Montessori-uninspired

Well, I'm officially Montessori-uninspired. No offense meant to those who are into the Montessori approach. However, as I've been reading more and learning more I've come to realize that I don't really believe Montessori is the best approach for me and my daycare. There are some aspects of it that just don't appeal to me.

That being said, I've been reading the book "Raising and Amazing Child the Montessori Way" and I will continue reading it. There are some great ideas in the book even though I'm not a fan of the whole Montessori approach.

What it comes down to is that Montessori feels too rigid to me. For example, a work is presented to a child. The child is shown how the work should be used (there is one way) and the child is only allowed to use the work in that one way, clean up the work, put it away, and then get a different work. So if a child wanted to combine a couple of works, that would not be allowed. For example, if a child had a cylinder work (it's a work that involves cylinders that vary in depth and circumference) and decided to stack it like a tower, that would be incorrect and a child would be instructed to use the work correctly. If a child wanted to use the cylinders with a dollhouse in order to create furniture, that would be considered inappropriate use of the work. Granted, I'm sure that is not everyone's experience of Montessori as even Montessori schools vary to the degree as to how they interpret Montessori method. However, that approach would be true to method.

Maria Montessori created her program to help children who were horribly disadvantaged, many being street children. It's easy to see why a highly structured approach did them a world of good. However, for me, it seems as though it would inhibit imagination.

Montessori also was not a fan of fantasy play. Pretend play that imitates real life is encouraged in the Montessori environment. But fantasy play that revolves around imaginary animals, characters, and places would be discouraged. Maria felt that children should be involved in real world activity and that time spent in fantasy play was actually damaging for children. I could not disagree with Maria Montessori more on this idea. Fantasy play is a wonderful part of childhood and it would make me incredibly sad to think of children not creating imaginary worlds, animals, and characters.

I'm actually relieved to be so uninspired. I think that I was feeling a lot of stress as a result of my previous decision to be Montessori-inspired. So much of Montessori revolves around having appropriate works for this or that sensory experience, practical life skill, and other tasks. I don't believe children need a special set of cylinders to learn depth perception. Children are sponges and learn so much from the natural world around them. It seems silly to me to put so much emphasis on works that have isolated single concepts.

So anyways, goodbye Montessori. I will continue with what I was doing already. I try to get the children outdoors as much as possible. I think that in our culture spending time outdoors is undervalued. There is a special sense of well-being that comes from being outdoors, feeling the warmth of a summer breeze, touching the grass, digging in dirt, and watching the birds fly here and there. It's peaceful, relaxing, and exhilarating. I try to get the children out for a nature walk once a day. Additionally we go out for playtime outside in the morning. And provided everyone wakes up from nap and gets through afternoon snack before parents pick up, we go back outside for the afternoon.

Another thing that I will continue with is quality literature. I have poetry collections for young children as well as plenty of board books. Children are captivated by the lilting rhymes in well-written poetry. I use a lot of books from the Barefoot Books collection. They have books that emphasize quality storytelling, multiculturalism, green concepts, as well as many other wonderful subjects. I adore these books and would encourage their use in any home daycare program. There's a link on the right for anyone looking for books to add to their library.

Music is also something that I incorporate into much of our day. I LOVE using music for transitions. It really is effective to put a music CD on while I try to clean the kitchen up after snack or lunch. I have some instruments that I've purchased for music time. I have a drum, tambourine, shakers, and coconut clave sticks. I got my instruments from Nova Naturals and I love them. I also have my piano and the children love to sing and dance to piano music.

Well, anyways, I guess this has been a long post. But it's been awhile since I've updated and I wanted to share my new approach to my daycare.

Working in Practical Life Skils

I'm trying to incorporate more practical life skills into the daycare day. Last weekend I bought a dishtub at Target - just a cheap white tub. I put dishsoap and water in it and set it on a chair during breakfast and lunch. After the children are done eating they put their plates, silverware, and cups in there. Right now it's food and all - a bit gross, but it still saves me a pre-rinse before I load the dishwasher and they are proud to clean up after themselves. With older children they'll be taught to scrape the dishes first. But I've only got two kids - my own and one full-timer. My full-time kiddo is just two and mine is 19 months old. I think they do great with it given their ages.

