subject: Montessori Preschool San Luis Obispo--Provide a Strong Foundation & Enjoy your Child's Achievments For Life! [print this page] Montessori Preschool San Luis Obispo--Provide a Strong Foundation & Enjoy your Child's Achievments For Life!
Before we can explore if a Montessori Preschool in San Luis Obispo County, CA. is the Educational Method that you envision when searching and deciding between a daycare or preschool facility for your child in S.L.O.; let's begin with a brief introduction to Montessori school education as well as introduce the reader to the best little preschool I have witnessed in the area, Dandylion Montessori Preschool in Grover Beach, San Luis Obispo, CA.
At the turn of the last century the Montessori Method was developed when Dr. Maria Montessori introduced her approach to education based on observations she made in the course of her working with and nurturing of young children with special needs. She made the connection that every child is an individual, with their own unique capabilities and preferred style of internalizing knowledge learnedwhat they learned. It is in their nature for a child, to be open to exploring new things and mastering new skills. Their young brains are fresh and eager to take in knowledge. It is an 'absorbent mind', like a sponge, soaking up knowledge from all it comes into contact with. She realized as long as a childs allowed the freedom to learn at their own pace the quest for knowledge is instilled for life. The satisfaction recieved from acquiring wisdom never dulls. Those first six years, according to her, create what a person will become, how they will act, respond, basically there personality traits, learning habits and so on. About 80% of you essentially, your foundation was set in stone before most of us can even remember. She was teaching this over a hundred years ago, way ahead of the educational thought of her day. The childs individuality must be respected and children should be provided with developmentally appropriate materials, the freedom to select, and the time to complete their activities on their own initiative.
To satisfy this need, children must be provided with a specially prepared environment. This prepared enviornment will have specified activities within which they will find carefully designed activities, sequenced in proper order. Thus, the child, while being active, also masters the skills and concepts necessary to build independence. Permitting the child freedom to choose their activity from concrete materials builds a sensorial foundation for their intellectual development, while allowing them use of all their senses and all available modalities of learning; visual, auditory, and kinesthetic. These together provide the child with the tools to master information and store it in their memory naturally and efficiently. To find a great place to observe this taking place in practise would be a visit to a good Montessori school in your area. The ability to find a good program is as easy as visiting a class and experiencing how diligently the children are busily working on their assigned and chosen tasks. A full room of young 3 to 5 year old students are surprisingly quiet when captivated in what they are absorbing and learning. If you want to witness a great example of this in a Montessori School in San Luis Obispo County it is as easy as booking a tour of Dandylion Montessori in Grover Beach.
At Dandylion Montessori, the belief in Maria Montessori's method is strictly adhered to which has also given them the distinction of being a lab school for one of the best Montessori teacher training programs available in North America. Following along with Ms. Montessori's teaching she pointed out that when the individuality of each child is respected while having freedom to proceed at their own pace, deriving full satisfaction from the project at hand, children learn with great joy and are motivated to seek ever greater challenges, moving from one success to another.
Researches all across the globe have found that children develop their attitude toward learning and important life skills during the first six years of their lives. Finally, in about 1996, modern science had reached the point of disecting how are brains learn and discovered what the Montessori community had known for over a hundred years. During this period, children learn easily and efficiently. Montessori understood that knowledge is absorbed naturally through experience. Hence, we provide opportunities for learning by isolating stimuli, and presenting them to the child individually. When he is familiar with a concept, we give him the correct language to describe it, thereby empowering him to master the concept completely. On a subconscious level it helps build the child's self esteem as well.
In an authentic Montessori environment, social development is fostered naturally and spontaneously. The children develop excellent communication skills, through cooperative activities, the exchange of ideas, and discussions within their group. They learn to question yet respect the viewpoint of others, and become skilled at articulating their opinions.
An authentic Montessori program is self-directed and non-competitive; but it is guided carefully by a well prepared teacher, who understands the principles of the Montessori Method, and how to prepare and maintain the proper environment. She knows how and when to present a new activity to a child, understands child psychology, and is sensitive to the developmental level the child is going through. She understands the principle of freedom and establishes the structure necessary to give freedom to the child. She is a personal role model of the highest moral standards, which are built into the program, so that the children imbibe the values of truth, right-action, love, non-violence, and peace into their lives, by living them every day.
