Math Links

I've just discovered a neat Math site: mathmojo.com. I'm trying to come up with a neat method of teaching math that incorporates Waldorf, Vedic, RightStart math methods. Experiments with long division on the Montessori "Racks and Tubes" set have been frustrating with divisors larger than nine...

Teaching Spelling: The Phonic Zoo & SWR

We started working with The Phonetic Zoo cards and CD from Institute For Excellence in Writing. It has been a great success. It's even better, though, now that I'm combining the spelling lessons with the SWR (Spell to Write and Read) phonogram cards.

I did find, though, that there was not enough explanation for different spelling rules, as there is in SWR. So I now use both. I select all the relevant SWR phonogram cards that apply to the spelling words of the day, we review them and I leave them up whilst we go through the words. It has made a huge difference!

Along with this, I use Earthschooling's "Sixth Sense Reading" ebook, which has lots of silly sentences using various phonogram groups. And on joy-of-reading.com I found more word groups based on phonograms.

More Abacus Madness

I've been tinkering with ideas for an abacus that hybridises the Montessori place value colours with the RightStart Math Al Abacus... I liked the idea that Joan Cotter uses the reverse side of her Al Abacus for trading exercises with twenty beads for each place value, enabling you to demonstrate trading occuring after the second addend. So here's my hybrid:

But now I'm not so sure that I like the idea of twenty beads per place... could it be confusing?

I shall have to play with it for a while.

Montessori Large Bead Frame/Alabacus hybrid

Today I was using the excellent Montessori Math album from Cultivating Dharma to introduce the Large bead frame lessons. I don't own a Montessori Large Bead frame, so I adapted the Alabacus from RightStart Math. I'd like to make my own large bead frame based on both. Perhaps with the unit beads as 5 dark green, 5 pale green, and the tens beads as 5 dark blue, 5 light blue, etc.,(corresponding to the Montessori colouring, but retaining the pattern of the Alabacus.)

 The bead frame paper was a download also from Cultivating Dharma.
To emphasise the number families (thousands, millions and so on) I adapted a Waldorf based idea on teaching place value from Little Nature Nest, and adapted a math story called "Infinity Street" but changed it to "Infinity Forest".

These are some pictures from previous lessons, before introducing the Bead frame:

Waldorf Grade 3: Measurement and the Wheel of the Year

I can't say I slavishly follow any curriculum, but cherry pick what suits. Year 3 of the Waldorf curriculum is my basic skeleton, though. Inspired by a post on Little Nature Nest's Blog, we created a Wheel of the Year for the Southern Hemisphere that demonstrates the change of seasons as caused by the tilt of the earth in relation to the sun:

 Now I had been in a bit of a quandong about when exactly, say, Autumn starts in Australia. Friends said, "Autumn starts on the first of March". But I've used the Autumn Equinox, the 21st March (as my reference, I'm using the Moon Diary by Shekhinah Morgan and Jude Baderle). If I have my facts right, it's after this point that the days start getting shorter for us down under...

A new year, a new approach: Waldorf and Montessori homeschooling

I've been attracted to Waldorf schooling methods for some time. I've just delved into basic Montessori methods and I find both to have elements that are not just brilliant but compatible.

I will give maths as one example of what we've incorporated this year:
Maths and the Abacus
We have used RightStart math for some time, in fact we have all their material and manipulatives for grades up to 4. RightStart is Montessori inspired, as I understand it. It is a brilliant program, and I cannot rave about their Alabacus enough. It leaves cuisenaire rods and even Montessori beads in the dust: numbers are not just amounts of a certain colour—you can immediately see that 7 is not just 7 beads, it is 5 and 2 beads. This makes such a difference for all kinds of maths skills, especially mental math. For those of a Montessori background, the difference is explained well here.
I remember cuisenaire rods when I was in kindergarten: pretty coloured wooden rods, but what the heck did it have to do with math?? I had no idea. Seven might have been a length of orange or pink wood, but it had no segments in it to show those 7 units. It was just a length of colour. It didn't designate quantity, unless compared with other arbitrarily coloured rods.
I recently enjoyed a lesson with Baby No.2 where I incorporated a gigantic set of math blocks / rods by the German company, Grimm's Speil & Holz Design. This is my first Spiel & Holz purchase, but won't be my last. These are the world's best wooden blocks. They differ from the regular cuisenaire rods (and Montessori coloured beads) in that they follow a logical rainbow sequence, rather than an arbitrary colour order. We had much fun discovering visually how many ways there are to make ten (and other numbers). Did you know 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 = 10? I hadn't thought about it till today.
BUT we did find it frustrating that there were no segments in the rods, to help specify their unit amount. I suppose that with time, a length of pale green would come to be understood as 3, but I don't see 3 units in that piece of wood.
So, with the above in mind, I've hit on an idea. I'm going to make my own number rods out of sawn-up Base Ten (or MAB) ten-unit blocks. They are segmented, so the units are evident. I will colour them to match the AlAbacus; for example, I will have a rod of 7 which will be 5 units blue, two yellow. And so on. Then, I'll use these in the same manner as Montessori coloured beads are used; I have the Checkerboard in mind, in particular. I'll post pictures of these as soon as they are to hand.

