Lambs and Shepherds Montessori

ning from September to November and January to April. Included is an extra week (three days) for the director when personal/emergency days are neeeded. Those days are not noted on the calendar but notice will be given in advance if they need to be

About Barbara

Gender: Female

Industry: Education

Occupation: Christian Montessori Teacher

Location: Fort Worth, Texas, United States

Introduction: Barbara Klein has been educating young children using the Montessori Method since 1979. She received her certification from The National Center for Montessori Education in Houston, TX,1980. Over the course of 32 years she has taught at Montessori schools in Houston, San Antonio, and on two occasions directed her own program. She has been married for 34 years to husband Keith, and practiced and honed her Montessori methods on her own four children, ages 13 to 31. Barbara’s purpose in directing Lambs and Shepherds Montessori School is to honor the Lord utilizing her gifts of teaching and to provide an intimate environment that is most conducive for 3-6 year olds to develop in the way God created them. She is also passionate about providing resources and training for parents to create a home atmosphere where child-directed learning can continue to flourish. Barbara offers a workshop entitled "Montessori in the Home". This is a one day, hands-on workshop for parents who wish to understand how a child, birth to six years learns and interacts with their whole environment and how the adult plays an active role to incorporate the Montessori Method into the home. What is a Montessori Preschool?
* Maria Montessori's own clinical observations led her to analyze how children learn, how children build themselves from what they find in their environment.

* Children under the age of six have extraordinary powers of the mind. They have a universal, once in a life-time ability to absorb knowledge from their surroundings just by living. Because of the absorbent mind, pre-school children do not need direct teaching in order to learn.

* The Montessori environment therefore allows them to move, touch, manipulate and explore a variety of materials. It gives them freedom to choose their own work independently, based on their own initiative.

* Because of their constant interactions, the children learn to take responsibility for themselves and for each other. They also learn to get along with children of different ages and abilities, to respect each other’s work and work space, and to treat each other with courtesy. They learn to excuse themselves, to greet each other, and to phrase requests politely. They also take an active role in maintaining their classroom by, among other things, putting material away in their proper place, ready for the next child to use.

* In short, the classroom becomes a thriving community where children are treated with respect and dignity and want to treat others with the same respect and dignity.