(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!

School Day - New Math!

This weekend as I was preparing to present a new math lesson to Link, I realized that I needed to get Bumblebee going on math!  I used to have all kinds of things on the shelves - pink tower, brown stair, red rods, cylinder blocks - but I had to put them all up because Bumblebee was constantly making huge messes out of them.  But, he's ready to get presentations on these things, so I have to make room again!

Today I first attempted to give Link a presentation on the teens using the bead stair.  Right now he counts like this - 11,12,13,17,18,19,20.  He's very consistent, he always counts this way.  So I was trying to be very careful in this presentation so that he would learn it correctly.  After I presented 11, 12, and 13, he said "Can we stop this now?" 

So then I gave Bumblebee (who is 3 1/2) a presentation on the number rods.  He can already count pretty well to 10, don't ask me how.  This ended up being just the right difficulty for him.  He did not get it right the first time.  He had to move a few and fill in some spots, but he ended up getting it right in the end.  He was very enthusiastic and put it away when he was finished.

After that Link asked for a presentation on the number cards and counters.  I knew this would be an easy work for him, but he asked, which was great!  I wanted to use that time to talk about odd and even anyways, and it was good for Bumblebee to watch.   

Bumblebee was disappointed that he was not actually given a presentation and allowed to work with the counters.  I'm pretty sure he isn't quite ready.  He really, really wanted me to give him a presentation that involved beads.  So instead of the counters, I gave him a presentation on matching the bead stairs to number cards.  He did pretty well up to 3, but when he couldn't immediately tell which was 4 without counting, he started messing around.  Probably not ready for that one either.  Maybe counters would have been better after all :)

After that I could not convince Link to choose any more work as he was complaining about being hungry.  Bumblebee, on the other hand, chose to work with the geometric shapes for quite a while, building rockets I believe, but I was okay with that.  I went upstairs to make Link lunch and heard some bells ringing randomly as well.

That pretty much wrapped up our school "day" and only lasted about an hour.  After that my Aunt read probably every single letter book from the Sound Box Series.  I'll call that phonics for the day :)  

School Days

We seem to have found a rhythm for school, which unfortunately doesn't include a whole lot of school! 

On Monday's we go to Classical Conversations.  Link does not participate in the memory work (I figured he wouldn't) but he does like doing art and playing with his classmates after lunch.  He participates in the map games, but I'm not sure how much he is picking up.  You may wonder why we are still doing it if he's not actually doing the memory work.  I think there are other things that he's picking up, soft skills I guess you'd say.  The kids all do a little presentation during snack.  He's gradually getting comfortable enough to speak.  At first he would tell me what to say and I would tell his class.  After about four times, he actually spoke himself with me right beside him.  Then he turned to me and said "that wasn't that hard!"  His presentation consisted of about five sentences and answering a few leading questions from his tutor.  He's learning to listen to his classmates and ask questions about their presentations.  His favorite part is eating lunch and playing afterwards.  I think of it like a really big play date :)  He needs the interaction with other kids and I have a hard time providing that.

On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday we are at home.  My main goal for those days is to do some kind of phonics and math.  If we manage more, that's great, but I try to make that my minimum.  We alternate between doing Montessori sound boxes and Happy Phonics games.  I thought it was funny that most of the beginning suggestions for learning the sounds in Happy Phonics were all Montessori activities.  So we were already doing those.  Happy Phonics just provides some games that we can play too.  For math, we have been doing the Bank Game and the Exchange Game with our Montessori golden beads.  I found this post about combining Montessori math exercises and it really hit home with me.  Link was getting burnt out doing things over and over, but he really needs more practice.  Switching things up a bit and adding dice helped for a little while.  Then we had to take a break.  He is still having a hard time understanding what exactly happens with the magic slide and has to have the number broken down.  I know he needs more practice so I keep holding off on the collective exercises.  Unfortunately that means he is loosing interest as he doesn't like doing the same thing for more than a few days.

The extra things that I try to add on those days are where Charlotte Mason comes in :)  That means I'm reading some stories, which all the boys love!  We are reading the Old Mother West Wind Series by Thornton Burgess and James Herriot's Treasury for Children.  We also go on nature walks and sometimes do some journaling.  I am occasionally able to throw in some Montessori geography with our land and water forms.  That usually ends with the boys making things with clay and playing with water :)  The boys were really interested in the map cabinet when we first got it, not so much now.  (Very oddly, they also aren't into the bells!)

