learning Montessori

My friend Jena requested that I share some of the links I've gathered while researching Montessori for the Babes.  Everything I'm doing with him is self taught through necessity-- there aren't any Montessori schools here in Belize, unfortunately.  So don't be too hard on me, anyone who has actual training :)

I started off with some reading to introduce myself to the big concepts of Montessori.

-Maria Montessori's works are free for Kindle on Amazon (I haven't read it though)
- This is the book I read-- I have to say it was a bit boring and not too helpful on instituting Montessori in my home, but it did give me a foundation of concepts to start with. Also, it was the only Montessori book my library had :)
- I also have this book, which has lovely inspirational photos but not much concrete methods.


Ok, now to the details...

-I have a friend who is an actual trained Montessori teacher.  She sent me this link to a Montessori school's course outline, which is super helpful to me because it lists the activities that are introduced by each age group.  Then I go to another site to find out how to do the activities myself.

- Ok, here is where it can get a bit overwhelming.  This site  is where I try and begin when I am learning about an activity.  The site gives extremely detailed step by step directions for a ton of basic Montessori activities.  Why is it overwhelming?  Well, for example, teaching a kiddo how to roll a mat has 21 steps.  Here is where you can benefit from my experience.  When I first saw the crazy amount of detail my brain fizzled and I ignored it, figuring how hard can it be to teach a child to roll a mat?  Um, yeah.  Hard.  I'm still trying to fix the mess I made by teaching the Babes the wrong way.  This is very important: kids will stick to the first way you teach them something.  It takes waaaay more effort to reteach a method then to teach it right the first time.  The thing about Montessori is that it builds on little lessons learned along the way.  So my kid can't roll a mat, no big deal, right?  Well the skill he failed to learn there will also needed for self-care activities taught down the line, etc.

-Living Montessori Now is a site that has a TON of  Montessori DIY activities, as well as links to more sites that offer free printables and lessons.

-as usual, there is tons of inspiration to be found on Pinterest.

And for inspiration, so you don't get bogged down in the details and forget the beauty of this method:

- Three Oaks
-How we Montessori
- Sew Liberated  (actually one of the first blogs I ever read, when she started blogging she ran a Montessori school in rural Mexico)

Don't get discouraged by the gorgeous pictures of 2 year olds using kitchen knives to chop carrots.  Remember they started with the basics, too.