Week 5: Reggio Emilia, the Emergent Curriculum, and a lot of art

Lately I've been questioning whether or not it's worth it to post these weekly reviews, considering the fact that I often lack the time to do a careful (useful) job.  But I've come to the conclusion that it is worth it -- whether anybody reads them or not -- because it's helping me keep track of the year.  This summer, when I was packing up our finished school year, I missed those missing weeks from last year.  This year I hoped to do better.

Another reason for keeping up with these weekly reviews... some reading I'm doing about Reggio Emilia and the emergent curriculum.  The first time I encountered that term, I laughed.  See? I told myself.  It's not that I'm incapable of planning ahead.  It's just that our curriculum is *emergent*.  All joking aside, the more I read about Reggio, the more familiar it seems.  Apparently I've been doing a lot of this all along -- observing and talking to the kids about their play, their reading, their interests -- in order to figure out what we should be doing at home.  Reggio educators stress documentation as a means of communicating the children's work.  As a home educator, I don't have an audience of parents (or an international audience of researchers) to whom I need to communicate my children's work, but it occurred to me that home learning blogs often serve a similar purpose: we use our blogs to synthesize, display, understand, and communicate our work with our children, our children's independent work, our own work, our family's work.  So I think that perhaps these weekly reviews should be written into my job description.  They aren't frivolous.  They're about understanding and respecting what we do.  (And maybe I should do a more careful job of them.)

Gareth, working on a soapstone carving kit I'd set out on the table after a discussion of statuary in ancient Greece

Week 5 saw a few changes in how we have been doing things.  I'd become a little dissatisfied with the way Choice Time was going.  We had a few problems.  The first was that chores and dressing were taking too much time (not because there was too much to do), and/or the big kids were having trouble getting out of bed in the morning.  This meant that Choice Time was getting squeezed.  The second problem was that the kids expected new choices every single day, regardless of whether or not they had actually finished what they'd begun the day before.  Another problem -- one which has been around since I started writing things on the whiteboard -- is that too often the kids would say to me, "There's nothing really on the board that I want to do."  I would try to set things out on the shelf or the table, Montessori-style, but more often than not, it would be ignored in favor of the whiteboard.  Then I would get upset or at least frustrated that all of my work was being ignored... etc., etc.

So. (Pardon me while I attempt to collect my thoughts, considering the NOISE LEVEL IN THIS HOUSE RIGHT NOW. Ahem.)  I had already been driven to the depths of despair frustrated by my complete inability to make standard Montessori work in any kind of organized fashion.  (Which, if you understand Montessori, means "at all", basically.)  Looking at things realistically, I'm not sure how I thought I could set up an ordered Montessori environment when 6 of the 8 people in this house could run down the list of AD(H)D symptoms, checking off the majority of them (and the ones for whom the jury is still out are not those in charge, if you know what I mean.)  However, the twins were in the process of driving me so insane that when Andy came home for lunch one day, I showed him what I had been googling: the nearest Montessori (or rather, Montessori-inspired) school.  This was not actually because I hoped to push them out of our way, but rather because I could not conceive of any way I could ever hope to engage their enormous supply of energy.  And I felt like I was letting them down.

This was the point at which I took a deep breath, picked myself up (I feel like I have to pick myself up quite a bit), decided that I would not think about being a "failure", and went searching for some new ideas.  After a long period of investigation, I had borrowed a few bits and pieces from Waldorf -- which I had begun researching because of its emphasis on art -- but as a family we're much too scientific, and the standard fairy/gnome/elf menu seems a little too scripted to me.  I'd bought a few books about Reggio Emilia last year when Chipmunk was a newborn, but they had languished unfinished.  Now I took them down off the shelf and finished them.  (I'll put up my list of books later.  This is turning out to be a really long post already!)

One of the things I find refreshing about the Reggio approach is how often the Italian educatiors say: "This is what we do, but don't copy us.  If these ideas are useful, use them, but you need to make your own way in your own context."  

So, for week 5, I decided to make a few changes based on my reading.  First, I decided to stop writing down my ideas on the whiteboard in favor of encouraging Gareth and Katydid to choose and work on their own interests.  Gareth has been doing quite a bit of reading on prehistoric mammals, and Katydid's interest in missionaries has been stewing for quite some time.  I also let them know that they could work on art projects at any time.  Because we had been talking about statuary in ancient Greece, I started by setting out some clay and a soapstone carving kit that had been sitting in the closet for a long time.

