Montessori Book Review

This book is one of the gentlest, guides to Montessori in the home I have ever read.

Broken into three parts (the 1st year, 1-3 yr olds, adults roll) it uses clear language to describe the different Sensorial Periods, and how a home environment can be easily modified by parents to help us support the immense inner potential of a child beginning at the hour of their birth. Not wanting to step on the toes of anyone else that has reviewed this book, I wanted to write about how this book made me feel.

As I said I was surprised how it reads like a novel, not a “Montessori Text”. It didn’t make me feel confused, or “dumb”. Instead it showed pictures. Lots of pictures all the way through of children using materials, and parents offering experiences to young children. Many of the pictures I felt a connection with because we have done the same thing with our boys.

There are no charts or graphs. Nothing to put that terrible little seed of “my child doesn’t do that” into my brain. Instead the book simply speaks of things to try in the general age groups mentioned above.

For example:

A mat on the floor, in a room that has been completely prepared for safety, allows a child to come and go, exercising all his developing abilities.

I would recommend this book to anyone who is pregnant and interested in Montessori. I would also recommend it to those parents that are like me: seeking a simple, gentle, but thorough guide of how their child sees the world, and what we can offer them in support of themselves.