Mixed-Age Learning and Montessori
One of the things I feel my children missed out with homeschooling is peer-learning where they learn from other students through group activities or basically just being among each other. With group learning children can pick up knowledge and skills from students with better ability and deepen their own understanding by checking on their own knowledge when they try to teach other students.
Montessori (1995) said "teaching helps (the child) to understand what he knows even better than before. He has to analyse and rearrange his little store of knowledge before he can pass it on."
I do find that their loss is limited somewhat as in schools, students are not only grouped by age but also abilities; minimising any benefits from peer learning which could have been gained. This is made worse by the strong competitive nature of schooling that is centred on examination-based assessment of each students, reducing the motivation of students helping their peers to get ahead (although I may be wrong here, maybe kids here do want to see their mates get ahead).
This is unlike Montessori classrooms where students are grouped in a 3-year age range; 3-6, 6-9, 9-12 and so on. Montessori (1995) felt that there was an "atmosphere of protection and admiration" among these students. Gray (2013) saw this in how older students adapted their games to younger players and the presence of the latter elicited "the nurturing instinct in older children".
Montessori classrooms are designed in such a way that students from different classrooms are able to see what is going on in other classrooms and even walk in on them. This helps to motivate the younger students as they can see what they may be working on in the future.
Older, and generally better skilled students, in their own classrooms will, in general, be better able to grasp certain concepts and skills than younger students. They help to "scaffold", as put forth by Vygotsky, less able students to achieve their potential. Not only do they help in the learning process, older kids also guide younger students in their social skills such as handling disputes and caring for others as shown by Gray (2013) in his observations at the democratic Sudbury Valley school where children of different ages mix freely with each other.
My younger children, aged 5 and 2 have benefited a lot from their older siblings who are generally only 1 to 2 years apart from each other. They have both developed a love for reading, well Aisyah just loves being read to at the moment and flipping books but she's getting there, while Sarah is reading some of her 11-year old sister's lighter reads.
Aisyah's conversational skills, I believe have been very much contributed to by her siblings. In fact, I noticed that she copies Sarah, the one closest to her in age, in talking most. Sarah's and Aisyah has also picked up skills like riding the scooter and cycling from Umayr (13) and sword-fighting (God help me) from their Harry Potter-crazed sister, Sofiyya (11).
As for nurturing, I can sense this most in my oldest, Ihsan (15) whom Aisyah runs to for a hug and to be read to regularly. Umayr always try to stay ahead of what Aisyah wants and entice her and Sarah with his gadgets while Sofiyya is their go-to-girl for all things girlish like dress-up and more serious Quran reading and memorisation.
Well, maybe they have not lost out too much on peer learning after all...
Montessori (1995) said "teaching helps (the child) to understand what he knows even better than before. He has to analyse and rearrange his little store of knowledge before he can pass it on."
I do find that their loss is limited somewhat as in schools, students are not only grouped by age but also abilities; minimising any benefits from peer learning which could have been gained. This is made worse by the strong competitive nature of schooling that is centred on examination-based assessment of each students, reducing the motivation of students helping their peers to get ahead (although I may be wrong here, maybe kids here do want to see their mates get ahead).
This is unlike Montessori classrooms where students are grouped in a 3-year age range; 3-6, 6-9, 9-12 and so on. Montessori (1995) felt that there was an "atmosphere of protection and admiration" among these students. Gray (2013) saw this in how older students adapted their games to younger players and the presence of the latter elicited "the nurturing instinct in older children".
Montessori classrooms are designed in such a way that students from different classrooms are able to see what is going on in other classrooms and even walk in on them. This helps to motivate the younger students as they can see what they may be working on in the future.
Older, and generally better skilled students, in their own classrooms will, in general, be better able to grasp certain concepts and skills than younger students. They help to "scaffold", as put forth by Vygotsky, less able students to achieve their potential. Not only do they help in the learning process, older kids also guide younger students in their social skills such as handling disputes and caring for others as shown by Gray (2013) in his observations at the democratic Sudbury Valley school where children of different ages mix freely with each other.
My younger children, aged 5 and 2 have benefited a lot from their older siblings who are generally only 1 to 2 years apart from each other. They have both developed a love for reading, well Aisyah just loves being read to at the moment and flipping books but she's getting there, while Sarah is reading some of her 11-year old sister's lighter reads.
Aisyah's conversational skills, I believe have been very much contributed to by her siblings. In fact, I noticed that she copies Sarah, the one closest to her in age, in talking most. Sarah's and Aisyah has also picked up skills like riding the scooter and cycling from Umayr (13) and sword-fighting (God help me) from their Harry Potter-crazed sister, Sofiyya (11).
As for nurturing, I can sense this most in my oldest, Ihsan (15) whom Aisyah runs to for a hug and to be read to regularly. Umayr always try to stay ahead of what Aisyah wants and entice her and Sarah with his gadgets while Sofiyya is their go-to-girl for all things girlish like dress-up and more serious Quran reading and memorisation.
Well, maybe they have not lost out too much on peer learning after all...
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