This will probably be our last full week of school for the year and I definitely won't be posting for a while. I just wanted to post a quick note about Link's reading. He is doing so well, and we are really enjoying the Logic of English curriculum! He is about to finish the first level and can read (in my untrained, motherly opinion) GREAT! I can't say enough good things about LoE; it has worked so well for us, and it has cut down on my preparation time dramatically! It's so easy compared to my Montessori plan, but is obviously not Montessori. I would have liked for him to be a bit more self-taught, but it just wasn't happening. I will post a movie soon of Link reading his last reader, I'm so proud!!
Happy Holiday's everyone!
Showing posts with label language. Show all posts
Showing posts with label language. Show all posts
Monday, December 16, 2013
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
(Forced) Progress!
Link is finally making some progress with the teen boards and beads! He does fuss about it every time we do it, which is not ideal. One thing I've always liked about Montessori is that it fosters self motivation and self-directed learning. This just isn't happening in our house though. I have to choose the work and I have to tell Link that he has to finish it. Usually that means I say "we can't do any other fun things until you have finished your school work." I only require two works every day! I alternate between the Collective Exercises and the Teen Boards with Beads for math. Then we do at least one lesson from Logic of English. Link enjoys the lessons and sometimes we do more than one.
He is (in my inexperienced opinion) doing well with reading. He is slowly starting to differentiate p, b, and d. He can read cvc words, and words with blends like bl, gr, sl, tr. We haven't learned ch, sh or that type of blend yet. He is still at the point where he has to say each sound, then think about what the word is with the sounds blended together. So I try to get him to practice as much as possible. Soon I think I'll start doing some matching activities with pictures. Next week he gets his first LoE reader and he is very excited. The first readers he will actually "build." They have the words and pictures separate and he can cut and glue them in. I actually laminated the first one and put velcro on the pictures so that he could take them on and off. After that one I'll just let him cut and paste. So they are pretty much matching exercises, but in a book format to make it extra special :) He is writing well in cursive too!
Bumblebee manages to keep himself pretty busy while I'm working with Link. I just put some toys in the room for Beya, and Bumblebee spent the entire time yesterday playing with those.
He knows most of his letters already, but cannot blend words. So I work on sound sorts with him. He's also working on the number rods and cards right now too. Sometimes he'll choose the number spindles or some other work as well. Sometimes we plays letter games with me and Link.
Beya isn't joining us in the school room much. But if we aren't finished with our two works when he wakes up, I am now letting him come in. I used to just stop and leave when he woke up, which was a little disruptive.
So what about music, geography, botany, zoology and all those other great Montessori subjects? We get to those when I get around to putting something new on the shelf :) Otherwise, we do a little of those when we go on walks or are hanging around the house!
He is (in my inexperienced opinion) doing well with reading. He is slowly starting to differentiate p, b, and d. He can read cvc words, and words with blends like bl, gr, sl, tr. We haven't learned ch, sh or that type of blend yet. He is still at the point where he has to say each sound, then think about what the word is with the sounds blended together. So I try to get him to practice as much as possible. Soon I think I'll start doing some matching activities with pictures. Next week he gets his first LoE reader and he is very excited. The first readers he will actually "build." They have the words and pictures separate and he can cut and glue them in. I actually laminated the first one and put velcro on the pictures so that he could take them on and off. After that one I'll just let him cut and paste. So they are pretty much matching exercises, but in a book format to make it extra special :) He is writing well in cursive too!
Bumblebee manages to keep himself pretty busy while I'm working with Link. I just put some toys in the room for Beya, and Bumblebee spent the entire time yesterday playing with those.
He knows most of his letters already, but cannot blend words. So I work on sound sorts with him. He's also working on the number rods and cards right now too. Sometimes he'll choose the number spindles or some other work as well. Sometimes we plays letter games with me and Link.
Beya isn't joining us in the school room much. But if we aren't finished with our two works when he wakes up, I am now letting him come in. I used to just stop and leave when he woke up, which was a little disruptive.
So what about music, geography, botany, zoology and all those other great Montessori subjects? We get to those when I get around to putting something new on the shelf :) Otherwise, we do a little of those when we go on walks or are hanging around the house!
