So much has been written about Montessori; in fact, it may be the philosophy in early childhood that is the most 'heard of' and the least understood by parents!
I have included a list of great Montessori links, but a general synopsis is:
Montessori work was first designed for special needs and hospitalized children 100 years ago. However, the design of the Montessori classroom and materials lends itself well to academic learning (particularly in terms of linear and rule-based learning) and thus is often considered to be a great choice for "early learning". And it can be! But, there are many types of Montessori schools - traditional and not - and this can colour the type of experience your child will have.
Some basics you should know about a traditional Montessori:
- the classroom is designed to be child-centred. Materials are organized and at child-height, and children are taught to care for the environment, using one material at a time, and putting things away after finished. Children clean up after themselves, and the 'practical life' area helps nurture these self-help skills.
- children are expected to become self-sufficent with life skills, such as dressing for outside and cleaning up workspaces. Often parents are not allowed in the classroom outside of scheduled parent observations so that the classroom becomes a child space, where children can be leaders and experts without parents 'doing for' the children.
- most Montessori classrooms are mixed age, to facilitate the older students teaching the younger students how to use the materials. This allows for leadership opportunities and scaffolding between children. In BC, this fits well with the 3 - 5 group child care license, in which there is a distribution of ages in the classroom.
- Montessori materials are self-correcting. Children will use the material until it is mastered before going on to subsequently more difficult materials. Further, children self-select their work: teachers will not require children to work at an area, but trust the child to select work of interest to them. This may mean that children work in the same area (or even avoid work) for some time - this rest period is important! Further, materials have only one way to use them, and many materials won't 'work' if they aren't used the right way (hence 'self correcting')
