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Articles tagged with Parenting

What is the best age to start Montessori at home?

11 April 2023 – 8:50am

It’s never too early – nor too late, for that matter – to start Montessori at home and witness the profound benefits of this time-tested and transformational approach to raising confident, joyful, independent young people.

When they think of Montessori, most people picture child-sized furniture that first appeared in Montessori schools over a century ago and those gorgeous hands-on manipulatives that make learning concrete and active in Montessori classrooms worldwide.

Learning at Home

1 September 2021 – 12:00am

“Following the Child” at Home.

Two children cooking. Photo Annie Spratt, Unsplash

Fostering Independence at Home (for the 6-9 year old child)

1 June 2021 – 12:00am

Children are capable of more self reliance than their parents sometimes think. With the right support your child can learn to meet many of their own needs, and will often joyfully rise to an opportunity convincingly put.

Self-care, care of others, community care

Preparing the Home Environment for the 0-3 Year Old Child

1 March 2021 – 12:00am

Consistency

Walking on the Line

1 January 2021 – 1:00am

Practical Life activities in a Montessori classroom assist the child to control and coordinate their moments, and one of the earliest activities introduced in a 3-6 classroom is called “Walking on the Line”. Montessori saw this as a natural extension of something children liked to do (walking on curbs or tracks) and developed the activity not only to help them control their body, develop balance and perfect equilibrium, but to strengthen the mind’s control of its body’s movements.

Montessori Adolescent Programs – Developing Identity

3 December 2020 – 9:50am

Alumnus Madeline Cross-Parkin has braved mental health challenges on her journey to becoming a passionate classical pianist, Instagram sensation and physics undergraduate student.

Always top of her class in academics and piano, she reflects fondly on her time at Brisbane Montessori School, from the time she was eight months old to 12 years, and again from 15 to 16 years of age.

“Primary School was pretty good for me. I started learning piano at Brisbane Montessori School and had lovely teachers who started me off on a path of determination,” Maddy said.

Offering Encouragement not Empty Praise

1 December 2020 – 9:00am

Practical suggestions for offering encouragement, not empty praise.

Montessori Parent and Toddler Program

1 November 2020 – 9:00am

In Montessori Education, the specially designed place that children come to work in is called a ‘prepared learning environment’. The first ‘work’ your child will do in the program is to orientate themselves to the new space in which they find themselves, which may take a couple of sessions.

The space will be arranged in exactly the same way each week in order to assist this orientation process. Each area in the ‘environment’ has a specific order and contains activities or ‘materials’ which serve different purposes for your child’s development.

Montessori Materials

1 October 2020 – 8:00am

The preparation of each Montessori environment includes the careful preparation of the Montessori developmental materials appropriate to that environment. The Montessori materials are sets of objects, each set designed to exacting specifications. In general the materials are designed to:

Digital Technologies for the 3-6 Year Old Child

1 September 2020 – 8:00am

In recent years there has been much debate about the integration of digital technologies, specifically the use of computers, in early childhood settings. In the view of Montessori educators the disadvantages of computer use in early childhood settings outweigh the advantages. For this reason, computers are generally not found in Montessori early childhood settings for children under six years of age.

Maria Montessori – The Pioneer

31 August 2020 – 8:00am

Maria Montessori was born on the 31st August 1870, in Chiaravalle, Italy. From an early age she broke through the traditional barriers for women, attending a technical school with initial ambitions to be an engineer, to go on to choose a career in medicine. In 1896 Montessori became one of the first Italian women ever to obtain a medical degree. In her early career as a doctor, she was asked to represent Italy at the International Congress for women’s rights in Berlin, where she called for equal pay for women.

Assessment and Evaluation

1 August 2020 – 8:00am

The Montessori curriculum is organised in a developmental sequence from one phase of learning to the next. Individual students, however, are able to work successfully through elements of the curriculum in a sequence unique to themselves. For this reason, comparisons between students may not be meaningful. The validity of norm-referenced assessment and the ranking of students are further reduced in the Montessori context because, in a multi-age classroom, there are comparatively small numbers of children at the same age and stage.

Beauty and Order

1 July 2020 – 8:00am

Montessori environments are prepared to be both beautiful and ordered.

Freedom

1 June 2020 – 8:00am

From birth children are deeply interested in everything around them. They are driven to explore their world in the service of their own development. If they are to respond to this drive, children need the freedom to explore and discover their environment independently, and to engage their full attention on what interests them with a minimum of interference and interruption.

Lessons of Grace and Courtesy (Personal Development)

1 May 2020 – 12:00am

Personal development in Montessori early childhood settings revolves around the lessons of grace and courtesy, the Montessori lessons designed to ensure the needs of everyone in the setting are respected and to promote social harmony. These lessons are given to individual children, small groups or to the whole group. The lessons can be given: