5 Stay at Home Mom Hacks + Montessori for Mom Life I Hill Country Homestead Texas
A lot of the ‘Montessori Method’ is giving kids a lesson, making the tools they need readily available to them, and then standing back to see what happens. With just a bit of Montessori mindset the night before, the child’s environment can be fully prepared, which historically leads to a more peaceful morning. To keep things basic, minimal, and successful, here are five hacks to make your morning look a little more Montessori and, hopefully, a more peaceful community.
It ALL Comes Down To The Night Before….
1. Have at least three lessons planned out the night before. Ready to go activities; music basket, egg collecting, or nature collecting basket, counting exercise, or sound book, are always a good idea to have on hand. If there is no prep time, at least three lessons can be executed regularly with no planning. We really like these nomenclature cards that support vocabulary, matching and hand-eye coordination.
2. Have small snack plates, small cups, and a small pitcher clean and ready to go the night before. Serving snacks and pouring water is an excellent distraction from morning work or morning meltdowns. When things start going sour around 9 am, extend an invitation to the snack table where they can re-set and refuel.
3. Always keep painting supplies ready and accessible to you. If there is a lull or slow time, it’s an easy and exciting activity to pull out. A pad of paper, a couple of bottles of paint, various things to paint with, and let them get to it. An easel is even better.
4. Mentally and practically prepare yourself the night before to have your children help you with morning chores. Don’t finish everything so that it’s all done by the time they wake up. The Montessori Method preaches to include the child as part of the community (your home). So it’s recommended that the child should be participating in light sweeping and dishwashing, folding laundry on a daily schedule. These exercises should be done alongside the adult guide. Giving them a little responsibility and holding them accountable for a certain level of personal cleanliness is very practical, which is why these exercises in the classroom are called ‘practical life.’ We want our children to grow up and be positive, contributing members of society, right? That accountability can begin now at the youngest of ages, and they love to be given a chance to participate.
5. Instead of making the children lunch and then call for them to come to eat, try letting them know at a specific time it’s time for lunch and invite and teach them to make it for themselves. Teach them to get some lunch meat, bread, and cheese for a sandwich or let them spoon the macaroni onto their plate and sprinkle carrot shreds on top. Allowing them to be accountable for feeding themselves, this young gives them a lot of confidence. Take some time before bed to arrange lunch items and ingredients simply, easy to access and use by the child if you asked them, ‘Could you please get the milk for me.’ They should be capable of carrying it to you (small pitcher or mostly empty half-gallon container). Walk through the whole process from the eyes of the child to be sure there are easy ways to access all items needed, so as you are going over the list off things together, and the child can confidently retrieve each item requested.
