The Benefits of Montessori Schools

When our children are born, we have already decided that we will raise them in the best way we can. This responsibility, however, involves us making choices for them, and one of the most fundamental choices we make is that of their education. You may be at the stage when you are choosing a first school for your little one, or you have a child who is already in the school system, and is not fitting in, or is unhappy. Whatever stage you are at, before you make your choice, it is worth looking into the Montessori method. In the UK, most Montessori schools are pre-schools, with some elementary, but in the US, there are elementary schools as well as some high schools.

The founder of the Montessori method of teaching was a lady called Maria Montessori, the first woman in Italy to graduate in medicine from the University of Rome. She worked with mentally retarded children, then served in a variety of university teaching positions. In 1907, she opened the Casa dei Bambini, where she taught children of normal intelligence using her methods from her research in philosophy, child development and education. She spent most of her remaining life writing, lecturing and teaching about her methods.

The benefits of a Montessori education are numerous, and it is well worth visiting one to experience the atmosphere for yourself. The main goal of Montessori is to provide a stimulating, child oriented environment that children can explore, touch, and learn without fear. Each child learns at his or her own pace. Teachers are understanding and encouraging, so that the child can enjoy learning, and feel happy about her path and purpose in life. Here are some of the benefits:-

All children, whatever their abilities or interests, reach their full potential. All children fit in, including children with learning disabilities. Many children learn best in different ways, and the equipment is designed for this. For example, one piece of equipment is the sand alphabet – the letters of the alphabet in sand on card. The child traces over the sand letter with her finger, and then writes the letter on paper. For all subjects there are items of interest to the child, however he learns best. For example, for geography, not only are there books, but globes, map puzzles, pictures, and animal figures (sensory items). There are also regular visits from people, pets, animals, and different activities depending on the topic at the time, eg. Chinese cooking, Italian food sampling.

Montessori schools teach independence from an early age. The children take an active part in running their school, like preparing and serving at the drinks break, and putting learning equipment away after they have used it. Practical tasks like sweeping, polishing, making sandwiches and tying shoe laces, are all available for children to learn on a daily basis.

Children are not expected to conform to set standards of achievement as in conventional schools. The Montessori method takes account of the needs, talents, gifts, and special individuality of each child. The children learn at their own pace, so they are not being constrained nor criticized for what they do. There is a total freedom to learn which makes the learning fun.

In a Montessori environment children are encouraged to respect and help each other. If they choose, they will work with other children, and help each other, or 'teach' each other, and they enjoy doing so. It is wonderful to watch children who really want to help each other.

The equipment available for learning is unique and designed by Maria Montessori. It is exceptionally good quality equipment, which means the children value it and treat it with care. The environment of a Montessori school is peaceful and facilitates learning. Because children are happy and learning at their own pace, discipline is not an issue.

The best way to find what Montessori schools are available in your area is to visit, for the UK www.montessori.org.uk/schools.php and for the USA www.amshq.org/schools.html

Montessori or Traditional Kindergarten: A Parent's Decision for the Five Year-Old

by Aline D. Wolf

If you are the parent of a four year-old presently in a Montessori class, you are probably delighted with your child’s progress and are looking forward to her continuation of Montessori next year when she is five. Most parents who choose Montessori for their pre-schooler not only want her to complete this cycle of pre-school learning but they want her to continue Montessori at the elementary level if it is available.

It is possible, however, that you are one of the smaller number of parents who look upon Montessori as a preparation for traditional kindergarten. A Montessori school, these parents feel, is a place where a very young child can be taken care of until he is old enough for conventional school. Each year some parents withdraw their five year-olds from Montessori just as they are beginning to unfold as young leaders, beginning readers and budding mathematicians. When the transfer is made at this point the children actually miss the most fruitful part of the Montessori experience.

There is no doubt that some circumstances almost force parents to withdraw their five year-olds from Montessori schools. A sudden financial crisis, impossible transportation arrangements, a personality conflict with an individual Montessori teacher or a child’s special problem which might be helped by a more structured environment, all indicate that a change should be made.

When compelling reasons, similar to these, do not exist, you have the freedom to observe both programs carefully and try to evaluate the influence which each might have on your child. You should not hesitate to ask to observe in either the traditional or the Montessori school. The exercise of this legitimate right of parents is the only way you can get the first-hand information necessary for making a wise decision.

It will be helpful to begin by observing your own four year-old in the Montessori classroom during the spring months. Is he comfortable and happy? How does he interact with other children? Does he choose his own activities? How long can he concentrate? What math exercises can he do? What reading or language activities has he begun?

Next you should visit the kindergarten that you are considering for your child. Do the children enjoy learning? How long do they concentrate? What math and reading exercises are available as the next step to what your child is doing now? What art, music and nature activities are in the class? Are there opportunities for independent work and for leadership?

