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The Courage To Be a Montessori Parent

The Courage To Be a Montessori Parent

by | MFA, Montessori Education, Montessori Family Life, Recruitment & Admissions, The International Montessori Council, The Montessori Way

mom and child

 

By Joyce St. Giermaine

  • Montessori is great for little children but that’s it!
  • Montessori is warm and fuzzy. Children enjoy it, but the real world isn’t warm and fuzzy. They have to grow up sometime.
  • I’m worried that Montessori shelters my child from life.
  • Your children are still in Montessori. You should be thinking about their future. You do want them to go to college, don’t you?

As a Montessori parent, you’ve probably heard many statements like those above, and you can probably add a few of your own. These remarks often are expressed by parents to other parents. Sometimes they come from well-meaning relatives, co-workers, neighbors, and just about anybody who knows you have a child in a Montessori school. When it comes to Montessori, it seems that everyone has an opinion.

When my children first started Montessori many years ago, I heard the statement “It takes courage to be a Montessori parent.” I used to believe that it took courage because Montessori was an experimental program to which I was offering the use of my children as guinea pigs. As I became better informed, I quickly discovered this was not the case. Montessori has actually been around for over one hundred years and has been proven successful in many different educational environments throughout the world.

So what does it mean “It takes courage?” Maybe it’s because Montessori tends to encourage children to think for themselves and articulate their own opinions. This is all wonderful, but as a parent, there are moments when it would be a whole lot easier to deal with a six-year-old who blindly and obediently accepts your explanation for why you don’t want to create a recycling center right in the middle of your kitchen or a four-year-old who announces that she knows where hamburger really comes from and she’s never going to eat it or any other animal ever again, period!

That must be it, I thought. It takes courage to live with these self-actualized, intelligent little creatures that have been encouraged by Montessori to think logically and express their opinions. I stuck with this understanding of the “courage” statement for a number of years. As a parent of two children who grew up in a Montessori school for ten years, I’ve got a million examples of a Montessori mother’s courage in action, but that’s the subject of another article.

As my children got older, I came to understand the courage statement in a whole different light. About the time that my children hit kindergarten, I found myself constantly defending my choice to keep my children in Montessori through the elementary years. The opinions of relatives were the most difficult and the hardest to discount because they came from people who were legitimately concerned about their grandchildren, or nieces and nephews. A case in point. My husband went to a New England boarding school, followed by Yale, followed by medical school at Columbia. He later topped it off by obtaining a law degree. Observing his grandson working with little beads while lying flat on his belly during a visit to the school, it was clear from the bemused expression on my father-in-law’s face that Grampa Dan not only had doubts about Montessori, he also had doubts about us as parents.

The pressure can be enormous. There were many times when we were very tempted to walk away from Montessori and put our children into the capable hands of a more traditional school. After all, we turned out all right. Or did we?

Speaking only from my own personal experience, I question how we as a society have come to define “success.” Is a child who grows up to become a doctor or a lawyer any more successful than a carpenter or a musician or a teacher or a homemaker? Do well-intended parents unconsciously push their children into status careers that send out all the right messages that we as a society have come to accept as the true measure of success.

Does it matter to us that our child grows up to be happy with her choice in careers, that she has a sense of fulfillment every day that she goes to work, that she approaches each day of her adult life with the same enthusiasm and eagerness to grow that she experienced as a child in the Montessori classroom, that she is able to accept the challenges that life has to offer and has the ability to adapt to new ideas and technology, that she understands that whatever gifts of intelligence and ability she possesses they are truly gifts and that others have other abilities and gifts that are different from her own? If we as parents can answer yes to these questions, then I believe our children are well placed in a Montessori environment for as long as we are able to keep them there.

