Montessori Curriculum

Montessori albums, which contain all the lessons you can present to your child, can seem overwhelming at first.  It might be tempting to use them linearly, going through every single lesson from start to finish like a traditional curriculum.  Alternately, some people pick and choose lessons at random, not grasping the underlying sequences between topics.

I want to help you understand how to use the albums more holistically, to find a balance between structure and improvisation.

To do this, let…

Peter and Margaret had heard that children in Montessori schools were precocious learners. Their neighbor's five-year old daughter, Jenny began to read and write while she attended the local Montessori school. They didn’t know much about the method, but when the time came to enroll their three-year old son Wyatt in a pre-school, they decided to give Montessori a chance.

To their dismay, Wyatt didn’t seem to do anything academic during his first year of Montessori, but he sure was active! He was…

Montessori albums can seem overwhelming at first, so I want to help you understand how to use them to find a balance between structure and improvisation.

To do this, let’s take a little trip.

Imagine you and your child are planning this trip. You first have to decide on a continent. From there, you choose a starting country. And then, you start thinking about the cities you’ll visit and what you’ll see in each city. This type of planning is leading you from the whole to the detail, and it refl…

The Montessori Short Chains and Arrows pack a big learning punch and are often under-utilized.  They're great for a homeschool environment because they don't take up any shelf space.  Their initial purpose is to help the child first count linearly and then skip-count.  But when your child is comfortable with these two concepts, you can use the chains for much more!  Here are four ideas... 

Find the number: Ask the child to set out the hundred chain with the corresponding arrows, while you c…

"You're great at this homeschooling thing because you're a teacher... I don't think I could do it because I don't know much about anything."

I can't tell you how many times I've heard this phrase since we started homeschooling two months ago, coming from the most capable and well-prepared mothers in my circle of friends.  So here's a little secret... I don't know everything.  Heck, I don't know most things!  But I don't let that hold me back from learning and sharing with my children. 

Here's …

Seven-year-old Zachary learned how to build a popscicle-stick catapult at a free library workshop last week.  Over dinner that night, I "casually" asked my engineer husband if he knew the difference between a catapult and a trebuchet.  A brief but interesting discussion ensued, and my son hung on to every word.

Sitting around the kitchen table after breakfast Monday morning, I asked Zachary: "What would you like to explore today?"

He pouted and crossed his arms.  "Nothing."

I tried again.  "Y…

Is your child afraid of math?  I know many who are.  I also know that one of the most effective ways to help them overcome their fear of math is to give them an allowance.  In addition to teaching your child patience, opportunity cost, and the value of things, money is a hands-on way to work through many math skills!

My son got hooked on math through his allowance.  At the age of four, he wanted to save up for a LEGO kit. On a piece of graph paper, I marked one square for each dollar he would h…

"Where do the names of the planets come from?", asked 7-year-old Zachary.  I knew they were first named after Greek gods and then were changed to the equivalent Roman gods, but didn't know much else.  Then I found Kingdom of the Sun, where we learned that Aristotle, the astronomer who originally gave the planets the names of Greek gods, "did his best to match the character the gods were supposed to have with what he knew about the planets - their speed, brightness, and color."

This sets the s…

Zachary, age 7, asked me how Valentine's Day started.  I told him we could research that at the library, but later that night I got curious and went online.  I found conflicting information, so I decided to put together a Cosmic Education story to tell him the tale of the origins of Valentine's day.  I shared it with him and it inspired us to make care packages for the people experiencing homelessness in our area.  I hope it can inspire acts of kindness, or at least get some conversations starte…