Paula Lillard, director of a Montessori school ranging in age from 18 months to fifteen years, provides a clear and cogent introduction to the Montessori program for the elementary and later years. In detailed accounts, Lillard shows how children acquire the skills to answer their own questions, learn to manage freedom with responsibility, and maintain a high level of intellectual stimulation by using the Montessori method. This is an essential handbook for parents and teachers who have chosen the Montessori alternative for the older child.
Montessori: A Modern Approach has been called the single best book for anyone -- educator, childcare professional, and especially parent -- seeking answers to the questions: What is the Montessori method? Are its revolutionary ideas about early childhood education relevant to today's world? And most important, especially for today's dual-career couples. Is a Montessori education right for my child? Paula Polk Lillard writes both as a trained educators and as a concerned parent -- she has many years as a public school teacher, but it was her enthusiasm for the education her own child experienced in a Montessori school that led her to become a leading voice in the Montessori movement in this country. Her book offers the clearest and most concise statement of the Montessori method of child development and education available today.
Announcing that rare parenting book that will not only help you become a more effective parent but actually change how you see your children. Written by Montessori educator Simone Davies, this book shows you how to bring the educational values of a Montessori classroom into your home—while turning the whole idea of the “terrible twos” on its head. Here is how to set up Montessori-friendly spaces in your home. Principles for fostering curiosity in your child—and in yourself. Specific Montessori skills—the winter coat flip; getting your toddler to pour his or her own water and clean up whatever spills might occur. And it goes much deeper, showing how a parent can really be present, be the child’s guide, and handle tantrums and problematic behavior without resorting to bribes, threats, or punishment and truly celebrate every stage. It’s also that rare parenting book that’s beautiful to look at, with a bright, airy design and simple color illustrations and photographs.
Based on Dr. Maria Montessori's philosophies for nurturing babies and toddlers, this practical and useful guide is brimming with instructions, anecdotes, and encouragement for raising calm, competent, and confident children—from designing the baby’s bedroom to encouraging life skills such as dressing themselves and working both independently and collaboratively. What can parents do to help their youngest children in their task of self-formation? How does the Montessori method of hands-on learning and self-discovery relate to newborns, infants, and toddlers? This authoritative and accessible book answers these and many other questions. Its comprehensive exploration of the first three years incorporates the furnishings and tools Dr. Montessori created for the care and comfort of babies. From the design of the baby's bedroom to the child-sized kitchen table, from food preparation to clothing and movement, the authors provide guidance for the establishment of a beautiful and serviceable environment for babies and very young children. They also introduce concepts and tasks, taking into account children’s ''sensitive periods'' for learning such skills as toilet training. Written in a clear, engaging style, Montessori from the Start is a must-have for every new parent.
It’s time to change the way we see babies. Drawing on principles developed by the educator Dr Maria Montessori, The Montessori Baby shows how to raise your baby from birth to age one with love, respect, insight, and a surprising sense of calm. Cowritten by Simone Davies, author of the bestselling The Montessori Toddler, and Junnifa Uzodike, it’s a book filled with hundreds of practical ideas for understanding what is actually happening with your baby, and how you can mindfully assist in their learning and development. Including how to: Prepare yourself for parenthood–physically, emotionally, intellectually, and spiritually. Become an active observer to understand what your baby is really telling you. Create Montessori spaces in your home, including “yes” spaces where nothing is off-limits. Set up activities that encourage baby’s movement and language development at their own pace Raise a secure baby who’s ready to explore the world with confidence.
What really happens inside a Montessori classroom? How do teachers teach? How do children learn? This fascinating day-by-day record of a year in the life of a Montessori classroom answers these questions by providing an illuminating glimpse of the Montessori method in action.
Certain aspects of the system are in themselves striking and significant: it adapts to the education of normal children methods and apparatus originally used for deficients; it is based on a radical conception of liberty for the pupil; it entails a highly formal training of separate sensory, motor, and mental capacities; and it leads to rapid, easy, and substantial mastery of the elements of reading, writing, and arithmetic. - Introduction.
"A resource for teachers and parents interested in Montessori education and Dr. Maria Montessori's observations on child development. Discusses Montessori education and its viability in the 21st century. Explains the basic elements of child development through the lens of Montessori philosophy and neuroscientific findings"-- Provided by publisher.
"If, like some, you regret that Montessori too rarely in her writings appreciated the humanity of teachers-their creativity, their curiosity, their doubts-this book stands as the perfect complement."-Jola-Montessori.com Evocative and unique, The Tao of Montessori offers a quiet balance to the noisy demands of teaching and parenting through a special blend of encouraging verse. Award-winning Montessori teacher Catherine McTamaney revisits the eighty-one verses of Lao-tzu's Tao Te Ching and relates them to the life and work of teachers, parents, and children. Originally meant to remind rather than direct and to show the way toward natural harmony in the world around and within us, Lao-tzu's verses find a new meaning through McTamaney's skillful mixture of spirituality and education. Take a moment to read a single stanza, then put it aside and muse upon its meaning. By revisiting one verse each day, you can relate its images to your life as a teacher, parent, or child. Whether you are familiar with the writings of Lao-tzu or are simply ready to explore a refreshingly contemplative perspective on children and teachers, The Tao of Montessori is a profound work of intellectual stimulation.
A fresh, comprehensive biography of the pioneering educator and activist who changed the way we look at children’s minds, from the author of Oriana Fallaci. Born in 1870 in Chiaravalle, Italy, Maria Montessori would grow up to embody almost every trait men of her era detested in the fairer sex. She was self-confident, strong-willed, and had a fiery temper at a time when women were supposed to be soft and pliable. She studied until she became a doctor at a time when female graduates in Italy provoked outright scandal. She never wanted to marry or have children—the accepted destiny for all women of her milieu in late nineteenth-century bourgeois Rome—and when she became pregnant by a colleague of hers, she gave up her son to continue pursuing her career. At around age thirty, Montessori was struck by the condition of children in the slums of Rome’s San Lorenzo neighborhood, and realized what she wanted to do with her life: change the school, and therefore the world, through a new approach to the child’s mind. In spite of the resistance she faced from all sides—scientists accused her of being too mystical, and the clergy of being too scientific, traditionalists of giving children too much freedom, and anarchists of giving them too much structure—she would garner acclaim and establish the influential Montessori method, which is now practiced throughout the world. A thorough, nuanced portrait of this often controversial woman, The Child Is the Teacher is the first biographical work on Maria Montessori written by an author who is not a member of the Montessori movement, but who has been granted access to original letters, diaries, notes, and texts written by Montessori herself, including an array of previously unpublished material.
