Homeschool Weirdos! Yep, we have those.

Homeschoolers are weird. This is probably the most common phrase regarding our lifestyle choice and it's also the most common UNtruth. But don't take my word for it, see it for yourself. 

The kids and I have been talking about what we'll do in June when they finish their experiment public school year, all the things we'll do over the summer and what our schooling will look like next year as we look forward to retirement from the Navy. One of the things they decided was joining the ranks of YouTubers. Not wanting to wait until school was out, they decided to start making video's now.

They wanted to let people know what homeschoolers get to do all day. How we learn by doing and exploring and experiencing the world. 

We started as fairly regular homeschoolers with a very Montessori flair. I'm certified in the Montessori method and have years of education experience so I knew just what to do when we started this 'homeschooling' thing. 

Famous last words.

Each year we continued homeschooling, following our kids to what they wanted to learn and love (as Montessori does), I realized that we are way more UNschoolers than anything else. 

We learn about whales by going to the coast and whale watching after a bit of library research. We explored building and mathematics and following instructions at Lego School. We learned about the rainforest by hiking in it and seeing it first hand. 

These are the experiences that my children thrive in and beg for. So when they said they wanted to start making YouTube videos... you bet I was on board.

They made a list of ten different episode ideas, then gave each episode a list of materials it might need. We sat down and gave each episode a 'budget' and discussed using it wisely. We talked about making videos with no cost to save up for a video with more materials. 

Do you see where I'm going with this?

Yeah, it's 'school'. 

Each episode requires such planning and organization, when I involve them in it, they learn. Learn by doing and being responsible and planning and even editing.

Yes, you read that right. 

#WestWind is the editor. I record them (like, I actually push the record button... go me!). We decided this would be best, as them watching themselves in selfie mode would just be disastrous. Then I upload the clips and she takes over in iMovie. 

She LOVES it. After working all day at school, asking to edit is the first request when she gets home. If there aren't episodes to edit, she is actually sad. She has learned about royalty free music and where to obtain it. She has leaned about cutting out 'dead air' and watching for when her brother might feel the need to scratch himself (ahhhh), so she can cut that out too. No one wants to see it ;)

The aforementioned brother? #FlyBoy is a natural in timing and poise. He knows just how to move the video along and sign off when everything is done. The youngest? #MoonSeeker is just an adorable addition for now. But don't you worry! She's working on her own segments too, you'll see. 

Do you have weird homeschoolers? 

What are they doing lately?

How are they learning and loving it?

ING

!jen

Chores for my FIVE year old? Folding laundry....

What CAN he do??

In this day and age when parents are SO eager to get back to teaching their kids to be responsible, we find ourselves asking, HOW??

How do we know when they’re ready for chores?

How do we know which chores?

How to we start?

How do we teach?

How do we survive waiting for them to learn it properly?

How? How? How?

There are SO many cute guides to age appropriate chores. Just google 'age appropriate chores'... a step further is to search images specifically. There's a TON. Like this one:

by Heather at Sports Mom Survival Guide

But these are simply that, guides. Each child is their own person. My oldest was reading 2nd grade books as she entered 1st. My middle one is almost 5 and barely getting around to caring about the sounds letters make. So why would they be able and ready to do the same chores at the same ages?? They’re NOT. PLEASE remember, these info graphics are guidelines.

So #IcarusRex is now able to fold laundry. How do I know?? I watched him ‘fold’ blankets and napkins and saw that the manual dexterity was there. The concentration was there. The desire was there…. so I gave him a lesson. Guess what?! He was able to do it without fussing, with a certain amount of ease, and still with a bit of room for improvement. 

SO what IS our ‘laundry folding’ lesson?

Step One: 

Lay out the shirt ‘picture side’ down. I do this part during our first few tries. (I know he can do this part because he does it for getting dressed daily, but since this is a new lesson, I do the first few for him)

Step One

We place the picture side down, for 2 reasons. 

1. picture side down is how he gets dressed, it ensures the picture is on his front instead of back. 

