The purpose of our school is to aid and accelerate the process of self-education by providing an environment designed to encourage the child’s independent effort. Our primary goals are to build self-confidence and independence, to develop concentration and to nourish the love of learning.
The Human Tendencies: The practical application of the Montessori method is based on human tendencies – which Dr. Montessori studies in detail – tendencies to explore, move, share with a group, to be independent and make decisions, create order, develop self-control, abstract ideas from experiences, use the creative imagination, work hard, repeat, concentrate, and perfect one’s efforts and creations.
The Process of Learning (There are three stages of learning.):
1. be introduced to the concept
2. develop and grasp the concept through work, experiment, creating, transforming
3. posses understanding of and perhaps teach another the concept.
Indirect Preparation: The steps of learning any concept are so well analyzed by the adult and are systematically offered to the child. A child is always learning something that is indirectly preparing him to learn something else, making education a joyful discovery instead of drudgery.
The Prepare Environment: We keep in mind a triangle of the student, the teacher, and the environment. It is the role of the teacher to prepare, and continue to prepare, the environment, to link the child to it through well-thought- out lesson to facilitate the child’s exploration and creativity.
Work Centers: The environment is arranged according to subject area, and children are always free to move around the room, and to continue to work on a piece of material with no time limit.
Teaching Method: The teacher is trained to teach one child at a time, with few small groups and almost no lesson given to the whole class. They are facile in the basic lessons of math, language, the arts and sciences, and in guiding a child’ s research and exploration, capitalizing on his interest in and excitement about a subject. Large groups occur only in the beginning of the school year, and are phased out as the children gain independence.
Academic Requirements: There are no academic requirements for this age, but children are exposed to amazing
amount of knowledge and often learn to read, write and calculate beyond what is usually thought possible for a child
of this age.
