Montessori Monday – Do You Need to Do What I Do?

We all feel this to some degree. Are we doing enough? Do we need to be doing what we see online?

And I’ve been asked if you need to do what I do. So, what’s the answer?

Do You Need to Do What I Do?

I’m a former Montessori teacher and school owner. I homeschooled my kids through high school. I have a master’s degree in early childhood studies. I now do educational activities with my toddler granddaughter when I watch her a few afternoons each week. I use my knowledge and experience from all those for my blogging.

But you don’t need to do what I do. I’m showing lots of ideas so that my readers will have a variety of activities to choose from for a variety of interests and ability levels.

And because I’m a blogger, I sometimes do more activities at home than I would otherwise. Sometimes I’m testing out activities on my granddaughter. She loves it, so it’s not a problem. But they’re not always activities I would have put out specifically for her.

Yes, I write about LOTS of activities.

If you have a baby, you’ll find  lots of baby posts here.

If you have a toddler, you’ll find lots of toddler posts here (plus many toddler activities on the Living Montessori Now YouTube channel).

If you have a child who’s a preschooler through early elementary, you’ll find lots of unit studies + seasonal/holiday activity posts here.

You’ll find other levels and types of activities and ideas in other categories on Living Montessori Now.

Visit Deb @ Living Montessori Now’s profile on Pinterest.

You’ll find even more activities on my Pinterest boards.

What Should You Do?

Yes, it can be overwhelming. Please, just choose what works for you and your family. Observation is so important in Montessori education. Observe your child to see your child’s needs and interests.

Montessori education is meant to be individualized, and you have the perfect opportunity to individualize your child’s education/activities at home. So don’t worry about comparing yourself to me or your child to my children or granddaughter. Don’t worry about comparing yourself to any blogger or your child to any blogger’s child.

We’re all unique, and we all have our strengths and weaknesses. You won’t see me writing a lot about crafts because crafts aren’t my thing. You won’t see a lot of my sewing activities, because there typically are none. I will share activities like crafts and sewing activities on Facebook and Pinterest, though, from bloggers who are crafty. What I mainly write about are Montessori-inspired learning activities and ideas. That’s my passion. I also share parenting and character-education posts, especially at Bits of Positivity, my other blog. Those are my strengths and what you’ll see the most of by me.

Make use of your strengths, too. Find ways to share your strengths when you’re working with your child. If you find the number of activities online overwhelming, I invite you to watch our free webinar and check out our Montessori Crash Course. Jo Ebisujima and I do a lot of hand-holding and answer specific questions to help parents feel comfortable with doing Montessori at home. We love helping parents through the course.

I hope you’ll just take from me what you’re drawn to, what you feel will help your child or children. Most of all, have fun. You don’t need to be perfect. I’m certainly not perfect, and my kids turned out great anyway. That can be the same for you.

Montessori Monday Link-Up

If you have some Montessori activity trays/lessons to share, please link up below. It’s fine to link up a post from your archives – and you may link up anytime during the week! Your post may be any Montessori-inspired activity or idea. It doesn’t need to be related to my Montessori Monday post.

If you’re wondering what’s considered “Montessori inspired” and what to link up (or not link up), check out my “What Is Montessori Inspired?” post. Link up your exact post URL so that we can find your activity if we return to the linky at a later date (which I often do when I’m looking for activities for a roundup post). Don’t link to giveaway posts (unless the giveaway is only part of a Montessori-inspired post). Giveaways in general should go on my giveaway linky. Also, don’t link directly to products. You can link up a review of a Montessori product or activity post related to a Montessori product.

I publish the Montessori Monday post and linky each Monday morning and keep the linky open throughout the week. Please place the Montessori Monday button (using the code from the right sidebar) in your post or put a link back to this post. I do a lot of sharing on the Living Montessori Now Facebook page from the Montessori Monday link-up. Thanks for participating!

Notes: For community discussions, please join us at the Living Montessori Now Facebook page. And don’t forget the Saturday/Sunday weekend sharing days where you may share a kid-related activity of any kind at the Living Montessori Now Facebook page!

It’s also Motivational Monday on Mondays! I invite you to share something positive on the Bits of Positivity Facebook page (Bits of Positivity is my other blog) to help us all get a good start on the work/school week. You might share an inspirational or motivational quote, positive graphic, or post about finding balance or simplifying your life. Or you might share a post on organizing, an encouraging post, a post about making a difference in the world, or a positive parenting post. Just go ahead and share on the Bits of Positivity wall any time today! (Please “like” the Bits of Positivity Facebook page if you haven’t already.) I’ll be pinning a number of ideas to my regular Pinterest boards.

If you have a giveaway on your blog, please add it to my Family-Friendly Giveaway Linky Page! If you enjoy entering giveaways, you’ll always find some great giveaways there.

Learn more about my eBook Montessori at Home or School: How to Teach Grace and Courtesy! I’m also one of the coauthors of the book Learn with Play – 150+ Activities for Year-round Fun & Learning!