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Montessori: Methodology? Equipment?

When parents first visit a Montessori classroom, the equipment makes a big impression, especially if there is no class underway during the visit. For parents who are researching Montessori online without access to a classroom, equipment makes an even bigger impression.

Interestingly, Chandra Fernando, a Montessori teacher and teacher trainer for over 30 years, feels that this emphasis on equipment is beginning to detract from the most important focus, namely, the methodology and the thought process behind Montessori education. She implored us to share with our readers her feelings that methodology should be the primary focus of parents who want to use Montessori at home, whether on a homeschool basis or just as a general approach to interacting and teaching their children at home.

If you are new to Montessori, here are a few suggestions to get you started with implementing the methodology:

1. Create a child-accessible environment that allows your child to pursue independence in daily activities such as using the bathroom, making healthy snacks, working with his or her games and educational materials, and maintaining an orderly atmosphere.
2. An orderly atmosphere means no blaring televisions and squabbling or loud adults. This might only be possible to achieve in your child's bedroom or a study, but a calm and orderly atmosphere means your child will have a chance to develop his or her own internal sense of calm and order, so it is worth it.
3. Teach by example. This goes for everything from using the Movable Alphabet letters to make words to using manners to discipline.
   
4. Adult-child interactions should be respectful. No yelling. This goes for both parties.
   
5. A moot point for most of our readers, but it is important to emphasize that you should not spank or slap your child. Lori at Montessori for Everyone has written extensively on this topic.
   

This is just to get started. We will be writing up a short series of interviews with various teachers and sharing them with you on our blog in the coming weeks.

Montessori Math Discussion for Parents at Home

If you send your child to a good Montessori school starting at the age of three, your child will start learning about counting and quantities using hands-one equipment ranging from cards and counters to Red and Blue Rods (see our archived articles for details), moving up to more advanced exercises such as long addition and division in the well-known Banker's Game with the Golden Beads. You can easily monitor your child's progress by learning a bit about the equipment and observing a class.

However, what about parents who are starting at home in mid-stream, say, with a five or six year old? A lot of people are tempted to buy equipment and rush through the process, so their child can "catch up" with the normal Montessori curriculum.

We highly suggest starting from the beginning, even if this means your five year old will be working with Math Spindles, Red Rods, or Sandpaper Numerals. The important concepts related to relative size, quantity, and numerals remain key to building a solid foundation in math at any age, so do not skimp on the basics to move your child ahead quickly!

The Golden Bead introductory exercise will quickly enable your child to begin more complex math exercises! For more details, send us a note or subscribe to our Montessori Curriculum Newsletters.


Children in the Primary class typically work with the advanced arithmetic mentioned above as well as fractions from one whole to one-tenth, the Binomial cube (a precursor to algebra), and ratios and percents.

Article Discussion: Television and the Montessori Child

This recent excellent post by Lori at Montessori for Everyone provides an insightful discussion of the issues at hand with TV and children as well as practical tips and suggestions.


http://www.montessoriforeveryone.com/blog/2007/10/television-and-montessori-child-part-1.html

Whether you are a confirmed anti-TV person or an avid fan of the hottest new TV dramas, this article is very useful for all parents and we recommend it highly.

If you are looking for another vote against letting your child watch CSI, The Simpsons, or another violent show, here you go!

Importance of Mats and Floor Work

Look at pictures of any Montessori classroom around the world and you will see children working on mats on the floor as well as at child-sized tables. The mats provide children with a delineated work space of their own where they can work and even leave work over the course of a day or days as they learn to work on larger and more complex projects.

Floor work is also practical. Children enjoy being able to move and interact with equipment. For example, when children use the Red Rods they spend most of their time walking to get the rods, carrying the rods to the mat, moving the rods around, and carrying them back to the shelf. Once you see how delighted your three or four year old is doing this exercise, everything will make much more sense!

Set up your Montessori classroom or home area with small rectangular mats the size of a yoga mat. The material for the mats should be carpet or rug -- anything that has a non-sticky texture and lends itself to being rolled and unrolled.

Questions? Send them in so we can share them with everyone!

A Well-Rounded Montessori Curriculum

An ideal curriculum for children under six provides a good balance between physical activities and projects that require sitting down and working.

For those of you have have not seen our earlier post from "The Montessori Method," here is the link Montessori Schedule.

Here are some tips for home and school:

1. Include three to four physical activity times per day. These activities can include group games, outdoor play, and anything else that lets children run and be active.
2. Make available equipment and instruction for all areas of classroom education including language, art, math, practical life, sensorial, geography, foreign language, music, and nature (botany, biology, zoology). Children will not usually develop at the same speed in all areas.
3. Focus on material that involves touching, manipulation, fine and/or gross motor skills, and hand-eye coordination.
   
4. Create child-sized equipment, shelves, and quiet areas for work. Present a new exercise several times a week in general.
   
5. Leave your child alone to work. Avoid the temptation to go and "check on him or her" unless your child asks your for assistance or wants to show you what he or she is doing. A lot of parents and teachers meddle out of habit, not necessity.
   
1. In teacher training, we observe other trainees and comment, critique, and use feedback to develop teaching skills. You can do this at home by video taping your classroom area and watching yourself at the end of the day. Or ask a friend or older child to watch you and take notes. Try to learn how to step back and observe yourself, too! It can be pretty tough to do, but it is a great way to learn.
   
2. Young children can focus on projects for a very long time. Let them do it! Even if you would prefer to steer your child away from drawing and towards a reading activity, stop yourself from doing it.
   
3. Look at your child's schedule and work activities over a one week or one month period. Your child doesn't necessarily need a balanced work day on a 24 hour basis. If you look at a longer period, you can introduce new activities in the areas in which you want your child to spend more time. For example, if you want your child to do more math, instead of talking about it, make a note to yourself to introduce a new and appealing math activity the next morning.
   
4. No talk about "bad at math" or "not good at reading" or anything else. Your child is too young to have preferences, anyhow. If a subject is not appealing, you can probably fix it by changing or improving your presentation. If you hit a subject area that you are not comfortable presenting (e.g. you are a tone deaf math professor and you want to teach your child to play the recorder), enlist a friend, hire a tutor, or buy an instructional DVD! You can share the lesson with your child and learn together, too!

Remember that areas of the curriculum such as personal care (bathing, tooth brushing, etc) area equally as important for development as math and reading, even if they seem less exciting!