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New to Montessori
WE ARE NEW TO THE MONTESSORI PHILOSOPHY AND WANT TO MAKE THE MOST OF IT IN OUR FAMILY AND OUR CHILDREN’S LIVES. WE HAVE COME TO THIS A BIT LATE, AS WE JUST MOVED TO AN AREA WITH A MONTESSORI SCHOOL. WE HAVE ENROLLED BOTH OF OUR CHILDREN AND ARE TRYING TO LEARN AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE. WHAT ARE THE KINDS OF THINGS WE SHOULD BE DOING AT HOME TO SUPPORT THE TYPE OF LEARNING THE CHILDREN ARE DOING AT SCHOOL?
– Just Beginning
Dear Parents,
You are asking all the right questions and doing all the right things! Montessori is indeed a philosophy, and you can’t adopt it too late in the life of your family or your child’s life. In a Montessori school, the guides believe that your child will reveal themselves through the work they choose and show us, the adults in their life, what they need to learn at that time.
It is our job to support him on this journey, introducing him to skills and activities that interest him, challenge him, and foster the development of his academic, social, and motor skills as he progresses along this path. We strive to allow him as much freedom as he can handle in doing things for himself and being independent. We create an environment with maximum accessibility based on the ages and skills of the children, and then teach them to use the materials in that environment safely. An Infant/Toddler environment would allow children to reach their own diapers and lunch boxes, so they can show us when they are hungry. A 3-6-year-old environment might contain scissors, a stapler, a tape dispenser, sewing needles, etc. An Elementary environment is much richer with all the tools and resources a child would need to plan a complicated individual or group project or a “going out” field trip of their choosing and planning, such as phones and internet accessibility.
The primary ways that your family can help are to allow your child to be as independent as possible in all areas of his life. Let your child do as much for himself as his age and skill set allow in the areas of dressing, eating, food preparation, and contributing to his family. Let him choose his clothing and dress himself as much as he is able. If he cannot do all of a dressing task, let him do the part that he can. If he is not strong enough to pull on his whole sock, you can pull the sock over his heel, and he can pull it up to his ankle. If he cannot manage his shirt, let him place his hands in the sleeve holes and then help him get his head into the head hole. Together, pull the shirt over his torso. Removing clothes is an easier skill and will be mastered more quickly. With that comes the responsibility of placing the dirty clothes into the dirty clothes hamper. Sure, you can do it quicker, but letting him do it aids him in the path to independence! As he gets older, invite him to help you sort the laundry, match the clean socks, fold the dish; practice in making choices about what to eat and how often to eat from these limited choices. If your refrigerator allows it, place a small pitcher and glass on a low shelf so your child can pour his own water or juice when he is thirsty. Your child can carry his own lunch box to the car and into school. Try to constantly think of things that you are doing that your child might be able to do for himself.
Strive for independence in eating and food preparation. At meal time, encourage your child to help prepare the meal. Teach your child to set the table. Perhaps at first, he will only place the napkins under the fork. But eventually, he will know where all the parts of the table setting go and will be able to do it independently. This is a great way to get some quality family time while teaching valuable table setting and food preparation skills. A child as young as two can tear lettuce, and a three or four can cut vegetables using a child-friendly knife (www. forsmallhands.com/small-nylon-knife).
Preschoolers can also help to cut vegetables or fruit, even when they are not brave enough to eat them. Once the meal is on the table, encourage your child to serve himself from the family serving bowls. This is good practice in motor control as well as choosing the amount of food you are planning to eat. If your child is elementary-aged and your family is ordering “take out,” allow your child to help in the planning and even in making the phone call to order the food. Your child can bring in the mail, feed the dog, empty the trash cans in the house, or take out the garbage. Families can work together to plan vacations, solve family problems, or create a new project, such as a vegetable garden or a fire pit. All of these things help the family function as a unit and help children realize that they are part of a group.
As he moves towards Kindergarten, he is probably ready to take over parts of packing his own school lunch. Try to arrange your refrigerator so that the things that your child will need for his lunch are available for him to access independently. He can select his own yogurt, or make his own sandwich, put his own fruit into the reusable container (and close it), and fill his own water bottle. Let it be a joint effort until his skills are solid, and then let that be your child’s work, and he has mastered another piece of independence. Let your child be a part of choosing what food to buy each week so he gets experience being a smart consumer, buying appropriate types and quantities of food at the grocery store. Once he is old enough, he will be able to contribute to the family grocery list and eventually shop for himself with confidence and skill.
Optimal development is the goal of every Montessori classroom and every family. Guides encourage each child to grow in their social, emotional, academic, selfhelp, and motor skills, each on their timetable. All the adults in a child’s life help him along his path to independence, and by working together, parents and Montessori schools aid the optimal development of a child so he can become his most authentic, happy, and healthy self.
Cathie Perolman has been involved in Montessori education for over 40 years. Cathie has worked in the classroom as a 3-6 assistant; a classroom teacher; a level leader; a teacher trainer; and a college professor. She currently spends her time mentoring teachers, conducting workshops for teachers and administrators; and writing for her blog and for magazines. She also serves as a consultant for schools and as a school validator for the Montessori Schools of Maryland. Cathie is the creator of the Color Coded Sound Games and the Rainbow Reading System as well as other reading and cosmic printable materials to enhance classrooms. Find them at cathieperolman.com.
