Practical Life Aids the Mathematical Mind

This is the article of a Montessori Guide from Council Oak Montessori School. Lila completed her AMI Montessori training in 2009, she has been teaching for close to a decade in the 3-6 year old classroom and is trying her best to create a Montessori environment at home for her 2 year old daughter, one of it is through the use of practical life activities.

Maria Montessori believed children of all ages crave inclusion in their environments. However, they do not always have the tools or skills to do so. With this in mind, she developed the practical life lessons and materials. These greatly mimic the “adult” work children see every day. By observing the children as they worked with practical life materials, Montessori discovered deeper learning taking place.

The Montessori 3-6 year old classroom is filled with practical life work. It is arguably the most important part of the early childhood curriculum, if not the entire Montessori pedagogy. Learning to button, pour, cut, lace, and clean can help a child feel successful, independent, competent and an important part of their community. (There is a wealth of supporting studies, but this is a good start.) Children gain confidence as they become more independent. These activities also play a big role in preparing the child for success in language and mathematics.

As we delve into distance learning, let us not forget that we can provide language and mathematic development in simple and everyday tasks. I might give the class activities like washing silverware, sorting their stuffed animals, or setting the table beautifully for dinner. I might even ask them to organize their sock drawer. While these tasks might feel like busy work or simple care of the community work, a lot more is going on here.

So, what does your child learn while washing silverware, sorting animals, setting the table or a host of many other things that will aid math? 

Concentration

By providing simple and short activities to the young child, we provide them with clear moments of concentration and success. A child cannot be expected to sit for a 25-minute lesson without first learning to sit through a 30-second lesson. Through practical life activities, children slowly garner longer moments of concentration. 

Logical analysis of movements and sequence

Anytime we learn a new skill, we are learning that things need to be done in the correct order. This can be as simple as learning to open a door, put on a sock or snap a button. To open a door, you have to hold the knob tightly, turn your wrist to turn the knob, pull or push the knob to move the door, step out of the way, and finally release the knob. That is 5 steps! As we learn, the command “Open the door” becomes just one step. We have internalized each of those 5 movements, but for the young child, that same command feels like many steps. If a child skips just one of these 5 steps, the door will not open.

Not only does a child have to learn each step, they also have to learn them in the correct order. Each new skill a child (and really anyone) learns, can benefit from this type of careful analysis. In Montessori, we set up each practical life material to help isolate these movements, and to provide the child with practice they need to be successful in a larger task.

Refinement of movements through repetition

Practical life work, whether in a classroom or at home, allows for lots of repetition. Each simple task offers moments of repetition within the task itself and by repeating it over time. We all have seen a child take a towel that you had just folded, unfold it and fold it over and over again. While this might feel exhausting as you work to finish the task of folding, a child is hard-wired for this type of repetition. A person can sweep every day, can fold napkins every time they come out of the laundry, and wash lettuce before every dinner. These moments of repetition provide the child with ample time to perfect their movements and feel success and satisfaction simply through their practice. 

Control of error

This concept means that the material or activity provides a cue that the child performs the activity correctly. The child does not then rely on an adult to tell them if they did the task correctly or not. This not only instills self-confidence and independence but also an innate understanding of right and wrong.  

Ease or comfort in failure

Math has right and wrong answers. It is important that our children become comfortable getting things wrong and learning ways to persevere until they get it right. Through practical life work, children are given many opportunities to practice, concentrate, analyze movements, refine their movements and get things wrong before they get it right. And then once they start in more traditional looking math work, children will be ready to hear “hm, that is not the right answer, please try again.

February 19, 2020 • No Comments

Addressing 5 Criticisms Of The Montessori Method

Education methods, both old staples and newly-minted, are always under the microscope of parents, educators and experts. It is important children are getting the education that best suits what will help them find success. And equally important a critical eye be placed on education to hold methods, philosophies and techniques are held to rigid standards.

When parents are looking to spend above the taxes they pay into the public school system annually, they tend to want to have their concerns and criticisms answered before investing that money. Not only that, but proponents of one form of education method may not agree with how another operates, therefore criticisms can arise.

The Montessori Method has been the subject of criticism throughout the years and has been willing to openly address what people see as problems or disadvantages of Montessori education.

And through explanation Montessori educators and experts are able to respond to the criticism with why the method is shaped the way it is – and why they believe is the best way to shape young minds.

Criticism #1: There isn’t enough opportunity through group activity for social development and interaction.

Sure, the interaction in in Montessori classrooms differs from that of a regular day public school or a non-Montessori based school, however, the interaction students have is far more meaningful. The prepared environment used in the classroom allows for students to interact more freely, rather than at set times of the day like it would be in a traditionally-styled classroom.

