Montessori from the Start: The Child at Home, from Birth to Age Three

After your child is familiar with a basket of objects—different

nothing should be given to the brain that is not first given to the hand.

we can think of obedience as coming in three stages.

role of emotion in establishing memory is the reason we remember what is interesting to us during the process of learning in school and readily forget what is boring, no matter how thoroughly memorized for the moment the latter material might be.

Prepare each bathroom in the house further, with a diaper pail with water for soiled pants, a basket of clean underpants, a small mop, wash cloths, and—for the parents’ access only—a bottle of Natures Miracle (available at pet shops) or other carpet stain remover.

Therefore we want to stress again: repetition is key to the learning process at all ages. Rotation, not substitution, is the answer to the process of habituation to objects.

We want to make clear to the child in her daily life: what to expect, when to expect it, and where to expect it.

the end of a counter or on the wall, we hang other materials for daily clean up: a small broom, dustpan and dust broom, wet mop (with bucket below), and towel for drying the floor. A wash cloth is a good size for a child to use as a towel. †The parent introduces these items—broom, dustpan, mop, and towel—one at a time to the child over a period of

We teach children from the beginning to handle books with care, turning the pages from the top. Again the number of books available should be limited: four is the maximum for a child two years old. The child’s favorite book of the moment can remain out, but rotate other books from a supply in the closet.