Teaching Montessori in the Home: The Pre-School Years by Elizabeth Hainstock

Introduction

This small volume, only 115 pages long, is a lovely little introduction to Montessori methods and a guide to creating and using Montessori materials in your home. Hainstock has created a glimpse into the Montessori world with brief overviews of Maria Montessori’s work and life, how to create a learning environment in your home, how to set up and demonstrate the various exercises (practical-life, sensorial, reading and writing, and arithmetic), and how to create your own equipment. This was my first Montessori-inspired text and I think it is perfect for someone trying to get a handle on what “Montessori” means and what it looks like.

As a homeschooling parent, I appreciate Hainstock’s encouragement. “The most important thing to remember always,” she writes, “is that it is the parent who is the child’s first teacher, role model, security symbol, and source of unconditional love and nurturing” (1). A gentle reminder that one of my primary goals ought to be creating a space of love and safety for my little ones. A space where they feel comfortable to explore, make mistakes, and blossom. I also appreciate her understanding that, homeschoolers or not, all parents are teachers and that “a close parent-child relationship is more necessary in today’s society than it has ever been” (2).

I want to present an overview of the ideas presented as a guide to anyone considering this text. So, in an effort to keep this review concise and accessible, let’s bring in the bullets.

Montessori Ideas

  • “remember that he possesses the capabilities; it is your job to arouse them” (2)*
  • “the environment should reveal the child, not mold him” (8)
  • “the teacher as an observer, always ready to guide and direct, whose purpose was to keep alive the child’s enthusiasm for learning, without interfering with the child’s efforts to teach himself” (9)
  • there are “‘cycles of activity’ that should be allowed to be worked through and completed without interruption” (9)
  • “Encourage him to be active and to follow his natural urges, for that is necessary for the development of his character” (11).
  • “Never do for a child what he is capable of doing himself” (13).
  • “Don’t spoil the freshness of the subject matter by telling the child too much–let him discover for himself and tell you” (15).

I remember reading all of this and saying, “Yes!” As a parent and teacher, I should probably review these principles weekly. It’s so easy to get caught up in my own schedule and agenda, failing to let my children work uninterrupted and often doing for them that which they can do for themselves. It is so easy to sacrifice their growth for my to-do list. Perhaps that is why I am so drawn to Montessori ideas–they bring my focus back to my children and their spirits.

Beyond the introduction to Montessori theory, Hainstock presents lots and lots of activities that you can use in your home. For each activity, she lists the age range, the materials needed, how to demonstrate it to your child, the purpose of the exercise, and the control of error built in to each one. Here are some of the activities she details: Pouring Rice, Folding a Napkin, Sweeping the Floor, Lacing a Shoe, Using a Dropper, Cutting, The Tower, Rough and Smooth Boards, Mystery Bag, Color Tablets, Sandpaper Letters and Numbers, and The Movable Alphabet. She also includes templates for creating letters, numbers, and shapes and recipes for items like paint and clay. Finally, at the end of the book is a short list of Montessori terms and their definitions.

So, if you’ve heard of Montessori and would like a quick introduction to the method and what it looks like in practice, I would definitely recommend this book. It will give you a taste of the method without drowning you in theory. Hainstock’s book is a great warm-up for meatier texts like Montessori’s The Absorbent Mind and The Discovery of the Child. Hainstock has created a clear and simple map for parents looking to incorporate Montessori work into their homes and I appreciate her easy-to-use layout and explanations. My next step with this material is to take her list of activities and create a schedule for when I’d like to introduce each exercise to my children–a scope and sequence.

Next up on the Book Review list: The Absorbent Mind by Maria Montessori. So stay tuned!

*A side note. It might just be the fact that this was originally  published in 1968, but Hainstock uses male pronouns throughout the text–he, him, his. When I was copying quotes from my personal notes for this review, I found that I had just naturally substituted female pronouns since I first read this when Pearl was an only child. So, don’t let the overuse of male pronouns bother you. Just add in “she” or “her” whenever you feel the need :)

Related Posts

  • No Related Post