7 Tips to Incorporate Montessori Into Your Road Schooling

“I love the idea behind the Montessori philosophy but we spend so much of our day in the car- it’s too hard!”, “I would love to do a Montessori based homeschool but we’re full-time RVers and always on the road,” I hear these two phrases from people all the time.  

We live in a 200 square foot Airstream. While we’re not mobile yet, we live out in the country and spend an incredible amount of time in the car and space is incredibly valuable for us. I have over a decade teaching in Montessori Schools and knew we’d have a Montessori inspiration to our homeschooling. While a full Montessori homeschool room setup would be absolutely lovely, it’s doable to incorporate Montessori methods and ideas into your roadschooling. Be it roadschooling as a fulltime RV family, a family who spends a ton of time in the car and wants to complete school on the road, or you’re looking to get some school hours in while on trips this Spring.

Top 7 Trips to Incorporate Montessori Into Your Road Schooling:

1- Rethink your manipulatives. You’re obviously not going to want to be bringing along an entire moveable alphabet, golden beads, and a pink tower. Can you rethink these materials to be more car friendly though? Grab a magnetic set of letters (they make small magnetic boards specifically designed for spelling) & a set of small magnetic blocks or some Lego’s. Boom, you’ve got manipulatives that are easier to take along in the car!

2- Use file folders- Yes, the old fashioned file folders that we think about doctors offices storing patient data in. They are perfect to create mini-workspaces. You can attach a small pocket on the inside with a piece of paper and staple in printables of Montessori-based works.

3- Find an object bottles- Place several small items into a cleaned our plastic bottle, fill with rice or quinoa and you’ve got yourself a seek it bottle. A variation of this is often found in a Montessori classroom. Some families prefer to make a master list of all the objects for children to use.

4- Create small themed books- Small child-size books are great to bring along in the car. Create a book based on pictures of a blend your child is working on, an animal they’re interested in, or a word search book. These are great ways to bring along learning and keep kids interested in the car.

5- Create a “car school” box- Grab a plastic storage bin with a lid on it. As you find good, small, Montessori friendly items at your favorite stores you can keep them in the bin for your children to use.

6- Head to the hardware store before you hit the road- Color gradient matching is a great work for the road that can easily be created with free paint samples from the hardware store and adapted for all ages of kids. (If you’re not sure how to do this work, check out our most recent printable pack for the full work setup).

7- Rethink your rest stops- So much learning and exercise can happen at rest stops. Take a look at the informational signs, bring along your Montessori yoga cards for a quick workout and get a little bit of grace & courtesy practice picking up trash.

Roadschooling is a great way to keep your kids entertained in the car and fit in school time. Happy trails, we can’t wait to hear about your adventures!

Bonus idea- grab a couple of our CDs to listen to while you’re on the road, they help reinforce concepts and are catchy songs kids love.