Our Home school Classroom: Montessori Style

I was recently asked by my 2 and a half year old to "write letters" for an object we were coloring. Ahhh! Could it be that my little baby is ready to start learning how to read?! Showing interest in letters is one of the first signs. Perhaps it is time to begin a more structured learning time. So, I decided it was time to begin Preschool with my kiddo. Since he is by far in the "pre-writing" stage, I had to find a way to teach him that didn't involve sitting with a pencil in hand while meticulously filling out workbooks.

Now, I don't consider myself much of a teacher. My Mom is a teacher. She is so patient and capable of explaining things in ways that can be grasped. When someone doesn't get it she will present the concept from a different angle and will keep trying until her student learns. She is so calm and patient- perfect qualities for a teacher. I however, I'm calm and patient to a degree, but I'm not so sure about being able to instruct my child in ways that are engaging and educational.

So I took to the internet and stumbled upon the Montessori Method. Montessori focuses on, among other things, teaching a child independence and learning through discovery. I love the concept of this because it puts the ball in my son's court with learning. I'm there to provide learning opportunities and guidance, but he is the one who will slowly and steadily learn by experience and discovery. I think we can do that.

I picked up a book called "Help your Preschooler Build a Better Brain: Early Learning Activities for 2-6 year old Children." It gives practical ways to teach life skills, math, reading, and science to younger children. The first order of business was to create a space for learning. You can set up your entire home to encourage teaching your child independence by placing his/her dishes in an easily accessible spot. You can provide child safe cleaning supplies so that they can clean up their own messes. And you can encourage them to attend to their physical needs by washing themselves in the bath, dressing themselves, and brushing teeth. The list goes on and on but, I decided that I would make changes little by little instead of taking on all the work of transforming my home. And to be honest, there are many things that we were already doing with him. But, I did move the kid's dishes... Ezra loves it. I'm less than thrilled to have to pick them up all the time.

The other concept of having a good learning space is to have an orderly and tidy work space for your child. I wish I could have a room entirely devoted to "school" and one day maybe we will, but given that we live in a two bedroom apartment, we have to make do with a desk and shelf in the kid's room.

I already have their room pretty organized with bins for toys but since it's such a small space I decided to simplify by sorting their toys, storing some in the basement, and rotating them out every couple weeks. This reduces a lot of the clutter. (Especially with a little guy obsessed with dumping things out). Rotating toys allowed me to clear out a shelf and devote it completely to "school." Then I headed to the thrift store and bought trays and baskets for organizing learning topics.

The top shelves have Eli's tactile letters and "salt tray." His number tray has small items for counting so I also keep these up high since these are things that I don't want the baby to get into. The bottom shelves have what I call letter buckets filled with items that begin with the letters we are learning. Then we have a science tray (Magnets this month), books that emphasize our letters, and a practical life basket (currently filled with "barber's" items). Granted, every thing is subject to change but, this is what we have now.

I didn't leave Ezra (the baby) out either. I have worked up a shelf for him too that has toys displayed in an appealing way for him to discover and play with. Some Duplo legos already put together, sensory bottles (glitter and eye-spy), an egg shape sorter, jack-in-the-box, a small basket with random toys (I use this as a catch-all when tidying the room) and a bowl of balls.

And now we have our home ready for some serious learning. I'm a little dubious as to how well this will work. I already know that we won't be able to be "truly Montessori" since we just don't have the resources for that (everything child sized, special learning materials, and having everything available for Eli to do for himself). But I'm willing to give it a try and Eli has already taken to some of the things really well. Time will tell.