Progress by Degrees

Today we had a great day! Baby No.1 and I sat down with "What your 5th Grader Should Know", and turned to the History and Geography Section. I decided we'd discuss reference points on maps and atlases, including latitude and longitude and which was which and how to remember that. We talked about how these points are measured in degrees, and we use degrees to measure temperature and angles, too. Latitude always comes first, and is like a waistband around the earth, you measure it north and south of that waistband. Longitude comes next, and you can remember it easily as running around the earth north to south (Long-itude; like hair is long and it runs downwards). Then we located different areas on the globe by navigating to them using their Lat-Long co-ordinates. This seems to have taken an easy hold in her mind, and we then went and got a street atlas to test if she remembered how to find the street we were staying in. She located several more streets easily.

Baby No.2 had obviously been listening in, unnoticed by us at the time, and now knows latitude and longitude too, and which comes first. Sometimes simple little associations can make such a difference to learning (they did for me, anyway).

Then it was on to the maths lesson for the day, and by some coincidence it was about degrees and temperature. She wizzed through it without effort and was very pleased with herself. She sometimes makes easy mistakes when she's feeling confident and as a result not paying 100% attention, but we managed to correct one mistake without fuss.

Homeschool on the Road

Well, we've been on the road for a month and a half now, fieldwork and photographing in remote areas of Western Australia. The girls are literally skipping through fields thick with everlasting daisies of all kinds.

Schooling is going well. I had to whittle down the materials we brought with us to the bare essentials, and to that end we purchased "Maths Power". It's a great program, and the children cannot progress to the subsequent lessons until they have a 100% (or perhaps 95?) score on their previous work. It also helped me in that it is an Australian program, designed by and for Australian teachers and curriculum. So now I know that Baby No.1 is up with what's happening in her grade regarding mathematics. Not that RightStart wasn't wonderful, just that I was unsure where we were in the scheme of things as far as Australian schooling was concerned.

I think that back home I was getting bogged down by the sheer quantity of material I wanted to cover, and worrying about whether I was doing it perfectly... so being forced to stick to the desert-island-essentials has been a revelation.

For English and spelling, we're continuing with Spell to Write and Read, and spelling is improving every day. Baby No.1 still resorts to more "phonetic" spelling when she's writing in a hurry, but does very well when actually thinking about it.

The girls love traveling and being out in the bush, discovering and identifying new animals and plants... we encountered an echidna and followed it as it nuzzled under logs for ants. I decided to make "echidna" the spelling word for the day, which proved popular: they both now know how to spell it! The girls sketch things we find, too. For long hauls on the road, we've bought Beatrix Potter's Tales on CD. Baby No.1 at first dismissed this as beneath her but now loves listening to them. We all enjoy them! They are such wonderful tales, and use beautiful language.

After much frustration scouring bookstores whilst in Perth, Baby No.1 has found a book to read that appealed to her: The Shadow Thief and is tearing through it. We'll have to get her the sequel when we next pass through town... She's really missed not having access to her books at home (she reads avidly every night in bed; tales and myths, history, anything she can get her hands on.

Baby No.1 is also studying along with the Institute for Excellence in Writing DVDs, practicing writing structure and style. She has a great hold on producing keyword outlines, and is starting to introduce some strong verbs, adverbs etc. I'm going to get her a nice hardcover journal for her to write in, so she can document her adventures.

I also brought along the "Core Knowledge" book for 5th grade (What Your 5th Grader Needs to Know) and we'll be going through it gradually. This material is fantastic for expanding and testing the kids' general knowledge.

We'll be on the road in WA till December, and so far the mobile schooling is a great success. Combined with their daily explorations and discoveries, the girls are having very full days indeed. So are we!

A New Year begins...

Well, our first 6 months or so of homeschool has ended, and we begin another. Baby No.1's spelling has greatly improved from the use of "Spell to Write and Read" and today I tested her on all the phonograms and she wrote them down correctly with very little trouble. Baby No.2 did the same with some simpler ones. Then it was keyword outlining practice for No.1 with a story of her choosing from an Usborne Stories of the World book. Baby No.2 practiced some cursive "qu"s and was very proud. I've purchased a set of Base-10 blocks and I'm painting them to match the colured beads of the Al-abacus that they use for RightStart Maths. Baby No.1 is progressing with visualising addition problems etc, and Baby No.2 now understands the concept and quantities of 100, and even had a game with herself skip-counting by 100s. The girls like to do work on the whiteboard, so I photograph their work every now and then which they really like. A good day today—very little conflict!