 

The clay was a huge hit.  I'd had it for years.  But we had done nothing with it.  Inspired by all the work in clay done by children in Reggio Emilia, I set it out on the table.  And I took a big step and got out the paint... which I had not been brave enough to get out for a long time.

Pip loved the paint.  Katydid and Gareth both chose to paint, too.  Farmerboy enjoyed mixing colors.  Pop liked playdough more, but that was okay.  Because a funny thing happened.  When everyone was involved in the art materials, we had peace for almost an hour.

I have to tell you that this success made me feel like a big dip.  I first started trying to use Montessori about three and a half years ago, and my kids have always chosen to do art.  They have never freely chosen a Montessori language or math work.  They have never chosen a 3-part card.  In fact, when we first started, all anybody would choose was watercolor.  Day after day after day.  I always blamed this on a faulty environment.  But I now think that I should have clued in to the positive nature of this information.  Honestly?  I should have just let them do art.

Week 5 was a very successful week, which gave me some good ideas on ways to proceed.  I'm not ditching Montessori completely, and I am happy that Reggio's ideas of the "environment as the third teacher" and free choice fit so well with some of the Montessori ideas I also like so well: "freedom within limits" and independence.

It's probably past time to end this post, but I do hope to post more on this topic sooner rather than later.  Leave me a comment if there's something you'd like me to write about!

Comments

[Jennifer]

Just a note to say 'hi' and that I do find this all very interesting.

[Juli]

I do enjoy hearing of all of your trials and errors and "picking yourself back up". It's always reassuring to know that I'm not alone.

[Erin]

I really enjoy reading your weeks in review, be assured they are inspiring too.

Ah Reggio Emilia now I get it a little more, I'll follow your links and read, and I get your choice time too. I think the best thing that I have taken from Montessori and sounds like you have too is the philosophy. You can adapt the to other approaches that may suit your child's personality better. It sounds like the Waldorf art is what drew you too Waldorf. Isn't it great when we have those lightbulb moments:)

[Theresa]

Very interesting. I think we are on similar paths. I also seem to be taking from Montessori the same things you are--the environment, the choice, the respect for the child, etc. I do like the math materials and some of the language stuff, but we are also not fans of 3-part cards here. BORING!LOL! We are never going to be purists at anything, which is fine. I'll read some more on Reggio Emilia.... it does sound a lot like what you and I both do. Gosh, we are such a mish-mash of things! We have been craving additional art here, too. I just put in a huge order to Dick Blick and we'll see what comes of that.
Emergent...I like that!Sounds so much better than "winging it." LOL!

[Amy]

Pretty much "dittoing" everyone else! So I'll just say hi. :) I'm so glad you had a successful week. I can't wait to learn more about Reggio Emilia.

[melanie]

Angela, hang in there girl.. you are doing a tremendous job. I'm interested in what you come up with too. Please teach us more! How do you get the basics like math, spelling, grammar, learning to read etc... done?

I want to have more fun in our school.. it's such a drag these days, and SO HARD TO DO WITH TWINS running around. ARGH! How do you meet the needs of all the kids? I too feel like i'm failing in the preschooler department. I'm always trying to think of ways to distract them, and get them out of my hair so I can get math and grammar and writing done with the older two.

[Hannah]

I have been reading your blog a little bit the last few weeks...I had never heard of Reggio and vaguely of Waldorf, but we are doing Montessori here and just LOVE it. I have a 5, 3 and 1 year old, but I have a 4 year old come for preschool too, and my 1 year old goes to her house for 3 mornings a week.

I understand what you're saying about art...I have playdough out on the shelf all the time, as well as bins of markers and crayons, and they are in use every day. We also have various other art projects that rotate as space on the shelves is available. What I love about Montessori is it encourages children to use the art materials, as well as other materials, whenever they feel the urge, and for as long as they want, but they are always able to get the materials out entirely by themselves. Sometimes my children will use play-dough for almost the whole morning for multiple days in a row...and I have to bite my tongue or I would make them stop and choose something more academic. But it tends to get out of their system, and then they move on by their own free will and do great work in other areas.

I would encourage you, without knowing really how your school day goes, to continue letting them use the art materials...and also to give Montessori a shot again. I don't have a lot of the language and math work out yet, but even the practical life materials would give your younger children something to do. It's as easy as putting out some trays with pouring, scooping, and tonging work. You could have a bowl of kidney beans with a few spoons and scooping cups in it. Put a couple rubber stamps and a stamp pad and sponge on a tray. Put the first few pieces of a puzzle in a basket, along with the completed picture, and let them figure it out, and then add a couple new pieces every day. Put a container of stickers next to some paper that has drawn lines or dots on it, and let them cover up the lines or dots with stickers. Put a one-hole punch on a tray with paper strips, and show them how to punch the paper and make little holes.