I'm open to other ideas on building independence. I am working on gathering materials to make some "works" for the kids. Right now I've completed one. I can't remember where I found the idea - not trying to steal it. I'm pretty sure I found it on a Montessori type blog. I put pom poms (the kind you get in a bag at the craft store) with a broom and dustpan for a "sweeping work." I put it all together in a tupperware container so that everything's all together. I got it out this morning and showed the kids how to use it. They had a great time. My older kiddo definitely got the hang of it. My own little one tried, but also wanted to eat the pom poms. This is definitely a supervised work with really young ones. Of course I think a lot of the works that I've looked at seem to be that way.

I've also started to refer to things as works. When my little one, Boo, got out the ring stacker I asked him if he wanted to work on stacking and helped him to work on it instead of throw the rings. My dc kiddo was mad that he wasn't working on the same thing. I finally got him to agree to work on a shape sorter. Granted, I left the room for a minute and their work pieces were thrown all over the place. Ah - such is life!

I haven't really spoken with my dc parent about this transition to Montessori-inspired. Honestly, I'm sure she'll be okay with it. I just want to do the approach justice when I explain it. So I plan to do more reading and researching and setting up of the environment.

Montessori-inspired

Well, I've already posted on this on my other blog. But I'll go ahead and repost here. I plan on being Montessori-inspired as a daycare. I also wouldn't mind adding in some elements of Waldorf also. It's going to be a lot of work. Just what I need - more on my to-do list. But I'm kind of excited as I think this will be a great environment for Boo to be in.

Montessori materials are super expensive. However, I have found some ideas online to make my own things. So I'll be doing a bit of that. Even that can be hard because my income is soooo limited right now that I don't have much to use on supplies, craft materials, etc...But I'm trying. One step at a time. This conversion, for lack of a better word, will take place very slowly for this reason and also because I don't have all the time in the world to work on this either. There are still basic daycare necessities that I need that will take precedence over acquiring/creating Montessori materials. My next daycare purchases will likely be table, chairs, cots, and cot sheets. Those are must-haves that I will need in order to add kids to the daycare.

Speaking of kids, now that I'm licensed and on the referral list, where are my freaking phone calls??? Okay...I've only been on the list since Monday. But still, I'd like to get this place filled up and going! Building a business is a major exercise in patience.

What I love about Montessori is the self-direction aspect. I think children gain a lot of confidence when it is their idea to explore something. This is not to be mistaken for a mad free for all freeplay all day type of thing. The main ingredient in Montessori is the environment. The environment must be enriching with plenty of things for children to work on. Toys are not called toys. They are works. I remember that from my days as an Infant Teacher at a Montessori school. It makes sense if you think about it. When a child is putting together a puzzle, that child is working. When a child is pushing a toy vacuum across the floor, that child is working on coordination, gross motor movements, etc...So I love that Montessori sees children's play in that light.

Waldorf does not rename toys as works. Waldorf seems to emphasize (I've researched this a lot less, so pardon me if I'm a bit off) creativity and imagination and creative expression. Dramatic play seems to be big, especially when looking through online shops that sell Waldorf materials. Children learn through this creative play and expression.

Both seem to emphasize the natural world - outdoors, toys made from natural materials, etc...I love that aspect! Wooden toys vs. plastic, etc...Welll...there will be more plastic than I'd like in my daycare because as a home daycare provider I'm on a pretty low budget for toys/materials. But I think that if I'm creative I can find ways to incorporate this concept as much as possible.

There's a couple of books I'd like to purchase about incorporating Montessori into the home for early childhood. I'd really like to get these when I have a chance as there's instructions for making Montessori works as well as explanation of Montessori concepts.