Introducing Montessori

 

         When I first heard about Montessori education, I was looking for ideas to improve and implement independent play in my 8 months old daughters everyday life!

I was aware how important these skills were, and how they’d affect her future, the ability to learn in School, the  creativity, the patience, the independence... all depend on this ability!

The Waldorf  school hol system  was something I already was familiar with, I had several friends and even close family members, who attended Waldorf school, and as you could expect they grew up to become teachers, musicians, some became journalists and others photographers, but almost all of these people are working independently and in a very creative branch.

I stumbled upon Montessori trough a toy (Montessori Peggy board ) , and I fell in love with it,  I started reading all that I could find about it, watched tons of videos, bought books and learned in every spare minute I had! Now, that my child is   3 years old, and I’m able to see all that Montessori education gave us,  I decided to share my knowledge, as surely I’m not the only parent who’d fall in love with these principles! 

     The term Montessori, comes from dr. Maria Montessori, the  first  Italian Woman who became a dr! She was born in 1870, august the 31. 

She has degrees in Antropology Philosophy, children pedagogy, and psychology, among others, she was also a university professor, and worked with children whit special needs! ( I may dedicate an entire blogpost for her life, and career in the future. ) 

   She opened a children’s house, where she treated children with respect, and allowed them to have their opinion, which at that time was considered very controversial. She noticed that children started to respond positively to her approaches.

She was the first to introduce child sized furniture in schools, something that’s natural today, but was also very unusual back than. Just like the mixed age groups in one kindergarten Group  are also based on her teachings. She noticed that putting older and younger children together in one group is beneficial for both ages;  the older ones learn to take care of the little ones, and the younger children are able to learn to respect and follow their  leaders ( as the older children  become leaders automatically) 

      Montessori is a philosophy that  feeds children’s curiosity and will to learn in a very natural way, and  helps parents to guide their children very carefully through this process.

The goal is to avoid controlling the child’s development, instead parents should allow  the child’s natural desire to come through!

If you’re so lucky and are able to send your child to a Montessori school than do so, but if there’s no such school in your neighborhood or even town, don’t give up , ( specially if that school would be to far away, like in my case- 

I would have to drive her 30 km every day to kindergarten,) you can do Montessori at home  as well, Montessori homes are not so different from the Montessori classroom itself.

This doesn’t mean that you have to run and buy everything labeled Montessori! This principle is about mutual respect and love, not about materials, so don’t break the bank, look around your house and you’ll surely fine the way to implement Montessori in your home without spending your money.

A low cupboard can allow access to plates and glasses for your toddler, and I’m sure you have something that will make your child tall enough to reach the bathroom sink, and  the famous open shelf system of Montessori teachings? - if you don’t have any other furniture that would serve as toy storage, and display,  than allying the  baskets with the toys or activities you want your child to play with it’s also completely ok,  or use the bottom of your coffee table or any furniture that’s in your child’s level, and he/ she can reach for the activities and toys without parental support! 

   

          How does a Montessori hone look like ? 

          A  Montessori home  is basically every Home with a loving family, in my opinion!

The children have to be surrendered by a clean, organized environment. To implement independent play and independence in every aspect in their life, aim for child sized furnitures, high quality toys( they also should be durable and open ended so they can be played in many different ways), natural, non toxic materials!

The first thing I did after I learned about Montessori was, that I donated the self entertaining toys, everything to flashy and noisy had to go, the majority of the plastic toys as well! If you consider doing Montessori, than your goal is encouraging your child to play independently with open ended toys and activities, and spend as much time as possible exploring the nature.

          Why you should practice Montessori?

A Montessori child, grows up to be  independent, confident, respectful and the desire to learn and immense curiosity is growing with them!

Imagine a morning routine where your toddler wakes up, puts their clothes on, and eat breakfast independently. That is something to achieve with the Montessori approach. ( Don’t misunderstand this statement!! It doesn’t mean you get to sleep, while your 3 year old gets ready for school. You should never leave your child alone, in any circumstances! ) 

What about bed time ? Did your child learn how to fall asleep by themselves, or you have to help them every night? If that’s what you want is totally fine, every family has their own little routine, but if you’d like your child to fall asleep after tuck in time, than consider to implement Montessori in your everyday life. There are many different types of advices of how to get your child to sleep, ( you just have to use the good old Google) Maria Montessori encourages parents to let their children sleep on floor beds, right from birth. I personally had her next to me the first few months, and than transferred her to her own room, in a crib, we purchased her Montessori floor bed for her third birthday, but that’s my kind of Montessori, everyone is free to have a their kind of Montessori!  ( in case of babies definitely put pool noodles under their sheets to avoid rolling over)