You would think I'd have plenty of time to do these things every day, but its hard!  Little Beya has really thrown a wrench in our day :)  He cannot go in the school room anymore because he climbs out of his pack n' play.  So the only time we can go there is during his one hour nap.  Since we can't get all that we need to get done during that one hour, we do our math and phonics at the kitchen table now.

It also takes up a good bit of our day just trying to get Link to actually work.  My hope was that by using Montessori I'd have a very self motivated five year old.  I haven't done a very good job of implementing Montessori, so I can not blame the method!  Often I have to mention that we can't go to the park or some other fun thing if we haven't finished our work.  You may also be wondering why I keep saying "our work" or "I don't have time".  Well, that's because I have to do everything with Link. He will not work independently.

Ok, on Friday we do our Charlotte Mason co-op.  This is sooooo great!  We have about ten families and we do something different every Friday.  Yesterday was a field trip day. We visited an apple orchard off the Blue Ridge Parkway and the kids learned about pollination, bees, butterflies and other bugs.  They peeled apples, and ate them of course.  They sang folk songs and danced (not Link, but the others did.)  Then they went on a storytelling hayride (minus the hay).  After that we explored Linville Caverns.  On other Fridays we meet at a local park and alternate between the other CM subjects - Nature Study, Art/handicrafts and Artist Study, and Enrichment which includes hymns, poetry, composer study and recitation.  Our families total to about 30 people, with the kids ages ranging from 15 months to about 13 years old.  This has been such a great experience for us.  I get to hang out with adults and all my boys have some kids to play with!  The older kids are a great example for Link!

So that's our week.  I don't blog much about what we are doing because there really isn't much that is new.  I will however, wrap up this very wordy post with some pictures from our co-op field trip :)

Going down to the orchard

Peeling an apple

Just like his big brothers!

He was so tickled with his work!

Both of these boys were drawn to the bees!

He wasn't so sure of the cave, he was a little nervous about going in

In the bear hole :)

If there are rocks nearby, my boys have to climb them!

"I Hate School" says Link!

We have officially started kindergarten, though you can't tell by watching our family. I really thought all this time that if I had great activities on the shelves that Link would be drawn to them. And if he wasn't, then getting the work out myself or inviting him to work with me would work. But for some reason he has decided that he does not like anything to do with school. Bumblebee is definitely learning in the school room, Link not so much.

So I've backed off, a little. We go for a walk in the morning. We read lots of stories. I try to sneak in phonics games. Sometimes he'll do some math, but not the three days a week I was shooting for. 

We go to Classical Conversations once a week. Though honestly, as a play date more than anything.  We join a Charlotte Mason (CM) group once a week. We are using Montessori for phonics, math, and geography/cultural studies. We use CM for things like cultural, nature, artist and composer studies. Which, at five years old, means we read stories like Old Mother West Wind, James Herriot's Treasury for Children, and maybe James Baldwin's 50 Famous Stories. 

I am feeling very frustrated with Link right now. Almost to the point where I think "maybe I should just send him to school if he's not going to work with me!"

I have to threaten to put all his Legos up just to get him to work for a little while! I'm tempted to put every toy in the house up, but I think that would just drive me more crazy! I keep saying I'll just give it a little more time, he'll come around. I hope I'm not messing up!

Metal Insets Outside

Link has never been interested in the metal insets.  So, when he spontaneously decided that he wanted to do some outside, with crayons, I did not protest.  As you can see, Bumblebee learned from his big brother.  Link did all the shapes except two, and I think the only reason he stopped was because I distracted him with cherries.  He only wanted to trace the frames, but I was just so glad they were getting some use, I didn't press the issue.  He asked me several times how to hold his crayon correctly, and would not put it down when he went to switch the shapes out.

New Works

On Sunday I took the boys outside to play, and while my back was turned, Bumblebee opened the door to go inside and do some work!  I added several new works to their shelves over the weekend.  For some reason the one that captured Bumblebee was the golf tees and foam.  While we were there, Link of course checked out all the new things on Bumblebee's shelves without even looking at his own.  With some encouragement we did his works together.

To Link's shelves I returned the felt and push pins and added sandpaper numbers (missing from pic), matching sandpaper letters to little wooden letters and an acorn counting activity.

Link's shelves

Link seemed to enjoy doing his work today, but I was very involved.  We also didn't make it through the entire box of letters for matching.  For each letter that he matched he volunteered a word that began with that letter :)  He worked very intently on the felt and push pins though.

