Montessori - Modified

My wonderful husband is now a full time stay-at-home Dad. Our roles have reversed some after I spent the last year at home. As anyone will tell you this transition for any parent can have its challenges. But as always, Brandon is usually up for it! As with most things in Brandon's life, if he is to pour himself into an area and develop an interest in it, he must first start reading a variety of books on the topic. A few times lately he's found himself unsure of what he should be doing with the kids, so we started gathering a selection of books on child education, discipline, and development for the both of us to read. One of these books is on the Montessori approach to teaching children. We had no intention of doing a huge overhaul of our home and making it a Montessori prototype, but Brandon did start to include some of its advice into his daily routine with the kids. He proudly showed me these videos and pictures to demonstrate. As the title of this blog alludes, Brandon has modified the approach a tad giving it a flavor that is typical Brandon.

Montessori teaches that what the brain needs to learn must first come through the sensory experience of the hands. The use of different textures is very important for this. Brandon decided that dead grass and mud were the perfect specimens for LydiaSue to begin her exploration of the world. I was none the less very reassured by this picture!




Montessori also encourages the use of simple, wooden toys in a child's environment to help them understand the function of objects as well as learning their various characteristics.

Simple play and building obviously just weren't fun enough...



Montessori also emphasizes the need for children to be outside and to explore the world in its most natural form. I totally agree with this, but not so sure if this would have been the activity I would have chose for Alyas to do...



It's a good thing Montessori teaches that children should learn by doing every day house hold chores like laundry!

One thing that Montessori is not big on are things like imagination or actives like the dressing up like make believe characters. But as I said we are not doing a complete home make over here. I had to include these pictures/video because I found them pretty funny.

This is supposed to be a replica of Buzz Light Years Helmet...


Lydia dresses up as Woody...

...and Brandon tries to convince her to keep her hat on.



If you would like to encourage Brandon please leave your comments and I'll pass them on!