Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments Setting up Montessori inspired homeschool

DD3.5 has to switch preschool next year as her current Montessori-based one (which we all love) is closing. Due to financial reasons, we have decided to enroll her 3 days/week in a neighborhood private preschool that does not sound to be promising but will provide her opportunity to be with kids her age group (3-6yo). DD has been trying to convince me to "buy all the stuff from my school and set it up at home so I don't even have to go to school to work". I explained to her that it is called homeschooling and why we won't be able to do full-time HS. However, I do want to setup a Montessori inspired HS where we would formally work 2 mornings and she can informally work anytime she wants to. I have been pouring through several websites on ideas and materials, etc. But thought it would be a good idea to reach out here and see if anyone has any ideas/blogs/web links, etc on HS setup, montessori or otherwise. Any idea on the costs to setup a HS would also be appreciated. Thanks.

I'd think very specifically about the elements that you want to mirror at home.

We did sweeping/dusting as "works" for the household at this age, a 'sand tray' (actually a flat-bottomed roasting pan with about an inch of cornmeal in the bottom) with a stylus (actually a big chopstick)...

gram cubes, I think? A two-pan "beginner" balance. Painter's tape-- to lay out grids on the floor, play hopscotch indoors, etc.

A child-sized table and chairs.

Fat markers, pencils and crayons.

I got a lot of very good ideas from Montessori At Home but I see that it is now out of print. I liked that it was flexible and oriented toward adapting Montessori materials and pedagogy-- not so much about "reproducing" it and specifying particular materials. I also found that anything that required LOADS of time to 'prepare'-- like sandpaper letters? Fuhgeddaboutit. DD went through concepts so fast that show-teach-learn was often more like--here, get out of the way and let me show you.


I also used Peggy Kaye's pair of excellent books:

Games for Reading
Games for Math

There are a number of good books on Amazon now w.r.t using Montessori methods at home, by the way. Most get remarkably good reviews.

The Lee Hainstock book Teaching Montessori in the Home looks like a REALLY great resource.

Looking through the table of contents, we generally did about 25-30% of the activities listed under each type of activity.

Thanks, HK. With partial hs, should I focus on her areas of strength to keep building them up or her one area of weakness, ie reading? She is at least 1st grade level for math, science and geography and culture but lags behind in reading. She can read words phonetically (with great difficulty and disinterest) but has shown no interest in reading books even the one-word-a-page ones. Should I work on building this skill to be on par with her other skills or follow her lead and focus solely on her interests? Thanks for any insights.

Honestly, you're not GOING to 'even things out' through external means if it's just a matter of differential ability and asynchronous development.

But you can sure annoy the heck out of them while you try.

I'd do what she seems willing to do and derives enjoyment/satisfaction from accomplishing-- in other words, the outcome that you're actually looking at has nothing to do with achievement, per se. It's about developing the person that your child is supposed to become as she grows.

I realize that sounds kind of touchy-feely and alternative, but in the preschool years, it's TRUE. There's absolutely nothing so important as learning how to enjoy learning for its own sake.

My DS4 is currently in a Montessori program, but we're going to homeschool next year because the teacher doesn't seem to be letting him advance as quickly as he wants to. I've been very interested in it, though, and have attended an activity for parents where we got a lot of hands on use with the materials. I've also been thinking about whether we might do Montessori at home as well (We have a daughter who will be 18 months in the fall).

Anyway, someone recommended this to me, and I haven't gotten it yet, because I don't know what we're doing, but the point she made was that you could cobble together something based on websites, but that this had it all in one place, plus you'll know that you only have to buy the materials listed within these activities.
http://www.shop.montessoriprintshop.com/Math-Teaching-Manual-Primary-Ages-TMF-3.htm

Word on the web seems to be that Montessori Outlet (http://www.montessorioutlet.com/) is the cheapest place to buy authentic goods, but I also bookmarked this page with a list of DIY resources:
http://livingmontessorinow.com/2012/07/31/diy-montessori-materials/

As far as focus, I'd stick with whatever her interests are. I was concerned about my son's lack of reading skills (Yeah, he's 4, but I was reading very well at his age.), but a lot of moms assured me that it's just a developmental skill that kids seem to hit at different ages. For example, my son can sometimes say "cuh-aa-tuh" but not recognize that it's cat. That blending is the part that they say is developmental.

