First of all, who doesn’t say “good job!” to their kids? It’s a catch-all sort of praise that you can easily blurt out while you’re also skimming the news, chopping vegetables or peeking out of the bathroom to watch your child do some sort of jumpy twirly move that he’s obviously very proud of. Yet, […]
What do you think of when you think of work? What do your family members, colleagues, peers, employees, and children say or think? If you google, “define work,” you will come up with a definition that you will probably find surprising. Using the word work as a verb, it states, “be engaged in physical or […]
Children are aware and can be introduced to toilet learning and independence as soon as they are autonomously mobile. They will often show signs of readiness long before the adults are organised to help them achieve toilet independence. As adults we have little control of our children toileting, what we do have control of, is […]
Montessori. Marie Kondo. Minimalism. Three ideas which support each other quite well. In Montessori, we refer to “the prepared environment.” This means that we take a lot of care to prepare our classroom or our home with the child/ren in mind. When you first walk into a Montessori classroom, you notice how calm it feels; […]
How does redirection work in a Montessori environment & what can you practice to make things easier.
Why would I want to send my child to a Montessori? What do you offer that a childcare/family day care program/staying home with a primary caregiver doesn’t? These are such natural questions. With an abundance of options, wanting to prepare our children the best we can for an unknown future, and no clear right or […]
The Ellipse is a line on the floor of the classroom. It is sometimes in tape, and sometimes painted. Occasionally, classrooms will have different or additional shapes, but the choice of an ellipse is very purposeful; more on that later. A child removes their shoes to carefully walk on the line. First they’ll walk using […]
Consequence seems like such a negative phrase. Consequence is punishment, punitive, prison. I’m going to make you regret that mistake. You’ll absolutely learn from this experience, and I’m going to make sure of it. Consequence has no innate negativity. The definition is, “a result or effect of an action or condition.” There’s nothing bad about […]
There’s a tool we use almost constantly in the classroom. In fact, we all use it, all the time! It’s something called a Three Period Lesson, and it’s essentially how we all learn language. There are three different periods, or stages. First, we Name something. Second, we Recognise it. Third, we Identify it. In the […]
Montessori Australia recently hosted the “Montessori for the Digital Age Forum” featuring the noted digital parenting educator Dr Kristy Goodwin. In her workshop entitled “Plugged-in Childhoods”, Montessori leaders and educators were given evidence-based research and practical information about raising healthy children in the digital world. We present some of her tips here and would encourage […]
Montessori alumnus, founder and CEO of Amazon.com, Jeff Bezos, and his wife, MacKenzie, pledged to donate two billion dollars to launch a network of Montessori preschools serving young children from low-income families and creating new support systems to help address homelessness in America. As Mr. Bezos told the New York Times on Friday, the new […]
The importance of creativity in business may have been initially recognised with the rise of Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple; but its pervasiveness can be seen with the success of Etsy, Tesla and Kickstarter, both of which thrive on creativity in all aspects of life. The Montessori Method recently gained increased exposure and popularity […]
What Sets Northwest Montessori Apart From Other Montessori Schools? If you are reading this, you may be looking for a preschool–and may be curious about whether Montessori is a preschool education that makes sense for your family. As you research Montessori, it is important to know that Montessori isn’t a trademarked term, nor a franchised […]
What differentiates a child that learns to read joyfully, becomes a voracious reader and succeeds academically, from one that struggles to read at foundation level, and falls behind? Decades of research provide a clear answer: for a child to become a reader, he needs three things Instruction in phonics, A systematic way of building a […]
If you follow the discussions about education reform and improvement, you will have heard much about the poor performance of Australian. students in the STEM fields—Science, Technology, Engineering & Math. Whilst there is promise in some of the recommendations in Gonski 2.0 & the promotion of coding activities in Primary School, we feel there should […]
A common question we get asked by first year parents is What would I do to keep my children entertained without a screen? And: What if there is nothing more productive for them to do than use an iPad—wouldn’t it better to have a quality app than boredom and whining? For some well-meaning, busy parents, […]
Many of us, in a quest for physical and mental fitness, in a desire to push ourselves through uncomfortable situations, and in pursuit of saying “i did it!” Have taken to signing up for spartan races, marathons, warrior dashes, triathlons, ragnar relays, and 100 km bike rides, etc. There is something about preparing to climb […]
Montessori can be hard to sum up in just a few words—it is a philosophy on education and child development that runs deep. It’s a way of seeing the world. I think one of the easiest ways to get an idea for what Montessori means is to listen to the language that Montessori teachers use. Montessori teachers […]
What do you think Montessori would say about Technology if she was alive today ? Would she condemn it, as being overly commercialised and abstract? Or would she embrace it, recommending the purchase of iPads in all of her schools? We think she’d see the issue in the same way she saw the role of […]
Watching your young child grow up so quickly can be bittersweet, one minute you’re celebrating his first steps and his first words, then you blink and, gasp, your child is ready for his first day of school! When the time comes for a child to start preschool, parents often wonder: May it be best if […]
