Montessori Simplified: Preparing the Environment

As I begin to set up the spaces in our new home and prepare the environment for my children, I am considering the principles for preparing the environment from a Montessori perspective.

While reading the Secret of Childhood, I was really moved by the importance of considering our children when preparing our homes from this excerpt:

Suppose that we should find ourselves among a race of giants, with legs immensely long and bodies enormously large in comparison with ours, and also with powers of rapid movement infinitely greater than ours, people extraordinarily agile and intelligent compared with ourselves.

We should want to go into their houses … the steps would be each as high as our needs; we should want to sit down, but the seats would be almost as high as our shoulders. 

If we knew that these giants had been expecting us, we should be obliged to say: they have made no preparation for receiving us, or for making our lives among them more agreeable.

Montessori Simplified: Why Use Breakable Dishes

We've officially moved into our new home, and among so many things to get used to, there are ceramic tile floors in the kitchen and dining area. Which has resulted in two broken dishes within the last day.

Though our toddler has used glass dishes and real silverware ever since he started eating solids, this ceramic floor introduces a whole new level of difficulty for him, and for our dishes. I've quickly realized we need to reinforce the lessons required for using glass dishes with him.

Simplifying Montessori: The Beginning of Normalization

Have you ever heard the Montessori term normalization and wondered what it really means?

If every child is so different, as Montessori itself teaches over and over and over, how can you, in the very next breath, teach that children are also capable of something called normalization?

Maria Montessori adopted the word not because she believed all children should, or could, be shaped into a version of what is considered “normal” but because she found that, over and over again in her study of children, every child, with different backgrounds, personalities and countless contributing factors, reached a similar level of development that she recognized as a normal aspect of human development.

Understanding Obedience and Why Montessori Encourages Self-Discipline Instead

The other night our son was looking at the DVD cases, and I noticed him very particularly putting them away afterward, as he knows he is expected to do.

As he was coming to give me a goodnight kiss, later on, he noticed a few DVDs on the ottoman. In this moment I was able to witness a moment of joyful obedience. He laughed to himself and returned the cases to the drawer without a single word from me.

This kind of joyful obedience is what we strive for as Montessori parents. And while I do not always feel we are getting it right, I am so in awe of these glimpses of the self-discipline my toddler is capable of.

Before we begin, I wanted to share some articles I found to be helpful on this topic, such as this one and this one. The first article, especially, is from a teacher training blog, and I always appreciate the information I find at this source.