The Montessori Method- From the American Montessori Society
One basic idea in the Montessori philosophy is that carried unseen within each child is the person the child will become. To develop the fullest physical, spiritual, and intellectual potential, the child must have freedom achieved through order and self discipline.
To a child, the world is full of sights and sounds which appear chaotic. From this chaos the child gradually creates order and learns to distinguish among the impressions which assail the senses, thus slowly gaining mastery of self and environment.
Dr. Maria Montessori created what she called "the prepared environment." Among its features is an ordered environment of sequential learning materials, designed to be developmentally apporpriate and aesthetically appealing. Used in the non-competitive Montessori classroom, the materials allow each child to develop at his/her own pace.
"Never let the child risk failure until he has a reasonable chance of success," said Dr. Montessori, understanding the need to acquire basic skills before participating in a competitive learning situation. Throughout their life children will be building an academic foundation, but most importantly the years when a child learns the ground rules of human behavior most easily. These are the years to help a child in preparing to take his/her place in society through acquisition of good habits and manneers.
Dr. Montessori recognized that self-motivation is the only valid impuse to learning. Children move themselves to learning. The teacher prepares the environment, offers activities, functions as a reference person and exemplar and observes the child constantly in order to help the process of "learning how to learn." But it is the child who learns, motivated through the work itself, to persist in a chosen task.
Montessori introduces children to the joy of learning at an early age and provides a framwork in which individual and social discipline go hand in hand.