Confessions of a Montessori Mom with Montessori for the Earth

The six- to twelve-year-old child has a mind that is reasoning, abstracting and imagining, according to Maria Montessori. When the child turns six years of age, the stage of the absorbent mind (which lasts from birth to age six) is gone and the stage of the reasoning mind begins. Physically, the six year old loses his baby teeth, and grows taller and thinner like a beanstalk, gone is the preschooler.

The elementary child that emerges has a strong "herd instinct" and very much wants to be a part of a group of children his own age. If a family is home-schooling, this is a good time to involve your six- to twelve-year-old in activities outside of the home: Cub or Girl Scouts, a swim or sports team, Bible class or group church activities, art or music classes, or nature groups in your neighborhood and local community, as well as connect socially with other homeschoolers.

The emerging elementary child seeks adventure and looks for "acts of courage" in other people, inc…

I've read several books so far about Montessori and I am slowly implementing it into my routine with my son (he is 13-months-old now)...I get a little nervous as I wonder if I'm missing those windows of opportunity...however I don't see him ever really getting absorbed and concentrating on any one item...And I'm having a hard time rotating items mostly because I don't know what to rotate with as he doesn't seem to like any thing...I also get worried that I should forgo safety and allow him to explore--instead I feel like I'm backtracking and saying no to things; but I try to remember that I'm a mom first and a teacher second.

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Exploring is the key for your 13-month-old son, especially gross motor and oral (mouthing). So try to keep making the home safe for him to explore, as well as let him mouth safe objects that you can throw in the dishwasher!

If there are stairs in your home, he can begin to crawl up and down them.…

This might bit a bit irrelevant but will like to know what is the Montessori way of teaching toddler to sit throughout meal time. He will play with his food after he is about half full and will either ask me to feed him the rest or he will just go running around.
Two things: when he begins walking around, and or plays with his food, mealtime is over! Period. Your toddler will cry, scream, throw a tantrum, say he isn't finished, but he is, he just doesn't realize it. It is actually a learned skill, their bodies know they are finished, but not their brains, so to speak.
To avoid this situation, give your toddler less food or smaller portions (we were always asking parents at our school to send less food!). Preschoolers eat like birds! They become more interested in being social!
But the Montessori aspect of mealtime is showing the toddler how to put his food away and clean up--and he is in the sensitive period for this!
Now this will take a lot of time! Be patient! And again, yo…

In a Montessori environment, the study of a continent (for ages 3 to 6) entails introducing activities in Geography, Zoology, Botany, and Culture, to name a few. Today we are going to look at the continents of Arctica and Antarctica. When we think of these continents at both ends of the world, we think of ice and snow. So the very first day or week of activities to introduce to your home school or classroom environment are Sensorial activities and should include ice (and snow if you live near snow at winter time).

The following are ice cube and snow activities from around the Internet:
Polar Sensory Tub
Montessori Science Experiments and Activities (scroll down page for arctic activities)


Don't live near the snow? Try this "Make your own Fake sensory snow that feels real" activity.
The second day or week the set of activities to introduce would be Practical Life, like feeding and caring for a pet. But we don't have polar bears and penguins in our homes or schools, but …

Are you a snowed-in Montessori momma living in the US or Canada? There have been SNOWSTORMS GALORE! They're all over the news! Are you getting cabin fever, SAD, or anxiety, are you confused or worried about what to do all day with your children? We are here to help! We have like-minded Montessori Moms with comments, activities, advice, and we created a place on our Facebook page, click here, for you to rant and rave, share your stories, activities, tips, and advice, snow photos... a space to let your hair down (if it's not FROZEN, movie reference, get it?).

Dana White Lampkinsays: "We're tired of going to the McDonald's playland just to get my kids out of the house! Our snow finally started melting and one of my kids said....Look grass! I forgot what it looked like!"

Amanda Brown says "We will be doing more crafts later... Right now we are getting some major cleaning and organizing done since my husband is home to do heavy lifting."

Beth Marsh…

When I was a Montessori teacher for 20 years I learned how to compost with the children at our Montessori school. Now that I am a work-at-home mom, and my son is older, I started composting with him this summer: I combined what I learned as a Montessori teacher with what I had around the house.


 First I grabbed an old styrofoam ice chest that was taking up room in our garage. I poked holes in all the sides, including the bottom, with a large screw driver. Then I layered a little soil and manure on the bottom and watered it just a tad.

Next, I got a basket with handles for my son to gather "brown waste" from our yard: leaves and dried grasses and small sticks.

We then retrieved our kitchen-counter compost and poured some "green waste" on the compost. FYI: No dairy or meat go in the compost.

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Whether it's summer or fall, start doing hands-on, concrete Montessori botany and practical life activities! Weeding, Raking, Harvesting, Saving seeds, Nature outings, Parts of a real plant, Parts of a flower, Parts of a real leaf, Parts of a real root, and Plant experiments.



















Here is one of my Montessori botany activities from my training manual: The Study of Nature. Outings.

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Who doesn't love fall! The seasons are changing from warm summer days to cool Autumn nights, pumpkins are getting fatter on the vine, and leaves are falling in colors of brown, red, orange, and yellow. There are endless seasonal and holiday projects, recipes, and activities... What's a parent to do? Join us in the Autumn Blog Hop at the bottom of this post. So here are my 7 fun Montessori-inspired activities.
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My Introduction to Montessori Art, Music, and Poetry Plus Planner PDF is designed for parents who want to incorporate Montessori art, music, and poetry into their home environment with children age birth to nine. This 112-page PDF includes an organizer and a three-month planner, as well as:
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Photo credit: ClickFlashPhotos / Nicki Varkevisser via Foter.com / CC BY