3 Leading Philosophies of the Montessori Method in Middle School

From daycare through middle school, Montessori students play the leading role in their education. Instead of lecturing the class as a group, teachers observe children's progress and guide them toward successful goals. The end goal is to build tomorrow's strong leaders, with the academic, social, and physical skills necessary to be whatever they wish.

 

1. Self-Directed Work

A Montessori middle school engages children in hands-on work that has value. Children select their own work, using self-correcting activities, performing experiments, and more. This freedom to choose for themselves means that children take a more active role in their own projects. Guiding without dictating is at the heart of the Montessori Method, whether the children are developing critical thinking skills with science activities or discovering the mathematics of geometry.

2. Responsibility and Self-Esteem

Respect for the child is one of the prime directives of Montessori. Middle school kids are not subordinate human beings, but members of a globe-spanning human family. Everyone has a right to believe, and to be heard, and this helps each child develop self-esteem, positive social skills, and the confidence necessary to not only think, but to act, for themselves.

3. Time to Learn

The Montessori school day is not broken into many small parts the way it is done in traditional public schools. Instead, children have extended period lengths, and typically remain in one class for most of the day. The idea is that unbroken lengths of time allow children more opportunities to work with concepts and projects, leading to improved retention of information, and a vibrant interest in the learning process.

Children are the most important part of a Montessori education. By providing them with a framework of expectations and the freedom to pursue individual accomplishments, children develop intrinsic motivation. This internal drive to achieve and discover is vital to the process, and why Montessori students are able to play such an active role in what and how they learn.

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What is the Rationale that Supports a Mixed Age Group in Montessori Preschool?

One way to recognize a preschool that uses the Montessori Method is to look for a classroom that uses mixed-age groups. This is a built-in feature of Montessori that provides several benefits to children. From individuals learning from more knowledgeable kids to building a strong, family-like community, mixed-age groups make a great deal of sense.

 

Peer-to-Peer Learning

With mixed-ages, Montessori preschool presents children with an opportunity to help each other. In a natural setting, younger children will watch and follow older kids, and that tendency to look up to more experienced children plays a vital role in the classroom. Additionally, when older children are assisting younger ones, the teachers can invest more time into helping children that may need a little more help than others.

No Child Left Behind

A 3-year age bracket also means that children have more time to pick up skills that are giving them a hard time without holding the class back or falling behind the others. But it is much more than that. In traditional schools, the oldest children in the class will always be the oldest and the younger kids will never have the opportunity to be among them. This can be damaging to a child's perception of themselves, and Montessori works around that by using a system in which every child will get older and take a turn as one of the oldest children in the group.

Community Building

Children of differing ages working together teach them the fundamental elements of life in a community. Each child may be a year older or younger, and the group is made of a diverse assortment of individuals. As the youngest children watch, older children display social graces, use advancing vocabularies, and take active roles inside the classroom community. Learning by observing is an effective way of teaching, and children will readily use this method to absorb information from their peers.

 

Mixed-Age VS. Designated Age

Beyond the traditional public school system, all of a child's life will be spent in teams and groups of mixed ages. This is the normal way of the world, and repeats itself in families, companies, and clubs. Montessori prepares children for this phenomenon by treating it-- justifiably, you may think-- as the normal course of events.

Children will never again be grouped by the year they were born, and don't deserve to be divided in that manner in preschool either. If anything, learning to interact with people older and younger than themselves early in their development will be a benefit as the child matures.

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5 Big Advantages of Mixed Age Groups in Montessori Preschool

One of the first things you will notice about a preschool that is based on Montessori is that the children are not the same age. That's because Authentic Montessori uses 3-year age groupings for children, allowing younger and slightly older children to interact throughout the day. Mixed ages offer some excellent benefits for children, including these 5 advantages.

1. Mimic Natural Settings

When Montessori preschool children gather to play in a random setting they tend to form into mixed-age groups. Similarly, in a family setting the older kids are often role models for younger ones. By duplicating this natural social feature, the Montessori Method makes it easier for children to learn from one another socially, physically, and academically.

