When it comes to Montessori education, many people will feel familiar. Kindergartens, early education centers, and training centers all offer Montessori education courses.
However, at the current stage, an indisputable fact is that Montessori is not a mainstream education system. In our country, Montessori education has even been hyped as a kind of "aristocratic education."
So, what is true Montessori education? As a parent, how should you view Montessori education and how to become a Montessori parent?
What is true Montessori education?
The greatness of Montessori education is that she penetrates the secrets of children's growth and teaches us adults to truly understand children and respect the natural laws of life growth.
Only in this way can our education have hope and our children have a future.
Montessori education, especially the classic original work, recommends that every parent deserves depth. It can truly help us understand the laws of children's life growth and provide correct guidance.
What does Montessori education talk about? I'm afraid it can't be explained in a few words, but its educational views can be summarized as follows:
1. Children have innate "inner vitality"
This This inner vitality has infinite power. As parents and educators, we must know how to utilize this natural instinct of our children.
Create a suitable growth environment for children, so that their inner vitality can develop naturally and freely.
2. Children’s development has a “spiritual embryo”
Human beings have two embryonic periods, one is before birth and is the physiological embryo, which is common to all living things; the other is It is the spiritual embryo possessed after birth, which is unique to human beings.
Children aged 0 to 3 years old are in the mental embryonic stage, although they already have miniature human models.
But in essence, it is still in the embryonic stage. Adaptation to the environment, development of motor abilities, language learning, etc. are all in a stage of continuous "adaptation".
As adults, we must set up an environment that can satisfy the development of children's spiritual embryos and eliminate factors that are not conducive to their development, so that children's spiritual embryos can develop soundly.
3. Children have sensitive periods
Dr. Montessori said: "The sensitive period is the life support given by nature to children."
Sensitive period It happens only once, if you miss it, it won't happen again. For example, the sensitive period of the mouth, the sensitive period of the hands, the sensitive period of order, the sensitive period of small things, etc.
During the sensitive period, it is easiest and most effective to cultivate children's abilities.
Then after this period, it will disappear and will not appear again in the same period, nor will it have the same strong interest in the same points of interest.
4. Children have absorptive minds
We use our minds to acquire knowledge, but children directly absorb knowledge into their hearts and integrate it into their lives.
Dr. Montessori’s observation that children have absorptive minds directly led to an educational revolution.
Dr. Montessori pointed out that in the first 0-6 years of children's lives, they learn through the absorptive mind.
5. Children grow at work
Dr. Montessori calls children’s use of teaching aids “work”. Dr. Montessori believes that the early childhood stage is a period of formation. , a period of creation and construction.
Only through work can we gradually develop various operational abilities and become a "person".
How to be a Montessori parent?
Although Montessori education is good, due to various reasons, not every family can send their children to Montessori schools.
In fact, as long as they master the essence of Montessori education, parents can create a Montessori growth environment for their children at home.
So how can we learn from Montessori education concepts and practice Montessori education in the family?
1. Create a good family environment
Montessori education focuses on environmental education. When we talk about children having absorptive minds, we actually mean to arrange an educational environment suitable for their age for their growth.
Dr. Montessori made an analogy of the absorptive mind: a sponge absorbs water.
Children absorb all kinds of information from their surrounding environment like sponges, thereby establishing their connection with the outside world and forming their own personalities.
Children's "absorptive mind" is like a camera, taking in everything they see and hear into their brains.
This gives parents a very important reminder that we should provide our children with an orderly family environment that is more conducive to his growth.
For example, items at home should be placed neatly and orderly to facilitate children’s access. It is best to create a special activity area for children and place children’s books and toys in fixed areas. Since childhood, he has developed a good habit of returning things to their original places.
Try to provide children with real objects at home, such as bowls, chopsticks, rice spoons, cups, etc. Even if the children accidentally break them, it doesn’t matter. As long as the children are not injured, they should be provided with Real items.
Real objects will make children feel that they are real and natural when touching them.
Only in this way can children distinguish what are real objects and clarify the difference between real life and the imaginary world.
2. Respect and give children true freedom
We often talk about respecting children and giving them full freedom. So how do you respect your children? Giving children freedom means free-range care, right?
To respect children, we must first have a clear understanding from our conscious level, that is, a child is an independent individual, let alone a blank drawing paper.
Children have their own thoughts and their own pace of growth. Children come into this world through their parents.
As parents, we must feel what our children are thinking, know what our children are thinking, and understand what our children are thinking. Only by putting ourselves and our children on the same platform can we look at their children's problems with the heart of a child. , Only in this way can we understand and understand children in a true sense.
For example, when talking to a child, bend down or squat down to keep the same height as the child.
When the child is talking, parents should listen attentively, bend down or sit down, keep the same height as the child, and look at the child kindly.
What is freedom? Freedom based on rules is real freedom!
When children have not developed the ability to control, "letting children do whatever they want" is contrary to the concept of freedom.
Giving children freedom does not mean laissez-faire, but freedom based on rules.
How to discipline? There is a simple rule, that is, the three no's principle: do not harm yourself, do not disturb others, and do not destroy the environment. As long as the child does not violate these three principles, the child should be given freedom.
3. Let the children do what they do boldly
Dr. Montessori has a classic saying: When I hear, I forget; when I see, I remember; I did it and I understood.
This is also the reason why Dr. Montessori wants children to "work". Only by doing it can they be understood.
"I only know how to pity my children, but I am not willing to use them." This is the biggest misunderstanding of today's parents in loving their children.
In fact, if you love your children, you must be willing to "use them". A person can feel his or her own value only when he or she is needed and used by others.
Only when a child is used and needed by an adult can he feel how great his young life is, and then feel a deep love and develop a strong sense of responsibility.
So, how to "use" children in the family?
For example, let your children participate in housework together. Another example is putting on and taking off children's clothes, eating, cleaning, watering, organizing, etc. These real-life tasks are full of fun for children.
Some of the methods used in Montessori kindergarten teaching can also be used by parents at home, such as:
(1) Wiring practice
In Montessori teaching, line-walking activities are an important part. Line-walking can not only cultivate children's balance ability and large muscle coordination ability.
It can also cultivate children's stability, independence, and willpower, thereby achieving good learning results and benefiting children's physical and mental development.
At home, parents can let their children follow the gaps in the floor, or simply use colored tape to form straight, oval, or S-shaped lines for their children to practice balance and concentration.
As children become more proficient online, let them hold objects in their hands or on their heads while walking to exercise their balance ability.
(2) Montessori teaching aids
If a child does not attend a Montessori kindergarten, can he not use Montessori teaching aids?
This is not the case. The Montessori teaching aids in kindergartens are very complete, and we can also prepare several classic Montessori teaching aids for our children at home.
For example, socket cylinders, numbers and chips, Segun boards, brown ladders, pink towers, etc., parents can choose the family version. There are many operation methods and videos on the Internet for these teaching aids. .
If you can't find the lesson plan, you can enter the Daily Montessori Community, where Montessori teachers from all over the country gather and will give you professional advice when they have time.
Dr. Montessori said, "Never help a child do something he thinks he can handle."
As adults, what we need to do is to help young children let them Do it yourself, help the children to think for themselves, and help the children to understand themselves and others correctly.
The key to helping children become independent, in addition to "letting go", should also be "minimum guidance, maximum patience and maximum encouragement"!
If you let your children do what they do, they will make further progress. This is growth.