Puzzles

Jane (age 2) has been doing puzzles for a long time now, and has mastered all the wooden knobbed puzzles we have. Now, she is challenging herself on my newest purchase...the puzzle map of Europe. If anyone reading this blog hasn't tried to do a puzzle of Europe, at least try to picture the continent, and all those tiny little countries in the Eastern part...very challenging as a puzzle. Especially since when we opened the box it came in, the pieces were all out of place. Needless to say, I have been quickly learning the countries and where they are- I didn't know them very well. But Jane is fascinated with it, and just sees it as an extension of the wooden puzzles she knows.

I wouldn't ordinarily have let her use it, but my training class has taught me (and also knowing Jane) that it's ok to let the youngest children in the class (and they start at 2.5 in some preschools) touch EVERYTHING in the class. They also don't start with every material on the shelves, but gradually add the more challenging things (and things with smaller pieces) as the year goes on. The only conditions are that the children don't hurt themselves, others, or the environment.

Jane is definitely not hurting the puzzle, and it is also holding her interest for a long time. She is learning where all the little pieces fit in, and when she is old enough (maybe not for 2-3 years) she can learn the names if she wants to. Right now she's happy, and I'm happy.

Oh, and one more thing. The Olympics being on has been the perfect time to introduce the countries of Europe. A lot of the European countries are competing, and it's been fun to hear their names on television. The kids know how to say and read a lot of the countries, and decide to root for one or the other of them. I'm enjoying it much more (with the kids) than I have in the past just watching the Olympics. I think the map has helped me, too!

Why the breakfast dishes don't get done (or...Why I should teach the kids to wash dishes!)

The kitchen is still messy after breakfast, and we finished eating about 2 hours ago. How does that happen?? This has been a somewhat slow morning, since we don't have to go anywhere and two kids are sick with colds, but still! I am generally not done with the kitchen until probably 9:30 on a good day.

Here's my explanation: we're homeschooling, and the schooling is a day-long affair. We don't have a set school time anymore, we're doing what I will call "Montessori unschooling". And the kids are (mostly) doing very well. But it's why the dishes take forever to get done. The lessons (teaching) and assistance (help) and all those school-y things start happening as soon as the kids wake up in the morning. Along with the typical "get ready for the day" things. Here are the things that I (and a lot of other mothers!) do on a typical morning that interferes with the kitchen getting completely clean before mid-morning...and the things in bold are the extra things I did this morning:
shower, get dressed
start load of laundry
help 2yo get dressed
do hair of 2 girls
make breakfast and set table (sometimes kids help with these)
WIPE RUNNY NOSES
STAND CLOSE BY WHILE 2YO INSISTS ON WIPING HER OWN NOSE (after a lesson)
start emptying dishwasher
plan what's for dinner at same time, run to basement to bring up something from freezer
change load of laundry while down there
check on someone who's been quietly not getting ready for the day...
wipe someone's bottom
finish emptying dishwasher
GET OUT TWO BOWLS AND LABEL THEM WITH THE GIRLS' NAMES, PUT A WET CLOTH IN EACH SO THEY CAN KEEP THEIR COLD GERMS TO THEMSELVES WHILE WIPING UP AFTER MEALS AND WIPING DRIED BOOGERS OFF THEIR CHEEKS.
Help 2yo start brushing teeth
start loading dishwasher while she brushes
help 4yo get toothpaste on toothbrush (she needs repeated lessons on this...)
make my bed and straighten up room and hallway while upstairs
brush my teeth
go back to dishwasher
help 2yo put away toothbrush and paste
get 6yo started on writing project, because he's wandered into the kitchen after finishing his
morning chart, and it's the perfect chance to work with him
remind 2yo to use potty
get toilet paper and re-fill her basket of pre-rolled wads of toilet paper
do 4yo's hair, because she's finally done with breakfast
wipe down kitchen table and counters
help 2yo get started with Memory game, and end up playing 2 rounds because I haven't done
anything fun with her yet and she's begging! And she's getting pretty darn good at Memory!
bring up more Memory cards because the old cards are getting, well, old.
clean sink and run garbage disposal- finally done!

Well, that's what I remember doing. There were probably a few more things in there. On at least 2 mornings a week I throw in packing lunches for all of us, because we're out and about at lunchtime. And who know's what else?

This isn't really a school-y post, but I started out here and I'm not up to changing it right now. Off to watch the Olympics!

Update

Sorry I haven't posted in so long! We haven't been doing actual "school time" for quite a while now. We started out very structured in the fall, and the kids were resistant. Nobody was coming over to "do school" and it was a little too forced. While I had new things out on the shelves frequently, the kids wanted to do them on their own time, and not be told when it was "school time". So, I revamped the schedule. And here is an overview of how we're doing things now.

