Confessions of a Montessori Mom Podcast

Are Montessori (Home) School Zones Appropriate for 0 to 3? (Podcast episode #03)

My latest Montessori podcast episode!

Photo by angelina_koh on Foter.com / CC BY-NC

Montessori and Dressing Routines for Fall Weather (Podcast episode #02)!

My latest Montessori podcast episode!

Photo by Vivian Chen [陳培雯] on Foter.com / CC BY-ND

Montessori Classroom Dropoff and Goodbye Tips (Podcast episode #01)

My latest Montessori podcast episode!

Photo by Nicolas Alejandro Street Photography on Foter.com / CC BY

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…

If a child at the age of 16 months comes to me, which Montessori lesson do I start with first? Shall I start with the sensorial, the language, the maths or practical life lesson first? How many types of lessons can be done in a day and how many hours for each lesson?

You need to observe the child in your Montessori home or daycare environment, to see what they choose to play (work with), then you will know what materials to add to the environment.

Maybe the child loves trucks, so have lots of trucks and give the language, count them, learn the colors of the truck, the noises it makes. When that same child is two or three, make a washing truck work (practical life); a sorting truck work (sensorial); draw a truck when they are 3 or 4; learn to sound out the work t-r-u-ck, and write it...

What I'm trying to say is you need to observe the child in your environment to see what he or she is interested in, and give them activities that are not too hard or too easy, and sometimes you won&…

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.

Want to pin for later? 

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…

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.

PIN FOR LATER?

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.

PIN FOR LATER?