Montessori on Etsy!

I thought I was addicted to Pinterest, and then along came Etsy!

Jessica from Garden of St. Francis suggested to me that I start selling my handmade Montessori materials on Etsy. I reluctantly decided to follow her advice and opened my Livable Learning Etsy store in August of 2012. I am now completely enjoying the experience! Livable Learning Etsy features handmade Montessori materials and family handcrafts, especially crochet. The new logo for my Etsy store is below:

TEAMS
I've been learning the ins and outs of selling on Etsy but I recently started joining Teams on Etsy to help promote my store and a whole new world opened up to me! Etsy teams are a community feature where people with common interests connect and collaborate. You can see my Livable Learning teams HERE. It was through the advice of a team member that I learned how to add my Etsy SHOP directly to my Facebook page. Jessica is the captain of the team Montessori, whose members sell authentic Montessori items on Etsy. Using the search box on Etsy you can type in teammontessori and member's items that are tagged will be displayed for you.

This blog is called Teaching from a Tackle Box but it all grew out of a book that I wrote in 2003 called "From Creative Chaos to Livable Learning." It was written as a guide for homeschooling parents who desired more order in their home.

Mary, founder of the Montessori egroup playschool6, reviewed the book and stated:

"The simplicity of your book is genius. Everything seems to be broken down very simply, yet completely, which is a plus for homeschooling moms (who live in chaos). I have been making Holy Hours with the kids and this is a great book for me to focus on change. You know, the MM teacher must grow."

The ebook is now available at the Etsy store for the lowest price I have ever offered it for. 

It is available as either an instant download or an PDF to be emailed.  

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY LIVABLE LEARNING!
 So Livable Learning is now 10 years old! I started my Livable Learning website shortly after I wrote the book and I have been designing Montessori materials ever since.

To celebrate Livable Learning's anniversary 

everything in the Etsy store is 50% until May 3rd, 2013. 

Use code ANNIV2013. 

TREASURIES
Etsy also allows members to create Treasuries and to curate collections of their favorites from other member's items or a collection of items based on a theme. It's an honor for a shop owner to have items chosen for an Etsy Treasury. And it's an adventure to create your own Treasury based on other member's items. Lat night I created my first collection and you can view the Treasury "Sensational Sensorial" HERE.

Up to 16 items may be listed in a treasury. The code of ethics for creating a treasury is that it is not for self-promotion, so you should not include any items from your own Etsy store and it is recommended that you only have one item in the treasury from any particular Etsy shop.

If any of you have a Montessori Etsy shop please share..

Enjoy!
Suzanne

A Child Creates His own Work - Montessori Repetition

Montessori education has taught me to stop and observe the child. It's amazing when we step back and see how often the child is actually creating his own work, in contrast to looking at the child with the world's eyes which tells us the child is just annoying us and getting into trouble, and touching things he is not supposed to touch.

I was cleaning out my fabric scraps when 3yo picked up a cloth strip - he carried it around like it was his most cherished treasure. Then he started to roll and unroll, roll and unroll. That pattern of repetition is what tells us that the child is creating his own work. He is meeting a basic innate need to teach himself.

I love what Baan Dek says about repetition:

Why repetition? Well, it helps us focus. It helps us concentrate. It gives us confidence. It also helps us to "perfect" and refine our senses, as we learn to navigate and appreciate the world. Repetition takes perseverance and determination. What beautiful characteristics to develop. 

Ifra N. Khoso, of Montessori, a Candid Approach  states the following on repetition:

Coming to one's own conclusions, making and self correcting one's own mistakes and learning through one's own repetition is far more fruitful and long lasting. It is this experience that makes learning fun and lively. This important freedom to repeat and explore instills lifelong love and thrust for learning and exploration in a child which is utmost necessary to progress in practical life.

This post Repeat... and Repeat Again is worth taking your time to read it all.
Here Cathy says, "Allow it to happen!":

It is so easy to overlook these precious moments, to storm in and interrupt. Though I'm sure I have unknowingly interrupted Finlay's moments of repetition from time to time, I try to make it a rule that before approaching him I always stand back for a moment to watch and see if he is busy with something. This can be really hard! We are so used to living our lives on our own timetables that it is difficult to slow down and allow these moments to reach their own conclusions.

So whether your learning environment is unplanned or prepared it is important to observe your child - to see, if in fact, he is creating his own work. The ideal is the prepared environment and Montessori Print Shop explains it well in her article Allow Time for Repetition.

When the prepared environment and materials provide feedback so that the children learn from their errors (and not from the adult), they become internally driven to repeat the exercises until they master them. 

