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SeaStar
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I have to say I miss the lively Montessori threads we had going for awhile.
I learned so much from reading what everyone is doing. So- how are things going for all of you?
I am working my way through the Pink reading series with ds (using the album from Karen's on line class). He is really taking to it well. I did not purchase the phonics kits, but now I am thinking I might go back and buy them. It would just save me so much time as far as trying to put the word books and sentence cards together myself. For those of you who have been using them- do you still use them and are they working well?
The flour sifting activity had to be shelved at my house for awhile because the kids cannot seem to resist adding water to those heaps of sifted flour and making playdough  They kept squeezing out the sponge water for clean up into the bowl.
We had a lot of fun with the three part skeleton cards and a little plastic skeleton in October.
Now I am anxiously waiting to start the math section of Karen's class Ds just turned five, and I am hoping to get really serious about math after Christmas... but I want to wait for the album to start because the other albums have just been so helpful to me as far as being organized and not overwhelmed.
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Melinda, mom to ds ('02) and dd ('04)
SQUILT Music Appreciation
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Mackfam
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| Posted: Nov 19 2007 at 10:36am | IP Logged
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SeaStar wrote:
I have to say I miss the lively Montessori threads we had going for awhile.
I learned so much from reading what everyone is doing. |
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Me too Melinda!!!!!!! I find I miss it immensely! I had to take that long break from the boards when I got pregnant and so sick, then just as I was recovering and starting to get back on my feet, the boards went down and the Montessori forum went away.
Hmmm...what are we doing? Well it's been a slow start this year because of the pregnancy, but we have really been enjoying our journey into Montessori. It has filled the greatest need I had, which was to help draw my 7yo in to some subjects that just were not working any other way. My 2 (almost 3yo) is of course really benefiting greatly as he is in a highly "sensitive" period - though not quite ready for more structured presentations. And I've been so pleased with the response from my 11yo too. It has been and continues to be a worthwhile investment in time and I continue to learn so much about it!
Specifically, we've really been enjoying our geography cabinet! It has opened the door to geography and history in ways I never imagined. It is the one area I feel is untapped though, and I am missing the Montessori forum mostly because of this one subject I think.
I'm loving all of my pdf downloads from Lori at Montessori for Everyone. I love them all, but so far the biggest hits have been those that really accentuate and extend our already lovely nature studies. Our botany shelf right now has been loads of fun to set up and explore!
My littlest loves, loves, loves the scissor cutting activity. I had some preschool scissors, but they were frustrating to use for him, so I bought this spring loaded pair from Michael Olaf, and he is in love! He asks to work with his scissors every day. He also loves scooping lentils, pouring water, and the knobbed cylinders.
I'm still uncovering the great potential in the golden beads. My 7yo loves them. I want to work with them more, but it has been an issue of time and energy for me plain and simple. I hope to be able to make some of those great decanomial tags from JMJ Publishing to extend some of our lessons. I hate to be dragging behind my son's readiness, but it's just a fact of life right now. I need to get some organized, methodical presentations together for him in this area - perhaps over the Christmas break?
All in all, I've found that there is a great beauty to the Montessori materials we have - whether I made them or purchased them, and I've been so uplifted whenever we use them. The kids have responded in such an overwhelming and positive way that I am encouraged to continue organizing what is working for us and add to it as I am able! I find that it suits our "real learning" lifestyle beautifully. We're still not purists - I think because of the span of my children's ages. I would use it exclusively for my 2-4ish set just as you are doing. But, I find it complements our learning styles beautifully without being draining.
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Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19 , ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
Wildflowers and Marbles
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lapazfarm
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| Posted: Nov 19 2007 at 11:11am | IP Logged
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Since my two grandsons joined our circus things have been a bit different. They have some behavioral stuff to learn and so we have been focusing mainly on practical life and sensorial stuff. All of the pouring, sorting, scooping,etc has been great for them, along with other lessons in basic manners.
The knobbed cylinders get daily use and JackJack (the 2yo) has a set of farm animals and photo cards he likes to match up. He is so bright and a real joy to work with! Squirt (the 4yo) loves the zoology and insect puzzles.Any puzzles, really. I am trying to help him catch up from his neglected education, but it is a struggle. He knows no letters, numbers, nothing. Sad, really.
Geography has been put on hold for now, but I hope to pick it back up soon.I can see the Squirt eying the maps and I have let him do the world hemispheres map so far, but thats it. Superboy has all of the Asian countries memorized, but we have not moved on from there yet. I am not sure which continent we will do next, but I am thinking Africa.
JBug is doing well with the pink materials, but is not transitioning into reading yet very well. Blending the sounds is just not clicking with her. The golden bead materials have been working like a charm, though. I LOVE them!I have a few home-made colored bead bars that I made when I thought I only had JBug to work with, but now that I have 3 littles I can see I need to go ahead and invest in a full decanomial set.
That's a bit of it, anyway.
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Theresa
us-schooling in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska.
LaPaz Home Learning
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acystay
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| Posted: Nov 19 2007 at 12:10pm | IP Logged
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I too miss the old montessori discussions. I think this forum being titled early childhood gets us away from that topic.
