What a great picture. I've been looking for a collection of old Montessori classroom pictures (with or without Montessori herself) for a project I've been brewing in my head. Any links to point me to?
Do you need to decide? It is possible (I think) to do both. I use Montessori teaching material (I brought a whole classroom pack for only $10 000 Aus, which has all your practical life, sensorial, maths, language arts) and brought the NAMC teaching guides and DVD's so I knew how to introduce the material (as well as reading a numer of other Montessori books). I do find Montessori too prescriptive though- sure you need to introduce the material a certain way, and the child needs to progress in a systematic fashion, but some of the activities (like the turning the page of a book, or taking a book of a bookshelf) are too much for me, although I am sure a Montessori teacher would disagree, and that is absolutely fine. Anyway, so I teach using a child led Montessori curriculum (for our 'official' school time), but I add a lot of Steiner influences, we follow the seasons and do a lot of celebrations to do with that; we do a lot of Steiner art; we do HEAPS of dressing up, reading the original fairy tales and other good books- loads of imaginary play (which Maria Montessori didn't agree with); we spend 2 or 3 hours outside evryday with nature. I think that its possible to combine the two very succesfully, for us anyway. I like knowing that the children are enjoying their school, really understanding their work, and covering it thoroughly, and I also love that they are still being expressive, developing their creativity and connecting with nature and the seasons. Oh, a lot of our toys are 'steiner' open ended toys too, which adds to their play. Sorry this is so long!
Woops! Sorry ;) This was an un-started post that actually published. But I do love that lots of people wondered what I was having troubling deciding :)
That is a cool picture.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great picture. I've been looking for a collection of old Montessori classroom pictures (with or without Montessori herself) for a project I've been brewing in my head. Any links to point me to?
ReplyDeleteDecide what?
ReplyDeleteDo you need to decide? It is possible (I think) to do both. I use Montessori teaching material (I brought a whole classroom pack for only $10 000 Aus, which has all your practical life, sensorial, maths, language arts) and brought the NAMC teaching guides and DVD's so I knew how to introduce the material (as well as reading a numer of other Montessori books). I do find Montessori too prescriptive though- sure you need to introduce the material a certain way, and the child needs to progress in a systematic fashion, but some of the activities (like the turning the page of a book, or taking a book of a bookshelf) are too much for me, although I am sure a Montessori teacher would disagree, and that is absolutely fine. Anyway, so I teach using a child led Montessori curriculum (for our 'official' school time), but I add a lot of Steiner influences, we follow the seasons and do a lot of celebrations to do with that; we do a lot of Steiner art; we do HEAPS of dressing up, reading the original fairy tales and other good books- loads of imaginary play (which Maria Montessori didn't agree with); we spend 2 or 3 hours outside evryday with nature. I think that its possible to combine the two very succesfully, for us anyway. I like knowing that the children are enjoying their school, really understanding their work, and covering it thoroughly, and I also love that they are still being expressive, developing their creativity and connecting with nature and the seasons. Oh, a lot of our toys are 'steiner' open ended toys too, which adds to their play. Sorry this is so long!
ReplyDeleteWhat is your dilemma? Montessori or Waldorf?
ReplyDeleteWoops! Sorry ;) This was an un-started post that actually published. But I do love that lots of people wondered what I was having troubling deciding :)
ReplyDeletePost to come soon...