July 8, 2025

Year in Review 2024/2025 School Year

That year went by FAST. AND… it has been a minute (or a couple of years!) since I have blogged here. I am not sure what my long term plan is here… last year I relied heavily on Instagram for our homeschool portfolio. I think that after this year, I am going to switch from Insta to being fully on Google. I use Google Sheets as the main hub for our digital homeschool portfolio. I have a sheet for each child and check off lessons, link to more info, and give a brief description of what we are doing. Here is our Montessori 3-6 template and our Montessori 6-9 template in case you would like to use it as a jumping point for your own tracking purposes. (Note: the 6-9 template is very individualized in places. For example, our child may still be in the math in our 3-6 template – it overlaps with elementary. They may also be ahead of where we are. That’s the beauty of Montessori. Use this as a template, not a scope and sequence.)

Back to our year in Review. Again, this year went by incredibly fast. I feel like we just started school with a 2nd grader, K4, and K2. Now we are gearing up to start back for 3rd, K5, and little man’s first year of the 3-6 classroom (K3). Crazy sauce.

It was easier balancing one in Primary, one in Secondary, and one in the toddler classroom than I thought it would be. We have gotten into a great place our group learning (little man often brought the chaos but hey, I am here for it! Most of the time…) and we got into a great groove with our individual lessons. We even got to a beautiful place of working together in the homeschool classroom all at once without interrupting eachother’s lessons or work! It will probably be something that we have to build back up to again Grace and Courtesy style but my goodness, I was proud of where we had come!

Cultural/Cosmic

In the Montessori 3-6 Classroom there is a subject called “Cultural” and in the Montessori 6-12 Classroom there is a subject called “Cosmic”. These are very similar with one difference. As soon as a child is born, the begin to explore the world around them. This starts very immediately within their line of vision. But as that vision expands and their gross motor movements develop, they physically begin to explore that environment. This continues into toddlerhood and the preschool years. The experiences start with the child’s community or culture. Their immediate environment and then branch out. Once this child is entering the second plane of development, this shifts. The child enjoys big picture Questions. Exploring things from a Cosmic level and moving from there to themselves instead of the reverse. Because of this, there is an overlap and (as you can see) some big differences in the Cultural Curriculum and the Cosmic Curriculum.

In our home, we do most of our “Cultural” or “Cosmic” studies as group lessons instead of individual lessons like we do with Language and Math work (although the other child is welcome to observe these lessons and sometimes this does happen). Right now this typically looks like me reading a loud while they color, craft, or eat, and then a age appropriate follow up. There may be more follow up or reading following the group lesson on another day as well. Notebooking, journally, drawing, etc. OR I give a lesson to the group collectively and then they can repeat or select follow up work.

History: American History (We do a piece of this each year – This year it was focused on what was going on around the time that the “The Little House on the Prairie” events occurred. )/Intro to US Government, Mini Election Unit, Lewis and Clark (finding the West), Sacagawea, Mini Martin Luther King Jr. Unit, Abraham Lincoln Mini Unit, and History Chats – a mix of Current Events and School Related things (Like Little House on the Prairie Topics for exampe).

Science: Research Insect of Choice (K4 Student Chose Lady Bugs and 2nd Grader Chose Praying Mantis), Struture of the Earth, Volcanoes, The Formation of Mountain, Fossils, Flood Narrative, Ice Age, Fossils, Dragons, Oyster Reefs, STEM Day, Prairie Biome, Food Web, Animals of the Prairie, Bison, Prairie Dogs, Octopus, Lightning Bugs, Insect Unit CO-OP (8 Weeks of different insects), Human Anatomy CO-OP; Heart Mini Unit, Parts of the Seed, Bloom Unit, Cherry Blossoms, Daffodils, Tulips, Foraging for Clover, Foraging for Dead Purple Nettle, Life Cycle of the Pumpkin

Geography: Continents, Ancient Cultures (Cultures, Climates, Animals, Needs of Humans), Map Tracing, Salt Doug Maps

We also do a fall Maker’s Market that we prep for by doing our market Research, setting prices, doing the actual making, etc.

