The Montessori Method: Marie Montessori's Own Handbook Online

For all our new readers, I wanted to remind everyone that the classic and timeless handbook written by Maria Montessori herself, The Montessori Method, is free and online. The copyright expired, so The Celebration of Women Writers project volunteered and set it up.

Some of the prose is not as easy to go through as today's works, but it is truly brilliant. I suggest going through it quickly, skimming to find ideas that are useful, and then you will be much more patient wading through the rest of the text. The original was written in Italian a long time ago.

This is one of my favorite paragraphs as Maria Montessori comments on a teacher she is observing:

One day, the children had gathered themselves, laughing and talking, into a circle about a basin of water containing some floating toys. We had in the school a little boy barely two and a half years old. He had been left [Page 92] outside the circle, alone, and it was easy to see that he was filled with intense curiosity. I watched him from a distance with great interest; he first drew near to the other children and tried to force his way among them, but he was not strong enough to do this, and he then stood looking about him. The expression of thought on his little face was intensely interesting. I wish that I had had a camera so that I might have photographed him. His eye lighted upon a little chair, and evidently he made up his mind to place it behind the group of children and then to climb up on it. He began to move toward the chair, his face illuminated with hope, but at that moment the teacher seized him brutally (or, perhaps, she would have said, gently) in her arms, and lifting him up above the heads of the other children showed him the basin of water, saying, "Come, poor little one, you shall see too!"

Undoubtedly the child, seeing the floating toys, did not experience the joy that he was about to feel through conquering the obstacle with his own force. The sight of those objects could be of no advantage to him, while his intelligent efforts would have developed his inner powers. The teacher hindered the child, in this case, from educating himself, without giving him any compensating good in return. The little fellow had been about to feel himself a conqueror, and he found himself held within two imprisoning arms, impotent. The expression of joy, anxiety, and hope, which had interested me so much faded from his face and left on it the stupid expression of the child who knows that others will act for him.

Here is the link to The Montessori Method

Our Montessori curriculum can be found on My Montessori House

Infants and Toddlers: Touch and Movement

A question we got in following our post about reading aloud to infants asked about what to do if one's infant only wanted to grab and bite the books, not look at them.

Our answer: More grabbing, grasping, creeping, crawling...and more things to gnaw on!

Why? Because your infant or toddler is only responding to what he or she needs at that moment. Your child is too young to reason with because he or she is at that crucial age where needs must be met. By the parents. If your child needs to grasp and bite, he or she will do that. You can help out by providing the environment with more equipment so your infant can do this!

Overall physical movement is also important, so check out our earlier Montessori and infant movement post and think about creating a Montessori infant and toddler bedroom setup with a futon or thin mattress on the floor along with a floor area for activity.

Reading Aloud to Your Infant

One of the best ways to instill a love of reading in your child is to begin reading early and often. Lie on the floor with your infant, hold the book so you can both see the pictures and text, and read aloud.

The books can be picture and word books with interesting pictures that you discuss or storybooks with good stories. Avoid simple phonics books that are constructed for beginning readers -- Run, Jack, Run -- because there is no storyline or point of interest for your child.

Infants and Toddlers: Drinking from Glasses

Banish the image of a sippy (or tippy) cup from your mind! As soon as your child can manage to hold a small sturdy drinking glass, find one that will fit into his or her hand securely. You can use a weighted shot glass, small measuring cup, or other solid glasses that do not tip over.

Clear glass facilitates your child's ability to see the liquid in the glass, making it easier for him or her to begin developing the hand-eye coordination necessary to drink from the glass.

And, save the sippy cup for long car rides (since you have your coffee cup, both of you will have car sippy cups).