Montessori-ish: Homeschool Kindergarten Edition

Okay, first, I know this component of this blog seemingly has nothing to do with music education, BUT... I believe that the more we learn about different pedagogies, disciplines, and ways of teaching and learning, the more we can expand the boundaries of our own teaching. So... feel free to completely skip over this, or to read it.

But also, in all practicality, I am hoping to begin documenting my own observations of my 4 year old as we begin this grand experiment of homeschooling, using some Montessori ideas. I am definitely not Montessori trained, so I am just kind of learning as we go. But I have been devouring content on how to do Montessori observations and decided to go ahead and drop some of my observations here.

Although I am going to make a point of making more scientific (read: more objective) observations in the future, for right now, I am just trying to document what motivates my son, when he gets in the zone, where his interests lie, and what frustrates him. This will really help me as I create lessons and materials for him.

Here is the environment we set up for him for our homeschooling journey. I know this will change as he gets older, but this has been pretty great for now!

Montessori-ish Homeschool Kindergarten Setup

So, here we go:

DM has truly remarkable focus when he is into something. He can work on something independently for a solid 45 minutes if he is really into it. That being said, I have been extremely surprised at the things he has chosen to focus on. Here are a few of the items that have led to "Zone Focus."

ZONE FOCUS AREAS:

1. Tape... Why is he into tape? I have NO CLUE... but we have blue masking tape alllll over the house. Sometimes he is "wiring the house," other times he is building booby traps, and other times, he is "keeping Silly McGilly," our little leprechaun safe. Either way, give this kid a roll of masking tape and some scissors and he can work for just aboue ever...

2. Scissor Work... Similar to tape, this kid loves to cut up paper (and also tape, haha!).

3. Rubberband Work... He LOVES this work. This morning, he just sat on the ground for a good 25 minutes, stretching different colored rubberbands across a nail board in various patterns.

HIGHLY MOTIVATED AREAS:

1. Board and Card Games

2. Coloring Pages and Coloring Blank Paper

3. Yoto Audio Player in the Afternoons especially

   1. Robin Hood is by far the favorite!

IMPROVING:

1. Handwriting (LOOK below!!!) - Is this work not beautiful?!?! I am so proud of him for this one. Also, he has had less and less resistance in this area, but we have been working every day on handwriting and tracing.

2. Cleanliness and organization

3. Listening Skills

4. His Reading

5. Piano

4 Year Old Handwriting

STRUGGLE BUS:

1. His Booster A Reading Cards - They aren't actually stories, but just like, practice exercises. He really gets frustrated with these...

2. Anything He isn't Confident in... If he doesn't know something immediately, or if he can't get something immediately, he first starts to look up at the ceiling, then his posture collapses, then he gets upset. It is very difficult to get his focus back after this.

   1. Things to Try:

      1. Switching activities momentarily before returning to the work.

      2. Deep breathing

      3. Adding a movement

      4. Getting outside

3. Violin Practice - He is still very resistant to practicing violin, but he says he loves it. He does love to play his own thing his own way. But the minute I correct him, he gives up... Still working on this one.

This week, I have realized that the environment makes a huge difference, that my son has some perfectionistic tendencies, and that my own lack of organization is definitely contributing to his areas of struggle. I will be working on organization this week to better help him! Here's to our Montessori-ish Homeschool adventure!