Montessori Monday~ Work in the Elementary Room
Well I have been doing alot of thinking (again). I have been struggling again about what to teach Bunny and how to pull it all together for her. And I think that I have realized that trying to do cosmic education with one child is really hard and almost impossible. Everything is connected and everything can be learned together. It is beautiful, exciting, and perfect. But where to start? There is so much in my albums that we can do,but I am getting overwhelmed and not sure how to get it all in without a plan. I want to let Bunny to choose, but when she doesnt choose, what do I do to help her find something that excites her? In a Montessori classroom, as far as I can figure, the children are inspired by each others work, and if there is a child who cant get inspired, the teacher is there to help pull out a material to help with that. However, I feel like I am out of time (and space) to get more materials when I am not sure Bunny will even use them. So I am going to make a radical move and maybe move away from strictly Montessori work. Bunny needs some direction and I need a plan. History and science to me seem better if they follow an organized path. I dont want to jump from spot to spot and offer a fragmented education like we are doing right now. I want to make sure that she can see things connect and in proper order. I know that everything is connected, but everything follows a natural path and that is missing right now. Plus Bunny really loves alot of everything. She would be interested in plants as well as China, and also Writing around the world. I want to make sure we are going get things done in a fun, playful way! So I have started reading Project- Based Homeschooling and it is really offering a great view into some things we can do that will really reach Bunny’s method of learning. Bunny loves to have books, lots of books. She is really visual and many time reading a book will spark so much excitement she will think about it, draw about it, write about it, and want to know more! This is exactly what project based homeschooling is all about: learning across all the creative areas, child led, and thought through. The goal is observe the child, prepare the environment to be open to creativity, and guild them in their quest for answers. Sounds familiar? It is SO very Montessori is its essence that it will work really well with what we have going. I am excited about this because when I really think about Bunny and how she learns, I realize that she is a creator and a having alot of open materials to add to her exploration of a subject is going to really appeal to her. She is going to love taking a subject and not just writing a drawing a picture of it, but to create with it, play with it, and live it for as long as she wants. This is something that I can facilitate and help her to achieve. We can learn about a subject and really just play with it to absorb it. She will love it, Pup will love it, and I will have fun with it too. It means that I am going to have to sit and observe more, but I think that it will help us out. It also means that I am going to have to carve out some time each day for project work, but isnt that more fun then TV? However, instead of me spending time making materials for Bunny to learn with, she can make some of them herself as part of the learning! She loves to make things and I think that this idea will really appeal to her and will make my life a little easier. School should be fun, while still offering a deep learning that will stick with her. The goal is not to know tons of stuff, but to learn to think and absorb information with enthusiasm. What better way then to create with it and play with it? Does this mean I am leaving Montessori behind? No, I am just going add elements that will really reach Bunny in a place that I think will mean alot to her. Which is really about observing the child and finding what works for her! I guess we are still sticking to Montessori! 😉
Want more Montessori fun? Stop by the Montessori Monday link up! I am linking up there!
February 20, 2013 @ 1:23 pm
I have no idea how I would home school my own children but I do think that you need to feel comfortable and in control. I have to say tha I haven’t seen one home school blog where the family does Montessori where it matches what happens in a school classroom. Some families find ways to make it work for them but it is still not the full Montessori experience. The reason for that is that around half the work the child does is building their social understanding. The work feeds into that and supports it but it also needs the vertical grouping and the numbers of children. I would probably do the same as you and go project based and keep my understanding of the children’s need for concrete learning, so avoid Singapore maths for instance but find philosophies and methods that work at home. It will be interesting to see what you do next!
February 21, 2013 @ 3:15 am
Anna, I cant tell you how good it is to hear from you on this. I really love the amazing path the Elementary Montessori work takes a child on. I love every bit of it, but the more I tried to make it happen at home the more I realized that I cant do it the way it happens in school. Having you share that my gut feeling on the is right is so helpful! Thanks for taking the time to comment. I am excited about this and about trying to find a way to meet Bunny’s need, while preserving my sanity!
February 20, 2013 @ 4:28 pm
What I have started doing is to read a book at the beginning of each school time. The last few weeks we have been reading books on Mexico. This seems to encourage learning with the continent maps and box, for example.
