Montessori At Home

This past fall N started preschool. She's at a Montessori preschool and it has been a great thing for her. Some people see Montessori as unstructured and therefore not good for their child. However, this is not the case, this method lets kids learn at their own pace, with great freedom and independence. It builds upon skills that they are taught throughout the year and lets them explore and master these skills in their own time by watching others, usually older kids, and trying when they are ready.



We first heard about Montessori a while back as my mother happens to work at the school that N is at. She showed us a video when N was first starting to walk of a kid at montessori and how their parents brought it into the house. Here the parents had a helper tower for their child. (if you've read previous posts you know we have one and I LOVE it) Here is where we first heard of this helping tower, which has been a great thing for us in the kitchen. But now we're beyond that. We have coat hooks at N's level, an art board at her level for her to hang up her artwork she brings home from school, a shelf in the pantry for her snacks and for the dog food - one of her jobs/chores, a shelf in the kitchen with her bowls, cups, plates and pitchers.

N has chores or jobs as we call them too. She feeds the dog each morning and evening. She sets the table. She clears her place at the table when she is finished and she cleans up her work and toys when she is all through. N likes to help sweep if that needs to be done as well. And she loves to help cook, especially when it comes to cooking treats like cookies or desserts. And when all the cooking is done, N helps do the dishes too. All these things help her to learn and grow and also help her to feel like she is part of the family and feel good about helping out.

A lot of the things she learns at school carry over at home. For example, she comes home and takes off her shoes and puts them by the door, and takes off her coat and hangs it on the hook. This is what she does when she gets to school in the morning too. She clears her place when she is done eating lunch at school and she clears her place when she is done with dinner at home too.

Last week my husband went to the parent night for first year parents and brought home some information on brining montessori into the home and continuing the work they do at school. I think we've been doing almost everything on their check list for over a year with N. It just seemed to make sense to get her involved in what we were doing. I mean kids do play kitchen and play cleaning, why not let them actually do it for real and help you out?! Sure it may not be done as well and may be painstakingly slow but they're learning and that's what really matters right?