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Montessori Preschool
August 2002 - August 2003
Shelves in our play area set up with Montessori activities.
When Haifa was 18 months old, I became concerned with her language development. Hadn't Justice been speaking a few words by then? I can't really remember, but I was beginning to worry that I was spending too much time trying to develop a formal homeschooling program with Justice and ignoring Haifa's important developmental needs. Mishkin and I made a concerted effort to spend time reading to Haifa everyday, especially from picture dictionaries to help her develop her vocabulary. Haifa could understand us well (she would nod her head yes or no to most questions) and so we were able to communicate quite well but she was not yet speaking. By August 2002, I was well organized and on top of Justice's homeschooling. I finally had time to think about Haifa's education and how I might go about it.
Haifa
pouring water into a cup.
August 16, 2002.
I have always been interested in the Montessori method. In fact, it was the first method I investigated to use with Justice and had tried some of the preschool Montessori acitivities with him at the same age that I'm starting with Haifa now. It requires such a high standard of order and discipline that I felt I had a lot of work to do developing those qualities in myself and my home before I could introduce them to Justice. It has taken me two years of hard work to finally feel ready to introduce this method to my children formally. However, I have been using the Montessori philosophy and many of the activities in my homeschooling in an informal, less organized way over the past few years. During this time, my interest in the Montessori method has gone back and forth. At this time (in my homeschooling experiment), I don't feel I would use Montessori exclusively but I feel that it is an essential supplementary method. It brings some unique elements to a childs learning experience which I feel is not found in any other method and which I feel is indispensible to a complete learning experience. Those unique elements are: it's high standards of order, discipline, beauty, and quality; it's focus on a child's capacity to do things for themselves; and it's hands-on, tactile approach to learning.
Sound
boxes, weight cylinders, 12 piece puzzles,
tweezers and beads, rough and smooth tablets,
colour tablets, rods and cylinders. I made my own
rough and smooth boards and colour tablets using
foam core, free Ralph Lauren paint samples,
sandpaper, and rubber cement.
The Montessori method teaches children how to be independent from a very young age - meaning, they are taught how to dress themselves, pour their own drinks, put away their toys, make their beds, etc. A healthy self-esteem is developed when a child learns how to do things for themselves. The Montessori method demands order, discipline, beauty, and quality. A Montessori home is child friendly - meaning, everything a child needs to use is accessible at their level and the tools and furniture they use is their size. There is formal training in life skills such as washing dishes, dusting and cleaning, etc. The Montessori method is very hands-on and tactile. It tries to incorporate all the senses in learning a skill and has specific activities to develop the senses. For example, the letters of the alphabet are learned by touching letters cut out of sandpaper and glued to cardstock - it is very tactile.
Haifa
spooning popcorn kernels into a bowl.
August 16, 2002.
I have developed some of my activities through using the book:
Teaching Montessori
in the Home:
The Pre-School Years
By Elizabeth G. Hainstock and Lee Havis
(click on the book to buy it at amazon.ca)
Haifa
matching objects and colours.October 1, 2002.
I made the
colour cards using paint samples from
Home Depot,
card stock, and transparent shelf paper
to
laminate
them.
August 11, 2002: Haifa started to learn the letters of the alphabet
this week. She can say A and B but has a little bit of difficulty with
C.
August 15, 2002: Haifa can do a wooden puzzle of animals. She can pour
water from a small pitcher into a small cup without spilling. She can
wipe-up her spills if she does spill any water. She is learning the basic
colours. She can say blue.
September 30, 2002: Haifa loves to cut paper. She knows the names of
six colours. She loves to dance and sing to the alphabet song while playing
musical instruments. Haifa knows about four shapes.
Our
Montessori environment in our home
in
Markham, Ontario.
April 13, 2003.
The
children's eating and sink area.
This table is used for eating and art work.
The children enjoy sitting here in the bright east sunshine
during the day.
April 13, 2003: During the last month, I have set up a Montessori environment in our new home in Canada. The children now have a sink at their level with cleaning supplies for their hands and face and their environment.