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Logic of English - Reading, Writing, and Spelling Curriculum
I mentioned before that I bought a curriculum to supplement my Montessori reading and writing materials, but I haven't talked much about it since then. I noticed over at What DID We Do All Day that MBT is going through a writing bootcamp with Me Too, and then I read her comments here. I was surprised to see that we had similar reasons for purchasing curriculum to supplement. She used Handwriting Without Tears, All about Spelling and Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading. Since I'm lazy resourceful I decided to also use HWT and OPG to supplement. However, I found that I wasn't able to put lessons together efficiently enough to keep forward momentum. Thats where Logic of English helped me so much. We are doing the Foundations Level A book right now.
Instead of having two or three books to pull from and create activities, it instead gives you prepared lessons that integrate all three areas - reading, writing and spelling. I did NOT want a traditional workbook, as Link is usually not interested. There is a workbook, but it is not something that he does on his own. Rather it is an aid that he uses while we do the activities together. Each lesson has maybe one or two pages that we use for phonics and one page to practice his writing. (In case you are wondering, the OPG does have lessons, we just weren't crazy about them.) I will still use HWT, because I do want him to learn print too.
The main thing I'd like to say about it is that he likes doing it! We still do sound boxes and sound sorts, but I'm not under as much pressure to constantly change those out. I do them when I can. He really only liked doing them because of the Letter Box books anyways. So sometimes we just read those. The lessons are short, but fun. So we are actually progressing! He is reading slightly ahead of the book right now, simply because we learned some of the phonograms using the sound boxes. The LoE curriculum has helped him to make the step from phonograms to blending words.
He is also especially interested in the writing part because we are doing cursive. Link has a terrible time with letter reversals and I'm hoping this will help. He learned to write some letters in preschool, but they were terrible. He writes so much better in cursive!!
The biggest negative, is that it is pretty expensive when you see that you'll have to buy four levels to get through 2nd grade. It'll end up costing almost $300.
I'll probably do the Advanced Schedule with Bumblebee next year, when he turns 4. He joins us sometimes, but isn't ready to start yet. He's doing the sound boxes and sorts right now. He probably knows his letters better than Link. Link may get through Level C this year, it just depends on how well I do at keeping our routine going. We do one lesson a day, 3-4 times a week. We still have 30 weeks left in the school year right now. Somehow, in 7 weeks, we have only done 13 lessons :) Not a good record, but for a while we were only doing sound boxes.
As a side note, you should check out all their FREE paper! They have such a variety and in the past I have had such a hard time finding the different types. They also have all the spelling rules and phonograms in a nice list.
Instead of having two or three books to pull from and create activities, it instead gives you prepared lessons that integrate all three areas - reading, writing and spelling. I did NOT want a traditional workbook, as Link is usually not interested. There is a workbook, but it is not something that he does on his own. Rather it is an aid that he uses while we do the activities together. Each lesson has maybe one or two pages that we use for phonics and one page to practice his writing. (In case you are wondering, the OPG does have lessons, we just weren't crazy about them.) I will still use HWT, because I do want him to learn print too.
The main thing I'd like to say about it is that he likes doing it! We still do sound boxes and sound sorts, but I'm not under as much pressure to constantly change those out. I do them when I can. He really only liked doing them because of the Letter Box books anyways. So sometimes we just read those. The lessons are short, but fun. So we are actually progressing! He is reading slightly ahead of the book right now, simply because we learned some of the phonograms using the sound boxes. The LoE curriculum has helped him to make the step from phonograms to blending words.
He is also especially interested in the writing part because we are doing cursive. Link has a terrible time with letter reversals and I'm hoping this will help. He learned to write some letters in preschool, but they were terrible. He writes so much better in cursive!!
The biggest negative, is that it is pretty expensive when you see that you'll have to buy four levels to get through 2nd grade. It'll end up costing almost $300.
I'll probably do the Advanced Schedule with Bumblebee next year, when he turns 4. He joins us sometimes, but isn't ready to start yet. He's doing the sound boxes and sorts right now. He probably knows his letters better than Link. Link may get through Level C this year, it just depends on how well I do at keeping our routine going. We do one lesson a day, 3-4 times a week. We still have 30 weeks left in the school year right now. Somehow, in 7 weeks, we have only done 13 lessons :) Not a good record, but for a while we were only doing sound boxes.
As a side note, you should check out all their FREE paper! They have such a variety and in the past I have had such a hard time finding the different types. They also have all the spelling rules and phonograms in a nice list.
