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Meredith
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| Posted: June 22 2007 at 9:59am | IP Logged
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Well, since the cat's out of the bag...I am honored to have been asked to speak at this year's very first 4Real Conference. I am SO excited as I've always wanted to meet Elizabeth, but to be able to give a talk, well, I am humbled.
So, now the big question for you all: If you were to attend (or hear it on a tape) just what would you like to hear from someone who is teachig her children at home with Montessori in a Real Learning sense. I am not a Montessori purist so I can't preach everything that Maria Montessori developed, but i know what works (or is working) for my dc and would like to bring that to light for others so that they don't see Montessori in a home school setting as too daunting.
I'd LOVE your input, ideas, questions so I can ponder and put together something that will hopefully be meaningful to others and not just a bunch of twaddle 
So bring it on ladies, let's make this a running list and if there are new questions or topics that happen to come up as a result, we'll move it to a new thread!
Thank you so much for all your help and input as if it weren't for you all, there wouldn't be any need for ME 
Love and many blessings!!
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Meredith
Mom of 4 Sweeties
Sweetness and Light
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Theresa
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| Posted: June 22 2007 at 2:08pm | IP Logged
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Congrats Meredith. I think you are the perfect person to give a workshop in this area.
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Theresa
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Maryan
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| Posted: June 22 2007 at 2:10pm | IP Logged
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One of the things that I think of right away...
Is how do you structure the Montessori activities in your day -- and where does the under 3 crowd fit in to that routine of sorts.
I'm sure I'll suggest more. 
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Maryan
Mom to 6 boys & 1 girl: JP('01), B ('03), M('05), L('06), Ph ('08), M ('10), James born 5/1/12
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Jordan
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| Posted: June 22 2007 at 2:24pm | IP Logged
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Congratulations, Meredith! I think you are a great choice for this talk and I'm sure you will do wonderfully. 
As someone who is dedicated to a Real Learning lifestyle but also wanting to incorporate Montessori into my home, I would be very interested to hear about how the Montessori method can be incorporated with Real Learning. I would love to hear about how the two compliment each other.
~How can I approach Montessori without getting overwhelmed?
~What if I have a toddler(s) on the loose?
Well, those are what first popped into my mind.
I so wish I could be there. I will DEFINITELY buy tapes.
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Jordan
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Rebecca
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| Posted: June 22 2007 at 3:37pm | IP Logged
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Congratulations Meredith! You will do a wonderful job with your talk!
Love,
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Meredith
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| Posted: June 22 2007 at 3:37pm | IP Logged
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Thanks you guys, you're really much too kind. I'm going to do my best, so keep the questions coming!! They are so helpful!! I wish you could be there too, I actually can't belevie I'm going yet!
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Meredith
Mom of 4 Sweeties
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JuliaT
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| Posted: June 22 2007 at 5:17pm | IP Logged
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Meredith, I am so excited for you. Congratulations! If I were going to the conference (which, sadly, I am not) I would love to hear the same thing that Jordan suggested: how to incorporate Real Learning with Montessori.
Blessings,
Julia
mom to 3 (8,6,4)
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Juliainsk
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SeaStar
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[QUOTE=JuliaT] Meredith, I am so excited for you. Congratulations! If I were going to the conference (which, sadly, I am not) I would love to hear the same thing that Jordan suggested: how to incorporate Real Learning with Montessori.
That is a great topic- we've talked about it a little here before, about how we don't have to try to recreate a Montessori classroom at home. Just knowing that lifts a huge burden from my shoulders. Meredith, you are the perfect one to tackle this topic! I wish I could be there.
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Melinda, mom to ds ('02) and dd ('04)
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Mackfam
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| Posted: June 22 2007 at 7:51pm | IP Logged
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Whew! I had a long day of errands and came back to find this...how exciting Meredith. Dh and I are discussing attending (it's a 10 hour drive!) - it sounds possible, and I would so love to meet you all and hear all the wonderful talks!
I've been meshing Montessori and Real Learning to some degree for a few years now. Next year however, we will be addressing some major subjects with Montessori as the backbone. Here are my challenges Meredith that I would love to get some of your insight on:
1. The Montessori activities most suited to rabbit trails through a living book, or exploration - like reading Frogs and Tadpoles after completing the parts of the frog nomenclature/puzzle, and then perhaps a collection of tadpoles...or arranging a group of grammar/parts of speech symbols and asking an older child to construct a sentence following that pattern...I know there are so many more, I'd love to get more ideas.
2. Set up of the learning environment so that it is orderly, visually pleasing, and fosters a wedding of Montessori and CM - like for instance, more ideas for those baskets of goodness we talked about a while ago...pairing cloud/weather nomenclature cards with weather books, weather kit, monitoring sheets, and maybe a collection of color pencils ranging from shades of gray to shades of blue for illustrations in the child's nature notebook. More on the awesome geography center Theresa set up - the geography boxes. There is this challenge for me in setting up the environment in a way that allows my toddler beautiful materials for his choice time (I think that's Angela's phrase I'm borrowing because I love it!) and allows the older children access to Montessori materials that are visually arranged to bring in living materials and foster those natural rabbit trails. Does that make any sense?
