My Montessori House

Montessori Equipment for Homeschooling 3 to 4 Year Olds

noreply@blogger.com (Montessori House) — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 19:47:00 +0000

We are sharing the answer to a great question we got in from a parent asking what equipment we would recommend for this age group.

If you purchased our Montessori Curriculum for Primary Class (PreK to Kindergarten ages), there are some basic lists and suggestion in the binders and we suggest you make or buy the equipment that we introduce in the curriculum. Most of it can be made fairly easily, and all of it can be made or improvised if you are handy with DIY projects.

Here is a basic starter list:

1. Sandpaper Letters

2. Movable Alphabet set in a compartmentalized box or DIY equivalent

3. Word cards for CVC (e.g. dog), CVVC (e.g. beak), and CVCV (e.g. cake) words.

4. Practical Life DIY setup including small pitchers, bowls, sponges, clothes, brooms, mops, dustpans, buckets, and similar material (if you have our curriculum, see the list in the binder).

5. Spindle boxes, Golden Beads (units through thousands), number cards (1 to 10000)

6. Red Rods, Number Rods, Pink Tower, Color Tablets (at least set 1 and 2), Brown/Broad Stairs

7. Books using words from #3 above as well as more advanced material designed to be read to your child. See the free downloadable books at Project Gutenberg and check out a sample of our Adobe PDF book for Montessori Pink Level Reading words. You should have a minimum of 20 books that your child can start reading and at least another 20 that you read to your child. You can make these with the Gutenberg books, write your own, browse yard sales, or take out library books, too.

8. Three-lined writing paper, pencils, erasers, colored pencils with pencil holders, blank rolodex cards (for you to make equipment with), watercolor paints, brushes, painting and art paper, smocks/painting clothes.

Questions? Send them along!

Valentines Day card for the Cool Mom Picks competition

noreply@blogger.com (Montessori House) — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 01:47:00 +0000

Here is our first submission for the Cool Mom Picks Valentine's Day card competition.

The Importance of Active Group Play for Toddlers through Kindergarten

noreply@blogger.com (Montessori House) — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 18:52:00 +0000

Group activities and active play ranging from old-fashioned games like Ring-a-Round a Rosie or catch to nature walks and leaf collecting in the Fall all provide much needed social interaction along with basics such as language practice and gross motor skill development.

If you are working at home with one child, look for opportunities to organize a small group of children in roughly the same age range to meet up and go outdoors every morning before you begin your indoor teaching routine. Ending the day with an additional outdoor activity will be a great boon to your homeschooling day, too.

As you put together your day at home (or at school), you can figure out the best times for scheduling outdoor or active play (sometimes in bad weather, we use active indoor games). Are children particularly restive during certain times? If you are at school, do a lot of parents show up late in the morning, interrupting the quiet morning work routine? Strategic placement of active breaks can help the flow of the day and prepare children for quiet indoor work.

From Britain: The Best Family and Kid Websites

noreply@blogger.com (Montessori House) — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 20:50:00 +0000

Cool Mom Picks is one of the only websites on which we advertise, so we were pleased to see that they had been mentioned in the Telegraph's list of top family and kids websites.

Children and Vegetables

noreply@blogger.com (Montessori House) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:23:00 +0000

Surf City Growers publishes this great book in an effort to help interest children and families in growing their own produce.

Definitely a Montessori favorite activity that is easy to integrate into any classroom or Montessori homeschool setting.

Montessori Teaching Album: Multiplication Problem Card Sample

noreply@blogger.com (Montessori House) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:25:00 +0000

For the multiplication problem cards in the math section, check out this sample of great DIY cards by Apple Ridge Montessori. Easy to put together and lots of fun for your children at home.

Use with the colored bead sets.

Check out our Montessori teaching album samples.

Montessori, Reading, Language: A Great Free Reference for English

noreply@blogger.com (Montessori House) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 22:22:00 +0000

A professor at Rutger's University has a wonderful and free reference for English language usage. It is perfect for children who are online and reading as well as parents and teachers looking for reference material.

Science and Kindergarten

noreply@blogger.com (Montessori House) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 17:24:00 +0000

Our Montessori science and nature program is quite advanced, so parents typically have many questions about it.

We found this excellent page online from the Park School in Brooklandville, Maryland, which is one of the premier private schools on the East Coast of the US. Check out the similarities with our curriculum!

Park School's Kindergarten Science Program

The benefit of our curriculum is that it is $39 for one year's worth. Admission to the elementary level of Park School is about $21,000 a year.