The next step in this sequence is to re-visit the Montessori school. This time, rather than watching your own child, look at the classroom as a whole and particularly at what the five year-olds are doing. How do they compare with the five year-olds in the conventional school? What are they doing in math and reading? Are they leaders? Are they self-confident? Is the classroom a happy place for learning? What music, nature and creative activities are in progress?

After this series of observations you should give careful thought to the long-range as well as the immediate advantages of one program over another. The “right now” benefits of choosing a traditional program, such as the relief from tuition and transportation responsibilities, are often very obvious to parents. The long-range benefits of another year of Montessori are sometimes more subtle and difficult to recognize. Unwittingly some parents give up substantial long-term benefits for motives that are not always educationally sound. An analysis of these reasons may be helpful to you.

“We feel that the best learning happens when the younger children can watch older children. Debbie really benefited from her past two years in Montessori. But next year, she won’t have any older ones to learn from. She’s apt to pick up baby habits again.”

Imitating older children is only one aspect of learning in a mixed age group. The book, Children Teach Children by Garnter, Kohler and Riessman (Harper and Row) gives many statistics which show that when an older child helps a younger child, it is actually the older child who benefits most from the experience.

Because the teacher in a Montessori classroom is not constantly directing group activities, there are many opportunities for the five year-olds to help the younger ones. Besides reinforcing their academic knowledge, this experience enhances their self-esteem and develops their self-confidence–two qualities which enable them to try new things in later learning. To deprive the five year-old of this experience is to deprive her of her year of leadership. When she was younger, she was unconsciously looking forward to the time when she would be one of “the older ones.” If, instead, she is put into a kindergarten where she is again at the bottom of the ladder, this cycle of maturing is interrupted. Perhaps the loss is most unfortunate for the “only child” or for a child who is the youngest in the family because such a child does not have the opportunity to lead younger children at home.

At our neighborhood school all the kids meet their friends in kindergarten. If I wait until first grade to put Jonathan in this school, he’ s going to have a hard time getting in with the group.”

The problem of adapting to a new group is one that parents worry about more than the children do. It is not unusual to find parents questioning the teacher about this situation weeks after the child and his classmates have forgotten that he is new.

Addressing himself specifically to this problem, Joseph S. Silverman, M.D., a psychiatrist interested in young children wrote, “Confronting an already formed peer group in elementary school is of course a challenge for any child. The transition from a Montessori kindergarten to a traditional school first grade, however, is handled with ease by most children. That they do so suggests to me that the challenge to their coping capacities is actually fortuitous. For, after all, we find in most situations that to protect a child from a challenge he can meet is to retard his maturation.”

“Harry did beautifully in Montessori for two years, but I think he’s had enough of it now. We can save the tuition money for his college education.”

This is a natural inclination even when there is no serious financial problem. Where, however, will the money be better invested? Will his education be guaranteed more by the fact the he becomes interested and excited about learning or by the fact that you have money in the bank? If he becomes bored, he may decide against further education long before the college years. Since many scholarships are available to good students, perhaps an interest in learning is the best guarantee of a college education.

“All her friends are going to our neighborhood school. Susan wants to go with them. She says she doesn’t like her old school any more.”

When a child tells you she dislikes school you should try to determine her motivation for saying so. Either she is really unhappy in her present classroom or she is saying this because she wants you to let her do something else. Observing her in the classroom (if possible, without letting her know) is your best way to judge. If she seems totally restless, bored, withdrawn, angry or disruptive, you must seriously consider what she is telling you. But if she seems comfortable, busy and absorbed most of the time, with just the normal amount of mischief and daydreaming, then you can assume she is happy.

Saying she wants to go with other kids is a normal and frequent reaction of youngsters whose friends are discussing their approaching entrance into kindergarten. For many of them it will be their first school experience and their excitement naturally affects your child. If you and your spouse react as individuals who are confident in your own judgment, you will not panic at this childhood remark. Instead you will convey to your child your own enthusiasm for all the things she is doing in her school.

“I think Montessori was fine for Tim when he was younger, but he knows most of the things in the Montessori classroom by now. I think he’ s tired of it and he needs a fresh start in kindergarten.”

It is almost impossible to imagine a four year-old finishing and tiring of the academic materials. The Golden Beads which illustrate the Decimal System could, for example, be used for such difficult maneuvers as square root and long division. In reading, as in math, because the necessary materials are at hand, a youngster can go as far as his interest and ability will take him.

