Another week just about done!

It's kind of funny: Last week was a "short" week due to Easter Monday, but it felt like 2 weeks long. This week has gone by so quickly, it's just one big blur in my mind!

My 5yo niece seems to have started a late-afternoon "school time". I found a few things for her that I put in a magazine holder (some old math workbooks my kids barely used, one of those little notebooks with the dotted middle line for beginning writers, etc.) and she has at least a couple of times this week pulled things out and done things. Yesterday, she did a few subtraction questions, then moved onto her little notebook. Wrote all kinds of things, then came up to me to show her cursive u!

Things are going a bit better with the 2yo, although she's at that emotional stage where the slightest thing creates heartbreak. :( The kids are learning to not yank things back from her, which seemed to have kind of thrown her off at first, but it's getting better and better. I'm being consistent at removing her from certain situations and she seems to be learning that she won't get to stay where she wants to be if she keeps hassling others.

The 15yo is slowly getting back into work. We're focusing on just his math and LA right now. He's started a novel study that I'm reading aloud to all of them, a book called Dare by an Albertan whose name I can't remember at the moment. (Marilyn something? Maybe?) We are really enjoying that and it's a nice change of pace because they can all do something crafty or whatever they're doing while I read and we discuss. I haven't done a read-aloud in so long, it reminds me that it's an element that's missing from our day.

Dd has been doing mostly Hanjie puzzles all week. Here's an example: http://www.hanjie.co.uk/colour-hanjie.php  We have a little book and only have one copy of it, so they've been photocopying so others can do the same. Dd even got dh in on them! lol. Then it spread to ds and eventually to the 15yo, who did his first one yesterday. They are fantastic for working on analytical and logical skills!

I guess school-wise, it's been rather relaxed in a way but that's not necessarily a bad thing. ;) Maybe school hasn't been relaxed as much as I've felt relaxed. ;D

Other than that, working on decluttering and organizing the house! It's actually been a focus for a couple of months now, but I've been doing even better this week. It's nice to see garbage and recycling bags fill up and get some order to certain perpetually disordered areas. Like ds's room. :D

Puzzling

Puzzles were the focus this past week. It started with dd being eager to finish a puzzle she'd started sometime ago, plus bringing out some easy puzzles for my nieces and bam, it became puzzle week with everyone involved!

My 2yo niece has been quite impressive: With minimal guiding, she was able to put together a 12-piece Caillou puzzle we have, where Caillou and his Mom are baking in the kitchen. (I need to remember to take pictures more often!) Friday, she put together--by herself--a 15-piece Max & Ruby puzzle. It was interesting to watch as she found pieces to put together, made mistakes (and my good little Montessorians didn't interfere, just watched), figured out she'd made a mistake and pulled off pieces to try again. Fascinating stuff to watch! She is VERY MUCH in the "me do" phase, but I didn't expect her to be so determined to do a puzzle herself!

I wonder if the puzzle focus will continue next week, or if next week will bring something new!

The Terrible 2s Have Hit

Wow. Man oh man. My 2yo niece has hit the terrible 2s full force. We're talking several meltdowns/tantrums PLUS hitting PLUS taking things from others--and that was just in the morning!

I tried to mentally step back from it all today and figure out what she needs from these experiences and how we can lessen her frustration. For one, I realized that when she steals something from others, they rip it back out of her hands. So, I addressed that with my son and 5yo niece, explaining that she doesn't understand, she just sees that they are taking things from her, so she's going to keep doing the same. We talked about how it was important to ask for it back and ask for my help if they weren't getting anywhere. Reasoning doesn't always work with a 2yo. (I had the sudden thought that I wonder if this is like Cesar Millan with his dog whispering: he is so patient, that for some problems, he's still waiting many minutes later. We can be so impatient and want our things back NOW, but it might be better for her if we could learn to patiently wait it out, with it clear that we aren't backing down, but aren't forcing her by ripping things out of her hands, either.) I'm sure this is going to have to be addressed frequently.

Other than that, I'm sure I'm not doing things the Montessori way, but one thing seems to already be helping: counter sitting. :D What is this? Well, if things are going poorly and she won't be redirected to something else--or I can feel I'm losing patience and don't want to take the potentially long time to get her redirected--I pick her up, bring her with me to the kitchen, plop her on the counter and work on cleaning. There's always something to clean in the kitchen. lol. I know Maria Montessori, with slightly older children, would kind of isolate them, and then treat them like they were sick, but this toddler's an interesting little character. I could see her acting up just so she could be treated like she was sick. lol. In any case, she ended up on the counter 3 times today, and the 3rd time, she calmed down quickly and said quietly, "Veux descendre, tante D." (Want down, Auntie D.) She proceeded downstairs, informed her sister she was not going to touch her things, she was just going to look, and things went very smoothly after that.

