Presentations for Little Brother!

This morning I was sitting at the boys' table doing some reading (and shopping for bead materials) when Link decided to give his little brother a presentation.  Check it out!!

Busy Boys

For a while I'm sure it seemed as though we'd all disappeared.  We've been very busy though, which is part of the reason I haven't had time for blogging (not that I have more time now).  I thought I'd share a few photos of what the boys have been up to.  Haven't they gotten big!!

At the library

Link's new bow

Play dough color mixing

You may notice the half painted fence in the picture below.  Boy, that is a time consuming project!!!  We have only been in our house for a few years, now its time to stain the fence and porches for the first time.  I never realized how long that fence is!!!

Big enough to help in the yard

I built three raised beds with a little help from the boys.  Then we planted blueberries, blackberries and strawberries.  We have a lot of rabbits, so we had to have a little fence around the strawberries with a removable front.

Removing the bunny barrier

Bumblebee watering blueberries

Bumblebee and Beya have enjoyed going to story time at the library.  We always have to stop and play with the puzzles and legos while we are there.

At the library

Sheet fort!

Blurry, super fast baby Beya

Bringing me the "flower" he picked for me

Looking for strawberries

Beya looking for blackberries

Montessori Math vs. Math-U-See

Remember I said I bought Math-U-See (in a moment of weakness)  because it had a step by step set of lessons.  Well, I guess I had forgotten about Meg's albums and Gettman, because now that I'm going through them, they do have a "list" of lessons.  But, its done, I've already spent the money ($158) on Math-U-See, now I need to make it work as much as possible for now.  However, I will have to spend an additional $73 each year if I stay with it.

I'm going to go through the Math-U-See lessons and see how they compare to Meg's albums.  Since I'm using Meg's albums as my primary Montessori Math resource, I guess it would have made more sense to use her groupings.  I'll just start with group two:

Group 2: Decimal System and Operations

• Bead Presentation

• Presentation with Cards

• Formation of Numbers with Beads and Cards 

• Collective Exercises

• Addition 

• Subtraction 

• Multiplication 

• Division 

• Division with Bows 

• Stamp Game

• Orientation 

• Addition 

• Subtraction 

• Multiplication 

• Division

Math-U-See is similar in some respects.  It uses manipulatives and starts out (after learning everything that is also in Meg's group 1) with Unit Bars.  Here is the TOC starting with lesson 11 from Math-U-See:

11. Unit Bars
12. Addition: Introduction and Symbolism
13. Addition +1
14. Counting to 20
15. Addition: 2+2 and 3+3; Vertical Addition
16. Shapes: Squares; Addition: 4+4 and 5+5
17. Skip counting by 2
18. Addition of Tens
19. Skip Counting by 10
20. Addition of Hundreds
21 Solving for an Unknown

22 Skip Counting by Five

23 Tally Marks

24 Addition: Making 10

25 Skip Count to Find Area

26 Telling Time with Minutes

27 Telling Time with Hours

28 Telling Time with Minutes and Hours
29 Subtraction: Introduction and Symbolism
30 Subtraction: –1

It looks like the two methods are covering very similar material.  Honestly, I like the Montessori way better, except for having to spend so much on the bead material. In my next post I'll really get into how much I'd have to spend, but right now I need to figure out if I'm okay with Math-U-See.  My main gripe with Math-U-See comes down to one thing - WORKSHEETS!

Concepts are taught with the blocks, then the child is supposed to practice using worksheets.  There are about 400 pages in his workbook!

More Math Materials

I'm 95% sure that I'm going to be doing Montessori Math this year.  Since I have Math-U-See I'll use it as much as Link wants, just to see how he and I like it.  So now I have to figure out what materials to get and from where.

Here is what MBT has determined that you need:

• the Decanomial Bead Bar Box
• the Elementary Negative Snake Game
• the Complete Bead Material
• Forty-five Golden Bead Units
• Forty-five Golden or Wooden Hundred Squares
• 9 or 45 wooden 1000 cubes (one golden cube comes in the complete bead material)

From IFIT, this is what that would cost (it was a few dollars off from free shipping):

In the comments, someone mentioned that all they needed was this:

the Intro to Decimal System
the Decimal Quantity,
the 100 chain and
the 1000 chain
the short bead stair and bead chains,
the decanominal box.
wood base 10 blocks

Below is actually what she said, and I extrapolated.  I wasn't exactly sure what she meant by "wood base 10 blocks" so I guessed.

