BOOK: Montessori Homeschooling, One Family’s Story

Montessori Homeschooling, One Family’s Story
There is a chapter in this book for each of the years. Here are a few excerpts from that would be called “third grade” of this 12-year experience of day-by-day, year-by-year, learning how to create an authentic Montessori education at home, through elementary, middle, and high school.

Each chapter describes one year of home schooling from kindergarten through twelfth grade. It is encyclopedic in detail and charmed with honesty about failures and successes. This is quite a span, with the right kind of limited stimulus exposed at the right ages and stages and leading to wider independence. It comes through with the widest scope at adolescence. They had four guidelines: keep the developmental stage in mind, prepare the environment and offer the work, observe to see if it is working, and lastly, adapt and “follow the child”. This Montessori-inspired home-schooling centered in the family ended with Michael’s acceptance at Brown University. It is more than a fairy tale; it is a triumph for all families to witness.
—David Kahn, Director Emeritus of NAMTA, North American Montessori Teachers Association, adolescent education speaker and consultant Continue reading

Montessori in Hawaii – and The Chicago Cubs

Hawaii Montessori & the Chicago Cubs|
For five days at the beginning of this month I consulted in a lovely Montessori school in Hawaii that began 40 years ago in a little Quonset hut with many of the problems of the tropics that I will not go into (like rats). Today it is one of the loveliest campuses I have ever seen and serves 171 children from Infant Community through middle school.

me-and-middle-school

Middle School
Since I must resist the impulse to interact with, to bond with (and then leave), the younger children when consulting, it was a pleasure to get to spend some time with the 12-15-year-olds, sharing what I have learned about this age in many countries, and to witness their excitement as they plan their trip to our nation’s capital, their volunteer work, their plans for the garden, and so much more. Continue reading

Concentration, Where the Magic Happens!

Concentration, Where the Magic Happens!

As I was scanning this picture of a Montessori 3-6 birthday party celebration—where a child carries the globe around a candle representing the sun, one time for each year of life—and looking at it on the computer screen, I could see for the first time the look of boredom on the faces of the children. They had been pulled away from concentrating on their individual work to “celebrate.” I did the math: 30 children x 3 years in the class = 90 birthdays! This brought home to me the reason why there are no regularly scheduled, no “required” group or collective lessons, no regular “circle” time, in authentic Montessori classes. Yes, concentration on individual work is where the magic happens. Continue reading