About Montessori: Overview

Dr. Maria Montessori developed a method of education in the early twentieth century that has since spread the world over. Her idea was that education should work with the child's natural tendencies to enable the child to become a fully functioning human being.

Montessori's method is probably best described as 'observe and follow'. Dr Montessori was confident in this approach because she believed that we can trust in the child's natural development and spontaneous activity of the intellect. Montessori's method of education is based fairly and squarely on the natural tendencies of the child.

When applying her method, Dr Montessori noticed that children in Montessori schools around the world began to demonstrate what she began to call the 'characteristics of a normal child'. Normalized children displayed the following attributes:

1. Love of order
2. Love of work
3. Profound, spontaneous concentration
4. Attachment to reality
5. Love of silence and working alone
6. Reduction of the possessive instinct
7. Power to act from real choice and not from curiosity
8. Obedience
9. Independence and initiative
10. Spontaneous self discipline
11. Joy