More robots
This week we created charts for the kids to mark off what they do every day. They are things that are part of the daily routine anyway, but don't happen every single day (math practice, brushing their own hair, scrubbing some part of the house, etc). We will still do these things most days, but now the kids have the option of marking it on their charts when they do them. At the end of the week, each mark on the chart is worth 10 cents. Rea is very motivated by marking things off and was pushing us to do more things every day just to get marks on her chart. Sara and Timmy care less about filling out the chart but are excited by the opportunity to earn money; both are saving up for cool Lego kits. We are just starting this system, so we will see how it works. (The idea is from the "Family Economic System" by Richard and Linda Eyre, to give due credit.)
Our Montessori time went very well this week. In January, the girls worked on reading aloud every day as part of a challenge. It was very good, so Alison decided that in February they will play a math game every day. It didn't quite get started on the first of the month, but the couple of games they've played so far have been very well received.
Rea and Alison are still having a wonderful time doing science follow-ups to the first two Great Lessons; this week, it was air pressure and food chains. Rea is also enjoying an independent study about bears. Alison also introduced the Third Great Lesson: the Coming of Human Beings. This begins the study of history in the Montessori curriculum, which emphasizes understanding the special gifts of humans (minds, hands, and love) and how they use them to meet their fundamental needs in different places and times. It also emphasizes progress as a product of all people: not the inventor of the light bulb but the work so many people did that has changed how we've controlled light throughout history. It de-emphasizes wars and politics until after 4th grade and instead talks about cultures and progress. Rea is happy to have biographies and history books for free reading and discussion during Montessori time.
Sara is still writing (she prefers it to reading for her language work; Montessori would let kids write until they suddenly started reading on a second-grade level) and Alison has started illustrating a flip chart to teach the digraph sounds (like the Amazing Action Alphabet we love for the single letters). Sara is also starting to take off in math, so Alison spent hours on Saturday preparing math materials so that she can learn about units, tens, hundreds, and thousands and how to exchange between them next week. She has been wanting something different, though, so Alison searched a bit and found some free printable coloring pages of girls in different traditional costumes labeled princesses: Thai princess, Inuit princess, Mayan princess, etc. She printed them off as cards and outlined each one with the color of the continent she's from on the Montessori map. Sara is so excited to color them and place them on the map in their correct places.
Timmy still loves placing the tiny world animals on the world map, exploring the map puzzles, and making geometric shapes with playdough cutters. He's old enough to start the most basic official Montessori works - spooning dried beans between containers, folding cloths, etc - but he's not terribly motivated and Alison hasn't had time to focus on it.
With all of these new works lined up, Alison had to spend a lot of time Saturday making new Montessori materials. Mike and the kids spent the time building Lego robots. The kids absolutely loved it and were very excited by Mike's stories about saving up for and buying Lego kits as a kid. Now both Sara and Timmy have earmarked money for that purpose. Sara wants the new Lego Elves line, and Timmy wants robots.
Saturday afternoon we pulled the rowan berries we'd picked right after Gideon was born and frozen (to make them sweeter) out of the freezer and started making them into jelly. Sara and Timmy helped a bit picking the berrries off the stems, but Rea worked straight through with Daddy. When Mommy came and joined them when Gideon fell asleep, they sang folk songs and made up verses, mostly about bees. It was fun.
Mike has done more work with and on his laser cutter. He made a "blast door" with a protective window you can look through, he built an L shaped guide to push a piece of paper up against so that it is in a known place when the cutting happens. He is also pretty close to cutting out his first finished piece successfully.
On Wednesday he finds if his designs from this year made finalist in the Ion Award. He hopes that they do, but you never know.
Mike also discovered a new game design contest this week and has been preparing a submission for that contest as well. It is a time travel game about getting an important event perfect by repeated meddling. The game is moving along nicely.
Finally, Rea dressed up like a robot for Timmy (mostly by putting a cardboard box on her head). He was very excited about it, and so happy that we had a robot in the house.
Our Montessori time went very well this week. In January, the girls worked on reading aloud every day as part of a challenge. It was very good, so Alison decided that in February they will play a math game every day. It didn't quite get started on the first of the month, but the couple of games they've played so far have been very well received.
Rea and Alison are still having a wonderful time doing science follow-ups to the first two Great Lessons; this week, it was air pressure and food chains. Rea is also enjoying an independent study about bears. Alison also introduced the Third Great Lesson: the Coming of Human Beings. This begins the study of history in the Montessori curriculum, which emphasizes understanding the special gifts of humans (minds, hands, and love) and how they use them to meet their fundamental needs in different places and times. It also emphasizes progress as a product of all people: not the inventor of the light bulb but the work so many people did that has changed how we've controlled light throughout history. It de-emphasizes wars and politics until after 4th grade and instead talks about cultures and progress. Rea is happy to have biographies and history books for free reading and discussion during Montessori time.
Sara is still writing (she prefers it to reading for her language work; Montessori would let kids write until they suddenly started reading on a second-grade level) and Alison has started illustrating a flip chart to teach the digraph sounds (like the Amazing Action Alphabet we love for the single letters). Sara is also starting to take off in math, so Alison spent hours on Saturday preparing math materials so that she can learn about units, tens, hundreds, and thousands and how to exchange between them next week. She has been wanting something different, though, so Alison searched a bit and found some free printable coloring pages of girls in different traditional costumes labeled princesses: Thai princess, Inuit princess, Mayan princess, etc. She printed them off as cards and outlined each one with the color of the continent she's from on the Montessori map. Sara is so excited to color them and place them on the map in their correct places.
Timmy still loves placing the tiny world animals on the world map, exploring the map puzzles, and making geometric shapes with playdough cutters. He's old enough to start the most basic official Montessori works - spooning dried beans between containers, folding cloths, etc - but he's not terribly motivated and Alison hasn't had time to focus on it.
With all of these new works lined up, Alison had to spend a lot of time Saturday making new Montessori materials. Mike and the kids spent the time building Lego robots. The kids absolutely loved it and were very excited by Mike's stories about saving up for and buying Lego kits as a kid. Now both Sara and Timmy have earmarked money for that purpose. Sara wants the new Lego Elves line, and Timmy wants robots.
Saturday afternoon we pulled the rowan berries we'd picked right after Gideon was born and frozen (to make them sweeter) out of the freezer and started making them into jelly. Sara and Timmy helped a bit picking the berrries off the stems, but Rea worked straight through with Daddy. When Mommy came and joined them when Gideon fell asleep, they sang folk songs and made up verses, mostly about bees. It was fun.
Mike has done more work with and on his laser cutter. He made a "blast door" with a protective window you can look through, he built an L shaped guide to push a piece of paper up against so that it is in a known place when the cutting happens. He is also pretty close to cutting out his first finished piece successfully.
On Wednesday he finds if his designs from this year made finalist in the Ion Award. He hopes that they do, but you never know.
Mike also discovered a new game design contest this week and has been preparing a submission for that contest as well. It is a time travel game about getting an important event perfect by repeated meddling. The game is moving along nicely.
Finally, Rea dressed up like a robot for Timmy (mostly by putting a cardboard box on her head). He was very excited about it, and so happy that we had a robot in the house.
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