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Willowfolio

Feature · Montessori

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

photo · open shelves of wooden materials at child height

Quiet detail, not a teacher form

The fields a Montessori parent recognises.

Inside the Log Activity dialog you can mark which period of the three-period lesson you most recently gave on a nomenclature work, 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.

Extra fields cover the work cycle, the long uninterrupted block of free choice in which concentration deepens. 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.

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 shows any periods the app has noticed are currently open, so you can see at a glance what your child is naturally drawn to.

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 say the period has closed, or until the activity log moves on without you needing to.

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.

Open the demo Read the Montessori guide

  • INSIDE THE LOG ACTIVITY DIALOG

    Tracking on activities

    Three-period lesson period, free choice, concentration duration, repetitions, how the child 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

    Periods the app has noticed are currently open for your children, shown at a glance.

  • 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 told, and when. Stops the second one never quite happening.

  • MATERIALS · DEFAULT VIEW

    What's on the Shelf

    Materials grouped by Montessori area 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'?
The classic Montessori technique for introducing a name for something: Period 1, the adult names it; Period 2, the child recognises it; Period 3, the child recalls it. Inside the app you mark which period you most recently gave 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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