Milford Montessori Home School Resource Guide

Now that you have managed to get your children through high school  by means of homeschooling, now it is time for them to venture out on their own and think about furthering their education.  No matter what career they may want to pursue a decision has to be made as to whether to go on to a university or college or would it be better if they just enrolled  in a technical school.  Even though college is not for everyone,  we all know that a higher education gives you a better chance of landing a job, especially the way things are going in today’s world.

Since we all know that as adults we must work and so therefore it is imperative that  we  choose a career in something that you love and not just settle for working for a paycheck week to week.  So the question is, do you have a specific career goal in mind and do you want to learn as much as you can about that specific career so as to become an expert at it?   Your answer should be yes.

Also, how will furthering  your education fit into your lifestyle?  Will you be able to afford going off  perhaps a long-distance to learn your trade or would it be simpler if you  lived at home  and maybe took evening classes while holding down a part-time job?  If you chose to go off to a university or college  you’ll probably be spending quite a bit of money as it is quite more expensive than going to a technical school and it will take up at least four years to complete your schooling.  Often times students end up with a degree in an area that they own no longer interested in  and the job market may be slower  upon graduation, thus requiring even more training.

On the other hand, if you choose to go to a technical school  keep in mind that they are more focused on a specific trade or skill,  the duration is shorter, you have flexible scheduling, hands-on training, and a more relaxed atmosphere – not to mention that you can go there for a fraction of the cost of a college of university.  Also, the time spent there is quite a bit less than you would be spending in college.   They focus on preparing students to enter the workforce upon completion of the course.  In fact, in many technical schools, the classroom environment actually looks like the workplace including equipments and tools that resemble those that are used in that particular field. Some great technical courses include not only mechanically inclined jobs such as auto mechanics and hvac, but also include fast track careers such as surgical, veterinary and radiology technicians. A great living can be earned with just a short time spent in higher education courses. The average technician salary can vary, depending on the amount of time a student spends in school learning a particular skill or trade.

If your child does pursue a technical career, he or she may find that they can make a great living with just 1 to 4 years of schooling. Community colleges as well as vocational, technical and universities offer technical classes, but in most cases technical and vocational schools focus solely on the task at hand. If a student wants to learn the career skills of a radiology technician, then that is what they will learn. Technical schools offer very little to distract from the task at hand. With a degree or certificate an individual can expect much higher salaries than a person who only has a high school diploma. To give you an idea, a graduate with an associates degree in radiology can expect to see an average radiology tech salary of at least $30,000 per year starting. This salary will only increase with time and experience that will allow them to gain more work responsibilities and thus more pay.

Another advantage of going to a technical school is that you can take up an internship or externship  as well as an apprenticeship program which will give you some hands on experience in a real world setting.    So in short,  whichever route you decide to take, follow the demands of your personality.  If your main focus is that of specializing in your vocation and landing a job right away,  a trade or technical school would be by far the best answer for you.

Are you a parent who is contemplating the pros and cons of allowing your child or children to partake in a homeschooling program as opposed to attend a public or private school? Many parents today are struggling with the same decision nationwide. There are a number of reasons for which a parent would consider pulling their kid from a public school and allowing them to learn at home.

What are the some of the reasons that you as a parent might consider allowing your child to home school? Oftentimes children find themselves in a negative environment when attending public schools. A negative environment can easily influence your child to partake in negative actions such as disobedience, drugs and alcohol, and acquiring a rebellious I don’t care attitude just to name a few.

Some parents allow their children to home school because of their home’s location. Some rural homes are 10 to 15 miles away or more from a school or school district, they allow their children to attend a public school because of the distance that is traveled each way every day.

When, if ever is homeschooling right for your child? Some parents choose to homeschool their children from kindergarten all the way through their high school years, while others allow their children to attend school through their elementary and middle school years, then pulling them out to homeschool them during their teen years. Many parents feel that this gives them the opportunity to keep an eye on and help direct their children’s thoughts and actions towards a higher education, and positive outlook on their lifestyle, thus avoiding the negative association from school mates.

Some feel that allowing children to attend homeschool from an early age can inhibit their social skills causing them to be hermits in a world where video games and Internet rule most of our children’s lives. Allowing them to interact with other students and teachers helps their social abilities in many situations throughout the rest of their life. You as a parent, are the one who has to decide whether or not homeschooling will be the right decision to make for your child.