Link's push pin work

To Bumblebee's shelves I added a bit more.  Starting on the far left top the new things are: an object box, shape puzzles, and a small abacus.  On the bottom shelf the balancing cactus and belt box are new.

Bumblebee's shelf

On his other shelf I added the foam and golf tees, with no hammer, the peanut can has small holes and toothpicks, and next to that is the lacing orange.  The bag below contains cubes and rectangular prisms for sorting.

Bumblebee worked with the foam, peanut can, cylinder block one, and shape puzzles.

After the boys seemed to be winding down I set up an activity for them that I had been thinking about.  I set up two stools on one end of the classroom, with a bowl of macaroni on one stool.  On the other side of the classroom I set up two stools, with an empty bowl on one and a tray with a measuring cup on the other stool.  I showed the boys how to get one scoop of macaroni and set it on the tray.  Then I walked carefully over to the other side and set the tray down on the empty stool.  Then I poured the macaroni into the empty bowl.  I put the scoop back on the tray and took it back to the other stool.  Both boys did this about four times.  Carrying the tray without spilling the macaroni was the tricky part for both boys.  I plan to continue this in various ways, adding a line and changing the measuring cup and macaroni out for other items.

Link is a very active little boy and I thought it might be more fun doing things that involved moving :)  Today I decided to try something to peak his interest in his sandpaper numbers.  First, I brought 0-4 to the kitchen table.  Since it was just his birthday, he's pretty interested in these numbers.  Baby Bear is 0, Bumblebee is 1 and about to be 2, and Link was just 3, but is now 4.  He learned these five numbers very quickly.  Then, later today we played hide-and-seek with the numbers.  I brought up the rest and we'd take turns hiding them.

Link closing his eyes while I hide the numbers.

First, I would hide them so that he could see the numbers when he found them.  That way I could say "Bring me number 3" and he'd look for that one specifically, passing the others up when he found them.

Sequencing the numbers

 He is at the stage where he knows what order they go in and can identify them if I say the number.  It is harder for him to remember the name of the number when I point at them.

Tracing

Proud of his find

Having fun with numbers!

Link LOVES hide-and-seek!  I think he could play it all day.  We played for a solid hour, then I thought we should take a break so he didn't get too burnt out.  I think I'll try this again with some letters and number rods.

Indoor/Outdoor Space Observation

So far, if the door is open, no school work gets done.

Today, we started working - Link was doing color box 3, Bumblebee was doing a little of everything.  Then, I opened the doors and they both went outside to play.

Maybe I'll try again this afternoon and see what they do.

School Day - A Little Better

We had a decent hour in the school room.  Once the boys seemed like they were done, I opened up the doors and now they are playing outside.

Bumblebee stayed busy of course.  Link either wants to help him (in other words, do his work for him) but only while Bumblebee is doing it.  Link will only do work if I'm working with him.  He got a few metal insets down to trace.  I suggested tracing the geometric cabinet trays (since that's what they are for after all!) but no.  Then I asked if he wanted to try the red rods again.  We spent the rest of the hour attempting to identify the rods.  Unfortunately he is constantly counting randomly and looking at me like "is that right?"  It's like he wants me to say no thats wrong :)  I don't know how to handle this.

So I have two problems.  Link won't work independently.  Link intentionally does things wrong.  What do I do?

First Day With Two Boys in the New School Room

Yesterday we had an unexpected school day.  I wanted to have the room all set up before the boys went in, but they were ready before I was.  We were going to go outside, and of course we have to go through the school room to get to the play area.  I was also wearing the baby on my chest in order to make it more fun to give presentations and keep Bumblebee out of trouble :)

I don't have pictures yet but I wanted to record what the boys did before I forgot.

Bumblebee chose the Peg Board first.  While he was doing that, Link did all the other activities on Bumblebee's shelves.  It worked nicely because Bumblebee watched the entire time and I didn't have to give any presentations.  Of course all of those works were too easy for Link, but he had to do them all.  

Next, Bumblebee chose the pom pom transfer with tongs.  He did this over and over for the rest of the time we were in the school room.  He took a break at one point to do some Geometric Cabinet work, but then went back to it.

The other works that Link did, but not Bumblebee, were cloths pins on a bucket, shape boxes with lids, and the geometric sorting board puzzle.

