Category Archives: homeschool

Montessori modified for home education.

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abacus

Well, while we do not have a multi aged classroom of 30-60 children with 4-8 trained Montessori teachers, we can modify Maria Montessori’s method of education for our home.

What we’re doing together is NOT “The Montessori Method”. Maria made it clear that each Children’s House was to have a complete set of equipment and set up in such a way that, if you moved about from school to school, you couldn’t find any substantial difference, with either the physical room or the teaching staff. If her Method was to be held up as a ‘scientifically provable’ method of education, then each room needed to be almost like a ‘science experiment’, repeatable and identical in every detail possible.

 

We are not able to replicate her model here. We can modify the main principles to suit our continuing journey with learning though. We do this because we LOVE Montessori… it just ‘fits’ well with how we behave and how we relate to each other, our family and friends, and to the learning process. So we have some guiding principles from the Maria’s writings to draw upon, which are:

  • Follow the child.
  • If a child demonstrates observable concentration when learning a new skill or mastering a skill, do not interrupt.
  • Do not help the child with something they feel they can succeed in.
  • Ignite interest but let that interest be free to develop.
  • Freedom is the matching of Liberty to work, and the Will to work. Liberty comes from having a prepared environment where choices are available, Will comes from within the child’s desire to learn. The prepared environment includes a ’3 hour work cycle’, usually in the morning, where the children know they won’t be interrupted. Where learning is progressively introduced and also where they experience the highest amount of Will, or desire, to learn.multiplication board

Every change we have made has been based on our discussions, where both M and D have had the Freedom to choose, always.

Although I’ve ‘ticked off outcomes’ in both the Board of Studies NSW curriculum and the Montessori curriculum, we haven’t always followed a routine or used the materials during a work cycle. During our meetings and discussions both M and D wanted very much for us to have routines, to use the Montessori materials more and to have definite ‘computer use time’, as all three of us have spent far too much time on computers over the past couple of years. Do you have that problem in your home?

Here are some  more samples of the work we are currently doing.

Stomach modelcakeheart modelroutine

So far we’ve enjoyed one whole month of gently, at first, moving back into a regular daily routine. Last week went exceptionally well. After they follow a morning ritual of getting their bodies ready (bathroom, breakfast… you know lol), they then start a three hour work cycle. Food is eaten when required, but we stop for lunch after those three hours. Two more hours is then devoted to projects and what Montessori called the ‘Great Work’, which basically means ‘learning something they’re obsessed about’. After 2pm it’s free time, and computers can go on (if they weren’t already used for research etc). At 5pm we stop for a 30 min cleaning roster where everyone chooses what room they start in and we all have jobs that we can do independently. Night time brings dinner, bath/book/bed and then I have time to write, and prepare for the next day, before retiring myself.

writing

It’s still a work in progress, however, we’re definitely on a good path. No one is resisting the change, in fact they hold me to task and remind me to NOT be on Facebook before 2pm!

All the best!

 

 

Squirming child who won’t sit down and learn to write?

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Let me begin by asking…

Have you got a squirming child who won’t sit down and learn to write? How about making some Sandpaper Letters to trace with their finger and then draw each letter as it’s written with chalk outside and have them trace it with their feet, walking on the line almost like a train would on a train track!

You can find information on making your own Sandpaper Letters at http://livingmontessorinow.com/2011/12/19/montessori-monday-inexpensive-and-diy-sandpaper-letters/

 

When my now 8 year old boy was first learning to read, some 3 years ago, I printed out the outline of large letters onto printable canvas paper, cut around them and spray glued them onto card (consonant sounds yellow, vowel sounds blue). He still has trouble knowing the ‘right way to write’ letters then I FINALLY worked out why… he’s a whole body learner! (uno… kinaesthetic squirmy/probably wrongly labelled ADHD if in a school because he can’t learn WITHOUT moving.) He can’t learn with just his eyes and his hand… he needs his WHOLE BODY involved!

