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Help me to help myself. —Maria Montessori The Child in the Family, p. 72. In her book Children Who are Not Yet Peaceful , Donna Bryant Goertz says, “We wisely welcome into our classrooms that small number of children whose behavior strikes us as eccentric, complicated, challenging, or confusing. These children are the indicators of how well the classroom is meeting the needs of all the children. They react when others don’t — and react overtly in ways that cannot be ignored. We have found that to assimilate these children and support them in their personal transformation, the class must be providing the maximum benefit to all children.” (Goertz, 2001) If we truly believe that all children can and have the right to learn, then there is a place for all children in your Montessori environment, including those with learning disabilities or who are “at risk.” Guiding Children with Learning Disabilities in the Montessori Environment It is true that some children will require additional time...

The child is the spiritual builder of mankind, and obstacles to his free development are the stones in the wall by which the soul of man has become imprisoned. —Maria Montessori The Absorbent Mind, p. 221. When my son was a toddler, he was intrigued by the minutiae of his environment. Ants crawling along the pathway were fascinating to him. Their tiny parade seemed to race from one place to another. As his tiny foot lifted in an attempt to learn what would happen if they were crushed, I gently stopped him, saying, “Ants are living creatures. Let’s watch where they are going instead.” Following their linear progression, we quietly observed them carrying food back to their nest. The Absorbent Mind, Chapter 21: Children’s Possessiveness and Its Transformations This type of care and observation was repeated with all living things. Flowers were examined to count how many petals they had or observe the delicate shades of their color variations. Glistening spider webs were viewed as fragile g...

Children construct their own characters. —Maria Montessori The Absorbent Mind, p. 208. The Absorbent Mind, Chapter 20: Character Building is the Child’s Own Achievement Montessori tells us that the child’s sensitive period for character building is between the ages of three and six. This is the result of “a long and slow sequence of activities carried out by the child himself between the ages of three and six.” (Montessori, p. 208) Surprisingly, Montessori says that character building does not happen from our teachings. “At this time, no one can ‘teach’ the qualities of which character is composed.” The reason behind this is due to the fact that one’s conscience begins to function between ages 6 and 12. Up until then, children cannot understand or “visualize the problems of good and evil.” (Montessori, p. 208) Adults often use the phrase “use your words” with young children when assisting them to solve conflicts, but this is rarely helpful to the children. The idea that children know w...