Link chose the cabinet first.  After tracing one or two, he said "I know where they all go, so I don't need to trace them."  I'm not sure how to handle that :)  I did let Bumblebee do this one.  He just does them like puzzles.  I'm not sure if I'm going to let him continue that, or make him wait until he will do the tracing.  He likes puzzles right now.  Link did two or three drawers.  He looks for the harder ones :)  

I had a hard time keeping him from "helping" Bumblebee too much.  I didn't want to be negative, but I want them to learn to respect each others space.  Link decided to do the pink tower, but after getting it on the rug, he didn't want to finish it.  I had to keep Bumblebee out of it, while also encouraging Link to either finish or put it back.  He decided to put it back, but intentionally did it wrong.  In the end I said something along the lines of  "I can see you are having a hard time remembering how to do this work, I can give you another presentation" or something like that.  I did let Bumblebee help put it back, just because this seemed to encourage Link to help.  

After that Link just hung out while Bumblebee transferred pom poms.  I was really ready to go make dinner, but didn't want to stop him.  Then Daddy came home and joined us.  After doing it a few times for Daddy, Bumblebee finally took it back to the shelves and we left.

Not bad.  We're going to the Hands-On Museum today, so maybe we'll make it back to school tomorrow.

Link - one month to 4 years

Bumblebee - two months to 2 years

School Day! & School Room Changes

Hooray!  We made it!  We actually spent some time in the school room for about an hour and a half on Friday.

I decided to bring Bumblebee in for a few minutes before his nap.  First, Link showed him everything in his sound boxes.  Then he gave a presentation on the pink tower.  That was all Bumblebee could take.  After that I was doing serious diversion because he was wanting to get into everything.  So he went to take his nap.

Then Link and I reviewed the sandpaper letters and read the /t/ and /b/ Sound Box books.  Two seconds of pencil sharpening.  Last we did the brown stair (using teamwork).  I would hand him the blocks and he would take them to the rug.  He doesn't put them out of order though, he just builds it.  He can do the pink tower, red rods and brown stair very easily, he just chooses not to.

I have decided that its time to redo the school room again.  Bumblebee is really missing out and is really ready to join us.  So, for the next week, instead of having school time, we'll be taking all the shelves apart and reassembling them differently in a different room.  I'll add some shelves for Bumblebee with his own works and I'll be adding some new works for Link.

I reviewed this old post over at What Did We Do All Day to refresh myself on handling a child under two along with an older one.  I also reviewed a few posts after that to get some ideas for what type of work Bumblebee may be able to handle at 21 months.  The youngest over there is exactly three years older than Bumblebee.  Specifically, this one, this one, this one, and I especially like this one.   Something about seeing other people's kids have fits makes me feel a little better about mine having them.  I just know Bumblebee is going to be a handful and I really hope I can handle it!  I just cannot see him sitting through a single presentation.  I also cannot see him leaving Link's shelves or work rug alone.   

I have to admit, I don't have a lot of patience and my kids do not seem as well behaved as the ones I read about.  I also have to admit, I avoid doing many things with both boys at the same time because I have a hard time keeping Bumblebee out of trouble.  He is three months shy of two and I am sure he has missed out on a lot that I did with Link by this time.  He doesn't listen - actually, he blatantly ignores me at times.  I am probably too easy on him.  There are two reasons (excuses) I have for this.  First, he is a small 21 month old (the size of a 12 month old) so I tend to expect less from him forgetting that he really is older.  Second, I think I was too hard on Link and I still feel guilty about that.  But I digress.

Next post - Updated School Room!!

Working Unattended :)

I wasn't the most observant Montessori Instructor today :)  I was using the computer, which is in the school room and Link was doing his own thing.  At first he was just hanging out in the other room, but then I noticed him behind me, going through his new (and incomplete) /f/ box.

It's kinda funny how he progressed through his work today.  He found a piece of foam and thought it was like a sponge.  So, naturally, he thought it should go with some kind of water activity and put it with the whisking activity.  Then, he wanted to whisk, so I told him I'd find him a sponge.  Again, I wasn't paying a lot of attention to him at this point; he's pretty good at doing it by himself.  The next thing I knew, he was in the bathroom cleaning the toilet.  He was so enthusiastic about it, I had to be too!  Afterwards I cleaned his sponge and he went back to whisking.  Next thing I knew, he was cleaning the toilet again :)

It's very difficult for him to walk with the bowl full of water when he puts too much in it.  So, after I helped him clean all the water up, he surprised me by choosing the geometric solids!  I added the bases about a week ago, but haven't been able to give him a presentation on it.  I was about to jump in and ask if he wanted one, when he picked them up and started matching them up!  I decided that stopping his work to do a demonstration of something he obviously "got" would not be conductive to his continued use of the material.  So, I sat back and waited until he looked like he needed me.  Once he got out one of the stands, looked at it with confusion, and put it back, I asked if I could show him something neat.  So, I demonstrated how the ovoid wouldn't stand up on the tile by itself, but how it would on the stand.  Link was very into this.  He demonstrated for me how the others would either roll or fall over.  Then he spent a good bit of time building.  Since he wasn't hurting anything and was putting things together and experimenting, I just let him go at it.

