Montessori Homework

by Sarah Fary, Upper Elementary Teacher

I am often asked by parents how they can best support their child at home.   With summer break coming, I thought I would pass along some suggestions for the work of the child at home, outside of the prepared Montessori classroom environment.  

• www.enchantedlearning.com is a great resource, covering many different subjects.  

• Touch typing is a vitally important skill - I wish I had learned it early!  http://www.kidztype.com/browse-typing-games.html has some fun options.

• Do experiments with a chemistry set or find some good books with experiments from your local library.

• Graph your own data - when you go to bed, when you wake up, your screen time, your reading, etc.

• Measure the surface area and volume of things at home and in your neighborhood.  

• Find an adult with a specialized skill who has a lot of tools.  Find out the names of each of the tools and what they are used for.

• Learn to knit, crochet, applique, quilt, tye-dye, weave, embroider, beadwork

• Go to one of our many fabulous art museums.  Find a few paintings you love.  Visit the museum gift shop and purchase a few postcards or prints.  Make a grid on these and try to re-create them at home.

• Start a small garden for your family or help with gardening - prepare a meal with what you’ve grown.

• Get a copy of Curve Stitching by Jon Millington and work your way from front to back.

• Interview family and relatives.  Write a family history.  Start a family newsletter.

• Write a review of a book you read or a movie you saw.  What did you like about it?  What was done well or not done well?

• Practice memorizing all your math facts - addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.  Once you have them memorized, practice going as fast as you can.

• Find a newspaper article you want to discuss with your family.  Set aside a specific day and time to have the discussion.

• Consider joining a summer reading program at your public library.

• Help your parents with grocery shopping.  Bring along a calculator and keep a running tab of what you are purchasing.  See how closely your final tally matches the cash register.

• Find a book on illumination or calligraphy.  Practice writing beautifully.  Copy out your favorite poems and quotes as gifts.

• Help to plan your family vacation.  Research the area you are travelling to, its historic places and landmarks, and incorporate these into your trip.

• Instead of phone calls or email, write letters to friends and family members.  Start a ‘round robin’ letter exchange - compile three to five addresses in a list and include them with your first letter.  The recipient then writes a letter to the next person and encloses your first letter, and so on.  Eventually all the letters come back to you.