In designing the cover, we tried to find a provocative, and indeed a shocking way, to visually portray the question: Does Montessori prepare children for the real world? The cover has a great deal of personal significance to me for three reasons. First, the boy in the picture is my son. I can assure you he does not look like that in real life (see insert). Second, it is the first and possibly only time I have ever succeeded in getting him into a tie and jacket long enough to have a picture taken (my mother will be so happy). Third, and most importantly, as a young adult, I chose a career in law for all the wrong reasons.

I believed that becoming a lawyer would give me prestige and wealth. What it gave me that I hadn’t counted on was an ulcer and the nagging feeling that I should be doing something else with my life. Please don’t get me wrong. I don’t dislike lawyers (or tasseled loafers) — even trial lawyers are ok with me as long as I don’t have to join them in the courtroom. There is nothing wrong with the law, medicine, teaching, carpentry, or anything else as long as it is what is right for the individual.

If the answer to the question of whether or not Montessori prepares children for the real world is to be judged by whether or not great percentages of Montessori students will go on to a professional career, then the answer is maybe. If the answer to the question is to be judged by whether or not Montessori prepares children for life, the answer is an unequivocal yes.

As a parent, I have very high expectations for my children from Montessori. I expect them to be well prepared academically so that they will be able to follow their dreams wherever that may take them, but I hope that they will be able to continue making the responsible choices I see them make every day in their classrooms, I hope that they will be able to retain the love of learning and creativity that hasn’t been driven out of them by a system that is so intent upon conformity that it places individuality at grave risk.

I care about academics, but I know that my children will get them from any good school, Montessori or otherwise. For me, the true value of Montessori goes beyond academics. When I look at my own children, I see behavior patterns that are different from my own at their age. I feel very comfortable that Montessori prepares children for the real world. In an interview, David Kahn once remarked, “Montessori is the real world. It’s the dichotomy that’s false.” When you think about it, there’s a lot of sense behind that statement.

I often wish I could have had a Montessori experience as a child. Things might have turned out differently. For one thing, I could have saved all that money on law school, but then I really do believe that all learning experiences have value. Maybe a bit of Montessori did rub off on me after all. At the age of 35, I quit the practice of law and I’m now doing something I find much more fulfilling, something I probably should have done in the beginning if I had not tried so hard to jam my round-pegged personality into a square professional hole.

When I announced that I wasn’t going to practice law anymore, the initial overwhelming response was, “What do you mean you’re not going to practice law anymore. How do you think you’re going to survive in the real world without a profession?” Sound familiar?

More than anything, I hope that we as parents will have the courage to recognize and continue to support the human values and life lessons that our children are learning in their Montessori classrooms every day. As for my children growing up to pursue some kind of yuppie career, that’s ok as long as it’s right for them. Our world could probably use a lot more Montessori lawyers, politicians, and doctors who understand that there’s more to life than being book smart. Above all, though, I think that as parents and educators we must never accept the premise that our objective must be to teach children to survive life. Better we should help them learn to celebrate it!

From Montessori to Traditional How Elementary Montessori Prepares Children for Life’s Next Steps

From Montessori to Traditional How Elementary Montessori Prepares Children for Life’s Next Steps

by | MFA, TC December 2024

from montessori to traditional
by Joyce St.Giermaine

It’s a sunny morning at Oakwood Montessori School, and inside the brightly lit classrooms, a quiet buzz fills the air. In one corner, Maya (a fourth-grader) is constructing a model of a Roman arch, while Jacob (a fifth-grader) is busy calculating irregular shapes’ areas with Montessori geometry materials. Both are focused and seem to be motivated by inner curiosity.

Maya and Jacob have been in Montessori since they were toddlers, and most days are filled with moments of discovery. Today, for Maya, it’s exploring history through building this scale model of a Roman arch that holds together without mortar. For Jacob, it’s the satisfying moment when a challenging math problem clicks into place. They are, however, quietly developing something more enduring: self-reliance, critical thinking, and resilience; these are characteristics that will serve them well when they eventually shift to more traditional middle or high schools.