Good night stories definitely need a whole chapter for themselves, lately I realized that the Montessori approach is the best thing I have ever done! My daughter gets scared of  good night stories and can’t sleep through the night,  as I reduced our home library to Montessori appropriate books, we don’t have this problem anymore! I didn’t believe first that children under six years should not be read fantasy based stories, I was like- I’ll skip this part of Montessori education, because I want my girl to know fairytales, about big wolfs and little girls who  get rescued from the hunter 😉. 

This is my kind of Montessori I want to introduce you to, I don’t strictly follow all the rules of Montessori, I take only what fits into our life, and what I’m comfortable doing, and I’m happy I started this journey. The best gift I can give my baby is love  respect and curiosity, and through Montessori I can guide her gentle  while she’s growing,  and learning!

These few lines are meant to introduce you to the Montessori education I definitely will write about different aspects of it, including the main topics new parents are interested in, like: 

• independent sleep, 
• Independent play time
• Quiet time
• Cooking with children, cooking for children 
• Baby lead weaning 
• Positive parenting
• Activities and toys 
• And many more

Glad to have you as a reader, welcome to the Montessori family!

 

 

            Maria Montessori was a doctor, in the early nineteenth century. She was born on August 31, 1870 in Italy, and started going to medical school, as one of the first five women from Italy.

She had a great interest on  early child development, and a special fascination for disabled children.

           Throughout her life, she kept studying,  developing materials, and teaching how to teach  disabled children. She grounded a Children’s home, for the disabled and poor children, and during her work in this institution she developed the Montessori-Method. This got included in the Italian school system in 1924, but as she didn’t want to accept the changes offered from the fascist government, ( like school uniforms) Montessori education was banned in Italy, in 1934, for this reason  she decided to leave her country.

She spent about 10 years in India, and came back to Europe around 1947, where she lived  in Nederland, she was the director of the  Association Montessori Internationale headquarters, which remains under the direction of her son Mario Montessori after her passing away in 1952.

        Around the world, Montessori education got known, in North America in the 1960‘, through Nancy McCormick Rambush, in Germany through Clara Grunwald in the 1029‘, and Helene Helming in 1945.

    The Montessori education is a philosophy, that puts the child as an individual in  the center, this method encourages children to learn on their on behalf, without punishment or rewards; as children have a  natural desire to take  part in the life of grownups, and this desire motivates them to learn. Montessori pedagogy concentrates on each  child’s talents, and the teachers of this method, believe that each child is able to learn best, on its own way and rhythm.  Those children which are able to learn based on their talents and on their own rhythm, are later self conscious, self-employed, believe in themselves, and can use all they’ve learned before.

               The Montessori education is divided; from 0 to 6 years, 6 to 9, and 9 to 12. Multiple age groups are combined in a classroom, so the younger children learn naturally from the older ones; the older children have the chance to learn and practice essential leadership skills, as they mentor the younger children in the class; and the young naturally look up at the older ones.

 Many of us don’t have the chance to send our children to a Montessori school, but we don’t have to, ( I mean we, can, could and, probably would if there was one at our location) You can implement Montessori education at home, by setting up an environment that encourages the child’s natural curiosity. As a parent, you have to realize that even the littlest children are capable of way more than you think, and once you’ve acknowledged this, you can start making some changes around your home. Don’t have to think major changes, small but significant changes will help you and your child to do Montessori at home with success.

  In this blog, I will be sharing with you recommendations,  and tips, on how to create a Montessori friendly environment for ages 0-3.

Beside the environment, I will write about many Montessori education key areas.

Like practical life skills,  Montessori materials, the respect, you should give to your child, about sensitive periods in a child’s life, their absorbent mind, about child development, sleep training, potty training.....

   P.S. I’m not a Montessori teacher, just a mom, trying her best to raise a child in this crazy world.

What I’m sharing, is mostly my personal opinion, the way I chose, to do Montessori, and how that turned out for us. I’m not here to tell you, how to raise your children, but to provide useful information that can make this a lot easier, and probably with a better outcome!

Happy to have you as a reader!