Early Birds Montessori Preschool

Repetition is important! The Montessori environment caters to the child's innate need to repeat tasks again and again.

Children have a natural urge to practice tasks until they are confident in their mastery. Young children can perform things repeatedly without getting worn out.

Primary school children (ages 6 to 12) still require repetition, but they also need diversity. The elementary school setting meets this demand by providing a variety of materials that all teach the same idea.

Children can learn long multiplication, for instance, by using the checkerboard, the flat bead frame, and the huge bead frame.

Dr Maria Montessori said the child from birth to six years has an “absorbent mind.”

An absorbent mind is a mind able to absorb knowledge quickly and effortlessly.

We see this with children who grow up in multi-linguistic countries, often speaking two or more languages, without anyone teaching them vocabulary, the grammar or the syntax.

Yet they speak both languages fluently. It is a common occurrence that happens in many countries and it's quite an amazing feat. As an adult, if you have attempted to learn a foreign language, you know it’s not easy. Yet every child does it effortlessly.

How?

Through the absorbent mind.

Dr Montessori observed that from birth through to about the age of six, children experience a period of intense mental activity that allows them to” absorb” learning from their environment without conscious effort, naturally and spontaneously.

Children absorb not only the language, but the traits of their family and community. Though some of it is consciously taught, a great deal of it is simply absorbed through the power of a child’s mind.