THE MONTESSORI PHILOSOPHY

Early in the twentieth century Dr. Maria Montessori, Italy's first woman physician, developed educational materials and methods based on her belief that children learn best by doing, not by passively accepting other people's ideas and pre-existing knowledge. It was an innovative concept. This idea of learning promotes the active personal pursuit of many different experiences: physical, social, emotional, cognitive. With the materials Montessori devised, an environment in which such learning takes place can be created.

Montessori believed learning should occur in multi-age classrooms where children at various stages of development learn from and with each other. Her developmentally appropriate approach was designed to fit each child instead of making each child fit the program.

Montessori teachers know that children learn more by touching, seeing, smelling, tasting, and exploring than by just listening. Teacher training prepares them to create dynamic, interactive learning environments that encourage each child to reason, cooperate, collaborate, negotiate, and to understand. Their goal is the development of an autonomous individual, competent in all areas of life, not merely someone with the "right" answers.

Dr. Montessori showed the first six years of life to be the most important for growth and attitudes toward future development. She also believed that children create themselves through purposeful activity, and that they possess unusual sensitivity and mental powers for absorbing and learning from their environment, which includes people as well as materials. A child retains this extraordinary ability until they are almost 7 years old. The Montessori method takes full advantage of this, with equipment and approaches that makes learning a delightful experience.

A Montessori education is unique because of its emphasis on the "Whole child" -- helping each child reach full potential in all areas of life. Activities promote the development of social skills, emotional growth, and physical coordination as well as cognitive preparation.

A joy of learning and a purposeful approach to work is one of the most valuable attitudes Montessori can offer a child.

A child will achieve this in two critical stages:

1. Between the ages of 2 and 4 the child will acquire physical independence and learn the art of socialization with peers. The beginning equipment in a Montessori classroom uses the child's natural urge to manipulate objects and explore through the senses. Through sight and touch, she/he will soon memorize numbers and the sounds of letters. Certain pieces are manipulated specifically to develop the fine hand and finger muscles necessary for buttoning, zipping, cutting with scissors, and later for tying and writing.

2. From the ages of 4 through 7, the brain is most receptive to the abstract concepts in reading and math. The child can now begin to acquire the basic academic independence necessary for self-education. This level is made far less forbidding by the respect the child receives from his/her parents and teachers, and by the confidence acquired during the first stage.

To benefit completely from the Montessori method, a child should be enrolled for 3 years.

The classroom is scaled to the child, allowing the freedom to choose work that best suits his/her needs. Our emphasis is not on competition or production, but on the fullest development of each child according to his/her abilities and pace.

Invest in your child now, when learning and discovering comes quickly and easily, and to insure the formation of good habits for the future.