2. Build Self-Esteem

In traditional education models, all of the children are nearly the same age, and the age differences are static throughout their education. With mixed ages, every child in the class will spend one year as one of the oldest children in the class. This is good for self-esteem and building a sense of value, which in turn encourages every child to play a more active role in the classroom.

3. Peer Role Models

Older children make exceptional role models for younger ones. They have more experience with the world, social structures, and the little kids are hungry to be like the big kids around them. This carries over to all parts of early development, including learning how to use scissors or markers, being exposed to practical experiences, and developing a sense of personal responsibility.

4. Influence of Older Children

There is a lot to be said for allowing children to learn from each other the same way it would happen in a natural environment. Older children are able to demonstrate to younger children how to solve play-based puzzles, and that encourages the little pens to learn and helps the older ones develop the traits necessary to be leaders in any environment.

5. Social and Emotional Skills

Through observation, children learn to stem unwanted social and emotional outbursts. They see that older, more experienced kids approach problems more calmly and work out problems more amicably. Children are a collective effort, learning from teachers and other students, but contributing to the educational process in their own time.

Mixed-age grouping is one of the primary foundations of the Montessori Method. It is beneficial for everyone in the class, and makes it possible for the teachers to focus more individual time on students that may be experiencing difficulty.

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Here's Why You Will Love Your Residential Laundry Service Right Away

It seems like you have to deal with a never-ending cycle of washing and drying clothes. One night you leave the basement with empty hampers only to return the next day to find the same hampers overflowing with clothes. Another problem with doing laundry is that it is a time-consuming process. Forty-five minutes for one wash cycle and another 30 minutes to dry your clothes. Then you have to repeat the same process two more times, which puts you at over three hours to complete one household chore. How do you stay ahead of the laundry game when time is limited at best?

The answer is to find the right business that offers highly-rated residential laundry services that you should love right away for several reasons.

Convenience

What would you rather do, empty the laundry hampers on your day off or take a short road trip for a little relaxation? The answer is to drop off your dirty clothes at a business that offers residential laundry services. Even better, signing up for a laundry pickup service that also delivers your clean clothes makes it even more convenient to outsource your laundry. At Laundry Care Express, we make doing laundry more convenient than ever by offering our wash and fold laundry service.

Speed

If you are wary about signing up for a dry cleaning service because you are used to hearing, “We’ll have it ready in three days,” you should consider leaving the dry cleaning of your clothes to Laundry Care Express. We offer next-day service with the pickup and delivery option to take care of cleaning your business attire and any formalwear. We also operate state-of-the-art washers and dryers for standard orders that beat the cleaning and drying times of any other laundry equipment on the market.

Affordability

How about reaping the financial benefits of lower water and energy bills during the first month that you outsource all of your laundry to Laundry Care Express. Washers consume a substantial amount of water and the combination of a washer and dryer requires the most juice to run than any other appliance in your home. Another way that you save money is by not having to spend money on replacing an older washer and dryer. Even the least expensive models run around $250, which is money you can spend on a home improvement project or a long-deserved family vacation.

Much Higher Quality

The professionals that offer residential laundry services know how to remove the toughest stains, as well as prevent unsightly wrinkles from developing on your business clothes. Not only does our laundry equipment deliver fast washing and drying times, but the quality of the clothes you get back far exceeds the quality of the laundry that you do at home. You never have to worry about where a lost sock went or putting on one of your favorite shirts that have considerably shrunk.

Going Green

The best residential laundry services invest in machines that have a minimal impact on the environment. Our green-friendly washers and dryers efficiently clean clothes while at the same time delivering the highest quality apparel. We also use eco-friendly detergents and fabric softeners to prevent harmful chemicals from entering municipal drainage systems. Using less energy also benefits the environment by freeing up more energy for more important uses.

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