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dawn2006
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Would you say you throw some Montessori into your other curriculums, throw some curriculums into your Montessori or about 50-50? I was reading on the JMJ site about her suggestion of introducing a little more Montessori into your existing plans each year and by the third year to try aiming for a true 2-3 hour work period. Which led me to think of my question for this post. TIA.
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Dawn Farias | wife to Ariel | mom to Gabriel 9, Daniel 7, Elizabeth 5, and Michael 3 | blogger at Be Absorbed | native Texan but currently living near Seattle
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AndreaG
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I am going to weasel out of giving a percentage! 
I did start more towards the "throwing montessori into my curriculum" and am moving towards the "throwing curriculum into my montessori" end of things. When I use curriculum other than a montessori album I try to use it in a montessori way. For example with Story of the World, I try to approach each chapter as a "presentation" rather than a "sit down and do history lesson". I will invite the children, I read the lesson while they color, and have them choose projects to do as follow-up work. I don't really use it as described in the Well-Trained Mind (covering a lesson a week, having the child write a narration and take tests)
The good thing (or some days the perplexing and overwhelming thing) about homeschooling is that you can combine things however you want with whatever materials you choose.
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Andrea
GrayFamilyCircus
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marianne
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Right now, I'm throwing a little Montessori into the mix for my olders, and doing a lot more of it with my preschoolers. For me, it's just that I can't change everything at once, and much of their curricula was working for them, so why ditch it? I am suspiciously eyeing certain aspects of their school day and wondering if those things can't go in favor of more independent, interest led learning, but I don't have the confidence yet, I guess.
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Land O' Cotton
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We are aiming to bring lots of Montessori into our schooling this year, but also will use Charlotte Mason for literature. I think since my dgs has asked to keep usin it, we'll continue with the MEP math from the UK, but really get a background of math also from the Montessori materials we have. I think these things will work nicely hand in hand.
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lapazfarm
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I am going full Monty  with my dd(6) with a bit of other stuff thrown in, and I am introducing some Monty with ds(12) as a complement to his project-based learning.
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Theresa
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AndreaG
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Full Monty!?
Now I REALLY want to switch my curriculum, just so I can use that phrase!
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Andrea
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earthmaven
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I'm no purist, so those of you who are might wish to avert your eyes.
We're taking advantage of my daughters' (and my) interest in nature, biodiversity, and conservation, so we're using that as the foundation for virtually everything we'll be doing...it's a natural (no pun intended) for the sciences and geography/culture, math (probably the area where I will be going most "Montessori" and where I've spent a fair bit of our budget, along with the moveable alphabet for my 4 yo dd), language, history, art...you name it, and I've got a way planned to integrate it into that bigger picture.
My 7 yo dd has become an avid reader, so I think that for her age, lots of time spent in nature, talking, reading, doing some neat unit studies, and building our tree of life on the dining room wall will make for a full and satisfying year for all of us.
So it's a bit Montessori, a bit Charlotte Mason, a bit E.O. Wilson and a whole lot of us!
Tracy
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lapazfarm
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earthmaven wrote:
We're taking advantage of my daughters' (and my) interest in nature, biodiversity, and conservation, so we're using that as the foundation for virtually everything we'll be doing...
Tracy |
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That actually sounds a lot like what I do with ds.
earthmaven wrote:
...you name it, and I've got a way planned to integrate it into that bigger picture.
Tracy |
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I'd LOVE to hear more about this-possibly another thread?
earthmaven wrote:
So it's a bit Montessori, a bit Charlotte Mason, a bit E.O. Wilson and a whole lot of us!
Tracy |
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Sounds fantastic, Tracy! A curriculum after my own heart!
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Theresa
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marianne
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lapazfarm wrote:
| I am going full Monty with my dd(6) with a bit of other stuff thrown in, and I am introducing some Monty with ds(12) as a complement to his project-based learning. |
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You are so funny! "full Monty"
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Land O' Cotton
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I would love to go full tilt (or full Monty ) with Montessori too, but my dh is still not completely won over with it. So we're still having to use a few traditional methods to satisfy him. Hopefully once I get more and more understanding of Montessor, we'll get to move more in that direction (with his blessing! )
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Meredith
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Well, you all know we do alot of Real Learning with Montessori and I am also going Full Monty with my younger two (5 & 2). It's been excellent so far, they both LOVE it!
