MEH 8.1 The Work Cycle

Montessori and Movement: a quick look at the work cycle.

First, lets define the work cycle for anyone not familiar.
The 'work cycle' refers to everything in between taking a job from the shelf and replacing it there when finished. Including, but not limited to;

choose job
take it from shelf
place it on rug (previously laid out)
complete job (whatever that entails from the lesson given), maybe several times... until finished
place all items of the job back on the tray, prepped for next person to use
take job back to shelf and place in it's spot

Do you realize just how much movement that cycle requires?
Lets say your child chooses 5-7 jobs in a morning. This means they are repeating this 'work cycle' that many times PLUS! doing the actual jobs and whatever movement each one requires. No wonder your child is exhausted after just one morning.

This movement within a Montessori classroom is one of the things that makes it unique from other educational models. The method, materials and philosophy not only allow a child to move but encourage, Nay! require it.

Montessori herself said:
"Muscles which nature has destined for movement find their rest in orderly movements, just as the normal rhythm of breathing in the open air represents rest for the lungs." ~ The Discover of the Child




If you're interested in reading for yourself, The Discovery of the Child can easily be purchased on amazon.

If you're interested in what Montessori's thoughts on movement can mean for your child at home and within your parenting style, check out our YouTube channel:
MEHtube, once there, look for
Episode MEH 8: Montessori and Movement.












ING
!jen

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