I have also been watching Mustang, and she is really interested in Botany, so we will be starting Botany lessons.
I’m also in the process of setting up a few learning stations that would have things needed in them to begin learning about a subject. Hopefully, she will be drawn to at least one of them to pursue it further.
Your idea sounds good, too!
February 21, 2013 @ 3:23 am
Hi Lisa, it sounds like you are having a great time with your kids! Reading a favorite thing here too! I love the idea of your work stations! I hope that it works out well for you! Thanks for stopping by!
February 21, 2013 @ 2:51 am
love hearing this! 🙂 i hope you know we have a forum, too, in case you want to check that out — nice, supportive community. 🙂
February 21, 2013 @ 3:32 am
Hi Lori! I am a little star struck that you stopped by here! I am really excited, if a little nervous about this! 🙂 I read your book over the weekend (and passed it on to my firend) and I think that this is approach to learning will be really good for Bunny (who is 7). Now I am off to preapre the enviroment and practice asking questions instead of giving answers! Right now she has decided to learn how to make ink out of roses. I have a million ideas od how this could go, but I am going to wait to see what she says! Wish me luck! I have been reading your blog posts all afternoon and I am going to check out the forum too! Thanks so much for stopping by and offering your support!
February 24, 2013 @ 3:49 pm
i absolutely love when people share their projects and their thoughts so we can reflect it back to the community & inspire other people who are getting their feet wet! i’m glad you’re going to look into the forum; it’s a great place to share and inspire others *and* ask for suggestions/brainstorm when you get stuck. 🙂
thank you so much for mentioning the book in your post & for sharing it with a friend!
February 21, 2013 @ 4:47 am
I completely understand the need to change, even in the middle of the year! I was a traditional PS girl, and then God gave us this awesome(ly over-whelming) job of homeschooling our 5 children. We started out traditional homeschooling, and found my children saying they were bored! I REALLY didn’t want that! Which is what led me on my journey to finding Montessori. That being said, I have had no training, taken no courses, and have learned everything I do so far from blogs and talking with teachers at a local Montessori school. But I still find myself falling on traditional learning to a point for the sake of having a point of reference for what to be teaching (at a minimum) and to branch off with Montessori style ideas for visual learning. All this being said, another homeschool friend of mine says that she thinks, after 6 or 7 homeschooling years under her belt, that every year she tries something a little different to adjust to the children’s needs as they grow. So I think as our children grow, even if we stick to the same method, whether traditional or Montessori, we are always looking for ways to adapt to what our children need, by doing just what you are talking about – observing them and what motivates them – what their inner drive is! You are one of my favorite blogs to visit! Keep up the good work 🙂
February 24, 2013 @ 3:23 am
Amy I’m so glad you stopped by. It is such a good reminder that there is no one right way to work and it is so important to be always making sure that what you are doing is working for your family. I think that is exactly what I have going on here. Today I reevaluated the school room and rearranged it better (i hope) for us to work in. I, like you, am not trained in Montessori at all, but I hae learned so much. I hope your journey is good! Happy Schooling!
February 21, 2013 @ 5:12 am
Stephanie,
Do you have access to a scope and sequence that corresponds with your albums? One that provides ideas for what to focus on for year 1, year 2; or even half years?
Also, an important point that Annicles brings up – Montessori homeschool is going to look quite different from a Montessori school; thus some of our expectations as to what we are seeking can be changed 🙂
And for elementary, you won’t just stick to the albums anyway. While I do find the history album to be rather sequential in nature, in order to facilitate the “we don’t have 30 other children running around here”, we incorporate Mystery of History into our history studies. Currently we are reading a story-book style book on American history as well.
For science, I blend in Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding to help guide follow-ups and establish conversations with the proper terminology.
Language arts, for us, is very straight-forward.
Mathematics – we add in Life of Fred, and many of the resources from http://livingmath.net (which counts for history too in many cases!) – there is just enough story line in these to get the cosmic education nature, as well as just enough math facts practice to show both of us that he is indeed “learning”.
Geometry is straight-forward – we just move through that album in order.
We incorporate art into everything and music is just too much fun to miss 😉 And we have other art books, he is learning the piano, has been in choir, etc.
