Montessori It Is

And busier week to come... My son's assessment this Wednesday, interview for us parents and the orientation.

For the past 2 weeks I have been fixing my son's requirements for school. As of Saturday, my husband and I made a  last minute decision to transfer our son to a Maria Montessori School. It took us almost 2 months just thinking whether to transfer Franky or not. The school is just 10 min- walk away from our new home. 5 minutes if I'm going to use the car. 

The tuition fee is doubled compared to Frank's previous school. As parents we want to give what's best for our son. It may be a bit heavy in the pocket than before, but we believe that the traditional Montessori way will help him boost his confidence and it will greatly aid with his development in school. But if you're going to do cost comparison, attending Montessori will save us more energy, and Franky's time in school is going to be longer. From 3 hours, he's going to be spending 6 hours for school year 2010-2011.

Money is not a problem when it comes to aiding our son's future. My husband and I both graduated from a Montessori school. We're sure of the positive outcome on our son.

My husband graduated from Maria Montessori in Alabang. Me, from Morning Dew Montessori. Not to forget, I transferred from Assumption, and Montessori did the job, it brought out the best in me. I became very active in various school activities, my grades went up, my shyness vanished all of a sudden, I became free of the things that are holding me back when I was still in a traditional school. And I carried "the confidence" until I got married and started the family I have right now. The "Right Confidence", not the one that goes all the way to the head.

Plus, this Maria Montessori School offers Grade school,  it backs up our plan for the next 5-10 years.

Please bear with me because I can't mention the real name of the school online (security reasons).

Why Montessori?

• Inner guidance of nature. All children have inherent inner directives from nature that guide their true normal development
• Freedom for self-directed learning. The Montessori method respects individual liberty of children to choose their own activities. This freedom allows children to follow their inner guidance for self-directed learning
• Absorbent mind.  The young child (0–6) has an absorbent mind which naturally incorporates experiences in the environment directly into its whole basic character and personality for life. This mental faculty, which is unique to young children, allows them to learn many concepts in an effortless, spontaneous manner. It also allows them to undergo the key phenomenon of normalization to return to their true natural development. After the age of about six, this absorbent mental faculty disappear.
• Prepared environment. The right precise conditions around children allow for and support their true natural development. For young children, the environment must be prepared in this way by providing a range of physical objects that are organized and made available for free, independent use, to stimulate their natural instincts and interests for self-directed learning.
• Work, not play. Children have an instinctive tendency to develop through spontaneous experiences on the environment, which Dr. Montessori referred to as "work"^. In this sense, the children's normal activity is attached to reality in the present moment, rather than idle play through such means as toys and fantasy.

• Observation and indirect teaching. The teacher's role is to observe children engaged in activities that follow their own natural interests. This indirect teaching to control the environment, not the child, contrasts sharply with the ordinary teacher's role of implementing a pre-determined curriculum. For example, a Montessori method class has the teacher resolving misbehavior by refocusing the child to some positive activity, rather than engaging in the ordinary system of rewards and punishments. -source- 
These are just some of the concepts that Montessori practices. 

“Education is a natural process spontaneously carried out by the individual and is acquired not by
listening to words but by
experiences upon the environment.”
- Dr. Maria Montessori-