Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #108071 in Books
• Published on: 1996-07-31
• Original language: Italian
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 240 pages

Synopsis
In the right environment a child can fulfil a spontaneous need to learn. Maria Montessori understood this, and it has formed the basis of what we now know as the Montessori method. In this book are discussed the wide choice of material and the methods needed if the child is to realize his learning potential.

Customer Reviews

Excellent, simple to read. Helped me to be a better parent!
This is an important work because it highlights what is wrong with common trends in parenting. You learn that the parent is there to foster a positive environment in which a child can thrive. It is not complicated. The child will show you what they need and when they need it. This book helps you to recognize what the child's needs are, but from the child's perspective. I found it to be a breath of fresh air and wished my parents had read it.

required reading for parents and care-givers
When I bought this book I was looking for books by John Holt and stumbled upon it “accidentally”. Well, that’s providence for you because as it turns out, this is the book that changed my life. It changed my perspective on child rearing. It enabled me to understand why my two year old did what she did. Things that made me want to tear my hair out and scream “WHY???” became as easy to understand as melting ice!

There are developmental phases that children go through. Montessori presents these phases clearly and makes them easy to understand. Her work is based on observation, thoughtfulness, a deep understanding and love for children as people and more observation. She traveled the world and made the same observations as regards the periods children pass through.

They are sensitive periods and when a child has acquired the ability or understanding then the sensitivity for it passes. There are sensitive periods for external order (pertaining to the environment) and internal order (pertaining to the child’s own body), for language acquisition, for walking, for exploration with the hand, etc. This book helped me to understand my child and prepare for the next one that I was carrying. I was so inspired by her dedication and purity in sharing her work with the rest of the world that I ended up taking a diploma course in Montessori education.

My children (5 of them now) have only benefited from my heightened sensitivity to their needs. Montessori taught me to look behind their outward acts for the psychological foundation upon which they are built. In this way I came to understand my children (an ongoing process) and thus change myself (another ongoing process), working through my own emotional baggage which is ultimately the source of conflict between adults and children. I think this book can change anybody’s life who is open and ready for learning and transformation.