One more incident where she was trying to take things, or see things (couldn't figure it out), but the way my 5yo niece was behaving with the items, she was just making things worse--and not even playing with the items, just being possessive of them. I told her they were too problematic and she'd have to give them to me; she gave them, I took them and walked away. My 2yo niece piped down right away and there were no further problems.

Another trick that's working a bit: instead of plopping her somewhere with some things to do that she'd like or treating her like she's sick, I just pick her up and carry her around and talk with her. It might not fill whatever need or desire she had that was causing a problem, but it fills another need and helps her forget the first problematic one. ;)

So, the terrible 2s have hit, but remembering to step back and see what's what is definitely helping!

School's Back In Tomorrow!

It's been a weird Spring Break with the Easter weekend tacked onto the end. Everything has felt kind of rushed somehow, although my 4 days of just minding the kids has been good.

For tomorrow, I'm working on structuring things more. Already have some possible schedules worked out for "Bob"; need to get some stuff into place for my 2 and make a Would-Like-to-Present list for 5yo niece. I'm thinking this week of giving my 2 the blank work charts, as I've done in the past, or the "list charts" (for each subject, instead of a blank space to write things in, there is a list of ideas to circle or highlight as they're done) and just really focus on having them think of morning as work time, not play/chat/goof-around time. To get back to a really good flow, I need to include them all into some routines, like clean up and after-lunch silent reading--starting with 15 minutes. I should maybe make a chart and print it off so I don't have to remember this in the morning.

I've been doing fairly well with my journalling and it's really helping me get my thoughts together, as I knew it would. Some things I need to journal about: what will I present, how to fit in artsy and music stuff, how to make sure to give 5yo niece enough presentations.

Oh, supper beckons!

Spring Break

It's Spring Break! It's been weird for me because, for some reason, I keep thinking it's a day later than it is.

I had originally planned to have things somewhat scheduled, so that there'd be a routine to the day. Plans, as they so often do, changed. :) I had forgotten about ds's dentist appointment Monday morning, but remembered before the appointment, so there was that. Ran some errands while he was at his appointment, then we went to the museum in the afternoon. That took care of Monday.

Yesterday, we made a visit to the John Janzen Nature Centre, which took up part of our day. The idea was to make a walk in the woods to check out nature, but the path was still so full of icy snow that our focus was instead on making sure we didn't slip and fall! The kids, as usual, had fun inside checking out the tiger salamander and the snake and all the other things they have there. Then my 2 and I had our kung fu in the evening.

So, other than those activities, there hasn't been much going on. I've had some Easter colouring pages printed off and there's been, naturally lots of playing. Dd and I have been doing some crochet--she from a book she got at the library with simple ideas for kids; I've been working on Amigurumis. The patterns I have aren't turning out as small as I would like them to be. They're probably not supposed to be as small as I have in my mind that I want, but I want them smaller! :) I'm on my 2nd and think I'd be able to modify them to get them smaller.

Before leaving last night, my 5yo niece was kind of searching for something to do and I pulled out a box of body matching puzzles--2-piece puzzles where you match up the word with the body part. She wanted to do them, so we worked through them together. I had been looking for this little math workbook that I'd found that I thought she might enjoy doing the simple addition and subtraction, but we found the print practice workbook ( :( lol ) and she wanted to do that. I managed to find the math while she was working on c's and I asked if she wanted to keep working with the letters or switch to the math. She decided to switch to the math. Since we haven't done a whole lot of math work yet, I decided to simply use the bead frame (all of the results were 10 or under) because she likes the bead frame and it would be easy for her to use it to do the simple work. It was kind of like the snake game, but on paper, and not going above 10.

She probably ended up working close to an hour yesterday afternoon and was still going strong when her mom showed up. She kept going and I told her she could keep working on it in the morning, because her mom was waiting for her. lol. Her sister already had her shoes and coat on, and there was the 5yo at the table, still working on math (a different page--one where you have to do some math to figure out what colour a portion of the image needs to be coloured).

Naturally, it left me thinking that I don't do nearly enough with her. She is so ready and willing to do more. Of course, she's doing stuff now she won't do again in school until grade 1 (she's heading into kindergarten in the fall), but I'm thinking that since she'll be coming to me after school next year, I may just do some after-schooling with her to keep this kind of thing going. But I'm getting ahead of myself, as usual. For right now, I need to really figure out a plan for our school weeks so that she gets more from me! When I think of just her, the plan is easy. But it's not so easy given there are 4 or 5 others in the house on any given day. 4 or 5 others at completely different levels and doing completely different things. Maria Montessori never wrote about how to have toddlers all the way through high schoolers in one room. ;)

A Plan C

I forgot to share the Plan C that showed up yesterday: Have your 2yo watch your 5yo use the sandpaper letters, then the 2yo can show the 9yo. Here was what happened:

This week, my 5yo niece made a point of "showing" her 2yo sister how to do some of the sandpaper letters. I'm not sure that the 2yo ever tried to trace them. In any case, their 9yo brother was here yesterday, we were all watching a movie when the 2yo suddenly goes and grabs some of the sandpaper letters. She sits herself down on one of the sofas and I see that she's doing something, then tossing the letter on the ground. I go to pick the tossed ones up and to tell her to put them in a pile next to her when I see that she has her brother's index finger firmly in her hand. Then she is having HIS index finger slide across the sandpaper letters. He didn't say a word, just let her do it. LOL.

