Montessori parenting

Montessori inspired parenting blog. I have son born in September 2019 named Casper

[nciwch]

"Normalized?"

The term normalization may appear to be almost scary to parents and the new teacher…what does that mean? That my child was not “normal” in the first place and it takes a Montessori classroom / teacher to make my child normal?

Taking a step back, let’s look at what Maria Montessori meant by the term “normalized”. Montessori’s observations and recordings showed her that discipline is achieved when a child is intellectually nourished.  Montessori believed that children whose needs are met and are able to develop freely, will not exhibit typical patterns of childhood behavior including tantrums, crying, or possessiveness.  Rather, the child who is in the “normal state of childhood” will show a love of work and order, a love of silence and working alone.  They will also exhibit tendencies to work well in a group with a sense of community and be able to show profound concentration, independence, and obedience….and are rooted with an attachment to reality.  Therefore if a “child’s true personality is allowed to construct itself normally,” we will observe that the child is filled with a sense of joy, and that is when we behold the child for who they truly are.

For this, the teacher must also keep to the principle of freedom within limits.  The children are free to choose the materials with which they want to work for as long as they wish, as long as they have had a lesson. The children must also respect the work of others and cannot disrupt others in deep concentration.  It is our responsibility as the teacher to make sure this idea is evident in the classroom – through its constant practice. For this, also, it is imperative to know when to intervene and when not to intervene.  If a child is concentrating on a task and is not bothering others or not using the materials inappropriately, the teacher should not intervene.  If, however, the teacher observes incidents which are dangerous, destructive, or disrespectful, she must intervene at once.  This will help us achieve our goal of facilitating the emergence of the Normalized Child.

[nicholasmontessori-blog1]

“The first essential for the child’s development is concentration" 

 -Maria Montessori

[howieabel]

“How can we speak of Democracy or Freedom when from the very beginning of life we mould the child to undergo tyranny, to obey a dictator? How can we expect democracy when we have reared slaves? Real freedom begins at the beginning of life, not at the adult stage. These people who have been diminished in their powers, made short-sighted, devitalized by mental fatigue, whose bodies have become distorted, whose wills have been broken by elders who say: “your will must disappear and mine prevail!”—how can we expect them, when school-life is finished, to accept and use the rights of freedom?”

— Maria Montessori, Education for a New World

[awed-frog]

“Is the child’s need for comfort somehow less important or less urgent than an adult’s need for emotional comfort? If we ask a friend for a hug, we hope that they will respond in a compassionate way, without stopping to determine if we have had too many hugs already, or are trying to ‘manipulate’ or ‘train’ him. Yet we do not see the parallel when a toddler is scared or cries. If a child does not learn compassion by example, how will the child learn it?”

— Washington Post, On Parenting

[millennialmontessorian]

Freedom Within Limits

“To let the child do as he likes when he has not yet developed any powers of control is to betray the idea of freedom.” - Maria Montessori

Many people have the misconception that the Montessori philosophy implies that children are free to do whatever they like whenever they like with no rules or boundaries in place. Freedom within limits is one of the core concepts of Montessori education. This concept allows children to explore their environment and do their own learning independently with some guidance from their teachers. Because of the way a Montessori environment is prepared (low shelving, organized work spaces, and logically ordered activities) it encourages the child to move freely around the classroom and independently choose their own work within limits of appropriate behavior. The limits are ground rules that are established at the beginning of the school year: respect for oneself, respect for others, and respect for the environment.

Respect for oneself teaches children how to properly use the materials in the classroom to avoid self-harm. It also helps children learn how to independently take care of their bodies and how to be responsible for their own belongings. Respect for others involves both social skills and good behavior. Children are allowed to choose work independently or they can work in small groups. In order for children to work in small groups, they must be invited to join and understand that they must not interfere or disrupt another child working. In our classroom community, all children must show respect for one another. Respect for the environment relates to taking good care of all things inside the Montessori environment. Children are expected to properly handle the materials, putting work away correctly, and taking care of plants, classroom pets, and all living/nonliving things in our environment.

There are various types of freedom within a Montessori Environment. As we have discussed before, movement is a major part of the Montessori philosophy. Freedom to move allows the child to move around the classroom and continuously find purposeful work independently. By allowing children to move freely in their environment we are encouraging them to learn more about their environment and their interests. Freedom to make mistakes is a type of freedom that really promotes critical thinking and problem-solving. The Montessori materials were designed to have a visual control of error, which guides children to correctly finish the activity through hands-on experience. Freedom of time gives children the opportunity to work on activities for as long as they like. This in return, allows children to develop at their own pace and learn great concentration/focusing skills. This also helps to build their patience, as there is only one of each activity out in the classroom. Since children have freedom of time to work on materials as long as they like, they also have the freedom to repeat. The work cycle gives children time to practice and repeat activities until they’ve been able to master them.

“Let us leave the life free to develop within the limits of the good, and let us observe this inner life developing. This is the whole of our mission.” – Maria Montessori

[liketheshewolf]

Maria Montessori opened the first Casa dei Bambini in Rome on January 6, 1907, enrolling 50 or 60 children between the ages of two or three and six or seven. At first, the classroom was equipped with a teacher’s table and blackboard, a stove, small chairs, armchairs, and group tables for the children, and a locked cabinet for the materials that Montessori had developed at the Orthophrenic School. Activities for the children included personal care such as dressing and undressing, care of the environment such as dusting and sweeping, and caring for the garden. The children were also shown the use of the materials Montessori had developed. Montessori herself, occupied with teaching, research, and other professional activities, oversaw and observed the classroom work, but did not teach the children directly. Day-to-day teaching and care were provided, under Montessori’s guidance, by the building porter’s daughter. In this first classroom, Montessori observed behaviors in these young children which formed the foundation of her educational method. She noted episodes of deep attention and concentration, multiple repetitions of activity, and a sensitivity to order in the environment. Given free choice of activity, the children showed more interest in practical activities and Montessori’s materials than in toys provided for them, and were surprisingly unmotivated by sweets and other rewards. Over time, she saw a spontaneous self-discipline emerge. Based on her observations, Montessori implemented a number of practices that became hallmarks of her educational philosophy and method. She replaced the heavy furniture with child-sized tables and chairs light enough for the children to move, and placed child-sized materials on low, accessible shelves. She expanded the range of practical activities such as sweeping and personal care to include a wide variety of exercises for care of the environment and the self, including flower arranging, hand washing, gymnastics, care of pets, and cooking. She also included large open air sections in the classroom encouraging children to come and go as they please in the room’s different areas and lessons. She felt by working independently children could reach new levels of autonomy and become self-motivated to reach new levels of understanding. Montessori also came to believe that acknowledging all children as individuals and treating them as such would yield better learning and fulfilled potential in each particular child. She continued to adapt and refine the materials she had developed earlier, altering or removing exercises which were chosen less frequently by the children. Also based on her observations, Montessori experimented with allowing children free choice of the materials, uninterrupted work, and freedom of movement and activity within the limits set by the environment. She began to see independence as the aim of education, and the role of the teacher as an observer and director of children’s innate psychological development. (x)

[millennialmontessorian]

In a Montessori classroom we specifically put out only one of each work. We also teach children to say “Please don’t touch my work.” It teaches the other child patience and is a great way to teach grace and courtesy.

~Millennial Montessorian✨🌻

[baandek]

“Do not tell them how to do it. Show them how to do it and do not say a word. If you tell them, they will watch your lips move. If you show them, they will want to do it themselves.”

— Maria Montessori

[parentingblog]