Montessori Albums Are Not a Homeschool Curriculum
When you find out that Montessori exists and how amazing it is for children, you want it.
And you want it now!
I completely understand.
Even though I grew up Montessori, with all of my mother's knowledge, books, and notes at my fingertips, when I first started teaching I felt desperate for more access to the information offered in Montessori teacher certification programs.
And I'd have paid for it.
Unfortunately, I didn't feel that training was possible for me at the time.
I had just spent the previous five years in college accruing a massive amount of debt. I had a degree in Elementary Education, and I was still shelling out money for thesis hours to finish my Master's degree.
I was committed to teaching a class of fourth grade ESL students.
But I wanted, no, needed, to know more Montessori.
For my own sake.
For the sake of the students sitting in my classroom every day.
The internet was still a baby, but I went online and searched and searched.
I came up almost empty handed.
There was little to nothing about Montessori on the web at the time, and I was incredibly frustrated.
I talked to as many Montessori elementary teachers as I could. I read every Montessori book I could get my hands on.
And then one day, I stumbled across a free printable Montessori album.
It was loaded with typos, and each lesson contained a bare bones description of the Montessori materials.
But I felt like I had discovered treasure.
I printed every page and plopped the whole thing into a binder.
Then I periodically studied it, hoping for some deep insight into teaching children.
And despite my interest and devotion, the album was surprisingly unhelpful.
The Album Wasn't What My Students Needed
The needs of the children in my classroom were so great and so emotionally consuming that I found myself obsessing day and night about how to help each and every child.
Soon, the album made its way into the back of my file cabinet.
I stopped looking at those papers and began truly observing the children.
I took a yoga class and learned to meditate.
I fell in love with Jonathan Kozol, who wrote beautifully about the experiences of low income students in public schools.
I brought nutritious snacks.
I lit candles in the classroom.
I read poetry to my students in the darkened room after school.
I peppered their desks with love notes.
And I cried myself to sleep at night because I knew that none of them would pass the state mandated standardized test.
I grew up.
But was I growing further away from Montessori?
At the time, I thought maybe I was.
What Montessori approved or disapproved of didn't seem to matter much in my world.
My students mattered.
My relationship with them mattered.
What they needed from me mattered.
Years later, it dawned on me that this was much closer to Montessori than I realized.
I had stopped trying to extract the secret of teaching from a binder.
I had started looking at the children.
The Secrets to Effective Teaching Are Not Found in Albums
So let's talk about what Montessori albums actually are.
In the simplest terms, albums are the notes a Montessori teacher creates during teacher education.
Those notes may contain bits of wisdom passed on from a teacher trainer, drawings of Montessori materials, descriptions of lessons, observations, and tips for presenting materials effectively.
Traditionally, much of this information is written or organized by the student so they can remember it personally.
And that process matters.
Listening.
Taking notes.
Deciding what information is important.
Watching demonstrations.
Practicing.
Discussing philosophy.
Receiving feedback.
Working with actual children.
Reflecting.
All of that is part of the education.
Sometimes teacher trainers provide more standardized album materials too, but the album still exists inside the much larger experience of Montessori teacher preparation.
By the time a teacher completes high quality training, the album is a reference.
The Montessori know how is increasingly inside the teacher.
That distinction is incredibly important.
Because an album is not Montessori training.
And an album is definitely not automatically a Montessori homeschool curriculum.
Why Montessori Albums Can Look So Appealing to Homeschooling Parents
I understand why parents find albums online and think:
Yes. This is what I've been missing.
Because what do homeschooling parents tell us over and over again?
“I don't know what to teach next.”
“I don't understand the materials.”
“I want to know the order.”
“I need structure.”
“I don't have a teaching background.”
“I want a clear plan that tells me what to do.”
Of course an enormous binder full of Montessori lessons looks like the answer.
Especially if someone has organized it into a sequence.
Finally!
The whole Montessori mystery appears to be sitting there in front of you.
But this is where things get tricky.
An album was usually created within the context of preparing someone to teach a classroom full of children.
Your homeschool is not a classroom full of children.
And a list of lessons does not automatically tell you what your child needs today.
Montessori Albums Were Never Meant to Stand Alone
This was one of my biggest concerns when I originally wrote about albums, and it still matters.
The philosophy behind the lessons is more important than simply possessing the lesson descriptions.
Outside the context of teacher education, an album can become a list of presentations without the understanding that makes those presentations meaningful.
A well trained Montessori guide knows that every child is different.
The guide observes.
Adjusts.
Revisits.
Waits.