Who knew

that cursive would be such a hot topic? :D

I think it's great that so many people are thinking about bringing cursive into their children's lives. I don't understand those who have gotten judgemental and bashing people for using cursive or not. There is nothing written anywhere that says we are "bad people" for doing one or the other!!

In any case, the most recent questions have been:

• How do I make the transition?
• How will my child recognise print?

The transition will depend a bit on the age of your child. If they are under 6, I'd strongly encourage you to make a set of cursive sandpaper letters. If they already know some print sandpaper letters, start with 2 or 3 of them and give them 3-period lessons on matching the print with the cursive. Pick VERY distinguishable, easy, letters to begin with. It would not be fair to start with l and e together! I'd say, as part of the lesson, trace the letter yourself before you match it with the print. And I'd also say do not trace the print anymore. 

If your children are over 6, some sort of hands-on aspect would be very good, although you could probably do with just matching letter cards. The sandpaper isn't necessary. As for learning the letters, just like a typical Montessori presentation, start with just a few. But because the child is over 6, the sensory aspect isn't usually quite as necessary. What is very helpful is to provide light letters to trace over. Let them do it as long as they want! In school, I remember being rather rushed to transition from tracing, to dotted to just doing the letters within the lines. It was too much too fast and my poor natural lefty self, writing with my right hand, had horrible, horrible handwriting. My handwriting improved dramatically years later when a friend, who had beautiful cursive, wrote out the alphabet for me on a sheet of looseleaf and I instinctively traced and traced and traced, tried on my own, and went back and traced when I wasn't satisfied.

I just recently purchased a program called StartWrite. It lets you make worksheets choosing from a bunch of different fonts--including different cursive fonts, change the size, decide if you want lines--including the middle dotted line, etc. My one complaint is most of the cursive fonts don't have all of the letters starting on the line, and the one that does start on the line is an "icky" font. (That just means I don't like it. lol) I actually take a pencil and draw the leading line.

Another program out there is Schoolhouse Fonts, which has a very nice D'Nealian cursive font that DOES start on the line, but I liked the greater number of options with StartWrite and decided to go with that instead. Of course, there are others, too, depending on what you want: http://www.educationalfontware.com/  and http://www.downhillpublishing.com/fonts4teachers.cfm are a couple of others.

---

As for "How will my child recognise print?"

First of all, print is EVERYWHERE. They see it all the time. They will therefore absorb it.

Secondly, if you know the cursive letters, it is rather easy to pick out the print letters that correspond. The reverse is NOT true--you can not "see" the cursive letter in the print letter. 

Third, because of the first and second points, children probably don't need any adult interference in learning to read print. From Maria Montessori's "The Montessori Method":

Seeing these surprising results, I had already thought of testing the children with print, and had suggested that the directress print the word under the written word upon a number of slips. But the children forestalled us! There was in the hall a calendar upon which many of the words were printed in clear type, while others were done in Gothic characters. In their mania for reading the children began to look at this calendar, and, to my inexpressible amazement, read not only the print, but the Gothic script.

 So, here she thought she would get them to do something new (up to this point, Maria and the directress had been providing little slips of paper with words in cursive on them for reading practice) and discovered that the children already knew how to read print and Gothic!!! This ease of transition is why you don't ever learn about lessons designed by Maria Montessori herself to teach children how to read print: they've already figured it out once they've mastered the cursive and idea of reading.

If, by some chance, your child is still confused after quite a while, then you simply have to provide specific lessons on letters and maybe words. I think you'll find, though, that you need to give your child much more credit. I think of my son, who reads amazingly well in English, even though he has really only followed along in books I read to him in French. AFTER age 6, I might add. Our children are amazing if we don't spend too much time trying to mould them according to the pre-determined notions that are pervasive in our society.

Another thought on cursive

The one question that comes up so much is, "What's the point? With everybody using computers today, what's the point of writing in cursive?"

You know, it hit me this morning that this is reminiscent of what our provincial government wanted to do some 10-15 years ago: remove music, art and phys. ed. from the schools. Their reasoning: What's the point? Most of the students were not going to be musicians, artists nor athletes, so why have those courses? The truly talented will learn on their own, be part of teams or take private lessons. Yadda yadda yadda.

"What's the point?" is narrow-minded thinking. It seeks to restrict, instead of to enlarge and grow. It tackles an issue as though there's no point in doing something unless there is an overwhelming reason to do so, especially if it is going to be part of our jobs as adults.

