When a family decides to take a route less traveled to homeschool their children the number of questions and choices you have to make is staggering and overwhelming. The list is never-ending - from what approach to take to how to manage household and expenses on one income, and of course, there is socialization. First of all, allow me to make something clear. Regardless of your choices and whether your child is schooled in the public system, private school, Montessori school, through distance … [Read more...]
Editable Homeschool Planner
Keeping my teaching and planning organised always brought a sense of control and enabled to shift focus from curriculum goals and teaching agenda to one-on-one interactions with students on a more meaningful and deeper level. That allowed me to be present with the children and stay on top of homeschool classroom organisation. You can't overestimate the power of having a functional system to plan your teaching process at home. So I designed a Homeschool editable planner. I can't … [Read more...]
What Goes Together In Nature? A classifying activity
There are many ways to use cards and activities to prepare children for reading. Along with learning to identify sounds (in Montessori classrooms children learn sounds, not letter names) children need to develop comprehension skills. What Goes Together In Nature? is an activity that can foster the development of comprehension skills, teach vocabulary, make associations and help students classify. I always prefer to use photographs when I design my printables - they are more a representation of … [Read more...]
Learning About Birds in the Montessori Preschool Classroom
Birds play a crucial role in Nature and represent a great diversity of the animal kingdom. There are roughly between 9,000 and 10,000 species of birds. Choosing to study birds is always guaranteed to be a popular topic with children in the school and a homeschool classroom. I created a set of materials that can help you to generate more interest and engage children into a learning process - reading, spelling, sorting, train memory while getting familiar with some of their favourite feathered … [Read more...]
How to Teach Sequencing Skills to Children Plus a Free Printable
Sequencing cards are great for developing children's logical thinking and reading comprehension. They tick many boxes when it comes to teaching students and especially beneficial for children with special needs. Sequencing skills are essential for students to master because they: build vocabulary. develop narrating and storytelling skills. help students learn to sequence events and actions. help students to learn to group their thoughts. introduce different concepts (life cycle, … [Read more...]
Practical Life Activities to Help Survive the Cold and Flu Season
A change of seasons brings a whole kaleidoscope of new emotions, feelings, colours, excitement and anticipation. Changes in nature create a unique atmosphere in classrooms and call for new adventures and learning opportunities. However, it also means that our bodies have to adjust as well. In autumn and winter there is less sun exposure, less time spent outdoors, the immune system is not as strong. All these factors bring on challenges of the cold and flu season. Challenge is especially real in … [Read more...]
Hands-on Montessori Homeschool Activities for a 5-year old.
Our choice to homeschool has been predetermined many years ago. I've spent hours meditating on this decision, thinking of the best ways to implement Montessori approach and self-directed learning in the home environment. I have to say, only this year after my daughter turned 5, I realised that this is precisely what I was dreaming about and even more. Homeschooling has become such an essential part of me, as a mum, my place to escape for a short period three days a week from all other … [Read more...]
Learning to tell time – Hands-On Ideas
I have noticed that generally, children get interested in clocks early on - before they are old enough to be able to read the analogue clock all on their own. For children to be able to tell time with analogue clocks they need to : be able to recognise numbers 0-60 know fractions be familiar with the definition of past and present, a.m, pm., afternoon, noon Usually, preschool children do not know these math concepts. However, schedules and time is something that often becomes an … [Read more...]
Most Valuable and Practical Montessori Lessons Learnt in 2016
I believe that one of the most fundamental and necessary aspects of survival for Montessori parents and teachers is a strong and connected community. Whether it's a virtual or physical space - we all need it, place and people that make you feel understood, accepted, where your voice is valid. We sharpen each other's knowledge and inspiration to do usual tasks differently, but most importantly, we help each other create stronger connections with our children. One of my favourite things in the … [Read more...]
Hands – On Montessori Homeschool Activities For A 4 Year Old
The goal of early childhood education should be to activate the child's own natural desire to learn. Maria Montessori I decided that it is time for us to share activities that our Montessori preschool home classroom is buzzing with. Talking homeschooling journey has been an exciting and strange adventure for me. I had to adapt and change my approach from what I used to do teaching in a classroom. Creating and running homeschooling routine with a baby on board is more of a challenge than a … [Read more...]
Gift Ideas for Hands-On Explorers
Every educator and parent knows how tremendously valuable hands-on discoveries for the child's growing and developing the brain. It stimulates and boots their creativity and problem-solving skills and help build a connection between different complex concepts in their mind. From my personal experience observing my children interact with their friends in the home setting, I have noticed that they gravitate towards materials that provide open-ended child-driven interaction. Things that children … [Read more...]
Montessori Peace Corner – Powerful Way To Resolve Conflicts
Maria Montessori was a passionate advocate for fostering peace among people through the power of education and use it as a tool to eliminate war on the whole planet once and for all. “Peace is a goal that can only be attained through common accord, and the means to achieve this unity for peace are twofold: first, an immediate effort to resolve conflicts without recourse to violence—in other words, to prevent war—and second, a long-term effort to establish a lasting peace among men.” The whole … [Read more...]
Hands-on Learning About Plants In Our Montessori Classroom
As Maria Montessori said, "Nothing should be given to the brain that is not first given to the hand". We embrace hands-on learning in our Montessori homeschool classroom. I use every opportunity to make learning practical. My 4-yo Blossom told me that she would like to plant something in our garden. Truth be told at this stage our garden is non-existent, however, we started looking into the life cycle of the plant and learn about seed germination. The whole Plant Unit I plan contains several … [Read more...]