organization Archives - montessori works

toy storage – my montessori corners

Sorry for that longer then planned absence, but hi and I’m back! During this unplanned break I did a complete sort through of Imogen’s toys and I firmly established our toy library area.

First, I highly recommend the book Simplicity Parenting, by Kim John Payne. There is an entire chapter that deals with toys, it can be summed up by this one quote from the book:

“A smaller, more manageable quantity of toys invites deeper play and engagement. An avalanche of toys invites emotional disconnect and a sense of overwhelming.” pg. 65

That being said, we still have way too much. But, here is how I try to contain and organize the seemingly endless stuff.

This is our main living area and her main play space. She was in a funny place where she rarely played with her trains anymore, but was HIGHLY resistant to any mention of packing them up and putting them in the toy library (more on this whole situation later in the post). Continue reading “toy storage – my montessori corners”

many mini book nooks – my montessori corners

The books, oh the books. They’re everywhere – tucked into shelves, under beds, in baskets and bins. I love the variety and the options, but when there are too many choices and no organizational framework, the options are no longer fun but rather overwhelming – for both me and the children.

In a Montessori classroom the space should be thoughtfully organized and beautifully maintained (just don’t check how dusty my moveable alphabet might be okay?). This external organization should make the materials (in this case books) easily accessible to the child, be simple to maintain and be somewhat intuitive, it makes sense to both the child and the adult. While all areas of the home do not have to live up to these same standards, there are some basic ways we can implement the same ideas throughout our homes and spaces. This is my approach to finding a system to both showcase and wrangle all the wonderful books that were overflowing in our house.

What made the most sense to me was to gather up ALL the children’s books in the house – and I mean all of them. I then found some deeply discounted storage bins, I bought six and I just used five. I labeled each bin, Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, and Winter Holidays. And then I started sorting. I had been rotating books by season for a while, but I never really had a system, it was more of a grab and go situation.Continue reading “many mini book nooks – my montessori corners”

art closet – my montessori corners

Just as I am not the Montessori teacher to go to for art ideas, I am not the artsy mom either. I can get into crafts, but as I confessed in my last post, I do struggle to find ways to encourage and support art in the class and the home. My general philosophy for most things is — if the materials are ready and easy to put together, it is far more likely I will use them. Following that, at our house we have the our art closet. It’s not perfect, it’s not always neat, it’s not a lot, but it is working.

Continue reading “art closet – my montessori corners”

basics – my montessori corners

I have tried to think about what would define our home as a Montessori home, because it is, but how? I do not have works for my daughter – she comes to school with me and has a whole class full of works and two wonderful teachers, thankfully that is off my plate – but I still support and develop the basics of all Montessori activities — coordination, concentration, independence and a sense of order. Here are a few ways that I have found that work for our family.

The Learning Tower

Continue reading “basics – my montessori corners”

the closet – my montessori corners

There are so many wonderful ways to incorporate Montessori into the home. Some families have beautiful Montessori inspired playrooms, others have whole classrooms where they focus their homeschool activities, I fall somewhere in the middle. I am starting this series “our montessori home” as a way to show how we do Montessori in our home and how it has worked, how it hasn’t (I am thinking about our disastrous floor bed experience), and how it has evolved as Imogen grows.

To start it off I wanted to share my recent redo of my daughter’s closet.

Okay, here it goes, the before. Close your eyes, it’s a scary sight.