My youngest child (my daughter) was nine years old when I first encountered a child raised in the…read moreMontessori way. What an epiphany. But too late for my children. I immediately realized this was the kind of guidance they could have used to balance the less than organized life that I provided my children. I swore at that moment that I would provide whatever it took to bestow this gift upon their children.
When my grandson was 3 years old, and potty trained, I contacted Tammy for a visit to the Childrens Montessori Schoolhouse (CMS). The children all greeted me, and then quietly went about their "work." I watched as one child went to the snack area, prepared her vegetables and dip. Ate them while quietly chatting with her friend at the table. (all the children are friends here! "Cooper, when you are finished, bring a friend in here to take his turn.") Then, she cleaned up her plate and napkin and set the place at the table for the next child.
This week, I watched the children eat their lunch at the picnic table on the playground. When one little boy finished his apple, he hopped up, put the core in the compost tumbler, turned it three times, and then sat back down at the table for more conversation! And no one is over six years old.
I found the "math" section of the classroom. One of the Montessori principles is learning a concept "physically" with your senses before you internalize it mentally. One method of learning their numbers is counting beads on a strand, with your fingers. So, first master counting a strand of ten beads. And then I saw a rectangle of beads, ten by ten. Hah, these children are learning to square their numbers!! Ten squared is 100 beads. How exciting! And then I saw a cube of beads, 10X10X10. Mercy, they will understand cubing and cube roots with their tiny fingers. When did I finally understand that concept? Junior in high school?
I watch my little grandson, who, like his grandmother (me), is an agent of chaos. But he steps through the portals of the Children's Montessori Schoolhouse and Mrs. DiGiralamo, Miss Marilyn, Mrs. Johnson and Mrs. Billingham gently, quietly guide him to a world that is structured, yet loaded with freedom, once he understands the rules.
And now we are beginning to bring the principles home. It's a challenge, but we now know what is possible.
As a grandmother, I rarely purchase anything for my grandchildren, but I feel like I am giving them the gift of the world through the Children's Montessori Schoolhouse.