If you need more information To the Lesson just posted on What is the Prepared Environment.

FABRIC STRIPS:
The Fabric Strip this child was working with is simply a piece of lightweight cotton fabric cut 21 inches by 4 inches. Fold in half lengthwise with right sides together. Sew a 5/8 inch seam on the long side of the fabric. Trim seam with a pinking shears. Turn the fabric so right sides are out. Press the fold. Turn under the short ends about 1/4 inch, press and sew ends shut.

Fabric Strips

I guess this is my upcycling project for the week. These were originally fabric covers for elastic pony tail holders that I used to sell at craft fairs. They were cut and sewn several years ago before my days of a rotary cutter, so they are a bit askew and not quite straight on but at least you get the idea....I suppose if you made them just a bit wider you could slip the finished roll into a napkin ring -- but 3yo seemed to be perfectly happy with the material as is.

Practical Life - ROLLING:
These small Fabric Strips exercise pincer grasp which aids preparation for handwriting.
In addition, the child can learn to roll napkins, table top work mats and later a rug.

Videos:
Rolling a Bamboo Mat and a Napkin
Rolling & Unrolling a Mat


Practical Life - TYING KNOTS:
We also discovered that these Fabric Strips also work great with little hands for learning to tie knots. Another child, 2yo calls this activity "Making an X." It is much easier for 2yo and 3yo to make a knot with this material vs. a shoe string or yarn.

• Place the Fabric Strip under the broom stick handle
• Make an X 
• Put strip in right hand behind and under left to make a simple knot.

Making an "X" 

(on a broomstick handle)

The Knot

The younger ones also love using a short piece of clothesline and tying knots on the doorknob or the leg of a desk. More knot tying practice HERE and HERE. More knot tying activities HERE.

Montessori Short and Long Bead Chains - Skip Counting

Along with the Decanonmial, the Long and Short Chains (and beaded squares and cubes) are my favorite Montessori Math materials.

Most home educators, however, look at these chains in terms of traditional skip counting as shown at Math is Fun. There skip counting is defined as "counting by a number that is not 1". The counting proceeds and ends at random numbers. 2's go to 20 or 100, 3's go to 36 or 90, 4's go to 48 or 120. Or you will see the fill-in-the-blank worksheets like this one from Super Teacher Worksheets.

Montessori skip counting with beads is far more than random counting schemes and indiscrimiate practice of math facts. The Montessori Short Chains are the precise squares of a number and the Montessori Long Chains are the perfect cube of a number.

SHORT CHAINS:

Take the Short Chain of 3. 

Skip Counting you are saying:   "3,   6,   9".

But if you fold up the chain you get:

3 sets of 3    
which is the same as

3 x 3   (three by three or three times three )
which is the same as

3²  (three squared) 

~  9 beads  ~ 

 

Try a larger number - Short Chain of 6.

Skip Counting you are saying:   "6,   12,   18,   24,   30,   36".

But if you fold up the chain you get:

6 sets of 6    
which is the same as

6 x 6 (six by six or six times six)   
which is the same as

6²  (six squared) 

~  36 beads  ~  

HERE is a video that shows the Montessori presentation with a short chain.

LONG CHAINS:

So if you continue on to the Long Chains, you now are working with the cube of a number. The Long Chains make sets of squares and the squares stack up on top of one another into a cube.

 So take 3 again.

If you take 3 sets of 3 sets of 3,
which is 3 x 3 x 3   (three times three times three)

in other words 3 sets of squares of 3,
which is 3 x 3²   (three times three squared)

You get  3³  (three cubed)
~ 27 beads ~

   

And here is 6 again.

If you take 6 sets of 6 sets of 6,
which is 6 x 6 x 6   (six times six times six )

in other words 6 sets of squares of 6,
which is 6 x 6²   (six times six squared)

You get  6³  (six cubed)

~  216 beads  ~

HERE is a video that show the Montessori presentation with the progression from the Short Chain to the Long Chain.

I think A Montessori Classroom says it best with Every Day Counts - the Bead Chains:

At its simplest, this activity is good for practicing the order of the numbers. That after 29 comes 30, and after 39 comes 40, etc. On the next level, it illustrates skip counting; counting by twos or threes or fives. On another level, an older child will see the multiplication tables. And finally, this material illustrates the squares and cubes of these numbers and their relationships with each other.

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I have a confession to make! It took me til I was in my late 30's and working with my children with Montessori materials to know that the square of a number really makes a square and the cube of a number really makes a cube! Now dontcha feel smart?