The question forgets that self-mastery and exploration and growth can be the point.

It forgets that joy and fun can be the point.

It forgets that artistry and so much more can be the point.

And so, perhaps the best answer to "What's the point?" is not all of the benefits that I've listed in previous messages, but, "What's your point?" :D

Cursive - Plan B

"Oh no! I started with print! It's all lost."
"My child started using print on his own. Now what do I do?"
"My child is 10 years old. Is it too late?"

I like to say: It's never too late! :D Anybody who thinks "it's all lost because I started Montessori/cursive/whatever too late" is very likely a perfectionist and might consider doing some soul searching. ;)

If your child has started with print for whatever reason, you may not be able to have them switch to cursive for their day-to-day writing, but that doesn't mean they can't benefit from cursive. Let me share some examples from my own life that might encourage you in your own Plan B.

My daughter started writing letters at age 3, before I knew anything about Montessori. It was too late, obviously, to start with cursive. When I first learned about Montessori a year later, I promptly made sandpaper letters with Elizabeth Hainstock's print template. Again, more print. When I started learning about cursive and how Montessori ought to always have cursive and all of the benefits, I decided that cursive was a non-negotiable item. I made cursive sandpaper letters and word cards and not sure what else, and we played games with them. Over the years, I also made worksheets and dd chose a cursive workbook (A Beka--which, btw, offers cursive starting in Pre-K) and so on. Basically, while I made cursive a requirement, I provided different opportunities to choose from for the practice.

My daughter is now 12 and when she writes, unless she has an aesthetic reason for using cursive, she will write in print. But let me say this:

1) Her cursive is better than her printing. Part of it is that she's more attentive to the cursive since it's not completely second nature. The other part of it is attentiveness because she does want it to look nice when she uses it. She complains that it takes longer than printing, but when brought to the fact it looks nicer, she's satisfied. But has no desire to switch to using it all the time. ;)

2) She can write and read in cursive. Which is good, because I pretty much only write in cursive. She has to be able to read it! (Her grandparents also write in cursive in her birthday cards--another reason to be able to read it!)

3) She may never switch completely to cursive, and that's okay. Yes, my heart would love for her to use cursive as her modus operandi, but she can write in beautiful cursive, can read cursive, does use cursive for certain purposes, so I have nothing I can justifyingly (sure, it's a word) complain about.

How did I do this?

She was under 6 still when I learned about cursive first. It is still a very, very good age to learn cursive. It was quite easy and making games out of learning the letters went a long way. What kinds of games? Matching games with the print sandpaper letters, "hiding" letters in various places and playing I Spy, practising a couple of letters and then writing on my back and seeing if I could figure out what she did (and vice versa--I'd write on her back), things like that. I did not insist that she write what she wanted to in cursive, the way we were forced to in school, so she stayed with what was easier for her.

My son is another example. He's 9 and not much of a writer at all yet. Technically, he's "too old" for cursive to become a permanent switch (up to age 8 seems to work; after that, much harder), but since he has spent very little time printing--his printing looks like someone much younger--I just don't know.  Also, while he hasn't used cursive much, he was presented it when much younger and still had some practice with it now and then, so the roots are there, just not enough practice. Actually, I've only ever presented cursive to him; he's done the print on his own. And yes, his cursive is better than his printing! Now that things are settling around here at home, I have already begun doing what I did with my 12yo (and am doing again with my 12yo): providing different means of practising cursive, but making working on it a non-negotiable. Yes, Maria Montessori might be unhappy with me. I'm okay with that. I have, I will add, also printed off things for my own practice and have been just using blank sheets to work on cursive, telling the kids my handwriting has gone downhill (which it has) and I want to improve it. My son seems to think it's neat that I'm doing that and that we can work on cursive together side-by-side. I think it also gives the message that cursive isn't just work for kids!

How about an older example? Bob started with me when he was 9. Had horrible printing. Had never been shown cursive. I think around the time he turned 10, he actually asked about cursive and I started him on it, knowing full well that the chances were that he would never, ever switch. Know what? He learned it fairly well and his printing improved in the short time he was interested in working on it. Hmm... So yes, cursive has benefits for the older child, too! His handwriting has gone downhill a bit and he has decided he definitely wants to work on improving his printing. I told him the best way was to go back to trying cursive again, because his brain would treat it as something "new" and would be more attentive, and the habits learned from the cursive would switch over to his printing. So, today, he started on cursive. :) Would he ever switch to just cursive? Probably not. He's 15 now and only looking now to possibly actually master cursive. But that's not the point. He will be doing something very valuable, requiring attentiveness, attention to detail, which will transfer to his printing, and in the process, he will be learning to read cursive, which is also an important skill.

