Small Routines, Big Lessons
Each morning you get your child to school, help them put their belongings in their locker, allow them to put on their own indoor shoes and see them off to their classroom into the care of the teachers. This routine is just one of the routines that helps your child be ready for their own academic, social, emotional and physical learning for the day. Then, once you’ve sent them on their way, you go on to your day and your own responsibilities.
The Work Behind the Work
At the end of the day, you pick up your child(ren) and they want to tell you about work that excited them for the day, but what is this work? What is this work preparing them for? How do these lessons build independence, responsibility and respect? Meanwhile, as your child is telling you about that work, you are thinking to yourself “You did that work again today? Didn’t you do that work yesterday, and the day before, and the day before that?”.
Choice, Movement, and Repetition
Our classrooms are full of opportunities that engage the children and help them learn something for themselves. Within the classroom the children experience learning by having the freedom to move around the classroom purposefully, repeating a work many, many times and the freedom to choose what work they will complete each day.
Experience Montessori Through Your Child’s Eyes
In October, we’ll be hosting a parent education event called the Silent Journey, that allows you as the grown up to experience learning from your child’s perspective. It is a night where you get to immerse yourself in the learning that happens in our environment and understand the Montessori philosophy even more.
The Power of Observation
During the first part of the Silent Journey there is a chance to observe the classrooms. Usually we just get to glance in the classroom at drop off and pick up, but this is an opportunity to fully observe how the classrooms are interconnected, you may observe materials that your child has told you about because they’ve been excited about it, you may also start to notice things that may be coming in your child’s near future (or even much further down the line). Maria Montessori herself used scientific observations as she was developing the methods and materials.
“In order to educate the child from birth, we must have the understanding based on psychological observation.” —Maria Montessori, 1946 London Lectures
Seeing the Prepared Environment
Taking the time to observe your child’s current environment, as well as the environments that come before and after, gives you a perspective that you don’t get to have every day. You’ll have the opportunity to observe how each classroom has been prepared for the children and what materials are available to them.
Experience the Work
After a short discussion about our observations, you will have the opportunity to visit the classrooms again, this time putting yourself in the shoes of your child(ren). You will have an opportunity to touch the materials and use them. You will also have an opportunity to attend lessons that are given the same way they are to your child along their own MRA journey.
The Work of the Hands
As an adult, I’ve heard many times, “Wait, my child is working on that? I didn’t even learn that til I was in middle school (or high school).” By experiencing the materials and the classroom they way your child does, you can see how we can give the lessons in a way that your child is ready for. As Maria Montessori said, “The work of the hand is the expression of psychic growth.” (1946 London Lectures). It is this work that leads the child to go from concrete knowledge to abstract knowledge much more efficiently. The materials also set the stage for more advanced learning, further research and experiences in and out of the classroom to build deeper connections and understanding.
Every Journey is Different
Adults that have attended previous Silent Journeys were always left wanting more because there wasn’t enough time to do it all in one night, so even if you’ve attended before you are still welcome to attend again because you might experience something completely different this time through. Those of you that weren’t able to make it last time, I hope you can make it this time!
To learn more about Montessori education and see our classrooms in action, schedule a tour of Montessori Renaissance Academy.
