Read an Excerpt

An Introduction to Teaching Montessori in the Home
 
The pressures and fast pace of today’s society have taken away the times of quiet togetherness which we should have with our children. It is important to a child’s future not to be deprived of this close relationship, and it should be important to you as a mother to have an opportunity to spend time with your young child. We all know how quickly they grow up and leave us, so let us not wait until it is too late.
 
The opportunity of teaching your child is a thrilling and challenging experience. It enables you to see his progressive steps in learning and to watch him develop into a responsible thinking human being. I feel that it is a unique opportunity, rewarding beyond measure. It nurtures a wonderful closeness between mother and child and will develop a real rapport between you.
 
It is necessary and important for the parent to fully understand Montessori before attempting to teach it to the child. For this reason, I have included a book list that I feel will be of help to you for background and reference. Teaching Montessori in the home is something that should not be attempted unless you feel that you will be able to carry it through. Your attitude toward your child during this period will have a great effect on him. What the child learns will depend solely on you as his teacher. He possesses the capabilities, but you must arouse them. You as a parent should be able to instinctively sense your child’s needs and be able to determine the rate at which you should progress. Always take your lead from the child.
 
In your zeal to see him progress, you must be careful not to introduce exercises which are too advanced for him. Remember, this is not a contest. You are not doing this to impress friends and relatives with little Johnny’s remarkable skills, but rather to help give your child a better foundation on which to base his future learning.
 
The exercises given in this book cover the preschool years from two to five years. I have not attempted to go beyond this stage, as I feel that a child of five should be in a normal school environment with children of his own age. I feel strongly, however, that the child from two to five can be taught effectively and well in the home environment and, in fact, can learn, in many cases, more than he would in school during these formative and sensitive years.
 
For mothers who are sincerely interested in introducing the Montessori method to their children but, for one reason or another, are not able to send them to a Montessori school, this book, I feel, holds the solution. You do not have to be a teacher to teach Montessori in your home, nor is it necessary to have unlimited space. For the past five years I have had “school” in a small bedroom, shared by my two eldest daughters, and have felt it to be quite satisfactory. After several years of working with Montessori in my own home I am deeply gratified with the results. The older girls learned easily and with enthusiasm, and the younger child, while having been instructed in the simpler exercises, has picked up a considerable amount of more advanced work by imitation and osmosis.
 
It will not always be possible to have school every day, so teach well when you have the opportunity. However, if a specific time is set aside each day (the morning, after the main household chores have been done, seems to work out best), you will find that “school” becomes a natural part of your daily routine. Your home is first and foremost a home, and this is your only real disadvantage when it comes to turning it into a school. Space is naturally limited, and “school” is a daily temporary situation, unless you are lucky enough to have a spare room used solely for this purpose.
 
In the beginning you will find that your child is, by nature, more adept at doing some things than others. At first it may seem to you that the child will never “catch on,” but don’t be discouraged. For example, the first few times my eldest child tried to lace a shoe it seemed to me as if she would never learn, yet just as I was ready to despair she suddenly began doing it with ease. After several successful lacings she beamed proudly and said, “See, I’m learning!” It is moments like these that make it all worthwhile, and these moments are gratifyingly frequent.
 
In teaching Montessori in your home, your goal should be to instill in your child a sense of discovery and awareness, as opposed to mere surface learning. If this is done in the early years, it will remain with the child throughout his school experiences and his life.
 
Maria Montessori: Her Life and Her Method
 
Maria Montessori was born in Italy in 1870 at Chiaravalle, a small province of Ancona. Because she possessed, as a young child, a great interest and aptitude for mathematics, her parents moved to Rome so that Maria would have the educational advantages of a large city. Encouraged by her parents to become a teacher, she decided instead to venture into the field of engineering. This proved to be not to her liking, and after a brief attraction to biology she made the decision to study medicine—an almost unheard-of pursuit for a young woman of Maria Montessori’s era. In 1896 she became the first woman in Italy to take the degree of Doctor of Medicine.
 
After her graduation from medical school she interned at the Psychiatric Clinic of the University of Rome, and her work here with the mentally deficient led to many of her future ideas. She felt strongly that mental deficiency was more of a pedagogical problem than a medical one and felt that with special educational treatment these handicapped people could be helped. And, in time, her teachings and her understanding resulted in a marked development in the ability of many mentally inferior children.
 
The first Casa dei Bambini, or “Children’s House,” was established in the slums of Rome in 1907. A prepared environment was provided for these children, all under five years of age. Dr. Montessori used materials previously used to teach older defective children which were primarily scientific apparatus for testing the accuracy of sensory discriminations.
 
In 1909, as a result of the great interest in the Casa dei Bambini, Maria Montessori published her Scientific Pedagogy as Applied to Child Education in the Children’s Houses. This work attracted great interest, and Americans were among the first to respond. However, many of her ideas soon met with disapproval, due largely to the fact that Americans were set in their ways of education and could not accept change easily. Many people felt that such extensive training for future development was not warranted for the child of preschool age. Among these were the conservative Darwinians who were strong believers in “fixed intelligence” and who felt that heredity alone determined a child’s development. Freud’s theories had also gained notice in the early 1900’s and tended to minimize the significance of Montessori’s revelation that her educational materials awakened the child’s spontaneous interest in learning.
 
Despite setbacks Montessori’s work continued, and gradually Montessori movements sprang up in many European countries and in different parts of the world. In 1915 Maria Montessori was enthusiastically welcomed to America. She lectured and gave a course for teachers in California. To acquaint more people with her method, a Montessori class was set up at the San Francisco World Exhibition of 1915. Numerous schools were established in the next few years, but they soon closed as interest waned.
 
Returning to Europe she lectured in many countries and also spent considerable time in further research; many honors were bestowed upon her for her work. During the war years she established the Montessori movement in India, where it is still flourishing today.
 
Dr. Montessori died in Holland in 1952 at the age of eighty-one. Upon her death her son Mario became her successor in the direction of the Association Montessori Internationale, with headquarters in Amsterdam.
 
Maria Montessori believed that education begins at birth and that the first few years of life, being the most formative, are the most important, both physically and mentally. Even the smallest baby must be exposed to people and sounds and cuddled and talked to if he is to develop into a normal happy child. The baby has an active mind, which does not wait passively for adult instruction, and he becomes apathetic when constantly left alone. Through normal and gradual learning processes, behavior patterns are established and the powers of the adult mind are gradually built up. Proper learning methods in the years from birth to six years will largely determine the kind of man the child will become. Because mental development in these early years proceeds at a rapid rate, this is a period that must not be wasted.
 
Montessori felt that in these early years a child has what she referred to as “sensitive periods,” during which time he is particularly receptive to certain stimuli. A particular sensitivity toward something lasts only until a necessary need is fulfilled. These periods are perhaps most easily seen in the stages of walking and talking. If parents are aware of these periods, much can be done to help the child at the right time. Observe the child and watch for each particular sensitive period. Then utilize these periods to help him understand and master his environment. All children develop at a different pace, but the following list will help you in knowing when to watch for particular phases of development.
 
 
SENSITIVE PERIODS
 
birth—3 years Absorbent mind
            Sensory experiences
1½—3 years    Language development
1½—4 years    Coordination and muscle development
            Interest in small objects
2—4 years       Refinement of movement
            Concern with truth and reality
            Aware of order sequence in time and space
2½—6 years    Sensory refinement
3—6 years       Susceptibility to adult influence
3½—4½ years Writing
4—4½ years    Tactile sense
4½—5½ years Reading