Maria Montessori
Maria Montessori was first introduced to me when I was pregnant with my daughter, but aside from her place in education I wanted to know more about the woman who was far ahead of her time. Who was she?
It’s a question I asked several years ago and I’m happy that I did, and although she is no longer with us she has left a legacy for which I am very grateful. Not only was she a remarkable woman, but she also cared deeply for human existence as a whole, and she understood the importance of preparing our children for adulthood. They are after all, the future of our world.
Our job as parents and teachers is to give them the best foundation that we can, a responsibility that is often diminished in today’s society.
In this brief overview I give you an introduction to the woman and her life.
Who was Maria Montessori?
Dr Maria Montessori was born in Italy in 1870 and lived to the age of eighty-one; she died in Noordwijk aan Zee, the Netherlands in 1952. During her life she pushed boundaries and challenged the norm, and from a young age was determined to find her own way.
At thirteen, she defied her father’s wishes and attended a boys’ technical college – I find hard to imagine in Italy in in the nineteenth century! Following her time there, her path changed from engineering and she began to study in medicine. This resulted in her becoming a physician, and it was during her time as a psychiatrist in Rome that her interest in children started.
In 1907 she started Casa dei Bambini, her first childcare setting in the poor suburbs of Rome. It was during this period that she observed that children, if given the right tools and space to learn, will grow and thrive.
The children of this first Montessori school transformed from being an unruly bunch to caring individuals who loved to learn.
News of Maria Montessori’s success and teaching ideas soon spread worldwide leading to schools being opened in many locations. She continued observing and educating for the remainder of her life, developing the theories that we see today as she went.
Her concept that children will learn from their surroundings if allowed to do so is something that is still challenged in 2020, however from personal experience I have seen my own child develop an incredible wealth of knowledge in her short life. Her thirst to learn awakens with her each and every morning – it is a joy for me to be part of it.
Personally, I am grateful to have discovered who Maria Montessori was very early in my parenthood journey. I have the utmost respect for the woman and all that she achieved in her life. She left a wealth of inspiration for us, far too much for this one post, but I look forward to sharing more about her life’s work with you as we continue along our own path of exploration . I am currently working on the creation of Montessori materials, so if you’d like to learn more please visit the Five Great Lessons page.
As a writer and micro-publisher, I will also share Montessori books, both story books to enhance learning and information about Maria Montessori’s own books.
I look forward to sharing with you via my blog and newsletter where I hope to inspire in you a passion for the lifelong work and observations of Dr Maria Montessori.