The elementary Montessori learning environment is clearly different from the traditional classrooms students may experience later. The area feels more like a studio or workshop than a typical classroom. Students move around and choose their activities, working alone or with a few others. This is a hallmark of the Montessori approach. It allows students like Maya and Jacob to explore their interests while still meeting set learning goals.

Claire, the Upper Elementary Montessori guide, observed, “They’re not just working because they have to. They’re engaged in work that they choose, which develops a much deeper connection to knowing.”

Jacob enjoys challenging math problems. He says that he has been spending as much time as he can on geometry for weeks. “He’s able to dive deep into subjects that interest him,” Claire describes. “And he’s establishing the discipline to keep going even when things get difficult.”

Maya’s experience with hands-on learning is typical in Montessori education. Through tasks like constructing a Roman aqueduct, she’s not simply discovering ancient civilizations; she’s learning more about engineering, team effort, and the value of water systems in society. She may not recognize it, but the flexibility to explore principles in such an experiential way is laying the groundwork for how she’ll approach finding out for the rest of her life.

What’s not obvious to the casual observer is that both Maya and Jacob are likewise sharpening skills that will reduce their ultimate shift to more conventional school settings. They are finding out how to handle their time, set objectives, and evaluate their progress with increasing self-reliance and very little assistance from trainers.

Navigating Freedom and Responsibility

In Montessori, children like Maya and Jacob have a substantial quantity of autonomy. Each day, they choose the work on which they want to concentrate, stabilizing their interests with the academic requirements. Although this technique might seem disorganized, it promotes a strong sense of obligation and self-motivation.

families invest an evening in the class for the students to share their work and projects.”

This capability to self-manage makes Montessori students especially well-prepared for the next steps in their education. In a traditional middle or high school, where deadlines are strict and schedules are set, this self-discipline will help them thrive.

Tanya, Maya’s mom, is confident that Maya will be ready for life after Montessori. “She currently has the skills to manage her work effectively. She has ownership of her education.”

Montessori Elementary education is not just about letting children explore; it’s about preparing them for the realities of the world beyond.

As they progress through the program, students like Maya and Jacob develop essential skills that will serve them well in conventional schools: critical thinking; problem-solving, and social intelligence. These abilities are not just for educational success but for life beyond academics, helping them navigate the complexities of the modern world.

Jacob’s mom, Laura, states, “He’s discovered how to plan his day. It’s not like he’s simply doing whatever he desires. Jacob knows what he needs to accomplish, and he has to figure out how to make it happen. Yes, he has a weekly work plan, but he also keeps a journal of what he’s done and puts together portfolios of his finest work. Like the majority of kids, Jacob doesn’t constantly tell us about what he’s performed in school unless it is something very amazing. However, he has so much to say at conference time or when

In Montessori classrooms, children of different ages interact, fostering a collaborative environment where older trainees coach more youthful ones. This mixed-age grouping helps children like Maya and Jacob establish social maturity and leadership abilities. It’s an experience that’s hard to replicate in standard schools but one that offers Montessori trainees an edge when it pertains to browsing new social environments.

“It’s incredible to observe how they handle group work,” their Montessori instructor, Claire, says. “They’re not simply trying to get things done rapidly; they’re focused on finding out together. That collaboration constructs a lot of emotional intelligence.”

Jacob, who will probably transition to a standard middle school after sixth grade, is currently revealing indications of being ready for the modification. His self-confidence in handling his time and overcoming problems without fear of failure will be crucial as he moves into a more traditional environment.

Montessori Graduates in High School

Many Montessori parents question how their children will adapt from the Montessori approach to a more structured standard class setting. The experiences of former Montessori students, who efficiently transitioned from Montessori to conventional high schools, demonstrate the value of Montessori education in equipping trainees for the needs of standard academic environments.