Thursday, May 10, 2012
My First Steps to Reading Books
I found it pretty frustrating to have library books in my sound boxes. They were always due when I needed them, or I ended up paying fees. I found them on amazon for $50 used, $89 new. I bought them on ebay for $40. They seem practically new! I debated getting these since I could have gotten the Alphatales Box set new for $40 on amazon. But, I really like the simplicity of these books. They don't have a lesson or anything like that, and I think the Alphatales books do. The Alphatales may be more interesting for some kids, but my Link really likes the Sound Box books. I like how there are tons of things he can point to that begin with the sound we are using.
Friday, May 4, 2012
Letter Search
I've mentioned before that I love, love, love the Sound Box Books by Jane Moncure. Lately, when Link and I are reading them, I ask him to find all of the letters on the page that make the sound that we're reading about. He enjoys this, so I thought I'd try adding a Letter Search activity to his sound boxes. I got the idea from My Boys Teacher over at What Did We Do All Day of course :) She made some like this, but in one of her comments she mentioned she couldn't share them. Since I had to make them anyways, I thought I'd share mine :) Enjoy!
Link
Link
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
School Room Setup
I mentioned that I've updated the schoolroom twice without posting much about it. This was due to the fact that I updated it, and Link didn't find much he was interested in, so I had to update it again. After that, I got my new material and had to add some of it. Then, we went out of town and had company so he hasn't been back in the room since the second update.
I figured even if we didn't do much school time, I could at least show my setup. I added a sorting activity with quarters, nickels and pennies. Link really enjoyed this one. At first he didn't realize that there was a difference between the quarters and nickels, but after repeating the presentation another day he noticed it. He did this one several times, one of the few activities he's ever repeated.
This is the 'b' box. First I did just objects, then the next day I added the pictures. He's not that into repeating things if they aren't different, so I try to change what's in the box to get more use out of it. I only put about 10 objects in at a time, even if I have more.
Below is an activity I made up on the fly. I had this bag of shapes and I don't think he's ready to use it the way it is intended, so I just had him sort each shape into the little glasses. He only did this one once, but he explored the objects for a while afterwards. He put the round shapes back in the bag, then messed around with the rest.
These only lasted two or three days. Then I had to completely change the room. I moved the art supplies to the corner. Then I put several pieces of felt on the shelf to lay the red rods on. I tried to group the sensorial activities together here. So just to the right of the red rods is the picture below.
When I was cleaning the closet out I found some dice. I thought it might be interesting to have Link sort them by color, but also see if he could recognize the similar shapes. Below that is the first cylinder block and the geometric solids. The first time I put the solids out, I used the box they came in and put the bases and stands out as well. It was very heavy. Since he really just needed to explore the shapes, I decided to put just the shapes in a basket.
Right next to this is the pink tower, which doesn't fit right now. I made some sound bottles, but did the presentation all wrong! I guess I should have read up on that first. I'm going to put them in two different boxes and try again. I still have out the beginner pattern blocks. I think I'll get the next step up soon and replace these.
And this is what's left, grouped together. The orange box is now a 'c' box. I have out the frog, horse and tree puzzles. The sandpaper globe. Melissa & Doug word puzzles. I know, I need to work on this area.
That pretty much fills up the school room. I plan on putting out the brown stairs soon. The geometric cabinet is already out, you may have seen it below the red rods. But I have not given a presentation on it yet. I plan on doing the presentation tray soon, then moving to the cabinet. I'll have to review everything again to see if there is something lacking. The room is filling up faster than I expected. I'm sure that soon I'll have to remodel, move the computer, and adjust shelves.
I'm a little worried! We'll be gone a week and a half in November and one to two weeks in December. Then we'll all be staying with family for the entire month of January - until I have the baby. Then we'll come home and I have a feeling that doing school time with a newborn is going to be very difficult!
I figured even if we didn't do much school time, I could at least show my setup. I added a sorting activity with quarters, nickels and pennies. Link really enjoyed this one. At first he didn't realize that there was a difference between the quarters and nickels, but after repeating the presentation another day he noticed it. He did this one several times, one of the few activities he's ever repeated.
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| The scissors are not supposed to be there :) |
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| Matching objects from the box to the pictures |
Below is an activity I made up on the fly. I had this bag of shapes and I don't think he's ready to use it the way it is intended, so I just had him sort each shape into the little glasses. He only did this one once, but he explored the objects for a while afterwards. He put the round shapes back in the bag, then messed around with the rest.
