What is Montessori?

    Montessori Education is based on the observations and insights of Dr. Maria Montessori who in the late 1800's became a doctor of medicine while attending the University of Rome.

    In her early years as a physician, Maria Montessori researched and practiced as a neurologist but soon her keen interest in the child's brain; how it works and what makes it tick; led her to abandon her medical practice. As a renowned educator Dr. Montessori went on to dedicate her life to the study of child development.

    In 1907 Maria Montessori opened her first school in Rome, Italy called the "Casa dei Bambini" (The Children's House). It was in this school while taking detailed observations of children moving and working in the classroom along with her studies of written evidence in medical science research about the brain that allowed her to create her own unique approach for learning called The Montessori Method (Il Metodo").

    In this book, her writings on classroom practices and observations conclude that the child's mind is quite different to that of the adult. An adult learns because they choose to, but the child learns first though his or her environment. Dr. Montessori alerts us to the importance of offering the child "a well prepared environment" while using specific tools (specially designed Montessori Materials) for their learning process. In this discovery, she points out a most important period of time of the child when the mind is open to suggestions (The Absorbent Mind). This time period she calls "the construction of the mind" when it is so critical for us to nurture the child from 2 1/2 through 6 years of age. At this point, the child has a natural inner force, an impulse, where they are drawn to learning. She describes it like a flashlight that shines, then searches and so too the child holds a light within them that leads them on to certain areas they need to explore. Montessori education believes that these exact times are called "the child's sensitive periods",  when the child has a natural urge to explore and learn.

    For the past 100 years, Montessori Education has spread from Europe to Asia, Asia to Australia, from North America to South America and throughout the world where children have benefited from Montessori Education, which protects, responds, and nurtures the natural development of the child.

Primary ages 2½ -6