He put all the letters in order, held down by pebbles so they wouldn’t blow away and then I wrote each each letter big with chalk on our footpath. D shuffled on the chalk lines in the same order/direction in which I wrote it down, tracing them with his feet and after the letter ‘d’ he said “Oh this makes more sense! Now I know EXACTLY ‘how’ the letter is made, not just what it looks like then trying to make that shape from my memory”

 

Home made tactile/sandpaper letters

Home made tactile/sandpaper letters

 

Notes for the parent tutor

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Do you remember the video for Pink Floyd’s ‘Another Brick in the Wall’? ( here’s a link for the video cliphttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR5ApYxkU-U) Watch this with your Schooled child and discuss with open communication your experiences as a Schooled child. Consider reclaiming your role as their FIRST teacher. Tutoring your own child is about helping them understand not just what’s taught in class but how to understand the world. What I’d love for you to know, Parents, is that in ‘their eyes’ we brought them into the world, they are only here because we decided to create them. They look to US for help on that sometimes frightening job of learning about the world but then they get put into a School and are away from us, isolated from the ‘real world’ as we call it. Then we expect them to learn in isolation from the ‘real world’ how to live in the ‘real world’. It’s not just a school thing, it’s for any family that restricts what their children can and can’t learn about, but it is also a ‘School thing’ as at no other time in our lives do we get segregated into ‘same age groups’ and forced to learn at a teacher’s pace, day in day out.

We used to have children knowing it was a lifelong commitment to another person, the way we used to view marriage. It’s part of becoming an adult to leave your own childhood behind and become ‘responsible’ for another human. Now we have a baby and go back to work, somewhere between 6 weeks and 6 years later. Women are punished socially for not returning to work in some circles, in others returning to work is the crime. Mummy Wars are the new competition that are added to the war on image that’s been playing out for decades.

Clearing up the realities for a minute, just forget about what other’s think about how you’re living your life, the reality is that no one else will do the job of ‘raising our children’ for you. Sure they’ll ‘babysit’ and they’ll ‘educate’ but as far as ‘being there for them’, well that’s our job. Delegating is a choice and the consequences can be life changing. Our children still look at us to be the one’s ultimately responsible for them until they too are grown and ready to be responsible for someone else.

How much damage does it take before you can’t reconnect with your child? Don’t let the opportunity to turn things around vanish without your full consideration. Wishing you all the very best with your journeys.

Here is the full length movie of ‘The Wall’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQE3vcwU97g

What we do…. and then some

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In the wee small hours…before crashing into bed (probably literally at this stage) I’m reminded that I need to share more of what we actually do with home education if this blog and my website link are to be in anyway useful.

Well their dad was a blacksmith when she was born!
 
Oh wow… that foil covered shield looks shiney!
Battle time… the only time they fight!

 

  • Monday Morning Meetings… we gather and go over what each of my munchkins want to do with their week academically, socially, inside, outside… what ever really. Then I raise the topics of what I feel would be good to cover and we discuss all of what we’ve raised. From this we write up a plan of things I need to do, they need to do, places we need to go, things we need to buy etc. Usually we come up with other things during the week but I have a written record of the conversation so I can monitor what is going on during the week, make comments, suggestions, give reminders etc. This process works best for us and stops us falling into the common unschooling trap of everyone going off to do their own thing, nothing gets done, gaps in sequential learning develop and well… we genuinely miss each other! It may seem strange, but when we’re off doing our own thing we may not see each other all day! Now that both of my children are capable of independent research they get heavily invested into what they are doing. Another aspect is Continue reading →

Skyping!!!

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As part of our home education adventures we’ve been communicating with another ‘homeschooling’ family from the other side of our planet! Our New Hampshire family has been pen paling with us for over 3 years and there have been soooo many cool things we’ve shared with each other. Cards, photos, letters, books, knowledge, lollies, origami, flags and t-shirts, flip flops (don’t call them thongs lol it’s just NOT the same thing!!)
Now we Skype on an almost daily basis and the communication we have only enriched our experience of learning about each other and each other’s countries. We’ve been watched our 10 year olds play chess games, conduct some cool show and tell sessions and have lessons together. Their 10 year old son has taught my 10 year old daughter some violin; they share weekly spelling lists and have tests at the end of the week (which is fun because they are sharing the experience).
 
 
Meanwhile I have GREATLY increased my ability to plan, enjoy and keep focus on my home ed adventure because I’m sharing my journey with another home educating mum… I should say mom! Although we started Skyping for our children ‘Mum time’ soon took over and the support I feel from ‘one who knows’ ahh, it’s been such a wonderful gift. I’ve got many great friends, who live within driving distance, but with Skype we can share our homes in real time, anytime!  
I’d recommend Skyping with anyone who feels in anyway isolated or is home based or pushed for time. It’s been a great way to learn more about America and how similar we all really are, and how funny our differences can be!