Montessori school

It's been forever since I updated this blog so I thought I'd add some more. Things are sure busy with 2 kids. Lily started Montessori preschool this September and is enjoying it very much. I get a lot of questions from people on why we sent Lily to this school and why she doesn't go to "normal" preschool. I wrote an email to a friend who is thinking of sending her daughter next year that I thought was a good summary of why we like Lily's school so much.



It is hard to articulate how different Montessori is without seeing it firsthand. It is much different than a play-based preschool. Not that one way is right and one way is wrong but they are simply very different. The Montessori materials are so unique. Everything is beautifully constructed and organized. Everything in the classroom has a purpose in one of several different areas: art, practical life, math, etc. Here is a picture of Lily working at the handwashing station in the practical life section.






















You might think, "What is the big deal about washing her hands?"
Like most Montessori works, it is deceptively simple. Some of the things she would learn from this work is: proper hand washing/self care, working carefully and neatly, pouring liquids without spilling, following steps of a procedure, tying ties on the smock, working hand strength on all of the steps, hanging up the towel after finishing, etc. Hand strength is especially important with learning how to write. All of the Montessori materials have a larger objective and work together sequentially.


One of the things that really impressed me is the calm focus in the children. I think the calm focus is because of the Montessori theory called "sensitive periods". The theory is that the children go through stages where they easily learn something they are interested in. It relies on the children's natural tendencies. Since the children are engrossed in their work because they are truly interested, there is no need to act out or make trouble. The learning is self-directed, giving children the confidence to make their own choices. I like to think of it from an adult perspective: if tomorrow I wanted to learn to sew, I would be much more willing to learn it if I took the initiative rather than someone else deciding for me arbitrarily that I should learn to sew that day.


It is a cooperative work environment. There are very few discipline problems, which is less disruptive to the children.

Lily is in the primary program, comprised of 24 children: eight 3 year olds, eight 4 year olds, and eight 5 year olds. I really like the blended age classroom for many reasons. First, it is more true to real life. As adults, we don't only associate with other people our own age. It is an important life skill to be able to get along with other ages and skill sets, like coworkers, etc. Secondly, it allows the social development of the children as they work their way through the age progression, allowing the older children to become leaders, which builds their self confidence and skill set to be able to teach the other kids.


The school itself tries really hard to be a good school. I have found that they are invested in the welfare of the children. They encourage input and participation from parents. Here is a picture of a parent education night where we learned about the importance of reading aloud to children. John is taking copious notes in the lower center of the photo.














Finally, we have seen a lot of positive changes in Lily since she started that I don't know if she would have gotten at a standard preschool. She has a lot more confidence to try to do new things. She has a better memory for remembering sequences. She has a lot more hand strength and fine motor control. She is writing numbers and letters. Not because the school is forcing her on their schedule but because she wants to learn. She doesn't see school as a burden.