Parents often ask what they can do to support their child as they spend time in the Montessori environment. They want to do know, what can we do at home to help what is happening in the classroom?
We love this question because there is a lot parents can do to help support their child's development:
1. Follow their lead as much as you can. Maria Montessori said, 'Never help a child with a task they can do themselves'. This may mean adjusting your schedule to allow more time to let them get dressed by themselves, get some of their own meal, or clean up any messes they have made. Think about this in very basic terms: if your child is 3 and attending school, they probably are able to do much more independently than you realize.
2. Set up areas in your home where your child can do things independently-shelves with things they use often (art supplies, books, games/works etc). Place cups/bowls/pitchers in a place where children can access them to get their own snacks/drinks. Place hooks in places in your house where you could like them to place things so they can have a routine of hanging their coat/backpack/tote bags etc in a place when they return home. Then, when they get ready to go, they will know where those things are.
3. Pictures can be very helpful with routine. Take pictures of your morning/evening routines-place pictures in a basket. When it's time to start the routine, your child can complete each picture (brushing teeth, eating breakfast etc), then place the picture in another basket when they have completed it-this is concrete way for them to know what needs to be done. This can help eliminate all the reminders. Remember too that it can take awhile to get used to using the pics, but when they do, they should be able to be independent with their routines.
4. Don't overplay their school experience, meaning, allow them to enjoy their time at school and talk about what they do there without too many questions. There's certainly nothing wrong with asking how their day was or asking about a work they did, but resist the urge to talk a lot about school or ask too many questions about how they are spending their time. Most likely, they will share with you on their own when given time/space to do so. Also, please don't tell your children to do specific works when they are at school. This can disrupt what their own choices are when they get to school. We sometimes have kids come to school saying 'my mom/dad want me to choose this work....' or my mom/dad said I need to choose a language work today'.....their time in the classroom is theirs. It's important that we (adults) don't emphasize some works as more important than others. Every work in the classroom is important, particularly if a child is choosing it. Something from each work is calling a child to it-we will never know all that is happening in a child when they choose a work. Teachers work hard to protect their choice while also giving lessons and even directing children to areas/works. But, this is done in the context of lots of observation of the children-seeing what their needs are as well as giving them support when needed.
5. Conversation-talking/listening to you child is so critical to their communication development. In the classroom, we ask the children to be next to our body when talking, we remind them to make eye contact and we do our best to talk to them in this way as well. When we bring two children together during a conflict, we emphasize taking turns talking-each child will be listened to, but they need to talk one at a time. We also help them figure out the words to describe how they're feeling or what they are asking. Children have very advanced thoughts/emotions, but many times don't have the words to express appropriately. Adults/teachers can help them develop the vocabulary to help them learn to express themselves. This takes much repetition and patience, but the fruit we see as children develop their skills is wonderful.
Hope these tips help. Would love to hear any feedback if you have tried or are trying any of these things. It's helpful to other parents to hear from moms/dads who are using things that are successful in their home.
www.CMontessori.com
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