How to continue Montessori education without the school?

[magicofeden]

Hi, All!

Our family love the Montessori method!  My son has benefited greatly from his two years in preschool but because of a job move, we had to leave our school.  After many tears and hugs we left "our" school with our sights set on a different Montessori school but have moved to an area WITH NO MONTESSORI!    Though public school has become our only option (we've accepted that we'll never again have our old school family, but it's really difficult) we want to continue teaching him at home.  

Here is the plan as it stands: Send him to public school for socialization and clubs but realize that most of his education will come at home with Mom and Dad.  

Here is the question: How do we continue teaching where our teachers ended?  Does anyone have a similar situation?  

I've made my Golden Beads and a Movable Alphabet but after that I'm mostly stuck.  I'd love some advice from Montessori Moms!

[lauren]

Bumping to try to get you a response! Hopefully someone with Montessori experience will come along!

[carmel23]

Hi!  I wanted to share a few resources with you.  First of all here is a lovely blog by Michael Olaf Stephenson.  His parents run the Michael Olaf company a wonderful resource for very high quality Montessori materials.

http://www.montessori.edu/homeschooling.html

http://michaelolaf.net/

Are you in any position to homeschool?  I ask because you son will be sent very different messages about the nature of learning from a traditional school that will be difficult to 'undo.'  Every child is different and will deal with this differently, but could you/have you considered montessori homeschool?  are their any homeschooling groups in your area?

[magicofeden]

Thanks for the references, Carmel.  I am worried about the method that's going to come from this public school, particularly in the math area where memorization seems to be the key for this area. (you know that method, write out your summation tables until your hands bleed and then you will know math!)  

We have one homeschooling group a few miles away and while the leader of the group is very nice, it seems their main goal with home school is for religious purposes.  Most of their curriculum is very much the same as every public/private school around.  Because of working, full homeschool is not really an option.  I wish I could afford a private tutor!

Our plan was to mostly home school in the evenings but I don't want to burn him out every night.  

Here we are about to start kindergarten and he knows most of the curriculum.  I just don't want him to fall behind on the very low standards of the state.  

Do you know of a home school curriculum I could follow without following it?

[Tamara Kidd]

Hi. I'm a Montessori Australian Mum who has been homeschooling for just over five years. My children are 10 and 7 and they both attended a Montessori preschool. My biggest advice right from the top is to keep following your child. Allow them as much autonomy as possible within the home, having access to cupboards, get their own drink and food etc. Keep the flow of a three hour work cycle per evening so he can continue with his 'projects'. He will have enough reading and maths etc at school so unless it comes up I wouldn't deliberately 'plan to teach' him from a curriculum. Keeping the love of learning is the most important thing. I you do choose to home educate you'll find a lot of Montessori will happen very naturally when you go out and about in the community. Talking to the librarian, asking where things are, interacting with children in the park... all are opportunities for grace and courtesy and lead into cosmic and peace education - that's the 'Culture Curriculum' he would be getting in a 6-9 and 9-12 setting. Learning about other countries, cultures and customs, about the origins of the universe etc are all part of that and feed into studying about science, ecology, botany etc. The Montessori materials are wonderful when used sequentially and in a large class of about 60 students with about 4-6 teachers however home education gives the children something more... it gives your child you. You as a loving guide and servant for his learning journey is the best for his love of learning because you'll be able to use that wonderful conversational style Montessori nurtures to look at and think about the world together.

There are SOOO MANY links and site when you use Google that buying books becomes a bit redundant. The Museums and Art Galleries around the world usually have interactive, multimedia online exhibitions which are great for their curious minds. The Cosmic education starts with the 5 great stories (beginning of the Universe, beginning of Earth, coming of humans, coming of writing, coming of numbers). If you google around there are many examples on how to chronologically cover this material and it's ALL very open ended and meant to keep the curiosity spark alive. It's all about helping the child become an adult who keeps on learning and growing.

http://www.wikisori.org/index.php/Main_Page

Wikisori is pretty cool and has lots of links. Talking with your child about what he wants is important but remember that the 'excitement' of 'kindergarten' may be overwhelming. My Daughter went through that and did regret it. We tried 3 schools, even a badly run Montessori school (not accredited) but she has far more freedom learning from home and in the community. (Here is my blog in case you're interested in reading about our journey http://tutoryourownchild.blogspot.com/)

[Sundrapeal]

Sending him to his local school for social interactions is a good idea.  These are the children in his neighborhood and he will develop strong relationships with them.  You can supplement activities at home.  Or, you can modify his homework if it is not challenging enough.  For instance, if the sight words are too easy, challenge him to learn to spell them.  If you are going to work with him at home just remember that you should "follow the child" and teach him what he is interested in, not what you want to teach him.  

A note on math, after a child has worked with the concrete materials and fully understands the idea of numbers, addition, multiplication, subtraction and division they begin to move into the abstract.  Maria Montessori developed materials for memorizing tables.  So, memorization is not a bad thing, it just needs to happen after the child understands the concepts.  

Home schooling can also be a good option.  The important thing to remember here is that your child is entering what Maria Montessori called the "Second Plane of Development".  Being a part of a large group of children is VERY important at this age.  Being separate from the parents is very important too.  If you choose to homeschool make sure you find a group that allows the children to interact without too much adult intervention.  They need to start developing tools for resolving conflict in a strong, positive way.  If the homeschool group has too many "helicopter" parents then it will be difficult for the children to learn to work things out on their own.  Take time to visit the groups in your area and see how the parents interact with the children.  

You are in a tough spot.  It must be difficult for you to leave a school that you were so happy with!  Below are some links that might help you.  

http://www.montessoriprintshop.com/

http://www.montessorimom.com/

http://mymontessorijourney.typepad.com/

http://countingcoconuts.blogspot.com/

http://themoveablealphabet.blogspot.com/

Good luck and take care!

[sleeptillnoon]

Originally Posted by Sundrapeal 

Sending him to his local school for social interactions is a good idea.  These are the children in his neighborhood and he will develop strong relationships with them.  You can supplement activities at home.  Or, you can modify his homework if it is not challenging enough.  For instance, if the sight words are too easy, challenge him to learn to spell them.  If you are going to work with him at home just remember that you should "follow the child" and teach him what he is interested in, not what you want to teach him.  

A note on math, after a child has worked with the concrete materials and fully understands the idea of numbers, addition, multiplication, subtraction and division they begin to move into the abstract.  Maria Montessori developed materials for memorizing tables.  So, memorization is not a bad thing, it just needs to happen after the child understands the concepts.  

Home schooling can also be a good option.  The important thing to remember here is that your child is entering what Maria Montessori called the "Second Plane of Development".  Being a part of a large group of children is VERY important at this age.  Being separate from the parents is very important too.  If you choose to homeschool make sure you find a group that allows the children to interact without too much adult intervention.  They need to start developing tools for resolving conflict in a strong, positive way.  If the homeschool group has too many "helicopter" parents then it will be difficult for the children to learn to work things out on their own.  Take time to visit the groups in your area and see how the parents interact with the children.  

You are in a tough spot.  It must be difficult for you to leave a school that you were so happy with!  Below are some links that might help you.  

http://www.montessoriprintshop.com/

http://www.montessorimom.com/

http://mymontessorijourney.typepad.com/

http://countingcoconuts.blogspot.com/

http://themoveablealphabet.blogspot.com/

Good luck and take care!

Great list. Yes, I agree, at this age your child needs to build social groups that are organized, with the help of other children. As much as homeschooling can be difficult, I myself think it might be a little be hard on your child to start him in a traditional setting, as this might add up to the stress of moving to a new area.