Sophie, who is now a junior at a competitive private high school, recalls how her Montessori background offered her an unanticipated advantage when she started ninth grade. “At first, I fretted about all the tests and deadlines,” she states. “But honestly, it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. I was currently used to handling my own time.”

Sophie gained valuable time management abilities in Montessori, which enabled her to organize her everyday jobs and schoolwork separately. This capability served her well when she started high school, as she adapted to the more strenuous schedule without feeling overwhelmed.

Unlike many of her brand-new schoolmates, Sophie felt confident in staying up to date with her work, attributing her success to the skills she obtained in Montessori.

Sophie’s mother, Jen, who initially stressed over the shift to high school, now feels the strong foundation Montessori offered. She appreciates Sophie’s resilience, capability to express concerns, and desire to take risks in her educational journey.

Daniel, a sophomore at a public high school, tells a comparable story. “In Montessori, you’re taught to think for yourself, not simply follow guidelines,” he stated. “That actually assisted me when I got to high school. I wasn’t scared to speak out in class or deal with jobs.”

Throughout his time at Montessori, Daniel participated in all sorts of creative activities that improved his ability to think critically and resolve problems. These qualities served him well in his new school’s more structured environment. “I believe Montessori made me more positive,” he says. “It taught me how to figure things out on my own, which is something I see some of my friends fight with.”

His mom, Lisa, concurs. “He’s not just going through the movements,” she says. “Montessori gave him the tools to really engage with what he’s learning, which’s carried over into high school.”

The Long-Term Impact of Montessori

Maya and Jacob’s years in elementary Montessori are setting them up for success. They are learning to think deeply, work independently, solve problems, and make friends.

For graduates like Sophie and Daniel, the shift to traditional schools has been less of a hurdle and more of an opportunity to apply the skills they’ve spent years developing.

As Sophie prepares for college, she’s optimistic that her Montessori background will continue to serve her well. “I don’t just remember stuff for tests,” she says. “I know how to study and learn. That’s what Montessori offered me.”

For parents like Jen and Lisa, the question of whether Montessori prepares children for traditional schools is clear. “Montessori isn’t just preparing them for the next grade,” Lisa states. “It’s not just about getting them ready for the next level. It’s about providing the abilities and values they require to be successful in life.”

The same can be said for Maya, Jacob, Sophie, and Daniel. Whether they are building Roman aqueducts, computing the area of an intricate shape, or tackling the difficulties of high school, Montessori has actually provided a structure that goes far beyond academics — it’s provided the ability to navigate whatever comes next. 

Joyce St. Giermaine is the Executive Director of the Montessori Foundation. Her background includes a lifetime of work in association management, law, banking, and institutional advancement. A lifelong learner, she is an accomplished photographer, editor, and graphic designer. Joyce is a former Montessori parent and grandparent.

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Montessori’s Cosmic Curriculum

Montessori’s Cosmic Curriculum

by | MFA, Montessori Curriculum, TC December 2023

Nurturing Curiosity, Creativity, and Imagination

“Mommy, why are there no more dinosaurs in the world today?” “Where do potatoes come from?” “Why is the sky blue?” If you’re a parent, such questions are a daily dose of wonder, but have you ever really considered how these everyday questions are connected to an expansive concept of the world?

Montessori education prompts children to connect the dots. You might have heard of ‘Cosmic Education’ during parent-teacher meetings or casual Montessori chitchats. Sounds a bit odd, doesn’t it?

At its heart, cosmic education is all about emphasizing the interconnectedness of everything. Dr. Montessori saw science and history as two lenses to view the captivating tale of our universe’s continuous unfolding.

It’s not just a fancy term or a subject in the Montessori curriculum. It’s a holistic approach that blends subjects like astronomy, chemistry, and biology. The aim? To stoke the embers of curiosity in our children and show them the magnificent web of life, where everything has its unique place.

From Potatoes to the Universe: It’s All Connected!