School Day

We started the day out today with hammering!  Who could have thought this activity would be such a hit :) Surprisingly, Link chose to do a few works that he has not been interested in doing since I put them out.  But first, we painted.  He has been wanting to for a while, but he always asks towards the end of Bumblebee's nap, so I haven't been able to let him.  Today, he asked right away.  Since we were using non-washable acrylic paints I decided to take him to the garage :)  I painted his dressing frame boards and he painted a little boat.

Before Bumblebee woke up, Link washed his acorns and did some cutting and glueing.  The acorn washing is another example of him doing an activity simply because it has to do with water.  That was all we had time for, but it was a good two hours.  Then, for the next few hours, Link pretended to be a bird.  It really tickled Bumblebee, who kept trying to jump the way his brother was; it looked more like a skip.  I really could not think of a way to give the poor boy wings to "flap" as he requested.  I ended up using one of my long sleeve T-shirts, folded up so that I could stick my sleeves through his short sleeves.  It gave him something to flap and worked for him!

For some reason Bumblebee decided he needed to rest a bit this afternoon.  So Link wanted to go back to the schoolroom.  He did the push pin activity briefly.  Then I decided to do the cylinder blocks, two together.  He immediately asked if he could help and took over. They are so easy for him to do, but it is not a careful thing.  He tries each one in every hole, though I'm pretty sure he knows right where they go.  Once he realized that putting the really small ones in the really big holes makes you "loose" them, he wanted to do that over and over so that I could watch him laugh at the top of his lungs.  He is so rough with them I was afraid they wouldn't make it though their first use.  He used them to shoot, to squeeze his shirt, spun them around so he could reach the other side, banged them together and generally was not careful with them.

Then instead of choosing an activity, he wanted his coin box from the top shelf so he could take the money out to "help his brother".  I convinced him to put the coins back, on the condition that if Bumblebee cried, we would "rush back to the store and put that money in the little bucket to help Bumblebee".  (He put money in the bucket to "help people" today.)

After that, he wanted to read a book because he noticed that his reading chair was in the school room.  Is my child the only one who thinks that Peter Rabbit is scary?  After I got through the first page, he jumped out of his chair and said he didn't want to read it because it was scary and had "that naughty bunny" in it.  He is a very sensitive soul :)

Getting Home & Getting to Work

We got home last night about 6:00.  As soon as we walked in the door, Link wanted to do some activities.  I managed to get him to eat a little dinner and wait until Bumblebee was in the bed, then we spend a good hour in the school room.  He wanted to hammer and whisk first.  Then I asked if he wanted to build something.  He decided to take three blocks from the brown stair out, built a "Brown Tower" and put it back.  He looked like he might use the cylinder blocks for about 2 seconds, then decided to cut some paper instead.  He showed Daddy his globes and told him all about them.  Then punched some holes.

I had to wrap it up so he could go to bed and he was out like a light.

We're working again today.  He's hammered and whisked again of course.  After that he needed to write and cut with his scissors.  I have been encouraging him to get his whisking activity out and ready by himself.  He needs a little reminding when it comes to putting it away, but I think he likes the fact that he is doing it all himself.  Plus, he gets to use the sink :)  For the first time in a while he got the beans out to sweep up.  He did a little sweeping, then used his hands to put them on the dust pan.  Pouring them back into the little cup was a cute challenge.  He said "oh, another mess" then cleaned up all the ones that didn't make it in using his broom to sweep the majority of them.  He repeated that process until they all made it into the little cup.

Link is funny about his work rugs. Sometimes he likes to choose a rug, then find an activity that fits that rug.  Today he wanted to do "a little one" so he chose the tree puzzle.  However, after he took the puzzle apart he decided it was too hard and his little rug would make a good cape.  I explained that if he wanted to play, we could put his school things away and go play.  He tried the tree puzzle  again, then pulled out the horse puzzle since he couldn't do the tree.  After finishing the horse I had to help with the tree so that he could put it away.  Then he was ready to go play with his cape!  I noticed the bowl and whisk were still missing, so I asked him to bring it back before going to play.

