Lesson 1, God

Keeping with the Montessori Elementary outline I am basing each week on a main lesson that could take one or two days to cover. In a Montessori class the first Lesson is about the Big Bang and how that brought the universe into being.

We are starting at the very beginning and who was there but, God? So the first lesson is all about him.

We are using this book Firm Foundations that we got from a family friend. I believe they use this book for introducing the bible in tribal situations. We have had it on the shelf for years and I grabbed it since it has such a great basic introduction feel. Now Jer, who is 5, has already had a lot of introduction to God and the Bible but this book was a really good resource to glean an outline and ideas for teaching the lesson. There is also a nice timeline that I am using for the first few weeks before I introduce the continents.

The rest of the lessons are done at his table but I thought it would be nice to switch it up and do them on the living room floor. 

This worksheet I made from the outline. We often do fill in the blanks at church and I want to introduce that to him before he sits in the sermon next summer. We took turns filling in the answers since he doesn't enjoy writing yet. It was great to have the verses to reference for each point and Jer seemed to like using his new bible to look them up.

This chart comparing the characteristics of God and Man was one that curriculum suggested and helped lead discussion and helped Jer visualize the differences.

I liked having the outline to follow and I was very happy with how he got into discussion and asking questions learning more about who God is and expanding his view about who was there before the beginning of time.

Starting Yesterday

We started school officially yesterday. I have a general outline by week for what it to come the next  29 school weeks with one week off for Christmas and other various holidays. This means we will end the last week of May, the week before Jer will move out of children's church and be ready to sit and pay attention through the sermon.

Weekly we will be studying through history as follows:

1 - God & The Universe
2 - Creation (overview/review) and God's plan for Humanity (Jesus)
3 - Angels & Stars
4 - Earth & Plants
5 - Humans & Animals
6 - The Flood & Family & Government
7 - Tower of Babel & Language / Math / Writing
8 - Review God's plan, Jesus, right before Christmas. Half Week.
9 - Abraham & God's chosen people Israel
10 - Egypt
11 - Assyria & Babylon
12 - Persia
13 - Greece
14 - Rome
15 - Early Church
16 - 1000
17 - 1200's
18 - 1300's
19 - 1400's
20 - 1500's
21 - 1600's
22 - 1700's
23 - 1800's
24 - 1900's
25 - 2000's
26 - Church ages (Rev 1-3) & Current events, Family Tree, Ohio local history
27 - contd' (Rev 4 - 19)
28 - cont'd (Rev 20-22 & Ez. 40-48)
29 - Our Church vision, body and history

Whew! That will be our whirlwind tour. Of course the beauty of homeschooling and that Jer is  above his age is that we can take as much time we like. In addition we will be studying Spelling Level 1
Math
Handwriting - sandpaper letters in D'Nealian and moveable alphabet
Science and Music to correlate with each week's subject.

Elementary Education Take 1

I have only known about Montessori for about 10 months. I can't believe it has only been that long.

After picking up the book by Meg McElwee, Sew Liberated, at the library I started following her blog (on the back cover) by the same name sew liberated  (although I have not started sewing more, sadly). This woman introduced me to a teaching philosophy that I had never heard of (big surprise, I am no education guru) but sounded wonderful. An idea that using beautiful tools to learn in seamless, real way, making connections between hands and brain, understanding from the big picture, a strong base to build knowledge on.  This I thought, as I began to read more about Maria Montessori and her research with young children, is the way God made us to learn! I was stoked, and the more I read the more I liked about the composure, discipline and self-sufficiency of learning the students acquired with this wonderful approach.

So today I started 'first grade' with my almost 6 year old using primarily Montessori tools and ideals. But far as I can find, I am doing a lot different. Being a Christian and believing in a 7 day creation of the universe and everything in it, I can't use the Key Lessons that Montessori has formed most of the curriculum around. They are based on the theory of evolution which I am not going to base all of history on, given the freedom I have in homeschooling my children. {Montessori does have bible story lessons but they are not the focus on the curriculum} So here I am, 'newly' homeschooling my child and writing the lessons in a Montessori style (big picture history-based) but through the bible's lens. We are also doing something else different, since I don't know how long we will be using this method ( I also like Classical and Charlotte Mason) we will be learning a general overview of all of history. Hopefully since Jer is 'ahead' we will have this year to experiment with a great way to learn and have a strong base of history to continue building knowledge.

I appreciate the many other bloggers out there who I have gleaned tons of great help from and I am directed to share this journey with anyone who wants to join. Questions, comments and fellow encouragement are very welcome!

P.S. I do not claim to be a writer. Please forgive my grammar and clarity.