The most frequently asked question I get from parents is about what curriculum I recommend. I don’t recommend specific Montessori curricula, because I have no experience with the ones available for sale.
Curricula, whether Montessori lessons or a more traditional set of textbooks and related materials, are not magic when it comes to teaching. They are just the start, and in many ways, they are overrated. A bad curriculum can certainly make it hard to teach effectively, but a good curriculum will not magically make you a good teacher or make children learn anything. I focus on implementation and keeping curricula in their place as part of a much larger vision of what education is and what role teachers, parents (especially during COVID), and environment play.
In my experience, it’s far to easy to let the curriculum lead, and actually turn it into an obstacle to learning. When getting through the curriculum at a specific pace becomes the goal (and unfortunately, too many teachers are forced into this role by excessive testing and legal requirements), it’s easy to become blind to all the learning children can do outside of this curriculum and to cut off their engagement in freely chosen work. In Montessori, we aim for deep engagement, not plowing through a specific curriculum, so we need to be especially careful with this.
Many parents who are supporting their children’s learning at home still have their children enrolled in school, so they are receiving assignments and materials from their school. In this case, finding or buying a curriculum doesn’t make much sense. But parents can learn to take these assignments and adapt or enhance them for their own children.
All that said, I know many of you did not sign up for teaching your children, and are now being forced into that role on top of your jobs and other responsibilities. Getting up to speed on creating lessons is unrealistic, and you need an easy place to start. Even as trained Montessori guides, we use the lessons given to us in our trainings, rather than making them from scratch. Instead of recommending a particular curriculum, I suggest you start with the resources from AMI-USA, the American affiliate of the Association Montessori Internationale (the organization Maria Montessori established to continue her work). They have a collection of COVID-19 resources, including a section for families.
I encourage any organizations or guides offering at-home Montessori resources to post in the comments so people can find you.
Curriculum for Math
I am much more familiar with specific math curricula, and I’ve listed curricula I like. These are easier to implement at home than a full Montessori environment, or can be used in concert with Montessori work.
Illustrative Mathematics. The tasks in this curriculum are generally quite rich, and there are excellent notes for the teacher (or parent). It’s also free. Unfortunately, the elementary version hasn’t been formalized into a sequence of lessons, yet; it’s simply a collection of tasks, but this means you can pick and choose the ones you like more easily. For middle and high school math, you can find a more formalized series of lessons here.
Art of Problem Solving and Beast Academy. These offer very challenging curricula and grew out of a program to train students for math olympiads. They offer courses in a variety of formats, but you can also buy their books and work through them without any classes. Take these books slowly; the problems are wonderfully challenging! (Full disclosure: I have worked for AoPS in the past and am still technically on their payroll. I chose to work there because I like their books, not the other way around.)
Geoff Krall’s Problem-Based Curriculum Maps. These curriculum maps gather together rich problems from a variety of sources. They don’t include information on how to actually teach through problems, so you’ll need to get up to speed on that, or use them as a resource alongside something else. Poke around his website and you’ll find some excellent sources on how to teach using problems. I also highly recommend Tracy Zager’s book Becoming The Math Teacher You Wish You’d Had and Jo Boaler’s book What’s Math Got To Do With It? (Tracy Zager shares what has to be the worst math worksheet I have ever seen. The book is worth tracking down just for that. It’s on page 117.) Geoff Krall also has an excellent book out; it’s geared to teachers of middle and high school students, but I recommend it for everyone.
Parent Coaching
Are you struggling to implement a Montessori environment at home? I can help! I now offer coaching for parents. During these Zoom sessions, we will explore your particular situation exclusively, and come up with a plan for your next steps. Sign up today!