Bumblebee is awake, so I think we'll all color for a while.

School Day

Since we've had our only school day this week, I figured I'd go ahead and wrap the week up :)  We're leaving tomorrow and will be gone for 10 days.  We made it to the school room yesterday for just a few works, but we've done some fun things outside of the school room that are worth mentioning.

Since we've got a lot of leaves falling around here, I thought it might be fun to get Link a child sized rake and let him go at it.  I also got him a garden hoe.  Little did I know, the hoe would be all the rage and the rake would get no attention at all.  Apparently little boys really like to whack on things, especially clods of dirt.

Monday was our school day.  Link chose to do all of his sound boxes.  Its time to switch the b and c boxes out, but it'll have to wait until after Thanksgiving.  Then he wanted to try the new push pin activity.  He really liked it and wanted to show his whole family what he'd made :)

This is the activity I tried making while he was working on other things, but he ended up joining me by cutting up a ton of felt.  So, of course, he decided that one of the brown strips needed to be smaller, and he had to cut it up before he could pin the pieces.  He was quite proud and wanted to have me take a picture after they were all in.

This may sound like a silly question, but I wonder with activities like this if I should go back later and take all the pins out and "reset" the activity, or let him do it next time?  With the golf tees and Styrofoam I just leave them because he still has plenty.  But with this, he's about out of space, push pins and shapes.  He doesn't really like taking his stuff apart and would probably just add to it.  But, I think if it was a clean slate, he'd get more use out of it.  I guess I'll have to wait and see if he will take it apart :)

Once he was finished with the push pin patterns, he asked about something new I'd added.  I made a bag of 20 blocks, 10 cubes and 10 rectangular prisms.  I used one of Daddy's winter hats as a "blindfold".  I tried starting the presentation, but had to stop in order to answer questions about why I didn't want to see.  Then, once I started again, he noticed that I was feeling the blocks the same way we do the geometric solids and decided to pull them out.  I am pretty sure I didn't handle his diversion correctly.  I really wish I knew how to handle things like this, I never know if I should redirect him, or just let him go.  Anyways, I asked if he'd like to do the geometric solids or if he wanted a presentation.  He decided to put the geometric solids back, but then didn't want to sit through the presentation either.  He decide he wanted to do some stamping.  That lasted about 1 minute, because he needed to go to the bathroom.  While he was in there, he noticed the step stool I'd moved to the room so that he could reach the water.  He immediately wanted to do some activity which required him getting water :)  Since I'd just added a whisking activity, I suggested that one.  For some reason, I didn't get any pictures of him whisking, just some of him drying his tools when he was finished.

No, the ladle was not part of the activity.
He saw it and decided he needed to make soup and pizza.

That was all we did in the school room.  However, during lunch he did get another practical life work in.  I pulled out a small pitcher and a shot glass for Bumblebee to drink water at lunch and Link decided he needed to help.  He would pour his brother some water, then wait for him to drink it, so he could pour some more.  It was so sweet :)  

Since he seemed to enjoy pouring with the pitcher, today I pulled out the one I was using for rice not that long ago.  I was thinking of using both with water, but he saw the rice before dinner and wanted to try it.

Bumblebee saw me taking pictures and started saying "Cheeeeese"
so I had to include him in the photo shoot :)

So that's it for this week.  We'll be back in about two weeks!

School Days

We made it "into" the school room twice this week.  That really just means that on the other days we did activities that were not on the shelves, but these two days Link actually chose something from the shelves to do.

I introduced the Continents Globe and the Map of the World Parts.  Link took to this presentation very well.  He also chose to look at his sound boxes.  I think the only thing that is drawing him to the sound boxes is the book that is in each one.  I think that was all we did that day.  He's not that interested in the other works and we haven't had as much time because Bumblebee's naps have been getting shorter.

The next day Link wanted to paint his bus.  I found this little wooden bus at Wal-Mart for like 98 cents.

Painting the lights

He gave a commentary on what he was doing...
making a road, power lines, and little foot prints from walking ;)

The finished product.

 When he finished painting he wanted to do his map and globe again.  He only wanted the sandpaper globe for me to use.  He also did not want to do this on a rug.  It had to be the table, which is probably better anyways since his knees always end up on the material.

He wanted to match up the pieces to the corresponding continent on the globe.

