In the previous article, we discussed the Classical method of homeschooling. And in this article, we are discussing the Montessorian Model of homeschooling. Montessori has been
widely recognized by a large section of pre-schooling aspirants in the world. It emerged for the first time by Italian doctor, most prominent
personality of her times, Dr Maria Montessori in the late 19th and early 20th
century in Italy. Her empirical enquiry about quality learning of the child
with lots of efforts enabled her model to be recognized and practised by most
of the pre-school settings today. This short write up attempts to simplify how the Montessorian approach of education can be converted to homeschooling
curriculum.
Few aspects of Montessori in Homeschooling:
Few aspects of Montessori in Homeschooling:
1. Philosophical perspectives of Montessorian education: The Montessorian Model
of education is fully based on independence and freedom assuming the children
having a unique potentiality on their own. Montessori also believes on
'self-regulation' (‘Self-regulation refers to behavioural control
processes, including the ability to inhibit and delay responses, flexibly shift
and adapt, and maintain emotional control in order to achieve goals
and direct behaviour’). To mean further, children have their own potentialities
and it is to be extracted by deploying them in the right environment. Thus, in this concept teachers are mere facilitators.
2. Curriculum: As the curriculum is very essential and foremost part of the
education. Montessori also has its own set of curriculum in order to transact its
philosophical goals. Montessorian curriculum has been designed with
experiential learning approaches which have very specific sets of experiential equipment, unlike others. Moreover, math, science, history and language arts are
prescribed to have the course of study that is interpreted into the specific
distinct activities.
3. Application of the Montessori model in homeschooling: If we look at the
beliefs and approaches of the Montessori education system with its activities, our
home can be converted into Montessorian Model of homeschooling. Because to
gather the prescribed activity materials from various sources, is not a difficult
task. If the Montessori materials are not affordable, we can source a low-cost-version of Montessori learning material. We can purchase few printable
worksheets, learning game and assessment tools from some online resources. There
are some online education/homeschooling platforms which are deeply connected to the Montessorian Model of education in a various context such as lesson planning, independent
choices of activities.
Whatever might be the model of education, every system of education has
its own philosophy and teaching-learning model. But at an early age, it is very
important that parents spend more time with their children. There is a very
famous proverb, ‘Child do not listen to us, they follow us’. Thus it is very
important that parents spend quality time with their children, and parents
should develop qualities in themselves which they want to see in their
children.
We are not trying to see which system of education is best, we are trying to learn various kinds of systems of education. All the systems come with their unique goals, teaching and learning ways, assessment methods etc. It is on us, based on our needs we should select a system of education for our children.
The article is published as part of a series of articles on homeschooling.
By visiting our homeschooling page, you can read all the connected articles.
The above article is a reflection from the below article. Please Click
the link to explore the above reflection in detail from an external site.
Reflection is contributed by:
Satyasing Mushahary
An Alumni of Azim Premji University (2014-16)
Consultant @ CLLF