Moves forward.
Changes course.
The album might show the potential path of lessons.
The child tells you how to travel it.
And depending on how an album was created, its order may reflect the specific training experience, age grouping, materials, or classroom context of the person who made it.
That does not necessarily make it a useful homeschool scope and sequence.
A Teacher's Album Is Also Someone Else's Learning
This is another piece worth understanding.
Imagine that you take a class from a brilliant professor.
You spend months listening to lectures and taking detailed notes.
You write things down in your own words because that helps you understand them.
You draw diagrams.
You make connections.
You record little insights the professor shares.
Those notes become valuable partly because you were there.
You heard the explanation.
You participated in the discussion.
You did the work of making sense of it.
Someone else can certainly learn something from reading your notes.
But owning a photocopy of them would not be the same thing as taking the class.
That's how I think about Montessori albums.
They can contain wonderful information.
But the document and the education are not the same thing.
High Quality Montessori Teacher Training Is Much Bigger Than Lesson Plans
I am still a fierce advocate of quality Montessori teacher education.
High quality Montessori training is intense for a reason.
There is philosophy.
Child development.
Observation.
Demonstration.
Practice.
Feedback.
Reflection.
Supervised experience.
Mentorship.
And, importantly, real time spent learning how to respond to children.
That's why I become uncomfortable when an album is presented as if downloading it is equivalent to becoming a Montessori teacher.
Anyone can follow a lesson plan.
That is not an insult.
Lesson plans are useful!
Fully scripted lessons can be enormously helpful, especially when you're learning.
But becoming an effective Montessori guide requires more than memorizing a presentation.
It requires learning to see your child.
Anyone Can Follow a Recipe. That Doesn't Make the Recipe Useless.
One of our family's favorite animated movies was Ratatouille.
Have you seen it?
Remy is an unlikely hero, a rat who doesn't want to eat garbage with the rest of his family.
He wants to become a great chef.
He has instinct.
He studies technique.
He admires the chef Gusteau and his famous belief that “anyone can cook.”
And I still love that idea.
Anyone can cook.
But following a recipe and becoming a great chef aren't exactly the same thing.
The recipe is still useful.
In fact, the recipe may be precisely what lets a beginner walk into the kitchen and make something wonderful.
But over time, the cook learns more.
They begin to recognize texture.
Timing.
Flavor.
What can be substituted.
What cannot.
When something needs another minute.
When it is done.
Teaching works that way too.
A lesson plan can help you begin.
But the goal is not to remain glued forever to the page.
The goal is to understand what you're doing well enough to look up and see your child.
Why Traditional Montessori Albums Can Make Homeschooling Feel Harder
This is the part I care about most for parents.
On one side, you have your child.
Your child is living in a family, in a unique home, with interests and abilities and energy and preferences that belong specifically to them.
They are alight with the natural disposition to learn in the environment that surrounds them.
On the other side, you have an album.
Possibly someone else's notes from coursework.
Possibly organized around a rigid progression of materials and presentations designed for a classroom of many children.
These two things do not always fit together neatly.
I have known extremely determined homeschooling parents who acquired extensive album based curricula and then tried to purchase every Montessori material and present every lesson at the designated age in exactly the prescribed order.
The structure comforted them.
I have known many, many more parents who became exhausted.
The materials were expensive.
The presentations felt stilted.
The shelves needed constant maintenance.
Their child wanted to do something else.
Suddenly Montessori became a battle of wills.
And this is where families sometimes leave Montessori in the dust.
It's just too hard.
But I don't believe homeschooling Montessori is supposed to feel like reproducing a classroom in your living room.
Montessori homeschooling must look fundamentally different from teaching thirty children in a classroom.
The resources we give homeschooling parents should take pressure off.
They should help parents understand what comes next without making them afraid to respond to the child standing right in front of them.
You Can't Follow a Checklist and Your Child at the Same Time
My dear friend Andrea Lulka once put it beautifully:
“You can't follow an album and follow a child at the same time.”
That idea has stayed with me.
And I would add a little nuance to it today.
You do need a roadmap.
Especially when you're responsible for your child's entire education.
You need to know that reading builds somewhere.
That mathematics progresses somewhere.
That there are important ideas and skills your child should eventually encounter.
Structure matters.
But the structure should support observation, not replace it.
This is the beautiful tension at the heart of Montessori homeschooling.
You need to know what comes next without believing your child must do it next.
That is a very different kind of curriculum.
This Is Why a Scope and Sequence Matters More Than an Album
An album and a scope and sequence solve different problems.
