Our Montessori Work Boxes

Ever since we started our Work Plans last month, I have been on a mission to make our school time more organized and consistent.  With so many different work options, it has been hard to figure out how to lay it all out in the small space that we have to work with.  This became a real challenge with little math books, little biology books, pink reading series games, etc.  There were so many bits of PAPER!!  And, I was getting overwhelmed with how to keep it from becoming one big mess! But, I found a great solution to this problem and am excited to share it with you.

Enter Sterilite file box.  YES, I realize it is just a file box.  Little did I know just how much easier it could make my life!  Let me show you.

Mustang and Charger both have their very own box.  I will be showing you Mustang's.

After Mustang chooses the work she wants to do for the day, she then checks her file box or the file that has that title or subject on it.

Quick peek into her box.

Here are three of the folders.

One of the works listed on her plan is living and non-living work.  I found this advanced work from Montessori for Everyone.  In this case, everything she needs to do this work was inside the folder.

For Biology, her works are to review the 3 part cards for the parts of a plant and the parts of a root.  There are also little booklets for her to make in each of the envelopes.  She would need to use the parts of a root puzzle to complete this work.  The materials are still on the shelves, it is just the paper items that are in this box.

I downloaded this neat game to learn Roman Numerals from Deceptively Educational. This one we worked on together.

This fraction work, from What Did We Do All Day? would need the fraction circles, and a presentation.  So, Mustang would get her work out and ask me for one.  I take turns between the children giving presentations. 

Once she completes a work for the day, Mustang puts it in her completed folder.  I then look over the papers at night and discuss any incorrect answers with her the next day in the way I feel necessary.  Sometimes, I just ask her to look over it (on a mistake I feel was made due to trying to work too quickly).  Other times, I will sit and go through that portion of the material with her to be sure she understands what is being taught.

For example, THIS work I will ask her to look over.  She was trying to bypass the use of the Multiplication Bead Board by simply adding 6 to each number.  So, once she got the first one wrong, all those below were also wrong.  

After all the work is looked over, and corrected if necessary, it all goes into a folder with that month's name on it.  So, now, I have all the work she did for the month in one spot.  This allows me to easily record what we did that month, and have proof if I ever need or want it.  

I should add that not all the work in each folder needs to be done in the same day.  She works on it for as long as she wants and then moves on to another folder.  Some folders have worksheets that only need to be done once, others have work that can be done as many times as she wants to during the month.

Using these boxes has allowed all of us to know where to look for each of the work papers needed.  I just didn't have space on the shelves to put papers next to the materials.  Plus, with 2 little ones also in the classroom, the papers had a tendency to walk off when I wasn't looking.  The boxes have put an end to that!

They also seem to further help the children to be more independent, because they no longer have to ask me where to find certain things.  I've even had Mustang start doing work voluntarily when she first gets up in the morning!

So, if you have a small space and are doing Montessori Elementary work, how do you organize your papers?  I would love to hear how others organize their work.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

God Bless,
Lisa

We are linked up to:

Montessori Triangle Box Lessons

This past weekend we received a new shipment of materials.  I am ALWAYS excited to get new Montessori Materials, and this was no exception!  I dug right in and started trying to understand our new materials, specifically the Triangle box.

I had watched this video on the Primary Triangle box lesson and was moderately impressed.  Knowing that triangles build triangles wasn't a new concept to me (and of course shouldn't be).  I thought this would be one of the lessons that I went ahead and taught even though I didn't really see the value, because sometimes I don't get the 'why' until later.

But, as I was reading through the Geometry album (free) from Cultivating Dharma and read the equivalency charts, I found out that it takes a whole new level in the Elementary class and I was VERY IMPRESSED.  So much so, that I showed my husband.

Now, my husband is very passive about our schooling choices, and I think he sometimes questions the financial investment necessary for the Montessori Materials.  I occasionally show him the materials and get mixed results.  Not this time :).

Here are the photos for the basic Triangle Box presentation (you can also watch the video in the above link to see it in action):

The triangle box with all the contents inside.  Pretty easy to distinguish what is in the box.

The pieces are all laid out and the object is to build three different triangles.

Here they are all put together.  

It was slightly challenging for Mini Cooper, who is 3 1/2 (a bit below the recommended age), but she did just fine.

But, that isn't the end...

Here are the Elementary Lessons (the ones that had us so impressed).

By rearranging the pieces of each triangle, the child is able to visualize that each shape has the same AREA no matter what the shape, itself is.  This is a concept that is so very hard to explain.  

