Montessori Philosophy

The teacher must understand each individual child’s needs, in order to guide them toward their own educational path

Children before the age of 6 learn by exploring their environment with their own senses, not by hearing lectures from adults. TouchStar Montessori education is geared toward stimulating the absorbent mind in order to inspire a love of the world around us and a desire for constant learning.

In order for the Absorbent Mind to learn efficiently, the child needs an environment that is neat and orderly, beautiful yet simple, and stocked with carefully-chosen educational materials.

The goal of education is to help the child become an independent, self-reliant person who has the skills to make decisions and gain knowledge by himself or herself. It starts with emphasizing Practical Life skills (caring for themselves, caring for the environment). It continues with the large amount of choice and freedom children have in their education.

Children in a TouchStar classroom have freedom to choose their educational path, within the overall Montessori curriculum and with teacher’s help and guidance. There are few group lessons, and no mandatory group projects. If children choose to work together, they may.

Yet this freedom is only possible because children are educated in very specific classroom rules, such as:

•Walk, don’t run.

• Do your own work; don’t interrupt others.

• Talk quietly, don’t disturb the classroom.

•When you’ve finished your work, put it back on the shelf exactly as you found it.

Rules and freedom are not opposites, they are necessary for each other. It is only because of the rules that a class of 15-25 children can have freedom, and children respect and follow the rules because it enables their freedom.