An album helps record or explain lesson presentations.
A scope and sequence answers two larger questions:
What will my child learn?
And:
How do those ideas generally progress?
For a homeschooling parent, that big picture is essential.
You need to know where you're going without mapping every Tuesday of the next three years.
You need to be able to look at your child's current work, observe what they understand, and identify an appropriate next possibility.
That's why the Child of the Redwoods Foundational curriculum is organized into six progressive levels based on readiness rather than simply age.
Your child may be working at one level in reading and another in mathematics.
That's normal.
The roadmap stays clear while your child's actual journey remains individual.
That is much more useful in a homeschool than trying to recreate the lesson order designed for a full Montessori classroom.
But Parents Still Need the Lessons
This is something my thinking has evolved on too.
The answer is not to tell parents:
“Forget lesson plans. Just observe your child!”
Oh my gosh.
Imagine hearing that when you're brand new.
You observe your child.
Very carefully.
For forty five minutes.
Your child is currently licking something and asking where worms go when it rains.
Now what?
Parents need actual teaching support.
They need to know how to present reading.
Writing.
Math.
Science.
Practical Life.
Sensorial work.
Culture.
The arts.
They need enough instruction to begin confidently without needing to complete a professional Montessori teacher education program first.
That's why our curriculum includes fully scripted lessons.
The script isn't there because we expect you to recite it perfectly.
It is there because you deserve to know how the lesson works.
Read it.
Practice if you want.
Give the lesson.
Then look up.
Watch your child.
That is where the real teaching begins.
Learn Montessori While You Teach
I still believe deeply that there is no shortcut to understanding Montessori.
But I no longer believe that homeschooling parents need the same preparation as someone responsible for running a Montessori classroom.
Those are different jobs.
A classroom guide needs professional teacher education designed for the enormous responsibility of guiding a whole community of children.
A homeschooling parent needs something different.
You need enough understanding of Montessori to observe your child, prepare your environment, present lessons effectively, understand development, and make thoughtful decisions about what comes next.
And you can learn those things while homeschooling.
That's why Child of the Redwoods pairs the curriculum with our Foundations of Montessori courses.
The courses help parents understand Montessori philosophy, child development, observation, and teaching techniques while the curriculum gives them actual lessons to teach.
One supports the other.
You learn the why while having access to the what and how.
Over time, the Montessori know how begins to live inside you too.
A Curriculum Should Eventually Help You Need It Differently
This might be my favorite thing about a good Montessori curriculum.
At first, you may read every word.
You may want the script right beside you.
You may check the scope and sequence constantly because you need reassurance that you're headed somewhere.
That is fine.
You are learning.
Then something begins to happen.
You recognize patterns.
You notice readiness more easily.
You become comfortable presenting lessons.
You understand why a material works.
You notice when your child needs repetition.
You become less alarmed when your child progresses quickly in one area and slowly in another.
The curriculum is still there.
But your relationship with it changes.
You're no longer asking it to tell you everything.
You're using it as a tool.
Just like that old album should have been a tool for me.
The Child Is Still the Point
Looking back at that binder in my fourth grade classroom, I understand why it eventually disappeared into the file cabinet.
I had been searching for Montessori inside the pages.
But the children were sitting right in front of me.
My mistake wasn't wanting more knowledge.
That desire was good.
My mistake was hoping that owning someone else's notes would somehow give me the understanding I was craving.
It couldn't.
Montessori is studied.
Practiced.
Observed.
Lived.
That is true for professional teachers.
And it is true for homeschooling parents.
But homeschooling parents deserve resources designed for homeschooling parents.
Not a classroom teacher's binder handed over with the expectation that you will somehow figure out how to translate it into family life.
You need a clear scope and sequence.
You need lessons you can actually present.
You need help understanding Montessori.
You need flexibility for multiple ages and different developmental levels.
You need enough structure to know you're providing a complete education without turning your child into a checklist.
That's what we designed Child of the Redwoods to provide.
And if you are currently staring at Montessori albums online wondering whether one of them contains the secret that will finally make you feel qualified to teach your child, sweet friend, I understand.
I really do.
I've had that binder in my hands.
But the secret isn't in there.
The curriculum can show you the road.
The lessons can help you begin.
The courses can deepen your understanding.
But ultimately, Montessori asks you to do the thing I finally learned to do all those years ago.
Look up from the page.
Your child is right there.
If you’ve been searching for Montessori albums because you want someone to show you what to teach and how it all fits together, start with our complete Montessori homeschool curriculum for ages 2 to 9.