I found on yahoo another file sharing place--mm_share and then the file datat sites from there are like mm2_share_math. I could be wrong, but man there is a lot! DD really like these moon phases ones we found. We are study space and Africa right now. Our geography is coming along nicely. I hopefully will have time to put the landform activities together. My bead making is avery slow process. I also need to finish up her clock work. The free downloads from Lori are great! She really has enjoyed the command cards, calendar activities, and my sons have liked the season matching things. I hoping too to get bread baking done and the Native American homes. We went to see the Tongva(SoCal ) natives this weekend. Wow, what a great learning experience!
Okay, so that is all happening here. perhaps we can come up with something to get our juices and spirits up again!
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Meredith
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Things ARE different, and I'm sorry that I revved things up and then had to step away. I feel badly about that, but things changed AFTER I was not moderating anymore and there were so many reasons that I needed to step down for my family.
We have been going great guns with Math and all the pre-reading (and some reading) activities for my 5yo. He's the best Montessori student, he just eats it all up. He's doing 2nd grade math work with all the bead materials like there's no tomorrow 
I DO love my Reading Kits I purchased and put together Melinda, it has saved me ALOT of time reinventing the wheel. I use them in conjunction with Little Stories for Little Folks and the Seton Beginning Readers, they are delightful!
My older two are really enjoying all the geometry work and the Botany cabinet. And of course I could speak ages on the benefits of our Geography set up  .
I hope you all have a lovely Thanksgiving week and I'm watching you from afar 
Much Love and Blessings!
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Meredith
Mom of 4 Sweeties
Sweetness and Light
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mary theresa
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| Posted: Nov 19 2007 at 2:37pm | IP Logged
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SeaStar wrote:
I have to say I miss the lively Montessori threads we had going for awhile.
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I just want to say:
ME TOO!
I'm just a lurker, really, because my daughter's little still, but I LOVED all the great threads and ideas that I was storing away for when she's older.  You all know so much and I enjoy learning from you!
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Mary Theresa
mother to 3 little girls --March '06, Dec '07 and Jan '10
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AndreaG
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SeaStar wrote:
I have to say I miss the lively Montessori threads we had going for awhile.
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Me too! I admit the new forum designations have me confused about where to post things (like montessori for older kids topics) so I just don't.
I was just thinking about all the plans I had over the summer- I am definitely not doing them all!
I AM loving the Great Lessons though. I love how they tie all the subjects together so well. I am also using the research guides from Montessori for Everyone with my oldest. That is going well. I am basically trying to encourage more free exploration for him, rather than just doing the mandatory lessons and going off to play football.
My 5-year-old is really into montessori math- its been a life saver since he finds RightStart level A too easy!
My 3-year-old is in a stage where she wants to color more than choose montessori works, I haven't given her a new presentation in ages, so I probably need to do that!
My 1-year-old is climbing on the table
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Andrea
GrayFamilyCircus
Read Through the Catechism in a Year- For Moms!
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marianne
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We're learning about Africa right now, and we do bits and pieces of Montessori throughout our day. It's been great integrating a lot of the M. materials into our homeschool, but I've not been able to really create a real M. environment. I keep fighting/working with some instinct that I have for *systematic* learning.
My preschoolers have been using a lot of the sensory and math materials, and my older kids have been doing a lot of geography and art lately. The leaf rubbing plates from MNS were so much fun to do with fall colored crayons!
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Angel
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| Posted: Nov 19 2007 at 5:32pm | IP Logged
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I, too, miss the discussions. My online time has taken a hit, though, with the new baby. Actually, I find myself reading online more than I can reply to anything... I'm standing up and bouncing the baby! So if all of y'all were to talk more, I'd really appreciate it.
Basically what we are trying to do around here lately is to get by. My kids are all input seekers, so I've had to try and maintain a learning routine even when I didn't really feel like it. Otherwise, things just fall apart. So while there haven't been a huge amount of carefully planned and orchestrated presentations -- and certainly I do not see a whole lot of normalized behavior from my 4 and 2 yos! -- I've tried to do what I can and not feel too guilty about it. Life with my 2 yo twins has been a little nuts lately... doing any work with them around is haphazard at best, and trying to get them to separate each to their own work is nearly impossible. I've been getting kind of down about that lately -- here I thought things were getting a little easier, I might be able to put more stuff out, they might be concentrating better -- and we go through a whole renewed climbing/dumping/destroying phase. To be honest, I've kind of felt like afailure as a Montessori mom. We *do* try to keep the spirit of Montessori with our choice time -- freedom with limits -- but the peace, order, beauty, preparedness -- well, that's just a little beyond me most of the time.
But over the past few days I've realized that right now is probably the most difficult time as far as Montessori is concerned. Next year the twins will turn three and the challenges with them will change, but I'll only have one toddler. One toddler is so much easier to deal with than two... especially two that I'm beginning to worry about, as far as the extreme activity goes.
Anyway, it may not be true but it helps me get through the day!
