8 Everyday Items to Support Toddler Independence

Here is an a blog entry i came across on the website montessorirocks.com and thought it may be of interest to those of you that want to encourage their toddler's independence at home.

Happy Learning!

In just a couple of months, my son will be turning 2-years-old. As a parent, I am sure you can relate to the magnitude of emotions this brings. A parent, in reference to children growing up, surely must have coined the term “bittersweet.” Parenting is, without a doubt, the most incredible journey of constant learning, stretching, bending and growing.

This past year, I have witnessed the phrase “help me do it myself” come to life. My son truly thrives when he is able to do the tasks he sees me do every day. He also enjoys playing the role of my “big helper.”

When it comes to things in the home, I am someone who believes “less is more,” however, I have come to find these eight items to be extremely helpful in assisting my toddler on his quest for independence.  Now, don’t feel like you need to run out and buy any one of these to achieve the same results… There is certainly room for creative interpretation!

1. Fold-Up Stool

My kiddo has been using this stool as part of his everyday exploration since he was a 1-year-old. With it, he can help himself to kitchen drawers (don’t worry, they are all “safe” for exploring), turn the light switches on or off, grab a book off one of our higher bookshelves and so much more. It’s so fun to watch him use his stool to explore new heights!  It’s even light enough for him to fold up and carry from room to room, which he often enjoys doing!

Activity Suggestion: Have a designated junk drawer specifically for your child that’s always refreshed and ready for exploring! Remember to follow the child and connect the items back to their interests. It is important to make this a safe activity for your child, but adding some adult tools and items would be okay too. Some suggested items: cut-out coupons, a key ring with keys, photos, small containers with lids, card sets and even crayons.

2.  Learning Tower 

I spend a lot of time in the kitchen creating real, nutrient-dense foods.  The Learning Tower allows my son to be right there in the action, safely!  He helps me do everything from the dishes to meal creation.  While up at the counter level, he works alongside me and helps snap the ends of green beans, de-stem kale, and throw sweet potatoes in the food processor.  I have noticed recently that he is even more excited to eat the food that he has had a hand in creating.  Imagine that!

3.  Pouring Pitcher

Do I dare say that my son is a master at pouring? He loves it!  Almost daily, we set up a pouring practice station using this pitcher, a teapot, a variety of different sized cups and sometimes a funnel or two.  While in deep concentration, he carefully pours one to another, and takes a sip here and there.  This is truly an awesome fine motor activity and practical life skill that has allowed him to gain more independence. He also enjoys other independent activities such as watering the houseplants, feeding and giving water to the dogs and dumping his potty into the toilet.  

4.  Table and Chairs 

I love having a table and chair set in our kitchen that is fit for his size.  We use this for snack time, arts and crafts, putting together puzzles and so much more.  It is really rewarding to see him use this space on his own terms.  He’s able to pull out the chair, climb up and sit down without any assistance needed.  He is becoming more independent by doing this on his own!

5.  Pumpkin Knife & Wavy Chopper 

Children are always watching and absorbing our actions.  I learned early on that my son has a thing for cutting his own food.  He knows he can’t have sharp knives, which makes him want them all the more!  Cutting, like many other fine motor skills, takes practice.  With a dull knife and/or wavy chopper, we incorporated soft foods first (such as bananas and avocados) when learning to cut foods. Now we practice with a variety of textured foods such as homemade banana bread, cheese and cucumbers.  These tools have certainly been a gift that allows him to safely play an active role in preparing his snacks and meals.

6.  Dust, Sweep & Mop Set

I often joke that my son is a better cleaner than me!  He loves to take a wet rag and wipe down his table, the floors and walls, and even give our dogs a little face wash. This set has been helpful in allowing him to get even more involved in the care of our home environment. He sweeps up his messes, and then grabs the dustpan and eagerly dumps dust into the compost.  Who said cleaning can’t be fun and educational?

Activity Suggestion:  At the child-sized table, consider setting up a station with a cutting board, banana and a dull knife.  Make sure to model for your child the proper way to cut the banana. Then pass the knife and allow for practice while under your observation.  Having them clean up with the dust, sweep and mop set when they are finished is another way to practice caring for their environment.

7.  Garden Tool Set

Two of my son’s chores are watering our houseplants and helping in the garden.  This is another great activity to practice caring for the environment. He takes great pride by slowly carrying the watering can to the plants; carefully pouring the water and even watching the water sink into the dirt. He’s even become quite attached to the plants as he often kisses the leaves before walking away (Ahh- sweetest thing, ever)! I’m excited for spring to come so he can start playing and digging in the dirt!

8.   Jumbo Wooden Puzzle Sets 

These jumbo wooden puzzle sets have taught my son patience. At first, he would get so frustrated that he would throw the pieces when he couldn’t get them to fit in the right spot. After witnessing this a few times, I began to immerse myself in the process by trying to complete the puzzle set myself and asking him for help. In his “helper” role, he would show such greater depths of patience. Now, he will easily complete the puzzle and patiently work to get each piece in!