Theresa wins the phrase of the week award!!
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Meredith
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sjbacb
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I am just starting out or at least will be in about 2 weeks. (Eeek!) I plan on doing mostly Montessori. My very active and smart DS (3) is going to take awhile to get into the swing of things but that is my goal. Or should I just say...Full Monty here we come!
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earthmaven
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Theresa,
Re: our biodiversity/nature-inspired curriculum: yes, I'd LOVE to start a new thread. It would be great to exchange ideas in each of the subject areas with you and any interested others.
I'll start one tomorrow with a description of my ideas thus far after I'm done celebrating my wedding anniversary! (Right now I'm so full of sushi I can barely move...)
See ya then,
Tracy
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vmalott
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AndreaG wrote:
| I try to approach each chapter as a "presentation" rather than a "sit down and do history lesson". I will invite the children, I read the lesson while they color, and have them choose projects to do as follow-up work. |
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What a fantastic idea! Why didn't I think of approaching our more traditional studies in that way? 
Actually, I think this is the way I've been wanting to approach our history and science, which we do as a family in a multi-level way, but jsut haven't thought it all the way through. Do you use the SOTW Activity Guide from which to choose projects? Do tell.
Valerie
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Valerie
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Elizabeth
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I don't see a scenario where I could ever be full Montessori.It's not a goal for me. I don't think there is enough literature in a pure Montessori setting for me. I also don't think there is enough creative play. More than that, a pure Montessori approach would exclude rabbit trails as I know them and that would be the kiss of death for me.
I'm definitely a "little of this, little of that-- Montessori made to fit my home and family at the time" person.
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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Elizabeth
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dawn2006 wrote:
| Would you say you throw some Montessori into your other curriculums, throw some curriculums into your Montessori or about 50-50? I was reading on the JMJ site about her suggestion of introducing a little more Montessori into your existing plans each year and by the third year to try aiming for a true 2-3 hour work period. Which led me to think of my question for this post. TIA. |
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Dawn,
Would you link that plan on the JMJ site?
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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kjohnson
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I would call our approach this year Mason-Montessori. I would NEVER take literature out of our curriculum. I think that would be a curriculum killer. We're pure Montessori in the AM and pure Mason in the PM. I mean, Emily has out-grown much Montessori because she is naturally thinking abstractly, so while Sophie is counting with number rods, Peter is using the addition strip board and Katie the multiplication bead board, Emily is using Teaching Textbooks. But as soon as she's done, she's on the rug doing a continent puzzle. And while she's solidifying the parts of speech with the Montessori grammar symbols, she's also doing Latina Christiana.
Our afternoons are all about living books, narration and rabbit trials. Our Victorian unit is a total rabbit trail off of Miss Potter. So it's living books on Charles Dickens, Beatrix Potter journals and The Secret Garden read-aloud. ...tea party, crazy quilts and Victorian games, etc...
I really love both approaches and have gone against my instinct to be a purest on either front. For instance, we use the Child-Sized Masterpiece art postcards, but then get out the sketch book and prisma colors and turn them into picture study. Charlotte wouldn't like the "child-size" twaddly table washing set that Sophie thinks is the best thing on earth and Maria would be disturbed by the imaginative expression of a historical period. But I know myself and my children and a little of this and a little of that works for us. I like pulling the most appetizing dishes off the banquet table of life and feasting.
I guess I could say that the parts of CM that didn't work for me are replaced by Montessori. You know if you look at a site like Ambleside (which I used purely when Emily was in 2nd grade) it has all these beautiful outlines for the humanities and then "choose your own math, grammar, spelling, etc..." curriculum. The "choose your own" is now Montessori over here and the humanities are still CM-inspired.