Right next to this is the pink tower, which doesn't fit right now. I made some sound bottles, but did the presentation all wrong! I guess I should have read up on that first. I'm going to put them in two different boxes and try again. I still have out the beginner pattern blocks. I think I'll get the next step up soon and replace these.
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| I'm going to have to make that shelf taller for the pink tower. |
I don't have a lot of practical life out right now. A lot of what we do is done in the kitchen. Plus, I don't have any good ideas right now. I do have the dressing frames almost finished but there is no end in sight right now. I made them a little small and need to find something to attach them to. Maybe in the next week or so you'll see them.
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| The beans are missing for the sweeping... |
That pretty much fills up the school room. I plan on putting out the brown stairs soon. The geometric cabinet is already out, you may have seen it below the red rods. But I have not given a presentation on it yet. I plan on doing the presentation tray soon, then moving to the cabinet. I'll have to review everything again to see if there is something lacking. The room is filling up faster than I expected. I'm sure that soon I'll have to remodel, move the computer, and adjust shelves.
I'm a little worried! We'll be gone a week and a half in November and one to two weeks in December. Then we'll all be staying with family for the entire month of January - until I have the baby. Then we'll come home and I have a feeling that doing school time with a newborn is going to be very difficult!
Monday, October 3, 2011
I Spy with Two Sounds
We haven't been doing school the past few days because we've been working on the house so much. Today I was unpacking a box that somehow contained a bucket with the I Spy photos I used to use with Link. He saw them and wanted to do the activity. So, even though we haven't throughly covered all the sounds, these were some we have briefly looked at in the past. I put out two pictures and asked him which one began with a certain sound. He did great! It made me realize that he may be ready for sound sorting. I'm not going to rush it though. I think I'll continue with the single sound boxes until we cover them all, then start on boxes with two sounds and sort them with him.
Friday, September 16, 2011
Hh Sounds Like Honeeeeey!
Link has really been into sounds lately. I do not play I Spy like I should, but when I think of it, I throw it into our day. We were reading a Dr Seuss book before his nap yesterday and rather than read it like I used to, I was using it as an opportunity for I Spy. When we got the 'H' and I asked what begins with h (using the sound, not the letter) Link jumps up and says with enthusiasm "h sounds like honeeeeeeey". (the pictures to choose from were hen, hat, horse and hay) I should mention that if there is something that Link really likes, he has to draw out the word and say it with a very mischievous smile on his face, and Link really likes honey. He also found something that sounds like PoohBear, but I'm sure you can figure that one out on your own.
I have gathered quite a few little object for starting a sound box. My grandmother has LOTS of nicknacks and has become my go-to person for school related things. She put together a fantastic assortment of objects and covered almost every sound. I'm going to start out with just a box that represents one sound. Link likes going through the objects and I figured it would give us a chance to make sure we've covered all the sounds. Then, I'll do a box with two sounds and see if we can sort them together. That will get us through Stage 2 of I Spy (as Gettman explains it). I have some I Spy books that will help us through Stage 3. After that, if he seems ready, I think I'll introduce the sandpaper letters while continuing the stages of I Spy.
I have gathered quite a few little object for starting a sound box. My grandmother has LOTS of nicknacks and has become my go-to person for school related things. She put together a fantastic assortment of objects and covered almost every sound. I'm going to start out with just a box that represents one sound. Link likes going through the objects and I figured it would give us a chance to make sure we've covered all the sounds. Then, I'll do a box with two sounds and see if we can sort them together. That will get us through Stage 2 of I Spy (as Gettman explains it). I have some I Spy books that will help us through Stage 3. After that, if he seems ready, I think I'll introduce the sandpaper letters while continuing the stages of I Spy.
Monday, August 22, 2011
First School Day
I'm so excited to say that we finally had our first day in the new school room! After looking through all the pictures I want to talk about, I've decided to split this into two posts. First, a look at the room. When we bought the house we had the basement finished and had a space made specifically for school. Unfortunately, no matter how hard we tried, we could not get windows in the room because of the slope of the land. It is small and won't work forever, but it is a dedicated space and will work for now.
