In this article we will give a brief summary of alternative education methodologies and how you can work Montessori education at home and others in the learning process of your home-educated children.
Surely, you have ever heard of Montessori, Waldorf, Charlotte Mason and other educational methodologies?
They are all alternative methodologies to traditional education that allow children to develop and learn in a different way.
Top 3 Types of Homeschooling
Montessori education at home
The Montessori model, developed by María Montessori more than 100 years ago, is one of the most popular and well-known alternative learning methods in the world.
The Montessori method was created by the doctor based on the behavior of children and studies carried out. He identified the sensitive periods of children, that is, where they learn certain knowledge more easily, and the stages of development.
The objective of this method is to make children independent, putting at their disposal a series of work materials where they can work alone, at their own pace, choosing the material of their interest and depending less on adults, who should be guides or instructors rather than teachers.
Working Montessori homeschooling is relatively simple. But parents must educate ourselves on the method to build or buy the materials with which children will work, know the purpose of each material offered to the child and how to present it so that the child can continue to use it and get the most out of it. .
Advantages of the Montessori method
Montessori homeschooling offers an excellent method of working with children at home as it:
1.Promotes cooperation and independence. If you have several children, the older ones can cooperate with the smaller ones.
2. Encourages exploratory and real-world learning. The activities are designed in practical life, in our day to day, using the senses (touch, see, smell, hear)
3. The stages of a child’s development are the main focus to offer the activities and materials of interest to her, making the method more personalized and child-centered.
Waldorf education at home
This form of alternative education is aligned with the philosophy of Rudolf Steiner, who emphasized the teaching of art, music, and crafts as well as reading, writing, and arithmetic. With the goal of developing creative, independent, moral and happy human beings.
At this point, the method is applicable at home, although with its strong artistic focus we may need to rely on people outside the home to develop it if we do not have the artistic streak.
The approach of the method is based mainly on three out of three human functions that are developed over the years:
It corresponds to the first years of life where children want to play and explore the world through their senses and in this way they understand it.
It corresponds to the age range of 7-14 years of life, at this stage the child involves her affective capacities and develops her sensitivity, imagination and artistic creativity.
The primary basis of learning is the word and narration. Parents must tell myths, stories, historical events and in general everything without the use of books or tests.
It also seeks to promote teaching in an artistic and imaginative way, making use of arts, music and crafts.
Between the ages of 14-21, boys develop their ability to analyze, conceptualize and have abstract and critical thinking. It is also the stage where the adolescent questions everything.
Work with experts on specific topics of interest to adolescents is required to obtain a deeper and more rigorous intellectual knowledge, promoting responsibility and autonomous work.
Charlotte Mason Homeschooling
This method was created by the English Charlotte Mason
approximately in the year 1885, which consists of:
1. Work with the children in the mornings.
2. Offer short lessons (approximately 20 minutes) to have the children’s full attention and concentration
3. Work on a variety of topics, that is, the number of topics we offer does not matter, but the time allocated to each of them does.
4. Leave the afternoons available for children to explore freely, enjoy being children, follow their tastes and dedicate themselves to reading.
Charlotte Mason Support Tools
These three methods are the best known and of which you can find a lot of literature and courses that can help you fully understand the methods and apply it at home with your children. Nevertheless, they are not the only ones.
We invite you to read the article, what methods of education at home to choose and to investigate more, to understand more methods, to create your own method, or to make a mixture of several, what works best for you so that your children are happy and learn at the same time.