Volcanoes, Unit Studies and Chatterbox Quizzes

A good friend is visiting from Hawaii. This was an opportune time to begin a unit on volcanoes (the girls expressed interest in this a little while ago). So we used a unit from USGS on Volcanoes and started a lapbook. We haven't dived into the lapbook arena before, but it seemed a nice way of involving hands-on work with study. The girls created a card folder and designed a pop-up volcano. Then we wrangled an interesting fold-over with the 3 types of volcano inside. The girls had to memorize the 3 types, and this became their password before they were allowed to come out to dinner last night. Our hosts are the world's foremeost experts on birds of paradise and bowerbirds.

Today we watched Attenborough's "Attenborough in Paradise" at the girls' request (which is based on the research by our friends). When we played outside, Baby No.1 made a "chatterbox" for me. It's a paper folded thingy that we used to make in school, and mummy had long forgotten how to make one so she looked it up on the internet (yay!). I was presented with the blank chatterbox expectantly. Apparently, I had to fill it in and make it work. After a small amount of thought, I put in quizzes for the girls to answer, related to Latin words they'd learned, maths facts, chants and drills, and the 3 types of volcano; of course. This proved a great hit. Usually, Baby No.1 meets standard "lessons" with resentment, but this was different entirely. I included quizzes for Baby No.2. Will endeavour to do this every day or so—why didn't I think of this before??? The girls then raced each other to and from the house to the cubby, whilst answering their quizzes. Good fun had by all.

Our Timetable/Planner

Herewith our timetable/scope & sequence/planner thingy. Phew.

No Food for a Fortnight

Yes, well—I may exaggerate. But not by much! We've just forked out for Real Science 4 Kids (Level 1), after much deliberation. It seems too good to pass up: a science curriculum that I'd always wished for—but even more so for my kids. Fingers crossed...

Starry Messenger

We printed out the planets and a quiz and put them in order. Then we mounted them on a board and wrote the names of the planets in glitter, and learned the “My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas,” which refers to the order of the planets from the sun (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto). Mummy had forgotten that one a long time ago. Since then, a particularly luscious friend of ours said she'd learnt the "north shore" version which goes thusly: "My Very Eager Maid Just Swept Up Nine Pins".

Then, we read some information about the Milky Way from Asimov's "Guide to Earth and Space" and "Starry Messenger—Galileo Galilei" by Peter Sis—a FABULOUS book, by my singlemost favourite children's book illustrator, and a sad story too. (Mummy got teary.) Fascinating that Shakespeare was born in the same year, and that Michelangelo died that year, too. Lots of interesting thinkers about in the world then—too bad some got tried with treason or worse.

Our Resources

Herewith the resources we have on hand to date:

Mathematics
RightStart Maths B & C, Teacher's manuals and workbooks
RightStart Math Card Games, Lots of manipulatives: math balance, abacuses, 6 sets of special cards, drawing board and geometry set, compass, geoboards, place value cards, abacus tiles, cubes, fraction puzzle, geometric solids, coins, geared clock, calculator, tangrams.

Language Arts
Teaching Writing: Structure and Style - Teacher's Course Manual & DVD set, by The Institute for Excellence in Writing
Student Writing Intensive, B, DVD set
Linguistic Development through Poetry Memorization, Coursebook & CD set
Ancient History-Based Writing Lessons by Lori Verstegen
A Word Write Now, Structured Word lists for Stylized Writing by Loranna Schwacofer
(all of the above are from The Institute for Excellence in Writing )
Teaching the Classics: Literary Analysis from Seuss to Socrates- syllabus manual & DVD set
Classical Writing - Aesop A & B
Spell to Write and Read & Core Kit, DVDs by Wanda Sanseri
The Alpha List
Cursive First: Introduction to Cursive Penmanship
The Writing Road to Reading, by Spalding
The ABCs and All their Tricks by Spalding
Our Mother Tongue: a guide to English Grammar, by Nancy Wilson
Junior Analytical Grammar by Robin Finley
Easy Grammar and Daily Grams books
First Language Lessons for the Well-trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer
The Well-Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer
McCall-Harby: Test lessons in Primary Reading
McCall-Harby: Book A : The Comprehension Connection-User's Guide & Answer Keys
McCall-Crabbs: Standard Test Lessons in Reading Books A-E
McCall-Crabbs: The comprehension Connection: Books B-E: User's Guide & Answer Keys
The Roar on the Other Side:a guide for student poets by S. Clark
Mine, All Mine—Pronouns by Ruth Heller
A Cache of Jewels—Collective Nouns by Ruth Heller
Merry-Go-Round—Nouns by Ruth Heller
Kites Sail High—Verbs by Ruth Heller
Behind the Mask—Prepositions by Ruth Heller
Many Luscious Lollipops by Ruth Heller
Fantastic!Wow!Unreal!—Interjections & Conjunctions by Ruth Heller
Up, Up and Away—Adverbs by Ruth Heller
Latin For Children, A, Manual, Workbook, Reader & DVD set

