by John Long | Kindergarten, MFA, Montessori Education, Montessori Family Life, Montessori Parenting, Montessori students
he five-year-old walked to the shelf to get a little tray containing six pictures. He brought them back to his work rug where he had a movable alphabet, a box of sorted, individual letters. He also had a card that said “ee” that went with the set of pictures he had chosen. Within five minutes […]
To continue reading, you will need to choose a subscription plan.
by John Long | MFA, Montessori Curriculum, Montessori Education
hat was a question asked by an upper elementary student during a class meeting last week. “Why don’t we have grades at Post Oak?” The spirit of the question, and the interested looks from the questioner’s classmates, suggested that this was more of a “Tell-us-about-Dr.-Montessori”-kind-of-question rather than an appeal for a missing entree at the banquet […]
To continue reading, you will need to choose a subscription plan.
by John Long | Brain Development, Infant-Toddler (0 to 3), MFA, Montessori Family Life, Montessori Parenting
hose babies are so cute! They are carried in by their mothers to the prepared environment beside my office. Of course, this causes me to sometimes drop what I’m doing in order to observe them. I can’t help myself. Ashley Montague wrote in Growing Young that there is an evolutionary advantage to a baby’s cuteness. […]
To continue reading, you will need to choose a subscription plan.
by John Long | Kindergarten, MFA, Montessori Education, Montessori Parenting
Childhood is a time to have fun. At Post Oak the children are always working. Don’t Montessori children have fun?” This is a good, honest question that seeks out the nature of early childhood education, in fact, the very nature of childhood. This question perfectly expresses a mistake we adults often make in thinking about […]
To continue reading, you will need to choose a subscription plan.
by John Long | Kindergarten, MFA, Montessori Education
wo five-year-old girls have created the solar system. It is larger than they are, rendered in tempera paint on paper that must be ten feet long. The planets are drawn to scale and painted to match our best photos of the heavenly spheres. The background, the vast emptiness of space between the planets, is […]
To continue reading, you will need to choose a subscription plan.
by John Long | Maria Montessori, MFA, Montessori Education, Montessori Graduates
couple of years ago full page advertisements appeared in glossy magazines featuring photos of famous people wearing khaki pants: “Humphrey Bogart wore khaki,” or “Ernest Hemingway wore khaki.” You get the idea. Although she was famous, Maria Montessori did not wear khaki. But that ad campaign came to mind recently when Barbara Walters interviewed Sergey […]
To continue reading, you will need to choose a subscription plan.
by John Long | MFA, Montessori Education, Primary (3-6), Sensorial
is hands were stretched far apart, but not all the way to the ends of the red rod, the longest one of a graduated set of ten. He walked with the slight wobble of a three year old as he carried the one meter long rod across the classroom. He stopped to wait for two […]
To continue reading, you will need to choose a subscription plan.
by John Long | Later Adolescence (15-18), Lower Elementary (6-9), MFA, Montessori Charter Schools, Montessori Education, Montessori Middle School, Montessori Parenting, Montessori Secondary / High School, Montessori students, Upper Elementary (9-12)
h! A Montessori mother!” responded another woman in the needlepoint class when she heard that the children attend Post Oak School. Waiting for the other shoe to drop, the Montessori mother asked, “Where does your daughter go to school?” We’ve all been there: the mention of Montessori evokes a response in people. Sometimes we feel […]
To continue reading, you will need to choose a subscription plan.
by John Long | Kindergarten, Mathematics, MFA, Montessori Education, Montessori Family Life, Montessori Parenting, Uncategorized
his is a story about eight wooden blocks and a five-year-old girl. The eight wooden blocks are nestled in a hinged wooden box. The five-year-old girl is sitting alone at a small wooden table. She is very good at arithmetic, her teacher tells me, but rarely chooses to work with this kind of spatial, three-dimensional […]
To continue reading, you will need to choose a subscription plan.
by John Long | MFA, Montessori Family Life, Montessori Parenting, Montessori students, School Resources, Writing
n The Celebration of Thinking Elliot Eisner, professor of education and art at Stanford University writes,: We should be concerned about curricula that place a heavy emphasis on limited forms of learning and thinking. When limited forms of learning dominate curricula, they also cultivate a disposition. Following rules and applying algorithms do not match the […]
To continue reading, you will need to choose a subscription plan.
by John Long | Family Resources, MFA, Montessori Education, Montessori Family Life, Montessori Parenting
ast week was the first session of “Montessori Talks to Parents,” a series of six meetings. It is but one opportunity from among a rich offering from the parent education committee. I laud their efforts. In trying to respond to your needs, the committee is offering a variety of programs focused on Montessori education, parenting […]
To continue reading, you will need to choose a subscription plan.
by John Long | MFA, Montessori Education, Primary (3-6)
t was her second visit in a week. Mrs. Jones described her son as kind and gentle, a truly sweet child, but retiring, even cautious. “Would Post Oak admit him as a five-year-old?” We would consider it.Though we ordinarily admit children at three or younger, some older children do enter successfully. Until now he has […]
To continue reading, you will need to choose a subscription plan.
by John Long | MFA, Montessori Education, Montessori Family Life
t is an Odyssey, a true adventure, for the 18-month old child to walk with her teacher through the halls and gardens of Post Oak School to get the mail. The act of walking itself is her focus. It is an accomplishment just getting all the way there and all the way back to the […]
To continue reading, you will need to choose a subscription plan.
by John Long | Early Adolescence (12-15), Later Adolescence (15-18), MFA, Montessori Education
t could be the motto on his coat of arms—his attitude toward life. In fact, it’s what Post Oak School graduate Darrell DeVera said to explain his wide-ranging activities first at Strake Jesuit High School, then at St. Thomas University. In order to find a niche for himself in a large high school, Darrell joined […]
To continue reading, you will need to choose a subscription plan.
by John Long | Family Resources, MFA, Montessori Education, Montessori Family Life, Montessori Parenting, Montessori students
Paula Polk Lillard begins the Preface of Montessori Today by telling about a chance encounter with a man whose two sons, age nine and eleven, attended a Montessori school in Chicago. asked him how he had come to choose a Montessori education for his children. “It was my wife’s decision,” he said. “I was busy […]
To continue reading, you will need to choose a subscription plan.
by John Long | MFA, Montessori Education, Montessori Teachers, School Resources
“Teaching is NOT a 9-to-5 profession,” she said, glowering out at the audience of Montessori teachers as if she were speaking to a group of intransigent youngsters. This was Margaret Stephenson thumping the bully pulpit, wheedling and cajoling the choir to practice more often and to sing more sweetly. argaret Stephenson was my teacher […]
To continue reading, you will need to choose a subscription plan.
by John Long | Early Adolescence (12-15), Later Adolescence (15-18), MFA, Montessori Education
hey rolled their eyes as only two worldly adolescents can do. “What are you learning now?” they asked while examining the sheet I had tacked to the kitchen wall. “Your mother and I are learning to speak to the heathen adolescent.” A little humor never hurt in diffusing the intense sincerity […]
To continue reading, you will need to choose a subscription plan.
by John Long | Early Adolescence (12-15), Later Adolescence (15-18), MFA, Montessori Education
e missed you last week,” she said. Middle school students had just hurried into the Houston Food Bank, eager to begin their morning of (almost) weekly service work. They smiled sheepishly, pleased by the compliment. It IS a compliment for adolescents to be acknowledged by the adult world, to be given the opportunity to do […]
To continue reading, you will need to choose a subscription plan.
