When we evaluate early childhood education options for our children, we ask ourselves a lot of questions. How does one approach differ from another? What are the goals of each approach?  How do the various models or philosophies align with what’s important to my family?

What values and character traits do I want my children to gain from the experience?

While it’s true that we focus on helping build a sense of independence in the children we guide, there are several other traits we work hard in nurturing. Below are some of the values we hold dear and try to instill in our young students.

Kindness

Interpersonal skills are some of the most important skills we teach our students. They can learn math and language arts skills, but if they can’t interact with other people their lives won’t be fulfilling. As humans, we accomplish more together than individually so it’s important to get along with one another.

The very structure of the Montessori day allows for time dedicated to planned and spontaneous lessons about kindness. We read stories that teach children how to handle hard situations. We use role-playing games to make the work fun. And when a conflict happens in the classroom or the playground? We teach children skills in the moment. How do we handle our own emotions? How do we communicate with someone we disagree with? What does it look like to disagree but still respect one another?

Sometimes the work consists of giving children the script to work through solving issues. Sometimes we enlist the help of the whole group, discussing problems and asking for solutions without targeting individuals.

Strong Work Ethic

The Montessori approach values intrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivation can be effective in small doses and with short-term goals. Those types of rewards, however, are not particularly effective at cultivating a deep motivation to learn.

You’ve likely heard the argument that instead of saying “good job” to our children, we should replace it with observations like “I notice you worked hard on that. How does it feel to complete it?” Putting the emphasis on their efforts rather than our judgment of their accomplishments, helps nurture a sense of internal motivation.

Some people find it shocking that Montessori schools don’t give grades, have tests, or hold award ceremonies. Instead, students receive narrative feedback that highlights their areas of strengths and what they might improve on. Rather than focusing on accolades, our students grow with a desire to solve problems, gain insights, and pursue their passions.

Creativity 

Montessori inspires creativity in two main ways: we incorporate the arts whenever possible, and we encourage children to find their own solutions to problems.

Montessori guides integrate art education in countless ways. Below is just a small sampling of what may happen in classroom during the year:

• Drawing, labeling, and painting maps
• Listening to music or learning the traditional dance of another culture
• Using a collage to review and label the external parts of an animal
• Reading biographies about influential artists
• Teaching sewing or weaving as practical life skill

The other side of creativity involves the way we encourage our students to think. We give lessons and provide students with information, but we don’t simply feed them answers. When they run up against a problem, we don’t race to give them the solution. Whether it be social, academic, or something else altogether, we ask guiding questions that lead the child to generate their own possible solutions. This is key to developing innovative mindsets very early on.

Joyful Learning

When it comes to creating joyful learners, intrinsic motivation and creativity are a pretty good start. When combined with copious amounts of freedom and gorgeous autodidactic materials, what you get is an environment that children simply cannot resist.

We think learning is fun, or at least it should be. Otherwise, what’s the point? We’re invested in helping our students become adults who love to learn and pursue learning independently for the rest of their lives. Even the most basic of skills can be delivered in ways that are exciting.

Take the Montessori Positive Snake Game for example. It’s a game and it involves making snakes out of colorful groupings of beads, then eventually transforming the snake until it’s entirely gold. But what’s the game really about? It’s about figuring out how to exchange smaller numbers to make ten which is preparation for the multiplication work they’ll be doing in the future.

Service-Mindedness 

We believe it’s of critical importance to give our children a sense of the world as a whole and to help them see the ways in which everything is connected and interdependent because this helps instill a sense of gratitude and dedication to others.

For example, we make it a point to celebrate Earth Day. We model and teach students to be stewards and caretakers of our planet and all its inhabitants. In doing so, we’re not only developing and educating the whole child but we’re also nurturing caring, empathetic students who are capable of thinking beyond themselves.

It was Dr. Montessori’s vision that a peaceful world, created by children, would make the world a better place. To this end, we make it a point to provide service-oriented projects that children can do whenever possible, however small. Through such real, practical life experiences, students develop compassion and learn about the joy that comes from giving of themselves in service to others.