Montessori

[babelsgp]

My daughters are 2 1/2 and 4 1/2.  I am planning on homeschooling them, for LOTS and LOTS of reasons.  This year I started Montessori style, I thought it would be fun and it would give me a starting point with flexibility. I make everything, which is considerably time consuming. I give lessons, they wiggle and wrangle and act like I am pulling teeth, seldom do they care. Seldom do they go find an activity and do it (except for the color cards and matching).  I think my eldest thinks words are too hard and letters are too easy, we're on the moveable alphabet atm. And too hard means she just doesn't want to do it. My youngest is a little more receptive.

I'm basically having difficulty finding what style works for my 4.5 year old.  Today I had them count to a number and then they could play chase, STOP, count to whatever, chase around the room, then stop, etc.  This was the FIRST time they enjoyed the "game." I wanted this to be a little less dependent on me, though, so they could explore their own world, and I'd be there for support and to help find answers.  I don't know if they are too young, just not the personality type or what.

[Mittsy]

We did pretty much the same thing at the beginning of this school year for dd(5) and ds(3.5). And, a few weeks into it I found I was really tiring of Montessori really quick, partly because it's so time consuming and partly the kid's weren't all that into it. Now, we're really into Waldorf and everyone is loving it! {url=http://www.whywaldorfworks.org/02_W_Education/documents/ALookatWaldorfandMontessori.pdf]Here[/url] is a article I found helpful that clearly outlines the main differences between Montessori and Waldorf. As I read that article I realized I sided MUCH more with waldorf than montessori, and so we switched.

Unschooling, to answer your question, is pretty much letting the child take charge of his own education. You would help the child out by providing a enriching enviroment, lots of books, activities, may'be some classes. And, then you just believe your child will somehow or another learn all he needs to know completely on his own in his own timeframe.

Good luck!

[babelsgp]

Funny you added Waldorf.  I've been recently thinking I should just add some items of Waldorfy inspired things and watch them in both worlds. I really think a lot of it depends on the child.  My eldest I think would be much much happier in the make believe flowers rainbows and fairy world. 

[SundayCrepes]

We're on the unschooling spectrum. My kids are 2 and almost 5. I want my 2 year old to learn colors so I bought this great book about colors. We read it in the normal queue of books. (Plus we ask, "Do you want the blue cup or pink cup" and offer her each cup as we're saying the color, etc.) My 4 year old I introduced to www.starfall.com. He plays it when he wants and now knows all his letter sounds. I never tell him it's time to play the letter game.

We don't do any lessons, but I do provide a lot of opportunities. I noticed my son is trying to draw letters. I'd like him to have nice handwriting so I printed up some alphabet sheets in the italic font. I asked him if he wants to learn to draw pretty letters just like his friend who is learning the same font. We trace over the letters together. If he wasn't drawing letters on his own I would not have introduced this. I actually just discovered software where you can make up your own handwriting worksheets. I'm trying to decide which to buy as I think this could be great fun--we can insert pictures and he can trace the words that go along with it.

So just watch what your kids are doing and make them offers based on that. Or if there's something you want them to learn, introduce it in a fun way and be prepared to drop it (and revisit it later) if they're not interested now.

[AllyRae]

The thing with Montessori is that you have to follow the kids' interests too.  If they are bored and hate the lesson, it's not going to do either of you any good.  What sensitive period are they in right now?  For example, DD is drawn to writing right now.  She has no idea what each letter is, but she really really really wants to form letters.  So, I made her a name card so she can copy her name, pulled down a few sandpaper letters & numbers plus a sand tray.

What are they really into right now?  If they're into animals, for example, you can turn a lot of the work into animal-related things.  They can use number cards and count out toy animal figurines, they can sort toy fish by color, they can use tongs to transfer small plastic animals into their proper "habitats", they can sort "living" vs "nonliving", etc.  The children have to feel some sort of connection to the materials or it won't work.  Montessori isn't a curriculum per say--you really do have to follow the children and carefully prepare the environment so that the materials are engaging, interesting, and draw the children into it.  There have been times I wanted to follow a "typical" progression--for example, I was following the traditional Montessori reading progression, but noticed that DD was never really drawn to the reading work--what she *was* drawn to was taking the paper from the metal inset shelf and writing a bunch of letters.  Or she would write a bunch of random letters on top of her map coloring work.  Or she would take her magnadoodle and just draw a bunch of letters on it.  Eventually I got the hint. :  She wanted to learn to write.  So, we slowed down on the reading progression and moved straight to the writing one because that was her sensitive period, and now she is really getting back into things.

If you want to check out some of the stuff we're doing, my Montessori blog is http://barefootinsuburbia.wordpress.com.

[babelsgp]

TY I think that's it-sensitivity. I have been trying to have a set idea of what I want to do each day, as if I have some meetable goal for the week, and I haven't been considering where she is and what SHE is into. I've been concerned I am missing the boat rather than just observing and meeting her needs.  (primarily my 4 year old)  It is hard for me to watch coloring day after day, and things just sitting out that I have worked hard on preparing.  Basically I am being selfish. It is one of my faults, that I am actively working on, not being able to be "in the moment," and to just let life go with me riding along, rather than trying to manipulate my life to some sort of controllable thing.

So far, as much as this is conflicting the reality vs fantasy, I've added both. At our house we really enjoy both. I have added more colors and fantasy objects as well as the concrete. This is as much as a learning experience for me as for them, except that I have to be on a faster learning curve and I feel pressure!!  LOL deep breaths, just go with it

[jenfl]

Very similar here.  I started out the "school year" with a big plan for daily Montessori times of an hour or two for my 3 year old, following the progressions, making lots of materials....

And we did have some fun.  But it was so much work.  And, often, she didn't want to work with a material I'd spent an hour or two making -- which was so frustrating!  One day she'd work well on her own, another day she'd want my help all the time, and I would feel like I was failing to give her the independence that's so important in Montessori....

So I stopped.  I paid attention to what she was interested in.  I ended up pretty much dropping Sensorial.  I wrote down the one next thing in math and language, and worked on those with her if she was into it.  She loves science and geography, so I focused on those.  We studied plants with hands on (planting a garden), traditional homeschool (making a seed collection), and with Montessori influences (leaf shapes, 3 part cards).  We spent a while on Australia, taking a cue from the focus on continents.

We do sit-down homeschool sometimes, but mostly I keep our "focus" in my mind and find ways to arrange our day to fit that in.  DH takes her for a bike ride to the park when she's studying spiders -- they look for different shapes of spider webs.  When she's in a more sit-down mode, we'll do the golden beads.

This is really working for my family.  But it took me a while to realize that the best thing wasn't for me to try to make a Montessori preschool at home -- it was to listen to my child and her needs and use Montessori as an influence, a tool.  Because, sure, I believe Montessori is the best preschool method.  But really, can that match the one-on-one that you get at home?  Montessori was "follow the child" -- who better to do that than the child's family?

You can see my progression over the last few months at http://homemade-homeschool.blogspot.com.