Thanks for sharing - these look great.

Thanks for posting   I spoke to my twin and my nephew just got accepted into a Montessori school close to where she lives. She would love to send him there, but it costs 600+ a month....ouch!! She has already been teaching him since he was a baby so I am sure your suggestion will be more appealing to her right now.

Wow I had no idea that sending your child to a Montessori school would be so expensive!  Then again, buying the curriculum and making all the materials will cost a pretty penny too!  (We don't have any choice in schools in our Alaskan village - it's either the local k-12 school or homeschool.)

Yes, please send on the info to anyone you think might be seriously interested. 

I wanted to share something with all of you concerning the NAMC montessori curriculum...

http://www.montessoritraining.net/curriculum_materials/overview.htm

I originally bought the Montessori Toddler Curriculum from NAMC back in the Fall. I did a few of the lessons and really liked them but found that I really needed to gather materials and have it organized before I started - (since I live in a remote part of Alaska and cant go to the store to buy things.)   

However, soon after that I found out about Doman and Brillkids and my son started reading, etc. (We started back in November and now at 22 months old he can read short sentences and count to 20 on his own, etc.)  Anyhow, I was planning to purchase the next set of Montessori curriculum for the "Twos". But  when I started to look at the contents of the Twos - I noticed that my son was already beyond the curriculum in many ways and probably ready for the pre-school curriculum.

I've been wanting to buy the pre-school and lower elementary curriculum for a few months now but it's just not affordable for one home schooling mom.  I was thinking that if I found 5-10 other parents interested we could pool our resources to make it more affordable.  I already have the Toddler set so if some people wanted the Infant and Twos as well as the pre-school and lower elementary - then we could all exchange. IF the company agrees to it.

(I orginally posted about this in the homeschooling section, but many parents have curriculums that they are already using so I decided to do a seperate post to see if there are others interested in joining me.) 

My main concern was copyright issues so I checked with the company to make sure it was legal. They said they would consider if I told them how many parents were interested and how many manuals would be copied. So......

If you are interested I would love to hear from you and if there are any others who have any experience with Montessori curriculum a response would be great!!  If you are interested could you PM me by Wednesday May 20th?  Then I could contact you individually and also let NAMC know how many parents are in the group.

Thanks in advance

Here is the link for more info on the Montessori curriculums offered :
http://www.montessoritraining.net/curriculum_materials/overview.htm

This is considered a virtual public school. Since it is not legally homeschooling (if you choose the free program) you will not have the same freedom as a homeschool family. Meaning...you do what they say.

I was so excited when I heard about this, as well.  However, since then I have heard from various homeschoolers, as well as from the Homeschool Defense League, that there is some concern about virtual public schooling... while you certainly have much more control with regards to your child's learning environment and quality of instruction, you are under the public school systems oversight and are expected to follow their curriculum. 

Since I am a public school teacher - I do have a few thoughts on this I'd like to share.  Yes, I do have State Standards I must follow in my classroom and in addition I have the school district's curriculum to follow.  However, I do not feel limited to those standards. 

Let me explain:  for second grade math I am required to work on base-10 up to millions, addition, subtraction, time, money and measurement.  How I choose to cover those are my choice.  The District pays for a textbook - but if I wanted to do all hands-on manipulatives, it's up to me.  If I am able to whiz through those standards and I wanted to add something in - say multiplication, percents, etc. - I could.  Now, dealing with a class of 20 with varying levels and also motivation it sometimes is a struggle to cover it all and cover it well. 

If I were to homeschool, I would be glad for the state guidelines but I would also know that if my child were able to handle all those standards, I could either move on to the next grade's standards, or I could chose to cover a particular standard in more depth, or I could choose something all together different to work on.

I like the K-12 virtual homeschool from what I've seen of it and that's the one my state recommends.  I also think I read that it's based on the "What Your Child Should Know" series.  I think I'd like to know that I was covering the Grade Level Expectation (GLEs) and I would be thrilled if my child could work through it fast enough that I could add in extras or move through it faster. 

