This article has been shared by Dr Judith Locke, Clinical Psychologist, registered teacher and author. Judith recently delivered a keynote at our NSW Combined Montessori Schools Professional Development Day, ‘When help becomes unhelpful’. Her session was well received, endorsing the many benefits of a Montessori education focusing on growing children’s independence. Please see more about Dr Locke, links to her books and social media following this article... Help them...
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Logical Consequences is a popular topic for FMS families and our recent webinar was a great opportunity for us to partner with parents to help you implement logical consequences at home. For those who missed it, this article offers a brief overview of the presentation. You can watch the video recording here and use this parent guide as quick reference when needed -stick it to your fridge! A brief introduction…
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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 lacklustre. As adults, we can likely relate. If a partner or friend asks about our day, our responses…
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It seems like this is as good a time as any to talk about how our children interact with the news. The news simply wasn’t designed with children in mind, and although it is certainly an important part of our lives, we have to remember how it may affect our kids. We hope this guide will give you some helpful tips. Potential Problems Before we jump into the problems, we would…
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It was exciting to see the children's faces as they stepped into their new Buran environment on Tuesday morning. Buran, means Stringybark in Wannangini (Guringal) language. Uncle Neil, a local Elder advised us on all the naming of our environments.Our new children’s House has been part of our strategic plan to refresh and redevelop our facilities. The brief began with the words from Maria Montessori: ‘The child should live in…
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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 when…
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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 need…
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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 preparing…
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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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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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