Homeschooling is not only the responsibility of your child, but takes a large part on that of the parent who is allowing the child to homeschool. It is your job to make sure that they complete their schoolwork and maintain a constant schedule throughout their daily routine. Often times, children find home school as a way to slack off and put things off until the last minute. It is important that you as a parent and teacher instill the importance of a regular study routine. This includes starting school at the same time every day, and sticking to that schedule throughout the school year.

Here at Milford Montessori, our goal is to help give you the parent of a homeschooling child or the parents of a child who is considering homeschooling helpful tips and advice to ensure that if your child does decide to homeschool that you’re able to make sure that they get the full learning experience out of homeschooling. If done correctly, schooling can be a great stepping stone towards a higher education and allow your child to go to a college or university in the same manner that any child who attends a public or private school could.

In light of the way things are going these days in our public school system, with sex, drugs and even all the random shootings that are becoming more and more prevalent, it is no wonder that parents are wanting more and more to take their children out of the public school system and teach them at home.  So you’ve been doing a lot of research on what would be the best home schooling program for not only your children, but also for you because now teaching would become your responsibility and not that of the teachers in our school systems.

Through your many searches, you run across one that really peeks your interest.  It is called Montessori home schooling or teaching.  So naturally you ask yourself what in the world is Montessori teaching.You soon learn that it is a way of life, a philosophy about how human beings might live their lives and treat one another, an attitude of respect and encouragement for each other, no matter how young or how old.  It is a sense of partnership rather than having power and authority over one another.

As parents, we know that newborns come into our lives lacking the ability to be self-sufficient and dependant and so therefore they rely on us for everything.  So not only do we provide nurturing and protection we help them learn how to become independent and start to do things for themselves.  The single greatest drive of a young child is  to become independent, to feel competent and capable and to be seen as worthy of respect.

From personal experience as a parent, you know just how frustrating a child becomes when he is trying to complete a task and just can’t seem to get it right and then come the little tantrums as a result.  So it is only natural for you as the parent to want to take over and do it for him not realizing that this only frustrates them more and perhaps delays their independence causing a delay in their development and self-esteem.

Dr. Montessori teaches that children who feel respected and competent will develop at a far greater level of emotional well being than a child who is simply loved and doted upon.  One of her famous quotes is “The adult should be an aide to life. We must help the child learn how to do it for himself.”  In other words, the primary role of the parent is to help the child to become mature, independent and responsible.  We tend to overprotect, not realizing that our children can only learn about life through experience, just as we did.

Another Montessori teaching is that a child needs two things in life to live happily as an adult:  a strong sense of his or her identity apart from their parents and a sense of their full membership in not only the family, but the larger community in which they live.  So we need to present an honest picture of the world we are living in to our children according to their growing ability to understand.  So be a good example as children tend to learn more from what we do than what we preach!

For some reason and you’re not sure why, your son or your daughter did not do well in school this past year and it has become a great concern for you as a mom and as a parent.  You want to do any and everything you can to help them, but where do you start?  Your best friend suggest homeschooling as an alternative as she is teaching her teenage daughter at home.   I was of course a little sceptic, but  she reassured me that as long as there have been parents and children, “homeschooling” has been going on.  One example she explained to me is children who had illnesses that kept them from attending public schools were often taught at home as well as families who lived in remote areas of Alaska or other isolated regions.  Needless to say, this really sparked my attention!  So doing some research on my own, I learned a whole lot.

For example, in the 1970’s and ’80’s parents began to question whether the public school system or even the private ones were right for their children.  And now today an estimated 1.6-2.0 million children are being taught at home by their parents.  Now my interest was really peeked and I wanted to find out all that I could so that maybe I too could become one of those parents teaching their children at home.

Naturally, when I told my mom and dad that I was considering homeschooling the children, they were aghast.  They were certain that  we would be ruining our children’s lives and dooming them to an unproductive future of isolation and illiteracy.  So then this brought up the question in my mind “Can I Really Teach My Children At Home”?  Do I have the temperament or strength to take on such a task?  I don’t even have a teaching degree.  But again through research I found that dedication and hard work, not special training, is what produces outstanding educational results in a homeschool setting.  And believe me, I am a very dedicated and hard working mom and so I began to think “yes” I can do this.