Similar to Waldorf, interaction is more spontaneous and far less structured – while still being structured by the way teachers set up their classrooms. Montessori students are viewed as individuals and the method respects that by removing the rigidness and structure that is found in traditional classrooms.

Criticism #2: Creativity is quelled and the childhood taken from students due to early use of cognitive thinking – and too much time spent on the practical life.

A child’s true potential can be activated in the early years of their lives (up to age six is said to be the most formative years for children), and for a child, learning is a natural thing. Even in idle play, children are learning about social interaction, sharing, counting, and the basics that will make up the foundation they will take into the classroom.

Montessori doesn’t take childhoods away, but enriches them through early education that helps ignite a child’s development. In these early years, children learn with great ease and by giving them a Montessori classroom in which to interact and learn, they will develop at a more rapid rate. This is productive for both advanced learners and those who sometimes struggle.

Children love to imitate the world they see moving around them and Montessori takes advantage of the chance to help him or her function in their environment. Activities focused on sensory development at an early age will help to build a foundation for intellectual growth later in their lives: hand-eye control, small and large muscle control and the refinement of skills later needed for reading and writing.

Criticism #3: There is far too much freedom in the classroom for the child to choose – and the classroom is far too structured.

In some ways, these two points contradict themselves: how can there be too much freedom and too much structure at the same time. How a student interacts with the environment will help answer both these criticism.

“A place for everything and everything in its place” is part of Montessori’s classroom philosophy. The method in itself is not structured, as students are free to learn as they want and about what they are curious about at any given moment. However, in order best achieve this freedom, teachers will structure classrooms in a certain way to maximize student potential.

The child is able to freely function within the structured class, and each child gains security in knowing things will be in the same place each time. In many ways, the freedom and class structure work in a collaborative manner.

Criticism #4: Montessori school is only for the upper-class family.

This is completely untrue. Montessori schools, like private schools, don’t choose students based on how much money, fame or prestige a family has: they want the best students that will help create the best education and social environments for their students.

Many schools have worked to improve accessibility for students from the full-range of socio-economic statuses. If you want your child to be enrolled at a Montessori school there are a number of steps you can take to help make sure you can afford the cost of tuition and make a dream become a reality.

Criticism #5: There is no research that proves Montessori education has an advantage for children over public school.

This is true: there is no research that definitively proves that Montessori education is better than any other education, public or private. For a number of reasons this can be hard to determine: mostly because of a number of variables that cannot be controlled in scientific study.

However, students who attend Montessori schools are more than likely to come out better prepared for life: more organized approaches to life and learning; development of independence; self-discipline and a keen interest in learning.

All educational approaches face criticism and vigorous research for and against that specific type of education. And the Montessori approach, similarly, has pros and cons. Moreover, it might not be the right fit for your child. It’s about finding a school and a method that works for what you and your child need.

Global Montessori has been offering primary child care, after school care, and the Montessori method of schooling since 1988. We accept infants, toddlers, kindergarten and elementary school students living in and around the Langley area and beyond. For more information, visit https://globalmontessorischool.com.

This article was reprinted from OurKids.net which was, in part, extracted from The Essential Montessori: An Introduction to the Woman, the Method, and the Movement, by Elizabeth G. Hainstock. 

Sped Up The Decision to Retire

 

For Some People, Working From Home Sped Up Their Decision to Retire

Reposted from The New York Times

Paul Sullivan 

July 10, 2021,

For Mona Janochoski, a chemist who ran a laboratory at 3M in St. Paul, Minnesota, working from home during the pandemic was the deciding factor.

It was the first time in her career that she had not gone to an office every day. And she found that she enjoyed being home with her husband, Tom, who had retired as the CFO of a trust company in 2017. Her daughter, who was a graduate student, was living with them, too. That got Janochoski thinking about something she had not given much thought to before: quitting her job after 36 years and seeing what else life had in store.

“When I was home during COVID, my husband really liked it,” Janochoski, 60, said. “He got used to the idea of me retiring. We kept going back to the adviser to make sure we could retire.”

The pandemic forced many people into early, unplanned retirements, when they were laid off or their business could no longer survive. But many of those people were not high earners. Retirements in the pandemic by those at the top of the income ladder were often by choice.

And for that slice of corporate employees, working from home for some or all of the pandemic scrambled their thinking on work and life. They had been working for decades in an office, and suddenly at home with a spouse, they began to see the possibility of a different life.

