Setting Up Year 1 of the Montessori Christian Homeschool Curriculum
Watch this video series to see how to set up Year 1 of the Raising Kingdom Warriors Montessori Christian Homeschool Curriculum for children ages 2.5-6!
It has been several years since I created the Raising Kingdom Warriors Montessori Christian Homeschool Curriculum. I have been in MOM mode for so many years now, and writing curriculum is such a focused task for me, that it has been difficult for me to showcase our life and our learning.
My desire is to show videos and some real-life photos and clips of us using the curriculum. I know firsthand how helpful it is to see a curriculum in action as I have used SO MANY curriculums over the years in our 8+ years of homeschooling.
If you don’t know about the RKW Montessori Christian Homeschool Curriculum, check it out here and then come back!
Before you start:
Before getting started with the RKW MCH Curriculum, you definitely want to read all of the introductory pages! These will help you know why you are doing what you are doing and how to go about it!
The Curriculum is designed to be as parent-friendly as possible, but with anything hands-on, it will require setup!
You will want to check out the Shopping Lists and the Setup pages. Check off what you accomplish as you go.
About the “extras”:
You won’t see to much “extra” on our shelf, and that is intentional. I am stripping down the extras this year and sticking to the curriculum to keep things simple and focused!
You will see one big extra for us, though, and that is our Betty Lukens Feltboard (the Deluxe Bible Set). We purchased this as basically our very first “homeschool” supply when my first daughter was only one year old! We love it, and every child plays with the felt scene when we have it on our learning shelf.
Parent-led versus child-led:
I know some of you may be gasping at the non-Montessori nature of a scripted curriculum, and that’s okay! I have transitioned from fully child-led to fully parent-led and landed in a place that works for me and my family in this season of life.
In Montessori classrooms, there is “Circle Time,” there are often group presentations, and there are many, many children with the positive peer pressure to choose varying work. In a homeschool environment, we have to get creative.
My kids have been trained to look forward to this time together, and I don’t have to coax them to come to sit for a presentation (well, most of the time I don’t!) I do have to set high expectations of my children and follow through with a set schedule.
The more consistent Mom is, the better behaved the kids are.
Getting my heart right:
It’s easy to fall out of “line” with my ideals. I find the world to be quite distracting - and opinionated - and I really just want to do right by God, my husband, and my kids. But often I look in the wrong places - like Instagram, YouTube, parenting books, homeschooling books, or even other moms.
I find the only place I truly find peace is in God’s Word: the Bible.
So, if you are doing all the things to prepare for your first couple of weeks of your homeschool, make sure reading your Bible and praying gets placed at the top of your list where it belongs!