This is how I HOPE my homeschool works one day!

Wouldn't it be great if my homeschool could work as great as this!

Who Taught Wyatt How to Write?

Art?

Art? What's that?  Oh yeah, Link does art activities.... I have a few colored pencils and some blank paper for him to use.....  


I have to admit, I don't have an artistic bone in my body!  I realize I have been seriously lacking in this area with Link and I need to do something about it, but what is appropriate for a 2.5 year old?  Glue sticks? Not scissors?  Shoot, I don't even know enough about doing art with kids to ask what is age appropriate!

Time to read some blogs!  Check back later and I'll post about what I plan on doing (by later I don't mean tomorrow and maybe not next week!)

Misusing Materials, Lefties, Correcting Mistakes, and Montessori Groups

This should probably be several different posts, but since they are all applicable to me in the past few days, I'm going to lump them together.

Montessori Groups
For those of you not in-the-know, there are these great little things called Yahoo! Groups, specifically, there are Montessori Yahoo! Groups. Essentially, they are message boards specific to a particular topic that you can join. In addition to other people's blogs, these message boards are a fantastic way to connect with other Montessorians. What is really amazing about them is that there are people out there with tons of experience, education, and advice who are members of these boards who take lots of time to share ideas, answer questions or debate different topics. There are also people (like me) who have no experience and are asking questions and getting guidance. If you search for Montessori, you get tons of them, but the ones I joined are Montessori Beginnings, Montessori By Hand and Playschool6.

The reason I bring up these groups is because I've asked a few questions lately and I want to share the responses I got. Which brings me to the other three topics.

Misusing Materials and Correcting Mistakes
So I mentioned in my post Observations-Scooping Beans that Link really enjoyed the activity and did well with it. He liked it so much, that I decided to add it to the shelf. And since he has never really bothered the stuff on the shelves without someone in the room with him, I thought he wouldn't take it off the shelf. Well, a little later in the day I heard glass clinking and found that he had removed it and taken it into the other room where his little table is. (we only move the table into the room when we need it and he uses it daily for eating and playing). I was tickled pink! So I poured the beans into the bowl for him and just stood back to watch him. I was excited that he liked it and that he had carried it so carefully to his table. He scooped a couple of times, then walked off. So, I was like oh well.... then he came back, scooped a few more times, then picked up a handful and threw them in the air. Whoa! Please don't do that! So I do my best not to get aggravated (please remember, I am NOT a Montessori teacher and I am learning to be more patient). I say "we don't throw beans, lets clean these up" and while I'm on my hands and knees picking black beans off the carpet, he comes over and throws another handful..... I pick up beans faster, and put it all away again.  (heck, I was just proud of myself for not yelling)

I asked on the Playschool6 message board how I could handle this misuse. I really needed to know what to do after the fact, but they had good suggestions on preventing it from happening (this is a common theme with Montessori I think) I edited the responses a little bit (and didn't include who said what since I forgot to ask if it was okay for me to repost their responses)

We've all struggled with these two at one time or another (usually more often than that!) :)
For the materials and environment (including words spoken)
Rules:
*Must be respectful of the materials, their maker/purchaser, and the child(also phrased: respect for self, environment, materials, people within the environment)
*Does it help attain some portion of a direct or indirect aim?for the beans, exploring with hands is a sensorial act at a time the child is sensitive to this, as well as the use of practica life - it is helping connect with the material - for the tower building, there are toys (blocks) specifically for that and the material is designed for perceptual purposes (ok, not that castle building doesn't have some lessons in perception - but it's not close enough of a similarity)

For error-correction - honestly, most mistakes work themselves out over time. If he "knows" something and is a bit beyond the activity at hand, it may be playing a role into silliness. OR he's stretching his imagination - if the answers are possibilities, let it go. If the answers are just silly (a photo of a toilet going into the kitchen), he's probably beyond that particular aspect of the activity.

And that's what the control cards are for when you are using such sets of cards - so the child can check for himself. This alleviates the "judgement" aspect of correction, yet still provides the correction.

To prevent it, I would think you'd either have to direct the child to a different activity or be very vigilant when they are using the beans, for example, and stop the child before they throw. Then go find something they CAN throw. :)

Lefties
I also posted this on Playschool6:

I believe I've read somewhere that it is good to encourage your child to use their right hand to make writing easier. But how much should that be encouraged? Today I introduced a scooping activity to my 2 1/2 son. I showed him how to do it using my right hand, and he started out with his right hand, but switched to his left because it was easier.