Here, we have a square and a rhombus.

Finally, a triangle and a hexagon.  Even I found myself internalizing the material on yet another level.  I had always known it to be true, but I don't think I've ever put it together myself.

This equivalency chart is part of the free Elementary album from Cultivating Dharma and is just a wonderful resource.

I was extra impressed when, after finishing the lessons I showed her my Mustang (who is 7), made this one:

Once again, I'm so grateful for Dr. Montessori and her insight of how to present complicated concepts to even a young child.  

Thanks so much for stopping by!  God Bless and Happy Schooling,

Lisa

We are linked up this week!

TOS Review: Homeschool in the Woods

Homeschool in the Woods specializes in writing hands-on history timelines, activity packs, lapbooks and more!  Homeschool in the Woods was created by the Pack family who began homeschooling in 1996.  They found that they enjoyed history a lot more if they could 'see' how it all worked together.  They began using timelines but their mom-a former graphic design artist-was disappointed in the images often found in products they found to use.  Finally, in 2002, the family used their talents to start Homeschooling in the Woods.  They began with timeline products and have grown to offer many more products to help history come alive.  Over the last month, we have been trying out their new Activity Pak Great Empires.

Ever since we started memorizing the timeline of history in our school co-op, my children have been much more interested in learning about historical people and events.  So, when we were offered the opportunity to review this pak, I was very excited.  The Great Empire pack covers 14 great empires of history they are:

• Ancient Egypt
• Ancient Greece
• Ancient Rome
• Ancient China
• Arab-Muslim Empire
• Mongolian Empire
• Viking Empire
• Spanish Empire
• French Empire
• English Empire
• German Empire
• Japanese Empire
• Russian Empire
• and The United States of America

Each of the empire studies includes a text page and activities.  There are between 4 and 10 activities for each empire.  The activities vary greatly.  For example, the activities for Ancient Egypt include making a Cartouche to cooking Fig Cookies.  But, each empire generally included one 'art' project and one cooking project, along with map work and internet research.

Also included in the Ancient Empires Activity Pak are book lists for each empire.  We found these lists to be particularly helpful and full of good suggestions.

We started out our study by reading the included texts, and then Mustang was aloud to choose which-if any-of the activities she wanted to do.  When we went through the Egypt study, she really enjoyed the Cartouche project and was very interested in the heiroglyphs used to make them.  She wrote me a lot of messages to decode with the heiroglyphs.

As I mentioned before, however, our favorite item ended up being the book lists.  The text sections of the Activity Pak seemed to be a bit hard to read.  Not sure if it was because Mustang is at the low end of the suggested age or what, but I had a very hard time getting her to read it.  This is from the girl who will sit and read a chapter book in a couple of hours.  Once we focused on reading the books suggested and MANY others that we found in the same area of the library, her interest in trying out the activities went way up.

Since there are a total of 14 empires in the study, we are far from finished with this pack.  I do plan to try and continue to work through it, though I think we will likely wait at least a little longer.  It seemed some of the work was *just* a little bit ahead of her.  Not so much because she can't read it-she can certainly read it.  She is just still drawn to slightly easier work, and I would rather her work quickly through work and enjoy it then to have to force her to get through when I am sure in another year or two she will be very interested in doing the work.

I do think that the Home School in the Woods Ancient Empires Activity Pak is a great deal at only $18.95.  It is well written, and is easy to use.  It would be a perfect summer learning pack, or even a backbone to begin your history studies.  It is very versatile, and you can use as much or as little as you want.  You can also take as much time as you want, too.  If you just read the texts and did one or two exercises per empire, you could complete it in maybe a month, or it could take over a year if you spent a whole month on each empire.

Home School in the Woods also makes a number of other paks.   Other members of the crew also reviewed a Composer pack and a Lapbook on the 20th Century in America.  Be sure to check out the crew blog and see what others had to say!

Happy Learning and God Bless,
Lisa

How to Keep the Laundry Room Presentable While in Use

We are a family of 6.  4 kids, one farmer, one housewife, a barn cat, and a few spiders I wish I could get rid of.  We are BUSY.  I like cute kids and cute kid's clothing.  I tend to overbuy the kid's cute kid clothing.  This leads to a lot of laundry.

We live in a farmhouse.  Said farmhouse has a front door.  Front door doesn't even have a door knob on the outside.  No one uses the front door.  They use the BACK door.  Back door is also the door to the laundry room.  

So, now you see my challenge:  Very busy, slightly overran, laundry room is the entry way to our home!!!

