THE MONTESSORI METHOD
WHAT IS IT?
This system of education is both a philosophy of child growth and a rationale for guiding such growth. It is based on the child's development needs for freedom within limits, and uses a carefully prepared environment, which guarantees exposure to materials and experiences through which to develop intellectual, as well as physical and psychological abilties. It is designed to take full advantage of their self-motivation and the unique ability of young children to develop their own capabilities. Children need adults to expose them to the possibilities of their lives, but the children themselves must direct their responses to those possibilities.
KEY PHILOSOPHIES OF A MONTESSORI EDUCATION:
WHAT IS IT?
This system of education is both a philosophy of child growth and a rationale for guiding such growth. It is based on the child's development needs for freedom within limits, and uses a carefully prepared environment, which guarantees exposure to materials and experiences through which to develop intellectual, as well as physical and psychological abilties. It is designed to take full advantage of their self-motivation and the unique ability of young children to develop their own capabilities. Children need adults to expose them to the possibilities of their lives, but the children themselves must direct their responses to those possibilities.
KEY PHILOSOPHIES OF A MONTESSORI EDUCATION:
- Children are to be respected as being different to adults, and as individuals who differ from each other.
- Children possess an unusual sensitivity to, and the mental powers for absorbing and learning from their environment, which are unlike those of adults, both in quantity and capacity.
- The most important years of growth are the first six years of life, when unconscious learning is gradually brought to the conscious level.
- Children have a deep love and need for purposeful work. Unlike an adult who works for profit and completion of a job, the child works for the sake of the activity itself. It is this, which accomplishes the most important goal for the child: the development of his or her mental, physical and psychological powers.