Moms are always busy.

They’re always on the go, especially when they have a bunch of active kids running around.

Planning for homeschool shouldn’t be time-consuming or intimidating.

Teaching Montessori at home can be a lot of fun, but it can also be a lot of work.

In this post, I will share with you 10 easy prep ideas for busy moms.

Please remember to visit our resources hub for Montessori Curriculum 3-6 activities and lessons!

It is full of wonderful hands-on ideas for you to use at home.

1 Have sections, trays or bins for Montessori at home activities

This is going to make your life so much easier!

Trust me.

As homeschool moms, it is hard to have Montessori works out all at once, so we have to come to grips with the idea that some will have to be stored away for later time.

Having the work divided into sections using trays or bins will keep the work visible and easy to access for kids.

Montessori Today: A Comprehensive Approach to Education from Birth to Adulthood by Paula Polk Lillard (1996-01-30)Early Childhood Education Today, with REVEL — Access Card Package (14th Edition) (What’s New in Early Childhood Education)

2 Train children for independent work

It is very important to normalize children with the Montessori method.

What exactly is normalizing children?

A child that is normalized is a child that is comfortable and confident in a Montessori environment.

Everything is predictable, accessible, easy to use and always at their disposal.

This normalization will take some time for children.

Some will grasp the concept on how Montessori works in a week or two and others will take a few months to adjust.

Anytime is OK.

There is no specific set time for a child to be normalized.

Every child works at their own pace and they will be normalized at their own pace.

What we have to do as homeschool moms teaching Montessori at home is to do Montessori daily to get the children normalized faster.

The more you do Montessori at home, the faster they will learn to know how Montessori works and the more confident they will be to work independently.

They will work the best independently when they are normalized, so it is more important for children to be normalized in the method than it is to actually learn the material at the beginning.

3 Use Montessori work daily and change weekly

As I mentioned in a previous point, it is important to do Montessori daily, especially at the beginning because children need to be normalized.

Try your best to do Montessori daily on weekdays so children can adjust.

At the beginning, the actual learning of the topics is not what is important so I have any kind of work out for them that they can practice over and over and over until they are comfortable and confident in that work.

Set out your new work every Monday, work on it daily and change it weekly.

If children are getting bored at the beginning, feel free to change it more often as we want to keep them interested in the normalization process, not in the actual learning of the material. Does that make sense?

4 When weather is nice, take it outside

Yes! It’s a simple as that!

If the weather is nice, take the trays in bins outside to do their work at a nice place.

If the grass is dry, do it right on the grass.

You’ll feel grounded to the earth and it is wonderful working outside in nature.

If you don’t have a grassy area, that is OK!

Simply find a flat area where your child can work.

It can be a picnic table or a bench.

Or it can be a back porch or front yard.

Having a change of environment is always fun and refreshing, so you should give it a try once your child is close to be normalized with the Montessori method.

5 Keep the materials organized by subject and/or by level for easy access

My children are a little bit less than 2 1/2 years apart in age, so I keep their work separate on different shelves.

Each child has their own shelf and they know that all the work on their shelf is age-appropriate for them and it is work for them to do independently.

Sometimes, when my youngest has mastered the work, I will up the level of difficulty and leave it to your name shelf for my oldest to use.

And vice versa.

6 Keep work area simple and clutter free

As the old saying goes, everything has a place and there’s a place for everything. 

As weird as this may sound, messy kids actually do crave order.

They enjoy a clean and clutter-free environment.

Children like predictability, orderliness and independence, so keeping a clutter-free area for them to work, especially the shelves is important.

You will be able to tell the difference.

7 Have a vision of your homeschool

Decide on how you will be approaching the Montessori method.

You can be very strict about it or you can use it as inspiration for making your curriculum more Montessori friendly.

I have a post that discusses some important decisions to make when dealing with teaching Montessori at home.

You can read it here: 10 Things to know about teaching Montessori at home.

8 Have a plan

I am a visual person and I love organization.

Having a planner for me has a game changer.

I have two great planners then you can use to organize your Montessori teaching at home.

One is a regular on school planner and the other is Montessori friendly planner with my Montessori information.

Check out this 48-page planner HERE.

It has everything I wish I had when I first started our Montessori at home journey 10 years ago!

9 Have a list of works to cover

Once you have your decision made to teach Montessori at home, you get a planner, then it is time to decide on how we will approach the Montessori curriculum at home.

In other words, which works you are going to present to the child first, second, third, etc.

My Montessori curriculum post gives you a free list of the first 10 Montessori works to present to your child for every subject.

It also comes with links to those activities to explain what the works are, what materials are needed, how to set them up and how to present them to the child.

See it here: Free Montessori Curriculum List & Resources {Printable}

10 Use the Montessori materials for kids of different ages

Like I mentioned before, I have used the same Montessori material for both my children at different times and at different levels. 

This is easier to do than you think. All you have to do is look at the presentation for the works and the extensions.

One child might be at the presentation stage and another child might be able to do the presentation and a couple of extensions independently. 

This works out great for homeschools that have limited room.

You use the same works while still targeting each child’s sensitive period and level of work.

I hope that this post has really helped you get a better vision of the way to teach Montessori at home.

Thanks for reading our Easy Montessori Prep Ideas for Busy Moms post!

You might also like:

The Best Montessori Book List for Parents and Educators

Montessori-Friendly Living Books Library

The Ultimate Gift Guide for the Montessori Home

The Montessori Curriculum Approach to Sensory Education {Printable}

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____________________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________________ Interested in great educational printables for your kids? Look here!