In the morning, the two big kids have a "morning chart" which includes the usual morning toileting activities, along with a "morning job" like dust-busting under the kitchen table or dusting or other small chores. Morning jobs switch every few weeks, depending on the interest level. Also included are some school activities, writing practice for both kids and fine motor skill practice (dubbed "finger work" on the chart) because he doesn't generally choose those activities on his own. I change around the chart requirements based on how I think the kids are doing, and this works fairly well. It takes a while for them to get "ready for the day" and be able to play, but then they have the rest of the morning as free time.

This free time, though, generally includes some schoolish activities. Gene will run, dive and jump around our house for while playing the sport of the season, and then choose to read or play a game. Lucy does lots of art projects (cutting, drawing, gluing), and both girls like to build block structures. Lucy also chooses to do the ABC game (i.e. starfall.com) and is allowed to do it twice a day for 15 minutes at a time. This has greatly improved her phonics and reading skills!

A few days a week in the morning we have planned activities- gymnastics for Lucy, Atrium (Catechesis of the Good Shepherd) for Gene and Lucy, and we get together twice a month with cousins for a "kid-swap" so one of the moms can do errands.

In the afternoons, we still have an enforced nap/rest time for all the kids, but before each of them gets settled in I read with them. I read two short books to Jane (her favorites now are Caps for Sale and The Little Fur Family...moving on to the level above basic board books:)) and she is now starting to memorize some of the words-in the stage where I can pause at the end of a line and she fills in the word. So fun! Lucy is really starting to read, and I read two books with her- one that is a few levels above her reading level, so she just listens, and the other that is right where she is...we take turns reading pages or lines. She's on all the beginner reading books- today we read Green Eggs and Ham, and she knew 99 percent of the words! Then I move over to Gene's room and read a chapter of the latest book. We just finished as far as we're going in the Little House series, and now we're starting Mrs Piggle Wiggle. He can read these books by himself, but he tends to comprehend a little better if I read to him, since I'm pretty sure he skips over hard words and hence misses some of the story.

During rest time, Gene plays various games or reads, and Lucy has Montessori school work in her room. I could give some to Gene, but he REALLY wants to play and read, and since that isn't exactly harming his intellect, I can't say no. I do want to put some shelves in his room and at least give him the option of doing Montessori, but it would clutter up his floor too much right now.

After rest time, we don't have any scheduled activities. The kids have snack, and I've started requiring Gene to pay for his snack. I give him a certain amount of money every week, and then he can choose what he'd like for snack and pay for it. I did this for two reasons- he was old enough to have more choice about his food (usually I lay out all the snack before rest time is over, and that's the only option), and I wanted him to learn about budgeting money. And money in general. He's been interested for a while, but didn't know even the names of coins. So we're doing lots with money now. On Mondays I give Gene an allowance, and we count out the money and change pennies for quarters and the like. I got a few ideas last weekend at my class for more money activities, and I'm excited to try them out!

What else is educational in our house? We check out lots of library books, and I think we'll start checking out topical books now- this weeks topic was volcanoes and earthquakes (after talking about Haiti a bit).

When the kids are interested in something, I try to put things out that will meet that interest. We teach them new skills as they seem ready.

I know this is really an "unschooling" house right now, and I was sure that I would never do it. But...it's working. We don't have to keep it this way forever, and we'll adapt and re-adapt as the kids and I need to. Right now, though, I like things the way they are:)

Improv Writing Work

Gene needs a lot of incentive to write these days. Well, he's always needed a lot, but lately I've been neglectful and haven't found any inspirations for him. I was thinking about it a lot, though, and finally came up with something...

Now, to preface this, I'll let you know that I haven't yet gone through the Language training in the classes I'm taking, and an online course I took (where I got to have access to someone else's albums) did not have writing activities beyond the initial "learning to write the letters". So, there are probably a lot of good writing activities out there in Montessori world that I just don't know about yet. Please let me know if you have any ideas!

We did a lot of writing over the summer, while we were reading the Little House books. I would write a question on a piece of paper, and he would answer the question in a complete sentence on writing paper. That was fine, but he was dependent on me writing the question and couldn't do it on his own. It also was a bit forced...he never begged me to do it with him:) But it did REALLY improve his writing, and very quickly. He went from not being able to even write about half of the lowercase letters of the alphabet on lined paper, to being able to write them all pretty darn legibly.

I also initiated a daily spelling test, and by daily I mean it happened about 3-4 days out of the week:) I based it off an idea I got from reading a book I found at a garage sale...a great book, by the way! Called An Acorn in My Hand by Ethel Bouldin, it lays out in a very easy to read manner how one teacher taught her first graders how to read and write...by the end of the year, they were able to read the newspaper, and write 2-3 page book reports. And, most importantly, they LOVED to write and they LOVED to have spelling tests. They were up to over 30 spelling words A DAY by the end of the year. She taught them phonetic spelling rules, and then just gave out 30 new words a day based on those rules. Every week she would introduce new rules, and therefore the kids were able to spell many new words just by learning the rule!

