All About Montessori

[Sun_2010]

Hiya buds

Me a silent reader too, I just luv reading your posts...
You have a way with words like i suppose you have a way with kids :salute:

Background:
I have a DS who is in P1 now. Quite good with numbers he is. He did his preschooling in a montessori environment, and his teacher's feedback was he had a knack for maths - and is quite clear on concepts. As such i did'nt interfere.

Can you give some tips to what i should do help him grow this interest without teaching too much ahead, which i feel will kill his interest in class.

Currently, I am focusing on mental calculations - he loves doing quizes within time limit - so we do that and i check with him how did he did some qs , and praise him if he did it the easiest way, show him easier ways if any. We do try out the different heuristics , simple ones ...

Can you advice me if i should drill him more on standard methods - like he knows the method of addition, subtraction - with borrow and with carry. Multiplication and division he learnt but is not so comfortable with it- especially division - all learnt in Preschool. he could do with some practice on this but it is soo dry. You are likely to know of some magical methods to making it interesting :imcool:

TIA buds

[Sun_2010]

O yes, most important - some tips for learning geometry -the other half of maths

Currently, he plays lego occasionally, a geo board, those magnetic balls and sticks, sometimes tanagrams on ipad (but this i feel lacks the feel one gets with concrete shapes )

Advise please , buds :please:

[cantbearit2]

buds:

Heyya cantbearit2, DD2 is 3 years old? Need to double confirm before i proceed with further advice. :hugs:

DD2 is 4 y.o.

[laughingcat]

buds:

Heyya laughingcat, likewise for yourself.. lemme know how old your DS is.

Also this Montessori method you've been using.. where did you pick this up from?
A quick crash course or self-taught? Does it mean you teach your DS systematically
as per how the method is set? I need more details before i can troubleshoot into the
challenges you're facing now.. tks. Btw, i didn't know you were a silent reader till
you voiced out. :nailbite:

Muahahahaha!!!! :evil: Am I good....a real silent reader that you don't even know. :yikes: Freak not coz I am your fan already. :love:

My DS1 is 5 yrs old. Yes I tried my best to teach DS1 systematically....I think so lah. :idea:

How did I learned? I read alot, borrowed books from the library and some books are recommended by you too. :hi5: I researched alot as well and borrowed materials from a friend who attended the diploma course in Montessori.

As mentioned, I am very satisfied with DS1 in Maths as he is advancing rather well and in fact very comfortable in doing Maths. At this point, he is able to do vertical and horizontal addition and subtraction and even multiplication and division.

However at this point, he is still using his fingers for counting especially on addition and subtraction. I tried to get him to do mental calculation but wasn't easy to do so. What is umph factor that I should adopt to encourage him to do the 4 mathematical operant mentally? Any tips will be great! :please:

BTW, I don't mind attending a course on Montessori Maths. But I don't know which one is good. I also believe that a course as such should not be a few hours or even 1 day training only. So that is why I am rather hestitant in attending the course at right2learn. Do you have any for recommendation? Or do you conduct such course for mummies? :evil:

[Maize]

laughingcat:

buds:

BTW, I don't mind attending a course on Montessori Maths. But I don't know which one is good. I also believe that a course as such should not be a few hours or even 1 day training only. So that is why I am rather hestitant in attending the course at right2learn. Do you have any for recommendation? Or do you conduct such course for mummies? :evil:

From what I know :
the Maths workshop at Right To Learn is 4 lessons x 3 hrs

their next workshop details is available on their website.

[laughingcat]

Hi Maize,


Yes I know that. In fact I have their notes thanks to a lovely mummy who shared with me. Seeing the notes, I feel that it is really not adequate. In fact I am doing more than what the notes entail.

[jancy]

laughingcat:

Hi Maize,


Yes I know that. In fact I have their notes thanks to a lovely mummy who shared with me. Seeing the notes, I feel that it is really not adequate. In fact I am doing more than what the notes entail.

Hi laughingcat

Just to add that I have attended the Maths Workshop by Right To learn and the notes that were given is similar to what the Diploma students in the Montessori training course are doing. Hence they cover all the montessori mathematics materials. During the course the trainer also goes thru what we can do to further add or to further reinforce the concept using the other materials that are available in our home as well, or readily available in the market. That is why I feel that just by looking at the notes it will not help as the notes are meant to cover the presentation of the specific Montessori materials only.

[laughingcat]

Hi Jancy,


Perhaps so.

IMO, I just feel that those hours are still really not enough. Otherwise it wouldn’t be fair to those took up Diploma in Montessori.

Why I said that the (4 lessons x 3 hrs) is not enough is because I attended 40hrs of Phonics workshop. Those intensive learning is so effective for me to execute effectively and confidently to my DS

BTW, I am not against crash course. Personally I feel that Montessori is a systematic approach that cannot be taken too lightly.

It is quite possible to do without specialized Montessori materials and still have a Montessori approach. It is also possible to have all the specialised Montessori materials in the world and the wrong approach.

To me I am a rather regimental person , I would like to follow strictly the Montessori approach. That is why I contemplated to attend the diploma course, however times does not permit me. So prefer to seek Buds for advise.

[sean wife]

Hi buds,


Thanks for your advice….Ya, I am slowing down the pace and hopefully it will become easier along the way as they gain maturity in their development…

Actually the method you have described for addition is similar to what I have taught them….like the bigger number in your stomach (like eat up more biscuits), and the smaller number on the fingers, and then counting forwards. But my elder gal has the tendency to start counting from 1 which obviously doesn’t work when the number gets bigger (like more than 20). So think she needs more familiarization with the number sequence….but when I randomly ask her ‘xxx is xx years old this year, next year how old will she be?’, she can get it for the first few times, then when I ask her more, she doesn’t want to answer me anymore…BIG learning attitude….

I also have the same question as laughingcat…how to transition from using fingers to mental calculation if the child is not learning abacus? It seems to come more naturally for some kids than others (like when I compare my younger one with her jie jie)

BTW, they had their first Math enrichment class at MMI last Saturday. I had a look at the workbook which is supposed to cover the topics for 10 lessons. From simple counting, odd/even numbers, it covers place values all the way to the thousands, and also the hundreds chart at the end. At home, I had only introduced them to mainly tens and a bit of hundreds…is the pace of the enrichment class too fast? Just to recall, they are turning 4 next month…

[viviling]

hi hi,

me plan to send my boy to ichiban montessori @ Yunnan (Jurong west ext).

any idea if its good??

also, what are the course or workshop for Phonics and mathematics and related montessori teaching?

thinking to attend some courses to do some homeschooling for my kids.

dun think i wanna attend the diploma courses .

looking forward to the advices