Five Steps for Implementing Practical Life at Home
This fall, our team attended the Montessori Homeschool Summit. We have created a five-part Montessori blog series to highlight our main takeaways from the summit for Adventure Nannies families, nannies, and private educators.
Practical life is an essential part of Montessori education. Children love to participate and help out with everyday activities! Summit Presenter Nicole Kavanaugh, of The Kavanaugh Report, shared tips for implementing practical life into your homeschool classroom. Nicole offered a five-step process for Montessori homeschool teachers looking to incorporate practical life into their routine.
- First, caretakers should evaluate their responsibilities. By making a list of all of their responsibilities, the caretaker is able to see where the children are already helping, and places where the children can help moving forward.
- The classroom environment should be prepared for independence- think low shelves, accessibility, and child-sized materials.
- Break it down- create shelf work that mirrors processes the children want to master.
- Create rhythm within your schedule. In the morning, we unload the dishwasher, and in the afternoon we tidy our rooms.
- Present, model, invite- Show children what to do, and teach them how to do it. Don’t show the activity while you’re talking- show the child after you’ve described it instead of doing both at the same time. We know- this requires a lot of patience! Expose children to the activities and they will absorb everything without us trying to teach them. Invite the children to participate with you while you’re modeling, but don’t force it!
If you’re looking for practical life ideas and tips, head over to The Kavanaugh Report!
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