Science Post by KL (age 12) ~ Bats

Today KL is back with a report she wrote on her latest science study on Bats!!!!

BATS

Bats are nocturnal. This means that bats sleep during the day and are awake during the night. Bats range in size and color. They can be: black, white, red, brown, or gray. Bats can be different sizes. The biggest bat is the Giant Flying Fox; his wingspan is about five feet! He weighs about two pounds! The smallest bat is the Kitti’s Hog-Nosed Bat; his wingspan is only five inches! He weighs only one- fourteenth of an ounce!

When bats go hunting they send out high-pitched beeping sound, that humans can’t hear. When the beeping noise reaches an insect, it echoes back telling the bat the size and shape of the insect. Then the bat dives and catches the insect. This is called echolocation.

Here is a picture I drew.

 

Wow KL your picture is great! Thanks so much for sharing this with us! It looks like you learned quite a bit!

If you have a work that your child has done, take a picture and send it to me with a little written blurb and I will post on HOPE in the Home! Thanks for visiting today! Happy Schooling!

Guest Blogger~ Ms. Shelly

Today we are so excited to present you with our very first guest blogger!!!!! Ms. Shelly is here today to give an overview of how the Montessori Method is used in the home! Maria Montessori developed a beautiful method of education that follows the child as they learn according to the inner need. She discovered, through careful observation, that the child is capable of great discipline and great learning at a very young age due to what she calls the absorbent mind. Children learn differently them we do as adults, and can easily absorb large amounts of information when it is presented in a concrete hands on way!!! I personally love this method to education and it is the method of education that I am using with my children in my home!  It is an amazing thing to watch young children learning with great joy in their discoveries, and this is exactly what the Montessori Method is all about!!!! So, without further ado, we welcome Ms. Shelly!!!

To teach Montessori at home, you’ll need to find a place within the house to have “school”—a place where the child cannot become distracted by television, pets, or non-Montessori playthings. This is where the child will do language, mathematics, and some sensorial activities, but the entire home will become a classroom for some exercises. If you’re going to teach Montessori at home, be sure not to isolate the child—take him or her on outings and play dates so that he or she can develop the necessary social skills and niceties.

Remember to use as few words as possible when presenting lessons to your child, you want them to focus on your actions, not on your words. Also remember that you are the observer in the Montessori Method, not the teacher—the child will guide you in his or her learning by the activities he or she chooses to engage in. The child may use any lesson for as long as he or she likes, but may only have one lesson at a time.

Teaching Montessori at home requires patience! It will take a while for your child to develop the concentration and order necessary to focus on one lesson at a time, as well as for them to understand that only one lesson at a time is appropriate. Having lessons at the same time each day and establishing a routine will help your child become accustomed to the Montessori Method, and if he or she is having a difficult day or is feeling sick, they may take a day off from “school” and then continue the next day.

Eventually your child will grow used to the “freedom within limits” that he or she has, and will be eager to do her Montessori “work.” If you do need to discipline your child, use “logical consequences” instead of harsh words or time-out punishments. For instance, if the child doesn’t put his or her socks in the laundry and the next day has no socks, then it is a “logical consequence” that no socks are left; they will make the connection and put their socks in the laundry the next time.

Make sure that everything in your prepared environment in the home is low and easily reachable by the child. This includes hooks, cupboards in the kitchen for practical life exercises, and all your Montessori materials can be kept on a bookshelf, preferably a low three-shelf bookshelf...

Thank you so very much Ms. Shelly for visiting us today and for your wonderful post!!!!!
Ms. Shelly is a Mommy of two and an AMS certified pre-primary teacher! She blogs over at At Home Montessori and has a lot of great ideas and videos about how to use the Montessori method at home! She also has an ebook that looks wonderful!  Please stop by and check out her work! 
If you want more information about Montessori and using it at home, John Bowman has a wonderful book called Montessori at Home! and he also has other ideas online.
You could also visit Deb at Living Montessori Now who has TONS of ideas!
Finally, if you want to see what I am up to in my Montessori classroom, visit my blog Discovery Days and Montessori Moments!!!!  Thanks for stopping by to read our guest post for the day!!!!!
Happy Schooling!

Color Class ~ Week 4

Its Thursaday again, so its time for me to post all about our color class! Once again it was a great time for everyone! Our lesson today was on warm and cool colors, and symetry. The kids each cut out a shape (most of them did butterflies) an then they painted one half of the butterfly with warm colors and  folded it in half so that the colors made a symetrical design. They then did this with cool colors! I loved seeing all of their different designs and their faces as they unfolded thier art to find out what their design looked like! Here are the kids hard at work!

