One of the things I love about the Montessori philosophy is the idea of self directed learning. Children follow their interests with some guidance from the teacher (who is literally called a guide in Montessori.) The idea of children learning things they want to learn and when they are interested in them just makes my heart soar.

When children are forced to learn things when they are “supposed to” instead of when they are ready and interested, they are not going to enjoy it and they might not even remember it. Self directed learning is a way to make sure children will (mostly) enjoy what they are learning and remember it as they grow older.

But here’s the thing: self directed learning with younger children might not really look like learning to us. But sit tight, I have an example of that after I tell you some of the traps we fall into with children’s activities. (If you’d like some good ideas for activities to do with your children or other ways to bring Montessori into your life, check out my ebook 30 Ways to Make Your Home More Montessori. You can buy it as an ebook on Amazon or a pdf file on Gumroad.)

The Two Ways We Spoil Self Directed Learning

When children are younger, it can be kind of tempting to do a couple of things: 1) turn EVERYTHING into a “learning activity” or 2) push the academic. Well, I’m tell you that you don’t have to do that. I’m giving you permission to just let them play and the self directed learning will flow out of it.

So what do I mean? Well sure, go ahead and count things with your child or talk about colors. But you don’t have to force it. I’ve seen way too many scenarios where parents are forcing these “learning activities” and because it is so forced, I have a hard time believing the child is getting much out of them.

The other thing parents will do is really push the academic. Instead of seeing what their child is interested in, they will just try to push anything academic. What if your kid really like numbers, but could care less about letters? Or maybe they love colors, but don’t really care about shapes. You don’t have to force them to like the other things. Wait until they show an interest.

Younger children will naturally show interests in things without having to be pushed into it, but the thing is not everything that interests them will be academic. It won’t all be counting and reading. But don’t fear, they will still learn from it.

And I’m not saying that you shouldn’t ever set up an activity for them. Just make sure you are paying attention to what they are actually interested in or something that would be a natural fit. The other day I set up a quick handwashing activity for my daughter after she did some art. It was then I realized that I had been guilty of overthinking Montessori in my home.

When Play Becomes Learning

The other day, I was home with my kids and I was feeling so internally pressured like I should be engaging my 3 year old in some sort of activity. She was playing with some corn cob holders and I was wondering if I should be setting up something for her to do.

But then I noticed something. She wasn’t just mindlessly playing around with these dumb little corn cob holders. She was using the colors to make a sort of pattern.

Now, there was a time or two before when I thought I should be working on academics with her and tried to see if she could understand patterns. It just backfired. She was not interested at all and thought what I was asking her to do was boring. But here she was working on patterns by herself. If I had stopped her from playing with those poky little things, she wouldn’t have gotten that valuable, self directed learning experience that she got.

P.S. Make sure you check out my 30 Ways to Make Your Home More Montessori ebook if you are interested in Montessori. I have some great things to do with your children that will help prompt self directed learning. You can find the ebook on Amazon or a pdf book on Gumroad.

Tell me about a time when you realized your children were actually learning during play. I love personal stories!