4Real Forums: When the learning room is the playroom...

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Nurturing the Years of Wonder
4Real Forums : Nurturing the Years of Wonder

Topic: When the learning room is the playroom...

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ShawnaB
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Posted: July 07 2007 at 11:37pm \| IP Logged

we have a wonderful, large playroom/learning room on the first story of our home. All the children's bedrooms are upstairs, so the downstairs room holds all our toys and our school materials. Do you recommend keeping Montessori materials separate from the "toys" and making them only available during "school" times, or should they be incorporated into all of their play things? Some Montessori items seem more "toy-like" than others, such as the Pink Tower. And I will mention that my 2 toddlers think everything is a toy...throwing another loop into my Montessori plan!

Thanks! And, I've been off this board for over a month, and wow! You ladies have been busy! I am so appreciating all these wonderful Montessori posts!

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Shawna, wife of Jacob, mom to Abraham 8 Amelia 5 and Jillian & Jonathan age 3 years http://www.psalm121family.com

ALmom
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Posted: July 08 2007 at 12:32am \| IP Logged

Personally I keep the Montessori materials seperate from the toys. Chaos would reign in our house any other way. My boys would be distracted by the toys and forget that Montessori materials must be used properly and they most certainly would be off mixing it all together in some huge battlefield. When they play, they combine blocks, trains, duplos and mini animals all in one great adventure and truely I love to see their imaginations run - BUT I have other plans for the Montessori and other goals so I want them to use those in the way that I show them or in appropriate natural learning extensions that they figure out - but not as aircraft carriers and bombs.

Toys are all stored upstairs in bedrooms or some is in the school room closet (but this is the game closet that is in the formal schoolroom where my olders have their desks and where most of the bookshelves are) not the Montessori room. We are using the dining room and living room for Montessori (and the large entrance foyer that no one uses is for our Montessori catechesis materials). Now, I do have the advantage of a lot of space so that gives me more flexibility here.

However, I saw quickly what happened when we opened the numerical rods in the family room. (This is the room my dc generally bring their toys to for more space to play or when they are playing with friends). As soon as they were out - every one of the boys were pretending it was a giant aircraft carrier. If I had everything mixed together, I'd never overcome this creative tendency in my boys and it would be a fight for me to get them to use it properly or in ways intentded. Now I don't at all mind the creative play - I just don't want the numerical rods to become bombs dropped from the upstairs down on someone else's aircraft carrier (which very well might be the red rods if they are not kept in clearly distinctive places and only brought out after clear lessons and ground rules!)

If space is a premium, perhaps you can have cabinets that can be closed or opened so that during certain hours the toy closets/shelves are closed and other hours Montessori is. Just an idea. Perhaps others have had more success with combining. I know it would be disaster around here!!!

Janet

lapazfarm
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Posted: July 08 2007 at 2:34am \| IP Logged

I keep school materials and toys separate.
I like to keep an eye on what my dd is doing with the school materials, to make sure she is using them properly. And I don't want to have to do keep up this vigilance all day long, so there needs to be an end to school-time and transition to free play, where she can play with her toys however she pleases.
If her toys and school materials are all together it makes it hard to make this transition.
So I keep her toys in her room. Does that make sense?

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Theresa
us-schooling in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska.
LaPaz Home Learning

Meredith
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Posted: July 08 2007 at 10:26am \| IP Logged

ALmom wrote:

Oh Janet, I thinkwe have the same boys

You explained my sentiments and decisions to keep our items separate to a T!!

I want them to learn the proper *use* of their work with the materials and keep their imaginative play for nonwork times. This is different than alot of philosophies, so it will be a little harder for really young children to understand that the Pink Tower is not to be knocked over like their *other* block building toys. I think the differentiation in location may help to deter some of this, we'll see

Good to have you back Shawna, missed you!!

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Meredith
Mom of 4 Sweeties
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Mackfam
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Posted: July 08 2007 at 10:55am \| IP Logged

Shawna,
I keep the Montessori materials in the learning room separate from the toys for the same reason Janet goes into. Boys turn anything into bombs or trains or exploding fodder. Having Montessori materials in a special, set aside location seems to communicate that these are something special. Because of the layout of my home, everything from CGS to Montessori is accessible at all times, but only the 2yo has to be redirected as to how to use these items.

We keep a *very* limited amount of toys at a time. A few favorites stay downstairs in a hall bench, and the rest are put away upstairs in the kids rooms. Your big room sounds neat! I'm jealous!

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Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19

, ds 16

, ds 11

, dd 8

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Wildflowers and Marbles

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