Requirements to be considered to start a House of Children

The main requirements to be considered to start a House of Children are:

§  In adult’s world (Home) child feel himself like an alien.

§  Our Homes are designed according to adults. Children cannot access anything freely and comfortably.

§  Children used to listened word “No” many times in a day. “Prohibition is prohibition, either sweet or bitter.”

§  Adults try to teach children by their orders or by their words, they usually not practice themselves.

§  Adults are sometime so busy that they have no proper time for children

§  Children can’t find proper work/activity to spend their time.

§  Providing over and extra help to children, ignoring that they want many of work done by their own selves.

§  Children are usually not allowed to “Let me do it myself” strategy.

These are some basic problems which every child faced in their homes. So children need a proper place where they can learn, play and get experienced.

How Do I implement:

I am a mother of two kids.  I am already trying and practicing few activities from Montessori Method of learning, achieving an astonishing results and development in my kids. As kids start learning very after from their birth and for their better growth, development and education it’s our responsibility as a parent/elder to provide them healthy, effective and fruitful environment. When environment meets all of the needs of children, they become, without any guidance by the adult, physically healthy, mentally and psychologically fulfilled, extremely well-educated, and filled over with joy and kindness towards each other. Children who have better experiences at proper time develop more effectively as compared to other who has less opportunities and experience.

In House of Children I will prefer to implement following thing:

1.      Respect for the child

2.      Everything should be child sized

3.      The absorbent mind

4.      Sensitive periods

5.      The prepared environment

6.      Focus on individual child

7.      Polite and reasonable behavior of teachers

8.      Parents – Teachers meeting

RESPECT FOR THE CHILD:

  Respect for the child is the keystone on which all other Montessori principles based. As Montessori said, “As a rule, however, we do not respect children. We try to force them to follow us without regard to their special needs. We are overbearing with them, and above all, rude; and then we expect them to be submissive and well-behaved, knowing all the time how strong is their instinct of imitation and how touching their faith in and admiration of us.”

Teachers show respect for children when they help them do things and learn for themselves. When children have choices, they are able to develop the skills and abilities necessary for effective learning independence, and positive self-esteem.

EVERYTHING SHOULD BE CHILD SIZED:

            Furniture, equipment, and supplies that children could access/used should be child sized so that they can work all by themselves, they were self-motivated to explore, experiment, and reach new understandings.

THE ABSORBENT MIND:

            Children are born to learn, and they have remarkable learning systems. Children learn because they are thinking beings. But what they learn depends greatly on their teachers, experiences, and environments. We need to understand that children can’t help learning, simply by living, children learn from their environment.

SENSITIVE PERIODS:

            Sensitive periods vary from children to children some children are more susceptible to certain behaviors and can learn specific skills more easily others may not. Although all children experience the same sensitive periods (e.g., a sensitive period for reading), the sequence and timing vary for each child. One role of the teacher is to use observation to detect times of sensitivity and provide the setting for best result.

THE PREPARED ENVIRONMENT:

            Environment is extremely important at any level of the development of child. Children learn best in a prepared environment, a place in which children can do things for themselves. It makes learning materials and experiences available to children in an orderly format and they can easily access them. Freedom is the essential characteristic of the prepared environment. Since children within the environment are free to explore materials of their own choosing, they absorb what they find there.

FOCUS ON INDIVIDUAL CHILD:

                Teachers should focus on individual child as each child is a unique entity. Each child’s learning progress, growth, understanding, achieving a mastery of particular skill and requirements are different.

POLITE AND REASONABLE BEHAVIOR OF TEACHERS:

                Children learn a lot firstly from their mother’s then from their teachers. The behavior and attitude of the teacher should be polite, reasonable and helpful towards children.

PARENTS – TEACHER MEETINGS:

                There should be a close interaction between parents and teachers. Parents should know the progress, work and activities of a child so that they can practice same in homes as well if they want.