Each year we do “Christmas School” during December. We do our Advent devotional and all our math, language, science, and history lessons have to do with a Christmas theme. We do lots of baking, crafting, a little science, and fun read-a-louds. For Christmas School we had 2 weeks that we had a Nutcracker theme. We even went to see a local ballet do the Nutcracker. So fun!

Bible – This could be it’s own post but our perspective on teaching this is that it is engrained in all that we do. We are Christ followers in our home and this is our lifestyle. Biblical literacy is something that we focus on from the beginning. We start first with the redemptive narrative from Genesis to Jesus. Then the teachings of Jesus, then the Epistles, and then cycle back to the Old Testament stories we didn’t hit yet or they do not recall as easily. We do specific studies at times as a group and we also will do individual Bible lessons so that each child gets fed where they are in their Biblical literacy journey. For my 2K fella this year, this looked like a board book together when he was ready. For my pre-K girl, this looked like a read-a-loud and chat. For my 2nd grader this was a mix of her reading to herself and read-a-loud. We would chat about questions she had and I would model how to critically engage with the text.

In our church we use the Gospel Project on Sunday’s. In Sunday School the children hear the story focus for that day and we review that along with maps, History (when relevant), and dive deeper into more questions and often practice or learn how to use our Bibles. We also work on scripture memory, memorizing Catechisms, and the books of the Bible. On Wednesdays our Children’s Bible Study studies “The Ology” which is a wonderful resource from Kids to Teens. Every other month (or sometimes every month) the children are a part of the whole worship service. This gives them an opportunity to practice listening for longer periods, taking notes, and using the Bible independently. We also do part of the Corporate worship service together even when they leave for Children’s Church.

Language

Language encompasses Penmanship, Writing, Reading and Grammar. LOTS of different pieces that are often interwoven throughout the entire school experience. We read when we do Bible, History, Science and Math. We write when we record our findings to math and science problems. We record our thoughts, journal, notebook, do comprehension drawings/writing, art, and more. The pre-writing activities continue past the 3-6 curriculum and continue to strengthen hands. I could go on and on… but I will just move on to our recap.

Penmanship

This is something that we have been up and down with our oldest. I taught cursive formally but not print. She taught herself. Her print is ok but it is time to shift it. So we are going to do Writing without Tear next year. This year I did some formal lessons tied into our reading work. During that time this spring, I required her to form her letter correctly and she could choose cursive or writing. I think we will learn into cursive (which is quite good when she slows down a bit) and then do her penmanship practice for print after that.

My second child just wrapped up year 2 in the Monti 3-6 classroom (K4). In our early writing sequence, she has done the pre-writing activities, sandpaper letters, moveable alphabet, and just started working with the metal inserts at the end of our spring semester. She also reguarly requested tracing work and has thoroughly enjoy that. We will start with some fun summer themed metal instet projects this summer and some tracing work on the large chalkboard/easle or as a part of a unit.

Writing

Note: This is Creative Writing, Composition, and Notebooking/Journaling in our home.

Creative Writing – we do ALOT of organic creative writing in our home. My girls love creating their own stories. Often these are paired with pictures or are in graphic novel form. My oldest will write poetry on occasion. I have done some prompts but honestly? I don’t really need to. I bring lots of creative pieces into our home intentionally so there is a lot of examples and they organically create. It is totally beautiful. I think I will give some thought to filling gaps in this manner paired with some poetry lessons this year. We shall see!

Note: I just remembered we did do a formal lesson on the Story Arch this year. We used “The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street” for this.

Composition: we leaned into research questions with our history studies, journaling, and Notebooking a lot this year. In our formal composition work, we leaned into sentence level work. Complete sentences and interesting sentences were my focus with my oldest (2nd grade) and sometimes my K4 student would choose to be a part of the lessons. We also focused a lot on the parts of the sentence on and off. Marking the parts of speech with a grammar symbols. (There’s an example of making interesting sentences with volcanoes on my Instagram under 6-9 writing.)

Journaling: We often create from a journal prompt. This might be something creative or something that has to do with our learning. For example, we studied US Government this year. We had a some prompts that I printed out and we also did “chats” throughout the year about what was going on. We may write our opinion about something like we did with the prompt, “If you were President, would you write an executive order or work with Congress?”. We learned what an executive order was and talked about the First 100 days of a new Presidency. Then we watched a video talking about how to work with Congress and the pros and cons of using executive orders. Then I posted this question. My oldest then went and journaled in her own space while my K4 student orally answered the question and I acted as her scribe. This falls under “journaling” for me and is in our fun shiny journals.