I can't recommend the book enough. I think every elementary school teacher should have a copy, and it definitely comes in handy to lay the groundwork for reading and writing at the preschool level. I started giving Gene spelling tests in the summer, and while he's only learned about 6 rules, he can spell MUCH better than before. And it really is fun:)

But...spelling tests are also dependent on the the teacher. I did think about recording the tests so he could play them back on his own time and write the words, but I haven't gotten there yet.

We have had a break from all writing for probably 2-3 weeks now...we've been busy with other work, and then everyone got sick. So I wanted to get back into it. But in a way that Gene could be independent. And a way that he would LIKE TO DO. I started thinking that, while he can write sentences, it was a lot of work for him. I want him to get comfortable just writing words, before he tries to string them together. So, I needed a word writing activity, that he could do by himself.

Here's what I put together:


On the tray is a jar with slips of lined writing paper, on cardstock so they will be easy to get out of the jar, and a little sturdier to work with. I found a website that offers free writing paper to print, and if I right click on the image and go to "copy image" I can paste the image in a new document and save it. Once printed, it's easy to cut into strips.


So, a strip can be chosen from the jar, and a picture chosen from the pile. Then, simply write the word that corresponds to the picture. I wasn't sure that Gene would think it was much fun, so I came up with a "point of interest" to entice him to do the work.

Here's where he puts the strips once they are written on:


I found this box at Wallmart in the sewing section, to hold sewing supplies. It cost under $2, and seems pretty sturdy. I labeled the sections alphabetically, and there's enough room in each section to hold quite a few strips. It would have been most ideal if there were 26 sections, but as it is this is pretty good.

He still wasn't keen on doing it, but once I said I would do it with him, he was all for it. We took turns choosing a picture and writing the word. He got to choose the pictures I would write, and immediately gave me the hardest ones! We made it through probably 20 pictures. Then, there were still some sections in the box that didn't have any slips, so I asked him if he could think of any words we could write for those sections, even if we don't have a picture for them. He didn't really want to write more, but once I wrote one word, he decided he wanted to write a different word, and we ended up writing a few more before putting it away. It went pretty darn well!

Now, I can definitely come up with more picture cards (I actually made those cards last year by cutting out pictures from magazines and laminating them on white paper, and I have a lot more in storage), but I also had ideas for extensions:

-laminate magazine pages that have multiple items in the same picture, and have the child write words that correspond to all the items he can find. This could be fun, since some items hide in most pictures (i.e. wall, door, floor...)

-once the pictures have worn out their appeal, encourage the child to look around the house for more ideas.

-the strips of paper in each section could be counted, and special effort could be made to find words to write to fill up the sections that have the least amount of words.

-turn it into a math activity as well, and keep a tally chart under the box. Label columns at the top of the chart that correspond to each section of the box. Each time a strip is put in a section, add a tally mark to that column...and the child will always know how many strips he has. Or...for number writing practice (which Gene needs as well!) just have the child write the latest number of strips in the column...

All right- this was only the first day of use. We'll see how the Word Box actually does in the long run!

Learning Update

Here are a few things that the kids have been up to the last couple weeks...

Decorating the Lima Bean bowl (Lucy):


Using the red rods to build a tower, a maze and various other things (Gene and Lucy). Jane watched, and was very excited to walk through the maze with the other kids. She then asked to use the rods. Now, she hasn't used any of the preliminary Montessori sensorial building materials (Pink Cubes, Brown Prisms) and is pretty young for any of them in a traditional school, but as I have newly determined to "follow the child" and not say no to a rational choice, I allowed her to take them out. She said she was going to build the maze!


She very carefully took them out one at a time, carried them the way I had shown Lucy, and brought them over to the mat by our front door that we use for the rods (because it's big enough). She got tired about halfway through, and announced she was going to put them away again. And she did, in the stand we have for them, each in a spot though not in the correct order. She had a great first experience with them, and will learn over time how to use them in a more meaningful way. For now, though, I'm sure she'll go back and want to use them again, and I'm looking forward to the day when she truly gets them. For now, though, take a look at her "maze"...she had gotten the point that we put some rods on one side of the mat, and some on the other:)


Another activity that Jane has shown interest in way ahead of her time is cutting with scissors. She pulled out the cutting tray a few days ago, and went right at the paper strips with her scissors. She got her fingers in the right holes, finagled them open, and shut them again. She has chosen the work numerous times since, and I finally made her a separate beginner cutting tray, with a bowl to put the cut pieces in. Here she is in action (using her left hand, but she cuts most successfully with her right...a little experimenting won't hurt, though):


Jane got a set of fruit and veggies to cut for her birthday, and it's been a popular activity. I tried it myself, and it really does feel like the real thing. Pretty fun!



