Montessori Curriculum’s Five Areas of Learning

Whether in the classroom or through preschool online, every style of education has certain focal points that benefit a child’s development. The Montessori curriculum offers an environment to play, learn, and grow through activities that let little ones use both creativity and logic to problem-solve. Online Montessori preschool and Montessori homeschool curriculum are shaped by the same ideals — offering exercises and lessons that will work the areas of learning below.

Practical Life

Montessori homeschool curriculum activities in practical life give children the chance to freely move in their environment safely. They can dress-up as a firefighter, make ice cream in the play kitchen, or sit with a teacher (or their grown-up if doing homeschool preschool) and read a book. The experiences in this area help with confidence, self-awareness, concentration, coordination, and independence. The skills include:

• Self-care: washing hands, setting/clearing the table, potty training, dental hygiene, dressing themselves, etc.
• Classroom Care: interacting with peers, cleaning up materials, cleaning up their own space in homeschool preschool, etc.

Sensorial

Getting familiar with and understanding their environment is the goal of sensory exploration. Each Montessori homeschool curriculum activity focuses on the senses, so little ones can learn to identify objects using their sensory toolbox: touch, sight, smell, sound, and taste. For example, with each new letter of the week, students at Playgarden Prep learn about a food that corresponds to that letter. They explore the food with their senses and categorize it in relation to other foods they have tried. Through their senses, they explore new things and, in turn, learn new things about themselves. Check out some fun sensory activities for toddlers HERE!

Math

Mathematics teaches Montessori preschool students how to organize certain objects or experiences using numbers. These exercises help them understand and work with numbers 1-10, as well as ready them for bigger concepts and more abstract ideas that they will explore later in their education. The exercises are designed to let children learn at their own pace, so there is no pressure to be in a certain place by a certain time. Hands-on activities are some of the most useful for math exercises. Some useful tools include: an abacus, beads, sandpaper numbers (to practice tracing), etc. Especially when doing homeschool preschool, anything you have on hand can become a math tool — folding socks, counting beans, etc. Our online Montessori preschool offers math exercises and print-outs!

Language

Vocabulary and learning skills are the focal point for the language area of the Montessori homeschool curriculum. Most children pick up language with little effort because they were born with the ability to develop language. Starting to use words as your little one gets familiar with their environment is super important in their early years, helping them to begin understanding the world around them not only internally but externally. Children learn how language is a tool, as well as the basis of communication: reading and writing.

Culture

The exercises focusing on culture introduces your little one to the appreciation of the differences in our world. They explore where they came from, where their peers come from, and how all of those differences make up the world we live in. Certain topics of the Montessori homeschool curriculum in culture include: music, art, history, zoology, biology, STEM, geography, etc.

Playgarden Prep online Montessori preschool offers activities supporting all five of these areas of learning that you can use too in your homeschool preschool classroom. Get your little one started in preschool online here!