some misconceptions about montessori

there is a lot of misunderstanding and misconceptions about the montessori educational philosophy. some of it is because there are a lot of schools that use the term "montessori" but actually have varying methods and approaches, leading to different experiences. "montessori" was a brand name that has been widely appropriated and almost any school or nursery can claim to be montessori if it adopts some of the methodologies and principles.

the under 3s programme that the Bean is enrolled in, however, pretty much follows the spirit and letter of the programme that was developed by dr maria montessori and the principles set by the AMI (Association Montessori Internationale).

but i thought i'd broach some misconceptions here, anyway:

1) someone told me that the montessori system is very "italian".

well, the only thing italian about it is the name and its founder. in fact, dr montessori was actually rebelling against the italian education system of her time when she developed her teaching methods, which originated from her first pedagogical experience - with slum children who were at the time considered delinquent and of 'sub-normal' intelligence.
a medical doctor by training (she was the first female graduate doctor in italy!), dr montessori was inspired by the pioneering work of a french educationist, edouard seguin, whose didactic materials she used and adapted for her class of children of different ages.
thereafter, using her clinical training, she observed the children in her school and developed her own teaching methodology and materials, just as any scientist might observe, analyse and then deploy new experiments.

*more info on the development of her methods can be found in the biography by rita kramer - see references below.


2) the montessori system is stiflingly structured and requires children to sit and work quietly by themselves. in describing the montessori system to others, i too have been guilty of reducing it: "quite japanese in style" was what i said, perhaps leading other people to assume that meant strict structure.

i spoke to the bean's montessori directress about this and she said that it is quite a common misconception. but she said that the system is not about creating quiet and obedient children or requiring children to be so. the nature of each child would not change through the programme: a sociable child will still be a sociable child, an active child will remain active. however, she said that the environment and the materials there inspire the child to want to master his or her chosen activity.
she then told me an experience she had with one hyperactive boy. he was admitted into the school aged 2.5 years, which is a little late for the under 3s programme.
his first week ('day' really, since the programme runs weekly) at school he was jumping and running everywhere, but on his second week, he went to one of the activities ('watering flowers') and asked how it was done. after watching the directress demonstrate it once, he actually completed the entire activity by himself AND THEN he decided to repeat it not once but four times.
the directress said that she was amazed at his concentration powers, thinking at first that he was going to jump around and spill the water. in fact, he did not spill a drop of water from the watering can. she said that he decided on this activity himself; and that he wanted to do it over and over showing how much influence the environment and the materials have on young children.
unfortunately, the boy's mother was not very patient waiting for him to complete his work and the next week, she rang the school to say that she was pulling him out because he does not suit the montessori style - he was naturally active and she did not want him to be locked into too structured activities.
the directress thought it was a pity that the mother missed what her son achieved on that second class, as well as the fact that it was her son who chose the activity himself and enjoyed it so much he did it five times.


3) montessori gives too much power to the child in academics and there is no way of finding out how much or well he is learning.

in the 3-6++ years montessori schools, "there are no text books, and seldom will two or more children be studying the same thing at the same time. Children learn directly from the environment, and from other children—rather than from the teacher. The teacher is trained to teach one child at a time, with a few small groups and almost no lessons given to the whole class. She is facile in the basic lessons of math, language, the arts and sciences, and in guiding a child's research and exploration, capitalizing on interests and excitement about a subject. Large groups occur only in the beginning of a new class, or in the beginning of the school year, and are phased out as the children gain independence. The child is scientifically observed, observations recorded and studied by the teacher. Children learn from what they are studying individually, but also from the amazing variety of work that is going on around them during the day." (michael olaf)
so yeah, this is misconception is understandable, especially in hyper-competitive educational environments, and here i am thinking of singapore primarily with its kiasu-ness.
i too am very interested in finding out how much each child gets out of such a system and how it compares with 'traditional' or mainstream schooling.
the author and montessori teacher paula polk lillard said that she found by letting children choose the topic they want to research they can actually develop a project in depth, incorporating various academic disciplines in the process.
i am hoping to observe classes at a montessori preschool and primary school in the coming weeks and will report on my impressions here.

references:

• Kramer, R. (1988). Maria Montessori. London: Hamish Hamilton Ltd.
• Montessori Philosophy, AGE 3-12+ YEARS - http://www.michaelolaf.net/1CW312MI.html
• Lillard, P. (1996). Montessori Today: A Comprehensive Approach to Education from Birth to Adulthood. New York : Schocken Books.

the bean defies mummy

for some weird reason, the bean has decided that she would rather not say the word green anymore.

lately (past 3 days or so), whenever i point at something that's green and ask her what colour it is, she would mumble something that sounds like "yellow" (a much garbled "grau grau" sound). and one time, she even made an annoyed "tsk" sound before ignoring me.

this comes after she kept blissfully saying "gweeeeeeeeen" for a few days. i wonder why she's turned off "green" and if she's turned off more from the questions about the colour.

