Lessons and Rewards

My son and I have started a new tradition.  Each week, he chooses "lessons" from a chart which hangs on his bulletin board.  The list of lessons is as follows:

ART

VOCAL MUSIC

INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC

SCIENCE

MATH 

READING

WRITING

SPANISH

GARDENING

HOUSEHOLD PROJECTS

COOKING

He can do as many or as little lessons as he wishes.  And, there is really no set lesson time.  Just when he feels like doing a lesson.  So, we're are pretty loose!  One day he may say, "Let's do a cooking lesson."  And out come the pots and pans, and I create a learning experience for him.  

We tally our lessons for the week, and at the end of the week we add up our total.  Based on how many lessons we did, we determine how many points he has earned.  He earns a point per lesson.  At this point, we pull out an old top hat with little papers folded inside.  The papers are like coupons.  One may say, "Redeem for 4 quarters."  One may say, "Trip to the park with mom."  Or, "Ice cream!"  

3 lessons = 1 "draw" from the hat

5 lessons = 2 "draws" from the hat

7 lessons = 3 "draws" from the hat

10 lessons = 4 "draws" from the hat 

We love doing this.  Learning is fun, because he gets to pick what he wants to do.  And, the rewards are sweet!

Montessori Journey

Last night, my husband and I attended a "Montessori Journey" at the school my son will be attending next year for 1st grade.  They let the parents simply observe (without talking, chatter, discussion) the Montessori materials for a bit.  This is the first step when introducing a Montessori lesson to a child.  The directress (teacher) does not "teach" anything in that first interaction with the material.  They let the student observe.  It is in the 2nd step, that the lesson is actually taught to the child.  At this point, they had the parents sit down and explore a few lessons.

I had a lesson in land and water formations.  There were 8 trays placed on a table.  Each had a land or water formation sculpted inside of the tray with clay.  I poured water into each tray.  I watched each tray fill up with water. (I also had to be sure I divided the water into eight somewhat-equal amounts - not to overfill.) I observed how the water played a part in the land and water formations in each tray (lake, gulf, bay, strait, isthmus, peninsula, etc...)  I placed a card next to each tray to identify each formation.  Then, I turned over a card that was the "control" for the lesson.  I checked my answers - a couple were wrong!  (But, no one was there to say, "That is not correct."  I was able to correct my own work - self correct. Next, I had to clean up my work.  I could not just dump the water back into the pitcher. (Although, that is what I wanted to do.) Part of the lesson was taking a small sponge and soaking up all of the water and ringing the sponge out into a different pitcher.  This took awhile.  At first, I didn't think the sponge could hold that much water.  I thought, "Oh, god, I poured way to much water into the trays!"  But, sure enough, little by little, all the water gracefully made its way into pitcher.  It almost felt meditative - quite zen-like - the act of methodically and rhythmically soaking up and ringing out the water.  At last, I took a towel and cleaned up any last droplets.  I made sure each tray was straight, and that the pile of cards was stacked neatly, and that the control card was turned face down for the next student.  

Wow!  What a treat it was to experience Montessori in this way!  It urges the student to take time - not to rush.  Such an important thing to instill in our little ones who are growing up in a very fast paced world.  So many different areas of learning went into that one lesson - not only geography, but reading, matching, fine motor skills, organizing, self-correcting, cleaning up... 

Lessons at Home

At his Montessori school, my son has lessons with his teacher - one on one.  The lesson may be with the golden beads (a mathematics tool), or maybe it is learning the proper way to use and care for the gardening pruners, or perhaps it is how to sew a straight stitch on a piece of cloth.  It is a special time for him and his teacher.  

Recently, my son was home on a rainy day from school.  He had a touch of a cold - and not being sure how contagious he was, I kept him home.  Of course, by 10 am, he was bouncing off the walls! So, I thought, "let's do a lesson!"  And, I used that term, lesson, since he was very aware of its meaning.  He jumped at the thought of having a lesson with his mama.  How special!  That day, we did a 20 minute lesson on Earth Day.  I read to him from a book that had ideas for kids on how to be kinder to the Earth.  We learned why the Earth is in such trouble. We talked about what we could do.  He wrote down our plan.  And now we have put our plan into action.  

In a way, I hope this sets him up for the day when he actually has homework (he is only 6.)  By saying, "let's do a lesson," he knows he is really going to learn something interesting.  And, it is a peaceful time with just the two of us.