A Typical Day @ BMH

[nelsonic]

Children arrive between 08:00 - 09:00

On arrival they hang up their things and then engage in self-directed play. This means the child chooses their activity and plays either by themself, with other children or the adult guides.
Some children choose to read during this time. There is an extensive collection of books (over a thousand) in the BMH Library. Parents who have time available, are welcome to sit and read with their child in the library or reading nook until 09:15.

We have over 200 learning materials and activities for children to engage with during self-directed play time. In addition to this there are many ball sports and an extensive Lego/duplo collection which children love.

09:15 - 09:30 Circle Time. All children and guides sit around the circle and talk about the relevant topics of the day. Children can surface a topic if they have one.

At 09:30 all children are encouraged to drink water, eat a snack and use the toilet before the morning “focus time” begins. There are 8 toilets in the building. Toilet independence is encouraged but adults already always nearby to help.

09:40 - 11:00 morning focus time. In Montessori this is referred to as “independent work time”, however we will occasionally do group creative activities in this time so we simply refer to it as “focus time” when the child is at their most focussed on the activity.

Examples include: counting, sorting, letters & language, sensorial, practical life, and science. Additionally there is reading area and cleaning supplies for children to use.

11:00 - 11:30 break into 2 groups:

1. Meal Prep: children love helping to prepare their own lunch and set the table; it gives them a huge sense of accomplishment and teaches them practical life skills they can use at home.
2. Tidy Up the work room and help prepare the afternoon activities. Again, this is good practical life exercise. Children who are too small to understand tidy-up-time can continue to play until lunch.

11:30 wash hands and head to the table for lunch.

11:40 - 12:20: Lunch Time

Typical Lunch includes:

1. Vegetable Soup
2. Nutritionally balanced plant-based main meal
3. Seasonal Organic Fruit

Our vegan chef prepares all food from scratch on-site each morning with fresh ingredients.
Children whose parents prefer them to have some animal protein can specify this in their meal preferences. In which case lean animal proteins will be included; organic chicken, eggs, turkey & MSC fish.

After lunch, children help clear the table. Older children show the younger ones how to do it. The cleaning lady helps children clear plates and load the dishwasher.

12:20 - 12:40 wash hands, brush teeth & bathroom break. As soon as they are done, children head outside to play.

13:00 Those who nap, change into their sleep clothes.

13:00 - 14:30 Optional Nap Time
Guides read a calm story and children sleep in the dedicated dark & quiet nap room.

Children that prefer not to nap can play outside during this time.

14:30 - 15:00 Outdoor Play for all.

15:00 - 16:00 Afternoon Activity.
Each day of the week there is a different afternoon creative activity.
Mon: Music & Movement
Tue: Arts & Crafts
Wed: Sports
Thu: Sculpture & Spacial Creativity
Fri: Science Experiments

16:00 - 17:00 self-directed play.

Parents collect their children during this time.

Parents who need to work late may specially request that their child stay later up to 18:00. While this is not encouraged it is an available option. Children staying later can play outdoors, read in the library or use the learning materials.

Please note: this is just an outline.
It will be reviewed, expanded and updated as needed. Activities will change as we get specialist teachers. E.g: we want bushcraft, judo/Karate, gymnastics, painting, etc.

Recommend reading: https://www.brightonview.net/post/a-typical-day-for-a-child-in-the-montessori-classroom#:~:text=Independent%20Work%20Time%3A%20The%20majority,covers%20a%20different%20curriculum%20area.

[iteles]

I for one, find this outline super helpful.
It also pushes this idea much closer to one of a microschool instead of a playgroup and interestingly, I'm not sure microschools even exist in legal terms in Portugal. Before the age of 6, this should be fairly simple because there is no mandatory schooling and will be more of an accountancy job than anything else.

[nelsonic]

Inês, while I'm glad that you've found this outline helpful,
I will say that anyone could have written it; e.g: you.

For complete clarity: it's not a "school". And we don't want anyone thinking that.
It's a "lifelong learning community" where children and parents can learn new skills.
Schools are where creativity goes to die. Schools have a rigidly defined (box-ticking) "curriculum". We want to inspire children to love learning. There's nothing "school" about it.
This outline is just to help people understand that we have some structure to our day and aren't making it up as we go.

P.S. I hated going to "school". It was a glorified prison / sausage factory where the teachers didn't care for a minute about the interests of the child. It was all about teaching what they had to teach and passing tests; horrible experience! 😢 Most importantly teachers who are experts the past have no idea about the future and are completely incompetent to teach anyone about it because they are clueless themselves. If I can help my child avoid wasting 16+ years of their life, I will. Note: not saying I didn't learn anything in School. To the contrary, I did! But it was in spite of the teachers and environment not because of them. I learned everything by reading the books and doing the exercises in my own time. The Teachers held me back!! 🤦‍♂️