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Willowfolio

Montessori tracker and observation tool for UK home-ed

Quiet detail,
not a teacher form.

Optional Montessori fields sit inside the activity form when you want them. The three-period lesson, free choice, concentration, the quiet details that turn a record into an observation.

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all fields are optional, always

Quiet detail, not a teacher form

The fields a Montessori parent recognises.

Inside the Log Activity dialog you can note which period of the three-period lesson the child responded to most readily on a nomenclature work, whether they were still associating the name or already recalling it without prompt. Alongside that: whether it was a free choice, how long they concentrated, how many times they repeated, and how they felt during the work. All optional, all private to your family unless you put it in a report. A diagnostic note for next time, not a level to climb.

Extra fields cover the work cycle, the uninterrupted block in which a child chooses freely from the prepared shelf, settles, and often returns to one piece of work more than once. Was the work interrupted, did your child come back to it, how did they move on, did they pick the work up and put it down again. The quiet details that feed the Learning Journal later.

A note for the adult: observation in Montessori means watching without interrupting. The fields are for after the work, not during it. Jot a placeholder if you must, the form will wait.

Sensitive periods

Captured, and gently surfaced.

Each child's profile has a sensitive period section where you can record when one seems to open or close, with notes on what you noticed. The home page surfaces the periods you've recorded as open, so you can see at a glance what each child is currently drawn to. You decide when a period opens or closes; the app just keeps the note in view.

It is a window, not a deadline. Nothing in the app times out, expires, or chases you. The note stays on the home page until you decide the period has closed.

Optional, never compulsory

Not Montessori? The fields disappear.

If your family does not work this way, you will not see the Montessori-specific fields. The activity log, the reading log, the schedule, and the reports work the same for any approach. Montessori is one shape among many, and the right shape varies by home.

In the app

How it sits inside Willowfolio.

Six places where Montessori practice meets the app. None are required, and the rest of the app does not change shape if you ignore them.

Try the demo Read the Montessori guide

  • INSIDE THE LOG ACTIVITY DIALOG

    Tracking on activities

    Which period of the three-period lesson the child responded to, whether the work was a free choice, how long they concentrated, how many times they repeated it, and how they felt. All optional.

  • EXTRA FIELDS · ACTIVITY DIALOG

    Work cycle and self-direction

    Was the work interrupted, did the child come back, how did they move on, did they pick it up and put it down.

  • YOUR WEEK · HOME PAGE

    Active sensitive periods

    The periods you've recorded as currently open, shown at a glance for each child.

  • CHILD'S PROFILE · SENSITIVE PERIODS

    Sensitive period records

    Record when a period seems to open or close for a child, with notes on what you noticed.

  • EACH CHILD'S PROFILE PAGE

    Great Lessons tracking

    Mark which of the Five Great Lessons each child has been given (the story of the universe, the coming of life, the coming of humans, the story of writing, the story of numbers), and when. A small log, but it keeps the second from quietly never happening because nobody remembers whether the first already did.

  • MATERIALS · DEFAULT VIEW

    What's on the Shelf

    Materials grouped by Montessori area (Practical Life, Sensorial, Language, Maths, Cultural), across on-shelf, in-rotation, stored and retired. A plane-aware nudge surfaces stored materials your child is ready for.

Pairs well with

Read these next.

Common questions

The things families ask first.

Do I have to use the Montessori fields?
No. They are all optional. If you do not work this way, you will not see them. Charlotte Mason, classical, eclectic, and unschooling families use the activity log without the Montessori-specific fields ever appearing.
Can I track Charlotte Mason narration alongside Montessori observations?
Yes. Narration notes sit in the note field of the activity log, and observations work the same way for any framework. The Montessori-specific fields are an addition for families who want them, not a replacement for the rest of the log.
What is the 'three-period lesson'?
A short teaching sequence Montessori uses to introduce names: the adult names it ('This is the trinomial cube'), invites recognition ('Show me the trinomial cube'), and then invites recall ('What is this?'). Often given in one sitting, sometimes revisited days later if recall isn't there yet. Inside the app you note which period the child responded to most readily on a nomenclature work, so the record reflects how the work is unfolding.

Try it with real data

Quiet detail, on every activity.

The demo is a fully populated workspace you can poke around in. Real shapes, real flows, fictional family.

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