I have now decided to work concertedly on my 5yo niece with this. Although I only ever really showed her the cursive sandpaper letters, she writes in print. Not sure if that's what she does at home with her parents or what. She can trace most of the letters well and knows almost all of them by sound and name, but can't seem to make the connection yet between following the same movements on paper or on a chalkboard. So, I'm going to start playing some games, like air writing--you trace the letter without actually touching it, then you try to trace it in the air without the letter right there. You start with easy letters, like l and e and n. She has begun reading every so slightly and so, for a pack of alphabet cards I have (image on one side, French word on the back--in print, of course), I wrote up a few cursive cards to match yesterday. Today, she asked if we could do like yesterday, where I wrote the cursive on a card and she could put it on the card. :) We did quite a bit today, 3 cards at a time, and now there are fewer cursive cards to make. lol. (I just used blank business cards, if you're wondering what kind of card I used.)

She will be in the regular school system in the fall, where I'm not sure if they really spend any time on cursive, (and they certainly don't in Kindergarten). Haven't seen any evidence of it in my nephew, who is in grade 4. So, it might fall away for her. But she'll at least have had what little I could give her and I've told her she'll probably be the only one who will already know what cursive letters are and she is so lucky.

Although, since she'll be coming here after school, maybe it won't fall away too much--I'll be the only place offering her the "pretty" letters. ;)

Cursive, part 2

So, to continue my thoughts on cursive.


John Holt was a big proponent of print only. Part of his reasoning was due to having done a "test" with some boys, where they compared the speed and legibility of printing vs. cursive. He was convinced cursive would win. It didn't pan out. As much as I dearly love so much of what John Holt aimed to teach people, this was one thing I had an issue with from the very beginning: all of those children had learned to print first, as had he. They were far more experienced with it and it being the first way they were taught how to write, it's hard to say how long it would take for cursive to be more natural and swift.

Think about it: If you incorrectly learn how to read notes on sheet music and spend 4 years playing everything incorrectly, then you start learning the correct way, how easily are you going to correctly play the songs you already know by heart? How long will it take you to learn to play it a different way?



Some more evidence for cursive first or only:

More and more of those involved with special education are calling for the use of cursive--and not just with special education students. There are no letter confusions in cursive like with print. 'b' and 'd' are very distinct, as are 'p' and 'q'. Many children without learning difficulties struggle with b and d in particular. They learn it's a stick and a ball, but then can't remember which side of the stick the ball goes on.

Many children with learning disabilities having visual processing and sequencing issues, so print is found to be harder for them. As it should be. Traditional cursive all starts on the bottom and moves on from there, ending so the next letter can be written. Print letters start all over the place, which requires an ability to correctly judge open space and control hand movements to keep the letter the necessary size. And because the letters all start from a different place, there are more sequences to remember. Really, this doesn't just apply to those with LD since a young child learning to write has the same issues! Add to the letter spacing: word spacing. Kids starting writing or who have LD already have an issue with spacing, and word spacing is even more complicated. With cursive, the entire word is linked and the spacing is obvious from one word to the next--you lift the pencil, leave a space and start your new word. Even if the spacing and sizing within a word are inconsistent, the words are obvious. In contrast, with print words, sure, you lift your pencil and leave a space, just like for cursive, but you have to do that with every letter within the word and it's not always so obvious! And many kids don't like the "finger trick" where they put a finger from the other hand down in between writing words.



Why else should our kids be learning cursive early?

Recent research has shown that it activates the brain better, which is interesting since the research shows fewer hand muscles involved and print is clearly less demanding in some ways than cursive. Because it's not so "linear" in style as print, cursive tends to activate both the left and right side of the brain better than print.


There are many historical documents, even things written by hand not less than 20 years ago, written in cursive that a child who can't read cursive will grow up not knowing how to read. Not to mention, despite the common belief that nobody uses cursive nowadays, plenty of people DO use cursive and will be at a severe disadvantage if they find themselves working for someone who writes messages in cursive or has a college prof who writes notes on the board in cursive. "Yes, but that's reading." True, but if they start with cursive, they will already know how to read both cursive and print. Which leads us to necessary questions:

*If learning to write in cursive (first or only) means your child can:
--read print and cursive
--won't have to switch handwriting later on
--means you'll be able to read everyone's writing (well, as long as it's legible ;) )
--prevents certain problems
--benefits the brain
--and is lovely ;) (okay, I just had to add that)

AND
--it's more natural to start with cursive
--your child will still be able to print forms later on (they will have seen so much print and have better developed fine motor skills, so writing in print won't be a big deal)

then why wouldn't you start with cursive? :D


I could go on and on, but I won't. Instead, I will leave you with some links so you can check it out more yourself, if you wish:

http://www.donpotter.net/PDF/Cursive%20First.pdf
http://www.practical-parent.com/home/2010/1/29/cursive-and-brain-science.html
http://www.helium.com/items/1697736-cursive-handwriting
http://www.swrtraining.com/id17.html
http://www.nathhan.com/mcinnis.htm

http://www.peterson-handwriting.com/Publications/PDF_versions/AdvantageCursiveRef.pdf (I think this might be part of one of the other links.)

