some advice needed

[Rose-Roget]

I'm extremely new to the hs idea - I've never considered it a good fit for my personality and I'm not sure about for my son's personality...but in all fairness I haven't really researched it much.

At this point, I've been tossing the idea around in my head, not necessarily as a permanent situation, but possibly as a temporary solution (although who knows?). Ds has attended a Montessori during most of his early education. I love Montessori for ds's learning style. Unfortunately, we cannot afford M. for him next year, and he did not get into the public M. through the lottery. I do not like our local public school, but if I accept a placement at another public school, he loses his spot on the waiting list for M which is preferable. I am taking a leave of absence next year to stay home with our new infant, and I'm considering the possibility of hs'ing ds (1st grade) in Montessori.

What advice, encouragement (or discouragement, I suppose) could anyone offer me to understand the benefits, get started, organize and prepare, etc... so that I can make decisions about the "if" and the "how"? I appreciate anything you can offer me.

[jenfl]

There's a thread in the Montessori area of Learning At School with those of us who do Montessori at home, if you'd like to join us!

Montessori can really lend itself to homeschooling -- Practical Life everywhere and independent work cycles! But it can also be difficult because of the specialty materials which can be expensive to buy or time-consuming to make.

[Rose-Roget]

Thanks, Jenfl - I kind of tried to pop in a few weeks ago, but didn't get a response that I noticed. Maybe I was there at the point of introductions, rather than discussion.

I found a site - can't remember the name right now - where you can purchase the lessons for a semester/year and some downloadable materials online. But I'm not sure of the financial commitment beyond that. There's nowhere that rents M. materials out, is there?

[jenfl]

Yeah, I think the thing is that most of us who Montessori homeschool are doing primary 3-6, and not elementary. There were a few elementary people in the previous thread, I think... might want to check the link to that that's in the first post of the Spring thread.

I don't know of anyone who rents Montessori stuff. There's a curriculum available from New Child Montessori, but I'm pretty sure that's just 3-6. And Montessori for Everyone has downloadable/printable materials, but no curriculum.

[Rose-Roget]

Yeah, the Primary piece was the other thing I noticed in this group. I'll have to look at the previous thread.

It was this link I was thinking of earlier: www.montessorifortheearth.com/ I think she does primary too.

[linclane]

We plan to use New Child Montessori curriculum guides. They are made for the 3-6 age group - but it also details how to adapt it for 6-9 year olds. It provides a wealth of information. And can be used as a daily guide, or as a jumping off point for unit studies and art projects.

My ds is in Montessori kinder this year, and we'll be doing hs next year for 1st grade. He's excited about it, and mostly excited about having "works" at home. With that said ... we will not be using a lot of the same things from the classroom, because we can't afford them, and don't have room for them ... but we will have some, and will adapt things for others.

Good luck!