Now, a good deal (I won’t say “most” but it’s not entirely inaccurate) of my son’s schoolwork becomes fodder for projects – he loves to make charts and books the most of late; previously it was timelines and nothing but timelines (with some nomenclature cards thrown in for fun – he loved/loves creating these for other children).
Another thing we did, to get us going with the some of the presentations that just needed the larger groups – set up a Montessori co-op, meeting once a week. I actually had two classes, so he got twice as much. For 4 hours we met, had presentations, had work time, ate a snack together. And ALL the children really benefited. Plus it helped pay for more Montessori materials we needed 😉
Finally, I have had many people ask me about materials. In elementary, it is entirely acceptable for the elementary children to be making MANY of their own materials – especially nomenclature and charts. Impressionistic charts (when we’ve been home and the charts were elsewhere) I’ve shown to my son on the computer and then he goes and creates it himself, embellishing with additional information pertinent to his own interests. He really makes it his own learning. There are VERY few timelines to present and they can be rather sparse – the children (in my case my son) fill in the details.
And he’s an only child 😉
Thus the project-based learning isn’t so much about being different from Montessori or moving away from Montessori, as emphasizing a particular aspect of the Montessori elementary experience.
Think of Montessori as your framework (and check to see about that scope/sequence), and all the other resources you choose to pull in, as the filler that finishes out the beautiful sculpture of your daughter’s childhood 🙂
February 24, 2013 @ 3:32 am
Hi Jessica,
I am so glad that you shared your thoughts. I dont have a scope and sequence. It sounds like that would be very helpful. I am still going to do so many of the Montessori Presentations. I just really think that Bunny needs more of the creative and this is way to help me figure out how do that. Plus the Montessori albums seem to mesh so well with this method.
February 24, 2013 @ 3:43 am
You’ve got it 🙂
The funny thing is, I have had SO many people assume that we are using a project-based homeschool style, because they either didn’t know about Montessori (most people) or thought it was just for the primary level (which as you know which looks a bit different than elementary 😉 ).
And the fact is, elementary Montessori DOES look a lot like project-based learning, because the children should be choosing certain courses of study (research projects and the like) and planning them out, executing them, etc.
I always try to describe elementary Montessori as providing the framework and the foundation, with the children, the family or school, and any local educational requirements filling in the framework with a variety of resources, learning styles, and following interests deeply.
Short story to my post above, could really have been: you’re not really making such a “radical move” – you’re just choosing to focus on the aspect that your daughter needs the most of right NOW. And THAT is entirely what Montessori is supposed to be about 🙂
(and what makes it so hard to compare how I Montessori homeschool with another family to yet another family – because our children are so different (even when they are eerily the same at times 😉 ).
I look forward to reading your posts about her work 🙂
February 22, 2013 @ 5:12 am
Hi Stephanie,
I feel like I haven’t commented much the last two weeks because I could tell you were “thinking.” I have been reading the whole time though! I haven’t wanted to comment and “pressure” you in any way in one direction or the other. Because I’m so suuuuuupeeer persuasive you know 😉 Just wanted to let you know that you are doing a great job and that there are so MANY right ways to homeschool.
February 24, 2013 @ 3:41 am
Thanks MBT. We really arent giving up the Montessori work, I just feel like this is going to allow me to think differently about how to make those intrested really flow deeply. Right now we seem to be jumping here to there and not really getting into anything deeply. Plus I tried to just “do” album presentations and it really was so uninspired and boring for all of us. So far the book has provided me with questions and way to help the girls go deeper into the things they are interested in. Learning should be fun and exciting, especially in first grade. We were getting to a point where Bunny hated school and I knew we needed a change. She should not hate school at 7! So I am going to require the basics daily and have some fun with the rest. I have sat down and really gone back to why we were homeschooling and what I wanted my kids to think and feel about learning, and I am hoping that some small changes will help bring us back to where we need to be! Thanks for always being there to help me with my questions and being such a supportive friend! I looks like you guys have been doing great work and having fun! Your boys are amazing! Happy Schooling!
February 27, 2013 @ 8:03 pm
Hi My friend!!! So sad I have been so “out” of the blog world for the last weeks, and heard about your thoughts… but I’m sooo happy to read all the great things that other bloggy friends tell you!! I hope you find that, that makes “click” and make your learning times happy, exciting and peaceful!!!!
Lots of love!!