Dr. Maria Montessori is the founder of the Montessori method of education. She started her first classroom “Casa dei Bambini” or Children’s House in 1907.
Montessori method of education stresses the importance of respecting children – “Help me to help myself”.
Maria Montessori was born on August 31st 1870. It was her birthday yesterday and I cannot say enough how much I owe to this dynamic and innovative woman as far as my parenting journey is considered. The Montessori philosophy changed my perspective as a parent, it was a paradigm shift I must admit.
If you are new to this, you might want to read the biography of Maria Montessori HERE.
According to Montessori, the goal of education is “to be able to find activities that are so intrinsically meaningful that we want to throw ourselves into them”. According to her, the child builds itself through experiences on the environment. On this notion, she developed a set of didactic materials which leads to sensory education, muscular coordination, and language development. These didactic materials have built-in “control of error” which gives the child concrete proof of whether its work is right or wrong, this also frees the teacher from being the person of reinforcement.
It is a must-read for everyone who is interested in Montessori. This book is not a practical guide, it doesn’t tell you, what to do or give you certain activities, it is a very philosophical book. It opens your eyes and makes you look differently at children, childhood, society.
Montessori is so much more about the attitude, about philosophy and principles than about certain tools, materials or activities. All the great work and Montessori-inspired materials & activities are quite useless, if you don’t get the philosophy right.
I would also suggest these books for some additional reading on Montessori. You would love them for sure!