Suzanne

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NOTE:  So keep in mind when you are purchasing or making the Montessori Bead Chains - you also need the Montessori Beaded Squares and Cubes to do the complete presentation.

RESOURCES:
Free Long and Short Chain Arrows printables at Hope4ME
Montessori Print Shop shows How to make a Montessori Bead Chain Chart
Discovering Homeschool - Worksheets for Short Bead Chains and Bead Squares
Plain Counting Chain Arrows from MontessoriMom

ALBUM PAGES:
Skip Counting  - Moteaco
Short Chains - Montessori Album
Skip Counting:  Linear Counting - Wikisori
Short Chains, Long Chains - Montessori Commons
Sensorial Experiences with the Chains - Shu-Chen Jenny Yen

Linked to:
Montessori Monday, Live and Learn

Top 12 in Montessori of 2012 - My Personal Picks

I'm approaching this list of the Montessori Top 12 of 2012 in a slightly different manner from the some of the other bloggers in this blog hop. I have already listed my top three TTB blog posts in participation with The Very Best Kids Activities from 2012 blog hop. Besides, if I listed my top 12 blogs for 2012, that would be half my blogs? So I am opting for my favorite all-around picks for Montessori 2012. Since I was new to blogging last year, in fact new to all forms of social media, it's all so wonderful to me and really hard to hand pick a list of favorites when there is so much out there. But here goes...

from Teaching from a Tackle Box

The Top 12 Montessori in 2012 Blog Hop is co-hosted by Lisa Nolan’s Confessions of a Montessori Mom, Smiling Like Sunshine, JDaniel4′s Mom, Vibrant Wanderings, Living Montessori Now

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1. Favorite Montessori Pinterest Board

Livable Learning - Infant Mobiles
After studying Montessori methods for over 10 years, I'm not sure quite how I lost it or never absorbed the fact that there are specific Montessori mobiles for babies. But when someone posted a question about the mobiles earlier this year on montessorimakers I had go online and search it out. This was the very first board I started with to feed my Pinterest passion. Yay!

        

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2. Favorite Montessori Photo Stream

Montessoritoni at PhotoBucket
This photo stream is incredibly detailed. A wonderful source for Elementary Montessori. Thanks to Montessoritoni I finally got the visuals I needed to understand the Decanomial, Who Knew? Be warned though -- you could spend the next month or two perusing her massive collection of photos!

         

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3. Favorite Montessori Media

I absolutely LOVE Montessori Madmen and their awesome videos. These men are precious asset to Montessori education! Montessori fathers who are all dedicated to advocating for Montessori. Be sure to click through to their web page and see what they are up to!

 

Be sure to watch all three videos:          

• Superwoman Was Already Here
• Montessori Madness
• How Do You Hug a Child Like This

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4. Favorite Montessori Observation and Favorite Find

Button Sorting from Teaching from a Tackle Box. This is from my blog and still one of my favorite posts. It was so incredible to set up this material and then observe how children of different ages responded to it.

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5. Favorite NEW Montessori Book

Magellan Montessori's Homeschooling Early Elementary.
Watch for my book review coming soon on this blog...

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6. Favorite Montessori Online Album

Montessori Album I'm not really sure who started this but we all owe the site owner a debt of Montessori gratutude! I will let the site's description speak for itself:

This wiki was created to give Montessori teachers a way to look up lessons online without having to lug out their albums in those giant binders, and a place to share extensions, variation, and original lessons that they have come up with. This site is also for those who are not Montessori trained to learn more about the lessons that are taught in a Montessori classroom, such as parents who wish to use Montessori elements in a home-school environment.

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7. Favorite Montessori Catechesis of the Good Shepherd Blog

Seeking the Plan of God  by Jessica. This is an amazing woman. She has developed an online training program for Elementary Montessori called Keys of the Universe, and she is a regular contributor and mentor at playschool6. Plus she blogs at Montessori Nuggets and Montessori Trails and according to her Blogger profile about a dozen blogs in all. This CGS blog is my favorite of all that Jessica publishes. With Seeking the Plan of God she is pioneering an effort to bring awareness to the value of this method of teaching the faith using Montessori principles, which Maria Montessori started and Sofia Cavalletti developed.

 

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8. Favorite Montessori Infant Blog

Well, the following two blogs are my favorites for 2012 and since I could not choose my favorite between the two I am going to pick both of them! At Home with Montessori and How We Montessori get my vote for best infant blogs of 2012

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9. Favorite Montessori Toddler Blog

Aquiring a Life-Long PhD in Cross-Cultural Homemaking - This is a blog I discovered just as the year was ending! What a great addition to my favorites list! Great photos, observations and album pages with each entry. How can it get any sweeter?

