By Chris Drew Chris Drew is a university teacher based in Vancouver, BC. He specializes in play-based learning and the sociology of childhood. He writes on educational theories on his own blog at https://helpfulprofessor.com. What Makes the Montessori Method Different? I have been teaching about Montessori classrooms to early childhood educators for the past 5 […]
Montessori Basics
What We Want For Our Children
By Virginia Lozuke A couple of years ago I started approaching parent teacher conferences a little differently. Before I compiled all my observations, notes, recordkeeping, and pictures, I went back to my files and pulled out the original application that parents filled out prior to enrolling at our school. The answers to those questions are […]
The Montessori Tree
by Maria Burke I like to think of Montessori education as a tree. The roots, which support the tree and keep it strong and steady, are concentration, coordination, order, and independence. As these are the basis to the environment, it is important for a child to work towards having this strong basis in order for […]
Montessori Language Activities for Home
Mom: “It’s time to put away the blocks now. We’re going to work with some letters! It’ll be fun!” Jamie (age 2): “No!” *runs and hides behind the couch* Has something like this happened at your house? Probably. But don’t worry. If it has, you’re not alone! As parents and caregivers, we are sometimes so eager […]
Montessori Practical Life Skills for Toddlers at Home
“What can we do at home?” This is the question that every parent at our school asks and it is a question that we love to be asked! The answer is simple… but perhaps not very easy. It’s simple because the best thing parents can do at home with their children is involve them in […]
Montessori Facebook Groups
Are you on Facebook? If you’re not, then you are missing out on some of the best Montessori conversations happening in the world! Listed below are my favorite Montessori groups. But first, a little primer on Facebook terminology: Facebook Profile: This is your personal profile where you can share posts and photos about your […]
11 Things Teachers Wish Parents Knew
I am honored to welcome Maren Schmidt to the Trillium Montessori blog today! If you’ve been living under a rock and don’t already know Maren, she is the author of Building Cathedrals Not Walls and Understanding Montessori: A Guide for Parents. She also writes the very popular column Kids Talk and leads a wide […]
So You Want to Get Montessori Training
I often get questions from people who are interested in getting Montessori training but have no idea where to start. Even though Montessori has been around for a long time, it is just recently coming into mainstream awareness. You have to dig a little bit to find the information you need. Hopefully the overview […]
How Developmentally Appropriate is Sharing?
By Pauline Meert A few months ago, I read an article on sharing that led to a lot of discussions and thinking. The article “Some Parenting Rules are Meant to be Broken” by Beth W. from Very Bloggy over on sunnyskyz.com discusses her experience with “sharing”. Through examples of two experiences, one in a park where a child expects […]
A Montessori Lesson
Today I’d like to introduce you to Linda Karchmar. Linda is a now retired Montessori Guide who owned her own school for 28 years, and taught for 32 years. She has a wonderful online store where she is selling materials from her school, including lots of lovely Practical Life items! You can also find children’s books, […]