The Montessori Way is an educational philosophy developed by Maria Montessori. Maria Montessori was a scientist and one of the first women to become a physician in Italy in 1896. As a result of her duties she stumbled across the incredible capacity within children to learn and to grow. This discovery led her to leave her medical profession and pursue the burgeoning field of early childhood education by “following the child” in the early 1900’s. She was the first to create child sized learning environments so that children could pursue their interests without the assistance of adults. Within an orderly and structured environment Montessori observed that children were relentlessly curious and quite capable of intense focus. The child’s ability to focus then led to the refinement of various skills. After observing these phenomena occur within the community of children in her care she developed an educational philosophy that continues to be very effective today.
