Maren Schmidt
Writing, Speaking, Inspiring
Understanding Montessori
Volume discounts available. Contact Maren Schmidt for ordering information.
10% of author's royalties go to support Montessori teacher training.
Booksellers: Understanding Montessori: A Guide for Parents can be ordered through Ingram or Baker and Taylor.
Or contact the author for ordering information.
10% of author's royalties go to support Montessori teacher training.
Booksellers: Understanding Montessori: A Guide for Parents can be ordered through Ingram or Baker and Taylor.
Or contact the author for ordering information.
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Study Guide PDF 9.4 MB
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From
Understanding Montessori
Introduction
This book incubated in my nightstand drawer. My habit for many years has been to write goals and objectives and place them into my nightstand. As I transferred the accumulation of stuff from my old nightstand to a new one a few years ago, I discovered a goal written in 1996:
Help make Montessori education available to as many children as possible.
When I wrote this sentence in 1996, I was concerned about keeping tuition affordable at my school as we grew from twenty-eight students to almost a hundred students over the next twelve months. Reading this old goal in a different context made me think I had made no progress at all, as today as “many as possible” looks like millions.
Montessori education, more than anything, is about understanding and aiding the natural process of child growth and learning. The principles, methods, and materials used in Montessori education are scientifically supported, researched, and time-tested.
This goal took life again as I began to write a weekly newspaper column about child development, Kids Talk, seeking to communicate to adults the child’s point of view.
What my studies in brain and human development over the past five years illuminate, in conjunction with my twenty-five years of working with children, is this:
Montessori education encompasses a culture that is innovative, respectful of the child, peaceful, joyful, collaborative, child-centered, community-minded, developmentally exacting, and supported by research. Montessori classrooms include the outdoors and aid children in valuing and caring for the wonders of our Earth.
Unfortunately, less than five percent of the children in the United States have an opportunity for a Montessori learning experience. I believe if parents understood the mightiness of Montessori education for their children and their families, they would find ways to create authentic Montessori education for their children, be it private, public, parochial, or home schools.
My daughter, Dana, and I conceived this book in February 2006, and together wrote eight chapters. We didn’t find a method to have both of our voices in the book without creating a disjointed style. Dana’s influence is here in her research with young parents, visiting classrooms, and helping me understand the needs of this new generation of parents. My voice and experience certainly dominate this book, but you should hear Dana’s voice in the background asserting, “Mom, be sure to make this point.”
This book is for parents. It’s not meant to be a comprehensive study of Montessori education geared for teachers and administrators or a scholarly footnoted work, though I hope teachers and administrators will find the book helpful. This book expresses my understanding and experience of using Montessori principles for over twenty-five years. Others may have different experiences and perceptions. I share what worked for me.
My goal for this book is to help parents have a clear and concise resource for understanding Montessori educational principles and for finding a school situation, Montessori or not, that meets their family’s needs. Parents are on the front lines of life, rearing children to become adults, taking care of their own parents, building careers, contributing to society through their work, and much more. The information in this book is my way of helping parents make informed decisions when time is in short supply.
Too many grandparents have commented to me, “I wish I had known about Montessori education when my children were little.” This book, I hope, will help parents understand the choices they have for educating their children.
As a guide for the future Dr. Maria Montessori, the Italian physician who developed Montessori education through her philosophy, methods and materials, asked us not to look to her, but to look at the child. Observing our children and helping our children meet their needs is the crux of Montessori education. Seeking and seeing the true nature of the child may be our most powerful help to all life on our planet.
By assisting a child we help parents and support families. As families are strengthened, our communities, our countries and our world become healthier places to live.
Look at the child. It is where everything begins.
Maren Schmidt
January 2009
Help make Montessori education available to as many children as possible.
When I wrote this sentence in 1996, I was concerned about keeping tuition affordable at my school as we grew from twenty-eight students to almost a hundred students over the next twelve months. Reading this old goal in a different context made me think I had made no progress at all, as today as “many as possible” looks like millions.
Montessori education, more than anything, is about understanding and aiding the natural process of child growth and learning. The principles, methods, and materials used in Montessori education are scientifically supported, researched, and time-tested.
This goal took life again as I began to write a weekly newspaper column about child development, Kids Talk, seeking to communicate to adults the child’s point of view.
What my studies in brain and human development over the past five years illuminate, in conjunction with my twenty-five years of working with children, is this:
Authentic Montessori education
is the most powerful way
for children to learn.
is the most powerful way
for children to learn.
Montessori education encompasses a culture that is innovative, respectful of the child, peaceful, joyful, collaborative, child-centered, community-minded, developmentally exacting, and supported by research. Montessori classrooms include the outdoors and aid children in valuing and caring for the wonders of our Earth.
Unfortunately, less than five percent of the children in the United States have an opportunity for a Montessori learning experience. I believe if parents understood the mightiness of Montessori education for their children and their families, they would find ways to create authentic Montessori education for their children, be it private, public, parochial, or home schools.
My daughter, Dana, and I conceived this book in February 2006, and together wrote eight chapters. We didn’t find a method to have both of our voices in the book without creating a disjointed style. Dana’s influence is here in her research with young parents, visiting classrooms, and helping me understand the needs of this new generation of parents. My voice and experience certainly dominate this book, but you should hear Dana’s voice in the background asserting, “Mom, be sure to make this point.”
This book is for parents. It’s not meant to be a comprehensive study of Montessori education geared for teachers and administrators or a scholarly footnoted work, though I hope teachers and administrators will find the book helpful. This book expresses my understanding and experience of using Montessori principles for over twenty-five years. Others may have different experiences and perceptions. I share what worked for me.
My goal for this book is to help parents have a clear and concise resource for understanding Montessori educational principles and for finding a school situation, Montessori or not, that meets their family’s needs. Parents are on the front lines of life, rearing children to become adults, taking care of their own parents, building careers, contributing to society through their work, and much more. The information in this book is my way of helping parents make informed decisions when time is in short supply.
Too many grandparents have commented to me, “I wish I had known about Montessori education when my children were little.” This book, I hope, will help parents understand the choices they have for educating their children.
As a guide for the future Dr. Maria Montessori, the Italian physician who developed Montessori education through her philosophy, methods and materials, asked us not to look to her, but to look at the child. Observing our children and helping our children meet their needs is the crux of Montessori education. Seeking and seeing the true nature of the child may be our most powerful help to all life on our planet.
By assisting a child we help parents and support families. As families are strengthened, our communities, our countries and our world become healthier places to live.
Look at the child. It is where everything begins.
Maren Schmidt
January 2009
