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Practical Life - Process vs. Result

Each of our Children's House classrooms has an area devoted to Practical Life works -- which are simple, everyday activities we routinely perform as adults to "maintain and control our environment."  I bet you don't think about washing dishes, watering your plants, setting the table, dusting the cabinet or washing your hands as "controlling your environment" but that is exactly what you're doing!  These activities are more or less completely utilitarian, and for us adults, the satisfaction is in the end result versus the process.  Your child has watched you complete these sorts of activities from an early age, and has a strong desire to copy them as a way of adapting to the world around them.  The big difference for your child versus you is that he or she is much more interested in the process  of the activity versus the result.  It is not to say that the completion of a task for a child isn't important -- far from it!  Successful completion of tas
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Simplifying Your Space

I recently read an article in Montessori Parent about the importance of a simple environment.  Is your house anything like mine?  When I walk in the door, I'm bombarded with scattered shoes, jackets half-dangling from hooks, and papers everywhere.  The paper!  How do we accumulate so many pieces of paper?  I try and pick up on the weekend, but it feels like the clutter just comes back ten-fold the second the week starts again.  And it feels stressful, doesn't it?  Sure, there is a rational part of my brain, hiding way in the back, drowned out by several other more pressing matters, that says "if you clean up, you will feel better."  But it's easy to ignore.  And it's especially easy to remain selfish about this stress.  Have you ever really thought about how it might also be causing the same feeling in your children when their areas are messy? We as adults are taught to seek out calm spaces to help us rest and recharge.  When you think of a calm space, you
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Montessori at Home

You don't need a classroom full of materials to continue Montessori learning at home.  Angie Heck of Montessorium wrote an article for Motherly that lists a few simple ways to incorporate Montessori concepts into your day-to-day activities.  https://www.mother.ly/child/6-key-ways-to-be-montessori-with-your-kids-every-day
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"Of all things, love is the most potent." Maria Montessori. 
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Montessori Buzzz

"The greatest sign of success for a teacher... is to be able to say, ’The children are now working as if I did not exist."  Dr. Maria Montessori
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