My just turned three year old has really enjoyed school this year...and I have found that the process is just as important as the work accomplished. Having rules about using the things on the shelves really makes school more appealing- they are not allowed to just use the materials willy-nilly or I will put them away. They must wash their hands before touching anything on the shelves, and then must use a floor mat,table mat or art mat (unless it's a puzzle or something that needs a hard surface). They must clean up completely before choosing another work. They must ask to watch someone else work, and turn around and walk away if the answer is no (but they have learned that if they say yes more often, a yes is more often given to them when THEY ask to watch). All these rules (while they may seem restrictive) actually make the materials more appealing, ensure they are kept in good shape, and give the children freedom to work without being bothered. Again, I just love it and my children are thriving. I hope this helps you a little (or anyone else reading this...)

[Kerry]

Hi Angela,
I am so glad you have this topic going. In my master's degree program (early childhood ed) there has been a real emphasis on Reggio. My advisor there is actually Elizabeth Jones, who "wrote the book" on Emergent Curriculum. I really enjoyed using all of those ideas with young ones, but I've been more hesitant about implementing it with school age kids. I do know that my kids absolutely *thrive* when I let myself go that route, and I am trying harder to do it more consistently. Thank goodness for the internet, and for your blog and Theresa's - they help me so much!

[Lori]

angela, so great to see you trying out a reggio-inspired approach -- hope it continues to go well!

[Kelly]

As a math science teacher there are so many places to go with art - it can't be ignored! With statuary you could look at proportions (golden ratio is SO COOL - especially if you're geeky) and then it could head for da vinci and how he drew everything and invented neat things. AND THEN discuss how he used cadavers to draw what was INSIDE of people which could lead to a whole NEW area of science investigations. This doesn't even include the poetry and writing that could be inspired by their statues as well as the researach and data compiling on styles similar to theirs.

Find your stride and follow it - I just wish I could pull mine out and just teach them HOW to connect ideas- maybe one day.

[Jennifer Mackintosh]

I'm always so late to these wonderful ideas. Having never heard of Reggio philosophy until just recently I'm really intrigued by your posts, Angela.

I'm slow getting around in the blogosphere lately - which probably accounts for why I'm so slow learning about this philosophy...but I'd really like to learn more and hear how this is working for you.

In particular, I'm interested to hear if this philosophy is almost like a bridge between Montessori offerings and the reality of a chaos-filled day allowing for more freedom and less planning????

It seems to *fit* with all that I love about Montessori's philosophy while allowing for my own creative interpretation of the children's needs and desires....I'm just rambling now - I need to look into this.

You do inspire hope though, Angela!

[umm]

Hi,
I'm new to your blog-Thank you for being so honest about the ups and DOWNS of homeschooling life!
Your perseverance is an inspiration to me.I'd love to know about the Reggio approach, they started to use alot of the ideas in UK Pre-Schools.I try to use a lot of Montessori but sometimes makes me feel like a failure Mum when you just can't create that perfect environment...especially with such eager toddlers!I still try my best to follow the Montessori principles-independent learning,choice,control of error etc.... even if I can't follow the rest
Thanks for sharing!

[Amber]

WoW! I could have written this post myself!!! Except I only have 2 chipmunks in the house ;)

No, I couldn't have written it because I am not doing the amazing job that you are doing... (yet ;) but I identified with so much that you are saying. I love love love Montessori. But I find it so hard to do! I have such faith in it but I also know that it requires certain elements to *really* work & I'm spending a lot of time at the moment wondering if it can happen at home.

My mind flips between certainty (about going ahead and homeschooling with Montessori as the basis) & complete confusion... should we move so that we can enroll them at a real Montessori school??

I also see exactly what you mean about art. My bugs want to be artistic all day long. Yes paint. Yes chalk. Yes pencils. I'm *sure* there'd be a big Yes if I got some soapstone out! But they really do hesitate to get out the language + Maths Montessori work. Now, I don't think that the M work isn't amazing I just think that *maybe* they need to be in a real classroom with their peers (whom they are not related to :) working on those materials for them to really shine? I really (and clearly!) don't know but it's food for thought...

Anyways, thanks so much for this post & also for the tours through your learning space. I really enjoyed it. I hadn't stopped by your blog for ages (since the 4RealL forums had a Montessori section) but will endeavour to stop by more regularly now :)