Montessori Education

Dr. Maria Montessori believed that no human being is educated by another person, she must do it herself or it will never be done.  A truly educated individual continues learning long after the hours and years she spends in the classroom because she is motivated from within by a natural curiosity and love for knowledge.  Dr. Montessori felt, therefore, that the goal of early childhood education should not be to fill the child with facts from a pre-selected course of studies, but rather to cultivate her own natural desire to learn. 

In the Montessori classroom this objective is approached in two ways:  first, by allowing each child to experience the excitement of learning by her own choice rather than by being forced; and second, by helping her to perfect all her natural tools for learning, so that her ability will be at a maximum in future learning situations.  The Montessori materials have this dual long-range purpose in addition to their immediate purpose of giving specific information to the child.  The Montessori classroom is divided into 12 areas or disciplines: Practical Life, Art, Zoology, Sensorial, Music, Botany, Movement, Language, Geography, Math, Astronomy, and History.

The Montessori classroom is filled with various opportunities, tasks, creative pursuits, and choices that capture children’s interest.  Each material or exercise in the classroom is designed to isolate a skill and has a built in “control of error” allowing children to check his or her own work.  In a Montessori environment, children are able to learn at their own pace, according to their own interests.  Through their own work with specially designed materials, children learn and make their own discoveries.  The end result yields confident and happy children who possess a love for learning and an ability to think on their own.