I added the /e/ box, but it only has an elephant and an egg... kinda sad.  I also have the envelope in there with the pictures from the alphabet photo library.   Right now I have the c, d, and e boxes on the shelves.

Below is the activity I've been working on.  I originally thought it would be a good replacement for a hammer and tack set.  But, I don't think hammering the little push pins would last long.  Link almost always does things the easy way.  (For example, if it is easier to pick up acorns with his hands than it is to use the spoon, then thats what he'll do.)  I am hoping it will at least be fun and help his pincer grasp.  The idea is the same as the hammer and tack set, but uses push pins instead of nails.

School Week(s) Review

I've done a terrible job of taking notes lately.  As a result, I have no idea how often we've been going to the schoolroom.  Some days its only been 30 minutes before bed :)  I mentioned before that I had to switch things out pretty quickly, so there are some things that went in and out without mention of what Link did with them.

This is the post I made with new activities, but never got around to reviewing how it went.
One main note I want to make is that Link is not interested in doing activities that involve pictures printed on paper more than once.  There were a few I thought he'd just love doing - such as the dinosaur matching cards.  Nope!  He did it once and that was it.  So I have decided that I need to try not to have too many of these at one time, try not to put too much effort into making them since they won't get used much, and try to switch them out pretty quickly.  One thing he seemed to have difficulty with was the "What is different" cards.  He tends to put three markers on the things that are the same :)  Obviously he can tell the difference, but either doesn't understand the instructions, or choses to ignore them.  He seems to understand the Land, Air and Water cards, but was never able to complete it before he stopped attempting it.  He did like the "what goes together cards" and did them maybe 2 or 3 times.  The classification cards (ocean and farm) were way too easy, and he lost interest in that quickly.  All of these are off the shelves now.

In the School Room Setup post, I mentioned that I added some of my new materials.  I'll go through each activity (sorry if this gets long winded, but its the best way for me to record how he's doing with new works).

Pink tower - Link is really not interested in this work right now.  He did attempted it once after I gave him the presentation.  He is good at the size discrimination, but doesn't try to carefully center the pieces.  After the one time, he has not touched it again.  I've suggested it, but he just says "No thanks!"  I may try to give him a presentation on an extension and see if that peaks his interest... maybe.

Red rods - Link seemed really excited about these and asked for them before I even had them on the shelves.  However, after giving him the presentation, he wouldn't touch them for days.  Then when he did, he just wanted to build a building.  I asked if he remembered the presentation, but he would just say "I'm building you a tall building".  When I said "Well, they aren't really for building" his reply was "I'm building like the pink tower".  I just left it alone and decided to re-present another time.

Cylinder blocks - the first and second blocks seemed really easy.  However, he doesn't really mix them up when he takes them out, so I'm sure that helps.  The one time he has done each, he did them quickly then put them away.  I plan to introduce a new one each day, then start with two - I think that will be a bit more challenging and interesting for him.

Geometric solids - these have gotten a little attention, even if I have to jump-start it.  He explored them a few times before ignoring them.  So today I did the next presentation from Gettman, where you point out that you can match up the bases.  Of course it sparked the "I'm building a building" reaction.  But he didn't get carried away with it, and at least he was using them and noticing the shapes.

Globe - the sandpaper globe has been a hit.  He's gotten it out a few times and explored it.  He'll point out all the land and water, and we'll talk about things that live on land and in the water.  He likes to pretend that he's telling me where we live, and how we're going to the beach and jumping in the water.  Next week I'm going to bring out the continents globe and map.

Puzzles - also a hit.  He kept asking for others that I don't have out, so today I broke down and put all eight of them out!  Plus, he can't see them when they are stacked, so I spread them out on all the shelves that had space.  I will have to come up with a better solution since I will not have space for that once I start adding other works.

Sound boxes - I'm so excited about these!  I had the 'b' box and 'c' box out, but put the 'b' one away since he lost interest in it. Today at the library I found some great books to add to the boxes!  They are sound box books and Link really liked it.  I think its the fact that the little kid is putting things in the box, just like Link's sound box.  He went through it twice today.  I had been really wanting the Alphatales books, but they are $40.  Now that I know I can get these from the library, I will probably put off buying anything for a while :)  I plan on working up my boxes and having 2-3 out at a time.  I went ahead and checked out the 'd' and 'e' books.

Practical Life - I am really lacking in this area.  I plan on adding a few things for next week.  Rather than post my ideas, I'll just wait and post what actually gets done :)

The sound bottles have been put into new boxes and I'll give a new presentation next week.  For now, they are off the shelves.