So now that I had my mind made up that I  could do this, where would I find the curriculum and materials?  So my friend insured me that there’s an ever-increasing variety of curriculum – from traditional textbooks to homeschool-specific curriculum and correspondence courses and she would be more than happy to help me get everything that I needed.  And being true to her word, she helped me get everything I needed to get started, so now I had to follow through and by this time the children were very excited at he idea of being able to stay home from a public school and still be able to get their education.  And being taught by mom too!

Now, being the mother of 2 school age children and 1 toddler, how was I going to to do this?  This would mean rearranging my schedule of daily housework and grocery shopping and perhaps even going out to lunch with the girls.  Was I ready to do this?  Could I put myself on a stricter schedule?  Being determined as I was, I knew I could figure out a way, and I did.  I was pleasantly surprised to learn the subjects that can span grade levels and lend themselves to multilevel teaching.  Therefore I was able to design a program where the older child could work independently in the morning while I worked with the younger one and then while the toddler was taking his afternoon nap I was able to work one-on-one with my older child.

Higher education is one of my goals for our children and instilling that in them at an early age is important. Pushing them into a program or career that they may not like is not the way to go about doing this. Just letting them know that to ensure job security and to make a decent living that will support them and their family when they get older, they will likely need to pursue some kind of higher education. This can be in the form of colleges, universities or even technical schools. My husband attended a community college and then moved on to technical x ray technician schools before he finished with his 4 year degree. I personally would like to see my children attend a shorter program, maybe 2 years instead of 4.

So if I, a mother of 3 can do this, you can too!  It just takes a lot of planning and a world of determination on your part and there is nothing you can’t accompolish.  Do it for your kids sake!  They’ll love you for it

As parents, we want only the best for our children, and that includes a good education.  For some, this might mean sending out children to a Christian school with the hopes of a good classical education.  After all, classical education is becoming more and more popular these days and dozens of classical Christian schools are opening up all over the country.

It isn’t hard to see what goes on in the public school system these days and that really scares us as parents as well as our children.  Records show that many of today’s children are dropping out of school as early as junior high because they are so afraid of all the drugs and sex and gangs that are so prevalent.  So what are we to do as parents?  We want to protect them, but we also realize that they have to have an education to make it in today’s world.

So now comes the idea of homeschooling.  This can be very overwhelming at first, with so many questions going through your head, can I really do this, what curriculum would I use and where would I get it, and of course what about my children’s socialization?  Will my child or children be able to handle this, or better yet, will we as parents?

Keep in mind that socialization does indeed affect your children and you need to choose those influences you want in their lives.  They will get plenty of socialization from the neighborhood kids, church groups and other outside activities.

So you’ve made the decision to home school.  You have two school age children,  a toddler and a baby.  How will you be able to handle the responsibility?  Well there is a variety of things you can do.  Maybe the toddler and baby could play together while you teach.  You can also use the time while they are napping to teach the older ones.  If the toddler feels left out, let him color in the same room while you are teaching the older ones. Their brains are like little sponges and you will be surprised at the things he will pick up and absorb just by being in the same room.  If their attention span is gone, let them go play.

Getting back to the curriculum – a general list of areas of learning that you will want to incorporate into your homeschooling will be things  which you can teach not only through materials but just as a part of daily life.  You can incorporate learning into your daily life while you’re out for a walk or driving the car or even making diner.  So in other words, you can make life a learning experience.

Take for instance a lesson in Math could be as simple as adding in the grocery store while shopping, counting trees and birds while out for a walk.  A lesson in Science could be learning about different animals and plants and how and why things work.  History – where did I come from, different cities and countries and what about their Maker.  Physical Education – well look at all the playing and games they do.  Also Social Skills-how they interact with adults, their manners and unselfishness.

Another area of learning experience is that of cleaning.  Make it a part of your school day.  What better way to teach your children discipline, organization, home economics and character.  Put up a chart with a list of all the chores and then just rotate it every day.

The World Book Encyclopedia has an online listing of what your child needs to learn for each grade level.  So go ahead and if this is something you think you might could do and feel really good about, and at the same time be able to spend more quality time with your children – just do it!