Home Life

Summer is the perfect time to get children involved in cleaning and caring for your home! Including your children in household chores such as cleaning supports their physical, mental, and moral development. Montessori educator and author Paula Lillard Preschlack shares three simple steps to help families get started: setting up the home environment with child-sized tools, deliberate modeling, and letting go of perfection. Investing this effort in the early years builds independence, care for the environment, and lasting habits that pay off well into adulthood.

Forest Bluff School in Lake Bluff, IL, provides practical Montessori strategies for summer learning at home, covering reading, writing, math, and screen-free outdoor exploration.

Forest Bluff School in Lake Bluff, IL, explores how the Montessori philosophy helps families trade "crippling empathy" and anxiety for a productive, grounded optimism.

Most parents understand the many benefits of involving children in household chores, but many of us struggle with implementing an effective chores routine. Here, we offer some suggestions that aim to simplify the process for families.

The Second Plane of Development: 6-12 Years