The Meerkat Milers - Delaware Marathon Relay runners from WMS - urgently need Co-op parents to host the water station on the race course on Sunday, May 10. Volunteers will also be needed to coordinate the distribution of race packets and other activities at the WMS tent. We have an experienced team of people who will guide volunteers through these processes and procedures, so first time water station hosts and assistants will not need to think through the steps on their own. 

Come join in the fun and provide valuable services for the WMS runners, while also earning Co-op hours. If you are interested in volunteering, please email meerkatmilers@wmsde.org or contact WMS mom Becky Davey! 

Google "What is the Montessori Method?" and Wikipedia quickly replies with the standard definition any online-seeker may discover. "Montessori education is an educational approach developed by Italian physician and educator Maria Montessori and characterized by an emphasis on independence, freedom within limits, and respect for a child's natural psychological, physical, and social development." The question most often asked from individuals wanting to know more about what children "do" in a Montessori Classroom hover over the uncertainty of that term "freedom with limits." It stands as a pillar of structure in each of our classrooms and it truly is the beginning of growing a self-governed individual. After all, Dr. Montessori referred to liberty and discipline as two sides of the same coin.
 

This past weekend, nearly every faculty and staff member in our school had the privilege of attending the 2015 Annual American Montessori Society Conference held in Philadelphia. For my first workshop, I entered a packed conference hall. The workshop was called, "Liberty and Discipline: The Eternal Quest for Balance." I would venture to say that everyone struggles to find this balance in their personal, professional and parenting lives. 
 

A newcomer observing our classrooms often remark, "Wow. The children were just so busy and happy going about their work. How does the teacher get them to do that?" Instead of "that" being an external force of techniques we impose on our children, it is rather an invisible internal compass broadcasting from within our children. We learned that in order to have the greatest freedom, one must have self-discipline. Our job is to connect the children to their inner teacher/guide and to follow those internal impulses. We do this by setting expectations and expecting that they will be met. We learned that there is no freedom without responsibility. Teachers do not give too much freedom until the children know what to do with it. "Liberty is not just thinking or doing what we want," Maria Montessori wrote. "It is being able, without hindrance, or restraint, to do in the direct way what is right and proper." Children figure out what is "right and proper" through modeling and teaching, not correcting.
 

That leaves us the other notion - discipline. Dr. Montessori said, "Every problem of discipline results from a lack of liberty." Think about that for a second. We learned to stop and observe instead of react to a child's disorder or resistance (a tantrum, fit, etc). What is it that the child is trying to accomplish that the environment is not allowing? The children in our classrooms learn the boundaries for freedom and the discipline follows. This provokes us to think of how we preserve the freedom that the children already possess in themselves.

We believe in the mantra "help me to help myself" and "every unnecessary thing we do for the child is actually a limitation to his development". And get this: "The child who is constantly scolded for not acting the way he is told will eventually lose the impetus to act." We don't want that! Two sides of the same coin indeed, but don't take it at face value. The preparation of the child and the teacher to recognize these tendencies and preserve them is the true work.