How to Teach Reading Easily: Montessori Homeschooling Tips

Rachel Peachey
September 17, 2019
Blog / Education

Montessori homeschooling looks different for everyone. But one popular and common goal among Montessori homeschoolers is teaching reading. It’s a beloved part of the primary or 3-6-year-old curriculum and one area that I, like many other Montessori teachers, cherish. The beautiful sound pouches, the sandpaper letters, the moveable alphabet, the Montessori language curriculum for kindergarten aged children is amazing.

But, beyond the materials, as guides and parents, we must remember a few key Montessori ingredients. In my personal journey to teaching my kids to read, I’ve been reminded of them quite acutely. In this post, I’ll share how you can teach reading easily using the Montessori method and also share some of those key often forgotten nuggets of Montessori wisdom we mustn’t forget.

Follow the Child: The Secret to Reading Success

“Do you want to try writing some words with the letters?” I asked eagerly. Peanut had been working on letter sounds since the age of 3 and he could easily write a few words like “sam,” “sat”, and “cat”. But, it seemed he NEVER wanted to.

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Montessori Language for Kindergarteners: Part 3 in a Series About How to Teach Your Child at Home

Rachel Peachey
February 20, 2017
Education

Montessori language for kindergarteners is an addiction of mine. It’s one of my favorite things to have fun with, adding in new activities and shaking things up as much as possible. Lucky for me, Peanut loves it too! He’s been flowering, really showing interest in learning letter sounds and even starting to write them on his own.

To be honest, we started working on this months ago. You can see how we started learning the ABCs in this post here.

So, when I started homeschooling more officially, I knew Peanut would be into it. Here’s what I included to get started:

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How to Start Montessori Homeschooling: Part 1 in a Series About How to Teach Your Child at Home

Rachel Peachey
January 24, 2017
Education

We are in week two of Montessori Homeschooling! It’s the beginning of what will surely be an amazing journey. As I’m just getting started, all of the preparation is fresh in my mind.

I taught for several years in a primary Montessori classroom and still found it hard to put together the materials I wanted to use to start homeschooling with Peanut (age 4 – born in January)! So, I decided to put together a series about how to teach your child at home, with a focus on how to start Montessori homeschooling, in hopes to help others as they begin.

I’m a member of a few Montessori groups on facebook, and it seems common for people to worry about which materials to purchase or make, how to set up the classroom and what to start with. It makes sense. After all, these seem to be the main tools for learning. I, like many homeschoolers, started by thinking about what to use in our classroom space and it seemed like I needed all of the Primary Montessori materials at once. I wanted the pink tower, brown stair, sandpaper letters, spindle boxes, geography puzzles, zoology puzzles and much, much more!

Quickly, I realized that this wish list wouldn’t be possible financially or practically (we live in Guatemala…no online shopping here!). But, I also started to realize that it’s actually not necessary either.

Start Montessori Homeschooling by Following Your Child

Before I get into what I decided to include in our homeschooling beginnings, I want to say that as a Montessori teacher I LOVE and see value in all Montessori materials. I took a less traditional approach when putting our classroom together because I believe it’s more important to follow the philosophy than it is to provide all of the materials.

How to Start Montessori Homeschooling- Part 1 in a Series About How to Teach Your Child at Home — Pin it!

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What are Sensitive Periods and How Can You Use Them? Montessori Applied to Parenting

Rachel Peachey
December 6, 2016
Blog / Education

It must be some sort of rule. All toddlers seem to LOVE water play. And have you ever noticed how at a certain stage, babies become determined to move on their own, struggling until they achieve the ability to walk?

These are examples of sensitive periods.

Throughout childhood, children experience a number of sensitive periods. Some last for years at a time, and others may only last several months. Montessori coined the phrase “sensitive periods” to refer to times when children have an especially strong motivation and interest to learn about a particular subject or master a certain skill. In her observations, she discovered that many children share a lot of the same interests around the same time in their development.

How Can You Use Them?

As parents and teachers, we can take advantage of these sensitive periods to help guide our children’s learning. A perfect example is language. Montessori noticed that children experience a sensitive period in language from birth through about age 6.

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Story Retelling with Clifford {FREE PRINTABLE}

Rachel Peachey
October 26, 2016
Education

The Clifford books have got to be some of my favorite children’s books out there. Luckily, my son is also a fan. Norman Bridwell nailed it with the big red dog, his antics and constant efforts to do the right thing with a side of “oops!” These are great stories. If you haven’t read them with your child yet, I recommend you head to the library and check out a few. Then, you’ll be ready for story retelling with Clifford!

Story Retelling with Clifford

Because we enjoy so many Clifford stories at our house, it seemed like the perfect choice for story retelling work. This time, rather than paging through one of our Clifford books to retell the story like Peanut did with Swimmy, we made (drumroll)…..puppets!

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The Number One Best Writing Inspiration For Kids – FREE RESOURCE

Rachel Peachey
October 17, 2016
Education

“I don’t know what to write about!”

“I can’t think of any ideas!”

“I don’t wanna write a story!”

These are common complaints of elementary aged students who have been asked to write. They either have too many ideas and don’t know where to start or are completely uninspired.

Unfortunately, the best way to improve writing is by writing. So, if you’re a teacher or parent hoping to improve writing skills, you’ve got to get the kids to write.

As an elementary school teacher and at the library program I run, the best inspiration I’ve found by FAR are photo prompts. What better inspiration is there? At the very least, students can write a vivid description of what they see, which often leads them to other ideas that may turn into a story. Others are instantly on task, beginning a wild tale that begins with a quick look at a crazy photo. Here’s one of my favorites:

Image source

What child doesn’t want to write about waking up to a sink full of gummy bears?

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Peanut working on his ABC Book

How to Teach Your Child the ABCs and a FREE ABC Book

Rachel Peachey
October 12, 2016
Education

My little peanut has shown quite a bit of interest in learning his letters at the age of 3 and a half. We've pursued his interest by using Nell, which…