Montessori?

Maria Montessori developed the Montessori philosophy which is centered on providing a child an environment that encourages independence, self-motivation, love of exploration and communication. In 1896 Dr. Maria Montessori became the first female physician in Italy. During her work with special needs children she grew a strong passion for supporting a child's potential thorough purposeful work. Her focus concentrated on the goal of education rather than its methods. The goals "the development of a complete human being, oriented to the environment, and adapted to his or her time, place and culture." - Dr. Maria Montessori

Absorbent Minds

Maria Montessori theory supports that a child from birth to six years as an "absorbent mind". This mind is able to absorb knowledge for his surrounding effortlessly. 

Prepared Environment

Because of this understanding Dr. Maria Montessori created ''prepared environment," an ideal child-size space where children are able to safely and independently explore through personal experience. This respect for the child's ability holds an abundance for optimal development. 

Real Life Skills

Through much observation Dr. Montessori concluded that young children are frequently frustrated in their own attempts to do things for themselves and what they need is specific and simple exercises related to real life skills, which in turn helps them master tasks they witness around them in their everyday life. As a result children are not interested in achieving end results as quickly as possible, but far more interested in the process of a task. This is why they will happily repeat a task again and again until they feel satisfied. They seek to experience reality based activities like cleaning and getting dressed because it nourishes their natural desire to do it themselves.