(sara): Just to get discussion going, I want to go a step beyond Moira's Lent & Easter presentations. We can also share the stories of Holy Week with our children, to the extent that they are ready and interested. Our Father's House.biz sells this:
"Patterns for Holy Week Figures $8.00 Patterns and directions for cutting and painting 57 wooden figures. Includes script and simiple directions for telling all the stories from the Palm Sunday to Easter."
I'm sure there are several books about Holy Week written for children out there. Let me know if you have one you like. Granted, the actual crucifixion is matter that must be dealt with simply and matter-of-factly with young children. It must be presented to them in a manner much different from sitting down and watching The Passion movie, obviously. Moira's Lenten presentations help the young child (and us!) begin to understand the idea of redemptive suffering ("unless the grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies...") and makes excellent preparation for Holy Week.
Last year I prepared a Sedar meal for dh. It was a long and wonderful meal that we intend to repeat this year, with either friends or family. Hopefully I can post again soon about this and the above topics. Jump in with your ideas!
Saturday, February 16, 2008
on-line album
Someone at 4Real shared this link to a basic Montessori album free on-line. Maybe you've seen it? It was new to me - looks like a good resource for moms wanting to get started. I did have trouble getting to all the links, though.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
literature ideas I forgot to mention...
(sara): I forgot to mention one other helpful literature resource: Sonlight catalog. This is a home school curriculum built around "great books." It is distinctively Protestant, which is why some Catholics choose to not use it for religion or history. They sell packages for each age group which are very enticing: a big box full of great children's books can arrive on your doorstep next week! Hey, forget combing the library! Of course, you can find all those books cheaper at Amazon. I recommend asking for one of their catalogs just for the book lists. I haven't been impressed with ALL of the selections we've gotten so far based on their recommendations, but some are very good. One thing I've found helpful is that it has helped me get an idea of what grade-level C. is reading at. [The 2nd grade books are no problem for him, some 3rd grade books are fine, but some are too long for right now.]
Kolbe Academy has a home-school program I've been interested in, and they have some good children's book ideas on their webpage here.
More on literature "theory": (1) Years back, I borrowed the book Honey for a Child's Heart. I think this one is worth browsing, although I personally found the book lists too extensive to be helpful... where do you start?! From the author, however, I learned to look for original versions of books - the original Pooh, for example, instead of the nauseatingly dumbed-downed Disney versions. (2) The other book that really changed the way I view children's literature was A Landscape With Dragons by Michael O'Brien, an author whose fiction I enjoy. He writes about the evolution of symbolism and how to choose Christian literature as opposed to media which is anti-Christian, but so disguised as to appear acceptable. Well worth reading, for moms & dads both.
Kolbe Academy has a home-school program I've been interested in, and they have some good children's book ideas on their webpage here.
More on literature "theory": (1) Years back, I borrowed the book Honey for a Child's Heart. I think this one is worth browsing, although I personally found the book lists too extensive to be helpful... where do you start?! From the author, however, I learned to look for original versions of books - the original Pooh, for example, instead of the nauseatingly dumbed-downed Disney versions. (2) The other book that really changed the way I view children's literature was A Landscape With Dragons by Michael O'Brien, an author whose fiction I enjoy. He writes about the evolution of symbolism and how to choose Christian literature as opposed to media which is anti-Christian, but so disguised as to appear acceptable. Well worth reading, for moms & dads both.
Monday, February 11, 2008
literature
(sara): Home schooling or not, we all want to read quality literature to our children, and if you've ever checked out a bunch of books from the library, you quickly learn that there are a lot of kid's books that AREN'T worth reading. So you begin to collect lists of books that other people like. Fortunately for me, our library catalog is on-line, so I can search for specific books before we even go there; with all the kids along, it's hard to look for books anyway. For an article explaining the Charlotte Mason concept of a "living book", click here.
Something we just started with C a few weeks ago is narrating his favorite books. I'm always a bit hesitant to start something new, but this has gone over very well. Basically, he just reads a book a couple times (to himself or me) and then we sit down at the computer and he tells me every detail he can remember while I type. He picks out a colored piece of paper and we print and hole-punch the narration, then he puts it in a binder and can illustrate the page if he wants. The binder is a source of pride for him! (We've done about 6 so far.) It's an excellent record of our favorite books. As he becomes able, he will eventually do the writing himself.
I wanted to share a few ideas for finding books. One, which is more for the home schooling crowd, is the Five in a Row program - so named because you are encouraged to read the same book to your child every day, for 5 days. Ironically from what I've heard, this is the one aspect of the program that most moms don't follow! The 19-20 books in the series were chosen for their quality, and each day after reading the story, you proceed with a geography, math, art, or other lesson pertaining to the story. For example, you read Madeline, and then find Paris on a map and learn what and where the appendix is in your body. There is emphasis on literary device and illustrations, to encourage even young children to be analytical about the books they read. I just received this book last week.
There's also a book called Catholic Mosaic which suggests 52 children's books to cover the entire Liturgical Calendar. I haven't purchased this book, but it's discussed a lot at 4Real.