If I constantly switch things I feel like he is loosing out on fine tuning his left hand if he does end up using it, but if I don't, I feel like I may be missing out on the opportunity to help him be right-handed.

Is it really possible to switch him from left-handed to right-handed? How should I handle this?

And boy did the lefties cry out!  Someone also very kindly came to my blog and left a comment.  So, I won't be worrying about switching his hands anymore!

I'm still getting used to being active in the whole online-community, but as I do, it's becoming more and more encouraging and helpful.  It can be both discouraging and helpful when all you read about is how wonderful other people's kids are when your kid is driving you a little batty, or how creative and well organized their homeschool environment is when yours is a total disaster.  But, I'm learning that the hardest part is getting started and that there are other people out there in the same boat as me... and its kinda cool to find people who can relate to you and offer advice... so thanks to everyone out there who has no idea they've been a great help :)

Observations - Scooping Beans

Today Link scooped beans.  In the mornings he likes to help me make Daddy's coffee.  So I decided it would be a good time to practice this skill.  I asked him if he wanted to and he said YES!

I've seen other people go step by step through what they did and I like it because it really highlights the skills he's learning.  So here's what we did:

1. Link carried his little chair into the room and I carried the table
2. He sat in the chair to my right
3. I named everything (the bowl, spoon and beans) and had him tell me what they were
4. He watched me scoop some beans from the left bowl into the right bowl.
5. He tried to scoop some beans (I'm not sure if I handled this correctly or not, but he wasn't tilting the spoon and getting anything, so I showed him again, then did it once holding his hand)  He did it some with his right hand, then switched to his left because it wasn't working well.  He did better with his left hand.
6. He scooped most of the beans over, then said he was all done.
7. I said, "okay, now lets move them back" and showed him.
8. He said "you" (which means he wants me to do it) so I did a few times, then he took over.  
9. He put the spoon down and used his hand to move them, then he "explored" a little.  He just felt the beans in the bowl, grabbed big handfuls and dropped them in the other bowl.
10. When he'd had enough, I got the bag for the beans and he helped me transfer them (from right to left) using the spoon in his right hand and his left hand. 
11. He felt around with the beans in the bag some more
12. He carried the chair and helped me carry the table back. 

Observations and Questions

• At what point does exploring become playing and when should I step in?  I decided it was at the point that he started to make a mess.
• He did well picking up individual beans that he dropped, but I had to encourage him to pick up the spoonfuls that fell while he was "exploring"
• How much should I interfere with his switching of hands?
• He said he was done, but then when I showed him something different to do, he kept going
• All together I think it was good for both of us - we both got practice with presenting a lesson, he had to wait until I showed him for his turn, I practiced observing and not interfering

Why is Montessori Education so Cool?

Well, there are lots of reasons I think it is great, but this post is about a study I read that was done in 1967 and was funded by the U.S. Department of Education.  (I wonder if there are any newer studies out there with the same or different conclusions?)  Anyways, they were studying "the general problem of finding more effective ways of preparing pre-school age children for their initial formal learning experience in school"  I'll skip right to the conclusion, and if you're interested in reading more you can check it out.   Since I am not that great at statistics, I'll just quote the conclusion rather than summarizing it.

The investigators found that the superior gains (27 percent greater) in verbal ability made by Montessori trained children over the other-than-Montessori-trained children were statistically significant at the p. .001 level of confidence.

Of the eight factors which emerged from a factor analysis of the variable rated in this study, only three: positive learning attitude, sensory motor coordination and verbal ability met statistical criteria for retention and further discriminant analysis.  The authors found positive correlations between positive learning attitude and verbal ability as well as with sensori motor coordination, but with the latter factor, only in the Montessori group, where many of the sensori-motor learning activity involve manipulative mathematics devices designed to develop the child's concept of number.  The investigators suspect the influence of general intelligence accounts for the positive correlations among these factors.  Group variance (higher for the Montessori than for the Control children) was significant at p. .05 when correlations of positive learning attitude were compared with sensori-motor coordination.

However, Montessori-Control group variances of the positive learning attitude factor and of the sensori-motor coordination factor were not significantly different.

Of the five to five-and-one-half year olds in this study, Montessori-trained children (67 percent and 94 percent) seem to have acquired greater "reading readiness" and "first grade readiness" than those in the Control group (30 percent and 50 percent).

