FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Q. What is Montessori education?

A. Montessori education was founded in 1907 by Dr. Maria Montessori, the first woman physician in Italy. She developed her educational method after many years of scientific observations of how children learn. She observed that, given the right environment, children are very good in teaching themselves. So she designed a "prepared environment" where children could freely choose from a number of developmentally appropriate activities. Her education methods have flourished over the century and are and are now recognized literally all over the globe. Her educational methods span ages from birth to adolescence.

Q. How does Montessori education differ from the traditional education?

A. In most traditional preschools the children are taught educational concepts in a group by a teacher. The Montessori education philosophy emphasizes the development of a child at the cognitive, social, and emotional level. Children learn on their own, at a pace they are comfortable with, and work with a large number of educational materials according to their own choice. Because of this, learning becomes an exciting process for them which lead to concentration, motivation, and self-discipline. The love for learning comes naturally to them.

Montessori classes are multi-aged where children of different ages work in the same classroom. The older children in the classrooms share their knowledge with the younger ones.

A Montessori teacher is simply a guide stepping in when they see a child is "stuck" or ready to learn a new skill. In a Montessori environment the focus is on the students not the teacher. This allows the children to learn independently, with the guidance and support of a teacher whose primary focus is observing how a child learns, and tapping into those styles and approaches that work best for the child.

The Montessori materials used to teach reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, science, music, and social studies are unique. These materials, designed by Maria Montessori are designed specifically with the understanding of how physiological and neurological developments impact a child’s learning. The classroom materials take abstract ideas and put them in a concrete form that makes sense to these developing minds. This can be seen most clearly in the materials available for teaching arithmetic.

Q. If my child is left to choose his/her own activities, will he/she tend to do the same thing every day or simply do nothing?

A. No. The teachers are trained to observe children’s activities. When a child has mastered a skill, the teacher will give the child a lesson that is more challenging, considering the age and interest of each child. Because the environment is so stimulating and exciting, children seldom "do nothing." There are hundreds of prepared lessons for the child to choose from everyday

Q. What is the desired size of a Primary Montessori classroom?

A. A Montessori class for the Primary age is fairly large, typically around 28. Since it is a mixed-age class with ages between 3 and 6 years, a large classroom provides a better mix of different ages and sufficient numbers of the same age. This allows effective interactions between the children of the same age as well as different age groups. An older child helping a younger one is pivotal to the success of a Montessori classroom. This classroom size does not pose a challenge for the teacher since the carefully planned environment allows children to function independently with minimal help from the teacher.

Q. How does the teacher keep track of the progress of students who are working independently?

A. The teacher keeps an inventory of the lessons and projects completed by each student which is reviewed frequently. Additional, the teachers observe the activities of each student throughout the day.

Q. Why should my child stay in the third year of the Montessori Primary program?

A. The Primary program is based on Maria Montessori's theories of psychological development which concluded that children needed to be grouped according to their three-year development stages. The three-year cycle is a basic tenet of the Primary Montessori program. Research indicates that things really begin to “come together” in the third year. Montessori is not about memorizing facts but being able to ask questions and find answers. Montessori materials are cyclical, they start out to be concrete and slowly move to the abstract. It is by the third year that facts begin to get internalized.

By going through a three-year cycle a child develops a high degree of self-confidence, independence, and enthusiasm for the learning process and can adapt to all sorts of new situations. While there are compelling reasons to consider keeping a child in Montessori through the Elementary program and beyond, but even if he/she goes off to a traditional school by the time he/she is in the first grade he/she will do so fully ready to make new friends and learn new things.

Q. In a multi-age class, won't my five-year-old spend the year taking care of younger children instead of doing his or her own work?

A. The five year old children in a Montessori class often help the younger children with their work, actually teaching lessons or correcting errors. Anyone who has ever had to teach a skill to someone else knows that the process of explaining a new concept or helping someone practice a new skill leads the teacher to learn as much, if not more, than the pupil. This is supported by research. When one child tutors another, the tutor normally learns more from the experience than the person being tutored.

Q. How do children transition from Montessori to traditional schools?

A. It has been our experience, and the experience of virtually all Montessori schools, that the transition is very smooth. The brief adjustment period is no more than the adjustment that occurs when transferring from one traditional to another traditional school.

Q. How well does the Montessori education prepare the children for success in later life?

A. Research has shown that Montessori children are well prepared for later life not just academically, but also socially and emotionally. They typically score well on the standardized tests and consistently show enhanced ability for following directions, independent thinking, and adapting to new situations.

Q. Who are some famous Montessori Alumni?

A. There are many. Some of the well known ones are:

• Larry Page and Sergey Brin (Founders of Google.com)
• Jeff Bezos (Founder of Amazon.com)
• Katherine Graham (Owner/Editor of The Washington Post)
• Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis (Editor and Former First Lady of John F. Kennedy)
• Anne Frank (author of the Diary of Anne Frank)
• Prince William and Prince Harry (English Royal Family)
• Jimmy Wales (Founder of Wikipedia)
• Chelsea Clinton (daughter of Bill & Hillary Clinton)
• Children of Yo Yo Ma (Cellist)
  

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