2. we can see the picture when it's in the drawer, making choosing it easier.

Step Two:

Fold one side over to the other. (left to right or right to left, doesn’t matter)

Step Two

Step Three:

Fold arms over body of shirt. (just so the sleeves no longer stick out)

Step Three

Step Four:

Fold bottom up to cover sleeves. (create a rectangle/square)

Step Four

Folding in Action ;) 

He LOVED that he did every shirt alone. We also had a lesson on folding bottoms that day. So #IcarusRex was especially accomplished by the end of our chore. 

 

There is NO task in our day or life that can’t be broken down into manageable, age appropriate, steps. All we, as parents, need to do is think logically about the task and assess what each child is capable of. My youngest (now 2 years old), can move laundry from basket to washer to dryer to basket. LOVES to in fact. Would I expect her to fold and return the clothes to the dresser? Of course not. But SO many parents do this, or something similar. They see their child doing part of a chore and assume they can do all of that chore. Take it easy folks! 

Have fun with each stage of each child’s go at life. Through that fun… you’ll witness and observe, not only their abilities and skill but you’ll observe SO many moments, otherwise missed. 

ING

!jen

Comment below and let me know what chore you're planning to give a lesson on or loved giving a lesson on previously. OR let me know which chore you have NO IDEA how to teach effectively and I'll blog it ;) I'm all about helping you Montessori your life and lessons.

Scholastic News at Home

Scholastic News at Home

I’m Homeschooling…. Now What??

Our journey to and through homeschooling has been quite, well, Tumultuous. My oldest just turned nine, in public school, she’d be starting 4th grade in August. Here at home? She’s reading at a 6th grade level, playing with numbers on lots of levels in many operations and still counting on her fingers at times. Her little brother will be five next week and we’ve been officially doing preschool at home since he was 2. He LOVES to listen to audio books (another blog on this later), counts about average for his age, and until recently, couldn’t care less about the sounds letters made. My youngest will be two next month, is already counting quantity to 5 and loves to practice letter sounds. These are simply facts. I care much more about their personality, kindness, compassion, daily living skills and willingness to help others. Even with academics not being MY priority… as I follow my children, academics happen and I roll with them. 

Such was the case with Scholastic News.

In our first year, I was SO torn over not being able to offer my daughter the full scope of Montessori materials for her age that I started her in a Montessori Homeschool Co-op. It was a beautiful blessing! Her teachers were right after my own (Montessori) heart and they were fabulous, beautiful people. They offered a subscription for Scholastic News. It was like $8 for the year, so why would I NOT?? Scholastic News started coming home with her. She’d read a bit on the way home and then pile them in her room. After a few months we had a ginormous stack and I couldn’t bring myself to just toss them. So we read a few together and I saw how AMAZING they were. 

As far as I can tell, you order them in ‘class’ amounts. So maybe I’ll have to get a group of homeschoolers together when we move to keep this going ;)

Anyway, they had a predicable format, quizzes at the end for comprehension, and links for videos online to further knowledge.  

Front covers with great images really catch her attention. even in subjects I wouldn't think she's care about.

Fun short stories to get her thinking, interested and engaged.

So I, being the tech savvy, Montessorian that I am, saw opportunity. I looked over a few scholastics and created a worksheet for my daughter to fill out while/after reading each one. 

Click 

on 

the 

picture 

to 

download 

it 

for 

FREE! 

:) 

She did these intermittently for a while. As part of lots of different options to her school day. Now, she does them as her ‘days work’ when we have a co-op event, field trip, or other learning opportunity that takes us out of the house for most of the day. She’ll do her Scholastic news before we leave or after we get back. 

It’s easy to see when our kids encounter things they love. It’s also easy to see when those things are helping develop their ‘thinking brains’, as we say in our house. But it’s not always easy to see how we, as parents, can help them take it a step further. 

