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I bought a Montessori book, and while I'm only a few chapters in, it has some ideas I really like. I think it's important to remember that these techniques wer

I bought a Montessori book, and while I'm only a few chapters in, it has some ideas I really like. I think it's important to remember that these techniques were defined in 1912 though. There seems to be a sort of worship of the Montessori method, and a "black and white" mentality about what is correct. Using a 100+ year old book/method without adjustments and chasing purity in following it seems misguided.

mensetmanusman 5y ago
Her basic message is the insight ‘just watch the child’ which in hindsight is obviously true. Our current messaging for education is ‘listen to the administration’ :)
magpi3 5y ago
"The Montessori Method" by Maria Montessori is available as a free pdf on the web and is also a free ebook on Google Play.
pdamoc 5y ago
I think that it is more important to remember that Montessori tried to bring education in the 20th century using the science that was available to her 100+ years ago. Most schools today are still stuck into the factory model of 200 years ago. They are still trying to take uneducated peasant children and discipline them to mindlessly follow a 9-to-5 factory work schedule. Applying Montessori principles would be an improvement to most. Regular people severely underestimate how outdated and unscientific the current model is. Everywhere. And we know about this for more than 50 years and we've done very little to improve things. One of my sisters made sure that my nephew was in a Montessori kindergarten. He went to a regular school afterwards but those Montessori years can still be felt. There is a kind of emotional stability that still permeates his behavior. A level of presence and calm that brings me joy and gratefulness.
nouveaux 5y ago
Are you reading Maria Montessori's book, The Absorbent Mind? If not, I highly recommend going straight to the source. There is a bit of a cult like mentality around the whole Montessori Method, which is odd to me. However, I do think Maria Montessori got most of it right.
- rudedogg 5y ago
  Thanks, I'll take a look at that one. I'm reading “The Montessori Toddler” by Simone Davies: https://www.themontessorinotebook.com/the-montessori-toddler/ https://www.themontessorinotebook.com/the-montessori-toddler... I don't have any complaints against this book, my comments were more about general things I've noticed around the Montessori community.

mensetmanusman 5y ago

Her basic message is the insight ‘just watch the child’ which in hindsight is obviously true. Our current messaging for education is ‘listen to the administration’ :)

magpi3 5y ago

"The Montessori Method" by Maria Montessori is available as a free pdf on the web and is also a free ebook on Google Play.

pdamoc 5y ago

I think that it is more important to remember that Montessori tried to bring education in the 20th century using the science that was available to her 100+ years ago. Most schools today are still stuck into the factory model of 200 years ago. They are still trying to take uneducated peasant children and discipline them to mindlessly follow a 9-to-5 factory work schedule. Applying Montessori principles would be an improvement to most. Regular people severely underestimate how outdated and unscientific the current model is. Everywhere. And we know about this for more than 50 years and we've done very little to improve things. One of my sisters made sure that my nephew was in a Montessori kindergarten. He went to a regular school afterwards but those Montessori years can still be felt. There is a kind of emotional stability that still permeates his behavior. A level of presence and calm that brings me joy and gratefulness.

nouveaux 5y ago

Are you reading Maria Montessori's book, The Absorbent Mind? If not, I highly recommend going straight to the source. There is a bit of a cult like mentality around the whole Montessori Method, which is odd to me. However, I do think Maria Montessori got most of it right.

rudedogg 5y ago
Thanks, I'll take a look at that one. I'm reading “The Montessori Toddler” by Simone Davies: https://www.themontessorinotebook.com/the-montessori-toddler/ https://www.themontessorinotebook.com/the-montessori-toddler... I don't have any complaints against this book, my comments were more about general things I've noticed around the Montessori community.