As far as what we are getting accomplished... I've been mostly quite happy with my 11 yo and 8 yo's "choice time". They seem to enjoy the activities I put on the board and their independence really seems to have blossomed. When they choose their own work, they usually concentrate beautifully. I also decided to use the Great Lessons this year, and what a success that has been! My 11 yo is totally immersed in chemistry right now. I haven't been able to keep up with my 8 yo dd's math, though, and I really need to sit down and plan out how to do that better. And we're waiting on a couple of puzzle maps from Allison's that are on back order, so I can start with the world and go from there.
My 4 yo is having a math explosion, but I haven't been able to take full advantage of it. He's ready to be introduced to the decimal system and then on to numbers 11-19, and addition and subtraction, but keeping the twins occupied for long enough anything with him is tough. I'm looking at our afternoons to see if I can make that work and still get a nap, which I really need.
The 2 yos.... well, they love many of the materials, but they don't want to wait and let me show them anything. So I try to do calm presentations with a baby in a pouch and 2 2 yos jumping up and down crying and trying to grab whatever's in my hands. Doesn't always work. It's a good thing the baby is such an angel!!!
Now I think I'm overcooking dinner (not burning it, of course), so I'd better go. Looking forward to some renewed conversation!
--Angela
Three Plus Two
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Mackfam
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| Posted: Nov 19 2007 at 7:15pm | IP Logged
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Meredith wrote:
| Things ARE different, and I'm sorry that I revved things up and then had to step away. I feel badly about that, but things changed AFTER I was not moderating anymore and there were so many reasons that I needed to step down for my family. |
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Oh Meredith! I hope you didn't think I was implying that it was your fault that things changed. You are right to always place your family first!!! Your faithfulness to your vocation is inspiring, and a good example for us all!
I think there was just an evolution of the boards that took place that while certainly leaving room for Montessori discussions, has not made it as intuitive or easy to use. I admit it has thrown me off. So many of us are Montessori-ing across a span of ages, and with a varying degree of Montessori-ness (do you like my new words? ) in terms of how much Montessori as opposed to other homeschooling philosophies we bring in to the learning time. It was good to have one place to bring questions/challenges regarding Montessori and springboard from there.
You were an awesome moderator Meredith, with so many wonderful directions to point us in, and positive encouragement. It was a very helpful time of discussion we had, and I'm grateful for all that I learned from it!
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Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19, ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
Wildflowers and Marbles
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Meredith
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Mackfam wrote:
Oh Meredith! I hope you didn't think I was implying that it was your fault that things changed. You are right to always place your family first!!! Your faithfulness to your vocation is inspiring, and a good example for us all!
I think there was just an evolution of the boards that took place that while certainly leaving room for Montessori discussions, has not made it as intuitive or easy to use. I admit it has thrown me off. |
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Not at ALL Jen, and I agree with you on all points! Thank you for your kind words! I know it has been quite different and I wish I could just bring ya'll over to my living room for coffee and tea
The conversations SHOULD continue and I'll try and pop in as much as I can. You ladies gave me more inspiration than I ever gave you, so keep on keepin' on!!
Love,
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Meredith
Mom of 4 Sweeties
Sweetness and Light
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SeaStar
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I second all Jen said! Meredith- you did a great job leading us into the Montessori world, and now we have to get ourselves geared up to keep going. It is the inspiration of others that truly motivates me, so I have really missed that. I have several questions rolling around in my head that I know I will be posting one of these days...
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Melinda, mom to ds ('02) and dd ('04)
SQUILT Music Appreciation
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Angel
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SeaStar wrote:
| I second all Jen said! Meredith- you did a great job leading us into the Montessori world, and now we have to get ourselves geared up to keep going. It is the inspiration of others that truly motivates me, so I have really missed that. I have several questions rolling around in my head that I know I will be posting one of these days... |
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Oh, good, Melinda, I hope so! And Meredith, after I posted last night, I thought why didn't I say something to Meredith??? Fortunately, Jen said it for me.
--Angela
Three Plus Two
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Meredith
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You guys, relax, I'm good, no need to say more I appreciate all your sweet and kind thoughts and words though, have the best Thanksgiving!
Love,
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Meredith
Mom of 4 Sweeties
Sweetness and Light
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SeaStar
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| Posted: Nov 21 2007 at 6:43am | IP Logged
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Meredith-
Thanks for your input on the reading kits. I finally ordered them yesterday and madly began printing last night. Whew! They are going to make my life much easier.
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Melinda, mom to ds ('02) and dd ('04)
SQUILT Music Appreciation
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Meredith
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| Posted: Nov 21 2007 at 9:27am | IP Logged
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You're welcome Melinda, I think you are really going to like them
Love,
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Meredith
Mom of 4 Sweeties
Sweetness and Light
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Mare
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I also miss the conversations but I know I've been too busy to contribute much at all.
We've been enjoying our Montessori work. It's proven to be a great way to keep the girls learning and quiet while I do one on one work. The geography and botany cabinets are favorites. We've also had great success with the addition and subtraction strip boards.
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Topic: I miss our lively discussions