History
TRISMS - The History Makers: 3500 B.C. to the Present
The Story of the World: Ancient Times by Susan Wise Bauer
The Story of the World: Ancient Times—Activity Book 1
In The Hands of a Child: Ancient Mesopotamia Research Project Pack
The Times History of the World
Larousse Encyclopedia of History
The Story of Mankind by Mendrick W. Van Loon
A little History of the World by E.H. Gombrich
Encyclopedia of Ancient History by Hermes House (Pub.)
The Usborne Internet-linked Encyclopedia of World History
Usborne Internet-linked Encyclopedia of Ancient Greece
The Ancient Greek World by Jennifer Roberts
The Ancient Greeks by Allison Lassieur
The Ancient Romans by Allison Lassieur
Life On Earth—the story of Evolution by Steve Jenkins
A Walk through Time: the evolution of life on earth by Liebes and Swimme
Born With a Bang: Book 1 by Jennifer Morgan
From Lava to Life: Book 2 by Jennifer Morgan
Mammals who Morph: Book 3 by Jennifer Morgan
Life Story by Virginia Lee Burton
Past Worlds: The Times Atlas of Archaeology
Mummies and their Mysteries by Charlotte Wilcox
Bodies from the Ash: Life and death in Ancient Pompeii by James M. Deem
Cities of Blood by Peter Ackroyd
DK Aztec
The Age of Shakespeare
The Times Illustrated History of Europe
Great Empires and Discoveries—Illustrated History Encyclopedia by Hermes House (Pub.)
Celts: History and Civilization by V. Kruta

Art
Gardner's Art Through the Ages (12th Edition)
Hieronymous Bosch by Larry Silver
Minoan and Mycenaean Art by Reynold Higgins
Leonardo, Beautiful Dreamer by Robert Byrd
The Mythic Image by Joseph Campbell
Art Forms in Nature by Ernst Haeckel
Pish, Posh Said Hieronymous Bosch by Nancy Willard
Drawing With Children by Mona Brookes
Lots and lots more…

Science
About a gazillion books on Natural History, Australian History and Science…
National Geographic-Everyday Science Explained
DK Restless Earth: Beginner's Plate Tectonics
Earth Science for every kid by J. Van Cleave
Biology " " " " by J. Van Cleave
Geography " " " " by J. Van Cleave
Fun Finding Out by Neil Morris
Starry Messenger: Galileo Galilei by Peter Sis
The Tree of Life: Charles Darwin by Peter Sis
The Magic Schoolbus: Inside the Earth
The Magic Schoolbus: Inside the human body
Isaac Asimov's Guide to Earth & Space
Hottest, Coldest, Highest, Deepest by Steve Jenkins

Literature
A Midsummer Night's Dream (DVD)
The Canterbury Tales (DVD)
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (DVD)
Olivia
The Story of Frog-belly Rat Bone
Classical Mythology by Malcolm Day
The Power Of Myth-book and DVD set by Joseph Campbell
The Mythic Image by Joseph Campbell
Tales from Shakespeare-Charles and Mary Lamb
Merlin and the Making of the King by Margaret Hodges
Saint George and the Dragon by Margaret Hodges
Cupid & Psyche by Charlotte Craft
D'Aulaire's Book of Greek Myths
Rudyard Kipling (Jungle Book, 2nd Jungle Book etc)
Tales of Beatrix Potter
Winnie the Pooh
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
Perrault's Fairy Tales a Folio Book
Grimm's Fairy Tales a Folio Book
The Children of Odin by P. Colum
The Children's Homer " "
The Roald Dahl Treasury
The Stories of Hans Christian Andersen
Fables of Aesop
The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe
Dr Seuss - A classic Treasury

Reference
DK Visual Encyclopedia
DK Animal
Australian Oxford Dictionary
Fowler's Modern English Usage
Roget's International Thesaurus
The Cambridge Australian English Style Guide
The Oxford Australian Reference Dictionary