Montessori Homeschool Isn't for Everyone

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Life works in funny, circular ways sometimes. Well, more than occasionally. Many of you have read about the journey with our four-year-old middle son.

From toilet learning to explosive behavior, we’ve worked hard to proactively make the best decisions for him. Now, as he is nearly five years old and still requesting not to attend the Montessori school his brother happily attends, we’re back on our Montessori Homeschool trek and excited for it!

Montessori Homeschool

I always thought I’d homeschool my boys. As they grew older, I became unsure if I could give them what they needed while still being their mama. I decided about a year ago that I could not homeschool my boys.

My oldest son is doing well in his third year in the same Montessori classroom. He has had typical development. My middle son has had some obstacles to overcome, mostly related to his high level of intelligence (not a bad problem to have, I suppose) and rigid personality.

Developmentally speaking, he lags in problem-solving skills, which means that he is cognitively unable to make transitions and to be anything close to “easy-going.” For example, Starbucks is all out of seasonal cookies, which means a meltdown. No, my son is not a spoiled brat.

He can’t come up with other ideas like, “oh well, I guess I’ll have a chocolate chip cookie, skip my treat today, or ask my big brother to split it.” So, just as you would work with your child if he lags in math or reading skills, we have to work with our son on his lagging problem-solving skills.

So, after much debate and a heavy decision, we pulled him from Montessori preschool (again). I could go into more explanation as to why but let’s just say we hope to minimize the tantrums to focus on developing these lagging skills. If you have read Dr. Ross Green’s book, The Explosive Child, we have put the school into Plan C.

So, here we are back to Montessori homeschool again. That was a long introduction to let you in on what we’ve been doing these past few weeks. We don’t have a fixed schedule per se for any day or any week for that matter.

I have a list of activities and lessons I’d like to cover during a given week. I allow my son to lead, and I stay within the broad parameters of our routine.

General Montessori Homeschool Guidelines

There is not a set schedule, the day is abundant with “ranges” of time
Eating happens when we’re hungry
Outdoor time is often combined with learning or work time
Life sciences is typically integrated into our daily routine by taking hikes and exploring the yard. There is no set “curriculum” per se. I educate myself on plants and animals in our area and hope that I have something to offer my sons. If not, we put the question or thought on our wonder board.
Outdoor learning is ripe for all areas of learning
Check out my recommendations for Preschool Homeschool Curriculum

Our Montessori Homeschool Schedule

Wake 6-7
Eat Breakfast as a Family 6:30-7:30
Read & Get Ready for the Day
Outdoor Play 8-9
Snacks 9-10
Work Time 10 -12
Lunch 12-1
Work Time 1-2:30
Pick up big brother from school at 2:30
Outdoor Time 3-4
Snack 3
Down Time 4-5:30
Dinner 5:30
Bed, Bath, & Books 6-7:30

Montessori Learning Topics this Week (for example)

Life Sciences

Human Eye (parts of the eye, how the eye works, blindness)
Planting a bean to watch it sprout
Parts of the Seed cards
Introduction to Invertebrates

Sensorial

Identifying patterns in nature (e.g., spirals of a fiddlehead fern)
Marble run with the brown stair
Binomial cube review
Knobless cylinder work

Math

Identifying symmetry in nature
Short Bead Chains
Short Bead Stair Addition (we’ve been using other objects as a variation)
Number Rod Maze

Reading & Writing

Short Vowel Object & Word Label Match
Pink Level Beginning Sounds
Pink Level Sight Word Bingo
Play dough work to build hand strength
Writing / Tracing Short Vowel Words
Sound Hunt Bags
Reading out loud

Gross Motor

Using our indoor trapeze and a mini bean bag to see if we can swing on the bar with the bean bag between our feet and get the bean bag into a small bucket.