Free Montessori Time?

Somehow, my kids, except maybe Sofiyya, aren't very Montessori-like, if they were left to choose their own materials to learn, they'd just reach out for their trains and cars. There are beautiful days, when the boys would reach out to the materials in the shelves and silently work on them. That would be like, one out of five days if I'm lucky.....

So, there I'd go suggesting things to them. I really should put in more effort to make the materials more attractive and fresh....mummy's always dozing off the moment she puts her head on the pillow....

It's tempting to just use books....but I think learning is a holistic process that needs to cater to different needs of each child. How very difficult it is to practice the theories in my head....

I have just finished reading through most of Richard Gentry's 'Breaking the Code'. I love the free writing methods that he encouraged and his research is in line with Montessori's belief that writing is part of the learning path to reading.

Am right now in the middle of John Holt's ' Learning all the time'. I would certainly use his suggestion of using everyday things like bills, newspapers, signboards etc to learn reading and most of all, to teach the child to read what he is interested in. I guess I should be looking at car magazines now, eh?

There is no one way to learn, and I am enjoying learning different ways of learning while incorporating them all in Montessori's methods which has always been open to change anyway.