Gearing up Homeschooling
As we are in July, many of you may be planning your homeschool year already. I know that this year, I am more confident and prepared. Although our son is only three, this is the year when the Montessori Early Childhood curriculum starts. As children move from Unconscious Absorbent Mind to Conscious Absorbent Mind, their learning becomes intentional.
In the toddlerhood phase, a child is simply absorbing everything from their environment and learning everything without any intentions of learning but as we enter the stage of Conscious Absorbent Mind and slowly move towards Mathematical Mind, learning is much more intentional and conscious. It is almost like the child becomes more goal-oriented in every task. He is not practicing pouring lessons simply for pleasure but for mastering skills. He is still not at the level of product focus as the second planer but more focused on whys and hows.
So, how am I preparing for this school year?
For starters, I am using my very own designed Montessori Homeschool Planner to help me plan this year’s unit study. You can find the paperback planner on Amazon. I created this planner for you, to help busy homeschool moms who simply need a tool to make homeschooling less daunting.
This planner begins with how most Montessori curricula should and that is with OBSERVATION. Are you observing your child enough? Are you paying attention to what makes them excited or avoid something? This is the time for you to GET CURIOUS!
With observation, we can create the lesson plans where our children will thrive most. Of course, as a Montessori-trained teacher, I can give you a curriculum plan based on observing my son but that will not serve you or your child. Each child is unique and follows his journey to learn. Therefore, when parents ask me if I can write a curriculum for them, my answer would be simply NO. I cannot make a plan for you but I can give you tools so your school year plan.
Let me share snippets of my curriculum plan to help you understand how I plan monthly and then break it down to weekly. This helps me with my budget as well as keeps me accountable to make sure we are meeting state standards as well as progressing to our reading and math goals.
Monthly Unit Study Plan from Montessori Homeschool Planner
Weekly Planning Page from our Homeschool Planner
