Well, the school year is done . . .

We were so, so busy . . . in life and at Montgomery Academy, and so I haven't posted in forever.

I am going to try and put up some past pictures - I don't think I ever got any pictures up for April, and some of our schedules, more for my documentation purposes than anything, and then pictures of our end of the year/graduation party.

Montgomery Academy does meet over the summer, but it is much less structured, and the Montessori materials are put away for the summer. We do yoga every day, theme activities, and lots and lots and lots of outside time.

So I'll try and get this blog updated over the next couple of weeks.

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Curriculum?

I still don't have my camera, so I thought I'd answer a reader's question today instead. One of my readers commented

"Hi, I just came across your blog and I have really enjoyed it. I love that you have put in your schedule for some days and weeks. Do you follow a certain curriculum? I am having a hard time with planning out my year. I would love any tips or information you could give me!"

Well, the answer is yes and no.

I don't use a boxed curriculum. I don't use any manuals for Flower's (my 9 year old 3 grader)curriculum. I refer to several Montessori books/manuals/websites for the preschool, however, I follow my own schedule and I also include some non-Montessori preschool items.

For Flower, I started planning her school year last June. I wrote out the subjects that I wanted her to study, and then I did a bunch of research in different methods, looked at book lists, etc. and then purchased her materials from a variety of places. Most of the living books that we use are checked out from the library. We do have some Literature books in our own library. I purchased Math-U-See for our math curriculum, but we will not be using it again next year. I purchased her recorder and her recorder book, a cooking book, a woodworking book, Handbook for Nature Study, a botany book, her Alphabet books, and a few Poetry for Young People books. For science, geography, and history, I had a schedule of what I wanted to study during the year and when we would be studying it. If you look at my post earlier this week about how homeschooling went this year, you will see that I changed what we did in several areas at mid year. At this time, I purchased some workbooks from our local teacher supply store. I think that it is important when you are homeschooling to evaluate and if there is enough reason to change what you are doing, to be able to modify the curriculum for the child.

For Preschool, I have a list of monthly and weekly themes that I have created (Check in the new documents section for a copy of these themes as well as a general schedule of when I put out Montessori materials.) These themes dictate some of the type of activities that are on the shelves, especially the non-Montessori items or the types of Practical Life materials that I have out. Almost all of the books that I read are from my own collection, but I do occassionally check out books from the library. For the Montessori materials, I generally start the school year with very few items on the shelves. Then using the list of periods listed in David Gettman's Basic Montessori, I begin putting items out and present lessons to the entire group. As the year progresses, I put more and more materials out and give lessons only to the students that need the next level of that type of material. (See the documents section for this schedule, although the document appears as if I present it to all of that age group. This is a very general schedule and I follow the children's lead more than this list.) When I present lessons, I use information from the Practical Life Manual that I have from Montessori R & D, and from the manuals I have from the on-line Montessori Training course that I am taking.

For both the preschool and homeschool, I refer to books on other educational methods (Charlotte Mason, Waldorf, Classical, Reggio Emilia) that I have in my library and incorporate some of those ideas into our curriculum. I also check other blogs for inspiration. It never ceases to amaze me how creative other people are!

I try and do my planning for the month on the Wednesday night before the beginning of the next Month. And I try to do my planning and printing for the week on the Wednesday before. Things run much better when I do this.

Thursday: Charlotte Mason

Taken from Simply Charlotte Mason:

What methods did Charlotte Mason use?

Basic Principles for All Subjects
Short lessons; the habits of attention and perfect execution; varied order of subjects

History
Living books*; narration; Book of Centuries

Geography
Living books; narration; map drill

Math
Manipulatives; a firm understanding of why

Science
Nature study and notebook; living books; narration

Foreign Languages
Hear and speak, then read and write

Writing
Copywork for handwriting; oral and written narration for composition

Spelling
Prepared dictation

Grammar
Not formally studied until older than ten

Art
Picture study for art appreciation; handicrafts; nature notebooks for drawing and painting

Music
Music study for music appreciation; any instrumental instruction; singing

Literature
Living books; narration

Poetry
Read aloud and enjoy frequently; memorize and recite occasionally (include Shakespeare)

* Living Books: Probably the most well known of Charlotte’s methods is her use of living books instead of dry, factual textbooks. Living books are usually written by one person who has a passion for the subject and writes in conversational or narrative style. The books pull you into the subject and involve your emotions, so it’s easy to remember the events and facts. Living books make the subject “come alive.”
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I use more of the Charlotte Mason method with my homeschooler than I do with the preschoolers, however, there are still things that I incorporate in the preschool.