The surprise of the week was Lucy's To-Do list. She has been interested in writing letters for a long time, and has conquered most of them now (half uppercase, half lowercase, but at least she feels confident that she can write all the letters in one form or another). She's been writing her name for awhile, and a few other random words, but this was the first big writing project for her. It was completely self-initiated, I think inspired by a Frog and Toad story that we have read before (but not recently). She just got some paper one morning, told me what she was doing, and went at it. She then crossed off a few things as they came up over the course of the day, and I don't remember what they were, but here's what was left when I took the picture:

Translation:
Go to bed
Wake up
Clean up
Get in your bed

Translation: Go to school

Pretty neat, huh?

Things I have Learned

So...I am in the midst of taking a training course to become a real Montessori teacher. Someday maybe I'll actually teach in a real school. We'll see. But, while that is on hold, I can at least apply the things I'm learning to my own kids, right?

One thing I've learned is to not say "No". That came as a big surprise to me, because we definitely say "no" often to our kids. But this applies in a strictly school sense...as in, a Montessori classroom should only display things on the shelves that are accessible to ALL the children in the class. The shelves start out with safe, larger objects so that the youngest children won't hurt themselves or swallow something. As they get more proficient at using the safe materials, gradually the materials are exchanged for others that are smaller, messier, sharper, etc.

But that is just the Practical Life section. In the other areas of the classroom, as well, the materials start off easy. In math, there may be just number puzzles out at first. Language, a bunch of books. Other materials are introduced, but the classroom starts off this way so that the youngest children will feel welcome. Imagine a new barely 3-year old, coming to school for the first time, who watches some bigger kids do something that looks really neat and exciting...and the teacher tells her, "No, you can't do that" when she goes to take it off the shelf once they're done. Anything the teacher tries to show her next won't look as exciting as what she had chosen herself.

I said "No" a lot last year during our school sessions, and I saw the difficulties of it. The kids were sad they couldn't use the materials they wanted to.

But, there are always some limits in the classroom. It is definitely okay, and even a must, to say "No" when a child is misusing a material in a way that is hurting it, them self, or another person. The teacher can help them put it away, and say that they can't use it until the next day. But they will be given another chance, with perhaps a lesson first on the proper use.

I have put this into practice this year in our classroom. Everything on the shelves is accessible to everyone, even to Janie (just turned 2). If she chooses something that I don't think she is ready for, I still show her something she can do with it. Something educational...if not the complete lesson, then at least a mini-lesson. For example, she was in awe of the Numbers and Counters- laminated cards with the numbers 1-10 on them, and a bunch of colored stones to place under each number. She watched the other kids use them, and one day she got them out and put all the cards (in random order) out on the mat, and then put some counters on top of each one. She also counted (up to 20 or 30) as she put them all out, but she wasn't exactly counting them as individual stones. Last year I wouldn't have let her take it off the shelf, but this time I just watched her, and she was concentrating very well, and not hurting the material at all. She used them for probably 10 minutes (pretty good for a toddler!) and then put the cards in a fairly good pile, and asked for help with the rubber band. Since then she has chosen it almost every day we do school, and someday she will get the concept of exactly how to use it. For now, though, it doesn't hurt to let her do her thing.

One more example- scissors! I would never have given a 2 year old scissors. But she chose the cutting tray, and put her fingers in the scissors, and tried to cut a strip of paper. And she actually did (a little!). She has chosen this work a few times, and if I sit with her and run through the process of what to do with the strip after she has cut it (put it in an envelope, along with any pieces she has cut off), she really enjoys herself. Now, I really should make an easier cutting work for her (without an envelope, and just a container to put pieces), but for now this works. And I should have a tonging work out, and other works to strengthen her hand, but for now this works...

Not saying "No" creates a much more peaceful, pleasant environment:)

Art Update

I have recently added "Painting with a Brush" to our school shelves, and it's been a hit, especially with the younger crowd (i.e. the girls). Everyone has tried it once now, but Jane and Lucy seemed like they really enjoyed it. Gene wasn't reluctant about it as he was about finger painting, but he didn't seem thrilled, either.

I have it set out so they can get everything they need, but I did ask that they bring the paint bottle to me to pour into the cup. And school things are only allowed during school time, so I'm bound to be right there when Janie decides she wants to paint.



She chose to work on the floor, probably because that's where I did the presentation of it. She was pretty wiggly, but really enjoyed herself and kept wanting to wipe her hands and the tray with the wet cloth (pictured in a tupperware container on her far left in the above picture). She kept going until the whole paper was blue, even (proudly) painting over the pieces of tape I had used to secure the paper to the tray.