10 Reasons Why We Love Montessori Education

As parents we want the best for our children. We love to see them smile, enJOYing life, being happy..and what I love the most is that amazing sparkle you can notice in their eyes. I really believe that if we can feed that sparkle and keep it alive we have done an extraordinary job as parents.

Can you imagine how this world would be if the new generations will start their adult adventures without struggling to fit in, but with the joy to contribute and to serve themselves and the others, with higher self esteem and confidence they can do whatever crosses their minds?

Now, this is a lovely scenario that I am working on to get it implemented in my kid's life. Am I going to succeed? Am I going to fail? Well...no idea, but I am 100% sure I am doing my best to inspire Horea to be independent, to love himself, to be confident in his own forces, to have passion as his major drive in all he does, to follow his dreams, to respect himself and the whole world.

And together with him I am rebuilding myself...I am recreating the foundation I had from my childhood as I understood that going on with the same mindset I am doomed to have a life filled with frustrations, anger, envy,  lack of love for myself, lack of self-esteem, and lack of gratitude for all the amazing people and things I had welcomed into my life.

I am just wondering when I have lost my sparkle..that genuine shine which was feeding my inner soul? It takes courage to admit you are in the wrong place from an emotional and mental point of view. I look strong from outside, but I am too emotional in the inside. I look bold, but I am fragile. I look happy, but I am depressed. I was sick seeing myself in these ways, so I have decided I am going to be an example and a role model, first for myself and after that for Horea....and it is so hard to change this foundation. But I have taken the decision to accept the challenge and to rebuild my mindset with small steps each day.

I know, so many questions are crossing our minds once we have children.

Horea is 5 years and 6 months old ...and since he was around 3 years old we have started to ask ourselves what school he is going to attend.

We love Montessori education and he was enrolled since he was 1.5 years old to a Montessori kindergarten. We have seen him growing with Montessori principles and we just love it.

So we have decided he is going to be part of Schule Montessori for the next level: 6-12 years.

Why we love Montessori education?

✅ Montessori focus on the individual child development and his/her potential. They are not obliged to do group activities if they do not show interest. I love the fact they can choose to do what they like. Freedom is one of my personal values, so I want my kid to have the freedom to choose what he likes.

✨ Montessori does not use rewards of any kind and nor grades. When we offer rewards we are training them to perform for the reward rather than the intrinsic value of learning, possessing a skill, or contributing to their community (family, class, etc).

✅ Montessori moves from concrete to abstract.

✨ Montessori facilitates a natural love for learning. They open up the child to learn for the themselves. It teaches them how to discover, but doesn’t give a step-by-step direction.

✅ Montessori seeks to educate the whole child. Montessori sees the child not just as a miniature person, but as a able-bodied and capable person. The kid is respected as we are respecting adults.

✨ Montessori brings the nature and its gifts into our children world. It is amazing to see animals and vegetables gown by kids, to be part of a community which enjoys going out and spend as much time as possible in the nature.

✅ Montessori brings into its environment real life objects that we have around us to children's level to be used comfortable. So, in a Montessori classroom age 0-3 and 3-6 years old you will see sinks, brooms, glass vessels, kids cleaning the windows or washing their dishes, etc.

✨ Montessori puts accent to real life activities so that the child can be very well anchored in reality. It is common to see in a Montessori classroom children peeling fruits or vegetables and preparing,  one year old child pouring water into her glass (made of glass, not plastic), leaving the classroom to go to the bathroom alone, etc.

✅ Montessori separates very well the academical work from personal life. I love the fact they do not have home-works (at any age), so when they close the school door they are coming into their personal life. Haven't you had any struggles to find the balance between your professional and personal life? I know there were many years when I was bringing home my laptop to finish something I had at the office, when I wanted to be there for my family, but I was not present, my mind was actually at work...I have so many examples, but I really think that Horea will be able to be present in his life more and easier than myself.

✨ Montessori is a very complex environment where children can meet different typologies of people, kids at different level of academic achievement, younger or elder children can be noticed in a Montessori classroom (0-3 years; 3-6 years; 6-12 years; 12-18 years). How is this beneficial? There are so many reasons, but I will keep it short with only 2: first of all, the kid can see where his work can bring him and also the elder students help the youngest ones to achieve their objectives.

This is about Montessori, the education we have chosen for our child, but I am sure there are other education systems with amazing benefits for kids, the idea is to do your own research to have the confidence you have chosen the best option for your children.

Let's do our best not to live with regrets and scenarios like: What if I would have chosen something different?

With Love and Gratitude,

Simina

Sources:

1. Blog Our Montessori Home: http://www.ourmontessorihome.com/5-reasons-why-we-chose-mo…/