Essential Qualities of a Montessori Education
Learning at Boardwalk Montessori is comprised of three components:
- Child-centred
- Responsive, adaptive
- Individually construed competence
- Respectful
- Developmental
- Hands-on experience with materials
- Spontaneous activity
- Active learning methods
- Self-directed activity (auto-education)
- Liberty within limits
- Intrinsic motivation
- Mixed age (family) groupings
- Social setting as a community
- Co-operation, collaboration; not competition
During the first years of life, the child possesses a unique aptitude for learning, which Dr. Montessori identifies as the “absorbent mind.” This means that the child “absorbs” knowledge from the environment like a sponge, simply by living in it.