A MONTESSORI PARENT'S PERSPECTIVE
Trevor Eissler, father of three Montessori students, is a business jet pilot and flight instructor. Over the last fifteen years, he has taught hundreds of pilots, from beginners to professional pilots. He is the author of four books, Montessori Madness!, 4,962,571, That 17th Hat, and N is for North Korea. He is a juggler, unicyclist, triathlete, and Toastmaster. He lives with his wife and family in Georgetown, Texas.
Montessori Method
HELPING YOUR CHILD REACH THEIR FULL POTENTIAL
Montessori is based on years of observation and study of children by Dr. Maria Montessori, a medical doctor and a student of psychology. She worked out her methods and developed teaching materials by letting the children show her what worked and what did not.
Montessori has proven itself to be of universal application. Within a single generation, it has been tried successfully with children of almost every civilized nation. Climate, nationality, social rank, or type of civilization make no difference to its successful application. There are many well-developed Montessori schools through-out the world.
Montessori has revealed the small child as a lover of order and of intellectual work, spontaneously chosen and carried out with profound joy; capable of concentration and eager to learn for the joy of learning.
Montessori Teachers are provided with Assistants, relieving them of a lot of routine duties so they can concentrate on teaching and responding to the children’s needs. The school’s unique structure gives children the unusual opportunity to work at their own pace.
Montessori does away with the necessity of coercion by means of rewards and punishments, it achieves a higher discipline. It is an active discipline which originates within the child and is achieved through a spontaneous concentration on work which he has chosen. Children with extremely active and curious minds are stimulated and utilize their intellectual energies constructively.
Montessori is based on a profound respect for the child’s personality thus leaving him room to grow in biological independence. The child is allowed a large measure of freedom of choice and he learns to handle it with responsibility.
Montessori enables the teacher to guide the child individually in each subject according to his individual requirements. Each child works at his own pace, hence the quick child is not held back by the slow, nor is the latter, in trying to keep up with the former, obliged to flounder out of his depth.
Montessori Freedom within Limits - At every turn, it presents endless opportunities among the children for mutual help — which is joyfully given and gratefully received. Since the child works from his own free choice, without pressure, he is free from strain and inferior feelings.
The Montessori Method develops the whole personality of the child; his powers of deliberation, initiative, and independent choice, with their emotional complements. The child is trained in those fundamental social qualities which forms the basis of good citizenship.
Social Graces and Courtesy - A Foundation of the Montessori Philosophy - The child is taught to pay respect to himself, his classmates, his teacher, the classroom materials and the world he lives in.