| Dr. Montessori believed
that no human being is educated by another person. The individual
must do it themselves or they will never be done. A truly educated
individual continues learning long after the hours and years
she/he spends in the classroom because she/he is motivated from
with in by a natural curiosity and love for knowledge. Thus,
aim of the Montessori program is to “help the child help
themselves”. It is the child’s potential for auto
education and inner discipline that is responsible for the successful
results of this indirect and individual process of education.
It is a multi-sensory approach, offering strong sensory stimulants
and therefore, it is not confined to verbal teaching. The
child is always encouraged to discover their environment by
touching. The materials the child uses are concrete at the
beginning and thus help the child to organize and understand
the multitude of impressions he or she had received and continues
to receive. The main focus of the philosophy is the education
of the child’s “whole personality”. Through
his or her involvement in real life activities, the child
has the opportunity to develop emotionally, physically, socially,
intellectually, and culturally.
A child usually enters a Montessori classroom class room
between the ages of two-and-half and three years of age, depending
on when he or she can be happy in a class room situation.
The young child begins with the simplest exercises based on
activities young children enjoy. The exercises a child uses
at three will help develop the concentration and coordination
necessary for more advanced exercises the child will experience
at the age of five and six. The entire program is purposefully
structured to individual’s development needs, covering
a period of three years. Therefore, optimum results cannot
be expected either for the child who misses the early years
of the cycle of learning or of the child who is withdrawn
before she/he finishes the basic materials.
Dr. Montessori referred to the classroom as the prepared
environment, as a place that is carefully set by the teachers
to offer beauty, order, and reality to children. It is our
mission at Beaverbrook Montessori to provide best possible
environment for children’s life long learning and growth.
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