View Single Post
nothingwithoutjoy 12:16 PM 04-23-2016
Originally Posted by Soakleaf428:
3. How do you manage this approach by yourself?
That's the hardest part, because so much of what makes Reggio great is collaboration between teachers! I moved from a co-teacher model in classrooms to home, and really had to rethink a LOT of things.

I decided that as much as I love Reggio-inspired classrooms, I love home as well. I really value kids being in a home, and don't want to turn it into school. So many changes I have made reflect that.

For example, we never have a "meeting" time. We have lunch and snack. We talk over plans and projects and ideas at the table, as a family would.

I also find that I am far less able to sit down with the kids for long focused project work time, because inevitably, I have to cook something or change a diaper or break up a disagreement between some of the kids or something (which in the classroom, my co-teacher would have done if I were engaged in project work). So I had to let go of the idea that we'd get tons done each day, and allow things to take longer. Which is fine, because really, those things are valuable learning opportunities, too.

And I document differently. In the classroom I had tons of wall space and shelf space and the ability to leave lots of projects-in-the-works out for weeks on end. At home, I want my house to look like my home. So I do more blog documentation, and making books for the kids (rather than wall displays), etc.

The book I recommended above, Project-Based Homeschooling by Lori Pickert, would be quite helpful here, I think.

I also sometimes talk over projects with a former co-teacher (and she talks over hers with me). There's a Reggio / Waldorf / Forest Kindergarten / Granola / Natural - Learning Methods forum here, and I'd love to share stories/brainstorm/think through projects with like-minded educators there!
Reply