How our body works has a huge impact on how our brain processes. Therapists who specialize in the learning process can watch how a child moves and quickly begin isolating a problem. When children move in graceful and organized ways, the brain activ...

A number of years ago, Our Kids magazine ran a really interesting article about candid advice teachers would give parents. Katherine Martin focused mainly on elementary and middle students, but there’s a lot here for us to hear as we’re in ou...

Children’s ways of learning are as different as the colors of the rainbow. All people have different personalities, preferences, and tastes. Through observation, parents can learn what kind of learners their children are. Once parents know how the...

Our children delight in the natural world. As those people most recently from heaven, they bring with them joy at the sight of sunshine, wonder at a seed pushing a green sprout through the dirt, and awe when a bird lands outside the window. Their a...

The school’s website opens with this invitation. It invites us to think about the dreams we have for our children -- and for ourselves. Dreams of being able to do anything we really want to do. Dreams of making someday today. Then reality rears its...

Daylight savings time was a couple of weeks ago, and the “we’re running a little late” refrain is heard as a chorus from most of our parents. The world has done us a favor by giving us an extra hour of daylight to spend in the evenings with our fami...

There’s a beautiful little poem called Children Learn What They Live. In it are lines like “If a child lives with criticism, he learns to criticize”. At the school, we call these vignettes indirect lessons. They’re things like how to walk, h...

The obesity issue is coming at us from all sides. It’s on the TV, in the newspaper, in magazines, and along the streets about “buy our product to make yourself thin”. Childhood obesity is caused by the same thing that causes adults to be overweight...

Who among us does not want a child as bright as Albert Einstein? When his brain was analyzed after his death, it was found that it was not bigger than a normal brain. What was remarkable was the enormous number of dendritic connections. This is th...

This is from a brochure produced by the National Committee to Prevent Child Abuse. It’s about coping with stress when there’s too much to do, too little time, and not enough money. No wonder we get stressed! But stress strikes everyone. As parents...

When you enrolled at the school, you were told about our Vita-Lites. They are one of the values in the school that’s easy to forget about, but our children’s bodies don’t forget. Every day the full-spectrum light simulates sunlight so that vitamin ...

By the time our children are ready to enter the world of mathematics, they have worked extensively in areas such as practical life, sensorial, and language, where they have refined their sense of order, concentration, coordination, and independence. ...

Have you ever noticed how some people are incredibly busy but don’t seem to suffer any of the symptoms of stress? Stress is bad for you. It’s been linked to everything from heart disease to insomnia, from stomach aches to depression. It’s just as ...

I recently read a little book by Ralph Nadar (social activist from the 1960s) in which he talked about the impact his parents had on his thinking skills. We work a lot with our children in the school to develop a life-long pattern of being able to e...

Dr. Montessori believed that no human being is educated by another. He must do it himself or it will never be done. A truly educated individual continues learning long after the hours and years spent in the classroom because the motivation comes fr...

In Montessori, we’re taught not to praise our children because it’s a form of reward and rewards are self-defeating. The thinking is that when the reward is not given, the behavior will disappear. If the child is performing the work for his own ben...

Parents who send their children off to college or to a job or who have watched them speak vows at the marriage altar often have one common emotion – the great desire to shout, “Stop! I want more time! There is so much we haven’t done!” It’s impos...

Seaworld never fails to amaze us with their ability to train killer whales, dolphins, and seals to jump through hoops, ring a bell, or jump four at one time. We have trouble getting our kids to put on their coats. How does Seaworld do that? They ...

Practical life is the foundation of the Montessori classroom. All other areas flow directly from this base. One of the most fundamental exercises of practical life is table washing. Its purposes are three-fold. First, it helps the child to feel s...

In a list of toys analyzed by a group of people who work with young children, each of the recommendations included the reasoning behind its selection. This is what helps us learn so that we can apply the same reasoning to our own selections. As you...

Our newsletter this week was supposed to be on the scary rise of rickets in this country. This is a malady where bones become soft because of poor diet and lack of sunshine and exercise. But the decision was made to address a much scarier form of r...

So what if we decide that we’re going for “quality time” and not use the TV as a soma pill? The reality of that scenario is scarier than we might like to admit. One mother shared her experience with really trying to turn off the TV, computer, and g...

We’re planning a whole day of focusing on “practically perfect manners” in preparation for the holidays. On Party Manners Day, we’ll be using “ma’am” and “sir” and making introductions and giving a lot of compliments. We’ll have a traditional Thank...

The world has been changing, but lately it seems like the rate of change has been increasing, and our little ones will be out in it so fast. The new term is ‘globalization’. As the adults who prepare our children, our job is to figure out what’s ha...