3. When to rotate? How much to keep out? I think we all agree that just as you cannot and should not try to re-create the school room in the home, you cannot and should not try to re-create the Montessori classroom in the home. So...since there has to be this balance of faithfulness to the basic philosophy of Maria Montessori and the reality of home life and all of its challenges...I'd appreciate hearing your insight on how much material is wise to set out at one time, the ideas you might have on materials that might stay out, and maybe a couple of ideas you might have for those *red flags* that signal us, it is time to rotate a material out of the choice area.
4. Signals you may have found that let us know that our interior peace has been disrupted because we have focused too much on the *stuff* of it all, and have not let the children be the focus. Reminders to participate in the joyful everyday in our homes.
5. And finally, a bit about home-made Montessori. Some investment is fine in some pieces, but budget requires most if not all of us to fire up the printer and glue gun to crank out some activities. I'd love to hear what materials are ideally suited to be made at home.
Is this too much?  I just previewed my questions and it seems so long...I am so sorry if it seems overwhelming. You are so charitable and kind, I know you will be able to discern what is best to address. I'm really looking forward to being there if I can! I'm so excited that you were asked to speak! You are so well suited to this! Oh I'm so excited to go now!!
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Jen Mackintosh
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Meredith
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| Posted: June 22 2007 at 8:23pm | IP Logged
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Ooh, Jennifer, that would be so great!! And Melinda, I wish you could be there too, we're hoping for tapings, so we'll keep you posted on that aspect!
It's NOT too much, I need all of this, so it's VERY helpful!!! YOu guys are just SO generous with your flattery I hope I can live up to your expectations  Remember, I'm just a mom who does this for joy, just like you guys! Love all your questions, keep them coming! 
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Meredith
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JennGM
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| Posted: June 23 2007 at 10:07am | IP Logged
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I'm looking forward to meeting you and hearing your great ideas and organization. Perhaps you can bring your binders?
My questions probably fit along the others posted here.
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Jennifer G. Miller
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Meredith
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Me too Jenn and do you mean my Montessori Binders/Albums that I'm compiling??? I'm hoping to bring a little of everything if I can
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Meredith
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saintanneshs
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Meredith wrote:
| I'm hoping to bring a little of everything if I can |
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Oh, Meredith! That would be SO great! For me there's nothing like seeing examples of the great things you are doing! And congratulations...I can't wait to hear your presentation!
I'd love to hear how you integrate Montessori into all of the fun projects your littler ones are doing (especially between the great lapbooks you've posted on your blog and your nature studies). For me even one of those seems to take over my whole curriculum. I'd love to hear how you "manage" it all.
Also, how does our ability to facilitate our children's learning progress through the later elementary years into the middle school years? What I mean is, what's next when they're not using hands-on manipulatives as much as they were used to in the early years? What makes a Montessori curriculum still "Montessori" when the kids get older? (I'm trying to get an idea of where we're going in the future with this Montessori journey! )
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Meredith
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saintanneshs wrote:
| Also, how does our ability to facilitate our children's learning progress through the later elementary years into the middle school years? What I mean is, what's next when they're not using hands-on manipulatives as much as they were used to in the early years? What makes a Montessori curriculum still "Montessori" when the kids get older? (I'm trying to get an idea of where we're going in the future with this Montessori journey! ) |
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Thank you Kristine, this is a great question and I'll bet Donna Marie could add some wisdom here, so I'm going to start a New Thread!!
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Meredith
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MarieA
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Congratulations!
I'd love to hear how you structure Montessori for your oldest. 
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lapazfarm
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I always love to hear about "a day in the life" types of things. How you organize your day, transition from one thing to the next, etc.
I am also interested in how we observe our children for signs of readiness for new things.
Extensions for materials beyond the basics (esp things like the metal insets and geo cabinets).
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Theresa
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Jen L.
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I can't believe you are coming to the conference!!! How exciting!!
I am looking forward to your talk - I know you will live up to my expectations both in personality and knowledge.
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Jen
dh Klete,ds (8/95),dd (12/97), dd (11/00), and ^2^ in heaven
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AndreaG
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Really I don't think one talk will be enough! I love everyone's questions thus far. You could also perhaps give info on suppliers and online resources for printables. Maybe a checklist for getting started with montessori? Like, first print albums, then decide what materials, then set up shelves, etc.
That would probably be helpful for those new to montessori- personally I am more interested in the "day in a montessori homeschool" and "how does real learning mesh with montessori" type questions.
I wish I could go to the conference and hear your talk!
And Theresa's too! And all the others...it sounds fabulous!
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Andrea
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Erin
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Meredith,
I would love to hear you talk. But I can't  If I could..
At first Montessori can be so daunting, soo much to learn and where do you start? It would be good as part of your talk/or perhaps just in handouts to include 'baby steps'. Some very basic ideas to get started and some instructions on how to get a 'kit' going. What you can do to start without spending a huge layout. Is there an oportunity in the conference to make any materials? even just one basic one for people to begin to feel confident that they can do it.
Inspiration is good too but also practicality.
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Erin
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Meredith
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| Posted: June 25 2007 at 9:23am | IP Logged
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Great questions/ideas Erin, I wish you could come too I'll see what kind of venue I will have, you know as far as a make-your-own table set up, I LOVE that idea!! I'm hoping to have some hand-outs and those are super suggestions to put on it!
I KNEW I could count on all you wonderful ladies to help me out!! I'm still running a list so keep them coming if you have more
Blessings!
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Meredith
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4Real Forums : Nurturing the Years of Wonder
Topic: Montessori at the 4Real Conference!!
