Montessori Education

For all the moms this weekend.. 🥰

“Little children are very happy to see their mothers looking beautiful and admire them sincerely.” Maria Montessori, The Child, Society and the World

watercolor: Mother and Child Bond by Steve Hanks

Montessori is not only for children.

In England, 1919, at the end of a course given by Maria Montessori, the adult students in attendance shared this with her:

“Dr. Montessori, we wish to offer you our heartfelt gratitude for the new hope, the new confidence you have inspired in us, that the teacher’s work is not only the noblest that man can do, but that it can be achieved with a success measured not only in the true progress and happiness of the children, but of ourselves also.”

Here’s to the late Maria Montessori (August 31, 1870 to May 6, 1952), a woman who understood deeply that real growth — and joy in learning — can be life long.

Great news from the family publisher of Maria Montessori's works

NEW BOOK: COSMIC EDUCATION
This publication brings together a cohesive body of work from primary sources on Cosmic Education. It is the most complete compilation of primary sources, spanning about four decades. It brings into one volume newly published lectures, rare or out-of-print articles, and carefully selected excerpts from widely available publications, turning dispersed quotations into a usable archive. It is not a revision of Cosmic Education but it is a transmission and practical unfolding. As Maria Montessori noted: All of what we have just suggested is, in reality, only an example for the application of the method. But we would like to help the child to reach loftier conceptions. What must first be understood is our aim, which is to follow as nearly as possible, as all-inclusively as possible, the needs of growthThis publication brings together a cohesive body of work from primary sources on Cosmic Education. It is the most complete compilation of primary sources, spanning about four decades. It brings into one volume newly published lectures, rare or out-of-print articles, and carefully selected excerpts from widely available publications, turning dispersed quotations into a usable archive. It is not a revision of Cosmic Education but it is a transmission and practical unfolding. As Maria Montessori noted: All of what we have just suggested is, in reality, only an example for the application of the method. But we would like to help the child to reach loftier conceptions. What must first be understood is our aim, which is to follow as nearly as possible, as all-inclusively as possible, the needs of growth and of life.
Paperback, number of pages: 320.
https://montessori-pierson.com/products/cosmic-education,

A child caught the teacher’s mistake..
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“A little girl in one of our schools saw a ‘reading command’ worded like this: ‘Go outside, close the door, and come back.’ She studied it intently and then moved to obey, but she stopped in mid-career and went to the teacher. ‘How do I come back if I have shut the door?’

‘You are quite right,’ said the teacher. ‘It was my mistake,’ and she re-wrote the sentence.

‘Yes,’ the child said with a smile, ‘now I can do it.’

[From] this awareness of mistakes, there springs up a kind of brotherhood.

Errors divide men, but their correction is a means of union.

It becomes a matter of general interest to correct errors wherever they may be found. The error itself becomes interesting. It becomes a link, and is certainly a bond of fellowship between human beings.

It helps especially to bring harmony between children and adults.

To detect small error in a grown-up person does not produce lack of respect in the child or loss of dignity in the grownup. The error becomes impersonal and is then amenable to control.

In this way, small things lead to great.”

-Maria Montessori, The Absorbent Mind

“When I was a kid, so many people told me who I was and who I wanted to be — there was so much projection. I didn’t have a chance to explore myself, my brain, or my hobbies, but now I have, so I’m feeling really grounded in who I am.” -Alysa Liu

Maria Montessori said, “One becomes a well-balanced adult only if one has fully been a child” — and Alysa Liu proves that it’s never too late to fully be a child ⛸️🥰

Happy birthday to Thomas Edison!

Born February 11, 1847, Edison was a big fan of the Montessori method, saying it "makes learning a pleasure. It follows the natural instincts of the human being."

“My parents never put pressure on me.” Tom Brady

There’s an old view that children won’t work hard unless you force them to.

It’s just not true.

Instead, what’s important is encouragement and support.

Here’s more from Tom Brady, via recent interview (Champion Mindset, 2/2/26):

“My parents never put pressure on me. … Whatever I wanted to do they were like, ‘Yeah let’s go for it.’ …

“My dad was always there. When I was a baseball player in high school and I wasn’t hitting the ball good, my dad was like, ‘Come on, let’s go to the batting cage at night.’ He was just there, you know. …

“I think the blessing from my parents is they never said, ‘Hey, we should think about something different.’ You know, they were kind of all in too.

“I always try to encourage parents, and I even say with my own kids, like, ‘I don’t know what they’re going to become … but I’m never going to tell them no, that they can’t [achieve something big]. If they work hard enough, if they put their mind to it, they can do anything.”

"...the Montessori group performed significantly better on early reading, short-term memory, executive function, and social understanding."

New 1-page summary of the latest study on Public Montessori vs non-Montessori children, age 3 to kindergarten in USA. For deeper dive: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2506130122