Beginning Language and Reading Equipment: Basic Requirements for Homeschool

noreply@blogger.com (Montessori House) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 16:49:00 +0000

For those of you facing budget constraints, we wanted to put together a bare bones list for the first year of Primary school which covers ages three to four.

Language and Reading Basic Materials List:

1. Sand Tray
2. Sandpaper Letters
3. Movable Alphabet Letters
4. Word Cards
5. Double Sandpaper Letters (with phonograms)
6. Phonogram Cards
7. Metal Insets with paper and colored pencils
8. Three-lined writing paper
9. Pencils, erasers, and pencil holders
10. Basic picture and word books
11. Beginning reading books including fact books about interesting and stimulating topics such as bugs, animals, vehicles, places, people, and more.

Those of you who have purchased our Montessori Teaching Album for Prekindergarten to Kindergarten can follow along with all the lessons if you make most of the equipment at home.

Montessori and Religious Education of the Child

noreply@blogger.com (Montessori House) — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 16:15:00 +0000

Many of you have written in to ask about religious education for children using a Montessori approach, so I have compiled a reference list that will provide a good start.

"Godly Play: An Imaginative Approach to Religious Education" by Jerome W. Berryman
"Young Children and Worship" by Sonja M. Stewart and Jerome W. Berryman
"Teaching Godly Play: The Sunday Morning Handbook" by Jerome W. Berryman
"I Wonder...More Bible Stories for Children and Worship" by Janet Schreuder
"The Religious Potential of the Child" by Sofia Cavalletti
"The Spiritual Life of Children" by Robert Coles
And a video, "Discovering the Real Spiritual Life of Children" with Sofia Cavalletti and Silvana Montanaro.

A good description by Faith at Home, "Berryman developed his Godly Play approach after training under Sofia Cavaletti, who developed the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd. CGS is yet more Christ-centered and sacrament-focused, and less story-oriented, than Godly Play. CGS takes place in an atrium, requires more significant training of the catechists, and is more similar to classical Montessori education than Godly Play often is, in practice. Perhaps this is the other end of the spectrum from Young Children & Worship."

Montessori Teaching Album: Handicrafts

noreply@blogger.com (Montessori House) — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Handicrafts are a big part of the Montessori curriculum for art because they are ideal for helping young children develop fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination.

We found a good resource at Primrose Design's Blog for those of you who asked us about running stitches, cross stitches, and fabrics!

Our Montessori Teaching Albums include a full range of Montessori curriculum ranging from reading and writing skills to art and math.

Montessori Primary Class: Sample Class Schedule for School or Homeschool

noreply@blogger.com (Montessori House) — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 15:30:00 +0000

This sample class schedule is courtesy of Sue and Fred Eustis of The Apple Ridge Montessori School , a lovely small school based in Baltimore County, Maryland.

8:15 to 9:50 Morning extra-time

8:50 to 9:10 Arrival
Children choose activities independently or with suggestions. They also attend individual and small group lessons given by adults. Work time goes until approximately 11:00 a.m.

11:10 to 11:30 Large Group Time
Soon after 11:00 a.m. we clean up and get ready for large group time. There are songs, poems, games, stories and grace and courtesy lessons during this time. We also talk about science projects, current and upcoming events, holidays.

11:30 to Noon Outside Time
We have bathroom trips for those who need them. The children line up with a partner to walk to the playground.

Outside time ends at Noon as the children gather to walk back inside. Half day children are picked up on the playground between 11:55 and 12:05.

Noon – 12:15 p.m. Large Group Time – calendar, finger plays

12:15
We get ready for lunch with another bathroom visit. The children wait with their lunch box to be shown to a table by the child who is currently the “host” or hostess.

12:30 – 1:00 Lunch
We all begin eating together about 12:30 p.m. Lunch is over at 1:00 p.m., including individual clean up. Older children have lunch jobs such as table setting, hosting, and helping with clean-up.

1:15 – 1:35 Rest or workbooksThree-year olds are usually settled on cots by 1:15 p.m. Fours rest on rugs; fives work on workbook tasks for about 20 minutes.

1:45 – 2:00 Group for older childrenWe have a short yoga class before an afternoon group lesson and another individual work time. Nappers join the class when they wake up.

2:50 – 3:10 Dismissal
We clean up at 2:50p.m. A staff member reads to the children or conducts other group activities from 2:50 to 3:05 while children are being picked up. After-school care begins at the end of this transition time.

3:10 – 4:45 After school care

Read more about Montessori at home or at school with our Montessori Teaching Curriculum.

