Montessori Elementary Homeschool Blog - with documentation of our infant Montessori, toddler Montessori, and primary Montessori experiences; as well as preparation for the upcoming adolescent Montessori homeschool years.
Showing posts with label extensions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label extensions. Show all posts

Friday, January 22, 2016

Tessellations - Pattern Blocks - In Montessori

Tessellations are an awesome extension of the Montessori experiences. While not a "Montessori material", they are perfect for children of all ages.

There is one modification I make to them, to align them with Montessori principles: if they come with a set of design cards, I utilize any of the cards that show how the pieces form other pieces (this is akin to the constructive triangles material); and I remove all the cards that show designs.
The three cards on the right - we like those type for some self-guidance.
The two cards on the right - I prefer the children to discover those patterns for themselves. 

Why? Because the children should use the pieces to create their own designs and discover for themselves the variety of "pictures" they can form. I find too many times over that providing the design cards, locks a child's mind into design mode and less on creative pattern discovery.


Toys in a Montessori Home - Lower Elementary
Tessellation Patterns in our Co-Op

Informative and interesting site about Tessellations: Tessellations.org



Some 3-dimensional "tessellations" - the power of 2 in elementary and the power of 3 in adolescent mathematics.


Fractals extensions totally work off of here too!

Friday, May 17, 2013

States of Matter: Coconut and Other Oils - Extended Uses


For those of you doing the Story of God With No Hands - here is another follow-up/extension (could be first year, second year, or ANY year) ----

My son asked about the melting points of oils - we make soap with various oils and fats, so this was something he had experience with. Some are solid at room temp and need to be heated; some are liquid already, but go solid in the fridge; and others stay liquid even in the fridge but not in the freezer....

The components of his first oil solid/liquid experiment:

some of them...
taken before we invested in the
big bucket of coconut oil
  • olive oil
  • coconut oil
  • sunflower oil
  • safflower oil
  • soybean oil (typical generic "vegetable oil" found in grocery stores; my opinion is reserved)
  • canola oil
  • peanut oil
  • lard
  • tallow
  • suet
  • blubber
  • duck fat
  • (these last ones - it is amazing what you can get when you call up the butcher at the local grocery store and ask for buckets and fat!)

I won't reveal his results, but I will say that he created a graph for each one; then created a second graph with the solidifying temps in order from lowest to highest. While graphing doesn't seem "explicit" in the AMI elementary Montessori albums, it is there for the economic geography, and should come in naturally in all sorts of extensions and follow-ups! (if it doesn't, introduce a place where it CAN be added ;) ). 


Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Legos!

He has the screen-name Legoboy for a reason ;)

A series of images of some of his recent work - that yes, I let count as school work if he can tie it into his other studies ;)

Riders of Rohan

Battling Ram and Siege Tower

Multiplication Checkerboard

Colosseum 

Fundamental Needs Cards - Heat (and cooling!)

Fundamental Needs Cards - Defense

Lord of the Rings - Fellowship of the Ring

Incomplete Nineveh (needs towers yet)

Riders of Rohan

(movable) Siege tower - attacking the castle

(meant to be) Incomplete Tower of Babel


Friday, January 11, 2013

How We Homeschool


Here is what I see happen in many homeschools:


A wonderful curriculum is selected or compiled from a variety of sources. This is for science; that is for math; etc. Or it's a complete curriculum package. Very handy and neatly laid out.

Then mom and dad (more particularly mom) gleans a neat idea from a homeschool friend in the neighborhood or homeschool co-op or from an online acquaintance. Or the child has an interest in something and a kit or supplies are found at the store or in storage. "This would be great to do with the children!" The materials are purchased or gathered. And there they sit.

Or they do work on it, but the curriculum has to be set aside for the time it takes to work on that project. Because there is only so much time left in the day.

And then we're behind on school.

Repeat cycle.

And there is burn-out.

Sometimes those fun things are saved specifically for burn-out time - February for many people (I happen to LIKE February myself ;) ). A good plan for anticipating what is coming, because you know it's coming, so let's have something on hand to cover it!

Well, if it works out that way.

Most of that stuff ends up sold to other homeschoolers who love the idea and may or may not use it. I once tracked the ownership of a particular resource I had just purchased back no less than EIGHT homeschool families, most of whom didn't even open it up before eventually passing it on. All contents were intact and none of the projects had ever been done in it.


But I ask: why plan for the burn-out? How about avoiding it altogether and still doing those fun things? ;)
Why sell off unused stuff that you KNOW your kids would have just LOVED if they'd had it at the right time, but they're now in college and you're online selling it off?



In our homeschool:

We do hit our times here in our homeschool where we just need a break. We don't call it burn-out because we're not burned out - we're just gearing up for a change of pace. We have these built-in times anyway because we live according to a liturgical year and that helps. But our curriculum choice helps too.

We have and use AMI Montessori albums. These albums provide a foundation and framework in their appropriate areas, as well as build connections between the subjects. If I just provide my son with THOSE lessons, he will have a solid foundation and a firm framework, but he won't have everything he needs.

Yikes, you're thinking! You mean your curriculum doesn't cover everything? (nope!) But that's terrible! A comprehensive curriculum is what a family needs to ensure the child learns everything he needs to know! (Well... not exactly).

See. My son has the foundation and the framework. And if I had more children, each child would then receive a solid foundation and firm framework. But what each child *needs* from there is going to be very different from the next child!

