How you can practice Montessori at home!
Montessori doesn't need to stay at school, you can bring it into your daily home life as well! Here's our top tips on how you can practice Montessori at home.
Montessori is an approach to treating others respectfully.
You can start at home by providing time and space to meet the child's needs. Often these needs are different to adult needs, however the child initially is unable to meet their needs themselves. So supportive, caring and nurturing parenting respects the different time frames and physical needs.
Going slower, and working at the child's pace is a really good way to avoid getting a child rattled. Imagine you were learning a new school, a kind patient tutor is more likely to get successful results.
Remember to use respectful language and gestures. Children are acquiring language in their early years so will learn whatever is in front of them. They will imitate the language use around them and so offering positive reflections, supportive opportunities for learning and being friendly with error or misjudgements will make the child feel good, and also grow up respectful.
Adults can also reduce the amount of plastic and artificial toys in the environment, as the child will gain more from natural materials such as wood, shell, and flax. Children do not need a large range of toys, a few selected quality objects to help children grow really is all that is needed. At the adolescent age, they want to be adults but do not yet have the adult executive functions developed. This means we should offer the world to them, with support and guidance, always with respect and patience.
Ensuring the spaces are friendly, clean and well maintained encourages people to feel safer, and able to practice skills. Encourage the children to share in responsibilities to maintain a well prepared environment.
The adolescent is often hurt or intimidated by careless adult or peer comments, and so model a language that respects the individual, while providing a firm guidance and models of behaviour.
If you'd like to find out more about Montessori values and what it entails, please get in touch, we love to hear from you!