Montessori Meets Standards

I wrote the following as part of an upcoming post at Keys of the Universe - Articles on the aligning of Montessori and Common Core, but I thought it was a point to make all on its own: 

Non-Montessori curricula are all different, presenting concepts at different times, in different ways; and teachers in regular classrooms routinely do not finish any given text in any given year. Hence, no curriculum or classroom experience can actually meet every standard, especially for every child.

Interestingly enough, Montessori strives to go above and beyond - to ensure that every child exiting the elementary experience at the end of either 3rd or 6th grades, has indeed met every requirement on the local educational standards. Very interesting, given how much flack Montessori takes for simply following the child and not providing "enough."

I understand every school is different, I am thinking here of AMI schools that truly follow the child, which ends up meaning following their albums and providing for the child's interests and learning opportunities at every turn.

Notes on the Local Education Requirements

Montessori training centers refer to any local educational requirements as the “public school curriculum”. I personally refer to the term “local educational requirements” to incorporate not only the public school curriculum, but any other requirements made on homeschools or private schools, as well as the requirements of the particular homeschool or private school. For homeschools, this area might include family studies, areas that the family finds important or critical, faith formation and the like.

Within the school setting as well as within the family for homeschool requirements that are not family-based, encourage the child to help create the material needed; or utilize resources on hand to learn the required skill. This does not need to be elaborate; however it could lead into a strong area of personal interest for a particular child. 

You are likely to find that by the end of 3^rd and 6^th grades, a child has already learned most or all of the public school curriculum either directly through the Montessori materials, or through their own personal studies. This occurrence is precisely why Montessori albums are not adjusted for the public school curriculum –  nor should Montessori teachers get too caught up with local educational requirements -- keys-based Montessori albums provide what is developmentally appropriate for all or most children; the public school curriculum (and albums that provide far above and beyond the keys) is typically imposed from the outside and may or may not be appropriate for ALL children. 

Non-keys-based albums can be useful, if you discern what is a key and what is ok for not every child in a particular environment to do. If every child had to do everything, there would be no more time for personal studies! 

And children that do personal studies - can pull in a wide variety of resources - especially non-Montessori ones! More in another Montessori Nugget! 

Freedom and Responsibility

Montessori is NOT anarchy. The children do not get to make every choice for themselves.

Sometimes we describe the freedom of Montessori as being "the adult sets the environment (making the ultimate choices), and the child chooses within this safety." This is accurate, but not the entire picture.


Montessori has been critiqued for being too free (the child has complete choice; child-led only; no adult guidance); and it has also been critiqued as being too restrictive (the child cannot use a material in any other way except the way presented - which isn't actually TRUE but could be done inappropriately in Montessori-in-name-only environments).
We know that neither of these extremes are true, but that is not the point to this Nugget :)


The point is the balance we provide. 



Let's look at some Montessori principles that are, indeed, universal principles:

Daniel Schwabauer (author and teacher of Once a Year Adventure Novel)

A principle of creativity that applies in every field: Boundaries actually inspire creativity, they don't hinder it.

Some people think creativity means a lack of boundaries.

He then quotes GK Chesterton:

G.K. CHesterton said, "Art consists of limitation. The most beautiful part of every picture is the frame."

This thoroughly applies throughout life.

It is healthy to set boundaries for our children. We also want them to explore. We work with them to create the right balance.