SO. We have a foundation and a framework. We then have TIME to explore personal interests (no, not just the interests he expresses, because the Montessori albums guide me to present in new areas in order to find new interests) in ways that speak to this child. So if my son is interested in the layers of the earth over types of rocks right now - so be it - we explore the layers of the earth. I know we'll come back around to that foundational presentation in the future and he WILL come around to studying different types of rocks.
And if he doesn't get there on his own? It is covered by 'family requirements' and 'local educational requirements' (anything required by the state in which you homeschool).

If my son wants to explore the orchestra by attending orchestral performances, we can do that; or if he would rather go to the music store and talk with an employee while the employee is pulling an instrument apart to clean it, repair it, and tune it -- we can do that instead! Or do both!

Thus, all the requirements are covered, with minimal time.

And we can pull in ALL SORTS of additional resources that supplement our "curriculum" (I know my Montessori trainers cringe at that word! Sorry! it's what most people understand, in regards to organizing a child's educational experience, so I'll use it for now ;) ) --- and we can explore personal interests SO DEEPLY.

And still have time and space left for family life.

What sort of stuff do we pull in while at home?
  • Fun science kits
  • Cooking experiments
  • Art projects of ALL kinds
  • Just sit and read for hours on end
  • Work on handcrafts for hours on end
  • Play games - lots of games - cards, boards, co-operative, etc. 
  • Writing one's own music
  • Being allowed to attend a midnight showing of The Hobbit and stay up afterwards to discuss it. 
  • Learn a foreign language; continue learning sign language --- for the FUN of it. 
  • Keep the house clean, together. 
And the stuff we can do outside the home is endless.

Ok, so some of those things apply more to my son than to my own free time (I run two small businesses from my home after all!). The point is that time is available because we're not looking at just the bare minimum requirements for 8 hours a day.

There is also a teeny-tiny amount of time available for computer usage, but at age 8, that time is less than half an hour per week. Not that I actually clock it at this point; it's just that the computer is for work and minimally available for play. Thus... there is also time for... SOCIAL INTERACTIONS. The only thing that non-homeschoolers want to know about ;) 

Lots of time. Lots of energy. Neither of which are spent on tedium or unnecessaries. 

Especially now I am pretty much DONE making materials or earning money specifically for Montessori materials. Blissful SIGH! ;) 


Consider how YOUR child learns. If you have more than one child - what are their similarities and differences? Is it possible to provide them a foundation and a structure and then allow each one time to explore their individual interests? Can they then learn from one another? And be involved in each other's interests at each one's own level?

;)


By the by, the kit mentioned above that had 8 previous owners? We had a BLAST with it! I'll post about it soon. It's been a while but is still discussed quite often.



Wednesday, January 9, 2013

God With No Hands - cooling layer


We make our own yogurt and the last few times, we've been using a simpler method that we LOVE - it's so easy!

When removing the milk from the pan and placing the jars on the counter, we always notice the layer of cooling milk on top.

This layer is mentioned in the first Great Lesson - The Story of God With No Hands - right before introducing the volcano... so it can easily slip into the recesses of one's mind when confronted with that *awesome* volcano!

This last yogurt-making was interesting though...

We were both working quietly in the living room and continued to hear a pop - pop - pop. Ever so slight.

Dreading the possibility of a mouse in our apartment, we crept into the kitchen....

and found...


This....



If you listen very carefully you can hear the quiet pop-pops - just barely. There are two other videos as well - both showing the same thing, but we couldn't decide which one to post!


Give it a try! Boil some milk in a glass jar by placing a 75-90% filled with milk jar into a saucepan of water and cover with a lid. Bring to a boil until the milk is about 160 degrees Fahrenheit. Now use a mitt to remove the jar and place it on the counter. Just let it sit. It won't take long!

Neat, huh!?


Wanna make yogurt while you're at it?
If you don't have a nice consistently warm place, do what we do and place that pan of hot water in a cooler which has been lined with a thick towel. Close the cooler for now to get it nice and warm in there.
(if you want to use raw milk and keep it raw, to make yogurt, you'll heat only to 110, but will not get a skin on the milk)

When the milk is about 105-110, mix in a spoonful of yogurt with active cultures. Put a lid on the milk culture and place it in the cooler next to the pan (best not to let them touch if the pan is still too hot - you don't want to kill the yogurt culture). Close the lid.

Come back in 24 hours (usually less but the 24 hours part is easy for us!).

To a pint jar, we add about 1 1/2 tbsp of sweetener (powdered sugar, honey, maple syrup, fruit juice concentrate) and whatever other ingredients you'd like. We are out of vanilla (still waiting for it to finish up) so we've been using almond extract - YUM!

Or mixed with homemade granola. YUMMIER!

It's pretty thick to start, but gets a bit runnier with stirring, so minimize your stirring if you want thick yogurt.

No pectin, no preservatives, our own sweeteners.

AND science!

Can't beat it!


Yes, those are wide-mouth Ball glass jars - we have been slowly switching over to just using those, instead of re-using other glass jars, because, well, we're not buying as many other glass jars as we make more and more of our own food from fresh produce. I chose wide-mouth because 1) the food doesn't clog up underneath a lip and 2) the same lids and rings fit on both pint (think jam) and quart jars - I really need ease of use and mis-matched lids have been hair-pullers in the last year! ;) Now I have multiple sized jars and just one size of lid that fits on all the jars. And everything looks so NICE in the cupboard, fridge and freezer!

After stirring it is just a bit runnier than organic yogurt.
Just as thick as well-stirred non-organic yogurt. 

In the cooler; we make 4 jars at a time.
Saving the last half of one jar as the culture for the next batch.