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dawn2006
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| Posted: Aug 18 2007 at 10:51am | IP Logged
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..for practical life exercises?
http://www.ux1.eiu.edu/~cfsjy/mts/life/c3-4.htm
I understand, as is written in her intro to practical life: "The child conducts the Practical Life Exercise for the sake of working through the processes, rather than for the sake of their results." TIA.
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Dawn Farias | wife to Ariel | mom to Gabriel 9, Daniel 7, Elizabeth 5, and Michael 3 | blogger at Be Absorbed | native Texan but currently living near Seattle
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marianne
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| Posted: Aug 18 2007 at 11:16am | IP Logged
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Definitely not.
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Eleanor
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This is one of those "how far are you willing to go to do things Montessori-style?" questions, so the answers will vary a lot.
We do some of the exercises in great detail, as they would be described in a teacher's album. In other cases, we leave out some steps that don't seem essential. When we do abbreviate the process, it's just to save my sanity, rather than to make it "easier" for the children. The little ones love to do things exactly the same way each time, and they seem to enjoy all the precise details. I've noticed this even with things that weren't introduced as "Montessori activities," like brushing teeth. The way we did it the first time is practically carved in stone, and if we have to vary it for some reason (e.g., we're almost out of toothpaste, so I need to roll up the tube before we squeeze it), we have to have a big discussion about the why's and wherefore's.  If I wrote down our tooth-brushing ritual, it would probably look at least as long & complicated as Jenny Yen's hand-washing exercise.
Anyway, it seems like the main ideas are:
1) break down the process into simple, obvious steps that the children can easily observe and copy;
2) don't make any assumptions... i.e., all required steps need to be included;
2) start as you intend to continue, and keep doing it the same way each time. 
For everyday activities like hand-washing, you could figure out, on your own, what you think is the most practical way for your children to wash their hands, and then write the steps down. (In other words, you'd be creating your own "album page.") This would vary from one family to the next, depending on your household equipment, your children's heights, etc.
Just by way of example, here's what I came up with for hand-washing for our family. (This is for very young children who previously needed a parent's help with the task. If they were already able to wash their hands independently, I'm sure they might balk at suddenly being expected to do it in the specified way!)
Hand washing
Location: Hall bathroom
Set-up:
- bathroom sink
- stepladder
- on counter to right of sink:
soap in dish
sponge in dish
smallish jug of water (about 1 pint)
small basin that fits in sink
- towel on towel rail
Steps:
- Put stepladder in front of sink
- Get on stepladder
- Put basin into sink
- Pour water into basin
- Dip hands in water
- Take soap and rub between palms, while counting to 3
- Return soap to dish
- Rub palms of hands together to make bubbles
- With right hand, rub back and fingers of left hand to make bubbles
- With left hand, rub back and fingers of right hand to make bubbles
- Put hands in water and swish them back and forth, while counting to 3
- Dump water from basin into sink
- Return basin to original spot
- Use sponge to wipe up any drips on counter
- Return sponge to dish
- Get off stepladder
- Dry hands on towel
Hmm, that's still pretty long... 16 steps! But at least the parent or teacher doesn't have to recite these steps to the child. She just demonstrates them.
BTW, writing this down was a valuable exercise for me, since it made me look at everything from the child's perspective, and showed me some ways that the environment was unsuitable. (For instance, our regular bathroom stool wasn't high enough; we needed to switch to something taller.)
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SuzanneG
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Eleanor wrote:
BTW, writing this down was a valuable exercise for me, since it made me look at everything from the child's perspective, and showed me some ways that the environment was unsuitable. |
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This is how this seemingly over-complicated process has helped my dh and I immensely. When we actually stop to think about the process and then demonstrate acccordingly, it has almost alleviated future frustration and arguments about these everyday things.
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dawn2006
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Thank you so much, Eleanor! This insight was particularly valuable for me:
For everyday activities like hand-washing, you could figure out, on your own, what you think is the most practical way for your children to wash their hands, and then write the steps down. (In other words, you'd be creating your own "album page.") This would vary from one family to the next, depending on your household equipment, your children's heights, etc.
As a side note...my son has epilepsy and last year was in the middle of a particularly bad spell b/c of the seizures and the effects of the drugs he was on. It was the first time I had ever become aware of how complicated simple tasks were. He had such a hard time with the mental and physical processes involved in just putting on his underwear, for example. I had forgotten about that and you are right about how complicted simple matters really are.
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Dawn Farias | wife to Ariel | mom to Gabriel 9, Daniel 7, Elizabeth 5, and Michael 3 | blogger at Be Absorbed | native Texan but currently living near Seattle
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Eleanor
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| Posted: Aug 18 2007 at 2:40pm | IP Logged
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You're welcome, Dawn!
I hope your son is doing okay. That sounds like a tough situation... it must have made things extra challenging for all of you.
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Meredith
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| Posted: Aug 18 2007 at 3:18pm | IP Logged
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Eleanor, I love your description and I think it was a great excercise to get into the child's perspective as well!! Dawn will pray for your ds that he has limited episodes.
Blessings!
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Meredith
Mom of 4 Sweeties
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dawn2006
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| Posted: Aug 18 2007 at 3:41pm | IP Logged
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Thanks for your prayers and concern about Gabriel.
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Dawn Farias | wife to Ariel | mom to Gabriel 9, Daniel 7, Elizabeth 5, and Michael 3 | blogger at Be Absorbed | native Texan but currently living near Seattle
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4Real Forums : Nurturing the Years of Wonder
Topic: Do you really go through this much detail