It seems that homeschoolers have an automatic knee-jerk reaction against anything the state puts out.  Honestly, yes the standards are low and you could absolutely surpass them.  But I think that they are at least a good sketch of what you should be sure to cover somewhere during your child's education.  I think it is very difficult to create your own curriculum from scratch without at least some sort of framework to compare to.  Yes, the State will probably require your child to take the standared-based assessment (SBA) - but know that your child will probably pass it in the 90th percentile.  And if they don't then oops - maybe you need to go back and review that particular point with your child.  I would highly doubt that a homeschooled child would bomb an SBA - and if they do then it would be worth checking whether you covered the material or if there is some other concern to check out. 

I recently contacted the company to find out if a group of homeschooling parents could pool together to purchase their curriculum.  They said they would consider it if they has more details.  So....if you are interested would you please PM me and I'll give you the details.

I absolutely agree with the balanced-approach.

Having said that, I have had a few concerns about this.
When I was taking my SPED course a few years ago, they talked about how Sesame Street in it's early days was somehow linked with ADHD.  That the original Sesame Street (30+ years ago) did a lot of rapid flashing type activities and that they found those children who grew up watching it later had problems concentrating at school.  I guess Sesame Street has since then changed their format.  But - I didn't put a lot of stock into that research (again educational research is rarely scientific and hard to put a lot of trust in when the sample size is so small).

 Anyhow, I was a child when Sesame Street first came out but you know my generation was all TV anyhow - so could you really atribute it to rapid flashing on Sesame Street or just TV watching in general? 

There have since been studies that say that children who watch TV have a different "brain wiring" than those who do not.  But the study just says "different" and makes no judgement as to whether that is bad or not.  Living in a digital age - not sure that's bad - obviously our children are going to grow up using all sorts of technology and learning to use it at an early age.  Our children have to be a part of society and so if the brain makes adaptations to adjust to changes in the environment - I don't think that is bad but is what our bodies are supposed to do. (adaptation I mean) Maybe it just means that education has to adjust to the times too and perhaps teachers need to move through materials quicker. 

Which brings me to my last thoughts.....  I read that very intelligent children (ie early readers, etc) are often mis-labelled at school as ADHD - when in fact they are not but they catch on to material very quickly and are easily bored. 

So is the flashcard method or any other method that helps bring out our child's full potential flawed?  Or perhaps organized education, teachers, and care givers need to adjust to the upcoming generation who is "wired" to accept information at a high rate and store a large capacity in their mind for future reference?   How much of our brain does scientists say we use?  Not even 1/2.   Maybe we are adapting to use more and more of it.  Do we really want to hold back children who are able to use and think in different ways?

 IT's an interesting thought.  I hope I explained me thoughts well enough....

Oh so sorry Joha - I didn't mean to make you feel "ignorant".  Or I hope I didn't - that wasn't my intent. Not at all.  I don't think everyone knows about the base-10 and other forms until you run across them or if you are a math teacher.   

I believe that the "romance" languages - English, French, Spanish, and German are all base-10.   (Please someone correct me if I am wrong).

I believe that Mandarin, Korean, and Japanese are also base-10 but slightly different.  If I remember when I learned Korean for example - 33 is literally "three tens and 3"

I would have to google to find out the others or  on Wikepedia you can find it under "numeral systems" 

Here are some Numeral systems by culture
Hindu-Arabic numerals
Western Arabic
Indian family
Khmer Eastern Arabic
Brahmi
Thai

East Asian numerals
Chinese
Suzhou
Counting rods
Mongolian 

Alphabetic numerals
Abjad
Armenian
Cyrillic
Ge'ez Hebrew
Greek (Ionian)
Āryabhaṭa
 
Other systems
Attic
Babylonian
Egyptian
Inuit Etruscan
Mayan
Roman
Urnfield
 
Positional systems by base
Decimal (10)
2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64
1, 3, 6, 9, 12, 20, 24, 30, 36, 60, more…

I think that if you are from a bilingual home you would know if the 2 langauges you plan on teaching have 2 different base-systems and could adjust accordingly.  Like in your case of Spanish/English I don't think it matters much.

If you are going to introduce a language you don't know yourself- you might want to find out first.

This post is great because I made me re-think about the subject. I think that math is math in any language and probably it will work if you teach the math itself in English (or whatever is you main language and then  when you start teaching the child the characters you will teach them in the different languages you want to teach.

I don't necessarily agree that math is math in any language.  The end answer might be the same but depending on whether the language is a base-10 language or not, the way someone THINKS about QUANTITY is DIFFERENT depending on the language.  Not all languages in the world are a base-10 system like English.  It is VERY interesting to see how someone from a different base system does mental math to come up with an answer. 