I bought the shelves from Ikea and compared to most other shelves, they are a steal. They all cost somewhere around $150-$200. They are untreated pine, with no back and no sides. But, they are very versatile.
I mentioned most of the activities in my last post, but I've got pictures this time. First we have the few practical life works. On top I put a few shirts and hangers, in the middle is a basket of towels for folding and some pom poms for sweeping, and on the bottom is a box with two belts for buckling. Then we have pattern cards and work mats. Then Air, Land, and Water sorting cards on the top shelf and tweezers with pom poms and shapes on the bottom.
On the next set of shelves I have some paper, colored pencils and a circle stencil on the top. Next is a bucket with clothes pins and color box 1. Second to the bottom is the Association of Objects cards and on the bottom I have tongs with pom poms for transferring.
Just to give a better view of the room, here it is from both sides. We did end up putting a computer in here, but it doesn't seem to be too intrusive. If we expand and need the space, it can be moved out.
I plan to cut some of these shelves in half and use them in the boys' closets for toys. I don't really need the vertical space and I think it will make the room seem larger if the shelves are lower. I can only really use one wall because the room is so small. The double doors at the end have shelves where I keep my supplies out of sight (and store tons of things I don't have any other place for right now).
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| We turned this.... |
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| .... into this. |
I mentioned most of the activities in my last post, but I've got pictures this time. First we have the few practical life works. On top I put a few shirts and hangers, in the middle is a basket of towels for folding and some pom poms for sweeping, and on the bottom is a box with two belts for buckling. Then we have pattern cards and work mats. Then Air, Land, and Water sorting cards on the top shelf and tweezers with pom poms and shapes on the bottom.
On the next set of shelves I have some paper, colored pencils and a circle stencil on the top. Next is a bucket with clothes pins and color box 1. Second to the bottom is the Association of Objects cards and on the bottom I have tongs with pom poms for transferring.
While Link was very excited about starting school, I think he was most excited to know that he was going to get to paint again. So I have some of his art supplies on a top shelf. This way he can see them and ask for them, but he cannot reach them himself.
Just to give a better view of the room, here it is from both sides. We did end up putting a computer in here, but it doesn't seem to be too intrusive. If we expand and need the space, it can be moved out.
I plan to cut some of these shelves in half and use them in the boys' closets for toys. I don't really need the vertical space and I think it will make the room seem larger if the shelves are lower. I can only really use one wall because the room is so small. The double doors at the end have shelves where I keep my supplies out of sight (and store tons of things I don't have any other place for right now).
Thursday, August 18, 2011
A Fresh Start
It's been about 6 months since I've had the time to sit down and blog! In that time our family has spent most of our time house shopping, building, moving, unpacking, and traveling. We are also now expecting a new addition to the family! We're finally starting to get settled down and I'm really, really ready to start Link with some pre-school activities. In our new house we actually have a dedicated school room and I already have the new shelves put together in the room. This past week I have worked on getting our first set of activities on the shelves. I tried hard to use only things I already have. Once we're in a good routine and I know its working well, I plan to buy a few things at a time. I'm a little nervous about the new baby coming in February as I'm sure it will disrupt our routine. But, hopefully we'll be used to it enough that Link will be able to continue without my undivided attention.
So here's what I have on the shelves right now:
I plan to have add transferring with a dropper and with tongs as soon as I can find either. I'd also like to do a sinking-floating activity, but haven't put a lot of thought into how that would work. As soon as I get some flowers, I'm going to do flower arranging. I'm pretty sure I have a little duster and dustpan around here somewhere. When I find it, I'll put that in with some little pom poms.
I'll try to take pictures tomorrow either while Link works or afterwards!
Right now I think we'll be using the two hours in the morning while Bumblebee is sleeping. So I don't have anything in the room for him. Later I plan on having some things for him to join in, but while we're just getting started, I'd like to have the one-on-one time with Link to establish a good routine.
So here's what I have on the shelves right now:
- Hanging clothes on hangers (Gettman)
- Bucket of clothes pins to pin on the bucket (my pins have springs)
- Land, air, and water sorting cards
- Association fo Objects cards
- Cutting strips
- Towels for folding (Gettman)
- Buckling (Gettman)
I plan to have add transferring with a dropper and with tongs as soon as I can find either. I'd also like to do a sinking-floating activity, but haven't put a lot of thought into how that would work. As soon as I get some flowers, I'm going to do flower arranging. I'm pretty sure I have a little duster and dustpan around here somewhere. When I find it, I'll put that in with some little pom poms.