she would, however, happily tell me the name of (most) any other colour: purple, red, blue, on occasion even yellow. she can't pronounce orange yet; i just accept whatever utterance she gives me even if it sounds nothing like it.

btw, a note on poop. lately, she has decided that if she is too busy watching tv or playing with her toys, then she would prefer to say no to the potty and poop in her nappy! it's happened at least twice in 2 weeks.

just 2 days ago she was fidgeting whilst playing with her peg board, so i told her i would get the potty to her. she made a sound of protest but kept focused on her activity. when i came back to her with her potty i made a perfunctory "do you want to sit on your potty?" to which she replied, "no."

my rejoinder was "of course you'd say that" and proceeded to put her on it nonetheless.

her po po, who is visiting us at the moment, laughed and said that the bean had nodded her head to the same question when she asked her a minute ago though.

anyhow, even though she told me "no", the bean did very successfully fill the entire potty - whilst playing with her peg board game.

my mom said that the bean's asserting her will now and to brace myself for more protests, confrontations and back-talks.

sigh...the terrible 2s have really begun.

"no no no" + poo-poohing poo + sleeping through the night

during and after her illness, most of the Bean's latest words have been double syllabic. E.g. "purple", her current favourite colour; i think because she can pronounce it. she doesn't say "red" or "green" or "yellow". she can say "blue" though, calling red and green "blue" too!

then for the past 2-3 days she has finally begun uttering the dreaded 2-letter word: N-O. it is sort of every parent's nightmare: will this usher in the era of the Terrible Twos? does this mean she is going to assert her prerogative through denials of everything?

so far though, it has been helping her help me make decisions, which means i can offer her other options, narrowing the field.
to wit:
do you want to read this book? "no."
do you want to wear this pair of socks? "no."
do you want to eat your cruskit? "no no no."

we shall see if her newfound 'negativity' will lead to actual pitched battles (albeit of limited vocabulary).

with the illness behind us, the Bean is back on her potty, pooping properly, although she tends to be pooping in the evenings right before falling asleep.

and here's another happy matter to report: the Bean is sleeping through the night! yippee kai yeee!

two mondays ago i weaned her off night feeds* by pretending to be asleep and ignoring her snuffling and whimpering and crying for about half an hour. she got tired after a while and fell back asleep again, to wake only at around 7-ish a.m. for her morning milk feed.

she does sometimes still wake up suddenly (either fully or half-wake) in the middle of the night, but it is usually just the one time, then she goes back to sleep again after some patting and if i let her hold my hand. however, this too is occurring less and less now.

it is fabulous as it means that there is now continuous sleep for me at night.

* i still let her feed to sleep. this means that overall, we've cut down our bf to around 3-4 feeds on a 24 hr cycle: a pre-breakfast feed, post-lunch nap feed, sometimes another afternoon feed before tea, and a good night feed.

recent viral troubles

We had a couple of trying weeks not long ago, which partly explains the blog silence (but not fully), with the Bean contracting a viral infection that led to a bacterial one.

That meant what I thought was just a gunky runny nose (that lasted nearly 4 weeks) became something more serious when she began throwing up and having very high fevers (at one point reaching over 39 degrees celsius).

The GP was consulted. Apparently all babies and young children throw up when they get too hot. It is their bodies's natural reaction, to cool down by expelling liquids. The doc also said that the Bean may become constipated because of the loss of fluids and appetite. She suggested that I try watermelon or a sweet fruit before trying her on her usual meals. The sweetness will whet her appetite. We were given a prescription for antibiotics but told not to administer this for a few days till the Bean's situation worsens or if she doesn't get better.

So we waited an excruciating 2-3 more days before finally giving the Bean the antibiotic mixture. Thankfully, and sensibly, this particular antibiotic mixture is actually sweet and doesn't have a nasty bitter aftertaste (unlike the concoction prescribed by a doc in S'pore which was most foul). The Bean took to the medicine very well - it tastes like a banana/fruit shake - and so nearly did the hub unit, who did most of the administering. He really does have a deft way with giving the Bean medicine. It involves pretending to feed her toys, himself and mummy, the medicine before offering a dose to the bub. It usually works a treat. But of course, it helps that this medicine tasted good.

But one nasty effect from the Bean being ill was that she was mainly pooping into her nappies. It was disgusting as alternating with constipation was runny poo - an outcome of eating very very little and drinking mainly water. Her poo was also sticky and dark - gross.

She was even off breastfeeding for around 2-3 days, which was most worrisome. I had counted on nourishing her with breastmilk as was the usual practice whenever she got ill, so this unexpected outcome was troubling. However, it was probably because she had a sore throat. She had passed her illness to me and I also had a sore throat for a few days but I got over it quickly with herbal gargle mixtures and sucking lots of herbal throat lozenges.

Anyhow, she has recovered fully now and it is so wonderful to see her appetite come back. It was terrible to be able to see her ribs and a single chin; I was so used to my chubby girl. But she is putting some flesh back on again, so I am relieved.