Montessori Terminology: Primary and Junior Classes

noreply@blogger.com (Montessori House) — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 23:23:00 +0000

As a follow on to our posting on the Montessori for Infants and Toddlers blog, we wanted to write more about terminology in the Montessori system.

The "Primary Class" is for children in the preschool to Kindergarten years (ages three to six). And the "Junior Class" means First through Third Grade and beyond. Our Montessori curriculum for the Junior Class begins with First Grade.

Sorry about the confusion!

Here is our Montessori teaching curriculum for Infants & Toddler, Primary, and Junior Class.

Montessori Homeschooling: Zoology Cards

noreply@blogger.com (Montessori House) — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 03:00:00 +0000

Zoology cards are part of the biology section of the Montessori Primary and Junior classes.

For everyone who is using Montessori for homeschooling or making DIY Montessori material, here is a great link for creating the zoology cards.

The site covers "natural history and behavior, images, and range maps for mammals in the order Carnivora, which includes the families of Ailuridae (red panda), Canidae (dogs), Eupleridae (Malagasy carnivores), Felidae (cats), Herpestidae (mongooses), Hyaenidae (hyenas), Mustelidae (weasels), Mephitidae (skunks and stink badgers), Nandiniidae (African palm civet), Procyonidae (raccoons), Ursidae (bears), and Viverridae (civets)." With the Mustelidae still pending completion.

Fantastic detailed information and links to excellent photos, the site is also great for research for children around the age of six and up.

Homeschooling Tip: Knobless Cylinder Set and Use

noreply@blogger.com (Montessori House) — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 18:16:00 +0000

We discuss the presentation and use of these Knobless Cylinders in our Montessori Teaching Curriculum Guide for Preschool and Kindergarten. These four sets, shown above, contain ten cylinders each that vary by height and/or width.

The Nienhuis set is superb. And expensive. If you are purchasing the set of four boxes, which is an important staple in your home classroom, try sharing it with a few other familes. Four families can purchase it, each one takes a set home, and then the children can meet to work on the different sets and then swap the sets to take home (or take home their own set).

This exchange also serves to put children together in a group environment, which is a key part of the Montessori classroom as well.

Photo credit: Nienhuis collection of Sensorial Material Knobless Cylinders

You can purchase our Montessori Teaching Curriculum Guides on the Montessori House site.

Beautiful Montessori Cards...They're Free

noreply@blogger.com (Montessori House) — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 18:08:00 +0000

Ooh, Montessori for Everyone has just put out some beautiful free cards for July. Great lemon pictures!

Montessori and Activity

noreply@blogger.com (Montessori House) — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 16:28:00 +0000

Create a daily schedule for yourself to mark down how much physical activity your child is getting in a day. Ideally, a young child will have two to four active play sessions during the day including simple group games and individual play.

These activities need not be expensive to be great. Group games can encompass such activities as soccer and baseball or a simple game of tag or hide-and-go-seek. Individual play includes everything from swimming and biking to playing on a jungle gym.

We find that many camps and summer schools end up keeping children inside or sitting still for longer periods of time than we recommend.

Montessori DIY for Practical Life: A Braiding Board

noreply@blogger.com (Montessori House) — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 22:30:00 +0000

This is an excellent example of a great piece of Montessori equipment that is very amenable to DIY initiatives. All you need is a board with a hook or peg and cord in red, blue, and yellow. Look for cord that braids easily and stays in place without needing to be tied.

The three colors serve to show your child the pattern of the braid more clearly. You can demonstrate by neatly putting each cord over the other as you make the braid. If you make two sets, you can leave one braided as a sample and let your child look at it as he or she uses the other set.

Braiding is not just for girls! It is a hand-eye coordination and brain development exercise for both genders and all ages.

This is one piece of equipment that I especially recommend buying from Nienhuis, a supplier you really trust, or making at home. Your child will be handling the cords a lot and an infant or toddler at home might be tempted to nibble on the ends.

Braiding Board photo credit: Nienhuis

Did Everyone See the Gutenberg Site?

noreply@blogger.com (Montessori House) — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 16:42:00 +0000

An online book project with over 28,000 free classic books for download.

For everyone who has purchased our Elementary school curriculum for grades 1 to 3, we will be referring to books that can be obtained for free from this site so you can keep your home library fresh and full for the summer!

This is the link for the Gutenberg Project

Geography for Montessori Classroom

noreply@blogger.com (Montessori House) — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 17:24:00 +0000

Working with puzzle maps of countries is a great way to start learning about geography.

The best way to work with these maps is to have a control map with the names of the countries and capital cities of each country. Your child can look at the control map, work with the pieces of the map -- removing them, reassembling them on a mat out of the frame, and the putting them back into the frame.

