By Jennifer Luetkemeyer, Elementary Guide
“Let us give children a vision of the universe” -Maria Montessori
The first classrooms designed to serve the second plane child in the way we strive to imitate at Renaissance today were found in Holland in the 1920s. Dr. Montessori observed another teacher who was already meeting the needs of the children in a profoundly non-traditional way and thereby developed and refined her ideas into what she called “Cosmic Education.” In a lecture given at the University of Amsterdam in 1950, Dr. Montessori said, “...all methods of education based on centers of interest which have been chosen by adults are wrong. Moreover, these centers of interest are superfluous, for the child is interested in everything. A global vision of cosmic events fascinates the child and his interest will soon remain fixed on one particular part, as a starting point for more intensive studies.”
When asked about our curriculum, then, Montessori guides can confidently answer: the universe, its furnishings, those who live/have lived within it, and all of their stories! As the children’s interests are innumerable, so also are the possibilities of what they might choose to explore! While traditional teachers prepare lessons and areas of study within particular subjects, our work is to give rich, inspiring stories and exposure to concepts and materials - but to purposefully limit what we offer. “We do not want complacent students,” Dr. Montessori warned.
We do not hope they will leave our presentations satisfied but rather itching to learn more... preferably right away! We want the children stirred up at school, noisy and chatty, and then coming home, begging parents to take them to a battlefield or to help them to further research some fascinating detail to fan the fires we seek to ignite here during the day.
Our materials, therefore, are also intentionally limited. We offer a foundation but not the whole story; we leave room for the children to fill in the details for themselves! To this end, we find it deeply satisfying when children make their own materials - either for their own enjoyment or for the benefit of the community.