Too much writing?

Here is an example from my 6 year olds daily journal from yesterday. It's a lot of writing and I'm having to help him. My 7 year old is starting to like the daily journal entries and becoming more self motivated. I wonder if this is too much writing though? The NAMC classroom guide I have suggested they keep a daily journal. I asked my friend Mary, who is a teacher, what she thought. I'll share her answer with you once she responds if you are curious.

6 year old:
Thursday, September 3, 2009
8:45-8:50 am
Prayer and Pledge
8:50-8:55 am
Calendar
8:55-9:00 am
Worked on daily journal
9:00-9:05
Sat quietly
9:05-9:15
Presentation of minute sand timer
9:15-9:30 am
Decorated daily journal
9:30-9:32 am
Continued time line activity
9:32-9:35 am
Listened to 3rd day Creation story
9:35-9:52 am
Joined Diego in Bible Timeline cards activity
9:55-10:05 am
Colored pg. 2 in Genesis 1 book
10:05-10:12 am
Worked with Montessori small hexagon box
10:12-10:40 am
Worked with circles from Geometric cabinet.
Matched circles to solid, thick, and thin line cards in order of diameter
10:40-10:45 am
Worked on putting solar system cards in order of distance from the sun
Did matching extension activity.
10:45-10:50
Practiced reading names of the planets by myself
10:50-10:55
3-period lesson on recognizing: Sun, Mercury, Venus and Earth astronomy cards
10:55-11:03
3-period lesson on continent globe. Recognized location and name of all 7
11:03-11:05 am
Used continent puzzle map to name continents
11:05-11:20 am
Chose to look at book on North America
11:20-11:39
Listened to Mami read book on North America. Discussed North America. Decided to check out library book on Greenland.
11:40-11:47
Worked with phonics 3-part cards
11:50-12pm
Read HOP book #9 to Mami
12pm
Break for lunch and recess

2nd day of School!

My 6 year old son working with cards of the planets at 10:20 am today

Today was the second day of school for our lower elementary class. For those of you curious, I thought I'd post both my 6 and 7 year old's journal entries today so you can compare how some things are the same and others can vary. We had another short day because of my husbands work schedule. As soon as school starts for the 3-6 class this will get better. I can't complain though! It is a blessing to have my husband's help to watch the little one's in the first place and it is a blessing that in this economy we are still getting business.

Journal entry for my 6 year old:
Wednesday September 2
9:25-9:30 am
Prayer and Pledge of Allegiance
9:30-9:40 am
Calendar and days of the week
9:40-9:45
Continued time line activity
9:45-10:05 am
Listened to creation story from the New Catholic Picture Bible pg.9 and discussed
10:05-10:20
Used colored pencils to color page 1 in Genesis 1 book
10:20-10:40 am
Worked on putting solar system cards in order of distance from the sun. Want to learn more about the solar system. Decided to check out library book on the sun for further study.
10:40-10:55
Repeated solar system card activity with matching extension.
10:55-11:10 am

Observed wasp and beetle specimens under magnifying glass.
11:10-11:15 am
Looked at World globe with magnifying glass
11:15-11:20 am
Reviewed 3-period lesson on continent globe. Will continue review of continents tomorrow.
11:20-11:25 am
Worked on daily journal
11:25-11:30
Clean up and dismissal

Journal entry for my 7 year old:
Wednesday, September 2
9:25-9:30 am
9:30-9:40 am
Calendar and days of the week
9:40-9:45 am
Continued time line activity
9:45-10:05 am
Listened to the story of creation from the New Catholic Picture Bible pg. 9 and discussed
10:05-10:20 am
Read The Moon Book by Gail Gibbons
10:20-11:05
Worked on daily journal alone and then with Mami
11:05-11:08
Looked at world globe with magnifying glass
11:10-11:20
Drew and colored picture of God creating the sky for my creation booklet
11:20-11:30
Cleanup and dismissal

The purpose of these journals is to document what the children are learning and to teach them planning, time management skills, and record keeping. I think these are great practical life skills for the elementary students! At the end of the week, we will go over the journals and set goals for the next week. Soon they will learn that they need to keep a well rounded balance of all the subjects and can plan to dedicate more time to what is needed. Given our time constraints and it being the first couple of days, it is looking pretty good so far. The daily journal is a new activity for them so we are having to adjust. The writing is taking a lot of time right now, but it is also great penmanship and spelling practice. So far, they really like being able to look at the written record of the what they've been learning and doing in the past couple of days.