Yes, Cursive First or Only Cursive--Part 1

The question of whether to make certain Montessori language materials in print or cursive comes up rather often on the lists I'm on. I may have brought it up here in the past, but it's worthy of being brought up again!

Montessori traditionally formally only presented cursive to the children, starting with the cursive sandpaper letters, then the cursive movable alphabet, and there are photos showing other handmade materials, such as the grammar boxes, being done in cursive. This was a deliberate act on Maria Montessori's part. And with all the modern research backing her up, it ought, imo, be a deliberate act on the part of others!

"But why? We don't need cursive anymore."

To be honest, we didn't need to know how to print in the first place. People wrote only in cursive for a long time. Print was introduced because somebody thought that print would be easier to learn first since it wasn't all curly, and it would make it easier to learn to read.

They were wrong.

Maria Montessori discovered in her early years working with children, before what would be termed the beginning of the Montessori Method, that children naturally write in curls and loops. Anybody who has had toddlers and preschoolers around them has undoubtedly seen the loopy drawings and "writing". It's much easier for the hand to do loops. I have even read that it requires less muscle involvement to do loops than to force your hand to make straight vertical and horizontal lines! Cursive is therefore much more natural for the hand, especially a young child's.

So, with this observation made, she decided in her first actual classroom that the children ought to have a material with which to learn cursive. Unable to have manufactured what she wanted (a grooved wooden piece), she and an assistant decided to use sandpaper, and the first sandpaper letters were made, by hand, and presented to the children. After a while, she and her helper cut out large cursive paper letters so the children could build words with them. They learned to write in beautiful cursive, read in cursive and she discovered that once the reading idea clicked, they could also read the same words in other writing styles, including print. There was *no* issue in learning to read non-cursive.

With this being the case, why oh why are we having children spend K-2 or even K-3 struggling to make nice straight lines in their writing, only to introduce at that point (if introduced at all) to cursive, which would, after 4 years of print, feel unnatural? Why would we have them only deal with print for 4 years, both in reading and writing, and then have to train them to read cursive when they could have started with it and done just fine right from the beginning? Does it make any sense at all?

We complain so much of people's handwriting these days, but what if people had started with cursive, did cursive for 4 years, and then kept using cursive for writing? Wouldn't 7 years of cursive before entering jr. high be more likely to produce nicer writing than 4 years of print and then mix in some cursive for a few years?

I have more to say, but it will have to wait until the next post.

Continuation of previous post

Someone left the following in the comments, but she had her email address in it and I wanted to avoid it being stolen by spam programs! So, here's her comment:

I'm having such a hard time with this "child freedom to choose his own work and rhythm". I began using the Montessori method with my 8 yo this semester. I love it, he loves it but I feel that he needs to do everything quickly enough so he could catch up. We began with the 6-9 curriculum. He's a very smart kid but extremely lazy. If I don't pressure him he would play all day long. We usually plan goals for the week that include almost every subject. I "let" him choose but end up convincing him to do a little from every subject. As days go by I start getting anxious by all the work he needs to complete. And, of course, I end up telling him what he need to do to met the goal. I know I'm doing it all wrong but don't know how to change this. I would love to hear from you soon.

My response:

There is a difference between pressuring and putting limits or providing a structure. Saying, "Mornings are work-time" is a limit. Yes, someone could claim it's coercion, but we're not talking about unschooling here! Think of it more as "freedom within limits".

*You are free to choose any math work you want.
*You are free to ask me to show you something.
*You are free to help me with my own projects or to ask help for your projects.
*Etc.

*You are NOT free to go play with Lego.
*You are NOT free to go play outside.
*You are NOT free, etc.

If you have a look in "The Montessori Method" (the book), somewhere near the end, there is a schedule of the opening days of the Montessori preschools. They were very structured and routine. As days progressed and students became more self-directed, the schedule kind of disappeared a bit (although some basics would stay, like lunch, of course!) because it was no longer needed. But the non-self-directed child DOES need some structure, some routine, and so the beginning of a year usually starts very structured.

I have found in my home that I periodically need to "start over". It's not just that the schedule has fallen apart, the work has fallen apart, too. And to be honest, I still have not been able to get my 9yo son to work consistently; part of that is my own lack of consistency, part of it is who he is--while my daughter could work three-hour mornings at that age, I think he might go crazy LOL. We're working on building it up. Back to my point, when things start falling apart, I either rewrite an old schedule/routine or I make up a completely new one and we start over. In a classroom, the rhythm of the sheer number of students helps pull back "into line" those who may be waning. At home, there's a bit more of a concerted effort.

