think it was damaged) the Decimal Tray. I'll have to take care of that. And a sequence of lessons or detailed made-up lessons so that I know exactly what I'm doing. I should technically practice it first, too.
All right, so this gives me a focus for this weekend: finalize my plans for next week, particularly Monday, get whatever materials ready that I need to and practise the lessons. Oh--can't forget to practise how to get the written part of the folders of lessons done. I think it's crucial that we get started with this right away.
As for the rest of Monday, focus on those routines: regroup and clean-up before lunch, put a table cloth and set the table for lunch, prayer before eating, silent reading after lunch. We're going on a small field trip (just us!) in the p.m. I still haven't figured out when I'm going to do the English read-aloud. More things to think about this weekend.
That's it for now.
Monday, August 15, 2005
A Gentle Start
I'm going to get started on some basic routines with the kids today and work at getting at least one lesson per day with each child. Since there are only 3 of them at the moment, I think it should work out okay.
I'm a little nervous about getting started with the folders of lessons described in Donna Bryant Goertz' book. I'm going to start this with the 9yo today. She really wants to get going on French reading and writing, we're going to get started with that today. She's not interested in doing the basic format of learning the sounds, then learn to read individual words, then move onto sentences... She wants to read books. So, I've made up a lesson with a very simple book we have from the library. We are going to read it together, then the specific lesson for today is to pick out all the words with 'an' in them and write them in her notebook. Follow-up work for 'an' will be to practise reading those words in the story and in her notebook, to find 'an' words in other books. Follow-up work for this book will be for us to re-read it on other days and do the same thing as above, but with different phonograms (on, ou, eu, etc.), as well as copying out some pages (the pages are all one sentence!) to work on remembering the spelling of French words.
With dd, I'm going to do some exchange work with the Golden Beads. We'd discussed doing this earlier this summer but we haven't done it. Now that things have calmed down, I think we should get to it.
Haven't decided what to do with ds today. I have some Lagostina pots which are becoming discoloured--I could bring out the stuff necessary to shine them up. If he doesn't want to do that, maybe work with the number rods. We haven't done those in a bit.
I'm a little nervous about getting started with the folders of lessons described in Donna Bryant Goertz' book. I'm going to start this with the 9yo today. She really wants to get going on French reading and writing, we're going to get started with that today. She's not interested in doing the basic format of learning the sounds, then learn to read individual words, then move onto sentences... She wants to read books. So, I've made up a lesson with a very simple book we have from the library. We are going to read it together, then the specific lesson for today is to pick out all the words with 'an' in them and write them in her notebook. Follow-up work for 'an' will be to practise reading those words in the story and in her notebook, to find 'an' words in other books. Follow-up work for this book will be for us to re-read it on other days and do the same thing as above, but with different phonograms (on, ou, eu, etc.), as well as copying out some pages (the pages are all one sentence!) to work on remembering the spelling of French words.
With dd, I'm going to do some exchange work with the Golden Beads. We'd discussed doing this earlier this summer but we haven't done it. Now that things have calmed down, I think we should get to it.
Haven't decided what to do with ds today. I have some Lagostina pots which are becoming discoloured--I could bring out the stuff necessary to shine them up. If he doesn't want to do that, maybe work with the number rods. We haven't done those in a bit.
Friday, August 12, 2005
Spontaneous Activity in Summer
One of Maria Montessori's big ideas was the focus on having the children have spontaneous activity and how, when properly prepared, this spontaneous activity was what spurred their development forward. I've been witness to this the past couple of weeks.
We have not yet resumed 'school' and an initial attempt at having a routine down, at least, went out the window with preparations for company and then their 3-day visit. That didn't stop the girls, 9 and almost 8, to still engage in spontaneous, purposeful activity other than play. I prepared some simple animal report sheets, which they couldn't help but use when they discovered them. Dd's been using a cursive practice placemat rather frequently. They've written down songs that they know by heart, practised recorder, played on the piano and just today, dd finished a story she found in a pile I had been going through. There is such joy and pleasure in these activities they spontaneously choose and which meet some inner need on their part.
I see how much many of the activities they have engaged in have been the result of some small lesson previously given or something suitable made available in the environment. It is a reminder to me to keep giving little lessons here and there and make sure there are new suitable things in the environment to capture their desire for work.
We have not yet resumed 'school' and an initial attempt at having a routine down, at least, went out the window with preparations for company and then their 3-day visit. That didn't stop the girls, 9 and almost 8, to still engage in spontaneous, purposeful activity other than play. I prepared some simple animal report sheets, which they couldn't help but use when they discovered them. Dd's been using a cursive practice placemat rather frequently. They've written down songs that they know by heart, practised recorder, played on the piano and just today, dd finished a story she found in a pile I had been going through. There is such joy and pleasure in these activities they spontaneously choose and which meet some inner need on their part.
I see how much many of the activities they have engaged in have been the result of some small lesson previously given or something suitable made available in the environment. It is a reminder to me to keep giving little lessons here and there and make sure there are new suitable things in the environment to capture their desire for work.
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