I’ll eventually blog on a few other things; ‘games’, that we’ve incorporated into our homeschool routine at different points over the past few years. Oh, and side note? On non-outing days she’s currently working through a self guided workbook that she loves. So Scholastic News is not the only thing we’re doing right now. We live an eclectic life and thus our schooling has the same philosophy.

ING

!jen

Turning 'toys' into shelf work.

Making Work for the Shelf

(how to turn any TOY into a job)

I'm often faced with teachers who say "that's just a toy, it shouldn't be on the shelf." To them I reply "that's just your lack of creativity talking, watch." Then I show said teacher exactly what my kids are getting from that "toy" on the shelf.

So this is a little intro to making any toy into a job for the shelf of your classroom, wether that classroom is in a center based program or your own home, the principles are the same.

I once took over a classroom in a performing arts school and though the owner knew a little about Montessori philosophy the teacher I took over from, did not. The result was a slew of 'materials' that were just toys being rotated every few weeks with no real intention behind what was chosen, when it was rotated or how it was displayed. So I became unexpectedly adept at turning "toys" into jobs. 

The classroom had a pretend stove and fridge in the dramatic play corner. I broke them up. Turned the stove into a practical life shelf. And the fridge became our sensorial (on the left side) and beginning math shelf (on the right side). I spent a few hours cleaning out all the fake food that was shoved in and on every shelf. Step 1 was to organize the food and decide who much was actually being used. I tried several different variations before making a final decision. I had to weed out what they weren't using and categorize what they were so they could actually play with all the pieces... novel idea!

Next we were on to the "toys". The first step there was 'purpose'. Determining a purpose (or lesson) for each material. Most "toys" can be very versatile.

Like the plastic keys in 5 colors could be a color sorting work but the keys also varied in size (and shape)... a size (or shape) sorting job, or I could place keys in various patterns, take pictures, laminate the pictures and then we have a patterning work. Once choices are made as to the purpose of the material, setting up the tray and placing it on the right shelf are much easier. I decided to make the keys into a color sorting job (sensorial shelf), as a few of my kids were pretty little. I left the rings out... again, little hands got frustrated with the intricate task of placing keys on the rings and snapping the rings closed. Then I put all the keys into a bucket on a tray, with color labels. Labels get placed on the rug and keys sorted under them. After this job rotated out and back in, I changed it's purpose. You may ask "weren't they confused by the change in lesson?" NOPE. With the job being off the shelf completely for a time, it was easy to reintroduce. Additionally, if kids are using it in the old way, it was ok. As long as they are being respectful with the materials... I'm pretty flexible on HOW they use them.

Another example.

I currently have a magnetic doll set. Now some teachers, even Montessori ones, would take that nicely separated tray that 'Melissa and Doug' sell their magnetic doll in and place it right on the shelf. Which is fine. It allows for creativity and maybe even teamwork if you have the set with a boy and a girl in it. However, it could be so much more. A matching work: take pictures of predetermined clothing combinations and have students try to match the outfits you made. A sequencing work: laying out 'bottoms' from shortest to tallest or laying out tops, least colors to most colors. A patterning work: lay all clothes out in predetermined patterns (take pictures before hand) or let students make their own patterns (top, pants, shoe, top, pants, shoe or shoe, skirt, shoe skirt). Also don't be afraid to eliminate a few pieces, especially for younger children. Like for my son  (2), I'd only put out the clothing pieces he needed to do the job, no distractions and less pieces to loose.

We do similar things, now that we're homeschooling, with our play kitchen. Right now it has a 'pizza serving' work and 'ice cream serving' as part of our serving others/ manners curriculum and 'cooking utensils' as part of our creativity curriculum. These rotate as we find new things on sale or at goodwill.

What areas of your playroom or classroom could use a sprucing? Go shopping at places like Ross or Goodwill to find great deals on "toys" that you can turn into a fun new job.

If you have a material in mind but need a bit of inspiration as to how to put it on the shelf, please email me. I LOVE getting inspired by what others are doing and offering a bit of that inspiration back.

 ING
!jen