New on the shelves and the marathon school day!

Before we left for vacation last week I added several new activities to the shelves.  Link only had time to do one or two, so he was very eager to go to the school room today.  We spent three hours there the first time and an hour the second time!  When I put his brother to bed for the night, he asked to go again! (we didn't)

Tonight I'll just mention the new activities:

• color box (I took out the 3 pair from Box 1 and put in about 10 pair of color swatches I picked up from Lowes)
• Classification cards - farm and ocean pictures
• What does not belong
• Dinosaur matching - I printed two of these to use as visual discrimination cards (I figured they would be more interesting than the leaf ones)
• Same / Different Cards
• Fall cutting strips
• Pouring beans between two cups
• Locks w/keys
• Money sorting - nickels, quarters, and pennies
• "B" sound box - bat, batman, boat, bunny, brown bear, blue block, barn, bottle, belt w/buckle

One of the three hours we spent in the school room was not doing an activity.  Daddy went to Atlanta this week, so while he was there I had him pick up various sized boxes from Ikea.  Link helped me put 6 of them together today.  Talk about pincer exercise!  Each box had about 12 holes to be pushed out and 4 screws with nuts to be attached.  Link did almost all of it with me holding the box together.  

Tomorrow (hopefully) I'll have some pictures of the new activities and a rundown of the three days we've had in the school room this week.

Treasure Maps!

Since I'm going to be ordering some maps soon, I thought I should do some preliminary map activities.  So, last week instead of going to the school room, we mapped my bedroom.  Its funny how we take for granted the ability to understand that something on paper can represent a room, house, neighborhood, etc.  Once I got started, Link picked it up quickly.  I drew the room and explained what it was.  Then asked him to point to all the doors and showed him what they looked like on the map.  I asked him to point out things in the room, then I drew them on the map.  We did a sorta-three-period-lesson with things to be sure he understood what the map represented.

Then, the most exciting part - I drew an X on the nightstand, and told him that there was treasure in there.  For a good five minutes, I couldn't get him to go see what it was because he was laughing so much.  It tickled him every time I said it, but finally, he went and checked the nightstand.  Then we did it again in the kitchen.  He really enjoyed this and spent the rest of the day "drawing maps".

Over the weekend we all went to Bald Head Island for a little family vacation.  Unfortunately it rained almost the entire time.  However, since it wasn't exactly beach weather we decided to go see some things on the island we haven't visited (because we're usually too busy at the beach!).  So, Daddy, Link and I hopped on the golf cart with our map of the island and made our way to the Old Baldy.  On the way I attempted to teach Link his left and right so that he could tell Daddy which way to go.  I also pointed out points of interest on the map and asked Link where he'd like to go and where we were or where we were going.

I'll probably continue these activities for a little while just because Link enjoys them so much.  Hopefully once we get our maps of North America and the World Parts, and our globes, it'll all come together.

No School This Week

We have had a busy week after being out of town for a week.  Monday we unpacked and rested, Tuesday the landscaper, appliance man and carpet man all came by, and Wednesday was the farmers market and other errands.  So Thursday I get to clean up after being gone all day Wednesday, except for the time we stopped by the house to make a mess.  I'm also going to try to get some materials put together while the boys are sleeping.

I didn't intend to have school time as I haven't yet changed the activities.  However, when Link and I went down to tell Daddy good night, Link decided it would be a good time to show Daddy all the things he could do.  I was amazed!  He chose things he has NEVER chosen on his own.  He folded towels, hung clothes, transferred with the dropper, matched land, air and water cards, matched blocks to the pattern cards, cut and pasted, and even matched color tablets.  It all only took about an hour.  Then I suggested that we head to bed.  By this time even Daddy and I were tired.  I had to nudge Daddy a few times to keep him from putting his feet on the table, shaking the color tablet box and starting to point out an error Link was making.  Later I mentioned to Daddy that Link knew how to do the activity, so having the error pointed out would not help things, and Link may be embarrassed, especially because the entire reason Link wanted to do the activities was to show Daddy.

In other news, I'm close to being ready to make my material purchase.  I haven't decided between buying $200, $400 or $500.  I've also gotten a little more advice on what to order and where to save.

I don't have any photos from our night with Daddy, but I do have a few from our last session that I didn't share and one of my boys "fixing" my table.

Teaching little brother how to fix things

Mixing rice with his hands

Fist time with dropper

Land, Air and Water cards with goggles ;)