One of the most wonderful aspects of Montessori education is the freedom for the child to create the adult she is meant to be. This is accomplished by a prepared environment and a Montessorian trained to guide the child gently through the work of ed...

There’s so much truth in the old saying “Walk a mile in my shoes before you pass judgment.” This week one of our staff shared with us her feelings one day when she picked up her son. She was met at the front door with “He really had a tough day tod...

As concerned citizens and advocating parents, we wrestle with questions of how we develop our children so that each is contributing to their fullest potential. There are several qualities essential to a true democratic education:

o Enga...

Conventional wisdom in the preschool world is that smaller is better, meaning class size or staff:child ratio. Schools with smaller groups assume that the teacher is the source of instruction, a very limited resource. They reason that as the number...

In the 1990’s Martin Seligman wrote a couple of best sellers Learned Optimism and Authentic Happiness. He became known as the father of positive psychology, and he quotes mountains of research that substantiates the idea that we are mo...

Every Montessori teacher recognizes the ‘click’. It’s personified in pictures of a child as she places the tiny top block on the pink tower. It’s that moment of epiphany when the face glows with the understanding that “I can do it.” As the adults ...

Maybe one of the most detrimental things that has happened to us since we moved out of rural areas and into urban areas is the ability to just be. We think we have to accomplish and do in order to have validity. We have forgotten how to lose oursel...

Of the world’s geniuses, Leonardo da Vinci ranks toward the top. Michael Gelb distilled what he considered da Vinci’s principles and published seven steps to genius in a book How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci. Gelb says, “Although it is har...

There are so many appeals these days to “get involved”, especially from school districts. For us at the school who are so aware of how very much our parents care about their little ones, it hardly seems possible that at elementary or secondary schoo...

I watched a parent carry her child out of the school yesterday kicking and screaming. For those of us struggling with a major guilt trip because both parents work, we wimp out a lot! Confronted by a crying, pouting, demanding, or persistent munchki...

The future is not someplace we are going to, but one we are creating. The paths are not to be found, but made, and the activity of making them changes both the maker and the destination.

John Shaar, futurist

...

The American Academy of Pediatrics continues its crusade against video media. This article is from Amber Dance in the Los Angeles Times. “Parents hoping to raise baby Einsteins by using infant educational videos instead might be creating baby...

We live in such a punitive society that when one or two non-punitive alternatives, like saying “Stop that” or “Do that” don’t work, we right away jump to punishment. Yelling isn’t the only form of verbal punishment. Swearing, belittling, insults, s...

These days our children are experiencing nature through the Disney channel. We are raising a generation of kids who are knowledgeable about endangered species and collapsing ecosystems, but who spend their time indoors. They can’t tell you about th...

Sometimes it’s hard to justify the expense of Montessori education when the child comes home day after day bragging that he mopped the floor today. Practical life exercises constitute the most basic level of the Montessori curriculum. It is importa...

Our country is on its way to having all other developed countries beat the socks off us when it comes to engineering and research. Our colleges are turning out fewer native American graduates in these fields, and girls are dropping out almost entire...

When I look at a patch of dandelions, I see a bunch of weeds that are going to take over my yard.

My kids see flowers for Mom and blowing white fluff you can wish on.



When I look at a drunk and he smiles at me, I see a sme...

Maria Montessori wrote, “The most important period of life is not the age of university studies, but the first one, the period from birth to age six. For that is the time when man’s intelligence itself, his greatest implement, is being formed. But ...

It’s the lazy, hazy days of summer, right? Not at most houses. Busy work doesn’t slack off, but we add pool time, picnics, and maybe a trip or two to the beach. Late sunsets mean we’re an hour later getting the slow-down routine started. So where...

You beg, you plead, you bargain, you worry. But no matter what you try, your child refuses to eat anything but grilled cheese sandwiches, no crusts allowed. He’s violently opposed to vegetables of all kinds and colors, and seems to have a love/hate...

I do a lot of research on the effect that working moms have on kids, not only at the preschool level, but also in adolescence and as those kids begin to make decisions about whether they as moms should work themselves. I strongly contend that one of...

With summer comes vacations, and many times that means a long car trip. Here are some suggestions not only to survive, but to thrive:

o Sing along – Preschoolers don’t care about your voice. They just want to connect. If you have ...

This piece came from a junior high principal who thinks “excellent”. When we’re up to our necks in alligators, it’s hard to remember that there is more to life than getting dinner, paying the car note, and getting Mr. Smith’s report to him. There h...