I'll try to take pictures tomorrow either while Link works or afterwards!
Right now I think we'll be using the two hours in the morning while Bumblebee is sleeping. So I don't have anything in the room for him. Later I plan on having some things for him to join in, but while we're just getting started, I'd like to have the one-on-one time with Link to establish a good routine.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
He ASKED for I Spy!
It's been really slow going, but Link has been doing 2-3 little activities 1-2 times a week, and I Spy cards maybe 3-4 times a week. Here's what I've put together so far:
We don't have room for much, so I stole 2 shelves from Daddy's bookshelf, and we put out a work rug in the small little space in front of the shelf. This room isn't off-limits to Link, but he can't reach these things because we don't want him hanging out in the room alone.
I made I Spy cards even though I know you are supposed to use objects because I don't have a ton of objects, or the money to buy a lot right now. Plus, its hard enough thinking of things that start with a certain sound, finding actual objects seems almost impossible (I know its not, because I've seen other people do it, but whatever.) Also, I didn't like anyone else's pictures because they all use clip art and things I'm not sure Link could identify. So I made new ones. (feel free to download them here) I only have A through G right now, but will add them as I make them. I used a business card template because we have lots of business cards we'll never use for anything else, and they are easy to cut up :)
I also made some classification cards. I took pictures of my kitchen, living room and a bathroom and printed them on index cards. Then took pictures of things from each room and printed them on the business cards. I figured it would make more sense to him if it was our house. I plan on making some more with themes, but I'm not sure how yet. I'm thinking things like things-you-take-camping, or things-that-go-outside. But I may never get around to it.
The other things on the shelf are toys that Link seems to like, but he doesn't play well with them unsupervised. The lacing beads got a lot of use as a fishing pole, until he got tired of it. So I moved it to the shelf and do it with him. He really enjoys threading them on. The Melissa and Doug See and Spell was not supposed to go out yet because I thought it was a little too advanced for him. But my sister sent it to him for Christmas and he wanted to play with it as soon as we got it out. So I give him a couple of boards with the letters already in them, and he does it like a puzzle.
That's all we've done so far. I have a few other things on the shelf, like a matching game he used to love but won't touch now, and some little paper mache boxes that are different shapes. Link likes to take the tops on and off, so I'll get it out again soon.
I'm super slow and not very creative, so adding activities takes me forever. I don't even have a plan right now for adding anything new. Once I stopped worrying about it so much, its actually been less stressful, and we're doing something, so I'm okay with "slow".
We don't have room for much, so I stole 2 shelves from Daddy's bookshelf, and we put out a work rug in the small little space in front of the shelf. This room isn't off-limits to Link, but he can't reach these things because we don't want him hanging out in the room alone.
I made I Spy cards even though I know you are supposed to use objects because I don't have a ton of objects, or the money to buy a lot right now. Plus, its hard enough thinking of things that start with a certain sound, finding actual objects seems almost impossible (I know its not, because I've seen other people do it, but whatever.) Also, I didn't like anyone else's pictures because they all use clip art and things I'm not sure Link could identify. So I made new ones. (feel free to download them here) I only have A through G right now, but will add them as I make them. I used a business card template because we have lots of business cards we'll never use for anything else, and they are easy to cut up :)
I also made some classification cards. I took pictures of my kitchen, living room and a bathroom and printed them on index cards. Then took pictures of things from each room and printed them on the business cards. I figured it would make more sense to him if it was our house. I plan on making some more with themes, but I'm not sure how yet. I'm thinking things like things-you-take-camping, or things-that-go-outside. But I may never get around to it.
The other things on the shelf are toys that Link seems to like, but he doesn't play well with them unsupervised. The lacing beads got a lot of use as a fishing pole, until he got tired of it. So I moved it to the shelf and do it with him. He really enjoys threading them on. The Melissa and Doug See and Spell was not supposed to go out yet because I thought it was a little too advanced for him. But my sister sent it to him for Christmas and he wanted to play with it as soon as we got it out. So I give him a couple of boards with the letters already in them, and he does it like a puzzle.
That's all we've done so far. I have a few other things on the shelf, like a matching game he used to love but won't touch now, and some little paper mache boxes that are different shapes. Link likes to take the tops on and off, so I'll get it out again soon.