Nothing says, "welcome, come on in," like a pile of sorted laundry!  Or "so glad you came over" like a random set of undies laying on the doormat.  And, YES, I have been there done that!!

My challenge was to figure out a true laundry 'system' that could be carried out daily while still looking presentable-well as presentable as a laundry room can be.  I also wanted the system to be one the kids could do-without help-if need be.

Today I'm participating in a small 'how to' blog hop, and it took me awhile to think of something I could share!  But, I had someone ask about my laundry system lately so I thought maybe this would be good.  

Now, I won't go as far as to say this is Martha Stewart presentable, or that it doesn't have room for improvement, but this is what works for us.

Here is what my laundry room looked like the morning I took photos.  So, this is a typical first thing in the morning kinda look. 

*PLEASE excuse the plastic.  I have one more coat of paint until the laundry room cabinets are painted and so I've still got all the supplies in there!*

The baskets on the floor are clean clothes waiting to be folded.  There is also a load in the drier ready to come out and be folded.

The baskets on the side are dirty clothes.  The two pair of pants are drying-the drying rack ran out of room.

First step:  Fold all the clothes.  I know some fold throughout the day, but that just doesn't work for me.  I spend an hour or so folding once a day and then I immediately put all the folded away.  

Step two:  I take all the hanging clothes off the rack and lay them on the appropriate basket.  The clothes there in front of the basket need hangers that are up in the rooms they are going to.

Steps three and four:  Take all the clean clothes to rooms and bring back any dirty clothes.

Step five:  Sort the dirty clothes.  

The baskets are labeled.  Bottom row is for clothes to be washed on warm.

Middle row for clothes to be washed on cold.

Top is for towels.

I sort what is in the blue basket first and then the laundry I picked up from that day.  This way, if I just opened the next season's storage bin, or brought home clothes from a yard sale, there is a way to keep them moving through the laundry line :).

The end result.  You probably notice some clothing there in front of the drier.  Those are all things that are ready to be sold.  I take the things once a week and get them listed so they are always moving out the door!

Ready for the next day's laundry work!!

As I mentioned, this is part of a blog hop.  Some of my fellow blog friends and I got together and are all writing a 'how to' post.  I don't even know what everyone is posting about, so I'm excited to go read about new ideas.  I hope you will check them out, too!  Head over to Amy's Blog for the blog hop linky.  

Thank you for stopping by!

God Bless,

Lisa

The Question-to Co-Op or Not to Co-op

I know I've been a little quiet lately.  It seems that my creative writing side has taken a backseat to my mind's in overdrive planning side.  So, I thought I'd fill you in on the plans.  Maybe you have ideas, suggestions, insight, a good suggestion for drinks....any of the above will do :).

It all stemmed from the conversation with one of the other coordinators for our co-op.  She is leaving our Friday group to join a full fledged licensed Classical Conversations group.  She mentioned that there *might* be a chance I could be a tutor in their group, which would make it affordable for my family to join.  For a full 24 hours I was seriously contemplating (maybe even excited about) the idea of joining a full group, getting all the benefits of CC, all the fun, all socialization, you know all the hopes and dreams that a co-op or CC group offers.

So, I went home and excitedly told DH about the possibility, and was he interested?  Cause, if I did decide to join up I knew I had to be prepared to pay the full $$ if they didn't need me as a tutor.  And, then he started in with the questions.

To be totally honest, I don't remember exactly what HIS questions where.  But, as he talked and asked, I managed to form a whole new opinion on CC, our Friday co-op, and started SERIOUSLY re-evaluating what our 'school year' would look like next year.

These are the main questions:

1.  Why join an academic co-op or tutor group when the whole reason you chose to home educate was to be the one teaching the kids?

2. Why spend extra time, energy, planning, travel, etc just to go somewhere else and teach your kids alongside other children?

3. Why are you in a co-op?

4. What do you want from a co-op?

5. Are you getting that from the co-op you are in?

6. Is either group what you are looking for to fill those wants?


These questions TOTALLY STRESSED ME OUT.  To the point that I actually had to spend a little time on my knees at the altar during one recent church service.  It seems so small, but so huge all at the same time.  I mean, this is my children's education I was considering.  These groups are places they see their friends.  These groups are places I see MY friends.

But, in the end, these are the answers I feel the Lord gave me:

1.  Why join an academic co-op or tutor group when the whole reason you chose to home educate was to be the one teaching the kids?