Short lessons - At the beginning of the year, I do more group lessons and towards the end, mostly individual lessons at whatever level each child is on, but I try to make my instruction time brief. Flower typically spends about 20 minutes per subject, with literature time being at least 30 minutes every day.

History - Flower uses many living books in her study of history. We don't talk much about history in preschool except in a yesterday/last week/a long time ago sort of way.

Geography - We use artifacts from the various continents, read books about different countries in a continent, do activities with the animals of each country, etc, and works with globes and map puzzles. Flower also labels maps and identifies landforms and bodies of waters on maps.

Math - Manipulatives. Most of our preschool math activities use manipulatives. Flower used more manipulatives at the beginning of the year, but is moving from concrete to abstract reasoning.

Science - We do a lot of Nature Study at Montgomery Academy. The preschool children study parts of animals and parts of plants. Flower also studies these parts, as well as learns definitions, and labeling. We do some outdoor/physical Nature Study (going on nature walks, observing birds at the feeder, etc.), but I would always like to include more.

Foreign Language - I did not incorporate foreign language at Montgomery Academy this year.

Writing - The preschool children may copy their name and other theme words for copywork. I had Flower do copywork for part of the school year, but she didn't enjoy it. I plan on trying again next year. Flower does do oral and written narration of her studies.

Spelling - The preschool children can use word lists and the moveable alphabet to spell words. Flower works on a spelling list every week.

Grammar - Flower is studying the basic sparts of speech.

Art - We do picture and artist study during the school year for preschool and homeschool. Both do free art and handicrafts.

Music - We do music and composer study during the school year for preschool and homeschool. The preschool does singing during circle time and Flower is in a homeschool choir. The preschool has free music and Flower is studying the recorder.

Literature - I read many living books to the preschoolers and Flower reads many living books.

Poetry - We both study poetry regularly. The preschool also studies nursery rhymes and Flower does poet study and studies and creates different types of poems. The preschool recites nursery rhymes and Flower recites occassionally, although I would like to have her recite more often.

Homeschooling - How it has gone this year

Well, we still have a month to go, but I thought I'd let you know how it went. Here is a link to my plan back in September.

Literature and History

I had planned on using the library to get books for Ancient Civilizations for our literature and history. We did do this for a few months (studying Ancient Rome, Ancient Egypt, and Ancient Greece. Ancient Greece was a particular favorite), but by January, Flower wanted to do something different. (In addition to the books about Ancient Civilizations, she did read a few Little House books, Little Women, and Poppy by Avi.) In her Brownie troop, she had to do a report on the 1920s, and she was also reading a Kit book from the American Girl Series. She asked if we could change our literature and history to the American Girl books. So we did. She started with Kaya and is up to Samantha. We have really enjoyed it. We also love the "Welcome to _____'s World" American Girl books for showing pictures of the real people and events from each time period. I've learned quite a bit myself about US History. However, since she started the American Girl books, she has not read any additional stories.

Writing

We started out the year doing our own version of Imitations In Writing about Princess Stories. This went well for the first couple of months, but once we finished the Pricess Story book we were using, I found it harder to motivate her to write in this way.

We did Copywork with bible passages for a few months, and she did not enjoy it. Then we went to seasonal poetry, and that went all right for another few months. Now she writes in her journal and does a report every two weeks about the American Girl she is studied and things about the time period.

Spelling

For most of the year, I took words out of her literature, and had her look them up in the dictionary and then had a weekly spelling test with the words. She did not enjoy this method. Finally, we had to do something different. We moved to a workbook, Spell and Write for Grade 3, but it was much too easy for her. A week later, she moved to Grade 6, and it is a much better fit.

Parts of Speech

I had planned on studying this during a Main Lesson period in the winter, but by November, we had mostly stopped doing Main Lesson time. It just didn't work for us. So I picked up a workbook a couple months ago, Practice Makes Perfect - Parts of Speech for Grade 3 & 4 by Teacher Created Resources. She breezed through this book.