AndieFSeptember 17, 2009 at 5:50 PM

What I've done/decided to do is buy the Intro to Decimal System and Decimal Quantity, the 100 chain and the 1000 chain from one of the discount supplier. Then I made the short bead stair and bead chains, but I made them in the Math U See colors because that is what the elementary kids use. The Math U See blocks are like plastic base 10 blocks, but each quantity is a different color (a unit is green, a 5 bar is light blue, etc.)
I bought the starter set of Math U See (and am going to buy the completer set) so that is basically the decanominal box. Then I have wood base 10 blocks for the rest of the golden bead material. (I got them from a local teacher supply store when they were having their 25% off sale.)

That way, I haven't spent TOO much money, and I haven't had to spend TOO much time building my own, and then my own preschool aged children ease right into Math U See.

This is what that would look like, from A Plus Montessori:

What I need to know is how long will this last me?  Will I end up needing more later?  If so, what will I need later?

I also noticed this set from Adena (for $77+$16 for shipping), which looks like it would work all the way through the Group 2 work, but not through the other bead work:

This set includes three kinds of materials :
beads: 100 unit beads, 45 bars of 10, 45squares of 100,9 cubes of 1000
containers: 2 wooden boxes, 3 wooden trays and 4 brown cups
cards: set of 2 small number cards 1-9000 and one set of large number cards 1-9000

Then there is this from IFIT for $230+$60 shipping:  (also from KidAdvance for $242 total)

There are other math materials that I will need to buy, regardless of what bead material I get.  I don't need it all right now, but I do need some of it.  The prices look like this from A Plus Montessori:

If I got the KidAdvance set plus a Teens &Tens board, then for $295 I could make it through Group 2.  That sounds reasonable to me.  Then again, if I don't buy the full set now and wait until next year, then I will be wasting ~$68.  If I get MBT set, then I also need the Teens & Tens board and number cards.  As much as I hate it, I'm going to have to get a cabinet for the bead materials too.

$295 now, then $584 (KidAdvance) = $879
OR
$838 now (IFIT)

Since its not that much of a difference, I'm going to have to go with the smaller purchase!

Not that I can compare directly, but on this post from MBT, she says that Me Too is gearing up for the snake game.  A year ago he was doing the collective exercises, so maybe Group 2 would take about a year.

Now I just need to figure out if there are any other materials from either math or the other subjects that I need to get while I have free shipping!

**Edited to Add**
Just realized that I don't need the Teens & Tens board yet!  That's in the next group!  But, I may need the stamp game.

Montessori Math Materials

Since Link finished up preschool I decided to slowly ease into homeschool this summer.  So every day we are going to do a little bit of reading, writing and math.  So far, the reading and writing from Logic of English are going well.  The math is going slow, mainly because its a little too remedial for Link at this point.  However, I'm also getting the feeling that it isn't going to be as hands on as I would like.

I've been doing more research into Montessori Math because I'd like to use it as well.  I've been going over MBT post about bead materials for use at home, trying to figure out what I'd have to buy for just this year.  What she suggests would be roughly $400 for just beads.  That won't include the Stamp Game, Ten and Teens board, and any other boards that may be necessary.  

Gettman has a nice list and since his book is geared for "under-fives" I'm thinking I should try to get just what I need for his presentations.  This is what I'm looking at if I follow his suggestions:

(from Gettman, pg 161)

Group 2: Decimal System
Limited Bead Material
Number Cards
Function of the Decimal System
Formation of Complex Numbers
Unlimited Bead Material
Stamps
Dots

Group 3: Tens, Teens and Counting
Introduction to Teens
Introduction to Tens
Counting

Group 4: Arithmetic Tables
Addition Snake Game
Addition Charts
Subtraction Snake Game
Subtraction Strip Board
Subtraction Charts
Multiplication Charts
Unit Division Board
Division Charts

Group 5: Abstraction
Short Bead Frame
Hierarchies
Long Bead Frame
Simple Division

His book doesn't go into detail for all of the presentations, so I've also been looking for a different Math Album that is more concise than the one I have.  I have the Karen Tyler math album, but I like the simplicity of the Monteaco Album to get a handle on the general idea of the topics we'll cover.  I also like Meg's albums from Montessori by Hand.  Since I have those in pdf format, I've added them to my iPad and will be using them as my primary math resource.  Her table of contents breaks things up into similar groups, but with finer detail.  (By the way, I highly recommend her albums, they are great!)

