Mini Cooper and Explorer's School Day Outtakes

I haven't talked about my little girls much at all lately!  But, here are some things that they have been doing over the last few months.

Cards and counters using the sandpaper numbers (we don't have both).

Matching ladybug letter puzzles.

Working together on their quiet book.  I promise I will do a post on this soon!!

I picked up this fun eBoo Lotto game on vacation.  We just use it for matching.

Folding napkins.

More folding.

Explorer actually does a pretty good job of both stacking AND sorting now.  It's fun to see her progress.

We love the letter sound box books.  Mini Cooper likes to get them out all at the same time.

Looking at beach cards free from Montessori Materials.

Pouring water.  She LOVES this one!

Creating her own extensions with the knobless cylinders.

Explorer's puzzle skills have greatly improved.

She was quite pleased :).

Reading the letter books again.  I read them one each day, so they both enjoy them quite a bit.

The Triangle box has been a hit with Mini Cooper.

I have backed off the photo taking quite a bit lately, but I've got some 'how we do this' posts planned shortly that should hopefully make up for it.  

Thanks for stopping by and checking out our school week!

God Bless,

Lisa

We're linked up:

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