We celebrate our Fridays here in Perugia because it means we survived another week away from home. I get off school at 3 and both boys are usually waiting for me. We usually take the bus home, drop off our bags and head to the park. This Friday was a Read more…
Get the right sized spoon. The importance of choosing the right size cutlery, tools, utensils etc. for the child is often underestimated. It can be the difference between success and failure in acquiring a skill. It is a key factor considered when choosing materials for the child in a Montessori Read more…
These are the toys that were in rotation for Solu at 25 and 26 months old. List goes left to right and top to bottom Insect Replicas initially used alone and then extended by finding matches in this sticker book and then creating matching vocabulary cards using the stickers. Community workers Read more…
“It is necessary to prepare an active environment for the child , not only in the school but also in the home”- Maria Montessori At every stage, the child’s wish is that we would help him to do it himself. This wish is even stronger once the child can walk. Read more…
The final thing I would look at when choosing a Montessori school is the adults in the environment. This includes the administration, the guide and the assistants. I would look at the administration because they make a lot of decisions about the school so I would want them to be Read more…
All the materials in the Montessori classroom should be developmentally appropriate. They should be materials to help the child in his development of coordinated movement, language and independence. Independence is developed by the acquisition of real and practical life skills. The Nido (Environment for the non-walking children from birth to about 15 Read more…
I received an email from a reader asking for what to look for when evaluating Montessori schools for her son. I tried to answer in a way that helps any reader looking for a Montessori school for their child. There are three basic categories I would look at and ask Read more…
“The tiny child’s absorbent mind finds all its nutriment in its surrounding. Here it has to locate itself and build itself from what it takes in. Especially at the beginning of life must we therefore make the environment as interesting and attractive as we can. “ – Maria Montessori (The Absorbent Mind)
We set up Montessori spaces for our son from birth. He has also been given a lot of freedom of movement from birth and the result has been very good gross motor skills, body awareness, confidence and independence. He is very aware of his capabilities and doesn’t take uncalculated risks. I really believe these have been largely due to the environment. I have shown his spaces during the symbiotic period. Those spaces were temporary. Because we were not in our home for the first 7 weeks of his life, we created small but temporary spaces to meet his needs. Once home, he spent most of his time in his room, and because it was prepared for him, he had freedom to move. I just observed and made simple modifications to the room when needed but never really got in his way or tried to help him and he figured it out. So let me show you his room!
Welcome to our Montessori Infant room. I wanted to put a book shelf in the room but didnt want to take up space so I used this wall space behind the door. He is now able to reach the lowest shelf at 10 months.
” All he wants is to walk. And because his legs are shorter than ours, we must not try to make him keep up with us. It is we who must go at his pace… The child has his own laws of development and if we want to help him Read more…
“The child who concentrates is immensely happy” The following are ten things you can do to make your child immensely happy!