Welcome to Montessori Creations @ StarLitDay.com
Me:
I’m Claire. Mum, business owner, dance teacher, Montessori enthusiast, and a homeschooler.
As an owner of a mobile children’s arts education company, I’ve been in and out of schools and preschools for years. My favorite have always been the Montessori preschools. I love the tactile nature of the materials, and I think that if I can’t resist exploring the materials, then they must be enticing to the kids!
When my kids were little I supplemented their part-time preschool with Montessori activities at home. Then, I heard that we had a local public Montessori elementary school – and we got in! We had two years of wonderful teachers, but changes in the school meant that our third year wasn’t so smooth. I’d started supplementing my oldest child’s Montessori education with more homemade materials, and I spent a lot of time delving deeper into Maria Montessori’s books, album studies, Facebook communities. I was the resident parent “expert” for many families, explaining what their kids were getting up to in the classroom.
Enter COVID-19.
In a snap last minute decision we jumped into Montessori homeschool. I made new materials like crazy, read more, researched more, joined more Facebook communities, and watched a LOT of YouTube video lessons.
As the summer progressed we didn’t like the sound of distance learning. My business couldn’t operate so we decided to keep the kids home and keep the homeschool going. We had a really great year, as detailed on this blog.
A year later we aren’t ready to head back. We just got into a homeschool charter school. I think this makes us official homeschoolers!
This blog documents an experiment already underway – first shelter-in-place, followed by a summer of homeschooling – and weigh up the pros and cons of continuing with this experiment in the Fall. I also want to document how I make my materials, proving that Montessori doesn’t have to be about a room full of expensive items. Yes, it may also become a platform for selling patterns and printables.
The kids:
Funball is 9. All her life I’ve been playing catch up with what she can do. At 13 months old she signed that the traffic light we were standing by was red. In disbelief I ascertained that she really did already know her colors! At just under 4 I had an inkling she could read. She read the first 4 BOB books and declared the rest boring. We certainly went through a period of adjustment adjusting to homeschool during shelter-in-place. The more involved the she is in her education, the better we do. I love sharing this journey with her as we move through the Great Lessons and delve deeper into new topics.
Daisy is 6. For the record, she also signed her first color at 13 months – at the exact same traffic light her sister did! She has adjusted to a Montessori work cycle well, and is really thriving with all this. I love teaching her to read! It is a brand new experience for both of us, and I’m honored to be on this journey with her. Being able to experience some of the Montessori curriculum threads with her from beginning to end is a pleasure.