I don't care for fiction much. My husband reads the latest bestseller while I am content to get cozy with a book on educational philosophy. I have just finished Montessori: The Science Behind the Genius for the second time. And I didn't read it in bed every night for its soporific qualities either. I devoured it like it was the juiciest of novels because, for me, reading study after study in the field of cognitive psychology that support Dr. Montessori's findings a century ago was so thrilling it gave me goosebumps!
The author, Angeline Stoll Lillard, is a cognitive psychologist and daughter of respected Montessorian Paula Polk Lillard whose books are required reading for my Montessori teacher training. The Science Behind the Genius is an in depth but highly readable account of how the latest research in the field of cognitive psychology continues to bear out the work of Dr. Maria Montessori. Dr. Lillard takes eight principles of Montessori education (there are more) and examines them under the lens of 21st century science.
Briefly, these principles are:
- Movement can enhance thinking and learning.
- Learning and well-being are improved when people have a sense of control over their lives
- People learn better when they are interested in what they are learning.
- Extrinsic rewards have a negative impact on motivation.
- Collaborative arrangements can be very conducive to learning.
- Learning in meaningful contexts is deeper and richer than learning in abstract contexts.
- Particular forms of adult interaction are associated with more optimal child outcomes.
- Order in the environment is beneficial to children.
As I read each chapter, it struck me how much of what Dr. Lillard writes naturally applies to home education or could easily be applied to home education with a little effort. For my readers who care about this sort of thing I will look at each of these principles and offer my own take on how to apply them in the home. Come to think of it, this information is not just for homeschoolers per se but any parent who would like to enhance their child's education at home.
- MOVEMENT - In traditional classrooms most learning is accomplished through listening, reading, reciting and writing. In Montessori classrooms learning is accomplished through movement. On a grand scale children are free to move about the classroom and choose not only what they would like to work on but where they will work on it (sitting at a table, stretched out on the floor, etc). The "works" themselves, all of them, across the curriculum, involve physical movement. One of my favorite Montessori quotes is, "The human hand allows the mind to reveal itself." And one hundred years later research shows that movement and cognition are closely intertwined. So get your child up out of his chair and moving about! Choose hands-on activities and manipulatives over seatwork and workbooks.
- CHOICE - Because of the way a traditional classroom is structured, giving the students free choices would be tantamount to anarchy. In Montessori classrooms there are different types of activities to choose from. In both children and adults, the ability to choose one's work is associated with several positive consequences. People learn and remember better, solve tasks better, and opt to engage in tasks more and longer when they think they have more control. Is your child free to make constructive choices at home? What branch of science is Joseph interested in studying this year? Would Mary like to plan out a week's worth of menus?
- INTEREST - In a traditional classroom setting children are clearly not able to follow their own interests. What is taught is dictated by state guidelines. Montessori students pursue their own interests. Whoa! You may be wondering if that is wise given Johnny's limited scope of experience. There are two types of interest: personal and topic. Your child may be obsessed with insects and that is a personal interest. He may become interested in the solar system if his teacher gives a particularly seductive presentation about the planets and/or if the classroom materials about the planets are attractive and inspiring. This is topic interest. Montessori teachers are meant to observe the children carefully and to be sensitive to the timing of each lesson so as to elicit maximal interest. As parents, we hold the trump card. We know our children best and can be on the lookout for personal interests. As for topic interests, we can leave intriguing books on the coffee table, invite a neighbor over for dinner to share their passion for marine biology and pursue interesting hobbies ourselves.
- EXTRINSIC REWARDS - Most schools thrive on them and up the ante every year. Principle Jackson will eat worms if the school scores high on exams! In Montessori schools there are no grades, gold stars, or prizes. Teacher evaluation is invisible and children are internally motivated. Dr. Montessori believed that rewards and evaluation interfere with learning and research suggests she was correct. Rewards have been shown to have a negative impact on creativity, motivation, cognitive functioning and prosocial behavior (being kind to others). Resist the temptation to sign your child up for the summer reading program at your local library! I did. Think about the message you are sending by giving cheap toys and pizza coupons in return for reading! Reading is its own reward. How do Montessori students learn without rewards? The materials have a built in control of error which leads to self-education. The materials lend themselves to repetition which reinforces the human tendency toward perfection. The multi-age classrooms allow for peer feedback and inspiration which takes me to the next point...
