If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you will know that I am very passionate about Montessori education. But with some recent life changes, we left our beloved Montessori school and I was stuck deciding how to help my daughter with her education in the best way.

Now, I am someone who loves to organize and arrange things. So at first, I wanted to make a whole system of schedules and lesson plans. Except we definitely wouldn’t have followed it; it would have just been busy work for me.

Enter unschooling.

“Unschooling” is a term that can be very divisive. People read it and think of children languishing at home, sleeping until noon, watching television all day, and never learning to read. That couldn’t be further from the truth. One thing I’ve learned through the lens of Montessori is that children are naturally curious and if left to their own devices, will learn just from being allowed to explore.

Unschooling simply means you are letting your child learn naturally without a strict curriculum. But an unschooled kid could still do worksheets if that is what they want to do. You could get a math curriculum for them to follow if they are interested in it. They could also take classes in things that they are interested in. What makes it unschooling is that the child is taking the lead and the learning comes naturally.

When it comes to a preschooler, I do several things to help her learn without giving her a strict structure or making her sit to do the work I think she should do. Here is what unschooling a preschooler looks like, the similarities with Montessori education and how it is working for us.

What I Plan for Unschooling a Preschooler

Here’s the thing, I only really plan a few things:

• Books to read
• The contents of a “learning basket” she has available in the living room
• Outings we take during the week
• One or two small things to focus on (but only as long as they hold her interest)

Right now, Leroy usually takes a long nap in the morning, so once he is asleep, we jump into action. I try to read at least three books to Mac. I pick some books and she picks some books.

Then we do a little calendar activity. One focus I have right now is the days of the week and the months of the year. So every day, we put in the correct date and then say the day and month. So far, she likes this activity. If she loses interest and doesn’t like doing the calendar with me, we can put it aside for now.

I usually also have an idea of one large activity to suggest in the morning along with something smaller for the afternoon. I’ll give an example below. Sometimes Mac decides to do the activity I suggest and sometimes she has another idea.

Her “learning basket” usually has a mix of books, puzzles, and other manipulatives she can do on her own with only a little coaching from me. I try to direct her there when I am nursing the baby or otherwise occupied. This is the kind of puzzle I put in there and here is what she decided to do with it.

One thing we try to do every day is leave the house. Unfortunately for me, I am an introvert raising an extrovert who thrives on human interaction. So we go somewhere everyday. Sometimes it is just to the grocery store or a doctor’s appointment. Sometimes we only manage to get to the park down the street. Sometimes we journey a ways away to the zoo for a big outing. But we go somewhere every day, unless we are sick or if the weather is extra nasty.

How I Plan for Unschooling a Preschooler

So far, I only plan things a day or so in advance, but ideally I’d like to plan a little further out. I look at our calendar for the week and see what things we are naturally doing. Then I match up some books and activities to it.

Last week, Minnesota held their primary election. So that morning, I read Mac a few books about voting, I tried to explain the process as best I could to a 3-year-old, and then she came with me to vote. I showed her the ballot before I marked it and then again after I filled in the squares. I had her watch me submit the ballot to the machine and then we both got voting stickers. It was so simple to include her and she loved being included in something different than we normally do.

We also do more “fun” things like going to the county fair. Mac got a chance to see the farm animals at the county fair, which she loved.

I listen to what Mac talks about. Sometimes she will come right out and ask to do an activity. Sometimes she will just ask a lot of questions about animals or space. That is how I know what she is interested in. The more I listen to her, the more I can see what she would like to do.

I also watch to see what she chooses to play with on her own. If I see her playing with dinosaurs, I pick a book about dinosaurs and see how interested she is. If she is playing with trains, I pick a book about trains to gauge her interest.

A Sample Day

Today, I knew we were going to storytime and from their calendar, I knew they were going to talk about the ocean and fish. So I picked two books we owned about the ocean to read during Leroy’s naptime. Mac also picked a few she wanted me to read.

After we read, we did our quick little calendar exercise. We counted the days in the month so far and she decided what number we needed next. She looked through the pieces and found the correct one to put in. Then we sang a song about the days of the week and I told her what day it was. Then we practiced saying the date.

She had asked her dad this morning if she could paint her bird feeder, so once we were done reading and doing the calendar, I got her set up to paint.

After Leroy woke up, we got ready to go to the library. Mac and Leroy both enjoy storytime. Our librarian does a great job of picking stories and songs that go along with a theme and today’s ocean things were no different.

When we got home, Leroy went to sleep again and Mac and I had lunch and then she played outside.

Yesterday, Mac saw me folding laundry and asked if she could help. Today when I got the clean laundry to fold, I asked her if she wanted to help. I showed her how to fold some of the simple things (like washcloths.) She sat and helped me fold an entire load of laundry.

Throughout the day, there were plenty of natural opportunities to count things, talk about the weather, identify birds in our yard, and read books.

How Montessori and Unschooling Measure Up

I know, I know, it sounds on the surface like Montessori and Unschooling are very different. Montessori has a very specific set of materials and lessons, at least at the primary level. Unschooling is very loose. While things in Montessori education do change somewhat, mostly it stays the same. Unschooling is whatever you want it to be.

But there are several ways that they are actually very similar. One of the biggest ways is that in both, you follow the child and their interests. In Montessori, the adults watch the children to see what work they are interested in and then help them follow those interests. With Unschooling, you let the child decide where their interests are taking them. To me, that was the draw with both styles of education.

That Sounds Like What I Already Do

Congratulations, you are unschooling a preschooler. But really, a lot of moms already do this. The reason I felt a need to name it was becasue I wanted to make sure my child was learning at home and unschooling is what I settled on. Naming the sort of education we are doing means I make it a priority and put a bit of thought into it.

I do think that with a younger child, the parent needs to do more legwork when it comes to unschooling. Young children will need some guidance to follow their interests. Besides what I listed above, I have also started to pick a theme for each month to guide the activities we do.

Are you unschooling a preschooler? Would you unschool your children?