The Gift of Time

Time.  We use it wisely, try to be efficient with it, make more of it, waste it, watch it pass
too quickly.  Time is a precious item and luckily in the Montessori classroom, there is plenty of it. 
The Montessori casa gives children the time they need to explore and grow.

Children are busy trying to keep up with our adult pace and we have all heard or said, “Hurry up we’re going to be late”, “Come on, we don’t have much time”, “Let’s go”.  Keeping a schedule is a part of life that will not go away and these phrases are all too familiar.

The Montessori classroom allows children to enter a community that is child centered and at a child’s pace.  Children become self directed and confident decision makers by having long periods of time to work independently, one on one with the teacher, or in small groups of two to three children.

Children instruct themselves through materials that allow them to make their own discoveries about how things work.  Of course, the materials are presented one on one by the teacher/guide (who keeps very specific lesson plans and records for each child), but once they have been presented the child is free to work with that material for as long as he or she wishes. Once the child is accustomed to the work period, concentration begins to grow and the feeling of “hurry” subsides. They are given the gift of time and are not interrupted in their activity which brings them peace.

Just think if you were allowed to finish a task with no interruptions from anyone and there was actually someone there to protect your time…one of the many beautiful gifts Dr. Montessori gave the casa!