We also do Notebooking in our home. This is normally a way to take our learning deeper and is a follow up option after a learning experience. We used it regularly with our history studies. My oldest did a USA spread when we had a USA mini last summer. Another example is her Olympic spread. My middle child has a notebook that is more of a nature journal/observation journal for this. She selects this when out in nature OR when my oldest is Notebooking. Our toddler school student even has a notebook for these times. He colors or draws until he is content and then moves on. Here’s a great overview of Notebooking. I will do a flip through of my oldest’s Notebooking and Journaling on Instagram for her portfolio Review this year as well. It needs tidied up – our washi tape DID NOT HOLD.

Reading

Second Grade. This year was a BIG year for reading and spelling for my 2nd grader (2nd year of 6-9). We realized late into her fall semester that her first prescription was very off and it was literally night and day for her. She made HUGE leaps in her reading and it became something she loved which makes my language loving Momma heart so happy! We did a daily UFLI reading lessons (Monti Style) and had follow up work on the shelf. When appropriate, we used the Dwyer Folders that corresponded or built on the skill we were working on or the upcoming skill. I still love Dwyer’s approach but it is not enough by itself (nor was it intended to be!) Every child is different and most children need explicit phonics lessons for reading. ALL children need explicit phonics lessons for spelling. You can be a great reader and a very poor speller. (Ok, maybe I think it is like 2% of kids can be great readers and great spellers without explicit lessons. If this is your kid, you won the jackpot from a teaching perspective lol!) The original intent with the Montessori reading flow (AMI style I think?) was that the guide would observe the child and give additional lessons as necessary. So some children would have lesson explicit reading instruction while others would have more (based on what their guide observed as necessary). I think more and more Monti Classrooms are moving to science or reading for all so everyone observes the lesson. So a mix of small and large group lessons for reading as opposed to more individual and small group lessons?

Anyhow, my second grader rocked it. I have a reading sample (just for her portfolio) and a reading highlight on Instagram to show her progress throughout the year. Our main assessment for reading and spelling is the UFLI unit assessment and/or the lesson itself. Spelling lags behind reading for most students. I think we are organically entering a spelling focused year for Miss 8 as she enters third grade. She intensely wants to spell everything correctly. We will do a spelling dictionary for her this year with a mix of words she is interested in and her spelling rules she already has learned. I think it will be a great way to review things. We shall see!

In the 3-6 Classroom this starts without letters. It starts with sounds. We play sounds games. Isolating the sounds in words, playing with them, rhyming, listening. To learn how to do sounds games, read this post. Once the child has mastered beginning, ending, and middle sounds (on level five of sound games), then the Sandpaper Letters are introduced. Once the sandpaper letters are mastered (or a good chunk of them are mastered), then the moveable alphabet is introduced. The child can use the letters sounds and the correlating letters to spell whatever she/he wants. The child often begins to read back what they have written. This is when more formal reading lessons begin. It is called “the bridge to reading”. This is typically an organic moment that happens with lots of writing work. And honestly? This is where the bulk of the writing happens under 5 or 6. Lists. Sentences. Random words. Thoughts. Journal prompts. Phonetic spelling with the sing and double sandpaper letters sounds. My K4 student had an interest in blending the letters and trying to read them back. She also played with some blending blocks (marketed as Montessori blocks – CVC words that you can move. I can link them later if you are interested, comment). She hasn’t had that organic bridge to reading like my oldest did though. It was also towards the end of the spring semester so I opted just to observe and see where she went with it. We will review letters and focus on print letters (to ensure she has full recognition of those) to start the new school year. We may begin UFLI in K5 with her and I may opt to jump in for 1st grade like I did with my oldest (or similarly). I do like the progression as we have done it so far. (I share more about this on my Instagram if you are interested.)

Grammar

My 2nd grader cycled through the 9 parts of speach covered in Primary/Early Elementary Grammar. She has practiced throughout the year and will lean in at the beginning of the next year on her memory work for this area (where she left off at the end of the school year). We often mark the parts of speech with the grammar symbols when doing work in another area of focus. Everything overlaps naturally if you let it. Cultural/Cosmic learning really simplies things.