An important step in nurturing either one’s own spirit or a child’s spirit is to prepare an environment where stillness can be cultivated with some regular frequency. It is almost impossible for one’s spirit to thrive in the constant din and hubbub ...

This column ran in the Houston Chronicle this week, and although it’s probably too late for this year, you might think about it for future Mother’s Days or for other consumer-focused days that merchants have foisted upon us. “The annual inqui...

Knowing how to cope with the stresses and strains of everyday life not only keeps us happy and successful, it also keeps us well. Some of us have always been easygoing or eagerly anticipating new adventures. Others have a really difficult time adju...

When you made the commitment to enroll your child in our Montessori school, you may have done it for dozens of reasons. As you’ve been here, you’ve discovered there are rules about everything. Mostly we like to think there are good reasons for our ...

The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, who strives valiantly; . . . who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, . . .who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best, knows the triumph of high achiev...

“I want to believe in the power of smiles, hugs, a kind word, truth, justice, peace, dreams, the imagination, mankind, and making angels in the snow.”

This quote is from a journalist talking about wanting to check out of the adult wor...

This information came from a feature article in Newsweek magazine about current research into how males develop. In the wake of the feminist movement, even normal boy behavior has come to be considered pathological, and our male children are s...

On one side of the picture: Back when it was cold, one of our parents was determined that her child not be exposed to the 40-degree weather. The other side of the picture: A few weeks before that we began mainstreaming a two-year-old who has had ni...

The rest of this quote is “the people perish”. It comes from Proverbs, and it may be a bit strong for our topic today. The fact is, we all need to take a minute to vision what we want. If we can’t imagine it, we can’t get there. If we can’t get w...

One of our mothers this week shared her sense of overwhelm with me. She had twins four months ago and is still at home on maternity leave. She had come in to the school to pick up her five-year-old. “But it’s going to get better”, she said hopeful...

From the little newsletter Joyful Parenting: “My husband and I recently took a 10-day vacation that was a real vacation - without our three young children. Needless to say, we had a wonderful, relaxing vacation with full days and late nights...

This commentary is from Linda Weither of the Boston Globe. She writes: “I was eating lunch with a friend at a restaurant. Seated next to us were two boys about 10 or 11 and their dads, who were deep in conversation. The boys were searching ...

There are some additional points in the consideration of whether to continue with Montessori as a child approaches the kindergarten year. Parents are quick to understand that the mixed-age group is advantageous for a younger child. But what about t...

Spring is arriving again, and in thousands of Montessori schools all over America, parents of four-year-olds are trying to decide whether to keep their child in Montessori for kindergarten. Some of the advantages of local schools are obvious, while ...

Falling in love is one of the most delicious events of anyone’s life. To “be in love” is one of life’s treasures. To be the object of someone’s love is to be placed in a position of the highest possible esteem. A curious reality of the mind is tha...

Over the last couple of weeks, you have provided an analysis of your child’s learning style. Every teacher in every class, including infants, also does a similar analysis for every one of their children. Approximately 30 percent of this analysis is...

Our stereotyping concepts creep in everywhere. There is a classic study done with eleven mothers who played with a six-month-old infant. Five of the mothers were told that the infant’s name was Adam, and he was dressed in blue. The other six mothe...

As a part of the human condition, we create expectations of what is to come. When we marry, we have in our minds what the marriage will bring for us. When we decide to have children, we have dreams of what our lives will be like in our families. A...

We’ve just come through the holidays, and the Chinese New Year and Valentines are around the corner. The turning of every new year is a time for thoughtfulness about the old year’s regrets and hope for a better new year. World wide we celebrate. O...

Before around the age of six, the brain simply accepts what’s put there; whether it’s learning a language, understanding math concepts, knowing the names of continents, or trusting that the people in your life mean good for you. When we adopt the Mo...

This is a great principle for children’s toys, which really are equipment for their hands and minds. The best toys are those that respond only when the child activates them. In contrast, entertaining toys such as mobiles, wind-up toys, or battery-o...

Sometimes a goal of children’s behavior is to withdraw. Although we may find this strange, in an encouraged child, it is defined as the ability to center. Linda Dunlay, the Marist College psychology department chair says, “Our ultimate goal as pare...

Do you believe in Santa Claus? Or better yet, what do you say to a child who asks, “Daddy, my friend Billy said there isn’t really a Santa Claus. Is that true?” Whew! Sometimes kids ask us questions that we don’t feel adequately prepared to answ...

From Berry Brazelton: Manners still matter. They represent our values and social styles. They signal our respect for other people. We use them throughout life to help us enter and fit into a group. Children today may be cheated of the opportunit...

