Montessori Spaces in an Apartment: Living Room

In November, we moved to an 3 bedroom apartment from our house, and the amount of space we had shrunk. I still wanted to maintain (and actually expand!) on the areas we established for our children's work, as well as give them access to specific things to aid in their independence. 

The most prominent area in our home is our living room. This is where we participate in most aspects of our family life, but it is also the area where I homeschool our son as well as where he plays. We needed to streamline the space as much as possible while still offering the children enough shelving and open area to complete their work. We initially had cube shelving which worked well until I wanted to put out specific materials on trays for my son to complete. I started doing trays when he was close to 3 years old. I tried before that age and he would throw the objects everywhere, so it was best we did not do any tray activities until he was a little older. 

Our shelving started out looking like this:

It was messy. The trays stuck out. I hated how it looked. I found the area not appealing at all and even though my son would do some of the work, it was not often and he would often leave things on the shelves untouched. When we got some money, we changed his main shelving to this:

This is two IKEA Trofast shelves. They fit all of the trays perfectly and it looks really neat. I was able to place the baby's toys on the far right side and separate my son's works by subject while also keeping his open-ended toys on the same shelf on the far left side. The shelf is wide and can fit larger objects on top. I love how it looks. We also have the small bookcase on the right of the shelf that allows the books to show their front covers. I love this clean look.

I will show the rest of our areas in the upcoming blogs, particularly how we have made certain areas of home accessible to our children to give them as much independence as possible.

"Of all things, love is the most potent" - Maria Montessori

When my son was around a year old, I stumbled across this quote and decided to research Montessori education. As an educator, I wanted to give my son opportunities to grow and learn, just as any parent. After doing (a lot) of research, I fell in love with the idea of Montessori education, and we decided to enroll our son in a toddler program at a local Montessori school for the following school year. He started at just 15 months, and it served both as our primary childcare and his education since we were both working full-time. Throughout the school year, he blossomed into a little boy that could do things independently and desiring to complete tasks that I did not even think a toddler could do by themselves! I waffled back and forth about getting my certification in Montessori and teaching at a school, but we decided that I would stay home with our children since I was due with a baby girl in the beginning of September.

This decision led me to research homeschooling, particularly using a Montessori style. We had already implemented some aspects of Montessori into our home life - our son's toys were displayed on open shelving and/or in baskets. I had begun removing toys he did not play with or did not serve any purpose, and eventually replaced most of them with all open-ended toys. When our daughter was born, we set up a small movement area with a thin mattress and a mirror for her which expanded slightly with the use of the IKEA play gym and a sheepskin rug. I carefully selected toys for her and started to change our setup with the addition of specific Montessori materials.

My parenting style is greatly influenced by Montessori education and the desire to raise my children inside that lifestyle. I chose it because it speaks volumes to be as an educator. Follow the child. Freedom within limits. Giving my children the opportunity to discover something for themselves and allowing them the space to explore their interests for as long as possible was important to me.

atThis blog will follow our homeschooling journey, as well as raising a baby from the beginning in a Montessori-inspired way. I hope you will join me on this path as I teach my children and learn along the way as well.