- LEARNING FROM PEERS - It always struck me as funny that the number one criticism of homeschooling is that the child will not be properly socialized. The schools I remember told students to stop talking and passing notes. You're not here to socialize! In contrast, Montessori students are free to work alone or with one another. They often chat while they are being productive and the classrooms hum with activity. Dr. Montessori claimed that people learn not by being told but by watching and doing. Research shows that collaborative learning has academic and social benefits. In the family, especially the large family, these relationships are natural. In one of the studies Dr. Lillard cites the collaborators benefit from knowing each other better and, in the same vein, children learned more from older siblings than from older peers. Enlist your older children to help educate the younger and both will benefit from the arrangement.
- MEANINGFUL CONTEXTS FOR LEARNING - Traditional schooling is separated from real life physically (the school building) and conceptually (e.g. vocabulary lists are taken from workbooks made by someone else, someplace else). Montessori education is designed to provide meaningful contexts for learning in several different ways. Outside of the classroom, Montessori students practice "going out" to conduct research, run a business, see real life applications, and be involved in service projects. If nothing else, the homeschooling lifestyle is flexible so this is an area where we can excel. Dr. Montessori had a close hand in the development of the entire Montessori curriculum across ages 3-12. This interconnectedness of materials lends Montessori education a remarkable high degree of rationality and coherence. While mom probably didn't design all of her curriculum materials she did choose them and can probably explain her rationale for doing so. Also, parents have the benefit of knowing their own children better than anyone else can.
- THE TEACHER - Teachers in traditional schools vary widely. I'm sure we can all recall the good and the bad. Dr. Montessori was very opinionated about what type of person a teacher should be: She must be an excellent observer. She must maintain an inspiring learning environment. She must appropriately time new lessons and she must intervene when children need guidance or structure. More importantly, a teacher must prepare himself interiorly by systematically studying himself so that he can tear out his most deeply rooted defects. Time and again Dr. Montessori refers to what she calls the "spiritual preparation of the teacher." Nothing reveals one's defects greater than homeschooling. The awesome responsibility of educating your children in addition to the keeping of the home and the myriad duties of family life tend to reveal you for what you are. If rooting out vice can be likened to a 12 step program, the first step is definitely seeing what those vices are.
- ORDER IN ENVIRONMENT AND MIND - Just as teaching styles vary widely in traditional schools, so does the level of order in the classroom depend upon the individual teacher. Montessori classrooms do not have tightly ordered daily schedules but they are very orderly in terms of how tasks are enacted. The curriculum as Dr. Montessori designed it is extremely organized. And the Montessori classroom is by necessity highly organized and aesthetically pleasing. This can be a huge turnoff to some parents upon seeing a Montessori "Children's House" for the first time. There are no colorful posters, stuffed animals or toys. So unlike the typical public preschool.....and so what children need now. Parents fortunately have complete control over their home environment. Is it orderly? Is it beautiful?
So there you have it. Believe it or not, this lengthy post is a very brief treatment of my subject. It merely skims the surface. If it has whetted your appetite for more you have to read Montessori: The Science Behind the Genius for yourself. It is an expensive book but I checked it out through inter-library loan - both times : ) If my comments seem slapdash please refer to Dr. Lillard's amazing book. She quotes study after study that support Dr. Montessori's century-ago findings and some of the experiments are themselves really fascinating if you enjoy reading that kind of thing as I do.
This Geometric Solid Card and Photo Matching was a big hit! I got the idea over at Sew Liberated and used cards I made from the beautiful pdf's available from Montessori for Everyone. I would like to work toward having complete sets of images for the polygons, circular, and triangular shapes but some of the images are very hard to find.
My personal favorite was a Sensorial matching of eight different species of wood. My talented uncle made it for me and it looked, smelled and felt absolutely beautiful! The photograph just doesn't do it justice.I already have had several teachers express an interest in purchasing this. 
For Language I used this Underwood Leader my dad received around 1950 as a Christmas present from his parents. It resembles the model that correspondants used during WWII. Weighing about 35 pounds it was considered portable! As a girl, I spent countless hours before it composing newsletters, stories and flyers. Now my kids love it, too! It is better than newer models because it takes a beating and has a very simple keyboard.