Here they are talking all about different media we can use to make color.

There was also a quick artisit study showing a picture that uses both warm and cool colors.

Then they started cutting out their shapes.

Then they added color!

Here is the demonstration of how the color is the same on each side!

It is really cool!

Thinking of what to paint!

Ohhh, looks great!!!!

Here is some pictures of their work!!!! They are so cool!

Hearts by CM (age 5)

Butterfly by CS (age 5)

This one is by CS (age 5)

Cross by HM (age 4)

The other Butterfly by CS (age 5)

Here are a few mor finished pieces of art!

The Littles got to finger paint! They each did one picture, but LS (age 2) really LOVE it!

I loved their unsure look as they tried if the first time! :)

LS (age 2) loved it!

Too Cute!

There was also some friendships in the making! ;)

Art by LS (age 2)

Art by SL (age 2)

Art by RM (age 2)

Here is an art piece by LS. We put paint on her hands and she rubbed them together and then put them on the paper yelling "LS hands!!!!!" :)

So that is our class for the week!!!! All the kids had alot of fun, not only painting, but also spending time together! Next week we are all off to a pottery class instead of our regular class! Talk to you later! Happy Schooling!



Advanced Art Class~ Week 3~ by JL age 15

I also have the pleasure today of welcoming JL! He is here to share his work this week in the advanced art class!

In this week’s art lesson I learned how to sketch. I started by sketching straight horizontal and vertical lines, which took me a little to get used to. I then sketched circles and ellipses or ovals. I found the circles to be very difficult. After I learned some of the sketch lines, I learned to combine them and make some shapes. I combined the oval and the strait lines to make a cylinder. Next I took the oval, sketched a curve line under it to make a bowl. Then I took the things that I learned and used them to make a bottle. Before, I didn’t really know how to sketch properly, now I really appreciate it.

Thanks so much for ahring your work with us today! It is awesome to watch how many new things you are learning! Well I will have our new art class post later! Happy Schooling!

Meeting All the Animals~ by CS (age 5)

Today we did a good work session and during this work time, Bunny wrote a story about our Tool Fairy! I love that my story has inspired some really good work that is just so Montessori! She had the materials on hand and really worked hard on something that meant a lot to her! It was also a really great language work and she put alot of concentration into it! I was really proud of all the thought she put, not only into the pictures, but the story too! I had to stop her while she narrated so I could keep up with her! Here is her story!

Meeting all the Animals!

The Tool Fairy walked through the forest.

He met Mrs. Turtle and asked her what he name was.

"Mrs. Turtle", she said.

He asked her what she was doing . She said that her house fell down.

"Don't you carry your house on your back?" asked Tool Fairy

"Oh yes, yes," said Mrs. Turtle, "but I like to have a place to stretch out and rock my babies and sleep out of the rain safe."

 

"I can fix that," he said.

So he got to work pounding and he built it.

"Oh thank you very much," said Mrs, Turtle "It looks really good! I have to go now."

Then he walked over the mountains and through the bushes and trees. And he left.

And then when he was walking he saw a crab and crab said

"My name is Crab. I know that my house inst broken, but I would like a bigger one."

"Oh ok," said the Tool Fairy. He got out his shovel and rake and built a bigger castle!

Crab said, "Thank you Thank you very much!"

"You're welcome," said Tool Fairy, "Now I must be going!"

Then he met a horse.

He said"My Barn fell down. Can you build me a new one?"

"Yes I will," said Tool Fairy

He worked so fast his hands went clickity clackity and you couldn't see them!

"Thank you very much," said Horse!

"You're welcome. I must go. Good Bye!" he said.

So then he went through three bushes,

and three trees and over mountains. He went and went and went with his tool box in his hand.

Finally he got home!

The End

This is a hammer that Bunny said went in the book. She traced the tools on the tracing tray and then cut it out!

Here is my little author hard at work!

She was so proud and so was I!

On our school table I have a basket of pre made books that the girls can write stories in. The idea for this came from the book Playful Learning. She has a section all about inspiring kids to love writing and she says that having a place for books is a great way to that! Bunny has written a few, but this is her very best work! I hope that you all are having a great time with your kiddos! Happy Schooling!