Mario Montessori wrote about his grandmother (Maria Montessori) and the concept of Cosmic Education in his book, Education for Human Development. He reflected on how his grandmother could effortlessly tie present moments to distant past events. Picture this: She’s peeling potatoes and, out of the blue, starts pondering about humankind’s journey of discovering the potato. A simple veggie makes her wonder about ancient civilizations and their agricultural practices!

Her unique gift was to make such connections, laying the groundwork for Cosmic Education. This allowed for merging the past with the present, making everyday activities feel like epic tales.

Think about how peeling potatoes could lead to tales of the potato’s journey from the New World to European dining tables. That’s the Montessori magic!

Swimming with the Salmon: Every Story Has a Lesson

Maria Montessori prompts us to ponder the salmon’s life cycle. These fish are born in freshwater, venture into the vast ocean, and, against all odds, find their way back home. It’s a biology lesson and a narrative of nature’s balance and magic.

Cosmic Education gives such stories context, teaching children the beauty and complexity of our world. Everything has a story and purpose, whether a humble potato or a migrating salmon.

Humans: The Cosmic Contributors

While salmon follow nature’s script, we humans can write our own. We can reach for the stars or recklessly consume our planet’s resources. Montessori’s Cosmic Education emphasizes our unique cosmic task: to cherish and protect our home.

More than Just School Lessons

Montessori’s Cosmic Education is more than just school lessons; it’s a philosophy. It’s about seeing the bigger picture, understanding our role in the universe, and acting responsibly. Children are not passive vessels to be filled with knowledge; they are young explorers hungry to understand their place in the cosmos.

Traditional education often starts with details, moving from basic concepts to the big picture. But Montessori flips this. Why? Because children are naturally curious about the universe, the stars, and the history of the world.

Once they see the grand tapestry, they’re eager to explore each thread.

For instance, instead of merely teaching kids about plants, Montessori education might start with the story of how the world began. Rather than giving them the right answers, a Montessori teacher will ask students to think about how they imagine our universe might have come to be. Some children may know the story from Genesis. Others may express a simple version of the concept of the Big Bang. Other ideas may include the concept of an oscillating universe that contracts and expands.

Montessori teachers tend to inspire a sense of wonder and nurture children’s curiosity and imagination.

For example, many years ago, we visited Wilmington Montessori School in Delaware to take photos for Tomorrow’s Child magazine. While there, we came across a wonderful lesson presented by one of their Elementary teachers. In a dark room, lit by the repeating flash of a strobe light, he popped a large black weather balloon filled with confetti and glitter, as he told the story of what scientists believe happened with the Big Bang at the beginning of the universe. The expression on the children’s faces, eyes wide and mouths open in surprise, they got a lesson that I am sure they remember to this day.

They were fascinated as their teacher described the concepts of all the atoms rapidly expanding away from the initial point of the Big Bang and swirling out into the distance, gradually forming stars, galaxies, planets, and the universe we know today.

My husband, Tim, is a Montessori educator. He often says that Montessori teachers ask children the right questions rather than give them the right answers.

I know that my children’s teachers offered them lots of information. But I also remember that the teachers didn’t tell them that there was one right answer. Their teachers encouraged them to question and look for alternative possible explanations but to always go to the best sources.

Montessori teachers tend to inspire a sense of wonder and nurture children’s curiosity and imagination.

So, in addition to learning how to read and write, clean a table, fold a napkin, sweep, and use a mop, they come away with some sense of the earth, the dance of the sun and the rain, and how it nurtures life. Once kids see this grand narrative, they’re naturally curious about the details: photosynthesis, the role of roots, and more.

Why Should You Care?

We often lose sight of the bigger picture in today’s fast-paced world, but our children need to grow up with a broader vision, understanding how things work and why they matter. They need to realize that every action, no matter how small, has consequences in this interconnected world.

