Pre-k. Am I looking for Montessori?

[Ohdanigirl]

My youngest is four and ready/asking for some mommy school time. Obviously, as his mother I am a bit biased and believe he is a sweet and intelligent little sweet-heart. ;) It has been quite a few years since I have had a pre-school aged child, though. This particular child is a very hands on type of boy. He enjoys puzzles, playing with his, Legos, blocks, toy tool bench and tools, taking things apart, and being read too.

 

Also, we have made it a point to speak only Spanish to him from birth. I have always taught my children Spanish first, including reading, before introducing English in K. Although, he understands English and speaks some from hearing his brothers speak English to each other. For these reasons, I do not want to introduce any academic books, but would rather focus on manipulatives and play. I may do MEP'S Reception lessons, but completely in Spanish. I also have R&S A, which I can dust off, but am unsure about trying to start that in Spanish when I intend to do B in English.

 

Basically, I am just not sure what I want to do yet. I know I want a hands activity based approach to teach solidify pre-k skills. I don't want workbooks at all. Maybe coloring letters, tracing them in the sand, but no pencil and paper work. I want to follow his lead, meaning that school will be when he wants it. I like to have a few baskets for activities we can pull out for him to choose from.

 

So which activities would you recomended? What manipulatives could I buy fairly inexpensivelyor make? Also, I am really open to any good suggestions for articles to read to help me learn about what approach it is I really want. Open to any and all suggestions.

 

Thanks.

[Walking-Iris]

My youngest is four and ready/asking for some mommy school time. Obviously, as his mother I am a bit biased and believe he is a sweet and intelligent little sweet-heart. ;) It has been quite a few years since I have had a pre-school aged child, though. This particular child is a very hands on type of boy. He enjoys puzzles, playing with his, Legos, blocks, toy tool bench and tools, taking things apart, and being read too.

 

Also, we have made it a point to speak only Spanish to him from birth. I have always taught my children Spanish first, including reading, before introducing English in K. Although, he understands English and speaks some from hearing his brothers speak English to each other. For these reasons, I do not want to introduce any academic books, but would rather focus on manipulatives and play. I may do MEP'S Reception lessons, but completely in Spanish. I also have R&S A, which I can dust off, but am unsure about trying to start that in Spanish when I intend to do B in English.

 

Basically, I am just not sure what I want to do yet. I know I want a hands activity based approach to teach solidify pre-k skills. I don't want workbooks at all. Maybe coloring letters, tracing them in the sand, but no pencil and paper work. I want to follow his lead, meaning that school will be when he wants it. I like to have a few baskets for activities we can pull out for him to choose from.

 

So which activities would you recomended? What manipulatives could I buy fairly inexpensivelyor make? Also, I am really open to any good suggestions for articles to read to help me learn about what approach it is I really want. Open to any and all suggestions.

 

Thanks.

 

Montessori inspired anything is nice.There are a ton of blogs and websites and Pinterest boards related to it you can find with a simple search. Handwriting Without Tears is nice (you can use the wooden letters and play doh activities instead of workbooks) You may even be able to find them in Spanish. 

 

Montessori Print Shop has fun downloads. Highly recommend the moveable alphabet. 

 

http://www.montessoriathomebook.com/Home.html/ I've been dipping into this ebook for a couple years now.

 

You could add fun science activities--Mudpies to Magnets is fun. 

 

http://www.pinterest.com/walkingiris/homeschooling-preschool/  Pinterest is your friend for activity ideas! You could also garden,bake and cook, do some nature study.

[Chris in VA]

You say you want preschool skills? So, fine/gross motor activities, number/letter work, matching, part/whole relationships, patterning, etc.?

Here are links to my pinterest boards. Maybe you can find some fun stuff to work with. I'm into natural materials and loose parts--a Reggio Emilia vibe--, and some pseudo-Montessori. Some of these are obviously for a classroom, but easily adaptable. Do you have a little area for your sweetie? YOu can set some trays up with activities and teach him to use a Monti rug. I got a bunch of magnetic letters at the dollar store and painted them red (vowels) and blue (consonants) and then did some object box lessons with dd--small animals/toys/objects that started with each letter, and then objects that were 3 letter CVC words. Also just continue reading good books above his level to introduce rich language. (Not slighting picture books--read tons of those, too!) Round out with creative play, outside time, and general around-the-house normal life stuff (chores, baking, visiting friends, etc). 

 

General Preschool activities

 

Natural materials

 

Monti DIY

 

Preschool science

[anabelneri]

From what I've read, it's not helpful to do math in multiple languages at a young age.  Since math *is* a language, it can be confusing for a young child to be taught in one language, then in another.  I wish I remembered where I read that, but I believe it was in a book that was overall supportive of multi-lingualism.