“The vast majority of our clients have at least inquired about what their plan would look like if they retired earlier,” said Mike Leverty, founder of Leverty Financial Group, whose clients include a lot of executives at large Minnesota companies like 3M and Target. “We haven’t seen people want to delay retirement. They’re getting a flavor of what retirement will look like in working from home.”

“Previously,” he added, “people wanted to max out the economic package with various pension and long-term incentive plans. In the last year, we’ve been asked to redo a lot of plans, and people are OK if they’re leaving something on the table.”

Deciding to retire early is about more than crunching the numbers, of course. It is also about psychologically preparing yourself to leave work and leave behind some part of your identity.

“You need a discipline to work from home and not go into the office,” said Rainer Zitelmann, author of “The Wealth Elite” and “The Rich in Public Opinion.” “No one is watching you. In the pandemic, people started thinking about what else they wanted to do.”

In Janochoski’s case, “retirement looked good” after all those months of working from home, she said. “I wasn’t going to go before April, when my stock options vested,” she added. “So I picked the end of May, and we ran through the numbers. It made sense.”

Jesse Coffee, a wealth adviser at True Private Wealth Advisers, said that before the pandemic, it was generally clients around age 62 who were initiating preretirement talks with him. In the past year, that age has dropped to 54 or 55, he said.

“People have realized what’s really important,” he said. “If you want to just go out and hike, it doesn’t cost a lot of money. If my lifestyle isn’t going to need all that much money, maybe I can move somewhere less expensive, have some low-cost hobbies and retire early. That and, frankly, the market has been great over the past 10 years.”

An adviser’s job is, of course, to do the math on whether retirement is even possible and what it may look like. But leaving a career, particularly for people who have risen up at a company doing work they enjoy, is not an easy decision to make. Working from home in the pandemic gave some people a taste of what retirement could be like, something they would not have gotten if they had kept going into the office or traveling for work.

“It’s allowed them to reset and take a step back,” Leverty said.

He said there was no question that retiring early would reduce wealth, but that is a trade-off for what could be more time — to spend with family, explore activities like charitable work or pursue new interests.

A life-altering event four years ago got Mark Nagel thinking about retiring as soon as possible. When he slipped on ice and pulled a muscle, what seemed like a minor injury would result in the amputation of one of his legs.

“Early retirement became a requirement at that point,” said Nagel, 55. “You just never know when something is going to happen. So why wait until next year?

He worked for 31 years at Ecolab, the water and hygiene company, and said he had always told himself that when the stock topped $200 a share, he would have enough to retire.

“The pandemic hits, we had already hit the $200-a-share mark, but now the bottom is dropping out,” he said. “There were a few weeks when I said maybe this is not going to be the time. Or maybe this new lifestyle of 100% working where I want to work is not so bad.

“At the same time,” he added, “we had this goal and this plan. We knew what we had to do. As the stock started climbing, we decided to stick with the plan.”

Nagel’s wife, Tammy, who will turn 55 this year, plans to work a few more years at Boston Scientific, he said.

Coffee, the wealth adviser, said that for him, “it comes down to what you’re spending, especially in retirement, when you don’t have the big paychecks coming in.” People with large incomes are “used to being able to spend money on whatever they want,” he said. “They’re taking the trips without thinking about the cost. In retirement, you have to put some thought behind it.”

Craig DiLorenzo, who worked in international positions for 3M for 35 years, said that after the pandemic erased the barriers between work and personal life, he began thinking about retiring.

“When you don’t go into the office anymore, you don’t own your time,” DiLorenzo said. “Most people head into the office at 7 a.m. or 8 a.m. and go home around 5 p.m. or 6 p.m. You lose that when everyone is working from home. You decide to meet at 6 a.m. because you have all these other meetings. Or it’s, ‘Let’s have a Zoom call at 8 p.m. because we’re all free.’ You lose your personal time somewhat.”

While DiLorenzo, 58, said he had always wanted to retire early, the loss of personal time at home coupled with losing the camaraderie that he had enjoyed in the office sped up his decision. He retired in April.

“When you don’t need to work anymore and you’ve lost that camaraderie, you start to think, ‘I can do something else,’” he said. “My wife said go for it. I had spent 25 years of my career in our international division, so I was always traveling, often for two to three weeks at a time, or on the phone at odd hours when I wasn’t traveling.”

The timing of Janochoski’s retirement was particularly good this year. Her youngest child, a daughter, just finished graduate school; one son is getting married; and her other son and his wife are expecting a baby.

“I could have kept working from home, but I had a good run,” she said. “With everything going on with the kids and the baby coming, and we’re financially OK, this was as good a time as any.”

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