First Lesson With The Saw

 DJ  was excited to receive his first personal tool set. I purchased this set at Lowes, it is by the company Red Tools. The picture shows everything that was included in the kit, excluding the wood. I purchased some pine wood and had the worker at Lowes cut it down.

                                                         DJ sporting the tool belt.

Before presenting the lesson I used the ruler and made lines with a Sharpie so that DJ could use this as a guide while sawing. Drawing the line worked out great it gave him a focal point that he really needed.

                                                DJ sawing his first piece of wood.

                                                            Admiring his work!!

                                                                    Right back at it.

I saw these free wood samples at Home Depot and decided to pick them up, my first thought was maybe creating a sensorial work. I bet DJ could find something to do with these now.

To see other children learning inspired by the Montessori Method please visit One Hook Wonder  for Montessori Monday.                                                   

                                                              

When I Grow I Want To Be A........

  It is no surprise to me that Michelle shared with me recently that she wants to be a Doctor when she grows up. Michelle has had a strong interest in learning things about DNA and Forensic Science. Over the past few days we have collected materials so she could have more tools to support her choice of career that I hope will lead to more meaningful research experiences.

       Michelle got some scrubs so she can dress the part of her new career in medicine.

                          A peek inside the Medibag.

A few books Michelle has been reading from the library.

New books form the book store. Every aspiring Doctor needs a medical dictionary, and needs to know the basics of First Aid.

         

Introducing Michelles' first patient Tabitha. Tabitha was my doll as a child.

Tabitha needed her arm repaired, it wasn't completely detached from the doll. Michelle is sewing it back together.

To see other children enjoying science activities please visit Science Sunday hosted by Adventures in Mommydom.

                                                              

                                                                  

                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

                                                                                                                      

                                                                    

Practical LIfe: Sewing School

Thank you to everyone who has stopped by and taken a look! Unfortunately I can't leave comments on the particular postings right now.

Yesterday I was excited to receive the copy of the book Sewing School the kids had fun browsing through it. It was fun for me to hear them excitedly say " I want to make this, and this, and this..." I also was able to purchase a brand new beginner sewing machine at Jo Anns for under twenty bucks. It was on sale for twenty and with the teacher discount card it was too good to pass up. Most of the projects in the book is for hand sewing, The patterns that come with the book are really cool, I love how they made everything easy to understand.  So here is a picture of the new practical life work that will be on the shelves September 6th.

                                                                          

Curriculum Choices For 2011-2012

I finally was able to make a decision of what our curriculum will be for this school year!

We will be using the Montessori Method for all subjects. I found albums that I totally understood everything in the presentations from point A to Z. The elementary albums that I found cover everything but music. The albums were created by Bridgitt, they can be found on the blog Learning Together To Be Joyful, Natural & Peaceful. Please let me know if you are aware of a music album, I love having everything spelled out for me.

 

We  also have a daily rhythm that we were inspired to create by various Waldorf blogs. We are taking a few concepts from this style of teaching. We will use main lesson books, a lot of our practical life shelves will consist of Waldorf handworks. We are anxious to try our hands at all the things that Waldorf has to offer with the start of our school year. DJ is really anxious to get at woodworking to make some toys. The girls can't wait to try their hands at at some fairies and doll making. I love that the daily rhythm will get us to at least routinely do some cooking together and guide them to be able to cook independently on their own. I have been a major slacker in the cooking department, and it is now time for me to step up my game. For extra help in this new style of learning that is so fitting for my kids as far as storytelling, practical life skills I purchased the September Learning Guide from Little Acorn Learning I plan on purchasing these for every month. Nature walks will become a routine, the guide also introduces us to some new celebrations that will be sure to keep our homeschooling time fun.

We love to read! So I purchased curriculums from Moving Beyond The Page Ages 9-11 and Ages 10-12. It is based on reading literature and going in depth while learning in all subject areas. My kids are use to this type of learning they really enjoy it and our reading time will be done one on one and the activities that go along with the books look exciting so far so good. It also includes a list of spelling words for the week.

For Physical Education we will continue with Taekwondo two days a week. One day being a Saturday morning. It has proven to be a great motivator for all three children. With TaeKwonDo I am learning that it is a foreign language immersion program as well. Since starting in July my children have learned to count to eight in Korean, as well as various phrases. They practice without prompting and use the phrases when ever appropriate.

Thank you to Erica who writes the very resourceful blog Confessions Of A Homeschooler we are using The Worlds Greatest Artist Vol 1 for artist study and using the book Form Drawing for Beginners by Donna Simmons.

DJ has been independently learning how to play the snare drum, and the bells(not the montessori bells). Ken has taken up the ukelele, and Michelle the violin. I will make materials availiable to them when needed, and I will add composer of the month as soon as I can find the right resource for this.

Confession, I use to be a curriculum junkie until I discovered the montessori method. Another note I am making all materials that dosen't involve me losing a finger. I don't have to buy everything new to give my kids the materials they need to carry out a lesson. If I cannot make it, and the cost is too high for the budget I will find another way to do it!  Even the Five Great Lessons materials that I have been drooling over for the past weeks. There I said it Less is More.

Welcome!

  Thank you for stopping by! If you are here from my other blog The Work Plan I promise you , you will not be disappointed. I decided to have two blogs one that mainly focuses on the works I do with children who attend my home preschool, and one that focuses on my three children. This school year I will be homeschooling DJ my son age 7, and Ken who is my daughter age 10. We are so excited!! Michelle my oldest child will be in 8th grade this year will still attend public school, and yes she is excited too. Michelle loves school so much!!  It is hard for me to catergorize this as a homeschooling blog because it is so much more. I guess it is a blog about how we live. You can expect for me to share lots and lots of learning activities for the elementary age through middle school, our daily ups and downs, and a whole lot more about my life as a mother of three children making it one day at a time. Hope this is a blog that may inspire you, I know so many blogs that have done this for me. By the way I LOVE COMMENTS!! If you have the time leave one let me know you were here. I love reading comments on this blog and other blogs that I visit, sometimes I read the comments on other blogs and I discovered another great blog (hint,hint :)