Deciding if a Montessori Education Will Help Your Child

It's that time of the year again...the school year is almost over, and as enrollment officer for the Montessori School of Westminster, I've been receiving phone calls from parents with children who are struggling in their current school settings.  That struggle takes the shape of children who are bored and distracted, children who can't sit still, and children who simply aren't thriving, to name a few.

Some parents will mention an "IEP," or "Independent Education Plan," as defined by the public school system.  Sometimes parents mention a diagnosis that their child has received.  I do not discount the value of an IEP or a diagnosis professionally rendered, often for ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) or ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder), and I appreciate the fact that nearby school systems are striving to do their very best.

Sometimes, we are able to offer parents of these children an alternative that works:  Because a Montessori education is self-paced, and because our classrooms are designed for children to move about in ways that are respectful to their classmates, certain children are able to avoid the need for further intervention.

Self-paced means a child is given choices within a carefully prepared environment.  The choices he or she makes are time-tested and designed to fulfill his or her academic needs.  For example, a Montessori student, a boy of age four, let's say, has the freedom to select objects in sets called “work” from classroom areas set up to include Math, Language, Sensorial, Handwriting, Art, Geography, Practical Life, and Science.  In a Montessori setting, three-, four-, and five-year-olds are grouped together--we call this our "Primary" program.

Perhaps this four-year-old boy selects, from among several, a “math work,” a set of objects designed to teach a fundamental math concept in a hands-on fashion.  The objects negate the need for hand-outs or textbooks:  Dr. Maria Montessori, founder of the method, espoused the use of objects that fulfill the sensory needs of children in teaching them because she discovered, through careful research and observation, that children learn by employing sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste—all of their senses.  How much more specific and illustrative to hold 1,000 objects in one’s hand rather than extract the concept of 1,000 from a book or picture?

The four-year-old child in the above example takes his math work to a rug he has laid on the floor.  Everyone in the classroom knows and agrees that his work is important--no one can step on it or over it while he has his rug spread out.  He uses the pieces, the math work, he has brought to his rug, manipulating them as he's been previously shown in a one-on-one or small group lesson with the classroom guide, also known as a directress (or director).  If he struggles to use the materials in the way he was shown, he knows he can ask for assistance from the directress, her aide, or another child who knows how to use those same objects.  (And this is how mentoring and role modeling are demonstrated in a Montessori classroom.  It is not unusual for the older Montessori student to volunteer to assist a younger child with a familiar work.)  Most work is designed to be self-correcting--if you don't put the one-inch cylinder in the one-inch space designed for it, you soon figure out that you've got to make a different choice, for example.

If the four-year-old boy becomes hungry while working, he knows he can have a healthy snack as long as a place at the table is available.  "Available" means not currently being used by a fellow classmate.  He would finish his snack, making sure the table and floor around it are clean and ready for the next user, then return to the work back at his rug.  Upon completing the work he's selected, he returns it to the math shelf, putting it back where he got it so his classroom peers may find the work and use it too.  He knows that only one thing is allowed to be taken from the shelves at a time.  Moreover, he knows that these rules make the room work well for him and for everyone else in it.

The classroom guide is quietly watching him from the sidelines and making notes:  Has he struggled with the math lesson inherent in the materials he selected?  If so, the guide may suggest a different math work that reinforces the same concept.  If the child has completed the work without too much difficulty, she may introduce a lesson using other works that build on the concept found in the previously selected work or move on to a new one.  Thus, there are guided choices within the program for the student; the child is moving about the room; and, he is learning to make decisions about his work (academic skills) and his personal needs (practical life skills).  This type of learning builds responsibility naturally.

Because this child is allowed to move about as needed, but with respect for his fellow students and his adult guides, he satisfies some of those urges to move that other programs may not permit.  Because he is involved in the decision-making this type of education requires, he may be able to focus with more success than in other settings, especially those where all but the least consequential choices are made for him.  I am not suggesting that every child with ADD or ADHD can be "cured" in a classroom of this type, but some children and their parents do find it suits their personal style better than traditional methods.

Making decisions, learning responsibility in a hands-on fashion, and selecting and completing work are ways in which children take part in their education.  Working independently or in a small group at the rate that suits the child creates self-paced learning--everyone is doing the thing they've selected; no one is waiting for your child to catch up; and, your child doesn't need to wait for everyone else to be finished with something in order to move on to the next thing that he or she wants to do.  This answers the question, "Where is your gifted and talented program?"  Each Montessori classroom, for children from age two through age fifteen provides each child what he or she needs when they need it; thus, it IS the gifted and talented program—children are working to the highest level their abilities permit.  Conversely, if your child has an area where he or she struggles, the child is again working at his or her own pace.  Extra help is available as needed via options readily available, and your child is not traumatized because everyone else is waiting for him or her to 'finish page four so we can move on to page five', for example.  The other children in the Montessori classroom are busy doing their own thing(s).  That is the definition of "self-paced," an adjective often applied to the way a Montessori program works.

Some parents worry that their child might select the same thing to do over and over again, because they've seen evidence of this at home.  The Montessori-certified guide is watching, making notes, and will direct your child to another set of materials when appropriate.

Therefore, children who may need more freedom to move, to select, to participate in the decisions that affect them can sometimes find solutions at MSW.  Children who can and should move faster than classmates in certain curriculum areas and others who need to have concepts introduced in a variety of ways may succeed in this alternative education setting.  I invite you to look at an accredited Montessori school, one that will be celebrating its fortieth anniversary in 2014, one where each directress holds a bachelor's degree plus certification as a Montessori-trained faculty member, and one where each child's natural ability to learn is enhanced to its fullest.  Take a look at our 27-acre campus with its nature trail, orchard, gardens, field house, large lawns, playgrounds, and classrooms brightened by sunlight pouring through large windows, rooms designed for children rather than adults.  Learn about our academic programs that serve children from ages two through fifteen and our care programs that provide for families' schedules from 7 AM to 6 PM daily.  Visit the Montessori School of Westminster.

Suzanne Radcliffe - Registrar/Enrollment - 410.848.6283/radcliffe@themsw.org

Montessori School of Westminster, 1055 Montessori Drive, Westminster, MD 21158 (Just minutes north of downtown Westminster via Rt. 140 and Hughes Shop Road.)