Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Learning Environments Is Montessori the answer to gifted education?

Montessori is a word in the public domain. I could open up a Montessori Ice Cream Shop... Yes, there are Montessori accrediting agencies, and yes, some schools get accredited by them, but a school doesn't have to in order to use the word.

And it seems like even when a school is following the Montessori way, a problem that at least some gifted types have is that Montessori allows kids to learn more or less at their own pace, and then they ceiling out -- and that's when the problems begin. The school runs out of learning tools and activities for the kid, and a kid who was fully engaged, etc. suddenly becomes restless. It might be a case of the school's benefits bringing about its eventual failure.

Annaliisa,
I have similar feelings about Montessori. I'm planning to homeschool next year and have been looking at the materials that Montessori has to offer. But when I spoke to a friend who is preschool Montessori trained,surprise! She seems locked tight in the "Montessori is for the preschool crowd only" mentality. Somewhere along the line, some preschool teachers have forgotten the philosophy of it all.

Because my son is very tactile and loves patterns, I can see that he'll have a whale of a time with the math materials for upper elementary levels. He's very intuitive at math and is doing Olympiad level questions, although I sometimes feel his knowledge is too mental. He has pictures in his head but he'd love if he could actually see and play with them. I'm sure the materials can only add to his understanding of the real world.

Annaliisa and everyone else out here, I'd be grateful if you could point to blogs that have been helpful. I'm only in the start up phase but will need to jump in with both feet soon.

Yes please me too! I would also like some more info about Progressive Montessori, because I have found some pretty strong traditionalists.

I also have the problem of the kids going through the material faster than I can present/create it. Any ideas for that?

Blob and Geomamma -

Hands down the most useful online resource for me has been joining the Montessori Homeschool Group on Yahoo.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/playschool6/

Many of the Montessori homeschoolers with blogs post in this group regularly. It is a very supportive and generous group. Some are homeschooling at the elementary level and have years under their belt. I think that it's really important to hear about Montessori from a homeschool perspective because it can't work the same way as the classroom.


My response is, don't buy tons of materials (this is easier said than done). It's really expensive and painful when your child is not interested in a particular material or is beyond it to begin with. I console myself with the fact that my DS2 will use it all eventually, still this is wishful thinking. I found it really overwhelming in the beginning and I thought that I needed all the materials to homeschool using the 'Montessori Method'. I was really really wrong. For us it's the philosophy that works, not necessarily the materials. When started I did spend a lot of time in prep, but now I don't because DD6 'gets it' and is then ready to move on or even worse, is not interested. For example, I can't spend tons of money or time on nomenclature cards for a one time use. We just read books instead. Now I try to include my kids in the prep part and we all learn together. This is best for us because my DD is prone to perfectionism. She sees that I don't have all the answers and watches me figure things out. I do very little prep now and my 'presentations' are extremely casual. I try to keep with the philosophy as much as humanly possible and use concrete materials whenever possible. I hope this is helpful.

Annaliisa

Yes, thank you, that is where I am coming to now, so it very reassuring to hear it from someone else!

I'll also check out the yahoo group.

Do you have any suggestions for materials you think have lasted a long time? Any suggested starting place for learning to apply the method? Just picking brains as soon as I find them.

Tks Annaliisa! I'll definitely join the grp.

It's good advice about Montessori being different for homeschoolers than for schools. And it's so true- the philosophy of offering choices is fundamental. I saw the nomenclature cards as well - no way my son will sit there to affix names to pictures.

I have my eye on the algebraic board- that can double up for vision exercises too.

As for the materials, I'm probably not the best person to ask because we've only been using the materials for a year. The one thing that I have noticed with my DD is that the areas where she is ahead she has very little interest in the materials. I'm not sure if that is just our experience or if this is typical. My DD doesn't like math and using the math materials have been invaluable because we can create so many games based on the activities that are completely engaging. I would post this question to the group. It would be interesting to see what everyone has to say. I would also go through the scope and sequence, and albums to try and figure out where to place your child. You could then look ahead and see how much use you will get out of a particular material. With that said, some of the materials that my DD has not used all that much were still key to understanding a larger concept. So, even with my limited experience, I don't really regret buying some of the lesser used materials because they got her from point A to point B.

As for applying the method, I'm probably not the best person to ask because we've only been seriously attempting this for a year . For us it has been extremely hard to put this all into practice. I didn't realize how absolutely controlling I was until I started Montessori. When I was reading and reading and reading it all seemed so amazing and beautiful and peaceful. I didn't realize how hard it would be to truly let my DD to choose her own work. I still struggle, even though I know what I should do, I slip up... a lot. For the first 3 months we dropped everything 'academic' and just focused on behaviour, mostly my behaviour! I also spent serious amounts of time watching her while 'unschooling'. It really helped me to understand how she learns. At the same time we started with the practical life stuff. I think because DD was always so interested in academics we neglected to teach her how to do anything for herself. With my DS2 I am not making that same mistake. Preparing the environment was also key. I had to reorganize our entire house so that everything was accessible to DD6 and DS2.

I decided to go with Montessori because I don't think that anything else would work with my DD. She is strong and tough as nails. When we started homeschooling I quickly realized that she wasn't going to do ANYTHING that I asked of her or that any particular curriculum or gov't body expected of her. This is still really hard for me but I think that we've made progress. She now says things like, 'Maria wouldn't do that' and, she's always right. This helps me, mostly it makes me laugh, but on more than one occasion it has made me cry. Montessori is not for the faint of heart!

Thank you!

BTW, I am stealing that thread idea!