As the holiday season goes into high gear, I have noticed that some ads have subtly changed to include an adult figure - theoretically the parent - in the scenes of children playing with the advertised toy. It’s well accepted in preschool education ...

The Thanksgiving season takes us back to another time and place. When we were an agrarian society, the harvest was crucial to survival. When the harvest was complete, there was a deep sense of gratitude for having food to feed ourselves and our chi...

Some time ago one of our directresses asked me to address the issue of “stuff”. It seems she had been counseling parents to de-clutter their child’s life by removing most toys and organizing play space. Little children are overwhelmed by so many di...

Parent Stephanie contributed this item, which came from Patti Teel. “While we’d like to believe that our children live carefree lives devoid of concerns, many children become anxious and self-critical at an early age. Parents can help their children ...

Since the Montessori method is eminently respectful of every child as an individual, it calls the adults who apply the method to guard themselves against preconceived expectations of the child’s progress. When we follow the child, we must have conne...

We know reading is important, just like we know we need to eat vegetables and get exercise. And just like our sedentary work pushes out exercise and fast food pushes out vegetables, our lifestyles are pushing out reading. As educators, we understan...

Administration of the School Curriculum with Reference to Individual Differences

Once upon a time, the animals decided they must do something heroic to meet the problems of a ‘new’ world, so they organized a school. They adopted a...

This article about biorhythms from Working Mother magazine has some good points. As adults, we can control what we do and when we do it. But a child is subject to her parents’ whims as well as to her own moods. The connection between a chil...

All of us have a special talent that helps us be far better than others, and all of us have an area where we’re not so great. In the following piece, Dr. Berry Brazelton is addressing learning disabilities, but it’s not too great a stretch to apply ...

We’ve just had our first day of kindergarten, but some of you may be aware that there are children in the afternoon that are not “real” kindergartners. Our distinction between the “afternoon class” and “kindergartners” is not necessarily clear. So ...

From Maria Montessori in The Absorbent Mind: “For the essence of independence is to be able to do something for one’s own self. The philosophical concept which underlies the successive conquest of independence is this: That man achieves his...

As we continue to struggle with verbalizing why we’re so committed to our workshop on September 9, words escape us. It’s such a basic premise for Montessorians that we forgot to introduce the concrete aspect of this very abstract principle. Tao mea...

This “tao” has been a difficult thing for us to get our minds around. We’re so focused on setting every one of our children up for success that we cringe when we see parents try to “manage” their children by commanding, demanding, and punishing. In ...

Last week we issued the invitation to join us in our staff workshop on Sept. 9. We’re using the book The Tao of Montessori as our base, and there have been questions about what exactly the workshop will be. Like all prepared environments, w...

Parent Penny Coleman brought in a couple of articles that meant a lot to her. Knowing how Penny sparkles and has an enviable zest for living, I pass her tidbits on to you. “You don’t have to leave town to have a great time. In fact, you may not ev...

Research on illness in young children tells us we just kind of have to get through it. Children between the ages of 1 and 3 have an average of nine minor illnesses a year. When children first enter group care of any kind and no matter what age, it ...

You’ll hear these letters almost as a mantra among Montessorians. The letters stand for the goals for the child as she struggles to define herself: order, concentration, coordination, and independence. In Montessori’s words, “In the child is the ma...

Our brains have no inherent knowledge of the alphabet. The beauty of phonics is that children can learn the parts of reading and writing before they put it all together. But like tennis, you can practice your backhand, forehand, and serve, but you ...

Would you like to know how to get your children to willingly cooperate? Would you like to eliminate many of your daily battles? Would it be even better if during the process you could teach your kids valuable life skills? So would you like to win ...

Children develop in sequential phases, clearly demonstrated as our babies recognize us, begin to walk, and then potty train. There are some less obvious things that we might not accept so absolutely. For example, emotional environment is more criti...

For children, daily exercise, whether chasing bubbles when they’re 2 or riding bikes when they’re 15, can mean the difference between being able to concentrate in school or having trouble. Consider that 30% of American children are obese, as many as...

We keep hearing the mantra “leading the simple life”. Another one is “no time”. Easy to say -- what to do about it? Working Mother magazine had a great article about getting organized that has some specific and very helpful hints. Especial...

This article appeared several years ago in the Gifted Children Newsletter. Today, more and more educational literature is focusing on the problems of traditional education. According to the article, it is the personality of gifted children, ...

A basic principle in the Montessori classroom is the completely individualized curriculum. It’s so second nature to those of us in the field that we forget how foreign it is to people who only know conventional education. A parent whose last classr...