For example, in a Montessori classroom a five-year old can gain an early understanding of many difficult concepts which are the usual stumbling blocks in grade school. Long before he is faced with such abstract terms as Peninsula, History, Verb, Unit or Fraction, he meets them in simple concrete materials which are fun to manipulate. He can build a peninsula, put pictures on a Time Line of history, act out verbs, “carry one” in addition by going to the Bank and changing ten Units into one Ten Bar, put two fractional quarters together to make one-half, etc.

The opportunity to learn to read at his own pace is perhaps the most important advantage for the five year-old in the Montessori classroom. He receives individual help as he works with the reading materials and is neither pressured to keep up with other youngsters, nor bored by having to wait for others to catch up with him. As he masters the phonetic skills, the Reading Corner invites him to spend comfortable hours with books he selects himself, thus fostering his desire to read. Many children begin reading and math at four but the most exciting work is done when they are five. If you transfer your child before this year of fruition, you will probably lose the best return on your financial investment in pre-school education.

When selecting a school for your child the important thing to remember is that you and your spouse, as parents, are the only people who should make this decision. You should not feel pressured by remarks from neighbors, from in-laws or particularly from your own child. You, his parents, best understand his needs. You have the maturity to judge the available programs. You have the wisdom to choose the school that offers the best opportunities for your five year-old.

©Aline D. Wolf 1992

PARENT CHILD PRESS
P.O. Box 675 Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania 16648-0675

Parenting-Who Makes the Decisions?

By Marijane Schafer

A young child will, if allowed, make decisions for himself, but what world view does he have to work with? Your child may show a desire to decide what he wants to eat, when she wants to go to bed, who he wants to take care of him, however, does he or she have the overall understanding of what is best for him or her?

What is your child really asking? Will you make the decisions for me? Can I be secure that you will make the best choices?

“Your children need you to be the parent first, not their friend.
They love you because you are their parent - your friendship with them is therefore a given. If you try to act as a friend would you are denying them the one thing they truly need - your parenthood! They are children and you are in charge of them. When they are little, they need you to be in charge of all decisions while they get on with the business of just being. I frequently hear mothers say, my baby doesn't like - her high chair, the car seat, lying on the floor, sleeping in her crib, eating carrots etc. I usually ask them how they know that, and when they decided that the baby would be responsible for those decisions.” To read this entire article go to: http://www.consistent-parenting-advice.com/authoritative-parenting.html

Parents have the insight to know what is best for their child and must be strong in their choices. If your child were to choose what he wanted to eat would he choose a balanced diet that will help him to grow and be healthy or will he choose all desserts for the menu? You know what is best and you will prepare appropriate meals. I knew a family once that gave in to their toddler who would only eat oatmeal morning, noon and night. This lasted into his teenage years. Can you imagine how that affected the whole family? They could not go out to a restaurant, or over to friends without figuring out how to accommodate this child’s menu. There was constant worry that he would not grow and develop properly. There was conflict over and over with the child at the center of it. He was in control of the whole family. It is a very insecure feeling for a young child. He cannot be in charge of the family and should not be. He does not have the knowledge it takes to decide. The above situation could have been avoided if the parents had not given in to the tantrum and put their “common foot” down for the good of their child.

Another child I knew decided that he wanted to continue nursing; he was close to 5 years old when I met him. His teeth had numerous cavities, his mouth was formed into a permanent suckling position and he was severely over weight. Not a pretty site but “he decided”. Obviously this was an extreme case but shows how far allowing a child to decide can go.

What about bedtime. Should you or your child decide how much sleep she needs? Pediatricians concur that young children need from 10 to 12 hours of sleep per night for their growing bodies to flourish and stay healthy. Who decides bedtime? You, of course, because you want your child to be well, grow strong and meet each new day with the energy that a good night’s sleep allows.

What about education? Do you believe that your child knows what is best for him? You are educating yourself about early child development (or you would not have read past the first paragraph) and now you are aware of all the important stages of development and what your child can learn naturally when exposed at those critical periods of development. Will you leave the decision in the hands of your little one or will you, as parents, choose?

I encourage you to support your child and of course listen to him, but then make your decisions based on your wisdom and be enthusiastic and confident about your choice. Do not be afraid to push through some resistance at first to new situations. If you are consistent and loving and involved it will all work out.

As your child gets older (3 or 4 years old) and is really starting to understand the world around him begin to give him choices. Start by giving 2 “good” choices (be sure they are choices you can live with) like would you like to wear the red shirt or the green shirt. Build from there. Get a sense of how it is going. You know your child and how much guidance he needs. Keep family rules consistent. Give everyone responsibilities including your children. Make being a responsible part of the family fun and important.

Marijane Schafer is the founder and director of the Montessori Child Development Center, in Poway. MCDC is celebrating 30 years of serving children and families in North San Diego County. Sept. 2008