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Donna Marie
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I feel like I am the most eclectic homeschooler on the planet when I am around our local homeschool folks...not here! yippee!!
(and I did that without morning coffee)
I am using Mater Amabilis suggestions and some other great book lists coupled with lots of hands-on activities including notebooking and the occasional lapbook to cement things in our heads. I see a lapbook kinda like nomenclature cards folded up real purty and stuck into a file folder. kinda.
A great deal of our projects are done in the afternoon...kinda like block study as seen in the Avilian Method. It works well with the natural flow of things. I school the littles first thing in the morning after doing group prayers and character building story and discussion over breakfast. The older ones have their independent work to do and take turns to distract the toddler. I do find that the younger ones like the uninterrupted 3hr work cycle. I usually ask people to contact me on the computer or wait until 12:30 to call so the phone isn't always ringing.
Maybe what I do is unit study with the trimmings. I do somewhat follow the kid's interests. I start out the year with a general interview and see where their gut interests lie and move on from there.
For Example: One son is very interested in all green things right now...particularly frogs. We will be covering the life cycle of the frog in a book (Usborne and a few others we will raid from the library) and I have nomenclature cards made up and he wants to make a green frog lapbook and wants to visit one. (he is 4) I can do that!
For Math, I am doing SOME Montessori math and some Right start and even some Math U See (this one because I already have the MUS materials and the kids get a kick out of watching Mr. Demme...something about a guy telling them about it makes a difference, apparently ) Some of the Montessori stuff we will make as we go along. My ds (oh my, it is about 2 years ago now...gulp!) helped me make the stamp game because he thought it was cool and learned how to play and taught his younger brothers and sisters. I LOVE THAT! You never know what will motivate them, but when you tap into that, they go above and beyond the call of duty, IYKWIM.
I wish I had an endless supply of moolah this year. I reallly realllly want to have the geography puzzles (for example) but! We will do map work, pin maps, map punching(sorry, can't remember what that is called ATM) and we have the Owl and Mouse maps on the desktop of the computer for easy clicking. This is very helpful because they can do one or two of these in their "free time"
I also wish I could buy more books....ok, who here doesn't But instead! I am making lists for the library so we can use Inter-library Loan more effectively. Sometimes we walk out of there with a LOT of books and the funny thing is, they seem to want to read every last one of them because they are new (for them) and hold a certain mystique. ...anyone else take out 60 books at once?? We carry around a large milk crate for hauling purposes...
So in answer to your question, we mix it all in and make life as exciting and manageable as we can. When the manipulatives and projects get to be too much, we sink into books until we recover.
God Love you!
Donna Marie from NJ
hs momma to 7dc 
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God love you!
Donna Marie from NJ
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Finding Elegant Simplicity
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Meredith
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Elizabeth, I think this is the link she might be referring to???
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Meredith
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AndreaG
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Valerie,
Yes I use the SOTW activity guide. I have a fantasy of typing of command cards with the projects and activities from SOTW and RC History on them, as well as my own ideas. But until that happens, and while my kids are still young (8 and under) I like activity books with pictures that I can just hand my kids and have them choose something. Some of the titles I have include:
Classical Kids by Laurie Carlson
Old Testament Days - Nancy Sanders
In the Days of Knights and Damsels -Laurie Carlson
Colonial Kids - Laurie Carlson
More Than Moccasins -Laurie Carlson
Step into Ancient Japan - Fiona MacDonald
I know I have more than that- often the SOTW library list has good ones, and I have gotten suggestions from RCHistory, Sonlight and WinterPromise.
And yes I do science this way too! I like to think this is Montessori, but it might be Real Learning or unschooling or something else entirely- these homeschooling terms seem a tricky business!
Katharine mentioned Montessori being disturbed by imaginative expression of a historical period- actually I was just reading in the Advanced Montessori Method Volume 2 that the Montessori approach to history was to read aloud from living books and have the children act out skits which they did with enthusiasm. I think the "no imaginative play" is somewhat misunderstood in regard to Montessori.
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Topic: Montessori w/other curriculums.
