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Celeste
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| Posted: Sept 06 2007 at 8:42pm | IP Logged
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DD age 7. Elementary level 1. Last year she finished the Children's House; this is her first year homeschooling. I'm using RD elementary Math I, which has lots of overlap with primary math.
The manual is set up thus:
Linear Counting (all of which she has done--rods, ten and ten boards, hundred and thousand chains, squaring chains, snake game)
Base Ten: golden beads, stamp game, dot board, bead frames (she's done some of this; some of what she's done needs to be reviewed)
Memorization: Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, Division (she's done a little of the addition)
I'm thinking that the manual is not meant to be traversed from start to finish. I mean, we would work along the tracks in a parallel fashion--base ten along with memorization. If you catch my drift.
Is that an accurate assessment?
Another question: within the memorization work, do we do all the addition exercises, then move to multiplication, then subtraction, then division? or do we do a little addition, a little multiplication, a little subtr, back to addition, and so forth? (Not in a haphazard fashion, of course.) I think I would prefer to do one operation at a time, but I want to do it the "right" way, if there is one. Or is this another of those "follow the child" arrangements? (groan--I mean, isn't Montessori fabulous.)
This is so clear in my head and so muddled on paper. . . .
Celeste
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lapazfarm
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| Posted: Sept 06 2007 at 9:51pm | IP Logged
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I'm glad you asked this because I have been wondering the same thing about multiple tracks, but on a simpler level, doing linear counting, base ten, and adding/subtracting simultaneously.
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Theresa
us-schooling in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska.
LaPaz Home Learning
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montessori_lori
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| Posted: Sept 07 2007 at 8:28am | IP Logged
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You are correct, many of the math materials are meant to be worked simultaneously, rather than one at a time. I would use your daughter's interests and abilities as a guide.
Currently, my son - he's about to turn 7 and is in second grade - is working on the memorization of the addition, subtraction, and multiplication facts. He is doing the division bead board, and the stamp game for all the processes.
Of course, you *can* do one process at a time, but then I think the child misses out on the inter-relatedness of everything. For instance, when they learn that 7 + 8 = 15, most kids this age will realize that that means 15 - 8 = 7. Right now, with the division bead board, my son is having a blast because he's realizing that the factors he finds are also the multiplication factors to make the larger number.
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Celeste
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Thanks, Lori!
Celeste
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Angel
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| Posted: Sept 07 2007 at 4:27pm | IP Logged
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Thanks, Celeste, for bringing this up. I just had the Math 1 manual out yesterday, trying to think where to start for my 8 yo in a few weeks. There are little blips in the manual that indicate the sequence is fluid -- don't know if you'd noticed them, but for example they say that since multiplication is a natural extension of addition, it probably ought to be introduced after addition, but in the manual it's subtraction after addition because that's the way ps do it. I really like the details of these manuals, but the organization is just very confusing to me sometimes. 
What I have decided on for my dd is to review the decimal system (along with teens and tens, because teens still confuse her sometimes), and then to do addition, multiplication (we left off with multiplication), subtraction, and division (which I only presented to her once or twice). I'd like to do these presentations in a short period of time so she can choose any of the 4 operations for work.
Lori, how does your son usually order his work? Is he working with all 4 operations in the same week, on a daily basis, or will he spontaneously limit himself to a particular operation for a period of time? The more I think about it, the more I would really like to allow my kids more freedom in the area of math. But I'm not exactly sure what this would look like.
--Angela
Three Plus Two
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montessori_lori
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| Posted: Sept 07 2007 at 11:12pm | IP Logged
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We use workplans that list all the suggestions for the month - the different kinds of materials for each process. My son can choose what he'd like to do, so it can be addition one day and multiplication the next.
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AndreaG
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| Posted: Sept 08 2007 at 8:26am | IP Logged
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Lori - does he do math everyday? How many things does he work on in one day typically? Or do you just have a work time, and however many things he gets to in that time? Sorry to be so nosy I am just trying to get ideas to give my children more independence in their education. I really like the workplan idea, just not sure how to make it "work". 
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Andrea
GrayFamilyCircus
Read Through the Catechism in a Year- For Moms!
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montessori_lori
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| Posted: Sept 08 2007 at 9:55am | IP Logged
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Andrea - no, he doesn't do math everyday. We use a monthly workplan that lists lots of different math activities, and as long as those are finished by the end of the month, there's no specific daily requirement.
I know this differs by classroom and even by child - some kids need more prodding than others to do math, or more practice than others do. This works for my son, since he likes math and is pretty good at it. Sometimes I will make suggestions, but mostly he makes his own choices.
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Mari
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| Posted: Sept 10 2007 at 2:00pm | IP Logged
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I never forget that the beauty of Montessori is that you follow the child. If you use manuals instead of providing sums to work out for each part availble to the child to pick up and do whenever he wants you are going to be encouraged to follow their sequence. There should be no set order. If you do see ages or orders, it should be only suggested as to give you an idea of the average (so that when you set up your environment you can have some idea when the child might need something). The usual way would be going getting into addition and subtraction from the red and blue rods (without knowing it!) but some kids zoom into multiplication becuase it is applying the same idea as addition and then into division because it is the same thing in reverse. THere are also several ways of doing the calculations using beads, abacus, knowledge of decimal places, using the colour coded number cards. The child could be doing long division without having mastered the adding up golden beads to the thousands - and by the time he comes back to that he may have aquired the knowlege en route. The whole importance of a "teacher" would be to recognise what the individual child is ready for and introduced new things that will challenge but not put them off. At the same time the child may want to be working on some very basic math whilst doing long division.
One of my dds didn't do maths for one month and suddenly chose to do addition with golden beads.... and went on to doing written sums up to thousands (dynamic sums and all) by the end of the week. She was just ready for it. A year later she went over everything again with the abacus and seeing things in a different light.
I think that is the big difference of really doing Montessori maths is that the child learns in his way (like he chose his way of learning to speak or move-we didn't tell him what word to say first,etc). Otherwise we would be doing teacher prepared math using Montessori materials to help along which is fine if it this is what you want and it is much more doable for a busy mother - but we should realise that this would not be child led and hence not the Montessori method
The important thing would be for you to find out what suits you best so you feel comfortable and confident and cultivate a joy of maths within your child.
Blessings.
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Mari, mother of 2 loving daughters aged 8 and 10
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acystay
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| Posted: Sept 11 2007 at 10:01pm | IP Logged
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Mari,
I love your description. It really helps me to get the understanding much more about Montessori. It is so child led! I love that she just came up with her own method of doing addition and math.
I think I've been thinking wrong about Montessori. You are right it isn't just using materials the way we want. I am reading the Absorbent Mind and love how she talks about children aquiring language.
I thank you for expressing your thoughts so well b/c I needed to realize math is just the same way! Now to clear the old school thinking of math from mind and figure out how I just do it w/o stepping in the way.
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4Real Forums : Living and Loving Numbers
Topic: Another math question for the experts