Another book list I've liked is from the book Real Learning. You can find it here. One of the books listed for January is Owl Moon - a beautiful wintery tale which my hubby enjoyed reading to the boys very much. For some ideas for great books about nature, try this list. For specifics on particular books, the 4Real chatgroup has an entire category just for you here. Any other ideas?
Something we just started with C a few weeks ago is narrating his favorite books. I'm always a bit hesitant to start something new, but this has gone over very well. Basically, he just reads a book a couple times (to himself or me) and then we sit down at the computer and he tells me every detail he can remember while I type. He picks out a colored piece of paper and we print and hole-punch the narration, then he puts it in a binder and can illustrate the page if he wants. The binder is a source of pride for him! (We've done about 6 so far.) It's an excellent record of our favorite books. As he becomes able, he will eventually do the writing himself.
I wanted to share a few ideas for finding books. One, which is more for the home schooling crowd, is the Five in a Row program - so named because you are encouraged to read the same book to your child every day, for 5 days. Ironically from what I've heard, this is the one aspect of the program that most moms don't follow! The 19-20 books in the series were chosen for their quality, and each day after reading the story, you proceed with a geography, math, art, or other lesson pertaining to the story. For example, you read Madeline, and then find Paris on a map and learn what and where the appendix is in your body. There is emphasis on literary device and illustrations, to encourage even young children to be analytical about the books they read. I just received this book last week.
There's also a book called Catholic Mosaic which suggests 52 children's books to cover the entire Liturgical Calendar. I haven't purchased this book, but it's discussed a lot at 4Real.
Another book list I've liked is from the book Real Learning. You can find it here. One of the books listed for January is Owl Moon - a beautiful wintery tale which my hubby enjoyed reading to the boys very much. For some ideas for great books about nature, try this list. For specifics on particular books, the 4Real chatgroup has an entire category just for you here. Any other ideas?
Friday, February 8, 2008
M&M Math
(lynnette:) I remembered doing this in college when I was taking my "teaching math" course. It's not necessarily Montessori, but we had a lot of fun with it. So, I decided to do this with "C" one afternoon during snack time. I felt it would justify our M&M eating. :0) I didn't have this graph chart at the time, but I think it would have made it more clear for "C". I suppose you could also adapt it with jelly beans during Easter time.
First, she sorted by color. Then, we counted and labeled each color. Last, we talked about which had the most, the least, and the same.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Lent & Easter CGS
(Sara): Ready or not, Lent begins tomorrow! Who is going to try to do CGS for Lent & Easter? Moira includes the parable of the Good Shepherd in Lent, and of all the presentations, this is the one you don't want to miss. Last year I managed to get all of these presentations done, and it was only because several of them are quite simple to prepare. I'm looking forward to reviewing all of them and making improvements as I feel up to it. Here's the rundown:
For Lent:
The Grain of Wheat
The Good Shepherd
Psalm 23
The Cenacle
For Easter:
Baptism 1-4
The Trinity
The Sign of the Cross
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Presentation presentation
(Amy:) Moira includes her presentation for the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple during Christmas, but Anne and I waited until Feb 2, the day it is celebrated in the liturgical year. We weren't able to make the figures together because of time constraints, but were able to slip away to go to Hobby Lobby together and bounce some ideas off of each other, which is so helpful! Here's a rundown of the above photo...
The prophetess Anna is on the right, made the same way as Mary and Elizabeth in the Advent presentations. Anne had the idea of making her look older by having some cottonball hair peeking out from under her veil.
I based Simeon off of the figurine from Faith Expressions (click on "figurines" and then on one of the images...eventually you will find the set for the Presentation in the Temple. As an aside, they have excellent ideas for creating "environments" as well). My Simeon was looking a bit Mother-Teresa-ish until I added the cottonball mustache and beard. I thought it turned out rather well, until ds-4 commented, "That's a REALLY nice Simeon...why does he have a cottonball on his face?" :)
To the left of Simeon is Mary, made identical to the Mary used in the Advent presentations. We found the "baby" wooden figures for Jesus at Hobby Lobby, and Anne swaddled them up in some gray felt. He is glued on to Mary.Joseph was made just like the prophets Isaiah and Micah from Advent but I added a head covering to distinguish him a bit.
The turtle doves are from Hobby Lobby and we found them in the section with the miniature doll house furniture. My husband Justin is the mastermind behind the birdcage. The base is some tongue depressors glued together and then cut into a circle. Two of the wire arches are semi-circles, the other four pieces just meet at the top and are all superglued together. He notched the edges of the base so the wires fit in snugly, then superglued them for an extra hold. So far it has stayed together.
Justin also cut out the Temple prop from a cardboard box using Moira's pattern. I have not managed to paint it yet...hopefully by next February. :)I was really encouraged after presenting this to ds and dd. Ds especially had some thoughtful reflections, and even pulled out the Annunciation, Visitation, and Nativity materials and staged one big "play" for Justin and me, narrated and acted out in chronological order.
I hope Anne won't mind me ending this post with a request for prayers for her and her family after just learning on Friday that they have lost the baby she was carrying. I'm sure they would appreciate them.
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