I've been looking around at prices, and the best I have found so far is at Adena.  I can get the Golden Bead Material, Addition and Subtraction Snake Games, and the Stamp game for $200. (They are out of stock of the Teen boards, but they are an additional ~$50)  That's with $30 shipping.  I could swing that, if it would get me through the year. 

I still have to read through all the presentations to see what is needed for each one.  But from what I have read so far, it seems like I can get all the way through Multiplication with the Bead Bars before I need anything else.  Then I would need the bead stairs, multiplication board, unit division board, small and large bead frames, and fraction material.  

A Charlotte Mason Tidbit

I have always focused very much on Montessori and why I like it so much.  But there are things I like about other ways of teaching as well.  I was browsing the Ambleside Online Year 0 page and I especially liked the quote that she used from Charlotte Mason's Volume 1 - 

"...Health, strength, and agility, bright eyes, and alert movements, come of a free life, out-of-doors, if it may be, and as for habits, there is no habit or power so useful to man or woman as that of personal initiative. The resourcefulness which will enable a family of children to invent their own games and occupations through the length of a summer's day is worth more in life than a good deal of knowledge about cubes and hexagons, and this comes, not of continual intervetnion on the mother's part, but of much masterly inactivity." page 192

Classical Montessori Mason

In the time since I disappeared I have spent a lot of time reflecting on why we don't seem to get much school work done.  Link would have days where he was very interested in the work on the shelves, but he didn't repeat work often.  So I found that I was constantly needing new material, and since I couldn't keep up, we would often abandon the school room until I had time to come up with something new.

I really like the Montessori Method.  I see how it has worked so well for some kids.  But for some reason, I can't make it happen correctly in my house.   I feel like I am not educated enough in the process.  I'm not a teacher by training.  I have developed an increased respect for the profession.  

So, I have been looking for something to help me be more prepared and to keep me accountable.  I feel like I need something that says Lesson 1 "do this!"   At the end of 42 lessons, you are done! (hanging my head in shame)  I have bought math, reading and writing curricula, and signed up for Classical Conversations.  (there, I confessed!)

That being said, I still plan on keep true to the Montessori Method in many ways.  The curricula that I bought is very compatible in my opinion.  I plan to use it as a guide to make sure we are keeping on track and progressing, but the Montessori materials and the freedom of choice (within a work plan) will still be there.  We'll participate in the Classical Conversations lessons, but the way I'll follow up at home will be with lessons from my Montessori manual.  We'll do the lessons from the math curriculum, but (hopefully) supplement it with Montessori presentations.  Same with the reading and writing.  

In case anyone is wondering, I'll link to the curricula that I bought.

- Math - Math-U-See Primer

- Reading and Writing - Logic of English Foundations Level A
(I bought The Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading first, but then decided that I liked LoE better, I'll probably end up using some of it)  Before I realized that the Foundations curriculum included writing, I also bought the Rhythm of Handwriting book from Logic of English.

- I also bought Handwriting without Tears, because Link really likes trying to make letters with all sorts of things (pretzels, toys, whatever) and I thought it would be a good supplement.
- Music - Pfeiffer House Music Kindergarten (just for fun) and maybe the Nienhuis bells manual.

In addition to all of this, I will also be implementing a bit of Charlotte Mason.  Right now, its mainly nature study that we'll add.  But later, I'd like to add the "living books" aspect.

I've put a lot of thought into WORK PLANS as well!  So far, I know there are certain things I want Link to do every day - reading, writing and math.  I don't want to stop him if he wants to do lots of one, but I don't want him to put off doing any of them either.  So far, my biggest inspirations have been from (surprise, surprise) MBT over at What Did We Do All Day, Jessica at Montessori Trails and Lisa at Our Country Road.

I'm not entirely sure how I'm going to work it out.  Below is a screen shot of how I've been working through combining all of this mess :)

I've also made these cards that I think I'll use in my work plan.



Right now I'm thinking that I'll have these on a board or in a basket.  Then Link can choose what he wants to work on and move the card to a "finished" location.  Or something like that.  I'm thinking along the lines of the Montessori Trails idea.  I was originally thinking of having lots of copies of these and using pocket charts like MBT, but I think for now, the simplicity of the Montessori Trails idea will work for us.  I feel about the same as Steph over at Discovery Days and Montessori Moments :)

So, thats where I am.  Maybe later I'll post some picture of what the kids have actually been up to!