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FMS Values

Nov 02 2023

Family-School Partnership

By FMS Values, Montessori in Action, Montessori Learning No Comments
Our children really thrive when home and school environments work cooperatively, communicate well, and share similar educational values and expectations. When families devote sincere effort to learning about Montessori principles and how to reinforce these at home, there are positive effects. We want to partner with you in support of your child!  What does a home-school partnership look like in action?   In order to reinforce and extend your child’s experience...
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Oct 25 2023

In Honour of Grandparents’ & Special Friends’ Day

By Emotional Wellbeing, FMS Values, Montessori in Action No Comments
Aleta Ledendecker was a Montessori teacher for nearly 40 years. She started her own Montessori school and taught early childhood through adolescents. Aleta was also a Montessori teacher trainer. She is now retired and has three grandchildren. In honour of Grandparents' and Special Friends’ Day Aleta shared some thoughts about Montessori and grandparenting.   As a former Montessori teacher, how has Montessori shaped the way you grandparent?  A new world of...
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Sep 20 2023

Making Amends

By FMS Values, Montessori Basics, Montessori Philosophy No Comments
Our children make mistakes. We can help them learn how to make amends. Help children shift from throw-away apologies to repairing the wrong-doing. Mistakes are a part of life. We all make them. Hopefully, we even learn from them! Intellectually we probably understand that mistakes are part of our children’s process of learning and growing. Yet as parents and caregivers, it can be hard to know how to handle situations...
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Sep 14 2023

The Positive Way

By FMS Values, Montessori Basics, Montessori Philosophy No Comments
Positive Discipline aligns well with Montessori philosophy and helps us shift from being punitive or reward-based to being kind and firm at the same time.  We are often asked about how we handle discipline in Montessori. It’s a great question because we think differently about discipline. Ultimately, we want our children to develop self-discipline and to understand how to balance being an individual within a community. We know that children...
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Sep 07 2023

The Montessori Prepared Environment

By FMS Values, Montessori Basics, Montessori Philosophy No Comments
A Montessori prepared environment (classroom) is a place designed to foster children’s learning as well as support their fundamental human tendencies. In Montessori, we talk a lot about the “prepared environment.” Really, though, this concept of a prepared environment isn’t limited to Montessori. In fact, from the earth’s biosphere offering an array of support for life, to the fragrant and colorful flowers existing to lure pollinators, to a woman’s uterus...
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Aug 24 2023

Moving Away from How Was your Day?

By FMS Values, Montessori Basics, Montessori Philosophy No Comments
It can be hard for children to talk about their experiences at school. If we shift our approach, we can often get more insight into our children’s day. When we pick up our children from school, it can be so tempting to ask, “How was your day?” Often the responses are pretty lackluster. As adults, we can likely relate. If a partner or friend asks about our day, our responses...
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Jun 14 2023

Montessori Myths and the Importance of “Real” Montessori

By FMS Values, Montessori Basics, Montessori Philosophy No Comments
We are accustomed to hearing people discuss a variety of Montessori myths, and it’s most often that these misunderstandings come from people who haven’t spent time in a high-fidelity Montessori environment that applies the methods as they were originally intended. The truth is, anyone can call themselves “Montessori”. There’s no trademark on the name, and so it can be pretty misleading to people who are trying to discern what is...
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Jun 01 2023

Independence: The Foundation of Freedom

By FMS Values, Montessori Basics, Montessori Philosophy No Comments
In order to be truly free, we need to be able to make our own choices, which means having the skills and abilities to then act upon our choices. Without independence, we can’t truly be free.   As children’s independence grows, so does their opportunity for freedom. They have more choices available and more to consider. The freedom children experience in our prepared learning environments is directly related to their independence....
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May 25 2023

On the Topic of Competition

By FMS Values, Montessori Basics, Montessori Philosophy No Comments
You may have noticed that in Montessori schools, we do not typically encourage competition between children.  Our lack of traditional grading is one obvious marker of this approach, but you will notice that the lack of peer competition threads itself pretty much throughout the entire program.  This is quite intentional, and we work hard to give children a foundation built on competition with oneself, rather than with others.    It is...
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Mar 21 2023

Everyone Belongs – Embracing Diversity from a Young Age

By FMS Values, Montessori Basics No Comments
We all want our children to be peaceful and accepting of others.  It is never too early to start teaching them to embrace diversity.  Too often, we falsely imagine that young children do not notice what makes them different from each other.  They do notice, and instead of waiting for them to ask questions or gather information on their own, we can be proactive about diversity education.  We can teach...
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