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Establishing a Daily Montessori Home Routine
"Wherefore, be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of small things proceedeth that which is great." D&C 64:33
Lately I have been working on creating a good routine that works for me and my needs as an ambitious woman with many projects, and for my children, ages 6, 4, 2, 1. It must be simple, and effective. A few weeks ago I set as my goal create this simple and beautiful rhythm for each of us in my family to thrive, feel loved, and be successful in growth. I am pulling from my minor degree in psychology and masters in Public Administration, the Montessori method, the TJEd philosophy, LDS scriptures, and Charlotte Mason. I have created this simple rhythm that is being very effective in turning my somewhat chaotic day to a safe day that is flexible, yet stable. Ready? (drum roll please....) Ta-dah:
Wake up:
- work
- eat
- learn
- play
Repeat 4 times and go to bed.
Isn't that lovely and simple? That's it! Here's a visual:
Each row starts with the little work visual on the corner at 8 am. In the booklet there are visual of what work means at 8 am: wake up, brush teeth, o to bathroom, get dressed, pick up room. The next little booklet say on the cover eat ("comer" because we're learning Spanish), and inside there's a little thing that says breakfast, cereal etc. And so on with the rest. I printed my illustrations for my booklets from here.
The kids colored the picture cards with the activities. This helps them pay attention to them, and own them.
Here's the application, what we do.
It is quite simple: work, eat, learn, pay. Repeat at 9:00 am, 12:00 pm, 3:00 pm, 6:00 pm. So at 9 WORK consists of getting ready for the day (clean clothes, washing face, etc), at noon it means chore, at three it means cleanup of the toys and materials used, at six clean cooking stuff. Work is done before food because food is the motivator ("let's get ready so we can go get breakfast.... let's do it chores so we can have lunch, let's clean the house so we're ready for dinner). Eat is pretty self explanatory, but I'll just add that I teach scriptures to the kids at breakfast, we chat about what we're learning at lunch, and we talk about our day with dad for dinner (kids and adults all share, and ask). My kids go to our Montessori area after eating. I sometimes do a little circle time when I demonstrate new materials, it present a concept. Them they do their work, which an hour later had morphed into play (and I'm ok with that, because kids learn when they talk and interact). I have them read me and the baby a book whenever I nurse. We then repeat. It works for us, but I must confess that when I get distracted and of track (I.e. surfing the web), they naturally do too. I'm putting a visual on my wall around the clock to remind us what we're supposed to be doing! (We don't follow a tight schedule, but this routine).
Now, don't let the simplicity of it fool you, it is simple yet deep in its foundations. We get to learn about science, create projects, sing, dance, cook, and do all kinds of fun.
Brace yourself for a roller-coaster drive taking your from heaven's doctrine, to earthly applications, the hows and the whys. Here's the nitty-gritty. Ready,set, go:
LONG TERM GOAL: I want my children and myself to be confident and independent. I want to nurture their bodies, emotions, and intellects. And I also want them to learn to nurture them themselves, to give them fish and to learn how to fish, if you know what I mean.
DOCTRINE (why we do it): We are children of the Great Creator. Our Heavenly Father arranges space, time, and resources to create an environment where we, His children can grow and become. He is my partner in raising my children because these dear little humans are also Heavenly Father' spirit children. He sent them to me for a reason. We're on a mission. These children, and my self also through mothering them, are to become brighter, nicer, better, kinder, more humble, more loving, more intelligent, more capable, more self-governed, more like our Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ. I want to create a nurturing home environment where my children can become like them. It is important to keep the why, the doctrine, in our mind, to help give us perspective as we are in the trenches.
PRINCIPLE (how we do it): "Out of small things proceed that which is great." “Change comes by substituting good habits for less desirable ones. You mold your character and future by good thoughts and acts” (Spencer W. Kimball). For an excellent lesson on how we do it read "Good habits develop good Character."
SCIENTIFIC THEORY: Maslow provided the famous "Hierarchy of needs." He put it on a pyramid, an easy-to-understand insight in a great little visual aid that shows a foundation principle,well established in psychology, medicine, and other sciences that study human development. The principle is that that the basic physiological needs of life such as nutrition (eating), safety (feeling secure), the basic brain stem, and belonging (interaction, eye contact, a role, a responsibility), must be met before a person is ready to learn and develop higher thinking (gray matter).
through daily experiences in home life, uncomplicated by the secondary goals of academic achievement
METHOD: Family work and home education. I love how Montessori places a great emphasis on the child developing the practical life skills and confidence to take care of themselves and participate in society. All my children are also what Thomas Jefferson Education (TJEd) calls core phase, a time period when a child is setting the foundation for the rest of their lives, where "the lessons of Core Phase are taught through work and play as a family. They are:
- right and wrong
- good and bad
- true and false
- relationships
- family values
- family routines and responsibilities
- learning accountability
- the value and love of work.
APPLICATION (what it is we actually do): work. Nurturing their bodies means feeding them good food in a timely manner. It means a balanced breakfast, lunch, snack and dinner. Nurturing their emotions, hears and brains means interacting with them in a focused, directed, meaningful way. It means responding to them when they cry, talking things out and figuring it out with them to avoid toxic stress (not just letting them cry it out). To value your interaction with your children and the direct foundation role of your eye contact in their brain structure Watch Harvard's Developing Child awesome video. Nurturing their curiosity, their problem solving, and their ability to create, means letting them play and love life.
TV can be used to teach, but it also can be harmful to children. Research shows that over 9 hours of media(TV, screens, radio) a week is detrimental to their intellectual, physical, emotional development. I love this training
Benefits of Media Literacy and The Learning Triangle by KBYU TV Ready To Learn
For this reason, I have created Unit Study playlists on YouTube that are readily available for me to play for screen time. The great thing is that these are educational and I can use them as part of the Learning Triangle. For that reason we only watch educational media up to 30 mins a day in the afternoon, or up to an hour of an appropriate program of their choice on Fri. and Sat.CONFESSION: I am the first to confess that following a routine is work. It is hard for me, because I love doing my thing, writing my book, researching stuff, taking a bath on my own. The reality is that these are great pursuits, but when I chose to become a mother, I also chose for myself the responsibilities that come with it, such as feeding these souls, feeding their bodies, their hearts, and their minds. I am lucky to have a great mother who is a wonderful example of cooking yummy meals, of caring for the hearts of those around her, and of loving learning. I am from a generation of people where honestly, we are a bit more selfish. I need to grow up and fill my mother's shoes. I need to be to my children what my mother was for me: a nurturer.
The beauty of Charlotte Mason is that she teaches that when everything has a time, there is time for everything. And so I now wake up well before my children to work on my personal scripture study, my book, my blog, and those things that are mine alone. Then I have time to nurture the bodies, hearts, and minds of my children.
CONCLUSION: Creating a good routine, interacting with my children, and nurturing their bodies, hearts and minds is totally worth it! I love who I am becoming, and who they are becoming, when we go through our day with a vision, and work. I find great satisfaction in snapping pictures of our adventures and identifying the experiences that are becoming the foundation of their lives. Because out of small things, such as waking up, combing our hear, washing our dishes, learning a skill, reading a book, mopping the floor, playing together, kissing a boo-boo....great things come to pass: we grow in goodness, knowledge, ability, and there is more light and substance to our person--we become more Christlike.
