My Montessori Story - Pt. 3

Me doing "racks and tubes" division in my lower el class

Learning in Real Life: Making a Meal

One year in “lower el”, a classroom for children ages 6-9, traditional grades 1-3, I remember how we planned a meal together. I don’t remember what exactly we ended up making, but I do remember going through the process with my friends and classmates with the guidance of your teacher. We figured out what ingredients we needed and planned a field trip to the local grocery store. There, the teacher showed us how to read nutrition labels, and the meaning of things like “servings per container”. We did the math to make sure we had enough servings for everyone and enough ingredients for whatever it was we were making. 

Now as an adult, this is a memory I think about regularly as I do my grocery shopping. I really appreciate how Montessori education emphasizes the importance of “practical life” skills and how we can apply our academic knowledge to our practical life.

Creative Development: Young Playwrights

Some people misinterpret Montessori education to mean your child will have too much freedom and can do whatever they want. That isn’t quite right. Although there is freedom to do a diverse assortment of activities or “work” as they call it in the classroom, there are boundaries. We call it “freedom within boundaries”. This allows the child to weave their natural interests into their academic learning. My best friend Kelty and I were very much into playing out a whole unicorn narrative when we played on the playground. One day we had the grand idea to write a play about our unicorn alter egos, and we did! Although we unfortunately followed all the way through, we were supported as we wrote our script, casted the parts, and even made some of the costumes. I don’t remember why we never finished it, but it was so much fun to be allowed to have an idea and use our classroom time to follow up on it. 

This will likely be my last blog post about my own Montessori experience. It has been so much fun to think back on that very happy time of my childhood and hope that I can give my children a taste of that joy as well. If you’re curious about the Montessori style of education, please check out this blog post that shares some of my favorite (and most digestible) books about the subject.