Mathematics

We started the year doing Math-U-See Level Beta. It was quite easy at the beginning for her. She enjoyed the manipulatives, but didn't have as much use with them after a few months. I'm assuming that there is less hands on activities as the child progresses, but it would have been helpful for her to have more hands on activities. Also, there is no multiplication and division in this level of Math U See, and I felt that it was important that she begin on it. When we finished the Math U See book in late February, I wondered what to do next. I eventually decided to go with learning Multiplication and Division through a variety of methods (charts, tables, flashcards, songs, and workbooks) She is using Practice Makes Perfect - Multiplication and Division for Grade 3 by Teacher Created Resources. She is currently on unit 16. We plan on working through these books through the summer.

We also did not do much with Geometry this year. She will be working on a Geometry and Measurement workbook and other related activities this summer. We did read a Main Lesson block in the fall on Living Math books (such as Anno's Magic Seeds, Anno's Mysterious Multiplying Jar, How Much Is A Million?, Sir Cumference and the First Round Table, and The Librarian Who Measured the Earth.

Botany

We used a variety of books and other things to study botany. We used Shanleya's Quest , Handbook of Nature Study, lots of nature walks with the camera, and creating definition books. We studied the Alphabet Fairies and the botanical information about the flowers.

Zoology

We studied the main classifications of animals for most of the year. We used some Montessori parts of animals cards, created definition books, as well as a number of labeling activities. We are currently studying the human body.

Geography

We studied Landforms early in the year, and then we have been working through the states using Don't Know Much About The 50 States and Rand McNally Children's Illustrated Atlas of the United States, and H.I.P. Pocket Change - 50 State Quarters website. We do some activities about the different states, and she draws about the state in her sketch book, etc.

Alphabet Books

I got the idea to use these books from the Serendipity website, however, many of the lesson plans for these books have not been completed, so I just used the beginning lessons as a reference and set up the other letters in a similar fashion.

For poetry, we are using R is for Rhyme. She reads the sidebar information, then the poem, and then about the poem, and then recreates the type of poem. We have really enjoyed using this book.

For art, we are using M is for Masterpiece and doing the same sort of activities that we do for poetry, but for art. Again, this has been good. She also does free art during the week.

For music, we are using M is for Melody. This book has not lended itself to activities week to week as much as the other books. She also has been learning to read music and play the recorder.

Practical Life

She tried crocheting and didn't enjoy it. She did not want to do knitting. However, she has been taking sewing lessons once every two weeks since January and is doing great. She cooks at least 3 days a week. We didn't do as much with woodworking as I would have liked. She will be involved in gardening this spring.

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So, like many things in life, somethings went well, and somethings didn't. But overall, it has been very good.

Wednesday - On The Shelves

Sorry, I still don't have my camera here.

Sensory Table
Seeds in one tub. Blue play-doh in another tub.

Practical Life
Sweeping, Sorting Rocks, Making Flowers with Beads
Lacing, Flower Arranging
Dressing Vests

Art
Free Art Supplies
Dry Erase activities (made by laminating) maze and umbrella, worm and ladybug coloring pages, make an umbrella out of a half of a paper plate and a chenille stem, clay, flower rubbing plates.

Sensorial
Smelling Bottles added this week.

Geometry
Constructive Box #1 added this week.

Language
Gardening sequence cards added this week.

Science
Root Vue added this week.

Geography
Nothing added this week.

Math
Nothing added this week.

Tuesday: Montessori - Language

I am slowly but surely adding to my language area, but one of the first things that I bought when I decided to use a Montessori-based curriculum was the sandpaper letters. We use them every day. We use them during circle time to talk about our letter of the month, but then they are used to draw letters in the sand, or to create a letter out of clay, or to match up with other versions of letters we have in the classroom. Sometimes a child will use the sandpaper letters instead of the moveable alphabet to create words.

The younger children are especially drawn to the sensorial aspect of the sandpaper letters. Often, the youngest children in the classroom will just sit on the floor and rub their fingers over the letters.

I bought my version of the sandpaper letters years ago from someone who handmade them. It is a nice set, but since they made of sandpaper glued onto matboard, they are beginning to show signs of wear and use. They are also on the smaller side. I would like to add another set next year, and this time, I plan on ordering them. But for those of you who want a set for one child, or light use, there is a small, reasonably priced set available through Lakeshore Learning.