I’ll never forget the day my four-year-old daughter announced that she had figured out where hamburger came from and refused to ever eat it again. For many years, she was a strict vegetarian, and, forty years later, she still won’t eat meat. A few years later, she was writing the president of the United States and the government of Japan, pleading with them to work together to stop fishing boats from hunting whales. She knew whales were beautiful, intelligent creatures and couldn’t understand how anyone could deliberately kill them. She was an activist then and still is today in her career as a forensic psychologist.

As parents, we aim to prepare our children for tests, careers, and life. We want them to be responsible adults, aware of their impact, and driven by purpose. Montessori’s Cosmic Education lays the foundation for this holistic growth.

So, dive into the story the next time your child asks about potatoes, stars, or the buzzing bee. Connect the dots. The universe is a grand, beautiful tapestry, and every thread, including your child, has a role to play. Montessori’s Cosmic Education is the compass that can guide them through it. 

Joyce St. Giermaine is the Executive Director of the Montessori Foundation. Her background includes a lifetime of work in association management, law, Banking, and institutional advancement. A lifelong learner, she is an accomplished photographer, editor, and graphic designer. Joyce is a former Montessori parent and grandparent.

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The Courage To Be a Montessori Parent

The Courage To Be a Montessori Parent

by | MFA, Montessori Education, Montessori Family Life, Recruitment & Admissions, The International Montessori Council, The Montessori Way

mom and child

 

By Joyce St. Giermaine

  • Montessori is great for little children but that’s it!
  • Montessori is warm and fuzzy. Children enjoy it, but the real world isn’t warm and fuzzy. They have to grow up sometime.
  • I’m worried that Montessori shelters my child from life.
  • Your children are still in Montessori. You should be thinking about their future. You do want them to go to college, don’t you?

As a Montessori parent, you’ve probably heard many statements like those above, and you can probably add a few of your own. These remarks often are expressed by parents to other parents. Sometimes they come from well-meaning relatives, co-workers, neighbors, and just about anybody who knows you have a child in a Montessori school. When it comes to Montessori, it seems that everyone has an opinion.

When my children first started Montessori many years ago, I heard the statement “It takes courage to be a Montessori parent.” I used to believe that it took courage because Montessori was an experimental program to which I was offering the use of my children as guinea pigs. As I became better informed, I quickly discovered this was not the case. Montessori has actually been around for over one hundred years and has been proven successful in many different educational environments throughout the world.

So what does it mean “It takes courage?” Maybe it’s because Montessori tends to encourage children to think for themselves and articulate their own opinions. This is all wonderful, but as a parent, there are moments when it would be a whole lot easier to deal with a six-year-old who blindly and obediently accepts your explanation for why you don’t want to create a recycling center right in the middle of your kitchen or a four-year-old who announces that she knows where hamburger really comes from and she’s never going to eat it or any other animal ever again, period!

That must be it, I thought. It takes courage to live with these self-actualized, intelligent little creatures that have been encouraged by Montessori to think logically and express their opinions. I stuck with this understanding of the “courage” statement for a number of years. As a parent of two children who grew up in a Montessori school for ten years, I’ve got a million examples of a Montessori mother’s courage in action, but that’s the subject of another article.

As my children got older, I came to understand the courage statement in a whole different light. About the time that my children hit kindergarten, I found myself constantly defending my choice to keep my children in Montessori through the elementary years. The opinions of relatives were the most difficult and the hardest to discount because they came from people who were legitimately concerned about their grandchildren, or nieces and nephews. A case in point. My husband went to a New England boarding school, followed by Yale, followed by medical school at Columbia. He later topped it off by obtaining a law degree. Observing his grandson working with little beads while lying flat on his belly during a visit to the school, it was clear from the bemused expression on my father-in-law’s face that Grampa Dan not only had doubts about Montessori, he also had doubts about us as parents.

The pressure can be enormous. There were many times when we were very tempted to walk away from Montessori and put our children into the capable hands of a more traditional school. After all, we turned out all right. Or did we?