When your child is comfortable with the countries, introduce flags and then capitals.

The control map can be a paper map that you have made yourself by tracing the pieces of the puzzle map. It can also be a regular map like the ones sold by National Geographic.

Learn more about Montessori curriculum with our newsletters and teaching binders.

Take a Break from the Classroom: Backyard Camping

noreply@blogger.com (Montessori House) — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 18:13:00 +0000

Backyard camping is a great way to take a break from school, books, and the outside world!

Here are some child-friendly steps for camping in the backyard:

Roll a sleeping bag into a sleeping bag holding bag
Prepare a small cooler with sandwiches, drinks, and cooler packs
Pitch a tent in the backyard
Take everything outside
Set up the tent and start camping!

Even very young children can apply their Practical Life and food preparation exercises to this fun real life situation. Let your child figure out what to do and how to do it. That's the benefit of these types of projects!

Did you come up with some fabulous projects for a big backyard or a high rise apartment terrace? Let us know and we will share them with our readers!

National Wildlife Federation's Great American Backyard Campout

Early Elementary Math: Angles and Fractions

noreply@blogger.com (Montessori House) — Wed, 20 May 2009 17:44:00 +0000

This piece of equipment is called the Instrument for the Measurement of Angles and is used with the Fraction Circles to let children see how angles are measured in degrees. As your child places a whole circle here, he or she will see how one whole circle forms 360 degrees and then how smaller pieces form different degrees.

DIY tip: If you are making this at home, the measurements must be super precise! You can probably scrounge these used for fairly low prices.

Montessori House math (and more) curriculum for children in early elementary (grades one to three).

Counting in Mandarin Chinese

noreply@blogger.com (Montessori House) — Fri, 15 May 2009 23:43:00 +0000

Here is a fun tidbit from our Mandarin Chinese project. We have a super good voice volunteer here! She is a former television broadcaster, a graduate of China's most prestigious film and media university, and now a major film producer.

The numbers here are 1 to 20 and then 30, 40, and 100.

More on our Mandarin project using Montessori for kids here.

Geometric Solid Shapes in Real Life

noreply@blogger.com (Montessori House) — Sat, 02 May 2009 09:15:00 +0000

Using the exercise below, take the cube out. Encourage your child to handle and observe the cube.

Now ask your child to look around the house (or classroom) and find other objects that are the same shape as the cube. If you are in a Montessori classroom, this will be an easy task -- e.g. the Pink Tower is comprised of ten cubes. If you are at home, it will be interesting to see what your child finds.

Should some of the objects he or she finds not be cubes but rectangular prisms, for example, you can bring out the rectangular prism and let your child compare and contrast the shapes.

The cube also lends itself to being traced with a pencil. Your child can place the cube down on a piece of paper, trace one side, and then roll it to another side and trace that side again. As interesting patterns form, your child will see more properties of the cube.

Montessori Sensorial Work: Geometric Solids

noreply@blogger.com (Montessori House) — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 01:17:00 +0000

Geometric Solids introduce your child to new vocabulary, while encouraging tactile exploration and practice.

A basket of Geometric Solids includes ten standard shapes: cube, sphere, cone, cylinder, rectangular prism, triangular prism, ovoid, ellipsoid, triangular-based pyramid, and the square-based pyramid.

Some sets include additional shapes such as the hemisphere and different sizes of cylinders.

1. Material needed: A basket of Geometric Solids
2. A small mat for floor work

1. What to do: Invite your child to try this new exercise.
2. Ask your child to bring the mat to the floor and unroll it.
3. Bring the basket of shapes and sit down next to your child on the mat. Remember to sit on your child's non-dominant side (on the left side of a right-handed child).
4. Take out the cube, sphere, and pyramid.
5. Hold the cube and tell your child, "This is a cube" as you hand the cube to your child.
6. Let your child take a moment to hold and feel the cube.
7. Repeat these two last steps with the remaining two shapes.
8. Ask your child to "Please show me the cube."
9. Repeat the question for the other shapes.
10. If this is very easy for your child, then introduce the remaining shapes.
11. Otherwise, move to the third part of the exercise, asking your child, "What is this?" as you point to the cube. Repeat this question and answer process for the other two shapes.
12. If you have moved to new shapes, use the "What is this?" question and answer session at the end of the exercise for all the shapes.
13. Remember to give your child time to hold and examine the shapes. The tactile part of this exercise is very important.
14. Your child can roll up the mat and put it away, while you put away the basket of shapes.

Learn how to teach your child other Montessori exercises using our Montessori curriculum newsletters.