This was a major eye opener for me.  I have no problem letting other people (even public schools) teach my children.  I'm not afraid of what they will teach, I just WANT to be the one doing it.  I believe God gave me the right skill set to teach my children, and because of that I can do the BEST job.  So, when DH asked me this question I had NO answer. ZERO.   He was like-if you want to spend 1000 a year sending the kids to a tutor, I know a school I can send them to for free.  Point was well taken!!

2.  Why spend extra time, energy, planning, travel, etc just to go somewhere else and teach your kids alongside other children?

IF I thought they were going to learn better in a group setting it would be different, or IF the lesson was pretty much EXACTLY what we were going to learn at home, I wouldn't have a problem putting in the time.  But, the problem is, it was neither.  We don't use the Classical style at home, nor do we use the CC material at home.  So, with either group I would be preparing for a day of lessons and then going and giving a day of lessons-taking quite a bit of time away from what I would really like to be doing!

3.  Why are you in a co-op?

At this point, I really didn't know anymore!!  It took me awhile to realize I was in a co-op for FUN and for ACTIVITIES, and for doing things we COULDN'T do at home.

4.  What do you want from a co-op?

I want ways to expand the learning we are doing at home, or to do things we couldn't possibly do at home, or-honestly-I just wanted an opportunity to socialize with other home schooling families.  Maybe not even LEARN with them??  You know, kinda the way that public school children just get together and play without having to be 'doing school?'  Hmm yeah.

5.  Are you getting that from the co-op you are in?

We have been getting a lot of socialization.  We have had some awesome opportunities for the kids to learn fine arts (art lessons, tin whistle lessons, the chance to see a bunch of instruments), and the timeline has been awesome!  So, it has NOT been a bust.  Believe me, I am thankful for all the amazing benefits our group has provided my family this year!!

6. Is either group what you are looking for to fill those wants? 

Kinda, but not exactly.  After MUCH prayer and thought, and more prayer, and more thoughts....I have come to the conclusion that weekly academic co-ops are not for us next year.  Maybe in the future, but not right now.

Why??  Well, because we are in our weekly co-op, we don't sign up for anything else.  We have Monday night small group, Wednesday night AWANA, Friday co-op, and Saturday church.  As you can see, we don't have any flex time in our weeks.

Our huge overhead co-op has MANY other activities we could be part of, but I don't have another day to give.  The local Salvation Army offers swim lessons (with special sessions just for homeschoolers) and FREE beginner's music lessons!  But, we don't have any extra days!  We went on one-yes, you heard that right-ONE field trip this year, because again-I didn't have any more days.

Do I think that giving up one commitment a week is going to transform our lives?  I don't know yet.  I am seriously considering dropping AWANA, but that is just really hard for me to consider now-so maybe we'll try that one more year.

The swim sessions and music sessions are 8 week commitments.  I like a short commitment for things that don't take any prep work on my part, so we will be looking into those.  And, maybe a few art classes at the Art Center.  And, some field trips...Short commitments, little prep work, socialization, and hopefully a big payoff in the form of a less overwhelmed momma.

So that's the nutshell:  Not to co-op.

I'd love to hear YOUR plans for this next year!!

God Bless,
Lisa

What's on the April Work Plan

Well, I started this post about a week and 1/2 ago, and it has just been the craziest month!!  So, I guess it's a recap of the plan, really.  I'd like to try and start sharing our monthly plans with you.  Hopefully, it will give you ideas and keep me a little accountable ;).

So, here is a peek at what was on Mustang's April work plan and links to info that we used for the item.  I will try to get Charger's up later.  Keep in mind Mustang is 7, and is in Primary, but missed a lot of Elementary due to me being new to this!  So, it's a mix.


Mathematics Activities:

Fractions Equivalency (using printables from What Did We Do All Day)
 2 3 4 5 Completed
Fractions addition same denominator
 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Fractions mixed work
1 2
Chains and cubes
 8 9
Time Concepts (We were offered this review product at just the right time, so I took advantage of it!)
1 2 3 4 5
Money Concepts (Another review product at just the right time.  We will mix in some other activities).
1 2 3 4 5
Subtraction snake game
 1 2
Small Bead Frame
         Subtraction static completed
         Subtraction static completed
         Subtraction dynamic

Subtraction strip board
18 17 16 15

Social Studies Activities:
Location of Equator, Cardinal Directions N S E W Competed
Calendar Work, Months, Seasons
North American Flag Cards matching Completed