1st Day of School!

7 year old at 10:15 am

Caught! 7 year old was supposed to be outside playing after lunch, and instead I found him reading in the classroom!

Today was our lower elementary first day of school. I've got a 6 and 7 year old in the class.
The children will keep a daily journal documenting their activities throughout the day. Here's a peek into my 6 year old's activities from his journal:
8:45-9:00 am
Prayer and Pledge of Allegiance
9:00-9:15 am
Classroom Orientation
9:15-9:25 am
Calendar and talked about time
9:25-9:40 am
Worked on creating a daily time line strip
9:40-10 am
Heard Creation Story and had discussion
10:00 -10:20 am
Drew a picture of darkness and God creating light
10:20-10:35 am
observed bug with magnifying glass
10:35-11:05 am
Practiced phonics
11:05-12:00 pm
Great Adventure Kids bible time line card game
12:00-12:05
Clean up and break for lunch

My husband works from home and helped to watch our 4, 3, and 17 month old, but had to go out for work in the early afternoon. Because of this, our 1st day was done at noon. On most days, school for the lower elementary children will resume at 1:15 and continue until 3:15. For today, we watched the Padre Pio movie in Spanish with English subtitles. I reminded the children how blessed they are to be able to understand and speak both English and Spanish. Some days it is a struggle to keep the Spanish language alive with them, but we are persevering. The children were really into the movie and my 7 year old said, "It touched his heart".

Our 3 and 4 year old will be starting on September 14th. We'll be hosting a 3-6 homeschooling co-op in our garage, Monday through Friday 8:30am-noon. There will be 5 (possibly 6) children in the 3-6 class and 4 families including mine are participating. I've been really busy with that project and our goal is to start an actual Catholic Montessori school. We're very excited and will most likely be starting a blog to document our on going project. I'll let you know when we get that up and running.

NAMC 6-12 Classroom Guide!

My husband and I just bought the whole set of Lower Elementary manuals from NAMC. It was a big purchase and pretty exciting to get the stuff in the mail. I will have to tweak some of the curriculum to fit in with our Catholic Living education.

So far, I'm halfway through with the NAMC 6-12 Classroom Guide. This guide is so awesome! I'd also like to get the 3-6 guide if it is significantly different. I totally recommend the NAMC manual as I have not come across the practical day to day function in the Montessori classroom anywhere else. I am so glad we got this now that it is summer so I can be more prepared when our school year begins.

A Work in Progress...

Queen of Heaven Montessori Weekly Schedule

Monday: Open day: Field Trips, Library,

Daily Schedule: Tuesday-Friday

(Everyone)
8:30 am – Prayer time and Hymn in Classroom

8:40 am – Sitting on the line we do:
-Calendar, weather, season
-Talk about Saint of the day, holiday, feast day, etc..

8:50 am
-Music and Movement with Papi (Dad)

9 :00 am – Start Work:
6 year old, 5 year old, 4 year old son's:
-Make new presentations and free choice of materials already presented.

11:45 am – Tidy up

11:50 am – Read story to children

12:00 am – Conclude primary & elementary school day with Angelus prayer

12:05 pm – Snack: Children help to make and serve small snack to hold them over for lunch. For example:Slice cheese for cheese and crackers, wash strawberries, core apples and serve peanut butter for dipping.

1:00 pm - Lunch

2:30 pm - Catholic living teatime

3:30 pm- Independant focus with elementary son

3:45 pm- Elementary son independent work

... This is a work in progress I am tweaking to fit the children's needs.