Yesterday I was surfing the internet when I happened upon the website of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. If you’re not familiar with it, Bill Gates (founder of Microsoft) and his wife, Melinda, run a charitable foundation that funds projects all over the world, including those that combat poverty and disease.
Because traditional schooling generally groups children of just one age together, mixed age groups is a striking difference between Montessori and traditional educational programs. There are pros and cons to the idea of mixed age groups, but I believe that the benefits definitely outweigh any possible negatives.
Those of us in Montessori education see the positive effects of Montessori on a daily basis. We watch as children’s fine motor skills are strengthened, their reasoning skills sharpened, and their independence encouraged through daily interaction with the prepared Montessori environment.
One question I’m frequently asked is, “What kind of reading program should Montessori classrooms be using?” The Montessori curriculum covers every imaginable topic, but there is no specific set of books that is firmly linked to the Montessori method. I’m going to look at a few different possibilities for reading programs in the Montessori classroom, [...]
I sat down to write a blog post tonight, but before starting my post I surfed a little bit. As I glanced at CNN’s homepage, I saw a few headlines about Myanmar and thought I’d catch up on the most recent news about the cyclone survivors.
Almost immediately, I found that tears were running down [...]
I’ve been in Montessori (as a teacher, parent, or both) for over ten years. It’s become so much a part of my DNA that I automatically approach almost every situation – educational or not – from a Montessori perspective. When I think, “That child is normalized”, or “How can we work towards normalization?”, I don’t [...]
If you’ve read the other posts in this series, Part 1 and Part 2, and I hope you have, you might have felt a little uncomfortable from time to time, especially if you haven’t ever read The Montessori Method before. It’s not quite as timeless a book as one might hope; some of Dr. Montessori’s [...]
Please join me for part two of an in-depth look at the seminal book that started it all: The Montessori Method. The first post in this series looked at the world and beliefs of Dr. Montessori in order to take a more holistic approach to how a book like The Montessori Method came to be [...]
Maria Montessori’s groundbreaking book,The Montessori Method, was first published in 1912, and has since been translated into 20 different languages. Maybe you have read this book already, or you’ve always heard about it but haven’t had a chance to pick it up yet. Either way, I think you’ll enjoy this, the first in a three-part [...]
Google is, by far, America’s most powerful and popular search engine. Driving some 60+% of the Internet’s traffic and enjoying market values as high as $600/share, Google is at the top of the search game. Today’s fun fact from Montessori for Everyone is that Dr. Montessori stands at the heart of the Google empire. [...]
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