Montesomething???

Again it has been proven to me that there are a lot of "Montesomething" schools out there!  I was on Craigslist the other night, and in my ongoing search for a babysitter I came across a few day care programs calling themselves Montessori.  One look at the pictures or sometimes just reading their description and it is obvious that there is little to do with Montessori there besides the name.  The thing that you need to understand is that Montessori is not a registered trade mark and there is no copyright on the name.  When I used to give tours to prospective parents I would tell them that anyone can call their school Montessori, whether it be an in home daycare, a traditional preschool or an authentic Montessori school.  There are TONS of schools out there claiming to be Montessori schools or Montessori based schools.  The quality and authenticity varies greatly amongst these schools. 

I get asked all the time by family and friends to help them determine if the school they are considering is a "good" school.  So often it is not, but unless you know why you are looking for a Montessori school you probably won't know if you have found a good one.  Research, learn, and observe.  That is the only way to know if a school is going to meet your needs.

There are some governing boards out there that attempt to regulate Montessori schools.  Association Montessori Internationale (AMI) was founded in 1929 by Dr. Maria Montessori herself to protect her work.  The AMI Montessori Teacher Training programs provide instruction developed by Dr. Montessori and adhere strictly to her philosophy.  AMI is not the only foundation that aims to govern over Montessori Education; the American Montessori Society (AMS) is another.  AMS was founded in the 1960's by Nancy Rambusch, who was trained in an AMI training program and appointed by AMI to be the  American representative of AMI.  She held that position for many years before she began to modify the philosophy, veered away from AMI and founded the AMS.  There are others, but AMI and AMS are the two main players.  Others offer online training, correspondence courses and some even sell the work and materials that is usually done by the students in the teacher training programs.  AMI and AMS both certify schools as authentic by verifying that they meet their specific guidelines of what a Montessori school should be. 

So that explains how there can be such great diversity amongst schools calling themselves Montessori.  It also explains the term "Montesomething".  Schools that call themselves Montessori, or use Montessori materials, do not necessarily provide a Montessori education to their students.  Schools that aren't  certified by a governing board are not necessarily bad schools, and on the same note, certified schools are not all good.  Misinterpretation of the philosophy can lead to some pretty horrendous mistakes.  For example: Many people think that the Montessori concept of free choice means that children do whatever they want to do.  However, in the Montessori philosophy we find freedom and responsibility together.  Freedom comes from knowing your individual limits and the limits of your environment.  Children who are allowed free choice without a clear understanding of their limits do not learn to make good choices or respect boundaries.

The conclusion to this post is that there are a lot of schools out there that call themselves Montessori, but they are not all equal.  Parents looking for a good Montessori program should research, find out what it is that they like about the philosophy and then look closely at schools to determine if they provide a true Montessori experience.  Prospective teachers school do the same with training programs.  BEWARE of "Montesomething" programs.  I have heard time and again that Montessori done poorly is worse than no Montessori at all!

What is Montessori?

Montessori is the last name of a woman named Maria Montessori(MM).  MM was the first female medical doctor in Italy.  She later became interested in educating the "uneducable" children (special needs children) of Rome.  During her work with these children she made many observations and noticed a universal pattern of development in children.  She also noticed that children go through, what she called, "Sensitive Periods".  Special times in their development where they have a heightened ablitly to learn a certain thing or acquire a certain skill.  For example, there is a sensitive period for language development during which children can learn many languages without effort and with perfect pronunciation.  She then developed materials to respond to these sensitive periods.  These materials allowed the children to learn through their manipulation of them.  The teacher, or guide as we call her/him, is then responsible for connecting the children to the materials with one on one lessons.  MM was able to help the "uneducable" children learn at or above the level of the "normal" children in the public schools.  Eventually she was able to use her new method to educate many "normal" children.  She began to train teachers all over the world in her method.  Her exact teacher training continues in Association Montessori International (AMI) training centers all over the world.  Teachers receive the AMI diploma, certifying them to teach in Montessori classrooms all over the world.
Some identifying characteristics of the Montessori Method of Education include:

• Mixed age groups 
• Three year cycle in one classroom
• Individual lessons, following the interest/development of each child
• Emphasis on independence in the child
• Child sized materials and furniture
• Self-correcting materials
• Real materials, made with wood, glass, metal
• Three hour work cycle each day

MM never called her method "The Montessori Method", if anything she referred to it as the children's method.  She felt that it was the children who showed her the way to educate them, the children learned spontaneously through manipulation of the materials.  She wrote many books to share her philosophy on educating and raising children. Some of my favorites are listed on my book list.

There is so much more to say about what Montessori is and means to me, but that is enough  for now.