You might also want to look into the idea of a visual spatial learner. I know that it's controversial and full of anecdotal rather than "real" evidence, but after my son's high visual spatial scores (the highest the psychologist had seen), I started looking into it. It seems that these learners actually do better with whole word learning. My son's been playing Reading Eggs, and I've really noticed that he does seem to respond to words as a whole rather than separate sounds, though he *can* sound them out.

Most little ones aren't really reading at our kids' ages, but I know that seems hard to believe around these parts, since early reading is so often a sign of the gifted.

My DD didn't really learn to decode/read until she was nearly five, I think. Maybe about four she really started to learn? Hard to say-- she was reading using whole language skills earlier, but not much, or at least not much that she was displaying to us.

I'd characterize her as 'mixed' relative to learning styles, and definitely HG+, maybe PG.

Thanks, lilmisssunshine. My dd also has difficulty with blending the sounds. I signed up for reading eggs free trial. My biggest dilemma is we haven't done anything formal at home till now. Whatever dd has picked up is from her asking questions and me providing earnest answers. The only formal thing we do is 10 minutes of ixl a day for the last 8 weeks. I was just planning to continue that but dd is trying to convince me that we should have montessori work at home and I could show her how to work. I think she realizes she won't have access to these materials next year at her new school. I am very unsure on how to formally teach her when all she seems to need is 5 minutes of discussion to pick up most math and science concepts. Lilmisssunshine, as you start to homeschool, I would love to hear more on what approaches are working for you.

My son is very motivated by computer games. He'd play them all day if he could. My basic plan is to do Dreambox for math and Reading Eggs for reading as a "formal" teaching tool. Then, there's a science curriculum I'm going to buy because DS is interested in science experiments. Some people have recommended RightStart math, as being developed by a Montessori teacher. It uses an abacus. I might get that for fun.

Mostly, though, I'm going to focus on "stealth learning," going on lots of field trips in the mornings, then do a few more formal things while the little one is sleeping.

Another recommendation for kids that enjoy Montessori-style learning pedagogy but are HG--

Charlotte Mason.

You can easily adapt the pedagogy to (IMO) better suit this "learning by discussing" model of child. We transitioned very smoothly from Montessori to Charlotte Mason (while DD was learning to read) to a more mixed/eclectic homeschool (with 'centers' or unit studies) and some WTM methodology during ages 3-6.

We never included the religious instruction which is an integral feature of Charlotte Mason, but the rest of it fit my DD to a tee-- lots of nature exploration, gentle talks about sometimes very serious subjects, memorizing literature selections, discussing literature/science/math/social studies, drawing, etc.

As noted elsewhere, we even did some high-school level graphical analysis and statistics within our Charlotte Mason framework. It's pretty flexible.

I don't necessarily buy into the developmental timeline that it's based upon (any more than I do with WTM), but it at least ALLOWS for asynchrony in ways that more conventional approaches view as A Major Deficiency to be Remedied Immediately.

HK, Thanks for introducing me to CM. I googled and read up a little and agree with most of her method, except like yourself, the religion study bit. It was interesting to read that she actually taught sight words first so even young children can enjoy reading without having to decode written language first. I might try that with dd. DD has no problems reading exit,stop, open, several store names, etc irrespective of the context. I am assuming that you used manipulatives, using all senses type of learning in the primary years instead of relying on computers and flash cards etc. If yes, I am hoping you can assure me that it works as I am not a big fan of electronics. If not, I am all ears to listen to your reasons for using them in the early years. Thanks and I truly appreciate your input.