I'm super slow and not very creative, so adding activities takes me forever. I don't even have a plan right now for adding anything new. Once I stopped worrying about it so much, its actually been less stressful, and we're doing something, so I'm okay with "slow".
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Week Review - Why do I stink at this?
I sometimes have serious doubts about whether I'm going to make it as a homeschooling mom. I set very reasonable goals (in other words, LOW) and I didn't come close to meeting them. I just wanted to do one small activity a day, and I Spy. Instead, I didn't do any I Spy and I hardly did anything you could call an activity. Here's my (sad) rundown for the week:
Monday - If you're happy and you know it
Tuesday - Sidewalk chalk & walking on a line
Wednesday - Rain day (watched movies all day)
Thursday - Library
Friday - Classification cards
See what I mean?
If you're looking for a blog where someone does not do Montessori, you've found it. If you want a good example, look elsewhere! You're probably thinking, "If you're happy and you know it, that's not an activity!" and you're right, but I wanted him to get used to doing things like that because they do it at story time at the library. He didn't want anything to do with it, he just kinda smiled at me and looked like he thought I was loopy. Sidewalk chalk was a super hit though, and he did enjoy walking on the like with me.
Why am I just now discovering how awesome sidewalk chalk is? Because we have never had a place where it was okay to use it. We love it!
Ok, on to Wednesday. Yes, I know, there are things to do on rainy days besides watch movies, but that's what he did. We don't have a TV, but Link can watch movies on our computers, so he did that while I tried to make classification cards.
Thursdays are our library day. This was a particularly fun day because it was community volunteer day, so there were community workers there with their vehicles. Link go to sit in a mail truck, an articulated dump truck, and a mail truck, he held a real fire hose and checked out all the gadgets on the fire truck, watched the garbage truck pick up the trash can and dump it, and watch a guy playing in a bucket truck. Since he is totally into trucks right now, he loved it!
And finally, on Friday, he spent about 5 minutes doing the classification cards that I made. I cheated a little. I took pictures of things around the house and put them on some business cards that we had and will never use, and put the pictures of the living room, kitchen and bathroom on large index cards. It worked, but I think it was too super easy for him.
I didn't do much I Spy because I could never thing of things to show Link that began with the letters I was working on. I am planning on making some picture cards with (hopefully) about 5 items for each letter. Then I can just doing the cards once a day and I know I'm not missing some. I can't just do it randomly through the day.
When I come up with a plan for next week, I'll see if I can find the time to post it :)
Monday - If you're happy and you know it
Tuesday - Sidewalk chalk & walking on a line
Wednesday - Rain day (watched movies all day)
Thursday - Library
Friday - Classification cards
See what I mean?
If you're looking for a blog where someone does not do Montessori, you've found it. If you want a good example, look elsewhere! You're probably thinking, "If you're happy and you know it, that's not an activity!" and you're right, but I wanted him to get used to doing things like that because they do it at story time at the library. He didn't want anything to do with it, he just kinda smiled at me and looked like he thought I was loopy. Sidewalk chalk was a super hit though, and he did enjoy walking on the like with me.
Ok, on to Wednesday. Yes, I know, there are things to do on rainy days besides watch movies, but that's what he did. We don't have a TV, but Link can watch movies on our computers, so he did that while I tried to make classification cards.
Thursdays are our library day. This was a particularly fun day because it was community volunteer day, so there were community workers there with their vehicles. Link go to sit in a mail truck, an articulated dump truck, and a mail truck, he held a real fire hose and checked out all the gadgets on the fire truck, watched the garbage truck pick up the trash can and dump it, and watch a guy playing in a bucket truck. Since he is totally into trucks right now, he loved it!
And finally, on Friday, he spent about 5 minutes doing the classification cards that I made. I cheated a little. I took pictures of things around the house and put them on some business cards that we had and will never use, and put the pictures of the living room, kitchen and bathroom on large index cards. It worked, but I think it was too super easy for him.
I didn't do much I Spy because I could never thing of things to show Link that began with the letters I was working on. I am planning on making some picture cards with (hopefully) about 5 items for each letter. Then I can just doing the cards once a day and I know I'm not missing some. I can't just do it randomly through the day.
When I come up with a plan for next week, I'll see if I can find the time to post it :)
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