Montessori For Beginners

Have you heard of the Montessori schools or maybe the Montessori methodology but don’t know exactly what that is? This post is for you! I will walk you through what Montessori is, where it originated from, and how to get started in your household.

The Montessori name came from the late, Dr. Maria Montessori who dedicated her life to the study of child development and psychology. This theory and method of educational approach focuses on individualized instruction and self-paced learning. She created the four planes of development (shown below), to demonstrate the different phases a child goes through from ages 0-24. She believed that a child’s most critical phase is during the Infancy period from ages 0-6. The changes during these years are rapid and turbulent. Similar to this, the Adolescence phase (12-18 years) is also rapid and turbulent changes in the child’s development. Understanding these planes of development are critical to know how to guide and educate our children appropriate to their abilities.

The Infancy Phase

The Montessori method believes the child has the ability to learn independently, therefore, we play the role of a guide rather than a teacher. The five keys of learning are practical life, sensorial, math, language, and culture. For the sake of this conversation, we are going to focus on the Infancy plane of development from ages 0-3. We, as guides, assist our child with understanding the material (not toys) they are working with and the appropriate way to utilize it. For example, if the child chooses to work with paint, rather than take the brush and “do it for them”, as guides, we use hand over hand to explain what the material is, how it is used, and then we allow the child to creatively attempt on their own. Independance is key in the Montessori method of education, allowing the child to decide on their own what they will be working on and direct the length of the activity.

How does the child decide what material they want to work with if maybe they don’t speak yet, or maybe they don‘t know what their options are. To create an independent toddler, we must have all of the “options” and material at eye level for the child to easily reach and grab what they want. Before you freak out and say that sounds like chaos, stay with me for a bit! Dr. Maria Montessori believed that a child is capable of understanding directions and following them once shown the right way to do something- even at this young age. We guide our child to choose one activity or material and bring it back to the floor, a desk or wherever it is appropriate to work. Then, we allow our child to independently use the material with guidance if needed. Lastly, once finished, we guide the child to clean up and put away their material back where they found it before choosing a new activity. Repetition and consistency is key! If you slack it once and let them make a mess, use whatever they want, and utizile the material incorrectly, it will be harder to correct them and expect the child to appropriately perform the task later,

Montessori In Your Home

All of these methods are utilized in a classroom settings, however, how can we implement this methodology in our own homes? There is so much you can do to use the Montessori methodology in your own homes and we can talk for ever on the various ways. I will show you some ways I use the Montessori method with my own toddlers and the impact I have seen along with some difficulties and lessons learned.