At 8, your son is probably very capable of sitting down with you, discussing the issue with you ("It's important to work on improving skills and so we must have a work time. I'll be working, too. What kinds of things would you like to do during work time? Here are some of my ideas. Etc."). Know that you will probably have to do a lot of presentations/showing him things at first, inviting him to come do something with you, or giving him a choice between, say, a science lesson or a language lesson. Provide limits!

Some people like to have more limits than Montessori would insist on and have their children/students have a certain requirement each week: 5 language works need to be done, 3 science works, 4 math works, etc. One thing that can be helpful is using a chart or a journal for tracking what's being done. With a chart, you or he can just write in a little something about what was done or even just put a checkmark. The next morning, you can have a look at how much got done or what got done. If a child doesn't have any particular passion at the moment, then they can be guided into, "I notice you haven't done any math at all this week. Do you want to work on something you've already done or would you like me to give you a lesson on something new?" Some schools use a journal system, where the child writes down the time he starts working on something, a very brief description of the work, then when he's done, he writes the time he finished.


The best thing you could do for yourself is to let go. :) Goals do NOT have to be met. I had a goal of improving my German to a point to spend a year in Germany after university. I then started seeing my husband and we got married right out of university. I didn't fail at my goal; my goals changed. There's nothing wrong with that.

Try to hold your tongue on the convincing; try to kick out any thought of "he's behind." He's not behind. God has not written something somewhere saying that this Montessori work or that knowledge needs to be known by Friday! It's our own fears that cause us to try to convince our kids that more has to be done, that it has to be done more quickly, etc. Maria Montessori knew this and one of the things she insisted on was that teachers constantly work on inner preparation, to be aware of the things *inside themselves* that would get in the way of the child's development.

If you want to think of it in another way, if you want your son to learn to be self-directed, he needs you to learn to let go more. The more you decide, the less he does.

Create some reminders for yourself. Start your day seeing yourself respond exactly as you would like to respond to him. Remind yourself that it's not the end of the world if he doesn't get as much math done this week, or even this year, as you would like. Remind yourself that Montessori elementaries were originally 6-12, not 6-9, and so there is lots of time to cover everything. Remind yourself that not everything needs to be covered. The goal is to have children who love learning, know how to learn and can do it independently, right? The Montessori curriculum is the means of doing that, not the end in itself.

hth,

D.

The Freedom to Choose

I just had an a-ha moment while responding to a post in a Montessori homeschooling group.

A child's freedom to choose his activity can be thwarted by our own desires.

But I don't just mean by us actually stopping a child from doing this or that, saying things like, "You can't do that," or "You need to do this now."

Even our very unspoken desires can affect the child's freedom. How? 

Children can so very often sense what we are feeling, what we want. If we are really trying to convince a child, encourage a child in a specific direction, really hoping that they'll do xyz, this is, at its heart, a form of coercion. We are wanting to control the child's benign activities.

The Montessori philosophy allows the child to choose *whatever is good*. So, disturbing others is not an acceptable choice; doing any type of available work is.

If a child is choosing only math for an entire week, and we start worrying and trying to "get him" to do something else, he may either do so to please us, or he may reject our attempts and keep doing what he's doing, not necessarily because he wants to keep doing math, but because he wants to resist being controlled. Either way, he is not acting out of freedom.

Freedom is not attached to someone else's emotions. Freedom is never expressed through rebellion. Freedom is unfettered.

I admit it, I am wholly guilty of trying to get my children to work on certain things or of trying to encourage them to do other things. In the end, time and time again, I have seen that having no expectations on my part and simply offering different activities (and, of course, doing things myself), giving them the freedom to engage in them or not without any pleasure or displeasure on my part regardless of what they choose, is the most pleasing and satisfying way. For EVERYBODY. They are happy because they know they won't make me unhappy and they are choosing something they find satisfying. I am happy because my happiness isn't tied to what they choose and they are happy.

When will I finally learn and stop regressing to trying to coerce my children into doing certain things? Maybe never. ;) But, as FlyLady says, "Progress, not perfection." As long as I keep working towards truly allowing my kids to choose their work, to be a guide instead of a coercer, I will make progress. And so will they.

Two posts in a week!

It's practically a miracle! ;)

So, my prediction about my son doing the typing didn't pan out, but we have had a couple of weird days. Or rather, just days focused more on helping Bob get some of his work done and submitted. Then we were out all afternoon yesterday, had kung fu in the evening--where dd somehow got knocked, she slipped backwards and ending up hitting her head on the hard floor. Of course, my mind thinking of Natasha Richardson and how what seemed to be a nothing thing ended up in her death, I got home and looked up all kinds of things about concussions and what to do. Kept her awake for a couple of hours and other than a very mild headache, she was fine. Phew.