Being a role model for my child and allowing him to be more independent has certainly been helpful. Not only are household chores being completed, but my child is also gaining the confidence and patience while completing them. Whether you are the “perfect” Montessori mom or not, we all know that sharing our ideas and practices can help others help their children on the path to independence- one step at a time!

If you are looking for the perfect Montessori additions to your home, consider checking out Montessori Rocks! Marketplace for all of our Montessori product recommendations, including must-read books!

Share with me! How do you encourage independence for your child at home?

Tonya Holcomb has a true passion for natural parenting and the infusion of Montessori principles and attachment parenting. She dreams of one day (soon!) opening a nature-based Montessori school in her community. As a Holistic Health Coach and real foodie, she works to help guide busy moms towards their most nourished and balanced selves. Through her health coaching programs, she specializes in helping moms achieve desired weight-loss goals and adopt natural living through all aspects of life. Tonya is a true example of a busy, entrepreneurial spirited wife and mother who always makes time for her health! Get to know her at LikeMindedMamas.com

Will a Montessori Education Prepare My Child for the “Real World”?

This article is for all those people who have found themselves asking this question all the time. Hope you enjoy it

This is a common question I hear as I meet with prospective parents and take them on a tour through our community at The New School Montessori.

This is a difficult question to answer considering the “real world” is a relative term.  Do they mean the “real world” of professional pressures, deadlines, and aggressive competition? Or do they mean the “real world” of emotional intelligence, engaged citizenry, compassion, joy, and relationship to one’s environment?  If I were to be honest with myself, I’m pretty sure they’re asking about the former – the “real world” of work.  Fortunately, no matter which version of the “real world” they are referring to, my answer is the same, a resounding “Yes!”

Multi-age classrooms and emphasis on time management prepare in “real world” ways.

For those of you who are not familiar with Montessori education let me briefly explain that it is a philosophy and pedagogy based on the scientific research of Dr. Maria Montessori. Children are grouped in multi-aged classrooms, where students are engaged in hands-on, self-paced, collaborative work. Multi-aged classrooms allow older students to be leaders and mentors while providing opportunities for younger students to work with older classmates on group projects.  In addition, Montessori teachers do not stand in front of a class giving lectures while asking students to work on the same thing, at the same time, in the same way.  Rather, they walk throughout the classroom working one-on-one with students or in small groups.  At the core of the Montessori philosophy is the belief that all students have a natural desire to learn, explore, and joyfully work toward independence through knowledge and discipline.

Now, keeping all of that in mind, I want you to ask yourself:

• In any “real world” job, is everyone the same age?
• Are workers all sitting at their desks working on the same thing at the same time?
• Do workers often need to access memorized facts in a timed setting?  Of course not.

In a “real world” job, one is expected to be able to work with people at different levels of experience, work well independently and in a group, set up work, concentrate on it, keep it organized, complete it, and put it away.  Workers need to try things to see if they work and then learn from their mistakes. They need to be able to problem solve and to communicate effectively.

The top five types of knowledge and skills employers are looking for in the 21stCentury were listed by a Gallup poll in this order and are all skills deeply embedded in the Montessori method: 

• Critical thinking and problem solving,
• information technology application,
• teamwork and collaboration,
• creativity and innovation,
• and diversity training.

Montessori education has been proven to prepare children for the “real world.”

An article titled “Montessori Mafia” in the Wall Street Journal by Peter Sims, author ofLittle Bets: How Breakthrough Ideas Emerge from Small Discoveries, states,

“The Montessori educational approach might be the surest route to joining the creative elite, which are so overrepresented by [Montessori] alumni that one might suspect a Montessori Mafia: Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, videogame pioneer Will Wright, and Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales.”

Sims didn’t mention other famous Montessori innovators like Julia Child, Katherine Graham (Pulitzer Prize winning author), Gabriel Garcia Marquez (winner of the Nobel Prize for literature), Yo-Yo Ma (cellist and winner of 15 Grammy Awards), George Clooney (Academy Award winning actor), Helen Keller (who is considered one of the most widely admired people of the 20th Century), and the list goes on.

In 2004 Barbara Walters interviewed Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, and asked them if having college professors as parents was the major factor behind their success. Page stated that more influential than having professorial parents was the fact that, “ We both went to Montessori school, and I think it was part of the training…being self-motivated, questioning what’s going on in the world, doing things a bit differently.”

In the popular magazine Science, Angeline Lillard published a study comparing the educational achievement performance of low-income Milwaukee children who attended Montessori preschools versus children attending a variety of other traditional preschools determined by lottery. Lehrer found that by the end of kindergarten, “Montessori students proved to be significantly better prepared for elementary school in reading and math skills than the non-Montessori children. They also tested better on “executive function,” the ability to adapt to changing and more complex problems, an indicator of future school and life success.” 

What about Montessori at a high school level? Clark Montessori (a Cincinnati public Montessori school) provided these results of their 88 graduates in 2010:  100% graduation rate.  100% of the graduates went to college.  33% were first generation in their families to attend college, and 33% came from families in need of free or reduced lunches.