I think it is important to think about whether the 2 languages you intend to teach your child has the same base system and if they do not, to think how the best way to demonstrate quantity to your child is.

I'm in the same situation.  I started with English because LM already had the English sound set in it and I wanted to get started right away since my son was 18 months when we started.  We just finished all the equation sets according to Doman and since I don't know how to do problem solving with LM I decided to start over the Doman method with my husband's language Marshallese.  (but we are still figuring out how to make the sound set).  (I haven't done numerals/written words yet - I'm saving that for last)

After that I'm planning to do it all again in Yupik Eskimo since that is what our community speaks.

My thoughts on the other comments..... if you teach in one language one week and the second language the next - watch your child for boredom and then change.  I noticed in general my son loses interest quickly with the math lessons so I HAVE to be quick and on my toes.  Why not also try one language at one set and another at the second during the day? (since each set of dots is shown 3x during the day - make it 4 and show each language twice for each set)  Our kids are smart and can handle it.

The only thought I have on if you do a second language  last after the numerals are taught and with the written words is that it will only matter if the language has a different base system.  So English is base-10 but there are languages that are base-3, base-7, and even base-20.  Yupik is base 20 so to say the number 33 - you would say 20 and 10 and 3.  (there isn't one word for 33)  Also I love how many Asian langauges say numbers like 33 -  3 and 3 tens.  So........I would like to show those differences in the base system by using dots instead of only verbalizing it with the numeral.  It's a different way of thinking about math and maybe they should "see it" to get a fuller understanding of the difference.

 Isn't so cool how language and culture are connected?

Let me know how it all works out for you. I find it very interesting.

I was wondering whether it is possible to share materials and costs with other homeschoolers?  What is the legal issues with that?

For example I'm really interested in purchasing the pre-school montessori curriculum but it's like $800 - and if I could split that up with say 4 other parents - say we each bought a manual and then photocopied for the other parents - would that be illegal?  And would other parents be interested and doing something like that?

Well I live about as rural as you can get - bush Alaska.  My village has about 300 people in it and about 130 kids in our public school grades K-12.  We don't have any stores except 2 very small 7-11 type stores where all you can really get is junk food.  We have to order in all of our food.  Our village is off the road system so the only way in and out is by plane.  ($250 to the nearest town with doctors, hospital, restaurant (not McDonalds or Walmart, etc.)

Each state has it's own rules about homeschooling and resources too.  Alaska has a lot of resources as lots of people are even more rural than I am.  (meaning no village even).  I would recommend googling your state's Department of Education website and you should be able to find info on homeschooling.  In my state homeschooling curriculum from 2 different company's is paid for as long as your child isn't enrolled in any school.  Right now there is no one in my village homeschooling.  When my son is old enough to go to school I will send him to our village school so that he can have the social aspect of school.  But I'm hoping to get him designated as "gifted" before then so that he can have an individualized education plan since he's going to be so far ahead of the other children. 

But anyhow, no there are no resources out here - no activities really even for public school kids.  We don't even have a school library.  I'm paying out of pocket so much for my son's education already and he's not even 2. 

I don't have any bad attitudes that I've faced.  Maybe surprise at how much my son already knows before the age of 2.  But really most people don't notice it except for his large vocabulary and knowledge about things.  I don't talk about what I'm doing at home with him.  I think though that if he got to be school-aged and we didn't send him to the local school he wouldn't have very many friends.  He'd be a bit socially isolated because so much of the only activities in our village are either school-based or church-based.  Also we aren't Eskimo so that already sets him apart a bit. 

Anyhow I hope I answered your question a bit.

Dear HH,

So glad to hear that you are back!  I have many of the same questions as TrinityPapa. 
I just ordered my keyboard and it has arrived.  I would like to purchase SM by the end of the month, if possible.  So please, if you can offer a discount to those of us from this forum, I would really really appreciate it.    I want to try SM out this summer and if it is successful for me and my 2 year old son to learn, I'd like to purchase another for my 2nd grade classroom.  So please - get back to us as soon as possible for a possible discount.  I assume there are other parents out there ready to begin too if we can just purchase the product.  And so yes, how does the program work with multiple users?