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10. Favorite Montessori Elementary Blog

What DID We Do All Day? by My Boys' Teacher - This is one blog on my blog roll that I read every single day! The greatest compliment I ever received from a local Montessori teacher was "she gets it." She was talking to her mom, also a Montessori teacher after they browsed through my printables at Hope4ME. And I will say the same for My Boys' Teacher - "she gets it!" She says that she spent more time researching Montessori for her children than she spent on her Phd dissertation. I love to follow the daily progress of her boys in action. This is one Montessori blogger who maintains the integrity of the authentic Montessori method and materials. Her blog is also home to the Ultimate Montessori Blog List and the Ultimate Montessori Homemade Materials Collaboration.

 

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11. Favorite Montessori Montessori-Friendly Manufacturer

 

 I first became interested in Melissa and Doug online when I heard about a Melissa and Doug Twitter party through We Teach. It was absolutely the craziest, most confusing, yet thrilling thing that I have experienced all year online! Through the party I felt like I got to know Melissa, her family and her company, and I was drawn to how family friendly and down to earth they were. After the party I became a distributor for Melissa and Doug and my favorite story from my sales rep was when he first came to Melissa and Doug he was told how diligently the company tests their products for safety and durability. The sales rep shared that he personally saw Doug product testing a toy by running over it with his Hummer. Now that's dedication, LOL! Watch for a post coming soon on my favorite Montessori-friendly products from Melissa and Doug. Meanwhile, you can check out their blog HERE.

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12. Favorite Online Montessori Resource

The World's 1st Comprehensive Online Video Library by Livable Learning - This collection was my personal brain child. Thanks to my son, I discovered You Tube this year and I couldn't get enough of it! I started accumulating links to some great Montessori videos and needed a better way to keep track of them. In the process I noticed one of the most popular questions on the Yahoo egroups was "How do I get Started?" So I developed an outline of the steps that I feel are necessary for a successful Montessori experience. It's still a work in progress but you can learn more about "How to Get Started" with Montessori education HERE.

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Shared at Montessori Monday

The Top 12 Montessori in 2012 Blog Hop is co-hosted by Lisa Nolan’s Confessions of a Montessori Mom, Smiling Like Sunshine, JDaniel4′s Mom, Vibrant Wanderings, Living Montessori Now

Teaching from a Tacklebox - 2012 Year in Review!

What a year it has been! We were so busy with family and friends in December that I totally missed my Blogaversary - I started this blog on December 11, 2011. Still not sure just why I started blogging, but I do know it is yet another of those many experiences where God was calling me forward into unknown territory. I remember how frustrated I was when I first tried to find my way through Blogger, but now it all comes so easily. This blog led me into Pinterest and all sorts of other social media, who knew? I really had no expectations for the blog - because I had no clue! But after the first month of following (by way of Flag Counter) the new countries that were hitting my blog, I was overwhelmed with humility and saw that I was on the verge of something big, a part of something truly worldwide. I love this world of blogging and all that it encompasses: new friends, new knowledge and ideas, new wisdom.

I started this "2012 Year in Review" post because I was inspired by a list of topics from Bloggy Moms Blog Dare December 2012 Writing Prompts. Since I was feeling obliged to follow the trends of popular bloggers, I knew I had to do a year-end type of post. And then I read today's post from Montessori Living Now, where she is joining "The Very Best Kids Activities from 2012 Blog Hop", so once again I am following her lead and I am doing the same. In the past year if there is any one person I can consider my mentor for my Montessori blogging experience it is Deb from Living Montessori Now. I consider her blog the "clearinghouse for all things Montessori." So thank you Deb for your expertise and inspiration. Deb's most popular blog post for 2012 was DIY Montessori Materials.


TEACHING FROM A TACKLE BOX
THE VERY BEST KIDS ACTIVITIES FROM 2012

I have been designing Montessori materials to fit into space-saving tackleboxes since 2003, so I've been doing this for 10 years, wow! My Livable Learning website and this TTB blog were designed to help other homeschoolers and parents learn how to adapt their learning materials as Montessori-friendly and also help others to create homemade Montessori materials and to brainstorm about how to organize the materials when space is limited. My secret ambition has always been to bring Montessori methods and materials back into the public domain where Maria herself left it all when she died. Don't get me wrong, I believe there will always be a place for Montessori schools and training programs and for the official and expensive didactic materials, however the internet has proven that there is a whole other community of children with parents (or teachers in poor countries) who want and need accessible and affordable materials in order to be able to teach their children.