So yes, a Montessori education will prepare your child for the “real world” of 21stCentury employment.  But here’s the added bonus; a Montessori education will also prepare your children for the “real world” of life, learning skills like how to: 

• resolve conflicts peacefully.
• build a relationship between themselves and their environment.
• remain curious and a life long learner.
• treat others with kindness and respect.
• be more interested in the joy of discovery than the value of a grade or paycheck.
  • reflect and know how to celebrate their individuality while at the same time knowing how to sacrifice their own desires for the benefit of the whole.

These values have deep roots in Montessori education, and it just so happens they are also what prepare us for how to live fully in the “real world” of life.

So, will a Montessori education prepare your child for the “real world?”

Yes it will.

Jeff Groh

A Montessori education for high school years

This is another interesting article i came across from the website http://www.examiner.com/ explaining how the Montessori curriculum can be applied to children aged 15-18

I wrote recently of the unique perspective Maria Montessori had about education during the middle school years. But what about the high school years?

Here, Montessori believed in more serious academics, but with much real-world experience.

Montessori expert Michael Olaf says of the years 15-18:

"For age fifteen to eighteen, when the rapid growth of adolescence is slowing, a more rigorous intellectual schedule works, combined with social work and apprenticeships in the work world."

Maria Montessori herself greatly disapproved of the way high schools were run. She wrote:

The need that is so keenly felt for a reform of secondary schools concerns not only an educational, but also a human and social problem. Schools, as they are today, are adapted neither to the needs of adolescents nor to the times in which we live...

But above all it is the education of adolescents that is important, because adolescence is the time when the child enters on the state of adulthood and becomes a member of society. If puberty is, on the physical side, a transition from an infantile to an adult state, there is also, on the psychological side, a transition from the child to the adult who has to live in society. These two needs of the adolescent: for protection during the time of the difficult physical transition, and for an understanding of the society which he is about to enter to play his part as an adult, give rise to two problems that are of equal importance concerning education at this age.

Montessori believed that the needs of the high school student were moral development, intellectual studies, real work experience and preparation for life.

Real work is an important learning tool during the high school years, but Olaf points out that most jobs for teenagers offer little in terms of education. He suggests unpaid apprenticeships:

It is time-consuming to take an untrained person in and share the work, and often, because of the lack of training and the short hours, having an apprentice is more of an expense than a help to a business. Young people should be aware of this and look for what they can offer or learn, instead of what they can get in the way of salary. Apprenticeships are not paid positions, but they can be extremely beneficial to the students, and sometimes open up important job possibilities in the future.

Olaf also points out the importance of teaching teens to use their money and their employment in a responsible manner. He quotes Kenneth Woodward, who wrote of the problem of how teen employment in modern times prolongs adolescence and sets teenagers up to fail in adulthood:

By the ‘80’s, three out of four high-school seniors were working an average of 18 hours a week and often taking home more than $200 a month. But their jobs, often in fast-food chains, were rarely challenging and earnings were immediately spent on cars, clothing, stereos and other artifacts of the adolescent good life. Indeed, researchers at the University of Michigan find that less than 11 percent of high-school seniors save all or most of their earnings for college or other long-range purposes.

In short, teenage employment has only intensified the adolescent drive for immediate gratification. Instead of learning how to delay desires, students are indulging what University of Michigan researcher Jerome Bachman calls "premature affluence." The problem, says Bachman, is that these adolescents tend to get accustomed to an unrealistic level of discretionary income which is impossible to maintain at college, unless they have extravagant parents. "And if they don’t go to school," he observes, "they will have to continue to live at home if they hope to keep up their personal spending habits."

Therefore, a homeschool Montessori education for the high school years would typically contain these elements:

• Taking part in planning the budget of the home
• Community service and volunteer time for moral development
• Apprenticeships for educational work experience
• Learning through real-world experience and interaction with experts in various fields
• In depth independent study

Montessori high schools often require students to perform a certain number of community service hours and write theses. As in younger years, there is not an emphasis on tests or grades but instead on mastery of subjects before moving on.

Other elements of the Montessori education would also continue, such as interest-led studies, maintaining a natural environment, hands-on learning, healthy eating, helping teach younger children and participating in real-world skills such as cooking, gardening, homemaking and building.

Maria Montessori herself had this to say about how to truly educate teenagers:

And how far, we may ask, does it take one to hold a degree these days? Can one be sure of even earning a living? ...And how do we explain this lack of confidence? The reason is that these young men have spent years in listening to words and listening does not make a man. Only practical work and experience lead the young to maturity.

My vision of the future is no longer of people taking exams and proceeding on that certification from the secondary school to the university, but of individuals passing from one stage of independence to a higher, by means of their own activity, through their own effort of will, which constitutes the inner evolution of the individual.

In short, a homeschool Montessori education in high school attempts to prepare teenagers academically, vocationally, morally, financially and emotionally for a successful life. In an age when high school is increasingly treated as nothing but four years of college preparation, this can be a a critical difference for the ultimate success of our children.