Primary teachers in the public and parochial schools to which the children in this study transferred found no particular adjustment problems "peculiar to Montessori-trained children."  Then found no significant differences in creativity between children coming from Montessori and other pre-schools.  They rated children who had attended Montessori pre-school superior (at a statistically significant level) to their peers in interest in learning, independence, interpersonal relations, leadership and learning ability.

To fully understand what they were measuring and how, you'd have to read the study and look at the forms and other material they used.  I did not read the entire study, but it looks like it was well thought out.  Since I already thought Montessori Education is great, I didn't feel the need to be convinced all over again.  If you aren't convinced, this study may help :)

Here's all the info on the first page to help you find it:
Montessori Pre-School Education
Project 5-1061
Grant No. OE 3-10-127

Urban H Fleege, Ph.D
Michael S. Black, Ph.D
John A. Rachaushas, M.A.
June, 1967

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".

Update on Potty Training and Sleeping

Since we've done nothing productive this week, I figured I'd just write a post about how my boys are doing. Bumblebee is 5 months old now and is an angel! He's been sleeping through the night for a while now, maybe since he was 3 months old...? He is the happiest baby ever. He'll wake up in the morning after sleeping for 12 hours and he'll just lay quietly in his cradle sucking his thumb. He gives the the most wonderful smiles and his laugh fills my heart with joy. He'll stay awake a few hours, eat, then fall asleep sucking his thumb while laying on his little floor bed. Link will run through the house like a crazy person, but usually Bumblebee will sleep right through it. He sleeps about an hour, then he's awake for a while. I love to lay down beside him and talk to him, or take him around the house with me while I clean up or make lunch. He likes to sit in his little bouncy chair outside while Link plays. Mostly, he sleeps a lot. He most often falls asleep by himself, though sometimes I like to rock him just because he doesn't demand it often enough. He takes a 3-5 hour nap in the middle of the day and still sleeps at night!  (I'm so amazed because Link was the opposite as far as naps go)  He's starting to be awake a little more, and is holding his head up great.

Link on the other hand, requires quite a bit of attention. In my Turning 2 Update post, I mentioned that Link was sleeping in his bed and doing well with his potty training. Well a lot has happened in the last 4-5 months (besides Bumblebee being born). We moved from Atlanta, Georgia to Johnson City, Tennessee, out of our little bitty apartment in the city to a larger house that seems like its in the country. Link caught me with Bumblebee sleeping on my chest at night when Bumblebee was just a few weeks old and decided that he wanted to sleep with Mommy and Daddy too. So, even though Link has his own room, he is back in the bed with us.  And we've been on a potty training roller coaster! The course of that has gone something like this:

1. One week with no underwear while at home, he almost always made it to the potty, which was out in the living room
2. One more week with no underwear, he had a few accidents. 
3. Started with underwear, but I had to constantly take him. At this point, he didn't care too much about going to the potty and had tons of 'accidents'
4. Changed underwear to the kind he can pull down, but he still didn't really care. At this point, he had peed on just about everything: the bed, my rocking chair, my ottoman, his stool, the couch, I don't know how many times on the floor, his car seat, his Daddy, his Daddy's computer chair, while playing, while eating in a restaurant, while standing in front of the potty... it got to the point where we put a diaper on him while visiting other people's houses because we couldn't take him often enough!
5. Now he runs off by himself and its working great!

There is more detail there that I'm sure isn't very interesting, but the point is, I think we're finally there.  Ever since he's gotten into his "big boy" phase, he doesn't want me to run with him to the bathroom to help him pull his underwear down, he can do it all by himself. Now he very rarely has accidents, once a week or less. All of this makes me wonder if I would have done better to wait until he was in this phase to start, then I could have changed a few more diapers, and cleaned up a lot less off the floor. I got tired of taking him to go in the middle of the night once I stopped waking up with Bumblebee, then I got tired of pee in the bed, so I put him in a cloth diaper at night. It's dry 5 out of 7 nights.

Bumblebee has outgrown his cradle and is sleeping well, so we've decided to move him out of our room. I had originally wanted him to sleep on his floor bed, but I like it in the living room and I don't want to move it. So we're going to put up the crib in Link's room, and hope that Link will want to be in there too!

Oh, and it looks like Link is getting his appetite back.  He'll actually eat something now, though I am still unsure of how to handle meals :)  

Well, that was one exciting post if you like reading about the eating, sleeping, and potty training habits of other people's kids!

**edit**
of course about three hours after I posted this, Link pees three times because he's too busy to go... why do I curse myself?