Drum roll please... and heeeeere are... the TOP 3 POSTS FOR 2012!

#1 - PAPER CUTTING
According to Blogger stats my blog's #1 post was Paper Cutting. I have seen my image of colored papers in a tacklebox all over Pinterest and in other educational and organizational blogs. My free paper cutting template is a popular download at Hope4ME  and at Teachers Pay Teachers. This is a great activity for scissors cutting practice!

#2 - FORM DRAWING
Coming in second was the post for Preparation for Handwriting - Form Drawing. I designed this template as a control sheet for form drawing which is a method of preparation for handwriting. The download is available HERE.

#3 - SENSORIAL BASICS
In third place is the post announcing my unique tacklebox-friendly design for Montessori sensorial materials. You can read more about Sensorial Basics and my Montessori tacklebox-friendly materials HERE.

MY 2012 PERSONAL FAVORITE BLOG POST
Another of the blogger writing prompts from Bloggy Moms was "Your favorite post from 2012..." The first that came to mind was not a single post, but actually a series of posts by What Did We Do All Day on Montessori Music. I still remember how excited I was when My Boys' Teacher shared how she had adapted and painted the bells to make them Montessori-friendly.

MY PERSONAL OPINION:
Montessori gives nothing but "The Very Best Kids Activities" all year - every year!

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Welcome to The Very Best Kids Activities of 2012.This is a blog hop brought to you by the Kids Bloggers Network! Each of us will share our very favorite, most popular activity for kids! 

This Best of 2012 is Cohosted by

52 Brand New ~ Adventures in Mommydom ~ angeliquefelix.com - The Magic Of Play ~ At home with AliB-Inspired Mama ~ Blog Me Mom ~Boy Mama Teacher Mama ~ Busy Kids = Happy Mom ~ Carrots Are Orange ~ Caution! Twins at Play ~ Coffee Cups and Crayons ~Connecting Family and Seoul ~ Confessions of a Montessori Mom ~ Craft To Art ~ Creative Family Fun ~ Creative Kid Snacks ~ Creative Learning Fun ~ Creative Playhouse ~ Creative with Kids ~ Cute and Peculiar ~ De tout et de rien: Activités pour le Préscolaire ~ Dirt And Boogers~  Edventures with Kids ~ Enchanted Homeschooling Mom ~ The Good Long Road ~ Frogs and snails and puppy dog tailsGlittering Muffins ~ Go Kid Yourself ~ Growing A Jeweled Rose ~ hands on : as we grow ~ Here Come the Girls ~ Home Learning Journey ~ Housing A Forest ~ Mama Smiles ~ In Lieu of Preschool ~ Inspiration Laboratories ~ Inspired by Family ~ It's A Long Story ~JDaniel4's Mom ~ Kids Creative Chaos ~ Kid World Citizen ~ Kindergarten & Preschool for Parents & Teachers ~ Kitchen Counter Chronicles ~ Laughing Kids Learn ~ Learn with Play at home ~ Lessons Learnt Journal ~ Life At The Zoo ~ Little Artists ~ Living Life Intentionally ~ Living Montessori Now ~ Love, Play, LearnLoving My Nest ~ Mama Pea Pod ~ mama miss ~ Mamas Like Me ~ Mess For Less ~ Mom to 2 Posh Lil Divas ~ Momma's Fun World ~ Montessori Tidbits ~ My Buddies and I ~ My Little Bookcase ~ My Nearest and Dearest ~ No Twiddle Twaddle ~ Nurturestore ~ Octavia and Vicky ~ One Perfect Day ~ ourfeminist{play}school ~ Picklebums ~ Play Activities ~ Playdough to Plato  PlayDrMom ~ playful learners ~ playing with words 365 ~ PragmaticMom ~ Putti'sWorld ~RainbowsWithinReach ~ Rainy Day Mum ~ Raising Playful Tots ~ Reading Confetti ~ Red Ted Art ~ Royal Baloo ~ Science Sparks ~Scribble Doodle and Draw ~ Small Potatoes ~ Smiling like Sunshine ~ Sun Hats & Wellie Boots ~ Sun Scholars ~ Teach Preschool ~ The Educators' Spin On It ~ The Fairy and The Frog ~ The Freckled Homeschooler ~ The Golden Gleam ~ The Imagination Tree ~ The Iowa Farmer's Wife  ~ The Outlaw Mom Blog ~ The Pleasantest Thing ~ This Reading Mama ~ Toddler Approved ~ Train Up a Child ~ True Aim ~ Two Big Two Little ~ What Do We Do All Day?