Speaking only from my own personal experience, I question how we as a society have come to define “success.” Is a child who grows up to become a doctor or a lawyer any more successful than a carpenter or a musician or a teacher or a homemaker? Do well-intended parents unconsciously push their children into status careers that send out all the right messages that we as a society have come to accept as the true measure of success.

Does it matter to us that our child grows up to be happy with her choice in careers, that she has a sense of fulfillment every day that she goes to work, that she approaches each day of her adult life with the same enthusiasm and eagerness to grow that she experienced as a child in the Montessori classroom, that she is able to accept the challenges that life has to offer and has the ability to adapt to new ideas and technology, that she understands that whatever gifts of intelligence and ability she possesses they are truly gifts and that others have other abilities and gifts that are different from her own? If we as parents can answer yes to these questions, then I believe our children are well placed in a Montessori environment for as long as we are able to keep them there.

In designing the cover, we tried to find a provocative, and indeed a shocking way, to visually portray the question: Does Montessori prepare children for the real world? The cover has a great deal of personal significance to me for three reasons. First, the boy in the picture is my son. I can assure you he does not look like that in real life (see insert). Second, it is the first and possibly only time I have ever succeeded in getting him into a tie and jacket long enough to have a picture taken (my mother will be so happy). Third, and most importantly, as a young adult, I chose a career in law for all the wrong reasons.

I believed that becoming a lawyer would give me prestige and wealth. What it gave me that I hadn’t counted on was an ulcer and the nagging feeling that I should be doing something else with my life. Please don’t get me wrong. I don’t dislike lawyers (or tasseled loafers) — even trial lawyers are ok with me as long as I don’t have to join them in the courtroom. There is nothing wrong with the law, medicine, teaching, carpentry, or anything else as long as it is what is right for the individual.

If the answer to the question of whether or not Montessori prepares children for the real world is to be judged by whether or not great percentages of Montessori students will go on to a professional career, then the answer is maybe. If the answer to the question is to be judged by whether or not Montessori prepares children for life, the answer is an unequivocal yes.

As a parent, I have very high expectations for my children from Montessori. I expect them to be well prepared academically so that they will be able to follow their dreams wherever that may take them, but I hope that they will be able to continue making the responsible choices I see them make every day in their classrooms, I hope that they will be able to retain the love of learning and creativity that hasn’t been driven out of them by a system that is so intent upon conformity that it places individuality at grave risk.

I care about academics, but I know that my children will get them from any good school, Montessori or otherwise. For me, the true value of Montessori goes beyond academics. When I look at my own children, I see behavior patterns that are different from my own at their age. I feel very comfortable that Montessori prepares children for the real world. In an interview, David Kahn once remarked, “Montessori is the real world. It’s the dichotomy that’s false.” When you think about it, there’s a lot of sense behind that statement.

I often wish I could have had a Montessori experience as a child. Things might have turned out differently. For one thing, I could have saved all that money on law school, but then I really do believe that all learning experiences have value. Maybe a bit of Montessori did rub off on me after all. At the age of 35, I quit the practice of law and I’m now doing something I find much more fulfilling, something I probably should have done in the beginning if I had not tried so hard to jam my round-pegged personality into a square professional hole.

When I announced that I wasn’t going to practice law anymore, the initial overwhelming response was, “What do you mean you’re not going to practice law anymore. How do you think you’re going to survive in the real world without a profession?” Sound familiar?

More than anything, I hope that we as parents will have the courage to recognize and continue to support the human values and life lessons that our children are learning in their Montessori classrooms every day. As for my children growing up to pursue some kind of yuppie career, that’s ok as long as it’s right for them. Our world could probably use a lot more Montessori lawyers, politicians, and doctors who understand that there’s more to life than being book smart. Above all, though, I think that as parents and educators we must never accept the premise that our objective must be to teach children to survive life. Better we should help them learn to celebrate it!