It took me years of teaching the Montessori method to fully trust in the process. I find it to be a beautiful way of going to school, and to be all the wonderful things that I had read about in Dr. Montessori’s many books. But doubt crept in. This doubt came from the fact that the Montessori method is such a different learning experience than most of us have been exposed to.
In our society, we find ourselves often comparing ourselves and/or our children to others, worrying if we’ve got it right. “My child has a tutor, my child is on the honor roll, my child is being tested so they can get into this school” etc. I am happy to say that I trust in the method and see every day that Montessori works in fully educating all children. However, Montessori may not work for all parents right away. It requires a huge shift in thinking, about thinking!
As both an educator and a parent I have questioned my decision many times. Questioning and re-evaluating is good but so is trusting in the Montessori method. When well presented and with patience, one will see that all children arrive at the same place at each major developmental milestone even when they are working at their own pace.
Your Child’s Role
Your child’s learning in the Montessori environment is only not focused on rote memory, fact-based learning, but also learning to understand bigger concepts, critical thinking, and developing their own opinions. These are skills that are called upon throughout life.
The Montessori method also holds children accountable for taking an active role in their learning. The directress/director gives lessons, and prepares the environment in such a way to support students towards accomplishment but it is the children who are making learning choices; they set their own goals and they are responsible for doing the work.
Montessori is More
Montessori at its foundation has an additional purpose beyond making your child smart and ready for the workforce. Dr. Montessori developed this method of teaching (especially the elementary curriculum) to create peace in the world. She believed that through teaching children in a non-competitive environment about independence, responsibility, critical and creative thinking, mindfulness, caring, problem resolution strategies, information about the world around them, details about great men/women from history, that we would create leaders for tomorrow that are socially aware and capable of creating peace in our world.
Some examples of Montessori educated individuals are: Larry Page and Sergey Brin-the founders of Google, Jeff Bezos-the founder of Amazon, Jacqueline Kennedy-former First Lady, Prince William and Prince Harry, T. Berry Braelton-pediatrician and author, Eric Erikson-psychologist and author, Anne Frank, Julia Child-author and chef, Katherine Graham-former owner of Washington Post, Gabriel Garcia Marquez-author, Helen Keller, just to name a few notable people.
Image from www.chateau-school.com
Worldly Inspiration
Our students were inspired recently by a young visitor, Anoop Virk, who came to share her passion for helping others.
At 17, Anoop visited a small village in Zambia, Africa and saw numerous children in the streets, not in school. Instead of ignoring it, this teen took action on her vision. She visited the mayor everyday until he allowed her to have land to build a school. Anoop came back to Canada fund-raised, collected recycling, until she reached her goal of $20,000. She returned to Zambia and built a community school that 200 children go to each day. She continues to support the school and visits every year.
After Anoop’s presentation, our classroom discussed whether any one of us could do something similar. Can children make a difference? The answer was unanimously and absolutely, yes. Yes, they could all make a difference and they all thought that what this young woman had done was fantastic. The children see the need for people to help make social change and to actively make their communities and others better places to live.
Everyday Montessori
Our students through their years of caring and experiencing all the attributes of the Montessori method, understand the roles of good leadership and the responsibility we have as citizens of the world to try to make things better for every human being.
Our Preschool Open House is on
Saturday, January 28th!
Come learn more about our program and visit our classrooms. We’d love to see you there!
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