Knights and Castles
            ___Heraldry
            ___Castles, from dirtbag
            ___Lifestyle during middle
            ___housing during middle
            ___Christianity during middle ages

Great Empires
       Timeline
       Egypt Text Completed
       Activities 1 2 3 4 5

Geometry Activities

Geometric cabinet
 Triangles   Polygons

Geometric Solids
Labels   Geometric Solids Sorting

Language Arts Activities:

PAL Writing Lessons 9 10 11 12
All About Spelling 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

Grammar Symbols
     __Label sentences 1
     __Label sentences 2
     __Logical adjectives game

Biology Activities:

Parts of a flower (cards/puzzle/dissection) Completed

Zoology Activities: (Apologia Land Animals of the Sixth Day)
Experiment: A Person’s Sense of Smell
Lesson 3: Read pg 31-35 and Narrate Completed
Coloring page 39 Completed
Coloring page 40
Try This pg 35
Read pp 36-39 and Narrate
Read pp 39-41 and Narrate

*************************************************

Recap and thoughts:  First off, the month isn't quite over, but we will not have school Thursday and we go to co-op on Fridays, so we are winding down.  This is Mustang's work plan.  I ask her to do 4 works each day, but sometimes she manages to talk me into just 3.  Other days, she comes up with her own work.

Some of the other works she has done instead:

Sewing

Reading The Magic Treehouse Research Journal on Egypt

Reading The Wildlife Fact File binder

Reading a very large picture book on Italy and exploring the globe

Watching The History Channel DVDs about Ancient Egypt

Watching a DVD about Knights and Medieval life

These were the ones that she did during 'school time' and got 'credit' for doing them.  There have also been days where we did group work-like using our new Motorized Solar System.  

She has also been spending a lot of time in her garden.  She worked the dirt, picked the seeds out, planted all the seeds, and then we got a bit of a flood-so time will tell if she will be doing the work all over again.  

Overall, I guess I have made the work plan a little too long.  I started out the month optimistic that we would have full work days 4 days a week, and she would pick 4 or even 5 works each day.  I really need to reevaluate for next month!  It is nice, however, for her to have a LARGE list of things to choose from.  I think it makes her feel more in control and is happier about the choice she makes.

It is also comforting to know that she is an avid reader.  So, other then math and handwriting, if she wants to know about something she WILL find out.  

I'd LOVE to know your thoughts on the plan.  Too much, not enough, just right??  Confusing?  (Do remember I explain it to her)...any ideas on how to improve it?

Thanks for stopping by!  

God Bless,

Lisa

F is for Flood

Yep, I missed E.  E was for exhausted.  Catching up from vacation was surprisingly hard!!!  But, I'm back for F.

Yesterday, we took a field trip down to the Mighty Mississippi River.  We had a crazy storm last week that dumped anywhere from 2-7 inches of rain in about 12 hours time!!  EVERYONE had water in their basements, and our road had all kinds of new ruts in it!  Well, all that water dumped QUICKLY into the river.

Last week it was normal or below normal levels.  But, yesterday it was more then 11 feet above flood stage!!  It rose that quickly in just 3 days time!  The kids weren't really all that thrilled, but we had to go see history being made.  I think it was the first flood on the Mississippi they had ever seen.  2 summers ago we were able to see a bunch of flooding on the Missouri, so I guess flooding isn't completely new to them.

To be fair, I have read of some crazy amounts of flooding going on in other parts of the Midwest.  Ours didn't cause any damage that people aren't used to.  While the flooding doesn't come up this high very often (they say this was the 5th highest in recorded history) these are still areas that are 'used' to or at least have preparation measures for floods.  The levees have all done what they are supposed to.  But, it's still very neat to see!

The river does not have a levee here, so there is a lot of ground underwater!  Maybe a mile or two.

The only house we saw under water, but as you can see it was built up.  

Road closed :).

The Mighty Mississippi.  Looks a lot different then it did last year!

The old bridge.  It was closed, but it used to be the only way to get across here!

They have since built the bigger bridge that I was on while taking the photo.  They had traffic going both ways on what is usually a one way bridge.

The riverfront.  Looks a little different normally!

What the farmers do with their equipment during a flood.

This is our good friend's field. I guess it will be a bit before he gets to plant!!

I know that the kids weren't too excited about this Sunday drive to look at water, but it will be nice to have a frame of reference when we study floods or talk about them in our learning.

To see what other people found for letter F, be sure to check out the weekly link up at Ben and Me.  Feel free to join us, too!

Thanks for stopping by!!

God Bless,

Lisa