 

I used a more Waldorfy preschool program - http://weefolkart.com/content/homeschool-companion-guides - which is in English, but it has good ideas and hands-on projects.  It's rather crafty, seasonal, and very gentle.  

 

I also love Montessori... but as the pp suggested, Pinterest is a great resource and can help you pinpoint what you're looking for.  If you start looking for Montessori materials, I've had luck on Etsy and at Montessori Services.

[Ohdanigirl]

Thank you everyone. I have been checking each of the links and reading up on the subject. I have found quite a bit f useful info. I am definitely going to focus on developing his fine motor skills and have found some good ideas on some of the montessori at home blogs.

 

@anabelneri, I am familiar with that argument. I would argue that our situation is somewhat different, though. I have purposely refrained from teaching my son English. He is, for the most part, only speaking Spanish. It would be logical that I teach him his numbers, counting, etc in. Spanish. It will be at least 1 year before I even begin to teach him English. Once he begins speaking English, I would introduce Math in English. First, because he wouldn't understand it until then. Second, because Ca requires instruction be in English. Thank you for the link. I was also reading up on Waldorf, but I am not sure I understand the approach too well. It seems that many of the articles I have found are not at all unbiased when describing the Waldorf approach. I will continue reading, though.

[elmerRex]

We also focus on the home language first, but we have used some English language workbooks in the mix. We really like Kumon books for the 2-5 range, the ones that teach or develop a skill like cutting, tracing, pasting etc. All those are independent of language.

 

Our kids have no problem with bilingual mathematics. I don't know anything about kids not being able to learn maths in different languages. The biggest problem might be word problems or number riddles, but my son can even solve word problems in English now that his English is caught up to fluent.

 

[Guest freawaru]

Yes, you don't want to do too much sit down school at this age, especially when you're already working with two languages. I'd give him some tracing worksheets if he wants school like his brothers, maybe play with clay letters and that sort of thing.

 

And then informal math-- working on concepts rather than on language. You could get the sample lessons from the Rightstart website and use ideas from there, spread over time. Or another book is Math Anywhere, by Griffen--  a hand-holding guide for parents looking to do non-seatwork math with their preschoolers. That one is only available as a kindle edition on amazon at the moment though; you won't be able to find a hard copy.

[Renai]

We homeschool bilingually English/Spanish. When my oldest was 4, I had what I called Spanish K, as we actually intended on putting her in public K the following year (birthday was after cutoff). Pre-reading/reading and math were all in Spanish. Everything else was according to her interests, so was dependent on what language I could find materials. I aimed for at least 50/50 in science and social studies, finding books in the languages rather than translating. At the time I translated math to Spanish using Shiller (although the songs were in English), and handmade materials for reading.

 

We continued homeschooling, reading and math in Spanish, other subjects mostly English with as many Spanish materials I could find. I used Mundo Matematico (SantillanaUSA), now discontinued, and Pata Pita and Aprendo Leer (Trillas) for reading. I began introducing some English phonics beginning in the 1st grade, but my focus was Spanish. We began English reading in earnest in 3rd grade, and she caught up quickly, considering she has dyslexia. I switched math completely in English in 4th grade, as that's what I was comfortable teaching. She was familiar with the terms as I occasionally used Singapore alongside her studies.

 

I should probably mention that she was completely bilingual by 4 (dad spoke Spanish, I spoke mostly English to her), but I felt more comfortable teaching reading in Spanish (my second language) since I had worked in bilingual classrooms. My goal was always bilingualism and biliteracy. Last year, she placed in a native language Spanish language arts class at the dual-language secondary charter school (instead of learning Spanish), and she has always tested above grade level in both languages in reading.

 

I think it is hard for a child to learn to read in a language they do not know. It is one thing to read words and another to read with comprehension. I'd suggest teaching reading in Spanish first. Reading skills will transfer. I realize CA law, but English reading instruction can consist of reading books in English (vocabulary development which is VERY important) and pointing out/introducing words that contain the same letters he learned in Spanish already. NM law also says we're to do instruction in English, and some instruction was in English, but I don't have anyone looking over my shoulder either.

 

I'm not sure I will take the same route with my youngest, as her stronger language is English. She understands everything in Spanish though, so I think we'll take the plunge. If it's not working, I'll switch to English and introduce the Spanish more slowly- the exact opposite of how I taught the oldest. Our goal has always been biliteracy, but it can be reached in different ways.

 

Good luck!