My K4 student started with the grammar farm and the little environment (dolls). She also labeled her room and living room on different days. This begins with a heavy exploration of nouns. We have also played with Prepositions a few different times. In addition to working with nouns in English, she has also worked with labeling in Spanish off and on. This is typically a work she has done with her sister in a group lesson.

Math

First I am going to start with my second grader. At the end of her K5 year we began using the Timeline by Mainly Montessori for our main album. We still reference Info Montessori when necessary and will use our other math album or Rising Tide Montessori’s resources for lessons as well but Mainly Montessori is our primary album. Montessori is very cyclical in how math is practiced. You cycle through all four operations to some level each year with different materials or focuses. Example: one year you will focus on math facts in one operation but will still do problems in the other four operations at different times. The language of math is imbedded in the lessons (as you get older especially) and it is always presented with a hands on manipulative that beautifully illustrates the concept. For example, fractions uses fraction circles that are able to be compared and added together. It makes something that is presented in a very abstract manner very hands on and concrete (Montessori Math is brilliant!)

Each year a Montessori student will not just do basic arithmatic, but geometry, measurement (including money and time), and pre-algebra/algebra skills. These start with word problems but quickly move into mutiples, squaring, and more! This is a scope and sequence of Montessori Math past squaring numbers.

This year our second grader worked quite a bit on multiplication fact work. Facts in a true Montessori setting are not simply memorized but are acquired through repetition and the child is intentionally brought to Abstraction through the sequence of materials. We are still moving towards abstraction in our home. This is not a linear process and it isn’t the same for each child. She also worked with fractions, four digit addition and subtractions (both static and dynamic), four digit dividend and one digit divisor division problems (both static and dynamic), four digit multiplicand and one digit multiplier with multiplication, Estimation, Common Mutliple, Least Common Multiple (applied this with reducing fractions as well), Squaring numbers, Cubing (introduced by not in depth), number line work, measuring (pumpkins, market math, Christmas School Cookies/Baked Goods and more), Geometric Solids (light), Skip Counting, Review Telling Time + Learning to tell the to the closest five, Coin Names and Values practice and perhaps some things I am forgetting. We also did some beast academy and a few other worksheets to give some metal flexibility in how problems are worded or written.

Now for my K4 student. She moved from sensorial (which is not complete yet- it continues throughout the 3-6 classroom) to math materials this year. She began with the number rods and has worked with numbers 0-10 with the sandpaper letters, numbers and counters, tens board, number clip cards, and the color beads. She has worked with the tens and teens boards, the spindles, teen numbers, and has done addition with counters and the color bead bars. She had her introduction to the Golden Beads (place value), and finished the school year by building big numbers with the Golden Beads (four digit numbers).

To see the overview of the Montessori Early Mathematics Progression, check out this blog post.

Sensorial

It is interesting to be writing this section. I have one student who just started his sensorial work this past spring, one student who is starting her last year of 3-6 sensorial work, and one student who has been finished for going on 3 years. I remember researching, preparing the environment, and practicing these presentations so that I was ready. Now they come naturally and I am entering my last season with them. As I’ve said before, I wasn’t ready for the bittersweet feelings that come with rotating works.

My K4 student was heavy into math this past year so the sensorial shelves were not frequented as often–especially in the spring. This summer I would like to get the color tablets back out, pull out the constructive triangles (group lessons for both girls?) and intentionally lean into the sensorial work flow alongside of math more for a bit. I am going to freshen up her work shelves.

My K2 student began his work with the knobbed cylinders this past year but that is as far as he has gotten. He was interested in the geometric solids when I pulled them out for sis but didn’t choose them on his own. He loved matching work and sequencing work. He also loved having his own shelves and work on theme with our units.

Practical Life

This is such an imporant piece of life. Taking care of self and the environment, taking care of plants, eachother, nature, animals. Creating, building, cooking, baking, cleaning – all are wonderful and needed elements of life that are often neglected in our focus of refinement of “necessary skills”. We can refine this without neglecting the other skills. Anyhow, we hold space for this in our home in many ways. I wrote a detailed post on it here and may write another that is geared towards the second plane in the future… if I keep this blog going!