Montessori & Unschooling
Do these two fit in the same sentence?
Read Willa's blog about this. I'm planning to delve into this a bit more as I've just written a chapter on Montessori in my literature book that is due to the editor by month's end.
In my book, I've attempted to explain why I think Maria Montessori's hands-on method is so friendly to Charlotte Mason's literature-based method. The two go hand-in-hand, I think.
The ideal is sitting down with a good book. The reality is having to put the book down and live life. In my ideal world, I would live inside some of the books I read. They are wonderful, colorful worlds. The reality is having to put them aside and face the crayons and posters scattered on my kitchen floor, the pre-Christmas toys scattered in the living room, the unmade beds in the bedrooms, and the stack of dirty laundry in the laundry room. But, if I combine Mason and Montessori, I have greater visions of these books and my life meeting somewhere in the middle.
I get up and become Ma Ingalls. I pick up clutter and clean rooms and make beds and wash laundry. I become Marilla Cuthbert. I am efficiency itself and give words of wisdom and discipline to the children around me. I am Pippi---short of tossing eggs onto my head---making pancakes and joyfully mopping the kitchen floor. I am Tasha Tudor, planning and creating crafty ideas within my household.
Unschooling combines these two methods nicely. Without the "relaxed", unschooling approach, our home education would dissolve into a lifeless mutany of workbooks and grades. There would be no life, no joy, no colorful worlds. These methods together remind me that my life is as good, as colorful, as wonderful as the books I read.
Read Willa's blog about this. I'm planning to delve into this a bit more as I've just written a chapter on Montessori in my literature book that is due to the editor by month's end.
In my book, I've attempted to explain why I think Maria Montessori's hands-on method is so friendly to Charlotte Mason's literature-based method. The two go hand-in-hand, I think.
The ideal is sitting down with a good book. The reality is having to put the book down and live life. In my ideal world, I would live inside some of the books I read. They are wonderful, colorful worlds. The reality is having to put them aside and face the crayons and posters scattered on my kitchen floor, the pre-Christmas toys scattered in the living room, the unmade beds in the bedrooms, and the stack of dirty laundry in the laundry room. But, if I combine Mason and Montessori, I have greater visions of these books and my life meeting somewhere in the middle.
I get up and become Ma Ingalls. I pick up clutter and clean rooms and make beds and wash laundry. I become Marilla Cuthbert. I am efficiency itself and give words of wisdom and discipline to the children around me. I am Pippi---short of tossing eggs onto my head---making pancakes and joyfully mopping the kitchen floor. I am Tasha Tudor, planning and creating crafty ideas within my household.
Unschooling combines these two methods nicely. Without the "relaxed", unschooling approach, our home education would dissolve into a lifeless mutany of workbooks and grades. There would be no life, no joy, no colorful worlds. These methods together remind me that my life is as good, as colorful, as wonderful as the books I read.
posted by Cay Gibson @ 12/22/2005 07:08:00 PM
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