My Introduction to Montessori

As you may have noticed from my many previous references to “Montessori,” my husband and I are big believers in the Montessori philosophy of education and parenting. The approach, developed over a hundred years ago by Dr. Maria Montessori, is a child-centered educational philosophy that emphasizes a high level of respect for each child, and allows children in a properly prepared environment to develop at their own pace.

Montessori believes that children are naturally good, naturally peaceful, and naturally motivated to learn. It doesn’t see children as blank slates to be filled up with knowledge by teachers, but rather sees them as little people in the process of constructing themselves. The teacher’s role in a Montessori classroom, is to prepare the environment and remove the obstacles for that important job of self-construction.

Montessori classrooms are characterized by freedom within limits. Children have the freedom to choose their work, and to work on it for as long as they wish. They also have the freedom to work alone or in groups. But they do not have the freedom to make the classroom unsuitable for the concentration of others, by yelling or running, or by joining somebody else’s work without asking. When they start to hit those limits, the teachers respectfully give them reminders. The consequence is an amazingly peaceful, serene environment where children are all engaged in what they’re doing, and respectful of one another.

Dr. Montessori’s ideas really started to gain traction when she successfully taught sixty, thought to be “unteachable,” children in the slums of Rome using her methods. Since that time, the Montessori approach has been widely credited for producing especially enthusiastic learners and creative thinkers, and counts a disproportionate amount of successful entrepreneurs among its alumni (including both google founders, the founder of amazon and Julia Child).

While my husband did spend a couple years in Montessori school early on, our obsession with it came about almost randomly. We were looking for activities to do with our 10 month old when we first moved to Boston. We discovered the Montessori Parent Child Center in the South End. While we expected our son would an engaging experience through the once a week parent-child classes, we were shocked to find that they were life-altering for us as well. We felt that through these classes, we learned how to be better parents.

After my son grew out of the amazing parent child classes, my husband decided to start his own Montessori school for our son. It combined an authentic Montessori environment with more parental involvement than the traditional Montessori school. The school has been open for one year now, and it’s been incredible. Always a sensitive and cautious soul, my son has blossomed into a confident and social four year-old. I’m so grateful to the Montessorians who have helped to provide him (and us) with an environment where he could thrive.

I wanted to give this brief introduction to Montessori, as well as tell you why I’m such a big believer. It will also give context to some of my future posts that will explore more in depth some of the transformative things I’ve learned from the method.

As a rule, I believe that any philosophy is only as good as it’s execution. But if you are looking for an environment for your child that sounds like what I describe above, and you have Montessori in your area, I really recommend you check it out.

The 6 Best Sites for Beautiful Toys

Before motherhood, the luxury of getting in a car, driving to a store, finding a parking space, and spending as much time as I needed to find and purchase whatever I needed or desired was an enjoyable way to spend my time.

Now that idea is a nightmare, right? I already suit up for the two-kid sprint through the aisles of the grocery store once a week, but they are at least contained in a metal basket and maybe only ask for one or two recognizable items from the shelves. But try this in a toy store? That is madness.

I guess I could have settled for the plastic-light-up-noise machines that were gifted continuously by friends and family, but I took a different tack. I researched, networked, sniffed out, and cataloged my way to find toys I would love as much as my children did. And there are so many great online toy store option! Here is my current list of favorites, in order of how much I love them:

Etsy: Search ‘Montessori toys’, ‘Waldorf toys’, or ‘wooden toys’ for endless handmade, wooden, and inexpensive items.
Bella Luna Toys: Very Waldorf oriented. Behind this online store is a small store based out of Maine.
Nova Natural: Also very Waldorf, and lots of variety for different age groups.
Magic Cabin: Big catalog company with a strong internet presence and nice collection of toys.
The Wooden Wagon: All toys are made out of wood.
TAG Toys: Really high quality Montessori type toys. Definitely on the pricey side though.

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BY KATHRYN GRANTHAM

KATHRYN HAS A PASSION FOR HEALTH AND AN ACTIVIST’S FERVOR FOR THE ENVIRONMENT, AND A TRACK RECORD OF SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP. IN 1999, AT THE AGE OF 22, KATHRYN FOUNDED BLUESTOCKINGS, AN INDEPENDENT SOCIAL JUSTICE-THEMED BOOKSTORE IN NEW YORK CITY. IN PARALLEL, SHE WAS DISCOVERING THE WORLD OF NATURAL HEALTH AND ITS CONNECTION WITH THE HEALTH OF OUR PLANET, AT THE INSTITUTE FOR INTEGRATIVE NUTRITION. SHE SOLD THE BOOKSTORE IN 2003, ATTENDED HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL (MBA ’05), AND LAUNCHED ROOTS REMEDIES, A LOCALLY-SOURCED HERBAL PRODUCTS COMPANY IN 2008. SHE LIVES IN CAMBRIDGE, MA WITH HER HUSBAND AND TWO YOUNG SONS. 

FOR UNIQUE toy RECOMMENDATIONS FROM KATHRYN, CHECK OUT HER MAMAJAMAS LIST HERE.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

I thought this video was pretty interesting.

Montessori is also big on “respecting the child.” The Parent-Child Class we’ve taken with our son here in Boston is all about this. It helped show me that my young child was actually more capable than I had assumed.

I remember being stunned when my 1 1/2 year old (who pretty much used mealtimes at home as a chance to explore Newton’s first law of motion) sat in a little chair with a bunch of other toddlers for snack time at the class. He ate nicely (using his spoon!), poured his water from a little glass pitcher and drank from a tiny glass cup. He even helped to clean up afterward!

Although, even with the Montessori class help, I can’t say I still don’t catch myself sounding like this guy sometimes… Parenting is hard!

Welcome!

Thanks for checking out the Mamajamas blog. I’m hoping this blog will be a mix of mamajamas.com product updates, parenting resources, and experiences from my own life.

Just to be upfront, I definitely have strong opinions about parenting that are often outside the mainstream. Those will come through here.

While I try to never judge other people’s parenting styles (I really believe people should do what feels right for them and their family!), I tend to follow a combination of evolutionary and attachment parenting. I also love a lot of what Maria Montessori espoused, and like many aspects of the Waldorf education movement.

How does my parenting philosophy fit with mamajamas.com, a truly consumeristic site in many ways?

Well, when I was pregnant I was very overwhelmed by the process of buying baby gear. I just wanted to know what my parent friends, with similar values, had gotten, and get those products. But I didn’t have an efficient way to find that information or organize my product acquisitions.

That’s where Mamajamas comes in.

Ultimately, I want to help people focus less on stuff and more on pregnancy and new parenting, and help them find baby gear that matches their values.

Also, I think that all the baby consumer sites right now are super targeted towards very modern and mainstream parenting, and that there needs to be some avenues for all different types of parents to find what they need.

Eventually, I hope that Mamajamas will become a site that isn’t just about “buying stuff,” but actually about a process of connecting to other like minded parents, building some communication between current parents and new parents, and sharing ideas. But you gotta start somewhere!

Please please let me know if you have any feedback or ideas for the site to make it more useful. My email is: angie (at) mamajamas.com. And thanks for checking it (and this) out.

–Angie (Founder)