Today, hm, well, I'm tired and can't remember. I have decided that I need to get back into journalling. My "Montessori progress" was so much better when I took the time at the end of each day to reflect on the day, the good points, the bad points, thoughts, feelings, what I'd like to do differently, etc. I haven't been doing any homeschool-inspiring reading (Montessori or other) and would like to take that up again. Things are going reasonably well, but I'd like them to be even better! I especially want to be more consistent with my 5yo niece--she's so capable and loves learning. Might as well take advantage of it while I've got her with me! (She's heading off to full-time kindergarten in the fall. *sniff sniff*)

I remember something from today: My 2yo niece, in Planet Organic. She was tired and wanted to cling only to me, but it wasn't practical as I had things in my hands and she was okay for a while about holding someone else's hand, but then, bam. She just stood there and did a sort of faux whiny thing towards me. I knew part of her was concerned about the strangers around; at the same time, she'd turn her back on any of the kids who went to offer their hands. I left her there, going up and down aisles with somebody always watching her. She didn't cry, nothing. Just stood there. For at least 5-10 minutes. I thought for sure she'd come, but she didn't! I ended up going behind her to nudge her forward, and I thought she'd seen me, but she must have been so hyper focused on the spot in front of her, I ended up scaring her a bit and that's when she ended up crying. *sigh* Poor thing! The whole time, I was trying to figure out what the best thing to do with her would be. And yes, the thought of, "What would Maria Montessori recommend?" I had interpreted her initial actions as a stubborn 2yo wanting things her way, but I'm not so sure anymore. Ah well. She just stared at me during the ride home--until she fell asleep, that is. After her nap, all seemed to have been forgiven. Good thing toddlers bounce back quickly. ;)

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.

---

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.

The Countdown Has Begun

7 days until school starts. Well, for my 2, anyhow. I don't have my year plans figured out. I don't have next week's plans finalized. Still trying to spend time on Choice Theory stuff.

I did get started with dd on her German today (her decision). Poor girl is way too much like I was at that age: she expects to know and understand right away and feels horrible if she doesn't. :( I told her that the books weren't designed for her to do on her own, but, in her tiredness (I woke her up at 7:30 this morning, mean Mom that I am ;) ), she then saw that as an indication of her not being able to learn German this year because I'll "never have the time to do it" with her. She really wants to learn German and really wants to feel like she's learned a lot in general by the end of the school year and, admittedly, there are a lot of other forces (aka kids, and sometimes dh ;) ) around that interrupt time we take together. Making sure she gets time from me during the day, as well as possibly after supper for something like German, where it's far easier with less activity going on around, is going to have to be a focus. She's not the type to demand my attention and I think she's kind of ended up in the shadows the past couple years during our school time.

I also placed an order for Joy Hakim's "The Story of Science: Aristotle Leads the Way", "The Kingfisher History Encyclopedia" (thank you for the recommendation, Lisia! :) ), "Language of Choice Theory" and, for myself, "How It All Vegan" from which a delicious hummus recipe was passed along to me. I've had the book out from the library before and decided that it's high time I bought myself a good vegan cookbook to help me along my want-to-be-vegan path. The order was placed this morning, I think, or maybe last night, and I've already received notice that it's been sent! Gotta love when everything is in stock. :)

I joined a fan page for Maria Montessori in Facebook today. There was a link in there to an article written by John Snyder from Austin Montessori. John is on one of my Montessori lists and of all the people there, except perhaps Lakshmi Kripalani, who studied under Maria Montessori herself, there's no one else on the list who seems to embody Montessori as much as he does. In any case (sorry, I feel very disjointed to night and am sure my writing is, too), that reminded me of his school and I ended up at the website, looking over the early adolescent program they have. It reminded me that the environment at this age (or almost this age--she's not yet 12, so I always wonder, do I consider her in the 9-12 group still? or are her needs those of the 12-15? hm...) is still important. Checking in with the school's website also reminded me that it was Donna Bryant Goertz who got the school going, another amazing Montessorian. I think I'd like to reread her book "Children Who Are Not Yet Peaceful". It's such an amazing book, really gives a sense of the Montessori philosophy, even though its focus is on how Montessori can be used with those who are not the "peaceful" Montessori student. A definite recommended read!

Good thing for advanced planning

I got dd's German texts last Thurs. or Fri. and decided to start going through them today to do a bit of planning. Ds's texts are easy enough for me to work with without a teacher's guide. I just discovered that dd's texts will be a little harder. *sigh* I've ordered the teacher's guide, but they don't expect it until the middle of September. That's okay, I guess. We'll do what we can without them.

OooOOh! A great science book list

http://www.pennygardner.com/sciencebks.html

At some point, I'm going to have to stop finding resources and actually figure out what I'm doing!

Science!

I may have found a main resource for our science studies this year: Joy Hakim's Story of Science series. I think it'll give a starting point for science exploration. I need to have experiment and research components, too. I have some TOPS science somewhere that we've never used.

I feel the need for a PLAN, though. Hm, gotta still work on that.