HI Everyone,

This is one of my concerns too and I'm trying to do some research on it.  However, being in a rural part of Alaska, makes it a bit hard.  So any help from you will be greatly appreciated too.

Ok - so I"m an elementary classroom teacher in a remote Eskimo village.  So the issues in our school are mainly trying to keep up with the state standards and the standards of the US.  We are economically disadvantaged and most of our students come to school not fluent in either their home language or English.  Basically, our kids are WAY behind.

But my son is bilingual and already reading since he was 18 months old.  He knows so many things...... So I am VERY concerned about school.  Not that I won't be able to supplement from home.   But I feel that by the time my son gets to school he is even going to outgrow even what I can do for him given our limited amount of resources in this rural and remote situation.

So here's the thing, I believe it is federal law - perhaps the Family Educational Rights and Education Act (FERPA)  (I forget) anyhow, Gifted and Talented children fall under the rules of Special Education and by law they must have accomodations and an individualized education plan  (IEP).  Now the problem is when and how are gifted and also special needs children identified. 

Right now there is a big push to "child find" in preschool.  Also from a SPED standpoint it goes much faster if a child has been identified in pre-school.  So in the case of our village if a healthcare worker or a pre-school teacher or a parent suspects that their child has a learning disability, we try to get them to see a medical doctor and a psychologist for identification so that by the time the child enters kindergarten the individualized education plan is already created and teachers know what to do from day one.

Well the problem is that this is a pretty accepted approach for children with learning delays but at least in my village nothing is done for the "gifted" student.  However, I've never seen a student come into kindergarten yet being able to read.  So that might just be an issue here in our village.  I talked with our school SPED teacher and I guess that our district doesn't have a "gifted" program.  However, I find that hard to believe as our state mandates that money go towards gifted programs - so maybe kids in Anchorage get all the money - I don't know. 

So what I need to find out next is at what age can a student be identified as gifted and how it is done.  I suspect that it will be through a psychologist and probably with a test like the Standford-Binet or the Wechsler Preschool & Primary Scale of Intelligence – III (WPPSI-III).  Some states wait until 2nd grade once standardized tests are given and the student scores 90% better than their peers.  Alaska doesn't test until 3rd grade and in my opinion that is just too late. 

Anyhow, I just wanted to bring this up because I am sure that many parents are not informed that gifted students have legal rights just as special needs students do.  And that the schools must make accomodations for gifted students.

I'm running out of time for this post - but anyhow, if anyone finds out the age students can begin to be identified and what the standard process is - I'd appreciate it.  And of course I will share once I know.  But please realize that the public schools have an obligation to serve your child at his or her level. 

So when I went to the link, I noticed that your child has to "Students age 6 or younger. If available, a psychologist's evaluation from any of the following tests: Stanford-Binet, WISC, WPPSI-R, or Woodcock-Johnson." 

I'm wondering if any of you have had your child evaluated and/or taken any of these tests?  I've recently done a little research and found that some states fully fund gifted students and help pay for courses like these, however, your child has to have been tested.  I've never really thought about this until this past week.  So have you had your child tested?  OR will you have your child tested?  What are the benefits or negatives to this?  How does a parent even go about getting their child evaluated?

I"m not really interested in labeling my child as gifted, however, I would welcome any federal funding that would help supplement his education as you all know these materials get expensive.

Hi Joha,

I think I can answer your question about mixing languages.  (I have a masters in applied linguistics, have learned 5 languages (not all fluently) and teach English as a second language)  I loved Dr. Titzer's workshop on the DVD and I agreed with him on so many things and it made a lot of sense meaning it gels with the research in language acquisition.  Anyhow......
What I believe he was referring to is when a person or a family is bilingual and they mix the 2 languages together in one sentence.  So that you say something like "Do you want to Tutu?"  (tutu meaning take a bath in Marshallese)  Or "Socks bogey" (Bogey meaning get your in Marshallese)  So here you have vocabulary mixed with the grammar of another language.  The result is that the child does not become proficient in either language. 

But to sing a song in Mandarin and then sing the song again in English the second time - that's fine.  Or even sing one verse in Mandarin and one in English.  BUT don't mix the 2 in the same sentence or start off in Mandarin and then start mixing English words into the sentence. 

I hope that makes sense.  Let me know if it doesn't and I'll try to explain better.