Reply to Capitol Hill Montessori @ Logan

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[quote=Anonymous][quote]11:08 here. My only point is that it is meant to be "chaos" sort of at least in the early elementary years. If it is all ordered in the classroom then it is either a primary class where order is the key or it is not a Montessori class. Kids have to have freedom before they can make real choices. That is the whole point. So there may be days in early elementary when kids do not appear to be doing much. Certainly my kids had days like that. What you seem to be missing is it is meant to be like that. They are not doing work sheets or busy work. They look like they are just hanging out. They do the odd vague lesson here and there and then it seems like nothing else is happening. [/quote]

That's the CHM Kool Aid right there. If you are relying on the elementary staff at CHM to explain Montessori theory to you, you are drinking from a tainted well.  Their brand of Montessori does not mesh with accepted elementary practice. Elementary Montessori is not at all meant to be chaos. It's meant to be social, sure, but also ordered. The freedom children are given is supposed to be [i]freedom within limits[/i] not anarchy. In a true Montessori environment, children are free to choose what tasks they will work on, they are not free to choose not to work at all.

Some children, like yours, may figure out these limits for themselves. The vast majority need guidance to make responsible decisions. The Lord of the Flies analogy was apropos. In the absence of adult intervention, some children make rational choices and some choose to be idle and indolent. At the end of the day, the naughty children end up hunting down the good one's with a pig's head on a stick. That sounds like Capitol Hill to me.

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