Individualized Education

Montessori Activities

One of the many things that makes Montessori so enticing for prospective families, is the fact that their child will receive a one-on-one education.

What does this mean?

Actually, this means many things. First, it means that your child will have a curriculum developed specifically for them, based on their individiual needs. Of course, we’re here to follow the interests of the child, but this doesn’t mean that we don’t introduce them to new activities. On the contrary, we carefully observe what is working for them, and constantly look for ways in which to help improve and strengthen their education. Second, it also means that if your child has any specific challenges, challenges that may go unnoticed in a traditional school, we can work together to overcome them. Let’s give a very concrete, practical example.

Take, for instance, a student who would like to continue to improve his writing skills, and his ability to utilize the necessary three fingers needed to write. We find creative solutions to have them work on tasks they more than likely don’t associate with reinforcing their writing skills.

Above, the boy wanted help mastering his ability to write. Ms. Wood, instead of sitting him down and making him practice writing his name, over and over, as might be deployed in traditional school, developed an innovative approach. She employed the cylinder blocks, which are specifically designed to refine those fine motor skills need to write, and created a fun and interactive little excercise to engage those three fingers with the cylinder blocks, and then writing!

Another way to say the same thing: Montessori utilizes direct and indirect preparation to develop the senses and the physical necessities for literarcy and for other abstract concepts, preparing the mind and the body to do things necessary. Montessori also gives resources to the teachers, especially if the initial prepartions don’t completely latch on. Each child is treated individually, based on their own needs. There’s no punishment, as if someone lagged behind, or had a problem learning. Instead, we introduce a new activity, in a new way! It’s an entirely different approach to learning: individualized education.