The children's sink
with soap, a face cloth,
sponges for cleaning
the floor,
tables, or chairs and a drying cloth.
There is a food shelf with snacks, drinks, and dishes. Both of the kids get their own dishes and snackes. They love to pour their own drinks.
The
food shelf has a plant which they chose
themselves and they take care of themselves,
fruit (which must all be eaten before
the end
of the day), cereal, milk, juice, snacks, dishes,
cutlery, clothes for folding and a cutting board
for
cutting
cheese or fruit.
There are many shelves with Montessori materials on them and a central table in the living area for doing work from those shelves. I clean this area 3-6 times a day. The children still have not learned to put away something after they have used it. But I have noticed changes in them since using Montessori materials. Justice is more interested in playing with the materials and is obviously more competent. Haifa is sometimes curious but is not interested in being taught how to use them properly. So I try to play with them on my own and hope she will learn by example but she often doesn't even like me to play with the materials.
Sequencing
puzzles, alphabet puzzles, counting and sorting,
graduated colour tablets, sandpaper letters, telling time,
continents, parts of a tree, Justice's binders for school
and
his pencil box.
Haifa loves doing puzzles and can do 12 piece puzzles with ease. She loves to get her own dishes and cutlery, cleaning up spills on tables and floor, and pouring.
This
is the pouring table. Wet pouring with a funnel and
dry pouring lentils in glasses. I occasionally change the
containers and contents to maintain their interest. Lentils
are easier to pick up than rice.
I discovered an article about toilet training the Montessori way and was able to toilet train Haifa in just 3 days!!! She now spends most of the day diaperless and uses the toilet to poop and pee. (This actually didn't last long - she eventually reverted back to diapers again). I recently went to an Open House at a local Montessori school. I discovered that the classroom environment was very similar to my home and that Justice is 2 years ahead of their curriculum. I have decided to open my own Montessori Daycare to teach other children the way I have been teaching my kids. But I think I may postpone the Daycare until after I receive my Montessori teacher training from an online program. (I received the training and now have a Diploma as a trained Montessori teacher, however, I became pregnant with our third child shortly thereafter and the plans for a Montessori Daycare were permanantly postponed). I have been doing a lot of research into the Montessori method in the last 6 months. I found that reading the original works of Maria Montessori to be essential to my true understanding of her method and how it works. Here are some of the books I recommend:
By Maria Montessori
This is Montessori's last book, and the most
in-depth discussion
of her theory. A must-read.
(click on the book to buy it at amazon.ca)
By Maria Montessori
This book is Montessori's own exposition of
the theory behind her innovative
educational techniques.
(click on the book to buy it at amazon.ca)
By Maria Montessori
A short, illustrated guide to the use of Montessori classroom materials.
It describes how to set up a "children's house" - an environment
for learning
where children can be their own masters.
(click on the book to buy it at amazon.ca)
I have discovered Shu-Chen's Montessori Album's online which help me to know how to teach each lesson and at what age. I have also found a free online version of the musical bells. I have been very busy trying to make a lot of my own Montessori materials out of poster board, foam core, imitation pearl beads and 22-gauge wire. It's been a lot of fun but also a lot of time and hard work. I spent 2 weeks preparing flashcards to teach Justice how to tell time on a clockface. He looked at the cards for 30 seconds, got it and has known how to tell time ever since. It can be frustrating but I think it's all worth it : ). I also find Montessori-n-Such to be a cheap source for good quality Montessori materials.
Cutting, sewing, knobless cylinders, fabric basket,
matching (hair clips), geometrical solids, tower,
cylinders. I made my own fabric samples (we call
them "pillows") with cotton batting inside.
As lovely as all of these things are and the amount of time and effort I put into creating it, teaching my children using the Montessori method never really worked. I think that it is important to incorporate the principles, ideas, and even some of the activities (during the preschool years) into your home environment but I have concluded that it has not succeeded as a homeschooling method for our family. It will be used as a preschool program but not carried through to the higher grades. If I ever needed to put my children into public school, I would probably look for a Montessori school that maintains the high standards of conduct, order, and discipline that Maria Montessori felt was imperitive to the spiritual development of the child.
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